A post made by @redladydeath the other day about Grell and William showing emotions made me really think about all the Shinigami and their emotions. When I started considering the matter, the Shinigami we see the most often do seem to have some issues.
Grell:
Grell is easily the most emotional of the Shinigami. In fact, itâs rare to see her calm and quiet. Even when sheâs alone, sheâs complaining or displaying a talent for innuendos. Even after killing Madam Red, she took the time to lecture the corpse.
But itâs not always clear about how genuine Grellâs emotions are most of the time. Everything is so over the top. It seems as if most of what we see is an act or at least an exaggeration.
William:
On the surface, William seems like Grellâs exact opposite. Heâs not overly emotional at all. In fact, he almost acts as if he doesnât feel. The only emotions heâs really displayed much is the occasional annoyance or anger.
This isnât to say he doesnât feel. He makes a speech about how itâs pointless to bring emotions to their work, but itâs seems odd to say such a thing unless you do feel.
I think he does feel, but he tries to hide the fact he has these emotions. In fact, heâs more like Grell then he first appears. Both are hiding deeper emotions but doing it in exactly opposite ways. Grell exaggerates every little thing in order to hide what sheâs truly feeling, while William pretends to feel very little.
Ronald:
On the surface, Ronald seems the most easy going of the three. He likes to have fun and flirt. His emotions donât seem exaggerated nor is he hiding the fact he feels. At the same time, he can casually flirt with a woman he knows is about to die.
I donât think Ronaldâs actually cold-hearted, but that does seem a bit crude. This leads me to another possibility. Ronaldâs smile and easy nature could be his method of hiding his deeper emotions. He might be doing the exact thing as Grell and William but in his own way.
It seems possible that this is a common problem for Shinigami. They were human and still have some of the same emotions. However, feeling too much when your job is collecting souls and watching people die could drive you insane. Many Shinigami would have to come up with defense mechanisms, which is what is happening with Grell, William, and Ronald.
Undertaker was a Shinigami for what we assume was a long time. The way heâs always searching for laughter could have actually been the method that he learned to cope. Also, like the others, his actual emotions can be hard to read.
Whatâs interesting to me, however, is that the only Shinigami we know that has deserted, is the only one weâve seen openly cry.
Thoughts?
So slightly jacking this post to add thoughts:
Okay I know a lot of people would argue using musical canon is iffy but Yana has adhered to literally every other bit of musical canon as far as the ârulesâ of shinigami apply. Theres a line in Shinigami Haken that actually somewhat addresses this. As They are going through their rules this line comes up-
Number 5! We work coldly without even a smile.
The fact that this is an actual rule not just a habit of theirs, is curious. Also looking at musical canon this is probably predominantly to avoid risk of Thorns, which is something that hasnât been exactly touched upon in the Manga. In short The Thorns are contracted when a soul destined to die becomes vengeful and fight against the reaper and eventually will kill them, it wasnât named but shown in the Tale of the Shinigami William OVA, and in TMBDitW Alan is stated to have been sympathetic to the souls he reaped and allowed them to attack him.Â
That being said I highly doubt this is the ONLY reason for the rule but it could be a reason.Â
With how much Undertaker is lingering on those amulets, with his experiments of trying to reanimate the dead, he might of cared ALOT about some people he had to reap.
Heres where things get real interesting. There is no known cure for the thorns. Theres only the rumor of collecting 1000 pure souls (collecting not reaping there is a distinctive difference). Even in TMBDitW we dont know if it would work since Eric only reached 999.Â
Grell got reprimanded for killing a few people not on the list. Eric was going to be not just eliminated but any and all record of his existence was going to be wiped out.
Now Im not saying that Undertaker cares way too much about (some) mortal lives, developed the thorns, and went rogue trying to cure himself so he can continue trying to find a way to save those he loved⊠but Yana choosing the point of time to bring Eric and Alans death into manga canon seemed fishy to me and im totally saying undertakerÂ
In the Kuroverse there are a plethora of Grim Reaper characters, with at least 9 distinct Grim Reaper personalities all meddling with the human world. But why would Yana Toboso bother to include so many Grim Reapers? Surely one or two could get the single job they all do (reaping souls so you can see backstory) done? (like Scotland Yard with its 2 members)
A characteristic the Grim Reapers share is boredom (like the Undertaker, William, Ludger) or a longing for innovation in their monotonous jobs, and lives (Grell, Ronald, Sasha, Othello).
Sashaâs reaction goes to show how boring and unchanging the Grim Reaper world is. The Grim Reaper institution as complained about by many, is a strict and rigid society.
And when you want to start a revolution, you need multiple people to make an impact. So the Undertaker could be helping them in a revolution to change the way their society is run, bringing attention to his work to give them a shock or bribe with the reanimated corpses that seem to be causing trouble for them, so that the world of the Grim Reapers is ultimately reformed, allowing more innovation and individuality, and better working conditions, and help for those who are sick
(A reference to the Musical âthe most beautiful death in the worldâ, in which Alan and Eric leave the Grim Reaper department because Alanâs rare illnesses requires a sacrifice of one thousand souls to be cured).
Why does William hate overtime so much anyways. What are the hobbies he does outside of work? Not organising a revolution group I hopeâŠ
(In the official translation, the words to piss him off are âIâve always been part of the anti- overtime school to begin withâ) I see him as the mostly likely candidate for the leader because why act like such a goody-two-shoes, punishing everyone for breaking rules he knows off by heart, when he clearly hates his job, and doesnât want to be there doing it for a second longer than he has too?
Basically every character introduced by Yana Toboso plays a further role somewhere down the track (and if they donât, they die), so Iâm pondering the role of the abundance of Grim Reaper characters.
We know basically NOTHING about the supernatural elements of the Kuroverse, especially the home worlds and societies of demons and Grim Reapers, so I donât really have any hard evidence for or against this Shinigami uprising theory, itâs just food for thought.
đ„ There is beauty in destructionđ„ 