This is a great post! I hadn't thought much about this scene before, and I really appreciated taking some time to do so. I love all your observations about their fighting styles, especially. <3
At the very end of ep17, they’d met a guy wearing a mask/faceguard (Ye Huo), who commented on Chu Shuzhi seeming strong but Guo Changcheng seeming like weak trash who shouldn’t be here because it’s not safe. (Which is fair, as we eventually learn.) Chu Shuzhi promised to protect Guo Changcheng, Ye Huo walked off, and ep17 ended.
I'd forgotten that! It's kind of a throw-away exchange until you know Ye Huo's situation and how set he is on defending people. With that context, though, I feel like Ye Huo must appreciate CSZ's loyalty and protectiveness to his hapless little friend, and see that connection as a strength/virtue rather than a weakness.
The audience sure thinks it’s about a belt; it’s really not.
Ha, yeah. Not for either of them. I really like how they each have different stakes here.
They’re both playing fair and by the rules, and giving each other time to safely stand up when knocked down. (Even though they both have emotional investment in winning, for very different reasons!)
That's really cool! I was vaguely aware of this, of course, but I hadn't consciously paid much attention.
Chu Shuzhi’s style of fighting uses a lot more wide and somewhat-uncontrolled swings than the other fighters we’re shown in this episode. That makes sense, considering that he probably never had any formal training.
This, too. I really love this detail -- thanks for drawing attention to it!
I wonder if CSZ was taken aback by Ye Huo's power, or by his being willing to use it so publicly (or both).
A thought about this scene/Ye Huo in general as part of Chu Shuzhi's relationship arc: I think once Chu Shuzhi learns more about Ye Huo, he sees him as almost a role model -- or, if not that, at least a possibility for himself: here's a way to use your strength honorably to be a good person. Ye Huo looks after and mentors human doofuses, being good not out of duty but from the heart. Which slots neatly into Chu Shuzhi's arc from grumpy semi-outsider (while secretly being a loyal foot soldier for the Envoy) to integral part of the SID family -- an arc that gets completed/cemented when he learns that the Envoy has also chosen to work with the SID? Maybe?
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At the very end of ep17, they’d met a guy wearing a mask/faceguard (Ye Huo), who commented on Chu Shuzhi seeming strong but Guo Changcheng seeming like weak trash who shouldn’t be here because it’s not safe. (Which is fair, as we eventually learn.) Chu Shuzhi promised to protect Guo Changcheng, Ye Huo walked off, and ep17 ended.
I'd forgotten that! It's kind of a throw-away exchange until you know Ye Huo's situation and how set he is on defending people. With that context, though, I feel like Ye Huo must appreciate CSZ's loyalty and protectiveness to his hapless little friend, and see that connection as a strength/virtue rather than a weakness.
The audience sure thinks it’s about a belt; it’s really not.
Ha, yeah. Not for either of them. I really like how they each have different stakes here.
They’re both playing fair and by the rules, and giving each other time to safely stand up when knocked down. (Even though they both have emotional investment in winning, for very different reasons!)
That's really cool! I was vaguely aware of this, of course, but I hadn't consciously paid much attention.
Chu Shuzhi’s style of fighting uses a lot more wide and somewhat-uncontrolled swings than the other fighters we’re shown in this episode. That makes sense, considering that he probably never had any formal training.
This, too. I really love this detail -- thanks for drawing attention to it!
I wonder if CSZ was taken aback by Ye Huo's power, or by his being willing to use it so publicly (or both).
A thought about this scene/Ye Huo in general as part of Chu Shuzhi's relationship arc: I think once Chu Shuzhi learns more about Ye Huo, he sees him as almost a role model -- or, if not that, at least a possibility for himself: here's a way to use your strength honorably to be a good person. Ye Huo looks after and mentors human doofuses, being good not out of duty but from the heart. Which slots neatly into Chu Shuzhi's arc from grumpy semi-outsider (while secretly being a loyal foot soldier for the Envoy) to integral part of the SID family -- an arc that gets completed/cemented when he learns that the Envoy has also chosen to work with the SID? Maybe?