Man, you know what? I guess while we are at the Malik and flirting kind of post, I also get frustrated with interpretations of him as ‘dumb slutty brat.’
I don’t know what the dubs did to him, or to be honest even what the anime did to him, but he was so driven and focused in the manga. And when things were suddenly out of his control, he had such immediate understanding of what he had done wrong along with an equal willingness to atone.
He ends the Yami Malik situation with the most humbled and graceful panel in the whole series, looking like he came out of a shoujo manga about forgiveness.
I guess if you’re thinking of him during his period of anger and what he thought was justice then bratty plays in, but damn he’s so strong and so much wiser at the end of his situation. I feel like that has to be at his core somewhere. He’s not going to be perfectly well adjusted or anything, but he’s already made such serious meaningful movements toward deciding to live his life for his family and in atonement for the things he was caught up in. He’s so young you’d expect more brat, maybe, but he’s so graceful about the end of things, I just don’t see it.
I love this panel!! I’m always so surprised by how comparatively soft it is!!
