#that works (and even then. altena...not that she thinks she's a bad person exactly. but she still recognizes that she can't be an Ultimate

[musical-chick-13]

You know...normally the "guy is sad and murders people over it because how dare other people be happy" archetype is very annoying, but I think they made it work this time.

#for one thing it's not like. actually just about him hating women. #and it's also more along the lines of 'everything was taken from me and it keeps happening even when I don't do anything so why do #other people get to be okay how is that fair it's time to even the playing field because I don't care about being a good person I just want #to feel better' and then actually like. owning up to the fact that he's not a good person. he's not trying to claim he's justified because #he doesn't CARE whether he is or not #which is why rachel is the 'sinner' in this equation because zack fully understands the kind of person he is and admits it #like I think this is the key. I think I need villainous characters to admit to themselves that they're bad people. either that or you have #to do an altena from noir where hardcore at every single step of the way you GENUINELY believe that what you're doing is ultimately #the right thing. which...that is EXTREMELY hard to pull off in character writing altena is literally the only example I can think of #that works (and even then. altena...not that she thinks she's a bad person exactly. but she still recognizes that she can't be an Ultimate #Moral Authority. she'll try to change things how she believes they should be but she knows SHE can't be in charge of this new system. #she's not impartial enough. someone else has to be the judge of people's sins and carry out justice.) #like I think to me. the most interesting aspect of villains is that they are allowed to be completely unapologetic in a way heroes often #aren't. they can be selfish in a way heroes often aren't. and they can explicitly feel the uglier emotions that heroes are often not allowe #to display. so when you have a villain who is trying to play the 'pity me because I'm sad I'm not actually a bad person I promise' card #...it usually falls incredibly flat #lmao. me watching a completely unrelated anime and STILL making it about noir. very on-brand for me. #mc13 watches anime #(there's also the fact that I think zack has come to associate happiness with cruelty. because the only times he's seen the people around #him exhibit joy was when they were mistreating other people-usually him. like there are layers. which was a pleasant surprise I #really thought they were going to go down the route of 'feel bad for this man because he just hates women so much it hurts')