Mara 1. Couldn't agree with you more on all of this. I think she's ultimately taken a backseat to Hild simply because AMG is wish gratification manga. Not having been particularly attractively drawn or portrayed as a person, Mara didn't really come close to fulfilling that role because she doesn't cater to any fetish and she isn't interested in reader-proxy anyway. Hild, in both of her forms, on the other hand, is a fetish satisfaction goldmine for obvious reasons. As for It's just brought up as an excuse to jump-start the Demon Urd arc , that basically sums up why I cringe whenever anyone on the forms proclaims Fujishima to be a wonderful writer. He honestly isn't. He introduces piles of random and unexpected plot elements without any prior justification to move the plot along and then abandons them, or retcons them out of existence, as you've so nicely put it. Ootaki's girlfriend, Urd's mother issues, Sayoko's inconsistent attitudes to K1 and so forth. I mean, I'm obviously most bitter about Mara's and Urd's loose ends simply because manga would have been so awesome if it explored those issues adequately... Sigh.
2. *snort* Yes. Although, I quite liked Mara's hairstyle during the Devil Urd arc. Perpetual dishevelled look suited her personality quite well.
3. Odd that you should mention this. All GO slashfic that I've ever read (not massive amounts, admittedly) featured Aziraphale as an evil rapist or at the very least a manipulative seducer. Although, now I'm tempted to hunt down the sparkly pure-hearted uke fics and laugh at them.
no subject
1. Couldn't agree with you more on all of this. I think she's ultimately taken a backseat to Hild simply because AMG is wish gratification manga. Not having been particularly attractively drawn or portrayed as a person, Mara didn't really come close to fulfilling that role because she doesn't cater to any fetish and she isn't interested in reader-proxy anyway. Hild, in both of her forms, on the other hand, is a fetish satisfaction goldmine for obvious reasons.
As for It's just brought up as an excuse to jump-start the Demon Urd arc , that basically sums up why I cringe whenever anyone on the forms proclaims Fujishima to be a wonderful writer. He honestly isn't. He introduces piles of random and unexpected plot elements without any prior justification to move the plot along and then abandons them, or retcons them out of existence, as you've so nicely put it. Ootaki's girlfriend, Urd's mother issues, Sayoko's inconsistent attitudes to K1 and so forth. I mean, I'm obviously most bitter about Mara's and Urd's loose ends simply because manga would have been so awesome if it explored those issues adequately... Sigh.
2. *snort* Yes. Although, I quite liked Mara's hairstyle during the Devil Urd arc. Perpetual dishevelled look suited her personality quite well.
Aziraphale
2. I'm inclined to say that the way the "bastard angel" stuff was handled in GO was fairly decent. It wasn't nearly as blunt and annoying as Pullman's or Kaori Yuki's "ZOMG! God is totalitarian, murderous villain, marvel at my originality!!" stuff. Aziraphale appeared to me to be morally ambiguous, but on the whole a thoroughly decent celestial being, even if he's enough of a bastard to be worth liking. So I didn't really see it as bastard angel cliché rather than him just being a fairly 3D character.
3. Odd that you should mention this. All GO slashfic that I've ever read (not massive amounts, admittedly) featured Aziraphale as an evil rapist or at the very least a manipulative seducer. Although, now I'm tempted to hunt down the sparkly pure-hearted uke fics and laugh at them.