[mirei]

Hm, for one thing, Frozen Teardrop is a novel. Of course, it has to be descriptive for the reader to imagine the characters' expression and how they say their lines. This novel will fail in narration for me if all I read are dialogues with no descriptive character expressions. It's definitely different in reading a manga, (although some critical readers go beyond what is drawn in interpreting a character's expressions/actions). And, this isn't the first time Relena said she missed/wanted to see Heero.

Originally Posted by Kitsoru

Also, the bit you quoted is narrated by Duo, so if anything, you should be calling HIM a sap But no, I think she's always been like this. Look at her shiny-eyes at Heero in just about any scene in series, but especially episode 48. I think there's such a negative reaction to *certain aspects of fandom* whining about Relena being either too girly or a bossy bitch that people get neurotic about her portrayals when she shows either side strongly (and I don't necessarily mean you, but in general.) In a situation like that where Heero's going off to die, and with the situation she's in here, you don't think she'd be thinking something like that? And beyond that.... I don't see why it's bad for her to be, as Duo says, sad that the person she loves has to kill her. That IS sad.

This. Not to mention that he grew up to be an angst-y priest:

Spoiler for translation:

(this is from the FT July 2011 as well)

When Kathy asked him if he would like some coffee, he said he wanted it to be black and bitter. The stronger, the better.

"For coffee, battles, and even life, a bitter one is perfect. Because I'm a desperado, anything bitter suits my life."

His life is bitter, indeed.

It is also interesting to note that this is from Duo's POV ^_^ He sees Relena as pretty in his eyes, and he is well-aware of her feelings to Heero, which I don't think is OOC at all. I would kick Duo if he described Relena as ugly, having a solid face with no emotions at all. Duo did a good job in describing the scene before him, whether he's a 1xR shipper or not xD At least there's one character who is a witness to the relationship of Heero and Relena. And it's kinda nostalgic when he said that 'a cute smile of a girl' had returned to Relena's face, even just for a moment. yes, he feels old, lol.

I still have to fix that translation for proper wordings, but I'll finish the previous pages so I can follow Duo's train of thoughts.