#SOMETHING SOMETHING 'IN PURGE MARCH THE FICTION BLEEDS INTO REALITY!' SOMETHING

[purgemarchlockdown]

Magic as a TV Show

(CWs: Child Abuse, Cults) (Edit: Did some light editing, still a bit messy but should be fine now)

So, it's not a secret that I'm a big fan of Magic. It's my favorite T1 MV and one of my favorite Milgram MVs in general. Even before Purge March I'd re-watch it over and over again just because I liked it so much.

One of my favorite things about it is the way the visual language and symbolism develops over it's runtime, and with Purge March it's gotten ever better so lets talk about it!

Based on True Events

So, Magic is the very cheery TV Show that is based on the horrors going on backstage, and it's also aware of it's own fictional nature. It ends with the real Amane watching the show. It knows it's a world created by a 12 year old who wants to be Good.

This causes something interesting when viewing it's imagery. As Magic depiction of events can be both very literal and very metaphorical at the same time.

For example: Something that surprised most people (including myself) is the cat being real, and while it is representative of Something (which we will get to) it is very much an actual cat that was killed.

Magic plays with what is real and what is fictional very loosely, and while certain things Happen in the real world, you can't really separate the real from the fictional here. It's too interconnected with each other and the imagery would lose it's impact if you did separate them.

So with that established it's visual analysis time!

The Set

So Magic is set in one place for the majority of it's runtime. This set! Which resembles a lot of educational kid's tv programs, usually ones for preschool and under.

Here's are sets from an early season of Hi-5 and Imagination Movers to compare.

You can see the similarities, it's heavy on bright colors and wacky designs, the logo of the show is plastered Somewhere you can easily see, and only some of the props can actually be used!

These two examples are also very music based. Both of them being shows starring children's musical groups.

The animals here (except for the Cat which is in a Complicated situation) are probably representative of the audience. The other people of the cult being taught along with Amane.

Audience Participation is a big thing for shows like this, you'll see them perform with a bunch of children on the side cheering and dancing. It's a fun time for everyone!

Going back to the set, while the main set only has the colorful stage we do see a few props in Magic. You can see a Choir book right here so the group can sing.

A Whiteboard to teach.

A Donation box to show your generosity.

And...

A Game Show Stage to see if you understood the lesson.

Age Rating

I've talked...extensively before on how Pain is handled in Magic and while that post is outdated because I posted it right before Purge March a lot of it still stands to some extent.

Amane's pain in Magic is downplayed in Magic, it's nothing serious. Even though this pain is something Inflicted Onto Amane Physically by Gatacha.

I was going to talk a bit about corporeal punishment in Japan before realizing that this isn't even something that is considered a punishment. It's just a finger flick. This is something your older brother does to you cause he thinks its funny. It's the lightest possible kind of "punishment" there is.

This makes Amane's reaction to it seem silly. An Overreaction to something that isn't even that bad. She has cartoonish swirls and falls over dramatically. It's...Immature of her to react like this.

Even though we know these are injuries are much more serious than they are shown here. Magic doesn't portray them as serious, and also portrays Amane as Immature for acting like this.

Which points to something interesting, as I said this show resembles a preschool show and it's strange that twelve year old Amane Momose, almost a teenager Amane Momose, is existing in a world like this.

It gets even weirder when we consider that, while Amane most likely hasn't been exposed to much media her mind still conjures up a marching band in Purge March and she talks very "adult" in both her VDs and hates it when people treat her like a child.

Not only that, but Amane Momose in both Purge March And Magic is drawn visibly older than she actually is.

It's not the easiest to see because I can't find a good picture but you can see it in just the face shape. Outside of Magic and Purge March Amane's face is more squishy, with less defined cheeks and bigger, rounder eyes. While Magic and Purge March have her face be more defined and her eyes smaller and sharper. Making her look more like a young teenager rather than the seven year old. She's even called Big Sister Amane in Magic's credits.

If Amane Momose's mind is depicting her as older than she actually is, and Amane Momose outside of it acts very "adult" and hates it when people treat her like a child. Why then does Magic portray her actions as immature? Why is she put in the spot of a preschooler learning from their teachers?

Why is Amane Momose, in her mind, stuck in a preschool show?

Well, there's two layers to this.

First of all, Good preschool shows are usually very empathetic to the kids watching them and good preschool shows don't patronize or talk down to the viewers.

Even if the problem is seemingly irrational or nonsensical.

It's important to be empathetic with your viewers.

And to treat it their problems and issues with respect and understanding.

A concept that would be very appealing to Amane Momose, person who gets tortured for even showing a smidge of "impurity."

Second, why...wouldn't Amane Momose be portrayed as the preschooler learning here? She's the one constantly messing up, still not a good girl even though she should have learned by now. She's immature by the standards of her cult.

She's the perfect actor for this role, a girl that cannot be a good girl but wants to be.

Only if, only if, only if I could be a good girl I hope, I hope everyone can be happy and smile Forever, forever together would be a dream

The big sister that everyone can learn from, a character who has to learn from the older more experienced folk in the cast before becoming like them. The one who fails so that everyone else can learn.

This is the role Amane Momose has given herself.

Well...that and one other thing.

Cast

Will I ever get over the cat parallels?

The answer is no, but ignoring that, Amane has gotten two acting roles! The cat here is both the actual Purge March cat but is representative of Amane. As seen by how the injuries on the cat are her injuries in Magic and Purge March and how the cat gets directly paralleled with her in shots. This cat is, for all intents and purposes, both The Cat and Amane.

This gives the scene where Amane helps the cat a neat double meaning. Amane is helping the cat but it's also symbolically her helping herself...and failing.

Because Your not supposed to escape your trial.

Amane: Both pain and illness are trials.

This is one of the worst things you can do.

Amane: According to our teachings, those who run from them are the worst evil there is. That’s one of the four great principles. No matter who you are, that cannot be forgiven.

Your especially not supposed to steal those trials away.

Amane: Oh – speaking of which, there is one among the prisoners right now. An evil existence that’s trying to steal people’s trials away from them.

The cat is Amane's sinful desires to escape pain and help people, because that's Bad Apparently. She is cast as both the sinner and the thing that tempts people to sin. The corruptive force and the one who falls for it.

If were talking TV: She's the one in those 90s PSA episodes who gets Wrapped up in a Bad Thing and also the person who's the gateway to the Bad Thing.

(Blueepink has a wonderful addition to one of my posts over here which elaborates on this and is what made me realize it in the first place. Go read it she talks about some fun animal symbolism in it!)

Amane does however redeem herself in the end. You can always learn to be better after all. Even if you are the Worst Girl.

But you can't get rid of the devil that easily, she had some help!

(You can't get rid of the devil that easily in general, but it's nice to imagine you could-)

Let's talk about the mascots!

And Crew

So as people have noted each mascot corresponds to one of the doctrines.

In Magic introduction order we have:

Gachata- ’Tis ordained, thou shall stay thine course, then perish Yuri- ’Tis ordained, thou shall deliver unto those thou believest in Gozake -’Tis ordained, thou shall discard vulgarity Riyone- ’Tis ordained, thou shall follow thine destiny

(Fun fact: The doctrines are introduced opposite to how the mascots are introduced in Purge March. I don't know what this means but it certainly is interesting)

Like a lot of children's tv show groups, each mascot seems to be focused on a specific task/idea.

Gachata is Teaching Yuri is Donations Gozake is Choir And Riyone is Complicated

Each design reflects this in one way or another. Gachata is a robot because robots are associated with being smart and logical. Yuri's clothes are patched up and he's wearing a bin making him look, well poor. Gozake is in priest's wear and has a Conductor's Baton and Riyone...

Well, she has bandage ears. But that's a weird design choice isn't it? Especially since the cult is so against medicine, or more accurately against escaping pain, that Wrapping a Handkerchief around a cat's leg is considered wrong.

Amane literally wants to kill Shidou Right Now for violating that rule...so why does Riyone have bandages?

The answer is she doesn't, this is Magic Exclusive Design Choice.

Here is the best picture of Riyone I Could get in Purge March.

These are not the same ears, their rounder and smaller and don't have the bandage holes at the end.

Do you know what else is weird about Riyone?

This sequence.

Because as Amane has stated in the T2 VD, your not supposed to run from pain.

So why is Riyone suggesting healing the cat's physical injury through prayer?

Especially since, presumably, the rule about pain is under her. She's the one representing it.

Well, this is Amane's fictional TV show. The one she's writing to bring herself comfort. Why Wouldn't she want Riyone to be a healer who could stop the pain?

You will note that this gives extra responsibility onto Amane for not following what is the obvious Good Action. Healing the Cat with Prayer would have Fixed everything but she had to go Too Far and needed to be taught a Lesson and now the cat is Gone.

Riyone is also paralleled with her mom.

This is probably due to the rule she's associated with, as that's the rule her mom punished Amane for breaking and the rule Amane punished her for breaking.

Amane has Not acknowledged that what was done to her was Wrong, she has just acknowledged the hypocrisy of the action. Riyone is portrayed as right for punishing her since it Is her doctrine she broke, while her mom is portrayed as wrong because she was not able to live up to her own standards.

This is probably why Riyone doesn't disappear in the end. As said above, Magic plays very fast and loose with what is real and what is metaphorical. Riyone represents her mom Yes but She's more representative of the rule, a rule that Amane still (wants to) believe in it.

For now at least.

Lighting

So I haven't mentioned the stage light yet even though it's a really important part of it, it's what sets off the chain of events that end in Winged Amane. It's the most real looking thing in this entire MV.

In a move I will find funny forever, this is one of the few things in Magic that doesn't seem to be connected to any specific real world event, object, or person. This stage light is most likely, purely a metaphor.

The way it disguise its nature is really interesting to me. Magic is so obviously fictional and fantasized that the real looking stage light stands out, especially since it hurts The Cat. It's unexpected and concerning, it feels out of place in this cheery world.

Except, I've mentioned it multiple times now that Magic plays fast and loose with the boundaries of fiction and reality. Magic is a show and it knows it. This Stage light was always apart of it's visual identity as a show.

This Stage light is the most obvious Show element out of everything. It's the lighting AND the inciting incident. An important backstage element and an important story element all wrapped up into one light.

This is also probably a reference to an early scene in the Truman Show.

The light falling is one of the first things that clues Truman to the nature of his world. It's the inciting incident because Truman starts noticing more strange things happening in his town, and an important backstage element, a star in the sky.

Plus, the stagelight was already breaking when we see it in Magic, we can see it flicker for a few seconds before falling.

It wasn't sabotaged with the intent to hurt. The light of this world is Literally Breaking. This image of stable happiness was never going to last forever and has probably been broken multiple times in the past.

It just so happened that The Cat was the one it fell on-top of this time.

Audience

I would go into more costuming or the storybook sequences in Magic if this post wasn't already so long. I think Magic is a deeply interesting MV and honestly it doesn't even feel like I'm scratching its surface sometimes.

I sometimes call it Amane Momose's self-insert hurt/comfort fix-it-fic because that really is what Magic is. It's her fix-it fic. Her TV series. Her maladaptive daydream that makes her feel like she still Has Something to hold onto.

Even I can say "I'm sorry" Even I have hope I swear! I'm going to be a good girl now! That's it!

This is actually something she shares a bit with Fuuta but if we talked about those parallels we would be here forever and it's also very much out of the scope of this post.

But, as I mentioned, we see Amane watching it at the end. She's an audience member for her own show, detached from all the silly, empathetic, understanding, fun events going on in that world.

Amane Momose is Very Aware that the world she wants isn't real.

But even so, that Want for it to be real is going to bleed into everything.

[purgemarchlockdown]

Real quick cause I've been thinking about it. I mention that Amane seems to be in choir based of this scene in Magic.

And it really illustrates something interesting with Amane's storytelling, the way her likes and interests get irrecoverably associated with her trauma and abuse.

Magic and Purge March are performances! And while that speaks to the fictitious and unreliable nature of both MVs and the way fiction bleeds into Amane's reality as a means of coping with her situation, it also seems like Amane has a genuine interest in performance and arts.

We know Amane likes looking cute! They have a whole Minigram about how she's upset that she has bedhead and the minigrams have very consistently linked back to information about the characters. Amane has this in spades with the water and sinking in particular being foreshadowed in it.

If were focusing on just the MVs we still how she has consistently dressed herself in cute and pretty outfits and costumes. Even though both Magic and Purge March can be particular cruel to her to reflect her self-hatred and self-punishment she still...gives herself the cute outfits.

Plus the rule she breaks in Purge March is the one about Vulgarity and is the only flag that is touching the ground.

Generally speaking that's a sign of disrespect and again, it's the only flag that isn't flown when we first see it. It's most likely the rule Amane breaks the most.

"Vulgarity" can mean a lot of things but considering she's forbidden from amusement parks we can assume that it's a very broad definition. It seems like Amane cares a lot about things her cult considers "vulgar" and to bring it back to the TV real quick we can actually See It in Purge March.

It's right at the back! Thrown away and discarded. Presumably cause it was "corrupting" her.

It seems to be like Amane...cares a lot about this stuff. Both because it helps her cope with her situation and out of a genuine interest for the craft itself.

When she hears Mikoto went to an Art University she gets curious:

Amane: It’s fine. If there are any words I don’t understand I can look them up later. An arts university, though…… Does that mean you’re good at drawing, then? It may be a bit rude to say, but that’s rather unexpected.

And I love T1 Q14 a lot for this because it's a very much Amane insulting her cult:

Q: Do you listen to music? A: Not really to songs that are highly entertaining.

Again, she's in choir, Amane just called her cult's songs Boring, the same songs she Presumably has to sing. I love her so much she can be So Pointed with her insults when she wants to be.

But again! All this stuff! It's been irrevocably linked with her abuse, she likes the performances and she likes the outfits but now their partially a symbol of how she has to Keep Up Being A Good Girl under Threat of Death. She seems to really like Music but she's in a Choir for the cult that could Kill her. That same question can also point to the Noise Torture she seems to have experienced.

Not to mention the Cult Mascots who are colorful and kiddy and also representations of the Cult and her Abuse. It's been spoiled now! I think about it a lot.

[purgemarchlockdown]

Hm...I've been thinking about the flyers in Purge March for a while ever since I asked for translation for them and Tsuwmya informed me of what they could figure out here.

I haven't really been able to figure out what they could mean but after writing about Magic's fiction so much I might actually have a thought on what it could mean.

Purge March also plays with the lines of fiction and reality A Lot, in both more obvious and subtle ways.

Like, at the end we see the Marching Band Amane but as archivalofsins pointed out here we know that only the day where Amane found the cat dead was actually rainy due to how it's lit and elements like Amane not having a umbrella on the first day.

You can see it here, the shot on the left is warmer than the one on the right. Purge March, like Magic before it, has very obvious showcases of fiction bleeding into reality while also hiding the other ways it plays with the boundaries between the two. This is the translation of the sentences that could be made out on the flyer in Purge March.

"◯◯ principle abide to the rules of ◯◯ make everyone happy!! together with your father and mother ◯◯ friends who break the promise"

But as Tsuwmya noted the kanjis/hiragana aren't consistent. (Copying and pasting cause I do not Know how to explain this)

母 (☒)、父 (☒)、原 (��) kanjis are learnt on second grade 守 (☒)、幸 (☒)、決 (☒) are learnt on third grade 友 (☑) - second grade, 達 (☑) - fourth grade, 則 (☑) - fifth grade

It goes up to fifth grade and Amane is 12 so she should be sixth or going up to sixth by now, we don't really have Any dates for when she committed her murder so I can't really figure out if the school year started for her. Edit: She is literally in her school uniform- what I meant was if the New School year started or if she's still in Grade 5)

Tsuwmya also noted that a lot of the kanjis that they expect for Normal children to understand don't really make sense.

so why do they not use kanjis for "mother" and "father" if these are learnt at a very young age and are very common words for a child? why a child is supposed to read 原則 (general rule) but not お母さん (mother)?

Amane Momose however is noted to be Really Good at Japanese. Q1:

Q: Do you have any special skills? A: Nothing that I can call a talent. Perhaps studying. I do well in my Japanese class.

The text of the flyer has also been confusing me because of the Last Sentence.

-friends who break the promise"

This is so weird to me, why does it end at promise? What is the full sentence supposed to be about? I'd assume its about abandoning the friends who break these promises (Very We Know The Devil of it) but it's a really weird thing to put on a flyer. It's not something most people would look at and go "Wow I should go there!"

My point is, I'm pretty sure this flyer isn't the actual flyer but a the version of it in Amane's head. The inconsistency in the text being due to that.