Oh, definitely. Let's say if Megan Fox was the lead in Black Swan do you think I'd actually watch it? LOL I don't think so.

Cheeky little German *shakes head*

With Fred being the exception, of course. That boy can be soaked wet and still be too hot.
And oh, so now we're shipping them in a ~forget the Nazi thing and her revenge just get married already but also in a "missing the point" way? Okay, I'm fine with that, I'd rather call myself that than shipping them in a "forget the part where your lover is a quite older man who just happened to be the one that massacred your family and is super proud of it" way.
You know, I noticed that for EVERY single fandom I seemed to be a part of I always ended up shipping the doomed non-canon couple, and I thought to myself "Oh come on, not again" when I watched IB so you can guess how happy I was when I found out that it was actually canon, and I figured I'd find LOTS of people who would agree with me since it was canon for once! But oh no, apparently we were blind the whole time.
Does she know August is happily married to Julia and has a child? Because seriously, things change at that point...I mean, shipping a girl with a married man is just...not healthy. Quite disrespecting to the actors, if you ask me.
I think once you're at that point, much like deciding to put Indiana Jones on Mars, you're better off writing your own story with your own characters instead of contorting them into pretzels to fit your fantasies. BRB dying of laughter at this. They way you put it is just so great, and absolutely true!

I think it's a good thing you decided to reduce the number of characters too, this way it won't be too confusing because you're right, every character would have its own story to tell but what's important is the story of Aviva and Manfried in the end. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to you finishing it! (:

You must use a Tom Waits song in the soundtrack if you ever make it into a movie! Then I could die happy and go to heaven.