Talks about otome games, drama cds, and occasionally provides advice? Running away endlessly from my backlog of hobbies.

Ilinox

Oh boy, it took a while (read: over a month LOL) to respond to this, because I didn't know how I wanted to organize this post for the longest time, haha. First, I just want to mention that Sariel also suffered several demerits with me like Jesse, because I don't vibe with tsunderes and characters with terminal illness settings. Fortunately though, the Light and Night writers convinced me on both counts.

Tsunderes mostly annoy me because of their emotional immaturity, and it's even worse when the other person in the relationship also lacks emotional intelligence and takes the tsundere at their words and I end up watching a dumb couple go around in agonizing circles. Luckily, most tsunderes in the mainstream CN otome market have enough emotional intelligence (the small male cast in CN otome games lets them show a fuller human experience with each character) that I can tolerate them.

I accepted Sariel's setting quite early in the game because his "cutting remarks" come from a place of irrefutable ability (much like Li Zeyan). He's Sariel, the internationally known fashion designer, after all.

Later on, it's also easy to understand that Sariel was removing himself from the world because he knew he was going to die soon. He wasn't acting aloof because he didn't understand emotions, it was because he had these considerations. In addition, while he doesn't like to express his feelings verbally, he shows it very clearly in his actions (and red ears) and you can always read him when it matters most (Light and Night writers are talented at making you synchronize with the heroine, so I'm rarely angry at her for not realizing something or just being dumb).

Okay, now we're going to head into the main point of this response—the terminal illness—and how Light and Night convinced me with their use of this trope and how, in general, I can never think about Sariel's relationship with you without thinking about death LOL.

HIS DEATH

What bothers me a lot about characters with terminal illness (or even disabilities) is that oftentimes it's only brought out for easy angst or whump. It never applies when it's not convenient for the characters or story. Look, it's very clear that none of the male leads in the Big 6 will die die, because these companionship games mean the men have to be with the player for as long as possible to make money.

Generally speaking, the point of a character with terminal illness is not if the character is going to die but how that affects everything around them, from the way they interact with the world to their interpersonal relationships.

Light and Night did this supremely well because it was literally the focus of Sariel's character arc up to Chapter 18. We see things like Sariel resigning from Warson and entrusting you with one of his life's works, Pristine [Chapter 15]. He tries to arrange everything so that you'll be able to move on after his death and his 2nd birthday card still haunts my mind for being one of the most amazing stories about coming to terms with the death of a loved one.

Chapter 18 itself places you right in the shoes of someone taking care of a terminally ill loved one and experiencing very messy human emotions, like getting angry at him for not clinging to any minuscule chance of life but also accepting his choice.

I just really like and admire the frank conversations about death in Sariel's entire arc up to Chapter 18. It's not something you would normally associate with an "otome game" because people still have the prejudice that otome games are about escapism and ideal romance, but Light and Night can do both while making you think about broader philosophical things that will affect us. Death is something we all have to experience, whether that be the deaths of loved ones or ourselves one day.

YOUR DEATH

After Chapter 18, the terminal illness trope disappears (hurrah—). However, what pleasantly surprised me was how Light and Night jumped into talking about your death and how this will leave Sariel alone in the world [Personal Route Chapter 4] [3rd Birthday Card]. Once again, I like how this centers the topic of "death" and, honestly, Light and Night talks about death all the time LOL. In the game, you go through topics about the deaths of loved ones, the deaths of parents, your own death, what drives people to commit suicide, and etc.

A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AN IMMORTAL AND A MORTAL

Anyway, all this talk about death brings me to what I enjoy most about Sariel's character and it's how he's old as balls over 3000 years old. You might have already heard me being a broken record about this but, seriously, Sariel's age was chosen with excellent precision because this number is large enough to be hard to understand for a human (we can only really conceptualize living 100-200 years), but it can still be understood because recorded human history only goes back like 5000 years.

One of my biggest pet peeves in writing is when people throw around big numbers like "He's loved you through millions of reincarnated lives" or "He can see billions of colors". Come on now, no human can conceive of or relate to this, so how do you make readers emotionally feel the weight of things like these?

Light and Night's answer: Endless Reunions. Sanrio Date. 2nd Birthday Event.

See, the Light and Night writers show Sariel's age without telling it through scenes about the traditional knowledge he knows or the antique objects he has around him [3rd Birthday Event] [Dreamland Card]. There are also times where you hear about different accounts of him in history, like how he was demonized in Season 2 Chapter 1 or deified in his 3rd Birthday Card.

I just really like how the writers lead us to the curtain that conceals this hard-to-grasp concept of Sariel's nigh immortality and occasionally we get to feel that overwhelming and crushing concept through things Sariel says or does, or things you notice in the game. The contrast between his long life and your short life gives this relationship a fuller flavour because there are more layers to it with real consequences and considerations to be had [Season 3 Chapter 1].

Anyway, the main focus of this post was on my personal appreciation of Sariel's age and the topic of death LOL, but I do want to bring up that I also like the mobius strip soulmate thing going on in your relationship with Sariel. Who fell in love with who first [Season 2 Chapter 7] and how it doesn't matter because Sariel will always recognize you and always fall in love with you [Season 2 Chapter 1].

Oh boy, it took a while (read: over a month LOL) to respond to this, because I didn't know how I wanted to organize this post for the longest time, haha. First, I just want to mention that Sariel also suffered several demerits with me like Jesse, because I don't vibe with tsunderes and characters with terminal illness settings. Fortunately though, the Light and Night writers convinced me on both counts.

Tsunderes mostly annoy me because of their emotional immaturity, and it's even worse when the other person in the relationship also lacks emotional intelligence and takes the tsundere at their words and I end up watching a dumb couple go around in agonizing circles. Luckily, most tsunderes in the mainstream CN otome market have enough emotional intelligence (

the small male cast in CN otome games lets them show a fuller human experience with each character

I accepted Sariel's setting quite early in the game because his "cutting remarks" come from a place of irrefutable ability (much like Li Zeyan). He's 

, the internationally known fashion designer, after all.

Later on, it's also easy to understand that Sariel was removing himself from the world because he knew he was going to die soon. He wasn't acting aloof because he didn't understand emotions, it was because he had these considerations. In addition, while he doesn't like to express his feelings verbally, he shows it very clearly in his actions (and red ears) and you can always read him when it matters most (Light and Night writers are talented at making you synchronize with the heroine, so I'm rarely angry at her for not realizing something or just being dumb).

Okay, now we're going to head into the main point of this response—the terminal illness—and how Light and Night convinced me with their use of this trope and how, in general, I can never think about Sariel's relationship with you without thinking about death LOL.

What bothers me a lot about characters with terminal illness (or even disabilities) is that oftentimes it's only brought out for easy angst or whump. It never applies when it's not convenient for the characters or story. Look, it's very clear that none of the male leads in the Big 6 will die die, because these companionship games mean the men have to be with the player for as long as possible 

Generally speaking, the point of a character with terminal illness is not 

 that affects everything around them, from the way they interact with the world to their interpersonal relationships.

Light and Night did this supremely well because it was literally the focus of Sariel's character arc up to Chapter 18. We see things like Sariel resigning from Warson and entrusting you with one of his life's works, Pristine [

]. He tries to arrange everything so that you'll be able to move on after his death and his 

 still haunts my mind for being one of the most amazing stories about coming to terms with the death of a loved one.

 itself places you right in the shoes of someone taking care of a terminally ill loved one and experiencing very messy human emotions, like getting angry at him for not clinging to any minuscule chance of life but also accepting his choice.

I just really like and admire the frank conversations about death in Sariel's entire arc up to Chapter 18. It's not something you would normally associate with an "otome game" because people still have the prejudice that otome games are about escapism and ideal romance, but Light and Night can do both while making you think about broader philosophical things that will affect us. Death is something we all have to experience, whether that be the deaths of loved ones or ourselves one day.

After Chapter 18, the terminal illness trope disappears (hurrah—). However, what pleasantly surprised me was how Light and Night jumped into talking about your death and how this will leave Sariel alone in the world [

]. Once again, I like how this centers the topic of "death" and, honestly, Light and Night talks about death all the time LOL. In the game, you go through topics about the deaths of loved ones, the deaths of parents, your own death, what drives people to commit suicide, and etc.

A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AN IMMORTAL AND A MORTAL

Anyway, all this talk about death brings me to what I enjoy most about Sariel's character and it's how he's 

 over 3000 years old. You might have already heard me being a broken record about this but, seriously, Sariel's age was chosen with excellent precision because this number is large enough to be hard to understand for a human (we can only really conceptualize living 100-200 years), but it can 

 understood because recorded human history only goes back like 5000 years.

One of my biggest pet peeves in writing is when people throw around big numbers like "He's loved you through millions of reincarnated lives" or "He can see billions of colors". Come on now, no human can conceive of or relate to this, so how do you make readers emotionally feel the 

See, the Light and Night writers show Sariel's age without telling it through scenes about the traditional knowledge he knows or the antique objects he has around him [

]. There are also times where you hear about different accounts of him in history, like how he was demonized in 

I just really like how the writers lead us to the curtain that conceals this hard-to-grasp concept of Sariel's nigh immortality and occasionally we get to 

 that overwhelming and crushing concept through things Sariel says or does, or things you notice in the game. The contrast between his long life and your short life gives this relationship a fuller flavour because there are more layers to it with real consequences and considerations to be had [

Anyway, the main focus of this post was on my personal appreciation of Sariel's age and the topic of death LOL, but I do want to bring up that I also like the mobius strip soulmate thing going on in your relationship with Sariel. Who fell in love with who first [

] and how it doesn't matter because Sariel will always recognize you and always fall in love with you [

Different anon here but I loved your recent response/analysis about Jesse and his character development so far! Just to piggyback off that ask but could we get a version for Sariel too pretty please 🥺 

Ilinox

Curious about Sariel