People Hate Kalim For Attention. I Stand On That

I sent that ask about Malleus's treatment being unfair and now that it's over I'm going to make my point more clear, since it seems it wasn't last time.

Malleus's crimes:

-Putting people to sleep on a wide scale

-Less injuries that a *sports* tournament (according to Epel)

The other overblots' crimes:

-Attempted murder, including targeted murder and wiping out *all life* (aka murder on a wide scale)

Malleus's consequences:

-Accidentally killed his own father

-Physically maimed

-Magically disabled

-Losing the entire foundation of who he is and having to rebuild his identity from scratch

-The trauma of his actions

The other overblots' consequences:

-Riddle was socially shunned for a while (and even this is shown mostly in other media, not the game)

-The trauma of their actions

Meanwhile the other overblots say that Malleus deserves further punishment (to which Crowley thankfully points out they have no right to speak) as does a fair chunk of the fanbase. How does this make any sense? Might I also add that the only ones who ever apologized for their actions are Riddle, Vil, and *Malleus.* So why is it that Malleus is seen as being so much worse than the others? Why is Malleus called a monster, a living disaster, and the enemy of mankind (all things said in canon) and nobody else has anything similar said about them? I'm not arguing that there shouldn't be consequences, I'm arguing that the scale of it does not align with twst's previous messaging and themes. Whether or not Malleus's consequences are fair in general is one thing, but in comparison with our previous standards it's wildly unfair. And yet people are still calling for more, and fans are being rude to Diasomnia fans about it. It simply doesn't add up.

As for Silver, nowhere did I say Silver should pay for his father's crimes. I said that his *father* never earned the right for his image to be restored because he stood idly by against what he thought was wrong. Silver shouldn't have to be used to restore his *father's* image, when that image doesn't align with who Silver is.

Dear Anon,

I was writing a well thought out and sincere response essay to your initial take, but since you're back and doubling down I'm just going to tell you why you're wrong.

WARNING: The following response is pretty rude. Malleus gets everything he had coming to him and here's why. . .

No, really.

This is going to sound "mean."

You didn't even bother to address the questions I presented in my previous response.

You aren't going to like this.

Stop scrolling. . .

WHAT PART OF, "MALLEUS DRACONIA IS CAUSING A WORLD-ENDING MAGICAL CATASTROPHY," DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND?????

The story established that PEOPLE WOULD DIE if the spell wasn't broken. Malleus had absolutely no intention of stopping what he was doing. He didn't stop at just Lilia, or the party, or the school, or even stop at Sage's Island. He was going to curse the whole of Twisted Wonderland. If he wasn't stopped by force EVERYONE WOULD HAVE DIED, and you're trying to tell me that it's not as bad as Riddle (whose overblot never affected anyone outside of the unbirthday party), Leona, and Vil (who's rampages were contained to a sports stadium) because he "Wasn't trying to hurt anyone"? Because "No one actually ended up getting hurt"?No. I'm not going to feel bad about the sentient manifestation of a mass extinction event being referred to as, "The enemy of humanity." If something or someone is threatening the entire population of the world (including beastmen, merfolk, and other fae) then he is in fact an enemy of everyone under threat, REGARDLESS OF WHAT HIS INTENTIONS ARE. You ever hear "The road to hell is paved with good intentions"? Yeah. That. Malleus didn't want to kill people, but that's effectively what he was doing and ignoring that fact is blatantly irresponsible. On a better day? Everyone's fear of Malleus is largely misplaced and of course calling him an enemy of humanity would be inherently prejudiced and way out of line. BUT THAT WAS NOT THE SITUATION AT THE TIME AND YOU ARE IGNORING THE THREAT HE VERY MUCH POSED IN FAVOR OF BABYING HIM OVER HIS INTENTIONS!

Let's recap here: MULTIPLE PEOPLE TRIED TO TALK MALLEUS DOWN AND GET HIM TO STOP OF HIS OWN ACCORD. Pray tell, dear Anon, what should they have done after that? You want to compare overblots? Let's compare overblots.

Every prior overblot in this story has been resolved by every nearby available person beating the ever loving snot out of the guilty party until it was over. As a result, five out of six previous overblots were ended within an hour of them occurring. Idia at the time was an exception and had been overblotted for several hours by the time he was knocked back to his senses. In the case of the Tartarus crisis, they even used STYX most powerful anti-blot weapons (the thunder spears) to attack the Shroud brothers because it was necessary to use potentially lethal force to stop the phantoms from breaking out of the facility and effectively save the world. THEY DID WHAT THEY HAD TO DO AND THEY DID NOT HOLD BACK! THEY DID NOT KNOW IF THEY COULD SAVE IDIA! In this way, Malleus is being treated EXACTLY like the other overblotters. When Malleus Draconia overblots, they tried the usual tactics. They tried to collectively overpower him at the farewell party and no one could touch him. Everyone was helpless to stop him. They all fell to his magic quick as winking. Malleus Draconia has TERRIFYING AMOUNTS OF MAGIC. So when he won't listen to reason, WHAT IN THE NINE HELLS ARE THEY SUPPOSE TO DO TO STOP HIM FROM ENDING LIFE ON THE PLANET AS THEY KNOW IT?

. . .

I know.

How about something they've been doing since the start of the story?

TAKE AWAY HIS MAGIC!

You know, what Riddle's signature spell does? What he did to Grim in the prologue? What he did to Leona when confronting him about the sports sabotage? Remember how in order to STOP RIDDLE FROM KILLING PEOPLE Trey overwrote his signature spell so that they would stand a fighting chance? Remember when the previous overblotters (and Grim) were immediately dressed in anti-magic collars to avoid issues when they were brought to STYX to be vetted? It's almost like we established that this is a thing people do in Twisted Wonderland do to handle magical emergencies.

Truly and honestly, what are you supposed to do when one of the five most powerful mages in the world poses a threat to your very existence and those you love? Try talking him down AGAIN? It makes complete and total sense to try and make Malleus weaker. How are they supposed to fight and beat him to stop the world as they know it from ending when he has access to the UNHOLY AMOUNTS OF MAGIC that they have repeatedly established he has? That they have been bested by repeatedly. NO ONE IN ON OR OFF OF SAGE'S ISLAND HAD BEEN ABLE TO TOUCH HIM OR DO ANYTHING AGAINST HIS POWER FOR DAYS! HE HAS BEEN OVERBLOTTING FOR DAYS WITHOUT A STOP TO HIS EXPANDING SPHERE OF INFLUENCE ENVELOPING THE WORLD! Cutting off his horns was a perfectly valid step to take because THEY QUITE LITERALLY HAD NO OTHER OPTIONS!

As for leaving him dismembered and disabled. . .

First off, let's remember that I just pointed out that the fate of the world was resting on that decision, and they had no other choice.

Secondly. . .

You have got to be kidding me.

Are you really comparing Malleus losing a PIECE of ONE of his horns to someone losing a limb? It's not even like losing your pinky finger! It's maybe sorta kinda like getting a nail torn out. HIS HORN WILL GROW BACK.

"But magic is second nature to fae so it IS like losing a__"

Shut up. No it's not.

He can still use magic. HE IS NOT DISABLED!

Oh no! One of the top five most powerful mages on the planet can't casually use magic to deal with every element of his daily life and fix every minor inconvenience he's presented with anymore. He might have to struggle to do things now. WHAT EVER WILL POOR MALLEUS DO NOW THAT HE'S NOT EXPONENTIALLY MORE POWERFUL THAN ALL HIS PEERS AND TEACHERS!? I GUESS HE'LL JUST HAVE TO GO TO SCHOOL LIKE EVERYONE ELSE! HOW DARE HE BE HUMANIZED! HOW DARE THIS PRECIOUS TRAUMATIZED MAGESTIC PRINCELY OVERPOWERED DRAGON IN HUMAN FORM BE FORCED TO LIVE LIKE THE COMMON FOLK!

I guess he'll just have to learn to see things through the eyes of his peers and have a new perspective on life he wasn't privvy to previously now that magic isn't something he can fling around casually. Seriously. How dare Malleus be given character development potential when none of the other overblotters were treated like this. IT'S SSOOOOOO UNFAAAAAAIIIRRRRRRR!!!1!1!1!1!!

Oh yeah, do you want to keep comparing him to the other overblotters? Because with how much of his horn he lost, he's about as disfigured as Leona. You know. The guy with the scar? Malleus has a scar now, however, unlike Leona's, Malleus' scar will disappear.

Have I mentioned how Riddle was in the same boat of abusing his power because he thought he was doing "the right thing" because he was also traumatized as a child? Riddle is so weak by comparison and caused so little a comparative fuss that a punch to the face and getting hassled by his dormmates is justice by TWST standards (we all know this is a writng problem for this game in general, right?). And you REALLY don't want me to mention how every other person who overblotted acted out of their minds with rage and pent up emotions as they did violent things that they ordinarily wouldn't consider while Malleus was oddly lucid and could actually consider being talked to while he cursed the world. Malleus was destroying the world and in enough of his right mind to consider stopping. But no, Malleus is the one being treated unfairly.

Dear Anon, Malleus Draconia has always been an extreme character. He's always been extremely powerful and used his magic flippantly with little regard for how others feel about it. His overblot caused an extreme situation that the rest of the cast was forced to take extreme measures to deal with. Him being treated "differently" from all of the other overblotters is DIRCTLY PROPORTIONAL TO THE DANGER HE POSED. On the extreme scale Malleus is working on, he is certainly not worse off than any other previous chapters' final bosses. So, no, I don't care that people called him mean names when he was slowly destroying the world. I don't care that his magic was "nerfed" and now he has to come down off his high horse and live a little like everyone else now. And I really don't care that fans are asking for more justice to be done JUST LIKE THEY DO WITH EVERY OTHER OVERBLOTTER WHO GOT OFF WITH A SLAP ON THE WRIST! WE DEMAND MORE FROM ALL OF THEM! Malleus is NOT an exception.

"Thank you for your take."

And yes, saying that Silver should not have his heroic moment as a knight in shining armor because that armor was worn when committing war crimes IS devaluing Silver based on his father's sins. Being a knight in shining armor is completely in character for Silver (AS A FREAKING DISNEY PRINCESS), and the fact that he is doing a good thing is meant to CONTRAST with his father who did bad things, NOT absolve said father of wrongdoing. The same tool that was once used for evil is now being used for good. IT'S POETIC!

theyre bonding

Hello, 👋

Vetted by @90-ghost

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OKAY TRAUMA OLYMPICS TIME!

Ranking every Overblotter based on how sad their backstory makes me: THAT MEANS IT’S VERY BIASED AND SUBJECTIVE!

Waves hands in a manic gesture towards the disclaimer* (Now is your chance to turn around!)

7: Azul Ashengrotto-Got picked on for being different. The thing that takes me out about Azul’s backstory and its connection to his overblot is how basic it feels. I’m not here to invalidate his feelings, I understand those insecurities, but apparently the only thing stopping more people from overblotting is that they can’t accumulate blot at the same rate because of lower magic output. If you ask me, the real tragedy of his character is his inability to acknowledge his own achievements. He says, “I’ll show them!” and, yes, hon, you did. Calm down. You are 15, nothing is stopping you from becoming the person you say you are (unlike half the other people on this list). (0/10 He tried to take advantage of my compassion and took my home away. He can cry harder into his money for all I care. Also bottom tier Overblot design.)

6: Vil Schoenheit—Hates being typecast and treated like number two. Bro’s real crime is checking his socials too much and letting it get to him. I feel nothing for Vil and he’s only above Azul because his situation is a little less common as a one in a million super celebrity which can come with outlandish amounts of stress I can't comprehend. Again, the tragedy is his inability to be satisfied with his current state of his career and acknowledge his success because someone’s always above him. YOU ARE 18! YOU HAVE YOUR WHOLE CAREER AHEAD OF YOU! Give yourself some space to breath. He’s the one character you’d think would know and see a therapist. He’s so perfectly managed about every other element of his life it seems almost out of character for him not to be considering his mental health. If you consider he's even taking time away from his career to go to school and have "normal teen experiences" I don't know why I should feel bad. (0/10 Attempted murder. Jealous biotch. Probably, less sympathetic than Azul actually.)

5: Leona Kingscholar—Also hates his life situation and being treated like second fiddle. Leona is above Vil because he DOESN’T have a way out of being “typecast.” Time and talent can't save him. He was born into a situation where he can’t be anything other than the second prince and when he finally got a chance to be number one at something (Spelldrive at NRC) Malleus shows up to put him back down to second place again. Life seems to have a karmic way of making Leona nothing more and I feel that. Honestly, Leona’s state makes me cry but I can’t rank him higher because the canon content for his character is sparse. Most of the elements about Leona are things you have to look into and read out of his actions and backstory and while that’s not bad, it’s frustrating that a lot of people overlook them because they aren’t as explicit as the other characters. Leona’s depression is very real, but because the symptoms manifest as less sad-boy and more tired jackass a lot of people overlook his failing mental health. He’s badly written and I feel like the first iteration of his backstory (Book 2 in game) does the worst job about making you feel anything for him considering his actions. (4/10 Smart character with lots of potential but written like an idiot where it counted. Also attempted murder.)

4: Malleus Draconia (TENTATIVE)—Doesn’t want to be alone. After all, what’s the point of being so powerful when it’s so lonely? Loneliness is a feeling that I think doesn’t get explored enough in the media I consume (maybe I need to look harder), so Malleus can be a little higher for what I currently perceive as his reasons for overblotting. He’s an immortal being constantly ostracized by the position he was born into and suffers from the classic conundrum of having to watch everyone he cares about go before him. For all intents and purposes he’s an orphan. He doesn’t have a lot of people he’s related to and can really consider close, so it hits him extra hard when they can’t be around anymore, and for all of his age, as a fae he’s really very young, immature, and inexperienced. The game is doing its darndest to make sure that he gets as thorough an explanation as possible and actively wants you to understand where he’s coming from and feel bad. So he gets the halfway point because as much as I love this kind of thing, favoritism and getting the longest time to explore his feelings only gets him so high. (6/10 I like that the MC has a personal stake in this one, and he's not actively trying to kill anyone.) (Since Book 8 isn’t over yet, his position is subject to change later.)

3: Riddle Rosehearts—Anal retentive to the extreme. Riddle’s mom is so hated by the fandom she is never getting a face reveal. Is now the time to express how bad I feel about Riddle being traumatized by strictness and rules to the point where he honestly believes that bending the most absurd rules will result in disastrous consequences? Maybe. I appreciate that we saw exactly the inciting incident that made Riddle the way he is now. So much of his character falls back on that one time he broke the rules as a kid, and it HAS SO MUCH IMPACT. He gets a lot of props for being one of the few overblotters to actually have character growth post-featured book. Riddle is a contender for second place, but his potential ability to grow beyond his circumstances makes him less tragic. (7/10 Riddle is a surprisingly strong first antagonist in the main story. Almost killed someone, but that was notably AFTER he broke down and turned into a rampaging monster.)

2: Jamil Viper—Can never be his true self. Jamil is another guy who was born into his lifestyle and has no feasible way out of what’s driving him up the wall. It’s not just about Kalim being naïve and sheltered, it’s about how Jamil himself can’t ever use the gifts he has or escape from that fate. He is better than Kalim at a lot of things, but has to act like an amateur so he doesn’t outshine the guy he’s been sworn to protect and serve. He has expectations set on him, and duties to fulfill, and his best route in life as presented to him is just to be as average and boring as possible despite his innate talent and potential. I don’t know if there’s supposed to be a way for Jamil to get out of his family’s servitude to the Al-Asims that causes him to be so bitter, so at this point I kind of assume he’s stuck and that makes it extra sad. The fact that he really just wants to go on vacation makes it hit harder that he’s not even that bad for a guy at a villains’ school. Book 5 giving him a chance to break out of that shadow is great, honestly. (8/10 I can't hate him. He just wants a break, man. He wasn't even trying to hurt anyone, but loses a point for dragging Yuu/MC into his scheme. [Don't y'all dare throw Kalim hate in here. That's not what this is about. I will fight you.])

1: Idia Shroud—Survivor’s Guilt. Book 6 really went there and we are going to talk about it. He did something he shouldn’t have as a kid and now he has to live with the fact that his kid brother is dead. He wanted so badly to undo what he did that he built a new version of him even though he knew deep down he could never replace Ortho. No. I’m sorry. You’re not beating that. That’s not event including the fact that he’s also stuck as a fracking guardian of the underworld in a family that is supposed to be incapable of overblotting in the first place. Idia has textbook depression, and that’s not a bad thing. He feels just as trapped as everyone else and doesn’t see a point to doing anything the conventional way if he doesn’t have to. Idia is NOT a perfect person or character, but as far as his writing for why he ends up doing what he does, I think he easily takes the cake. (10/10 Will weep again. Character writing, with a little dash of hope that he can find some bright spots in life. Extra points for Ortho telling him to keep living. Also, he has the coolest Overblot design. 100/10 for Technopunk Hades.)

This is a super abridged version of what I have to say regarding each of these characters, so I may have to write out actual essays and character analysis for them eventually. I tried to get out the gist of my rankings in as short a form as possible, but that might not be good enough for some people. Feel free to tell me how I misunderstand and mischaracterize your fave.

Penance

a whole bunch of gazan mutual aid projects and nonprofits. if the decision of which individual fundraiser to give to feels too daunting, or if you just want to help as many people as possible in one go, these are great initiatives to support.

care for gaza - focuses on providing food and essential supplies. donate here or here.

connecting humanity - securing internet access via donations of virtual sim cards (esims). if you can't afford a whole plan yourself, crips for esims is a communal pool that will use your donation to purchase and maintain esims

gaza soup kitchen - provides food, medical care, and classes for children. also has a gofundme

glia gaza medical support initiative - provides medical care through field clinics and tents at hospitals. donations can also be sent through their website.

ele elna elak - provides clean water, food, clothing, and shelter. they also have a gofundme

life for gaza - raising money for the gaza municipality to repair water and waste management infrastructure

taawon - partners with local civil organizations to provide food, water, medical care, shelter, and basic supplies

the sameer project - running various initiatives providing tents, medical care, and necessities. they have their own encampment project focused on sheltering families with children, sick and disabled members, or members in need of perinatal care

islamic relief worldwide's gaza emergency appeal - provides food, water, hygiene kits, medical supplies, and psychological support

baitulmaal - provides a variety of necessities, including food, water, shelter, and medical supplies

gaza mutual aid fund - distributes food, hygiene products, water, and other essential supplies, including financial support. run by @/el-shab-hussein's amazing friend Mona. updates can be found on her instagram.

hygiene kits for gaza - provides hygiene supplies including menstrual products, wipes, and toothbrushes/toothpaste

anera - provides a variety of necessities, including food, water, hygiene supplies, medicine, blankets and mattresses, and psychological care

palestine children's relief fund - provides supplies and support with a focus on children. also has an initiative for lebanon

certainly this is not an exhaustive list, so please feel free to add on other projects or organizations that i didn't include. and as always, please take the time to donate if you can and share. it truly makes all the difference.

wake up mskb nation

when ur so chronic for toxic cookie yaoi u bust out a a whole animatic for them in a week 😖😖

Btw ty to all those who liked, reblogged or commented on the wip UR ALL ACTUALLY THE BEST TYSMMMMM

Since you mentioned this in an earlier ask, what is your take on feminist Leona? I see people saying things like "consent king" "he drinks his respect women juice" and "leona kingscholar says men ain't shit" but I think those are mainly jokes but I've also seen a lot of for example Leona x reader fanfics where he's a lot nicer to femme Yuus than masc ones. I don't play the game so I don't know how much of a feminist he really is, could you clarify and give your own insights? Ty Miss Raven!!!!!!!

[Referencing this post!]

Admittedly, I am guilty of having made “consent king” jokes but that’s mainly because I think consent + respecting others’ autonomy is very sexy important and it’s slightly funny to have a 185 cm muscular anime cat boy championing the concept. However, I try to avoid making jokes which would imply Leona puts down his own gender or thinks lesser of them because 1) canon doesn't indicate this and 2) it can be hurtful to non-femme Twst fans. Yes, most of the fandom is women--but that doesn't mean we shouldn't make this fandom space welcoming for masculine or nonbinary Twst fans.

Let's delve into a brief history of where feminist!Leona comes from! After that, I'll discuss my own thoughts and feelings about it.

The idea first came into prominence because of an exchange that occurs in Cater's School Uniform vignette. In it, Cater is trying to convince Leona to join him for a party that he's throwing for Rosaria, one of the talking paintings at NRC. At first, Leona refuses--but he quickly changes his tune once Cater mentions Rosaria is a "she/her". Leona states, "Portrait or not, I respect ladies and Rosaria is a lady." Cater then whispers to Kalim (who is shocked that Leona suddenly agreed to come along), "Leona's kingdom is all about being respectful to ladies."

It should be noted that Leona says something slightly different in JP: “Even if it’s a portrait, a woman is a woman.” JP does not have the “I respect ladies” portion; “I respect ladies” was added to EN, which may have further amplified the interpretation that he is a feminist.

Now, as we learn from that vignette, the Sunset Savanna has a culture of "respecting women". In Leona's Ceremonial Robes vignette, he elaborates that, “[Beastwomen are] already way stronger than [beastmen]." Furthermore, Ruggie states in one of his Chats that “Girls have both the grit and the camaraderie to triumph when the goin’ gets tough.” Then, in events like Tamashina Mina and late in book 7, we are told that many of the royal guards are women who volunteer for the positions and it's common for them to have learned martial arts from a young age. From this dialogue, we can glean that the women of Leona's home country are physically strong, strong-willed, and honorable.

With that being said, I think certain interpretations of Leona's "feminism" (a term not actually used by official materials; this is a fandom take) definitely take it a step too far by either assuming Leona treats woman as a special class and/or he dislikes men. Both of those interpretations (if serious and not said as a joke) are owed to a fundamental misunderstanding of what "feminism" is. Feminism is "the belief in full social, economic, and political equality for women." Feminism is NOT misandry (a hatred of men), and nor is it female chauvinism (the belief that women are superior to men)... unless, of course, you're talking about very radicalized forms of thinking. The basic concept of feminism doesn't involve man hate or putting women on a pedestal.

Twst itself appears to go with the basic definition of feminism. As Leona himself states, he doesn't treat anyone special. "I ain't extra nothin' to nobody. As if [women] even need men fawning all over'em."

Leona, whom we know to be arrogant and unwilling to obey others' orders, appears to be more willing to listen to and carry out tasks if there's a woman involved. I already mentioned the case with Rosaria the painting (which proves that his "respecting women" thing extends beyond just beastwomen from his home country). In his Ceremonial Robes, he also grumpily puts on the aforementioned robes and takes a picture of himself in it upon the request of his sister-in-law. But--and this should be stressed--he's not exactly jumping for joy or eager to do so. Instead, Leona cites that "Goin’ against [beastwomen] only brings more trouble.” This indicates annoyance at having to carry out this chore, and gives the impression that Leona's only complying because not doing so would only overcomplicate things for him. He's not an idiot--he knows when to make a strategic retreat if it's going to save him time and effort in the long run. (For example, he immediately surrenders to the Ferrymen in book 6 rather than continue to put up a fight.)

I should note that, like in the earlier definition of feminism I shared, Leona does not simply bend the knee to every single woman. In the first Halloween event, he was still capable of scaring off the Magicam Monsters (some of which have distinctly female voices) without any qualms. He was still fully able to express anger and upset when Eliza, the Ghost Bride, smacked him. "You've got a lot of nerve turnin' me down over some nonsense!" He's also not above tricking the Fairy Queen and her entourage to steal back the special magestone from NRC.

This shows us that Leona doesn't just... "respect women" indiscriminately. If someone is going to be rude and selfish to him, he's going to respond as is appropriate. He's not going to turn a blind eye because of the offending party's gender.

In terms of Yuu interactions (assuming Yuu can be any gender), Leona acts pretty aggressive towards them in their first meeting. Even though it's clearly an accident and Yuu didn't realize they stepped on his tail, Leona is annoyed by the act and them walking away without apologizing or stopping to acknowledge him. He also makes it known that Yuu is magicless, and thus has no way of defending themselves from him. And you know what this man does? He says, "Well, can't say it'd be much fun to hurt someone so helpless. Still gonna do it, though." AND HE THREATENS TO TAKE A TOOTH. His wording, "No one gets to stomp on my tail and just walk away without payin' the price" + him still deciding to attack Yuu desite knowing they are weak/cannot fight back, implies to me that he may have still reacted this way regardless of Yuu's gender. (Key word: MAY. We don't know if this is the truth or not, I am leaving this up to your interpretation.)

Notably, there is a light change between EN and JP versions for Yuu's dialogue choices in response to Leona's threat. The EN dialogue options are far more humorous, but the JP options clearly convey fear (ie Leona is being serious about his threat of bodily harm). The top option is like noises of surprise, like "Eh, eh, eh!!"; the bottom option is along the lines of, "What, I'm going to be hit/beaten!"

There are, in fact, multiple instances where Leona acts callous towards Yuu. He refuses to let Yuu stay in Savanaclaw unless they earn their keep by beating up some mobs. He constantly degrades them by calling them and others he considers weak "herbivore". He has to be goaded into helping us or taking us along on trips instead of automatically caving. It could be argued that he would be more agreeable or polite if fem!Yuu was in these scenarios. And who knows, that might be the case--but again, I don't think he would be egregiously kind. I would like to point out a more direct example of a Leona-fem!Yuu interaction. Leona has interacted with a female Yuu before: Yuuka Hirasaka, our main character for the Episode of Savanaclaw manga. There's some debate over whether or not the NRC students know that Yuuka is a girl since the topic is never mentioned once, but I assume that they are aware because: 1) Yuuka makes no effort to hide her figure or chest; she even wears her blazer open, and 2) she has no motivation to hide her gender; she is capable of defending herself if needed and has a nonchalant personality. Proceeding with the assumption that Yuuka being a girl is a known fact, Leona does not treat her any differently than any other student.

Yuuka seems to experience the same tail-stepping scene as is depicted in game, although we don't see the aftermath of it/if Leona gives her the same threat.

The more telling scene for Yuuka, however, comes when she and her friends arrive in Savanaclaw to investigate. They are confronted by a bunch of mobs that start to pick a fight with them. Like in the game, Leona intervenes (ie he doesn't stop the fight just because Yuuka is a woman) and has them duke it out in a game of spelldrive/magift instead.

And you know what? Leona doesn't hold back just because he's playing against a woman. In fact, he kicks Yuuka's ass and then some. Then he stands over her and tells her to get back up, to keep playing. Leona isn't cutting Yuuka any slack whatsoever. He treats Yuuka the same as the boys she's playing with.

This brings me to my final prominent example of Leona interacting with a woman, which I think best exemplifies what my interpretation of Leona's "feminism" is. In the JP server's 2024 Halloween event Lost in the Book with Nightmare Before Christmas, Sally indicates that she plans on making a meal using the plants from around the cemetery. Leona is at first displeased by this, but then agrees to help her catch snakes, rats, lizards, etc. as meat for the meal. This leads into a conversation about how sad Sally's home life is, which earns her sympathy from the other NRC students. Jade, Riddle, and Epel are shocked at the cruelty that Sally faces. Jade volunteers to take the doctor out for Sally, and Epel even tries to convince Leona to help him rough up Dr. Finkelstein. But Leona just smirks and tells them Sally's not in any need of their "help"; isn't she the one who slipped the doctor a "drink"? Riddle scolds him for this "ungentlemanly" behavior and Epel refuses to believe that the "kind Sally" would do something like use poison. Leona was able to smell the deadly nightshade on her and deduce that Sally slipped some to her guardian and then slipped out on her own. She's not a damsel in distress--she's resourceful. Sally used her brains and not brute force to rescue herself from a bad situation. (We know that this would deeply resonate with Leona because he has been struggling his entire life to have his own merits recognized.) Leona praises Sally for her cunning and goes so far as to offer her his arm and tell her that he's looking forward to this evening's dinner.

In this situation, could it not be said that Jade, Riddle, and Epel were the ones assuming Sally is weak that Leona was the one who saw her true worth? I'm of course not accusing anyone here of being sexist. Society socializes us to see women as the "fairer sex" in need of protection and aid--but isn't Leona being more equitable by not underestimating Sally because of her gender?

That brings me to my conclusion. Leona respects women, no doubt about that. However, that's NOT a blanket statement. He clearly knows how to separate who is worthy of his respect and who isn't, and then he acts accordingly. Yes, he is polite, slightly softer, and more willing to listen to women he knows (his sister-in-law), women who haven't offended him/are just existing (Rosaria), and woman who have demonstrated their own strengths to him (Sally). He doesn’t become a completely different character just to bend to the whims of women. Those who have acted in ways to earn his ire, woman or not, will be treated as such (Magicam Monsters, Eliza, even Yuu when they/she enters his territory and/or steps on his tail). At the same time, I don't believe he thinks that women are delicate flowers that need special treatment (as we see with how he handles Sally + the Yuus and, more specifically, Yuuka). If anything, the women from his home country have demonstrated that they can be strong and self-sufficient. Why would he feel the need to go out of his way to be extremely lenient with the women he is around?

Lastly, nothing in official materials implies Leona treats men significantly worse than women. If he seems exceedingly rude to men, it’s most likely the result of the main cast (the characters Leona most often interacts with) being guys. If we were to compare how he treats his peers and how he treats women who have irritated him, I would say the behavior isn’t that different.

I know that was a long post but 😅 Hopefully I was able to articulate my thoughts well enough… May you find it helpful in forming your own opinion, Anon!

So Pyuba and Golchi is facing eachother next? I love how two of them are like the embodiment of the sun.