| Fay D Flourite, is overrated. His angsty, over-the-top past ultimately is in my opinion the worst background story in TRC, and that wrecked his character for me. It is not grounded, the lack of build-up was disappointing, in comparison to Kurogane's background which mastered the build up to his parents’ deaths. At least his parents had character in comparison to the real Fay. Fay's past revealed that CLAMP uses this man, as their angst punching bag. Because Fay's past is all angst, on top of angst, on top of angst, that is why to me it seems less "human" or "real" or "balanced", for starters it sure is relatable knowing that your father figure is a mass murderer and nothing about Fai's past is relatable in the slightest. His past is not balanced and not grounded unlike Kurogane's or even Syaoran's past, and I find that an issue. If you want to handle Fay's serious mental health issues, you make his past balanced, grounded and real, I unfortunately could not connect with Fay in the slightest due to how over the top his past is ultimately resulting in it being less impacting especially for a mysterious character. That is why Celes and Clow (for different reasons) are my least favourite arcs. In my opinion Infinity, Nihon and Tokyo are the better arcs. Kurogane is honestly so admirable in the Celes arc and he makes it worth reading. Kurogane's past is the perfect balance between angst and fluff, whilst also being straightforward and easy to understand and as such making it have a greater impact whilst revealing a lot about Kurogane's character and obsession with strength. Kurogane's past also has better pacing, execution, and presentation, and it did not need to be told in two volumes unlike Fai and Syaoran. Mysterious characters pasts must surpass expectations, however since his past failed to do so making it much less impacting, overall making Fay an over-the-top character who failed to meet expectations further lessening his impactful development. You may ask what the issue with Fay’s development is, well for starters it lacks closure this is very evident in Nihon as after Kurogane does his "I don't know if I learnt true strength" speech, Fay just punches him, and all the sudden he is happy, with no background information whatsoever regarding his change in personality. How did he change and have this realisation I honestly don't know? Kurogane acknowledges that his perspective on strength changed, he gained strength by losing strength, his character development works because it is subtle and feels natural, unlike Fai's. Whose lack of closure feels abrupt and makes his development appear meaning less, as he does not acknowledge his change of perspective regarding life. He suddenly changed; we don't get his speech like Kurogane. Where is Fai's healing process? Overall Kurogane's impact on Fai is amazing, but Fay impacted Kurogane not to the same extent. Kurogane managed to change himself and others and that is admirable. By the way we are told that Fai is a top magician, but we are not shown that. If you like "happy go lucky" charming liars that appeal to the mass audience by being handsome and fake, having an over-the-top, angst fest of a past and having self-worth issues by having a façade well good on you. I for starters like honest, flawed, real, complex, balanced, straightforward, grounded, relatable, consistent, confident, perceptive, impactful, and understanding people or characters who share the same perspective regarding self-worth, that manage to influence others and change themselves. Fay is overrated, while Syaoran, Sakura, Mokona and especially Kurogane are underappreciated even if he is a better written character (and better looking) than Fai. People sing praises to this character while ultimately ignoring everyone else, even though they are just as complex and better executed as characters. After the Celes arc, there is zero acknowledgement of Fai's past and trauma, because everything is all good and jolly, he is automatically healed! His story of healing healed everyone but me. Did Fai ever talk to Sakura after he literally murdered her? No, of course not! Fay is a complex character with great potential, but his character needed a better execution. Overall, nothing about Fai feels real because he is all fake. |
