If you could rewrite Alan and Manon's reunion in Act IV what would you do differently? The whole yelling at her part just doesn't sit right with me. Like, why did he have to lie? I know he wanted to keep her out of danger but... Was that necessary?
(as usual @soveryanon has said it all at least twice and twice longer and i completely agree with her~ but since i’m not a sockpuppet i’ll still answer in my own words)
I wanted Manon to tell him that, Alan, I can become strong too, I’m scared but not afraid, I want to stay with you! and a hug and everything would be fine >WW
but that would have gone a totally different way from the plot.
I “hate” what he did and completely disapprove, but I like it writing-wise: it makes complete sense that Alan did that, because Alan is an idiot and that’s how he works. It’s a very widespread and very annoying male shounen protag* trope of making choices for other people (generally female, though interestingly Alan treats Platane the same way - but Platane often gets the usual female character treatment in the anime, complete with damsel in distress episodes and fanserv) and stripping them of their agency To Protect Them
(*i say shounen because it’s that Spirit, but you can see it in anything, including many Western movies or books)
and that is a terrible trope I specifically HATE, BUT the good thing, and the reason why I like this case of it, is that it is shown to be Bad. Both in the sense that we see it hurts Manon (and Platane) - psychologically but it also endangers her physically —, and that it directly causes bad consequences (Alan is pretty much the single reason why Hari-san is in a coma right now, and if Manon had listened to him back in Act III he would have been pretty much fucked in the legendary battle)
so I wouldn’t rewrite it, because plot- and writing-wise, it makes sense and probably was indeed necessary. But yeah, good decisions- and healthy relationships-wise, no it fucking wasn’t and Alan must be destroyed
(i’ve seen some comments that loved it or think it was the right thing to do or something and: no. do not do this. let people make their own damn decisions and stop romanticizing Hurting (Female) People For Their Own Good Because I Know Better) (especially since in this case, Alan is horribly wrong on top of everything else :p)
