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Love which can never find peace, tears and despair which cloud the mind. Sadness. Such is the story surrounding Teteiyusu and Zadei, two of Seimaden's most intriguing characters. Countless of shrines are devoted to these two, yet I wanted to create my own special place for them. A few years ago, I considered Rauresu the most attractive character in the manga. Indeed, he is. He is heroic, confused, a demon trying to find love and himself. Still, as the manga reaches its end, the reader realizes Rauresu will be fine. Whether he dies or not, he will be fine because Hilda loves him, and he has been reunited with his beloved Erise. It is Teteiyusu and Zadei who emerge as figures mistreated by fate and sadness, and as their story prolongued I found myself intensely involved. My best friend, whose favorite character is Zadei and is more of a Zadei than he lets on, shares my feelings.

I identify with Teteiyusu a lot. In the first issues (volume 1-5), the demonic angel was presented as a bitter, sad, mean creature. This wasn't something I would be proud of identifying with. Still, the reasons behind his meanness, his sorrow, are feelings I can understand. I would never kill or hurt anyone for love, but I've felt anger, deception, rage, and lonelyness in the way he does. Teteiyusu is someone who refuses to realize the love he desires, Rauresu, does not desire him. He is aware at several points of his fate, but he attempts to change it and ends up hurting himself. He can be quite cold and bitter, feelings that emerge from being rejected. In a way, Zadei is in the same circunstance. He also loves someone who rejects him, and he also is forced to act in ways he finds himself questioning and regreting later. Zadei even manages to kill the love he so desires, such are the levels of his pain. Still, Zadei and I are too different, since I'm not nearly as hip and wild as he is. I'm more of a sad, melancholic, nostalgic person, qualities found in Teteiyusu.

At first glance, one might be tempted to say these two characters didn't change throughout the manga. Not so. In the first issues, both Teteiyusu and Zadei are close to being stock characters, in other words merely part of a supporting cast. Teteiyusu's facial expression and design is not given half of the attention that of Rauresu's. So, he ends up being a hateable character, one that is mean and vicious. Zadei comes across as a clown, what with laughing so hard all the time and displaying a goofy side. It's the moment when Zadei finally admits he loves Teteiyusu when these characters start becoming alive. Their story starts shaping itself once Teteiyusu deceives Zadei with the earring 'gift' he gives him, which causes Zadei to rape him. Zadei is not angered enough, though. It is when Teteiyusu returns to save Rauresu from Zadei's wrath when Zadei's heart loses itself. In despair and hurt, he mangles the angel and kills him. At that point, the reader realizes Zadei's a character they cannot easily discard.    The scene reminds me of one of the episodes in Weiß Kreuz, which I later saw on TV, in which one of the characters, Yohji, strangles his oponent, Noi, whom he loved. Noi also deceived him, leading him to think she loved him, only to reveal she loved someone else. The scene presents Yohji strangling Noi, who's drapped over his shoulders. It is the moment when she starts saying she loves someone else over and over when Yohji loses himself, and kills her. In a way, Zadei's character performs the same murder. Still, after he kills his angel, Zadei regrets it. Crying, he completly stops being the silly demon the reader knew from volume 3. The reader senses, though, that even though Zadei swears he'll kill Rauresu, that he will die. Such are the usual endings for such tragic stories.

These kind of sad stories are my favourite kind. This tragic, unrequited love reminds me of the suffering of such characters such as Othello in Shakespeare's Othello, the tragedy of a moor who kills his own wife because he believes her unfaithful. As he kills her, though, he is filled with incredible pain. I am yet to see how Teteiyusu and Zadei will find peace, or if they will, but I hope that You treated them kindly as she finished her story. I admit, though, that the drawings are beautiful. You's style displays the elements of Asian art that I so much adore, the sad, tiny eyes, the thin hair, the delicate limbs, and the attention to adequate scene pacing. Every crying angel and swearing Zadei make me feel for them and relate to their plight. Who hasn't been negated love or their fondest wish? We all have suffered this way. I also find myself hoping Rauresu will not kill either of them, even if it seems to me that he might. Rauresu is my most favourite character, and I certainly long for him to find peace and love by Hilda's side, but I don't want him to kill Zadei, or Teteiyusu by mistake. The angel and the demon deserve to spend at least a minute in each other's favour, and heart.

With these feelings in mind, I leave you to the Feather's Dream...