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chibimyumi · 5 years

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What do you think of sascha? A lot of red flags are raising in my mind. Firstly their obsession with death- I know they seem nice but they seem so happy about war and death could they really be considered good (even if they don't harm anyone), also aren't reapers supposed to be punished by being around death- they love it (plot hole, fail by higher ups) and finally what made someone who seems so happy kill themselves and so young too.

Dear Anon,

Very personally, I tend to have trouble really loving characters who have this little screentime and bring this little explicit information with them. I do see why many people would appreciate them a lot though; especially the people who consider representation of gender neutrality/androgyny something important on personal levels.

In the Japanese manga, because nobody is really addressed with gender pronouns to begin with, Sascha did not really strike me as any different than the rest of the cast who are not either MANLYYYY! of feminine～ But, because there is no canon information that makes Sacha being gender neutral impossible, they can fulfill the role of representation to some people. Speculating and reading between the lines can be very fun (and sometimes it’s all people have), but personally it is not really my thing. To love something, I need a bit more non-speculated-information than this.

Why Sascha became a Reaper

The following includes mentions of:

suicide

(suicidal) depression

domestic abuse.

There are a plethora of reasons for anybody to want to kill themselves, regardless of age. The reason is because suffering does not restrict itself to any age group. I myself know a few children in my life who are/were suicidal, or even attempted suicide. I know it is hard to imagine that children or young people could suffer so bad they want to die; but sadly we do not live in Nirvana.

Perhaps Sascha was victim of severe (domestic) abuse or any other reason to bring them severe depression. Perhaps the situation went so bad out of hand that they decided to set themselves free. If living meant torture, and death meant ANYTHING else than being trapped in this torture, we should consider just in how much pain Sascha used to be. It must have been an “anything but this,” situation for Sascha.

I translated the following page from Japanese to offer a bit of insight on the nuances in Sascha’s words.

“For suicides to be forced to witness people’s attachments and thirsting for life…”

Here, Sascha lays emphasis on ‘ attachment and thirsting’ whereas the way they said it was rather indifferent; they seem very detached from this sentiment, as though they do not personally understand why someone would.

Then, Rutger confirms how feeling depressed because of witnessing this thirsting does not seem to apply to Sascha, and Sascha did not hesitate for a second before verifying Rutger’s words to be true.

ハイ！生きてた頃より毎日楽しいです！　転職かも

HAI! Ikiteta koro yori mainichi tanoshii desu! Tenshoku kamo

YUP! I enjoy ‘every day of my being’ more than in life! This might be a vocation.”

In Japanese, the best translation would be ‘every day of my being’, but that does not read quite natural, so as a final product I myself would have settled with just “my existence”.

From Sascha’s words here, we get explicit information that “even though a Reaper’s life is suffering,” it is still something Sascha “enjoys more”. It’s like “being underpaid is not great, but it’s better than not being paid, i.e. slavery. Hence, I enjoy being underpaid more than slavery.”

Still, we are not entirely sure whether the cheerfulness of Sascha is 100% who they are; perhaps they are just very optimistic and simply grateful to ANYTHING that saved them from their suffering as a human.

Death meant freedom to Sascha, so I do see why Sascha does not see the bad of ‘death’. Perhaps Sascha is just very compassionate and is genuinely happy to see people being relieved of their suffering, and considers being a Reaper a blessing because it gives them the pleasure of seeing freedom as a job.

Rutger, William, and the Japanese Salaryman

Personally I find Rutger rather unique exactly because he is plain; it’s a beauty in simplicity. I also think that Sascha and Rutger are each other’s complimentary characters. Through Rutger’s sullen personality we see Sascha’s cheeriness accentuated, and vice versa. If anything, Rutger shows us what most Reapers are probably like; he tells us the standard mindset Reapers have in face of this punishment.

So far, the majority of the Reapers introduced are VERY odd eggs. Ronald is drowning himself in the anticipation towards dating, Grell is preoccupied with being DIVA and redeeming herself, while Undertaker has gone entirely nuts. As such, none of these Reapers are representative of the effect the intended punishment of becoming Reaper is supposed to be.

The only Reaper introduced in the first batch who reflects how being Reaper is a punishment, is William. William is trying to brainwash himself into loving his job by being the ‘Exemplary Reaper’. Most likely, he does so as a coping mechanism. I am not saying that the odd-egg-Reapers do not suffer. The way the odd eggs are so desperate and fixated on their passions also seems like a coping mechanism to me.

In Japanese working forces, one often hears the phrase: “if you are going to have to do something anyway, you might as well do it happily and swiftly.” The Reaper Dispatch Society is clearly based on the Japanese company structure where employees are made to work long, repetitive hours as uncomplaining as robots. William is the TEXTBOOK Japanese ‘salaryman’. We could surmise that the moment William stops being able brainwash himself into ‘loving his job’, he is going to mentally crumble.

We know of the Undertaker that he also used to be the workaholic, the Star Reaper William is aspiring to be. But look how far gone he is now. Perhaps in a few centuries, we will see William becoming like Undertaker too.

If anything, I think William is more similar to Sascha in the way he works, much more than Rutger. The biggest difference between William and Sascha is that William needs to actively tell himself he loves his job, whereas Sascha does not need to try hard. Sascha has achieved “let it be and make the best out of it.” I think that William might look up to Sascha, or even be jealous of them for genuinely loving this job. (That… or Sascha has just set foot on the slippery slope, and is on their way of becoming Undertaker 2.0…) In contrast, it seems to me that Rutger is already disillusioned and long past the phase of living on coping mechanism.

Like Sascha said, being Reaper is a ‘vocation’ to them. In Japanese 天職 (Tenshoku). The ‘ten’ in ‘tenshoku’ refers to ‘Heaven’, and ‘shoku’ is ‘occupation’. So literally, it translates to ‘heavenly occupation.” Rutger the Cynic does not agree, and tells Sascha off for glorifying this punishment under which many suffer. Could you imagine being an underpaid worker among MANY other victims, and then this one person calls your thankless job a ‘heavenly occupation’? That would hit something sore there, would it not?

#Kuroshitsuji #Black Butler #Shinigami #Reaper #Sascha #Undertaker #William T. Spears #Ronald Knox #Grell Sutcliffe #Rutger #A moment of silent please for potential Rogue!William or Rogue!Sascha #Theory #Analysis #Suicide #Tw suicide #tw domestic abuse #tw depression

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