So, I'm going to start a new fairy tale series now. Hopefully, people reading this like fairy tales (and fairy tale oriented fanfictions) as much as I do! Noticeably, I love fairy tales (for no discernable reason). Basically, I call it the Compendium Of Fairy Tales and it will just be a collection of (incredibly long, in my opinion) oneshots, each for a fairy tale. These are basically stories I will write in my free time when I feel like it so it will be erratically updated.
I recommend familiarizing yourself with the stories first before reading the one I put up by either reading it online, reading it from a book of Grimm's Fairy Tales or watching a cartoon of it on YouTube. Just to enjoy it to the fullest, but many people probably won't need it since anyone familiar with fairy tale stories know of Grimm's. I'm going to start out with Grimm's Fairy Tales stories (I'm a little biased; I'm only doing the ones I like or can stand which rules out a few, but I'm willing to take requests) and then, if I run out of them, I'll move onto more obscure, less-known stories.
I just wanted to write Intro to, well, give an introduction to explain it better just in case an explanation was needed. I have a habit of explaining self-explanatory things. Just a habit~ So, continuing on from that-
Most of them will be boyxboy and, really, who doesn't like that? There will be some (read: SOME) girlxboy and possibly some girlxgirl ones, but it'll be sparse if at all. In D. Gray Man, true to the name, men really are more in the spotlight. Not that I mind, of course, but there are more men characters and they are generally more interesting and more is known about them than the girls. It makes them easier and more fun to write about with men. Especially Lenalee, I find it hard to compare any character's behavior with her own.
I will upload the first story in two days from when I upload this (give or take a few hours). After that, uploading will be a little iffy. This series is just supposed to be a special side thing for fun. They come out when they do. The first story will be King Grisly Beard also known as King Thrushbeard (the thing about these Grimm's Fairy Tales is that they can go by so many different names).
Here I Get Off Topic And Talk About My Opinions On Lenalee So If You Want To Skip The Next Paragraphs Or Just Don't Like Hearing Lenalee Criticisms, Then You May Move On, The End Was The Previous Paragraph. If This Interests You, By All Means, Continue:
We know a lot about Lenalee and she is a very interesting character, in my opinion, and she is a main character, but I find it less fun to write with her as a main character for some reason. I have issues with her, to be sure, but I don't hate her and I'd hesitate to say I dislike her. She just annoys me a bit. She has one of the character traits I find unattractive in Allen Walker which is having the literally irrepressible urge to fight or be involved in things even if they are unable to do it (likely through injury) and would only be trouble. Such as when Lenalee was in the ark.
She is unlike me because I will be okay even with a broken leg because I can push forward. I'd like to think a large capacity for physical pain and tenacity evened out with the ability to be calm, composed and patient enough to think and wait are my strengths. I will get up with a twisted ankle and walk to safety, but I will sit and wait until I am able to get up instead of rushing headlong into it before my body is actually ready to take it. Hence, the difference. Exhausting oneself beyond their strength just for the sake of it rather than there actually being something you can do. Really annoying.
She seems a lot weaker as an exorcist too. Not that I'm upset about that. Just like weak girls and men happen in animes, they exist in real life. I'm far from being a feminist about it and merely think people should be represented as they are; diverse. Saying that, she pushes herself beyond her strength and refuse help a little too much. If you don't have a certain strength, that's okay, experiment and find that thing you can do REALLY well or make one and always do it. She doesn't have that. And yet she consciously imposes on people constantly.
When (in the manga) Allen is left behind in the vampire village, she helps Bookman to practically force Lavi to find him. She looked so worried when, beforehand, she slapped Allen when he yelled at her for holding him back from the self-destructing akuma and held it against him for a long time. She was scared for her friend, I get it and I try to be understanding, but I personally feel she was wrong. We are supposed to feel for her because her aggressive actions were only out of worry for her friend, but what about Allen's worry for the soul.
A tortured soul was destroyed right in front of him and it had to have been devastating. I wasn't him and even I was devastated. I ask you, is he not allowed to be angry? Ignoring the fact that she forced her decision that her friends well-being was more important than the existence of the soul of someone she doesn't know (not a wrong one, but no one can argue it's a self-interested one) onto Allen and irrevocably put the incident on his conscience
and then proceeded to force him to the point of basically bowing to the ground for an extended time and profusely saying sorry while she never apologized at all or admitted any wrongdoing on her part. She never acted as if she thought about what he thinks or feels about it. Not even a half hearted "I guess I was wrong, too…"; just more anger/insults and leaving him behind thinking "am I forgiven?".
Probably the biggest reason is that her outward character is just so unlike my own. Isn't that always the way, we are often annoyed by people who are completely unlike us because the different personalities will clash. I'm calm, calculating and strategic. She is emotional and incapable of thinking in a detached manner where people's safety is concerned. We are fundamentally different, you see.
She's been through a lot, we know this, but so have I (perhaps even more so, but that can be debated on) and others, but we don't cry all the time. The anime basically is trying to say that's she's emotionally strong, but how?! She was basically a prisoner in the order for a while, is she strong because she's nice and hasn't tried to kill herself yet?
She cries constantly, avoids the inspector like the plague instead of facing him (not that that condemns her in and of itself, it only adds to the issue of whether or not she actually faces problems) and that she can go from the sweetest thing ever to a blubbering mess or, worse, a sometimes irrationally angry individual that is sometimes physically violent towards her friends, of all people. It's like she had a bipolar disorder. Her emotions are basically held together by a bandaid.
Another complaint is her image. Not really a problem with her, but everyone seems obsessed with her. I know that the main female is usually the center of attention in shounen anime, but this is just annoying. I like, for instance, when people on the show fall in love with different people so that more can be going on. Chaoji, Lavi, maybe Kanda, Bak, maybe others in secret, we know she likes Allen (not that either of them are ever going to act on it) so even though they're still "in the running" they gonna lose bad! Which is sad and a little bit of a dead end as far as story development goes.
If they at least had conflicting feelings for another female, it could give the story more interest than the dead end it currently is in the way of love. True enough, the romance was never one of the things that tempted people to this anime/manga. Arguably, it's a little weak. Not very pronounced.
That can be an artsy thing, a good thing, but here it's underdone and we're often left wondering "was that what I thought it was or was it nothing and I'm just reading too much into it"? There's no wonder why we ship so many couples..we're malnourished with the romance and diversity of the anime. I personally feel like I have to use my psychology class knowledge to understand what's going on with the story and the characters which is not for everyone.
Real life isn't even usually that difficult. I don't know if I'm just slow, but I only ever saw Lavi exhibit strong feelings for Lenalee near the end and mainly in the ark. Most of those times, it was hinted at and it all just seemed to come out of nearly nowhere. There wasn't really any buildup throughout the series.
Meanwhile, everyone (even Lavi and Kanda) baby her. Don't push yourself, Lenalee. Poor Lenalee. I'm sorry Lenalee. You've upset Lenalee! How can Hoshino not be trying to make her intentionally irritating with ideas and lines like that? The ark was the best example of this. Lenalee had to be saved from both Tyki's teez and Jasdevi.
When Allen was fighting Lavi, Lenalee kept crying (yet again!) and begging a Lavi (that could clearly not even control himself) and Road to stop. Well, that's passable since she was stuck in a bubble and couldn't really do anything (though I wonder why she didn't try to kick the box with her innocence. Even if it was made of dark matter, which I highly doubt, she should have been able to at least try.
But she didn't, she just cried and begged the whole time). Allen even tried to reach Lavi by using the words "you'll make Lenalee sad". Really… god forbid! You may lose your heart, reach brain death, aid the Noahs and kill Allen, your "little buddy", but NO, don't make Lenalee sad, whatever you do!
Jasdevi even called her a princess! I mean, come on! Rub it in more, why don't you?! Although, it becomes clear they are irritated by her too as they prove by slapping her (and I actually feel bad for how much I enjoyed that, but you better believe I replay it every time I see it), but it still represents her importance to them.
I get it. She's the main female and their friend. They SHOULD be willing to risk their lives for their friend, but it's just the singularity of her. She is like the ONLY person who seems to matter a lot of the time. Like the most important person and I just don't think it could ever be based on her behavior. She's not even a particularly strong exorcist. I'd almost be willing to wager it's because she's their only real female friend. That could feasibly be the driving factor behind her importance. Like if Lou Fa was ingratiated in their little group, she would probably share that importance.
And that's all I ask. Have someone share the limelight. It kind of ruins things if one person is emotionally viewed as the most important person. It is one of the largest scales of preferential treatment I have ever seen stretching even between branches. Besides, that's the point of having favorite characters. Different people find different characters that speak to them on different levels. And that makes it interesting. For me, my two favorite characters could be Lavi and Jasdevi (if you count them as one like I do since they're better together).
But with this, if you want a favorite guy character AND a female character, you better be able to look past all of this and love Lenalee because otherwise you're screwed. I LOVE Lau Fa (one of literally the only female order members we see, which (female order members) when we see, we see late, rarely and inconsistently), but she is seen rarely and of course she likes a guy who won't like her back and won't tell her he loves irritating girl so that she will get her hopes up. She's really cute, really nice and really shy, but god forbid another girl should be added to the group.
I don't hate Lenalee and I appreciate that she is hardworking and nice, but enough is enough. But, yeah, so that's it and I'm done. Thanks for reading my diatribe, anyone who made it this far. If you agree (or disagree) with anything I said, comment on that. Thanks, guys!