You spelled out my thoughts and feelings exactly. I'm really mad about this right now and thought of dropping it for two seconds, but I've been reading for almost 10 years. Just......of all characters, why Agni? And why break him away from Sohma when they are two sides of a coin its so awful
He's one of the only few characters that is good and mostly pure so I guess we had it coming. I forgot that this series can be cruel
This is going to be one of those moments in a series when you wonder "was it worth it"? The last time this happened was Maes Hughes in FMA. I remember how devastated I was when that happened. But It actually paid off in the when Roy's desire for vengeance almost made him a monster (Seeing Roy roasting Envy as Roy's vengeance slowly overtook him was not a pretty thing to watch.) Put Hughes' death paid off because Roy was able to realize that killing Envy wouldn't make ANYONE happy.
Hopefully we'll see Sohma try to come more independent and step into the role Agni saw him as because of this. If that happens, I think I can actually accept Agni's death.
But this is Black Butler. Tragedy is always looming and nothing pure remains that way. So we must wait and see how the dice fall.
I have mixed feelings about the new chapter. While on one hand, "a beloved main character dies to spur the other characters on" is a very common trope for mangas of this genere... But Agni being the one to be offed is VERY devastating to me as a long-time reader, as I particularly liked Agni and the way he played off of the other characters.
However, I will reserve my judgment on this descion until I see the full effects Agni's sacrifice have on the story. Sure, this is going right onto my list of my least favorite scenes in this manga, but how low it falls will be determined down the line when we actually see if Agni's sacrifice has meaning, or if was a meaningless act - in the latter case I may drop this manga due to I dislike main/ core characters dying pointless deaths.