#also another thing we can all agree with is that Wakui knows how to write complex human characters

[just-sp-in-inginthevoid]

@chaoticdelinqueerwithglitter

A thing I didn't dwell on is financial issue

Apart from being discriminated against because Japan is a very fervent protector of the nuclear family and is just very traditional in general, half of the single mothers in Japan live under the poverty line. I don't know about the number back then (only have the most recent) but raising two children alone is expensive and exhausting (and not only in Japan)

If Papa Sano wasn't living with them, I think he did pay child support for Emma (for the little that we've saw of the man, he seems like a good guy. Besides, you know, perhaps having a child out of wedlock, but we still don't know how Papa Sano and Mama Sano's relationship ended so maybe he didn't cheat! Who knows) so then Karen may have continued to raise Emma and Izana for a bit until he died and child support was no more

Feeling she couldn't keep doing it, and crushed by responsibilities anyway, she decided to quit being a mom.

The way she left Emma and the way she left Izana are both different tho: with Emma she says that she'd be back one day, with Izana she cried telling him he'd be alone from that point on. And we can only theorize about the reason she cried abandoning him

Thing is, Emma (even tho she figured out almost instantly that her mom wouldn't come back) still held on hope and quickly stop feeling alone with the Sano around — but Izana had "You have to be strong, you're going to be alone from now on". And had had to wait about 5 years until he met Kakucho

When he meets Karen again (who also never told him until that point that she wasn't his biological mother, perhaps she did see him as her son since she cared for him the 7 first years of his life) she's gambling at Pachinko. She has money now. That she can spend how she wants. She clearly doesn't look to be doing well. She has eyebags, is smoking and, well, is gambling. We can only speculate why her life became like this. But she doesn't have it in her to play mom again. Or to explain clearly and gently the whole situation to the boy she raised. She's brutal and she pushes him away

That is to say, every big moment in Izana's life has been triggered by Karen's decisions (Shinichiro's death aside)

Sano family brainrot

Mainly focus on Mama Sano/Papa Sano/Emma's mom + Izana('s relationship with Shinichiro) rather than the Sano siblings

Shinichiro & Mikey is here

Mama Sano and Papa Sano loved each other. At least, Mama Sano did. We don’t know what pushed Papa Sano to have Emma with Karen (and if it was planned) but we also don’t know when Mama Sano had to go to the hospital to never come back and those two things are most likely related.

The Sano Parents’ relationship could have evolved in different ways: they could’ve agree to divorce (he didn’t love her anymore; they knew she would die and thought it would be best; etc, etc.) or to allow him to pursue his life and have another relationship if it came to be (without divorce) or Papa Sano was just a playboy and that’s how Emma happened.

Still, Mama Sano was at the hospital since Mikey was very young. He has a memory from his father when he was 3, but he has none of his mother when she wasn’t at the hospital – supposedly she’s been there for so long he would’ve been way to young to remember her being able to raise him.

Mikey and Emma have a 1 year and 3 months age gap. So Mama Sano’s health could’ve declined during Mikey’s first year in life which could be followed by Papa Sano meeting Karen (or he could’ve met her during Mama Sano’s health decline).

And then… OK. If Mama Sano was at the hospital, and Papa Sano raised Mikey and Shinichiro, what did they do when he left to (supposedly) see Karen?

We don’t know if Shinichiro and Mikey were aware of Emma’s existence before she came to their grandfather’s house. Their surprise doesn’t last long, supposedly they knew they had a (half-)sister. Or they didn’t bother freaking out and just accepted it as their new reality, who knows. Maybe they knew their father had a relationship on the side, maybe they didn’t. But they didn’t know what she looked like or even her name, so their father didn’t talk much about that.

Karen is a very interesting, with very little clues/material and no narration from her POV to help which makes it very hard to analyze her character. She doesn’t care about Izana, but she cried when telling him goodbye and told him to ‘be strong since he was going to leave alone from now on’. She lied to Emma (whereas she didn’t with Izana) about picking her up later. She was wearing red lipstick and smelt like flowers that day.

What we know about this woman is: Her first husband was a ‘useless man’ who had Izana with a Filipino woman (the French translation I read called her his ‘ex-girlfriend’ meaning Izana was there before Karen and his father got together – which could give a reason as to why he wanted to marry her. But the English version gives you the idea he was unfaithful, and honestly I think both could be equally damaging to Karen’s mental health) – as to whether this relationship she had with that man was healthy (and honest) or not, we don’t know. But clearly, whether it happened when he was still alive or after his death, she couldn’t care less about him.

But she still had to raised Izana. And until he met her again as a teen, she never told him she wasn’t his biological mom. She let him call her that. (until he saw her again after all those years)

A thing that could’ve bring Papa Sano and Karen closer was that they had to raise kids alone. If him and Mama Sano got divorced, since Mikey doesn’t seem to be at his grandfather’s house as a baby/toddler, I’d say Papa Sano got custody (in Japan, divorced parents can’t share the custody of their children. Only one parent can keep it, and it’s usually the mother (because we all know children need more their mother and their nuturing care than their father /sarc) and father does not get visitation rights most of the time; it’s common for a child to not see their other parent after the divorce. Which, you know, makes you wonder who took care of Mikey when he wasn’t home, but– (oh hey Shinichiro)

And that’s the problem, isn’t it? Was Papa Sano more with Mikey and Shinichiro or with Karen and Emma? Was he there to raise Emma? If Karen knew Grandpa Sano’s address than her and Papa Sano should’ve been rather close (I mean, they had a child together. But Emma could’ve not be planned, who knows), no (if he didn’t know about Emma, Karen couldn’t have known about Gandpa Sano, right?)? Did he meet Izana? Did Izana met Papa Sano?

After her first-husband’s death, Karen had to raise Izana alone, meeting Papa Sano 1. someone could understand the pain and difficulty of raising a kid alone in Japan (which there are a lot of articles about) and 2. Papa Sano was a good guy. Not like the ‘useless man’. But like the useless man, he died too.

She wasn’t going to raise 2 kids by herself. Or 1 again.

No matter the reasons, she couldn’t handle raising kids, to be a mom, anymore.

So Emma goes to the Sano and Izana remains a Kurokawa.

Mikey is the one to have made Emma opened up to them. They don’t have a big age gap either so it’s easier to get closer, contrary to Shinichiro. Shinichiro took on him to raise his siblings, he says to his father’s grave that he’ll take care of them and that he(his father) doesn’t need to worry. But Emma, unlike Mikey, wasn’t in his life before he lost his parents and his ‘normal’ life. He never had a normal big brother-little sister relationship with her, whatever a normal siblings relationship is supposed to be like – he straight up went ‘guess I’m your father figure now. Wanna see delinquent stuffs?’

And now… Izana and Shinchiro. And the 1Billion dollars worth question: Why didn’t he ever bring Izana back to the Sano household?

They both have wayyy more of a brotherly relationship than what Shinichiro has with Mikey and Emma (which isn’t brotherly since he’s raising them). He shows him the delinquent ways (kinda like with Mikey) but he doesn’t have that ‘father figure’ responsibility there, for once.

But let’s go back to facts for now. Shinichiro learned about Izana because of Emma (while Mikey didn’t bother to listen/remember) and went off to meet him. Why? Just to see how he was like? *shrug*

Why didn’t he tell Emma about the correspondence he had with Izana? *shrug*

He didn’t make Izana and Mikey met for at least two reasons: 1. Mikey complete disdain when Emma talked about Izana 2. Izana clear rage for Mikey (tbf, Shinichiro ruined it by only talking about Mikey when he was with Izana). But it could’ve been dealt with if they had met, no?

Financially, it could’ve been difficult to take care of Izana (alongside Shinichiro and Mikey, Emma. Three children is already a lot, specially when there’s only one adult to support and raise them) – but that doesn’t explain why he couldn’t make them see each other from time to time.

Adoption could be a sensitive topic as well – first of all, no matter the country, adoption is hell and Japan is definitively NOT an exception, second of all, in Japan, parents can request the children they put in institution to not receive foster care. No matter what, biological parents (unless they legally, officially cut ties but it rarely happen) have more power on the children than the foster parents (and they can take they children back whenever they want, even if it’s been 10+ years they didn’t see their kid and didn’t bother to come and see them, even if the children have been in a foster family for years and grew up there). And here comes a problem:

Is it Karen or Izana’s biological mom who has more power on Izana’s life?

By Japanese laws, it’s his biological mom (except if she went through the process of cutting ties with him but I doubt it) but it’s still Karen who was his father’s wife, who raised him, and who put him in the institution. But did she ever had ‘power’ on him? Since she didn’t gave birth to him, and is most likely not registered as his mother officially/legally.

Which brings me back to my Why-Did-Shinichiro-Went-to-The-Philippines-There’s-No-Other-Character-That-Can-Be-There-But-Izana’s-Biological-Mother questioning which I’m still not over with and won’t ever be.

Gotta wonder when and how he found out about Izana not being related by blood to him and Emma. Was it when he went to pick him up at the institution? Did he go see Karen once to get the permission to adopt Izana (really, it would’ve been Grandpa Sano officially)? Then went to the Philippines when she told him about how Izana wasn’t her kid? But going to the Philippines, first, cost money, second, he either did it just before or after his clash with Izana.

And. He asked Mikey how he’d feel if he had another big brother. Why didn’t he tell him there. What was your reasons Shinichiro. Why didn’t you bring Izana home.

I mean, there’s also the question of Izana going to Juvie and pushing a guy to commit suicide when he was twelve which shouldn’t have helped Shinichiro in his decision, but he’s the one to have shown Izana how to be a delinquent – sure, probably not like that, but who knows how Izana would’ve turned out if he hadn’t be shown the way.

Not going to bother on how Izana discovering he wasn’t related by blood to any of the Sano led him to stop interacting with Shinichiro (for a while) and then Shinichiro died (probably).

And we have no canonical evidence of Shinichiro being aware of Izana’s dependence on him for his mental stability; just like for Takeomi’s, so… Can’t talk about how Shinichiro sees Izana either. We just know that since the 8th gen, BD is not what it once was. Gotta wonder if the 8th gen happened before or after the clash, too. And the 9th.

And for Izana and Emma’s relationship… As children, they seemed rather close (for the little we saw of it), but they spent more than a decade apart. Emma most likely doesn’t remember him much (which wouldn’t help her wanting to see him again, he’s basically a stranger even if he’s her brother) and Izana… Had the institution. He felt too lonely, cut off, and he didn’t interact with her in years, she was a stranger to him as well. He has more memories with Shinichiro than with her. Kinda like Kazutora, he got rid of what he held dear and realized it too late. The only thing he didn’t realize too late was the importance of Kakucho in his life. Kakucho was truly the most constant person in his life. More than Shinichiro and S62.

Blood ties are very important in Japan, way more than in the western world where we are more opened to adoption (the adoption rate in Japan is disastrous), in Japan you are expected to have children and they have to be yours. Biologically. Learning he doesn’t have ‘biological family’ (his father’s dead, how could he possibly found his biological mother? Him and Shinichiro, him and Emma, aren’t siblings? The things he hold on, the things that made him go through it, isn’t real?) And even though Izana dies telling Mikey there’s ‘no way to save me, right?’, he also dies protecting Kakucho – who he isn’t related by blood to, but who spent most of his childhood, teenhood, whole life, with. He also dies with Emma on his mind, as his last question was both for Mikey and Emma (‘there’s no way to save me, right? Right? Emma’) – because at the end, even thought she became a stranger for him, she was still his little sister. Even thought he agreed to her murderer, he walks away as soon as he sees her, he knows what’s about to happen. And he didn’t smile or anything that showed it was happy with her soon-to-be death. Izana doesn’t know how to read people (thinking S62 only follows him because they’re scared of him) but he doesn’t know how to read himself either. (didn’t realize he had Kakucho until the end, didn’t realize he also had S62, didn’t realize he could’ve had Emma and Mikey if he came to meet them. And it’s not illogical. Izana truly felt lonely, at the institution, until Shinichiro came to see him, he had no one. Then he had had to wait his 12 to meet Kakucho, and then he met S62 in Juvie. Whereas Mikey got to see the ‘good’ sides of delinquency, Izana fully focused on the ‘bad’ sides of it (assaults, drugs dealing,…). As always, and that’s not news to anyone, Izana is a tragic character.)

Edit: if we decide to think about 'Mama Sano is the one to have raised her sons (and somehow Papa Sano got visitation rights if they got divorced)', then Mama Sano fell ill possibly after his death. If they were still together, the 'player Papa Sano' scenario is a bit more likely - but she seemed to have become close to Emma (as Emma heavily cried when Mama Sano died) still. I just want to know when did things happen in the timeline, Wakui pls

[raamitsu]

Also another thing that makes me disappointed in the end of TR, it didn't feel earned to me at all. And look I want them to be happy and to heal from their past trauma I do really especially the Sano family cause God knows they get throttled in every tl. But Mikey didn't learn from his past mistakes and didn't do anything to change how he was, but michi also didn't sit down to think how his actions would effect everyone else besides him and Mikey. And not only that but what little development all the side characters got was wiped away when they went to another tl, like what was the point? And what about the people from the Kanto vs toman tl like michi you died in that tl and I'm sure their really upset about that. Like he felt no guilt at all when he came to the last tl, no after thought or anything like that. And the overall way this series just pushed anyone who wasn't michi out of Mikey life as if he was the only thing keeping Mikey from going over the edge. Like hello Draken has been described as being Mikey "heart and moral compass" hell I would even say that if Draken was the mc of this series I would get why he would be hell bent on saving Mikey. Cause he's known him for sure a lot time and has probably since a lot of his "dark impulses" episodes(to me the dark impulses will forever be a mental health issue not that came from love bs) It also felt super cheap that everyone of their enemies joined their gang like ok lol 😆, anyways I guess a win is a win since all the Sano family,Draken and Baji made it to adulthood so I'll take it. Sorry for all the rambling

You see… we have a lot of people like you who were rambling about their fav(s)’ whole character development being wiped away by a single time leap (pls not to mention even Mikey time leaped too pfttntnt I should’ve known better that Wakui doesn’t give a shit about logic but oh well…) and bro, I couldn’t agree with you more in this like- THIS is what we should talk about.

It is indeed rushed, to the point it has been proven in an interview (I just dropped the link) and the potential they had in the manga canon was being put aside. I mean, I can’t say why it was wasted since it’s hard to see what happened behind every author’s works, but it is absolutely can’t be denied the story could’ve been established way better than what we’ve read so far.

Shorten the whole final time leap when it can be a potentially interesting part of the story is just… meh. It’s clearly a lazy writing but yeah of course some people (who sucks up to everything) would say otherwise. Everything about the characters we knew has been…. thrown away to the see haha. It’s insane, I know and I definitely understand where you came from. I really do.

And it’s alright !! Please don’t be shy to share your ramblings any time. My ask box is always open hehe 🥰

[ttkinnie]

The potential for angst and fluff is strong in this one, I love the adults realizing how the man they know came to be. Them learning about his love for plants, about being a little know it all but also so sensitive, his trauma responses due to being screamed at/neglected. The gag of Takemichi remembering the guy who killed him and contemplating killing the weed at the root while baby kisaki is like 🥺 this guy is paying attention to me... is this love? Hanma treating him like he treated old kisaki and the little guy being incredibly nicer compared to the cold heartless gang leader. The happiest here is Hanma ngl.

It's been a whole week since I wrote anything I'm so annoyed with myself 😭 but roleplaying is honestly so much fun. With a friend we are making a big server for people to play one or two characters with a new plot I'm very excited. Oh yeah the juvie fic is another excuse for whump (and tenjiku revenge!) Plus I love the general settinf of prison, they're all stuck here together in a very small space!! It's just the one bed trope but worse. The plan was to make kisaki have a very bad time until south beats up tenjiku, then kisaki goes from tenjiku punching ball to south's brain with legs. The treatment from south is another level of pain though. Then they all leave juvie and there's the bonten/brahman/south's gang I can never remember the name of but south's gang gets the lead with kisaki's forced help. Takemichi doesn't know kisaki is working for south, tries to recruit him to help Mikey onto the right track . Kisaki agrees, awkward interactions with the rest of Toman because Kisaki isn't the same guy anymore. But south finds out, kidnaps toman and beats up kisaki for his betrayal. But! And that's where I'm still lost how to do this, but Kisaki was working for himself all along, basically lost it, kills south and a big part of his gang in a gruesome way and tries to kill hinata, takemchi and the rest of the cast. Here comes hanma for the big finale, he stops kisaki from killing everyone and uh I'm still wondering here. I was thinking double suicide for bad ending or they just leave and takemichi is tied up like 😊 this is fine. But well I just started writing it. And the other fic is an excuse for slice of life hankisa running away to a random farm on a mountain and learning to live normally. Kisaki is still hoping they're going to come back to Toman at some point, when enough time has passed and the conflict has ended, but Hanma almost doesn't want to (I love the idea of Hanma receiving news that they can come back but not saying anything, kisaki coming to terms with this life and then hanma admitting it because he things theyre finally at peace but kisaki feels betrayed and leaves) but this one has like. 500 words. Just a plan really.

Okay but fluff material tenjiku having some respect for takemichi but hating kisaki, wanting to attack kisaki but takemichi stops then because he is That Nice. Kisaki is disgusted repulsed *why is his heart beating so fast*?

The tachibana dad is something to explore for sure, maybe he remembers kid kisaki too? He thinks hanma is the reason he went bad and tries to keep him out, he's the one following them when they escape because he thinks kisaki needs to be saved~ while kisaki is actually the mastermind planning to kill both of his kids. Irony hehe.

Yes pah chin the pillar, he still has issues to resolve with the Gang rape of his friend's girlfriend that he failed to protect and he basically sacrificed everything for revenge- which was just stabbing a guy. Kazutora who keeps trying to escape his guilt and blames it all on other people. Takemichi trying to save every kid out there but losing himself. Except if it's the kid version of him, which would be just as interesting because he's still a coward, and gets into these situations without even knowing how.

You've opened my third eye on the senhina potential they're so similar. I have issues with wakui's female representation to be honest, like most mangakas, but making them work through their issues and flesh them out beyond just be "pretty, nice and brave but never in a meaningful way beside inspiring the male characters to act" would be extremely satisfying.

@gratuiciel ur tags hurt me (and I love that) I'm fascinated with depressed era hanma, the fact that he relaxed thinking that Kisaki got away! Only to find his corpse on the road. Keeps thinking about what he could've done, if he had hold on to the bike better, if he had spent less time fighting with draken, and yeah always looking back at these six (6!) months of his life where everything was so colorful and he took it for granted. Maybe the first time in his life where he actually (somewhat) cared about another human being, only to have it ripped out from him.

I always wondered how he came to be in bonten, especially as he wasn't that useful anyway. We joke about Hanma being just some guy at the end of the manga but there was something to be done with him that just didn't happen and it makes me sad. So many fanart of him going back into the past and meeting little Kisaki... I want to develop that idea cuz I feel like he would try to shape into the boy he remembers but at the same time he would be scared to death of something happening to Kisaki. Plus, with the kid not being lonely to death I doubt he would develop that same passion for Hinata. But even if Hanmas not a time traveller, just the idea of him taking revenge on Takemichi and Mikey in Bonten is just, chef's kiss. Wanna write something about that (girl who has 1384949 wips)