this arc has been disappointing to me so far and i was a really big fan of everything up until it. there have been some decent moments but i remember when i used to be completely nervous reading each chapter and terrified for everyone. it's weird to look back on those anxious feelings and be envious of them, but i did appreciate the tension.
now, and especially looking back, i feel the main cast is and has been pretty safe. this hindsight inevitably gives some demerits to previous chapters i enjoyed. not a ton, as those chapters had many redeeming elements besides the tension and the sympathy it evoked, but definitely some.
and while things are seemingly "dire" or "bad" at the moment, i don't feel on the edge of my seat. im not sure the current threat or antagonism of this arc is all that serious or interesting as opposed ones in the past (which were towering). and i think, for the series to keep its momentum, the tension should be even higher and greater, arc after arc. if things are not as bad as they once were, i have confidence the cast will naturally overcome a less difficult challenge.
i used to dread thinking of how beloved characters would inevitably meet their tragic ends because the tone the series was projecting, and that made me care about them an awful lot. but as that has dissipated, im not even sure that if any of those deaths do come that they will be as impactful now that my attachment to these characters has weakened in the interim.