Saint Rosalind is a Horror Shoujo. It takes place in a European setting with Christian symbolism which are thematically tied to the messages and philosophies in the narrative. All these factors are mixed to depict the Devils temptation charming on the surface harmful in the interior represented in the duality between Shoujos cuteness and Horrors gruesomeness.
As for its reading experience its the type of story that can easily trick the reader. Most of the time I caught myself thinking is this for real? Or am I also falling into the trap? because despite being only 17 chapters long it brings you to theorize about the protagonist all the time and other external things as well like the characternarrator and the conclusion the story must take.
SPOILER ZONE 6600https://i.pin.com/736x/56/8f/6f/568f6f2e4b1ab32e8ef2d0d7a1a2031f.jpg
Rosalind killings can be divided in three groups which Id like to refer as selfish selfless and punitive which no matter the intention all of them which result in the same product: death. By accompanying her throughout her journey we are brought to reflect not only on Rosalind but also on all sorts of people the best and the worse who interact with her. At the end we finally come to understand the character of Rosalind the Devils Child.
In the selfish killings Rosalind is driven by motivations such as greed lust and envy. Rosalind firstly establishes a deal mostly as a form of memento which is an interesting part of her personality as the Devil she usually takes something from someone when the people agree with her there is one exception to that though. After the promise is made Rosalind then strikes which the sole intention of filling her chest with treasures from objects to living beings.
It is worth noting that all her selfish killings were done to people who were doing nothing wrong but innocently fell into her charm and accepted her terms. That side of the story shows us how a little slipup indecisiveness negligence persuasion might bring ruin to a person.
The selfless killing is kind of the opposite Rosalind does it as a form of retribution rather than gaining something thats shown in the lack of a material deal. Her intention is born from empathy and the goal is usually helping someone curing or avenging people.
Despite being the good intended murder the selfless killing has an even worse effect since it involves other people and not only the one Rosalind wants to help. Those people are usually in a relationship issue with their families and because of that they end up letting the Devil join their households to bring destruction.
And the last kind the punitive is the one that happens when people supposedly lie to Rosalind and are killed for that. I see that aspect of Rosalind as the Devils desire to take the position of God thus applying His judgment on his own.
Of course the Devil is not a fair judge so not all the supposed lies were in fact lies. The Devil perception of a lie is not just the opposite of truth but a lie can also be a reality he refuses to accept and thats why this is a conflicting trait who leads to perdition.
All these sides dwells between Rosalinds devil and human natures and they are presented not by her thoughts but by her actions interactions and expressions. While she is described as a Devil and derivatives of that in the story shes attached to some characters such as her mother her butler and her father to the point of crying for them getting happy around them and so on while still being somewhat sociopath towards other humans in general.
I was really troubled about her being a Devil depiction while reading it. I mean the Devil is the father of lies while Rosalind hates lies the Devil always acts for his own while Rosalind also acts for others despite having her selfish drives as well and the most important point the Devil is not redeemable.
By the end of the story I came to conclusion that she is not the Devil itself but is certainly a Devils child a byproduct of the Devil but not totally compatible with him as the author herself described her as a young girl who cant tell right from wrong. Rosalind has emphasized throughout the story that most of her cruel killing methods were learned from other places in other words she absorbs evilness from the world and reproduces it without distinction of good or evil.
It may end in a sad way but I like that she achieved redemption by the end since she is not the Devil but someone under his influence. Some may say it was a Deus ExMachine but this is the type of person that no matter how much you try only a divine intervention can change their petrified heart and thats what happened. In the end she is just an innocent young girl who absorbed all kinds of humanity bad traits until she became a Devils child.660https://i.pin.com/736x/11/86/a2/1186a29842f394e4d33f954e41fa20a9.jpg
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