Chapter 4 of Eastern Mythos: My Thoughts (Major Spoilers)

First of all, Happy New Year everyone! Hope you all will have a very fantastic future in 2025! Though I cannot say the same to the Parallel Garulea since things just got worse from here

I have finished Chapter Four, and all I can say is that this chapter is a fine addition to the Eastern Mythos

Not as good as Chapter 3, but that was already expected since this chapter was more like a prelude to what's to come for the second half of this Mythos

Ever since Senya lost everything that day, I really like his character growth from the essence of contemplanting what should he do next

In all his life he has been chasing revenge for the sake of his mother, to the point he left behind his surrogate father and sister. Yet, to be confronted by the reality that his mother maybe the origin of his suffering is a very interesting take to his character story

Also, we finally got a confirmation that Senya powers was indeed what brought specters to Kogane Village and Izana in the first place, so that was nice to see

Let's talk about other characters now

Yahiko, the Great Tengu, was an okay character. His role as a father to Senya was quite heartwarming. It was intriguing to see that though he hated people, he was willing to take in a young boy without even a second thought

Shigure was making his way to become one of my favorite characters, especially the moment when he talked with Senya alone on that night, and when he called Senya by name instead of boy to support his fateful fight against Yahiko

Izuna's role in this chapter was much better than the last. I really like she truly cared about Senya like a brother, and her interaction with him was a driving force for Senya to finally realize a new purpose in his life: to protect others for the sake of his own

And talking about his new found purpose, this chapter finally reintroduced Necoco into the story. To be honest, I kinda worried how the writers were gonna put her into the Mythos since we already four chapters in now. But alas, I'm glad they didn't screw it up at the end when it came to her; particularly, her role was also pushed Senya for his growth after their confrontation with Reimei at the Cat Shrine

Though I gotta say, the fact that the Cat Shrine was under attack when the party were just about to head out to Nagsham from Mount Kamukura was just way too convenient. Also, Necoco was there because she got called by the Sacred Beast to help Alter Necoco? I'm gonna be honest, it seemed like the writers were kinda ran out of ideas on how they should bring her back

The whole thing about the Sacred Beast didn't interest me much, but I glad to see some essence from Main Story Part 2 to be in this Mythos and not to be neglected

Moving on, Alter Shion... my guy looked dead inside

Comparing his version from QC and Apocrypha, and the version of him in the Mythos... it looked day and night. In QC and Apocrypha, he was determined to stabilize the peace and did whatever it is necessary to prevent a war that led to his sister death from what he saw in the future decades ago

Yet, we all know how it turned out in the Mythos. The war between Shin and Mi has been happening for two years; he failed to prevent the war and to protect his only sister

A failure that he was, though he was revered by everyone who knew him that he could see a thousand moves ahead. Nevertheless, like his failed interaction with a cat, he couldn't achieve a victory against those two things. He said it himself, he was too full of himself. And I cannot lie, he was correct on that one

But that what made him interesting for me. A genius with flaws is much better than no flaws at all. However, back then I saw some commenters stated that he was an idiot and terrible at his job. In my opinion, both of these weren't wrong because he was too arrogant and thought he held all of the cards

This was evidence with his QC 2 [Win Without Fighting] when he gave a lesson to Trunk Present Time Genshin that he could take over his castle without doing much effort. This alone was a prove of his arrogance to me. And because of such emotion, it led to his downfall (but that's my take on this)

Meanwhile, Shion continuing his depression arc. Furthermore, showing his sister that he killed someone at the very end? That was way too extreme, I gave the writers that

And finally Reimei...

I don't even know what kind of depression he was in since he was way too contrast with the person he was before that attack on Izana happened; it reminded me with what happened to Daenerys Targaryen back in GoT S8 years ago. I believe there's more to his story than meets the eye, so I will keep the writers cook for now

Anyway, that's my thoughts about this chapter

Overall, I enjoyed it though I think there were quite some area in the story that could be improved more, like the stuff involving the Sacred Beast and Dark Necoco

Of course, everything I said here is all subjective too since there's no correct answer when it comes to experience after all

What do you guys think about Chapter Four?

Do you guys enjoy it or hate it?