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actresque · 9 months

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Katherine McNamara as Clary Fray Shadowhunters - 3x03 “What Lies Beneath”

#( fc: katherine mcnamara. )

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actresque · 9 months

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Redcliff: The Doomed Toxic Yuri of Kuroshitsuji (Masterpost)

Redcliff, the ship between Madam Red and Grelle Sutcliff, is an underrated gem in this fandom. While it get's a fair bit of love here on Tumblr, it is still extremely overlooked, so I wanted to make an appreciation/analysis post for this scarlet duo. Brace yourselves, this one will be long.

What we know of canon:

The pair originally crossed paths on the night Angelina Dalles, Madam Red, murdered a prostitute in cold blood, out of bitterness and jealousy over the fact the woman had an abortion, while Madam herself is infertile and unable to bear a child.

A Grim Reaper observes the scene, in awe of the woman's rage. Introducing herself as Grelle Sutcliff, the reaper reveals that she reosonates with Madam's anger and pain, as she too wishes she could have children but cannot due to her body.

In a different scene, Grelle further elaborates on her reasoning, expressing how she fell head over heels for Madam.

(I do have to note, the phrase she uses in Japanese isn't exclusively romantic, and can be read as either platonic or romantic)

Together they join forces and become Jack The Ripper.

To avoid suspicion, Grelle takes on a persona of Madam's incompetant clumsy butler. They kept up this charade for nearly 3 years, eventually being cornered by Madam Red's nephew.

In that moment Madam Red is faced with the choice to either kill her darling nephew, the last remaining reminder of her beloved sister, or face justice for her actions.

Ultimately, she spears her nephew's life, and in a furious rage, Grelle kills her then and there, expressing disgust and disappointment over the fact Madam allowed herself to be controlled by such meaningless emotions.

After all, Grelle sacrificed so much for her, from breaking the rules of reaper conduct by helping her kill those women who weren't meant to die, to creating the perfect alibi for her by playing the role of a male butler, something she most definately hated if her confessional is anything to go by.

Grelle takes Madam's coat, concluding that Angelina is unworthy of wearing Red, for she was just another woman.

Since Madam Red's death, we've gotten very little insight as to how Grelle feels about the fact she took the life of her partner in crime. But what we do know, is that she doesn't like being reminded of it.

During the Campania arc, Undertaker taunts her, comparing himself to her, and how they both tempered with human lives, to which Grelle calls him noisy.

This post by @/akumadeenglish discusses how the depth of Undertaker's comment and Grelle's response might have gotten lost in translation.

And when Othello teases her about her about the Jack The Ripper case, she doesn't look pleased at all. Needless to say, I believe she does have complicated feelings over what she's done, and I'm hoping they'll be elaborated on in the manga.

Yana discussing the pair:

While the creator of Kuroshitsuji doesn't discuss Madam and Grelle's relationship often, she did give us a few more bits of insight in a series of tweets back in 2018.

(A screenshot of the translation by @/delicate-transformation)

While Yana does say "they are like sisters", this phrase possibly also be read as her calling attention to how similar the two are (they are so similar they could be sisters) or their closeness (they are as close as sisters), it doesn't necessarily mean they saw eachother in a familial way. Also the fact Yana basically said they make each other worse so true!!!

Yana also discusses the pair in her blog post for the Kuroshitsuji #100 illustration.

"Grell and Madam Red are a male/female couple and Grell is the lead of course, but emotionally speaking, they are a female/female couple." (here's a detailed translation of the blogpost by @/akumadeenglish)

The word couple isn't necessarily romantic in this instance either, as it's refering to them as a dancing couple, but I think it's still worth mentioning.

Supplementary material:

The Nijishitsuji (Rainbow Butler) Anthology is an official Kuroshitsuji anthology of comics by fellow mangaka. Two of them focus on Grelle and Angelina's relationship, and the characterization in them is amazing and gives us a glimpse into their relationship. These comics are not by Yana, and is thefor are not canon, but the fact the mangaka behind them (Chiaki Nagaoka) later became one of Yana Toboso's assistant's, does tell me that Yana really loved these comics (not only are they in the official anthology, but she also made the mangaka who created them an assistant, inch resting).

(You can read the translated version of Red Virgin on @/delicate-transformation's blog and a translated version of Red Theatre on this website I found! But here are some highlights)

I'm just saying let Chiaki Nagaoka cook, she's onto something here.

The amount of blushing between them in these comics... (I'm so normal I'm normal)

And also god... the Lycoris that Blazes the Earth musical... do you see the level of tenderness between them???

While of course, female friendships can be intimate and touchy feely don't get me wrong, one can't deny the obvious romantic reading these poses invoke.

This is true to how Yana draws them as well. While I don't think Yana intended for them to be a romantic pair in the text itself, I do believe the framing of their relationship is fueled in homoeroticism.

Just gals being pals!!!

Why Redcliff should be canonized:

I strongly believe Redcliff would add so much more depth to Grelle's character. Madam is already a really fleshed out character, but we know so little about Grelle and her inner world, despite the fact she's been in the manga much more then Madam.

Grelle's relationship with love in the series has always been her chasing after men who don't love her back. So to find out that Grelle, not only had a mutually romantic relationship with someone, let alone a woman, would add so much more depth to her character, because it would recontexualize everything.

Grelle is continously portrayed as a hopeless flirt who is never given the time of day by the men she flirts with. The idea that she had someone who loved her, who she was happy with, but ripped it all appart at the slightest sign of doubt, the slightest hint that the love isn't mutual, is sooo fascinating.

Again it would also recontexualize why Grelle was at her flirtiest after Angelina's death, and mellowed out almost as the manga progressed. She needs a distraction, she needs someone to love her.

Not to mention the fact Grelle loved romantic tragedies, imagining her own love ending as a tragedy is so juicy.

Oh and there's something to be said about how a lot of sapphic trans women I've talked to felt obligated to love men (because society's idea of womanhood is so tied to heterosexuality sadly), and ignored their attraction to women when they were still early in transition. I see this is an extremely common occurance both with trans girls I know, and ones I see online.

I'm just saying, reading Grelle's excessive flirting with men as compulsory heterosexuality born out of a need to validate her womanhood is a very cool and interesting reading (though extremely unlikely to be canon, but hey we got headcanons for that!)

Anyhow. In short. Redcliff is by far the most interesting Kuroshitsuji ship by far (in my opinion). It's quite literally the female rage ship, the relationship born out of mutual shared pain of what it means to be a woman, it's the toxic codependant doomed yuri situationship EVER.

It's toxic, it's tragic, it's intimate, it's loving, it's messy.

They made each other happy, but they also made each other worse.

Make 👏 Redcliff 👏 Canon! 👏

#good post thank you op #( meta. )#( rs: we paint white roses red. | grelle & angelina )

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actresque · 1 year

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#wife #( a killer queen. | self )

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actresque · 1 year

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“チープの遊びは嫌いなの”

#( a killer queen. | self )

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actresque · 1 year

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I think every character should be drawn in a flower crown at least once 😌 This would’ve been art for Grelle’s birthday a long time ago lmao (for those who may not know, a lot of us in the fandom celebrate her unofficial birthday on February 17th which is the date when she first appeared in the manga, so yeah I’m a tad bit late 😂).

#she's baby #( a killer queen. | self )

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actresque · 1 year

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I couldn't decide which one so have two versions