#He’s a raw expression of Hikaru’s self. He can’t lie; he can’t make things up; he can barely control his emotions

[honorthysalad]

the sins of the father and the duty of the son are pretty prominent themes in hgsn. After all, Hikaru only died because of his duty as an Indoh: apologizing for a crime he never committed that happened long before he was even born, just like his father did, and his father’s father before him did and so on. None of them ever met Hichi-San who (assumedly) made the original wish, but they’re still paying for his crime only for their blood association.

(The other part of his duty being to marry the first person he ‘falls in love with’ I think is pretty reflective. It doesn’t matter if they love him, only that he wants them, and he should take them and force them into his family for ‘their own safety’. But as Hikaru’s dad says, his prior girlfriends are all alive and well, so why does this rule still get propagated if it’s demonstrably untrue? It’s to make them start a family as soon as possible, to create that next link in a chain. If he cares for someone, he has to marry them immediately and marriages are to be consummated. Have a son, continue your family duty, and pass that duty onto your son when he comes of age. [if the basis of the rule is true though then it’s to keep them reproducing anyway. when a person is pregnant, there’s a fetomaternal transfer of cells, and I feel that’s when the protection would be ‘ensured’ because the person would have Indoh cells inside them. But that’s my rationalization for what can be answered with ‘ghost bullshit’. The Nounuki might just know they’re married because it’s a ghost or whatever.] Is ‘Hikaru’ so possessive over Yoshiki because it’s a spirit, or is it because that’s what Hikaru thought being a lover was supposed to be? That romantic love is ensuring protection over another person even if they don’t understand what you’re protecting them from because you know best. They have to stay by your side because you love them and your love is dangerous, but you can protect them from that danger by tying them to you. Then you won’t be dangerous anymore. [the answer is probably because ‘Hikaru’ is a ghost but eh]. I guess this makes Hikaru seem a lot more sinister than he’s portrayed but I don’t think he has like bad intentions- he’s just a product of his society that’s been grooming him to think these things and to fulfill these roles. ‘Hikaru’ being a monster is the natural outcome of society so flawed. It’s just finally coming to light.)

So yeah the Indoh family duty and rules are a bunch of patriarchal bullshit, but that’s kind of obvious.

somehow despite the Indohs being a mystery to be solved later in the plot, we know more about them then we do Yoshiki’s own family. The only things I can offer on this for him is that he’s shown to have a lot of stress and anxiety related to his father. From what we saw during the brain penis scene (…hopefully I’m not the only one who calls it that… it’s when he’s getting smooshed by brains or whatever), a few of the comments are related to his father: that Yoshiki looks more and more like him every passing day, that his father is awful, and that he’ll have to take over the family business [which apparently is a logging business? Guess he can’t take over as a hairdresser like his mom because… I mean well look at his hair]. Yoshiki doesn’t want to be like his dad [reason unknown. Toshi is possibly an alcoholic?] and so being compared to his dad causes him anxiety. He also seems to avoid his dad side of the family despite them interacting with him (gave him a watermelon one time. I don’t think his mom’s side of the family all the way in Tokyo could give him a watermelon) because we’ve never seen them once despite them being mentioned. Correct me if I’m wrong but from what I know a few traditional expectations for an eldest son are taking care of the parents, staying in the household and taking over the family business, and when the parents pass, to assume management of the household and property. All of that directly conflicts with his desire to leave the village and move to Tokyo. (I think I also read that the eldest son helps manage marriages which would explain why someone asked him about marrying off Kaoru. But I’m even less sure about that one)

Hikaru and Yoshiki take after their dads. Hikaru has a snaggle tooth like his dad and Yoshiki has moles on his face like his dad.