“As you read a book word by word and page by page, you participate in its creation, just as a cellist playing a Bach suite participates, note by note, in the creation, the coming-to-be, the existence, of the music. And, as you read and re-read, the book of course participates in the creation of you, your thoughts and feelings, the size and temper of your soul.”
I find it quizzical when my neurologist queries me about my cognition. How am I supposed to use my broken brain to check whether my brain is working? Shouldn’t you tell me? Am I talking in full sentences?
Kazuma has done a lot of questionable things… but I think the interaction on these two pages is when I find myself the most “scared” by his actions in the series. The subtleties of his words, the subtext lying within the camellias importance to the scene and how Adachitoka uses it to lead us through said scene, is masterful.
Camellia symbolize love, but also noble death. It’s almost like Kazuma is commenting on both. He’s saying he see’s his decision as righteous and noble, because he didn’t sting Bisha over it (Father behavior). He loves Bishamon dearly, and he loved the Ma clan dearly. The Ma may have met their downfall by their own hand. But he, a member of the Ma, was responsible for releasing the final blow.
Like the camellia, the Ma beheaded themselves and it was un-ironically, for love. Though I think we’ve learned by now, any sort of nobility thought to come out of human sacrifice… is not noble at all and ignores the true feelings of the kami each sacrifice is meant to appease.
I imagine Kazuma could’ve said at that moment, “It doesn’t matter how much you love and care for those flowers in the garden. Weed them out if they become poison to your master.“
Just the first sentence and I am sold, sold, sold. "Kazuma has done a lot of questionable things.”
With no real warning or explanation, Noragami did not appear in this month’s issue. However, the next issue preview indicates that it will be on the cover of the next issue, so they may be delaying it to give us a full chapter next month.
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