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dlcsmnia · 3 months ago

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Eden are Trickstar's Mirror Universe Selves (A Meta)

One of the things I find most interesting about Eden is how each one of them parallels a specific member of Trickstar in a sort of “mirror universe”/”twisted funhouse mirror” kind of way. Apologies if this is like, a commonly discussed topic, but I had to get my ideas on paper and I think it’s good to explicitly state these things down.

Firstly, Nagisa parallels Subaru. One of Subaru’s main flaws (at least according to the narrative) is his disconnection from other people. He can’t understand why people do things or why they’re not following his All Cheer All The Time policy, which causes conflict. But in the end, his disconnection from normal humanity is also what makes him such a great idol- disconnected from normal humanity, he can become a genius in ways that normal people just can’t. However, Subaru’s kindness and love for his friends keeps him “down to earth”.

Nagisa, then, is what happens when you take that aspect of Subaru’s character and explicitly interrogate it in-universe. If disconnection from humanity creates genius super-idol-Artistes (and this is a thread that runs through all of Enstars’ writing, from the Eccentrics to Subaru and Nagisa to Sora), then why not deliberately raise someone who’s disconnected from humanity to create this Genius-Super-Idol-Artiste? And then that’s how you get Nagisa. Nagisa is (at least before his character development) someone who finds it extremely difficult to function in society and relate to other people, to the point that he ends up hurting or confusing them. He doesn’t know how humans work to a much, much stronger degree than Subaru. While Subaru is mildly inhuman, Nagisa is an “omnipotent god”. Nagisa, then, at least in ! era, is Subaru Akehoshi’s worst traits on steroids.

Slight Digression About Character Associations: I find it really interesting how Nagisa, the character who is much more inhuman, is associated with things like fossils, books, history, archeology, all things which are strongly tied to the earth, the past, things which can be touched and studied, while Subaru, the much more “down to earth” character in this pair, is strongly tied to the stars, things which are beyond human access (at least for now!) and are distant from humanity. Is this indicating that Subaru is the “better” inhuman Genius-Super-Idol-Artiste? Or is this a reflection of Nagisa’s character development and increasing connections to humanity in !! era, because that is when he gained most of these associations (at least from my perspective) Anyway, it’s another interesting point!

(anyway that’s enough about my kamioshi)

Secondly, Ibara parallels Mao. Mao’s greatest strength is canonically his ability to work within a system, socially getting people on his side and mediating between groups. He almost acted like a producer to his own unit (at least before Anzu came along) and does a lot of behind the scenes work. Additionally, he worked within the Student Council, which during ! era, was obviously a corrupt system. However, Mao used his abilities to help out his unit and not to do malevolent things or sabotage others. He felt conflicted about his role within a corrupt system, and is ultimately a benevolent person who just wants to help his friends succeed.

Ibara, then is what happens when you take this characteristic of Mao, crank it up to eleven, and remove all his morality. Ibara has a lot of Mao’s talents, such as working within a system, serving in a sort of “producer” role to Eden like Mao served for Trickstar. Additionally, Ibara is also working within a corrupt system- in his case, it’s the whole CosPro capitalist idol exploitation hellscape. But, unlike Mao, Ibara feels no conflict about his role. He exploits and tramples on people without any remorse at all, using his unique talents purely for his (and his unit’s, to some degree) own selfish gain. As a matter of fact, Ibara is very committed to Eden, in the same way Mao is to Trickstar, but without any concern for other people. Ibara, then, is an example of what Mao could be if he stopped caring about others.

Another Slight Digression About Character Associations: Ibara is associated very strongly with the role of the soldier, the commander, a role which is tied to the world as it exists and with more malevolent actions. Mao is (less strongly) associated with the role of the magician, the wizard, a role which is tied to a fantastical world and with less malevolent actions [at least in Mao’s case. While the archetype of the magician/wizard can be associated with evil, the kind of wizard/magician that Mao is (and to some degree the idea of the wizard/magician in Enstars as a whole, see; Switch) shares more in common with the “fairy godmother” or the “good wizard” sub-archetypes). These associations relate back to their character contrasts. Mao is, to some degree, the fantasy of the “gets shit done while working within a corrupt system” guy who manages to retain his morality and ethics. Ibara is a more realistic look at what kind of person would actually be able to accomplish things within a corrupt system with Mao’s skillset. And I think the benevolence/malevolence axis which Ibara/Mao and the soldier/magician dichotomy operates under is pretty self-explanatory.

Now, time for a slight change of pace. While Adam’s relationships with their counterparts are more “what if [member of Trickstar], but with personality traits of theirs twisted into something that makes them antagonistic”, Eve’s relationships with their counterparts is more like “what if [member of Trickstar], but with the polarity of one of their backstory elements/character traits precisely reversed in a way that makes them antagonistic”.

Jun parallels Hokuto. I think the main way that these two characters parallel each other is in their relationship with their respective fathers and how that’s shaped them. Hokuto’s father is the Super Idol Hidaka Seiya, and that puts a lot of pressure on him even though his father is, at least in my impression, not putting that pressure there himself and just genuinely loves his son and has good intentions. However, Hokuto dislikes his father for not being there in his childhood, even though his father genuinely cares. In the end, it’s a relationship where the dysfunctional elements are present because of Seiya’s position as one of the world’s greatest and most famous idols.

In contrast, Jun’s father is the exact opposite. He’s not a super idol, he’s one of the idols who was trampled by a super idol (in this case, Sagami Jin) and this bitterness caused him to intentionally train up his kid as a weapon to take down Jin. Jun, as expected of like, a normal human being, did not experience this as a healthy upbringing and has a much more adversarial relationship with his father, twisting his personality into a more antagonistic one. Jun, then is a “what if” scenario which specifically deconstructs the “super idol” concept.

And finally, Hiyori parallels Makoto. Makoto was thrust into the spotlight at a young age and suffered trauma from it, winding up nervy and afraid of being seen and witnessed, a trauma that follows him all throughout ! Era. While Hiyori was not in the “modeling eye” that Makoto was, he grew up being surrounded by attention, as a wealthy kid and unlike Makoto, he encourages it, draws it in, feeds off of it (like a sun, which Hiyori is compared to a lot), making him kind of an obnoxious narcissist (I say with great affection). Hiyori, then, is what happens if Makoto wound up not being traumatized by his upbringing and instead fed off of it, making him more villainous.

Again, I’m sorry if all of these associations are like old hat and I’m just stating the obvious, but I thought this was super interesting.

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