Oh I feel sorry for john as well. It's just, everything else about that.
...Wait, so, what part didn't you like?
Because all the negative reactions I've seen so far seemed to be mainly focused on John, like, "we're supposed to feel sorry for this asshole?"
Dunno why I would think less of you.
Because when I see people call a character pathetic when I never would've thought to call them that, it just makes me feel like
I'm the pathetic person that no one likes. I thought the way they reacted to their struggles was relatable, because their whole world is falling apart around them and it's like there's nothing they can do to stop it, and so often
I feel powerless to change my own shitty situations, so, I feel for them, but then everyone else is focused on how the character never stops whining and can't seem to do anything right. And it's like -- I can't even defend my opinion of something without comparing myself to that unlikable character, therefore painting
myself in an unlikable light.
It's just like when I watched Re: Zero with STG, and, man, I wanted Subaru to get his way
so bad because clearly he's trying
so hard, and every time he thinks he has his shit together, he manages to overlook one tiny detail or say one thing wrong and then
that's the thing that fucks up the entire timeline and causes everyone around him to die. And to me it just seemed like he was
doing his fucking best, but the world around him just
keeps shitting on him.
But as the series went on, I noticed that people would start to groan and roll their eyes whenever Subaru went on a "why can't I do anything
right" rant, or felt sorry for himself in any capacity, like he was just some whiny character who had nothing to worry about and was still managing to make everything about himself. And I thought that was ridiculous, until
the show itself went out of its way to tell Subaru that he was being
selfish in his actions, and had to do something to better himself before he could get his way.
And, like, yeah, I
guess that taught him to think up a more proactive way of making events go the way he wanted, and to take a more "I'll do/say what other people want so that they'll be on my side and then I can get them to do what I want" sort of way instead of just pleading and begging for people to give him a chance. But like... they still acted like him pleading and begging was being "selfish", and he was just trying to
save the lives of people around him, all while being
physically unable to articulate how and why he knew that anyone was going to die if events played out a certain way, which already made things extremely difficult, and... I just didn't see what was selfish about it. I mean
yeah he definitely had some stupid moments where it came to trying to help Emilia by blatantly lying to her and breaking his promises to her, but even then,
he was trying to help. ...He was being stupid, and didn't do a good job of thinking through his actions, but he still
thought he was doing the right thing, so, I didn't see it as selfish.
And for everyone else to groan and call him an unlikable character just made
me feel like I was being annoying and unlikable for also dealing with a lot of shit in life and feeling like there was nothing I could do to make it better. And I also felt like I was being "selfish" just for
trying so hard to make life
work, even when I felt like I didn't have the skills or assets to get the results I wanted.
And this whole thing about John is sort of a similar situation. Yeah, he made some mistakes throughout the episode, but like, his life is so crazy, I feel like I wouldn't have done any better??? And I find his mistakes sort of understandable??? And so it makes me feel like I'm in the wrong for feeling sorry for him. And that no one else should feel sorry for me, because if I'm as bad as him, then clearly I haven't done enough to deserve anyone's sympathy.
