There will be spoilers ahead, so be sure to give the chapter a read before carrying on! I also want to mention that I won’t be spoiling anything from the Scarlet & Violet games unless it’s been covered in the manga, so please don’t worry if you haven’t gotten far.
I love seeing the friendship between Violet and Arven grow, and I really enjoyed the moment where Arven is actually proud of Violet for requesting information from Cassiopeia that would help them on their mission to find Herba Mystica. Of course, the feeling is instantly diminished when Rotojī clarifies that Violet’s family is so rich that no prize would mean much to him, but I still like how this moment shows that Arven has a personal stake in Violet’s growth. Even though his main motivation is to heal Mabosstiff, he really does seem to care about him. I also enjoyed that our dearest schoolmate Clive has acquired the elite status of “best friend”; it has me looking forward to his next appearance. When Arven gives Clive the chance to get away, he easily distracts Violet by getting him all excited about sandwiches—I imagine similar tactics have been employed by camp counselors and pet owners alike.
The panel with Arven and Violet camping together is very cute. I love that Violet has a fancy set of pajamas while Arven sleeps in his clothes and turns himself into a cocoon with his sleeping bag. When Penny has an overexcited Miraidon jumping on her, it’s nice to see Arven be the one pulling it back. It shows that he’s taking some degree of responsibility for it, which is especially interesting after he’d resented it for years. While this chapter didn’t exactly focus on Arven in particular, it gave him many subtle moments that indicate how his journey with Violet is changing him. He’s grown quite a bit from his first appearance, even if he’s still often annoyed with many things (mostly Violet). While he was initially withdrawn from his peers—believing it was him and Mabosstiff versus the world—he’s really stepping up to take care of the people around him. Comparing him to a camp counselor certainly does make sense to me after seeing the way he looks out for Violet. Arven hasn’t been traveling with him for long, but he’s already become something of a guardian for him, and it shows just how much his character has developed.
What did you think of this chapter? Did you have any theories after that cliffhanger? Will a Quaxly show up in your nightmares anytime soon?