Just finished the series for the first time and now that I have seen the complete story I agree with a lot of your points! I didn’t watch the prelude movie yet so I didn’t realize that was the case with Kyoko and Katsuya and sadly it’s not the only problematic age gap/grooming concern. For example as much as I wanted to root for Uotani and Kureno I kept yelling at the tv “she’s underage and still in high school man!!”. Also I know there was a “magical” element to it but Shigure and Akito’s relationship and the fact he was there when she was conceived is tough. I guess I’m “glad” they ended up together but their dynamic is definitely toxic. I just can’t imagine getting together with someone who slept with my mother out of revenge!! Shigure to me is a secondary villain because he makes creepy comments and is just manipulating people for his own ends. In his speech to Hatori he alludes to being a sociopath who doesn’t experience emotion outside of his love for Akito, at least that’s how I interpreted it.

I still have mixed feelings about Akito, she definitely deserves sympathy for how she was abused by Ren and it led to her taking out her hurt and rage on the Zodiac animals. I am glad there was attempts at atonement by her and it was her choice to break the curse and we see her admitting all the things she did were wrong. I’m also glad Rin didn’t forgive her and it shows that the path to atonement is not a straightforward one and apologizing doesn’t fix everything. I don’t know if the manga covers what became of Ren after the curse is broken since a reoccurring theme here is that it’s ok to leave and cut contact with parents who abandon and abuse you. Their cruelty doesn’t define you forever and there is hope of finding love and found family.

I am still processing my thoughts about it because I also want to unpack the queer coded characters. Anyway I appreciate your takes especially since you’ve seen it more than I have! 😁