#SORRY THIS TOOK A BIT my ability to read's deteriorating i think LMAO

[todayisafridaynight]

A thing I really enjoy about the Arakawas is that--while some say Ichiban and Arakawa actually being blood-related undermines the found family themes--the themes are reinforced in so many different ways and so well. It's exactly like you said, they find one another without even knowing it; I think even Jo took a while to put two and two together, if I remember correctly.

A detail I always come back to is the way that, at least in their teens, Ichi and Masato both resemble the "opposite" dad more than their own; Masato's the clean-cut introvert with the loving father living in relative comfort and Ichi's the scrappy youth with no father, roaming the streets and picking fights for money.

Like I joke about Masato having two brown-haired parents and ending up with black hair and Ichi having (at least one) black-haired, brown-eyed parent and ending up with brown hair and gray eyes, and I know it's genetically possible, but it just works so well. (Also never going to stop thinking about how, initially, the reason Ichi has a punch perm is because he was supposed to be "copying" Arakawa, though that design for Arakawa didn't end up sticking.)

Of course, both of them start to resemble their bio dads more as they age, but still. And I think there's an argument to be made that Masato is purposely designed in a way where both Jo and Arakawa could believably be his biological father, but if I were to go a step further, I think that design sensibility applies in some ways to Ichiban, too.

I'm definitely not a Jo Was Ichiban's Biological Father truther, but I would consider myself a Jo Is Ichiban's Last Remaining "Family" truther. And in forming a "cohesive family unit" that both transcends and demonstrates blood ties, I think the design and writing choices are significant.

I probably wanted to bring it up in the previous ask about Jo and Arakawa's relationship but either forgot or thought it meandered too far, but the way Ichiban says in the epilogue he's "reporting to" Arakawa about Jo's prison sentence, like it's something he should know and would want to know--the fact he even followed the case closely enough to know the sentencing before Nanba told him--is such a big deal to me. Also. When Ichi said "Look, I like this life with Arakawa-san, the captain, and even you!" to Mitsu despite Jo giving him no reason to be happy to have him in his life. OOGH.

I also don't want to (publicly) go off the deep end too much with Y8 and Gaiden speculation, but I of course think it's notable that Jo and Arakawa bookend the voices addressing Ichiban at the start of the Y8 teaser trailer as well.

According to Yokoyama, the lines were all newly-recorded for the trailer, except Arakawa's which is from "a flashback scene" (I haven't had a chance to actually take a listen and verify which one, if it's from Y7). However, I have... no idea what Yokoyama meant when he said (roughly) "Don't miss Sawashiro's line at the start! But there's still a while to go, so we'll see." Yokoyama. Please. What Do You Mean By That. What Will We See.

Honestly, I don't think Arakawa and Ichiban being related by blood undermines the found family aspects of Y7 either. They still exist, especially in Ichiban and his friends. Moreover, I don't think it'd be right just to constrain Y7's themes to 'found family' and to extend the idea to 'familyhood' as a whole: it's fairly apparent a theme in the game is that it shouldn't matter if two people are related by blood, all that matters is the bond between them and the roles they play in each other's lives (as Ichiban asserts at the end of the game not just with Arakawa and Kasuga-san being his dads, but with Masato and how Ichiban saw their brotherhood).

Ichiban and Masato having aspects of both Jo and Arakawa- though blatantly logical in Masato's case- is funny/interesting for Ichiban's (I know I kept joking about teen Ichiban and Jo having the same haircut, so I've definitely noticed at least some parallels between them lmao). To continue, I do agree that even if Jo isn't a great family figure to Ichiban, it's still inarguable he is a part of Ichiban's family and exists as the last connection between Ichiban's life before and after prison, so it's fair he should have some bits of Jo a part of him as well. You mention it later on in this ask so I'll talk a little more about it then, but if the beginning line of LaD8 is anything to go off of, Ichiban doesn't harbor too much bad blood towards Jo anymore. I doubt they'll have a SUPER close relationship (especially with Jo in prison), but I think it's better that way frankly.

To extend on some previous bits of mine, these moments really do help solidify the family dynamic of the Arakawa Family. It might be a tidbit that's occasionally forgotten or overlooked, but Jo has been in Ichi's life just as much as Arakawa was. Evidently, Ichi didn't become attached to Jo like he did to Arakawa, but they've at least co-existed for just shy of a decade together. Especially with Jo being so close to Arakawa himself (never mind being the person Ichiban seems to report the most to), it's going to cause Ichiban to develop SOME kind of bond with him (though that doesn't automatically mean it'll be an amicable one). At the very least, and it might be a side affect of Ichiban's good nature, but it shows a lot that even after Jo was right about to amputate him, Ichiban doesn't harbor any ill will and- at most- just laments how he and Jo don't see eye-to-eye on what it means to be a yakuza. Maybe it's because this probably isn't a first-time occurrence, but coupled with his comment to Mitsuo, it's at least apparent Ichiban is trying to keep the peace between them. Especially when it comes to 'reporting' to Arakawa at the end, there are a few ways to take this activity honestly. It could be that Ichiban's devotion to Arakawa runs deep enough that he's willing to go out of his way to track Jo and keep him posted, but it's much more likely that Ichiban was motivated to keep watch of Jo's case not just for Arakawa's sake, but also for his own personal interest. Again, at this point Ichiban sees Jo as a part of his family despite their rocky relationship: family's a complicated subject anyhow, it's hard to understand why someone should feel inclined to care about someone when they don't give them a fair reason to.

And back to this bit I alluded to earlier, it's so funny you bring this up because I actually planned on talking about Jo's line in the LaD8 trailer the day this ask was sent (and by 'talk about it' I just meant hyping myself up by remembering it existed). I'm 99% certain Jo's line at the start is roughly 'It's been a while, Ichi', suggesting that Ichiban might be visiting him in prison in this potential scene. I don't want to speculate too much either in the case I give anyone a lot of hope, but it's definitely something I'm excited to see come to fruition next year! I'm also curious about the inclusion of Arakawa though. I don't doubt there'll be flashback segments in LaD8 due to the series' love for them, but if there are supposedly new lines, I wonder what those could be..