#analyzing fiction

[smallmartiniolive]

Thinking abt how Jurassic Park is like obviously abt chaos and the evils of mindless capitalism that destroys what it touches for a profit but also it’s abt the people you know? This is coming from the movie standpoint bc the book didn’t really check off the right boxes for me but the movies are just so inherently abt people and connection! To me

I’m gonna just give my thoughts abt mainly dinot3 bc they are something. So special. To me.

Imagine you’re Alan Grant, in love w dinosaurs and being in the field, ur at the top of your game and it doesn’t even matter as long as you get to study what you love. Then, unexpectedly! You get to share this passion and love w another person and part of you doesn’t understand why it works but that’s ok as long you get to dig up dinosaurs and be with her, Dr. Sattler (understandable

Imagine being Dr. Sattler and always chasing after something and wanting more. You find the love of your life and he doesn’t hold you back at all, he’s perfect! You both thrive in your own lanes! You get on a helicopter to who knows where and you meet this exciting new guy, you don’t love him, not like Grant but he’s exciting and new and you feel like he sees you for something you’re not even sure you see yourself

Imagine you’re Ian Malcolm and you’re made aware of people trying to remake dinosaurs and you know it’s impossible but you also know that life finds a way so you go along. You flirt w some paleontologists, have fun, berate the senselessness of the actions around you. I mean what else is there to do. Then, you get a life altering injury that’s gonna bug you forever and the last person you see is a person you hoped you got to save, who is risking his life to save children (I.e. Grant) and then suddenly you’re waking up to the face that saves you (I.e. Sattler).

And through that all, nobody comes out ok! There’s nightmares and injuries and assumedly they’re quarantined in a Costan Rican hospital till everything’s sorted and people are good to go. Alan and Ellie always find each other, planets in orbit etc, and of course Lex and Tim are connected to Alan after everything. The kids cling to them and they protect them, but also they at least have each other and are stronger for it, but it also makes them aware of how awful it would be to be alone right now- Ian Malcolm. So they all spend time together drifting in and out of hospital rooms (most commonly Ian’s bc he can’t move around much) and after all that they’re connected by shared experiences and the knowledge they can’t share. Pandora’s box and all that but they all end up woven together.

They separate but I’m sure it’s apparent that Malcolm ends up alone, not wanting to rely on anyone, especially not his ex-wives and kids cause that would be unfair and even in pain he’s still trying to protect other people. So they end up together again, how could they not? Malcolm needs help, they all do but that’s a touchy topic and it’s easier to focus on what they can see. Alan and Ellie and Ian finish up at the dig and Alan just wants everything to be the same so he can forget and Ian needs the change, but Ellie? She’s not really sure and it leaves her unsteady.

All at the same time you have Malcolm writing his book bc the truth was always what was most important to him, like Alan to dinosaurs. Alan doesn’t want him to ruin his life, and Ellie wants to support him but doesn’t know how but they coexist.

Ian gets better. He leaves w/ Sara a woman he met shortly after the hospital and whom he seems inexplicably fond of having witty banter with. He leaves so that when he publishes his book it doesn’t come down on them, he leaves because Ian Malcolm has never been one to want to settle down and he’s afraid of becoming complacent, that if he stops moving he’ll lose something critical (he’s shark-like, Ian).

And then the digs over and Alan’s ready to throw himself back into another, but Ellie simply isn’t. She gets a teaching position in another state, and Alan doesn’t ask her to stay but by god he wants to (just like he wanted to w Ian although he never had the chance bc he was gone so much quicker) and it’s the biggest mistake he ever makes.

Ellie leaves. Ian reconnects w his kids, reminded by Alan and Ellie how important family is and that hiding only does them a disservice. Alan digs.

They still stay relatively close, stuck in orbit even though they’re separated, they message and mail and spontaneously stop by when they’re in town (Ian). There’s distance but it’s not uncrossable, they’re still there for each other. They still call and those calls never go unanswered, no matter how late.

Ian goes to Isla Sorna and it’s shoved in his face that he’s changed, whether he wanted to or not. He wants something more stable, of course he still wants independence but he also wants to come home to *something* (he misses what he had w Alan and Ellie but he’s trying to avoid that iceberg). Alan and Ellie find out and it’s the beginning of an end, they fly out immediately and check in w him, and stay a few days. But. But Ian didn’t tell them, didn’t tell them abt something so critical to the three of them.

They grow a lil farther apart.

Alan goes back to work. Ian mutually splits w Sara (word is she and Nick have something weird going on when they aren’t traveling the world for respective careers)

Ellie marries Mark, the guy she met while teaching. He made her laugh and was a lil plain but she liked it (reminded her of Alan). Although Mark is different, he brings up kids on the third date and he’s everything she needs right now, he’s stable and kind and his job travels w him so she never has to worry which would take precedence (her or the job). He loves her for her or what she is right now and there’s something in the back of her mind but she loves him and they build a life together.

Ian meets a woman he can settle down with, an intellectual and a perfect mix of Ellie and Alan (although he doesn’t know it) and he settles down too, finally ready for that build-a-family lifestyle that he’s started to want. They have two kids (canon compliant due to the five kids comment in Dominion) probably around Ellie’s kids age, they probably have play dates. Alan doesn’t come around too much but he mails occasionally or helps set up furniture, but he’s undeniably pulling away.

Alan who couldn’t just ask people to stay, is alone and he’s become increasingly aware because of his new grad student. Billy Brennan is a mirror, he’s everything Alan was (admittedly more flirtatious tho) and Alan can’t do anything but nurture it because he wouldn’t even know how to change (because god knows he wants to). So he pulls away and focuses on work and at least w Billy he’s not alone and maybe maybe he can help him get on a better track (his version of accepting defeat)

Of course he doesn’t stop seeing Ellie or visiting w Ian over mail or the occasional spontaneous visit (couldn’t bring himself to) but he pulls away still. During play dates, Ian sneaks looks at Ellie’s calendar and will conveniently tell Alan when Marks out on business ( bc I refuse to believe Alan didn’t visit Ellie even tho Mark first meets him when Charlie is 2 so I believe he snuck on in cus it makes sense you know). Alan loves Ellie’s kids more than himself and probably bought Charlie his dinosaur toys (Ellie groans abt his taste but she knew it would happen and loves him anyway).

And then Alan, who has never really been alone but has isolated himself to that point, gets a chance to see dinosaurs again (he says it’s for the money but dinosaurs are what’s always made sense to him). He gets lost. He’s got no way out. He calls Ellie bc she’s always been his beacon of light, saving grace, Hail Mary etc etc. (Also him bringing Ian up to Eric bc that man has never been normal about *either* of them).

Ellie meets him at the hospital (maybe w Ian who knows) and Alan is made increasingly aware (between yelling and crying and thank gods) that he’s not alone he’ll never be alone as long as they’re around.

And after that they’re sort of ok. They have regular visits and there’s distance but they settle, they try. They bitch abt Jurassic World together and how all the kids they’ve collected are doing. One of Ian’s eldest going into paleontology bc she met Alan Grant at the age of 15 and it altered how she thought academically and Ian is exhausted. Ian and Ellie’s partners don’t really understand it but they also know not to interfere (even if sometimes frantic calls wake them up in the middle of the night).

Alan stays in his ways (hoping for a change but not seeking one).

Ian and his wife have a tiff bc she accused him of loving her bc he loves Alan and Ellie at least at first (still does in a different and perhaps more powerful way than her?) and he can’t lie bc it’s all the truth with him. He says it’s not fair to her to not know that Alan and Ellie are just his people, you get it. She doesn’t, not really, it only ever made sense to the three of them. They divorce but it’s amicable.

Ellie and Mark have been on the rocks for a little, they’re relationship has always been a bit boring but that was never a real problem. However, she wants to go out and do more field work (writing books was great but she’s ready for a change bc the world turns quick but she’s always moved faster). He wants to have an at home life and one thing spirals to another. She chose him bc he’d never need to choose between anything and she wouldn’t either, they could both have everything and he’s a great guy, but. But now she needs a change and once again she’s left in a situation where someone can’t bend for her, so she breaks it. They divorce and it’s heartbreaking, they love each other, but Ellie has always needed some flexibility (she calls Alan and Ian later on and they drop plans to have dinner together, she doesn’t bring up the break up but she does note how they changed things for *her*, it’s nice maybe they changed)

Maybe they’ve all changed a lil you know? Ian travels, lectures, makes connections, and visits w the people he loves. Ellie writes paper after amazing paper after amazing book between field work. Alan digs. They communicate in academic papers and books that they send each other, their love notes are annotations that feel a lil too raw so they’re kept private. Every new paper and book and interview fuels the three of them forward and keeps them in orbit. Despite everything.

Then, Ian is hired by Biosyn (Ellie encourages it a bit bc she doesn’t trust them, Alan discourages it for the same reason). And then they’re back, they are SO back. They come together to fight against what they’ve always had to fight against, it’s a lil exhausting but they have each other. Through it all it’s always them. Every single time. Alan and Ellie meet and see each other like they don’t see anyone else. It’s a little unfair to Ian because they’re prepared and his entire world gets flipped for a second when he sees them (it’s ok he recovers pretty quick). They fall in step, into old conversations and patterns.

And between taking down Biosyn and avoiding dinosaurs they all kind of fall in love, not again bc it’s always been that way for them but it’s just so so apparent. They can’t give each other up and everytime they look at each other there’s comfort and understanding without words. It was easier to deny a part but now they are here and it’s just so. Perfect

Ellie tells Alan she needs to go, she’s always been too fast for this world, Alan tells her he’ll stay which is the best love declaration she could have asked for.

Ian says he needs to tell the truth, he’s always had to, and they say “we’ll be with the you, we will tell the truth with you.” You know and that’s their love declaration, Thats them asking him to stay, to be with them.

And at the end of it all, Alan says in the end he’d just rather not be lonely again, and Ian and Ellie look at him like he’s absurd bc of course he’s stuck w them now. It’s always been them even if they didn’t realize it

OH MY GOD LOOOOONG POST IM SORRY IM NOT NORMAL AT ALL HAHA. Dinot3 is something I’m not normal about because look at their stories!! Look at how through everything they fit together!! They are in Montana somewhere rn having a beer and laughing abt something silly one of them did and talking abt their collective kiddos.

TLDR; just my thoughts on DINOT3 and just their canon timeline and how it’s always been those three.

[risetherivermoon]

i dont really like it when people dumb down Curly's characterization to just the guy enabling Jimmy. I get that that makes it easier to not like him, so that's why a lot of people do that, because they feel guilty about sympathizing with someone who's done smth fucked up like that, but i really don't think it's giving Curly the justice he deserves.

regardless of if you like him as a person or not, Curly is still a victim and he suffered greatly at Jimmy's hand. Just because he did something fucked up doesn't make him a 'monster' (sorry because i saw someone say that he looks like a monster post-crash and thats sticking with me because why TF are we saying disabled burn victims look like LITERAL MONSTERS- yall use some common sense I BEG)

Dumbing down characters is what fandom does best, but i think it particularly irks me in Mouthwashing because of the nature of the story. Jimmy already thinks of the rest of the crew poorly and doesn't see them for how they really are, we don't need to be doing that too.

I also feel like people don't really recognize the fact Jimmy manipulates and abuses Curly too, even before the crash. What Curly did was fucked up but for the love, don't dumb him down to just this one thing he did.

[potatobugz]

eek! scary!

[dotcircledot]

just small thoughts on how i think their established relationship would be like

[transmechanicus]

The extent of the left wing politics you see in a Terry Pratchett book are introductory and are not a replacement for in-depth political theory, it looks just as silly to constantly be referencing Discworld abt capitalism as it does to be referencing The Hunger Games, you do still have to read other books!!

[guardian-angle22]

I know Carlos is still very much processing his grief and burying himself in his work and the search for his father's killer. But there's something about when he's talks with Mr. Soup Man about Gabriel being an "insufferable pain in the ass" and the way he smiles and laughs in response...

One of the tasks of grieving is learning to laugh and smile again when you're thinking about your loved one... and this feels like a small touch of healing to me.

[pipsqueakparker]

i’ve not seen anyone talk about this yet, so i’m gonna… looking at apology tour, i’d like to present that

this scene:

and this scene:

are direct parallels of each other

we see both of them like ALMSOT GETTING IT, you’re almost there bb, you see that you done buffed it.

the difference being that blitz is the king of self-sabotaging, and stolas is, well, royal — which in itself is reflecting what their issues are.

blitz’s whole thing is internal, it’s coming from his trauma, it’s his own sense of self-worth aiding in this blockade between them. HE SAYS IT, and then he dismisses it all because that’s what he does.

stolas is also wrong - he did fail to recognize his own issues, he failed to recognize that their deal with the grimoire was wrong (at first), he’s failed to recognize how the way he’s spoken to blitz or about blitz or other imps is Not Okay, he’s failed to recognize the power imbalance between them essentially. there’s a LOT that he got wrong, and for this split second mid-song he Gets It - just like Blitz did for a second during their argument. But, his pressuring factors arent internal. they’re external. verosika & tex literally pull him back on track with his sad ballad and put the blame back on blitz - which makes sense considering she’s holding an anti-blitz party. she’s projecting. but we’ve seen examples of external, societal forces that influence stolas to stay blind to all of this - he’s reprimanded for bowing to blitz as a child, we see how the other goetia or demons higher up the totem pole feel and talk about imps. verosika in that moment is reflecting how stolas’s lack of growth or personal development or whatever you wanna call it is in large part due to outside forces telling him who he is and how to act.

and both these fools are gonna have to work through those so they can be together

anyway. just thought that was really lovely writing, these parallel so well & i really love that

[canisalbus]

Which is your favorite platform? (of the ones you have accounts to post things I mean. I can't imagine it being Instagram since you don't really post there which honestly fair)

Tumblr, Twitter (X?) bluesky? Something else?

I think I'm going to have to go with tumblr, and it's not just because we're here. Twitter and Bluesky are nice and my experiences on both are overwhelmingly positive. But tumblr has an atmosphere that encourages originality, sharing your creations and talking about things in depth.

[stars-obsession-pit]

What do blob ghosts do?

Blob ghosts as filter feeders or cleaners of the Zone is a common trope.

But what does that mean? Like, ecologically speaking.

What are the impurities they’re filtering out, and what do they do with them?

The idea of ectoplasm “going rancid” over time sometimes appears in DP x DC fics as an explanation for Lazarus Water, but what does that actually imply?

Would it mean ectoplasm just generally breaks down with time and the blob ghosts repair it somehow?

But if we assume that the cleaned ecto can now be used by ghosts again, then doesn’t that imply that the blob ghosts are spending energy to do that (since they’re returning it to a state with stored potential energy other ghosts can then consume)? If that is the case, what’s the source of their energy?

Or maybe the impurities are something actually mixed into the ectoplasm. I can think of two possibilities - “pollution” from the emotions people give off or material from the living world. If that’s the case, the blob ghosts would just be improving the ectoplasm by separating the substances. There’s no “supplying energy” problem since they could spend some of that ectoplasm’s energy in the process and still excrete the rest in a more usable state.

This also then raises the peripheral question of “what happens when they’re exposed to that substance in other situations?”

Like if they drain emotions, that would be helpful with cases of festering emotions, but it would be harmful in other situations from the exact same process - taking away the healthy emotions and leaving someone depressed/numb.

Or with the material from the living realm option, what happens if they enter the living realm where the material is everywhere but ectoplasm is scare? Could they physically even take it in without enough ectoplasm present? If they can take it in, would the process damage whatever it is they’re munching on or would it be left unharmed? If it does damage it, how much destruction would they leave behind? Also, would the high concentration of living realm material become lethally toxic over time as they take in too much?

Also, what happens to the stuff they’ve filtered out? If it’s emotions I could easily see it just kinda dissipating or being digested, but what about material from the physical world? If it’s bad for ghosts, they probably can’t just let it build up inside them forever, right?

So do they excrete it as a waste product? What happens to it then? If they’re just releasing particles of the material out into the Zone, could it build up later and cause further effects? What would those effects be? Or maybe they bind the material into a more stable state that won’t harm other ghosts - but again, what happens to it after? Does it have any unique effects that influence the Zone’s environments? Can the material eventually make its way back to the living world?

Or maybe they genuinely can digest the material, having a special metabolic system that allows them to turn it into ectoplasm. If so, that might have implications for the relationship between worlds; it’d mean material from the living realm(s) actually supplies at least some of the ectoplasm in the Ghost Zone. Which actually could make thematic sense cosmologically - the state of heat death when all the usable energy in a universe is expended would potentially involve all material having moved to the Ghost Zone, the universe itself joining the realm of the dead.

…Heck, what even is ectoplasm????

[wonder-worker]

Wild how we know that Elizabeth Woodville was officially appointed to royal councils in her own right during her husband’s reign and fortified the Tower of London in preparation of a siege while 8-months pregnant and had forces gathering at Westminster “in the queen’s name” in 1483 – only for NONE of these things to be even included, let alone explored, in the vast majority of scholarship and historical novels involving her.

[the-necromancer-wife]

The moment I get my hands on the full story of this event im going to make a full analysis. Im counting the days.

[musicalmoritz]

I was skimming through my old Soukoku fics and LMAO Chuuya chill out

[hexedwinchester]

Angry Sam is Sexy Sam

What I love about Sam's anger is that he doesn't bottle and bitter it up. More often than not, Sam is the one to let go and give people second chances (notice that Dean doesn't). Neither does he hold grudges (Dean absolutely does). I have read a lot of comments that say Sam represses his anger which is unhealthy. The screencaps above, that's not repressed anger. He is literally angry and what caused that anger is something way beyond his control or his scope of forgiveness, so his anger erupts like a volcano.

[llawlieta]

I love L outsourcing his moral compass to Soichiro

[gnomeniche]

you Will read 3d workers island. it’s so detailed and rich. it captures an atmosphere of old internet rumors and creepypasta very well WHICH ties into the narrative’s themes of what outsiders see/don’t see in familial abuse situations + interpreting media and seeing a reflection of one’s experiences

i love the open-endedness about what is real or fiction. it works thematically whether you choose to see the creepiness as real or a rumor, whether the program is alive or not. i also love that even if nothing nefarious is there it’s still meaningful to the people who see themselves in amber

[kentuckyfriedmegumi]

i analyzed the songs that gege akutami assigned to the first year trio and i how i think they relate to their characters

for the record, we are talking about the songs that gege had said he thinks would be the theme songs for each member of the trio (like island in the sun for megumi)

this was a 20 page document in word, hope you enjoy more of my ramblings...

YUJI’S SONG 1: HEART NI HI WO TSUKETE by 9MM PARABELLUM BULLET

I think what really makes Yuji’s song so beautiful is the way that it highlights two people trying to heal and overcome some sort of trauma. They are wondering if they will be able to fight through and it keep fighting while finding comfort in each other.

The narrator is addressing someone in pain who makes a lot of self-destructive decisions. This is inherently interesting because we know that Megumi has a tendency to look down on himself and not see the value in his life. This is especially true in the manga and specifically in the chapter where Yuji tries to communicate with Megumi, but Megumi tells him that he gives up.

But the narrator is in just as much pain. They are HURTING and they cannot bear it alone. THIS IS SUPER INTERESTING BECAUSE OF CHAPTER 266 WHERE YUJI TELLS MEGUMI “It’s lonely without you, Fushiguro”!!!! Mind you, this was chosen as his song be Gege a longgg time ago.

In this part of the song, we see that the narrator and the person they are speaking to have found a comfort in each other, but it also leaves them feeling a bit empty. Neither of them have fully healed yet and they are far from that path in the light that they are trying so desperately to get to. But the narrator still cannot stand being alone. While this isn’t necessarily related to Yuji or Megumi, it still parallels Yuji’s desire for companionship after everything that has happened and what he has gone through.

This is the end of the song, and it’s especially interesting because we’re seeing repeat themes with the “don’t turn to ashes” and themes of burning and fire. Fire in media can represent a lot of things, but in this song I think it’s meant to represent purging. The narrator is begging this person to please keep going, please keep standing by their side, don’t let your trauma consume you.

And then there’s this last line, a question of whether or not the narrator and the unknown person will be able to find love and comfort in each other, or will their pain consume them and burn them from the inside out. We know that JJK touches a lot on themes of love, romantic and platonic arguments being set aside right now. This last line ties in directly with that theme while also calling back to the pain that these two people are feeling.

YUJI’S SONG 2: ITSUKA DOKOKA DE by KUCHIRORO

I actually had first discovered the wrong song with the same name and realized that the song that’s meant to be Yuji’s is like 13 minutes long. I will not include the lyrics, but I will highlight and quote the ones that I find tie in with Yuji’s character. This song also switches from first to third POV. In this analysis, I am only addressing the first person POV.

This song overall seems to be a sort of conversation that the narrator is having with an unknown person. There is mentions of belief, love, and a desire for a simple, mundane life. There is also a lot of counting in this song, having to do with time and time running out or time flying by.  

Wow this is going to be very hard, I am struggling with Google Translate here. From what I am picking up, it seems that the narrator wishes for love, but isn’t sure what that looks like, all the while they feel that time is running out. I think with Yuji, this could relate to his character in that he wants to surround himself with good people, people that he loves and people who love him, but he feels like he doesn’t have time. This is most likely in part due to his execution.

In this part, it seems that the narrator is putting a lot of pressure on themselves, as they struggle to do their best. Yuji is constantly in a state of growth ever since the beginning of the series where he says that he wants to get stronger, especially after the detention center. “I met someone who was doing it” may even be hinting at Megumi or someone else that Yuji heavily admires. Skipping over the third POV stuff, these lyrics also hint that the narrator just wants to live a mundane life, maybe even with someone as the “I’m thinking of you, you dream of me” lyric.

The narrator is alone at night and we see a lot of references to time and its passage. “Am I moving forward?” The narrator feels stuck, lost in their thoughts and the only thing that grounds them is the thought of seeing someone soon and every single day after that. While this isn’t exactly related to Yuji, I think it’s interesting to note their worry about time running out and the only thing that is keeping them from spiraling is companionship.

MEGUMI’S SONG 1: HAKUJITSUMU by UCHUJIN

In this song, the narrator not only speaks about wanting to save someone, but also battling with their own internal struggles as they try to navigate their trauma. This is really cool because it can be applied to Megumi’s relationship with Yuji and his relationship with Tsumiki—both being people that Megumi has compared time and time again.

These lyrics immediately make me think of Megumi’s relationship with Tsumiki. We see him admire the goodness in her throughout the series and he’s often remembering her with a smile. Not to mention “there’s always an exit somewhere” which reminds me of his revealed desire to create a life away from jujutsu sorcerer where Tsumiki isn’t threatened by the dangers of his word. Or, comparatively, this could also apply to Yuji and their first time saving each other. Megumi decides that he is worth saving and is willing to go against his rules and morals to do so.

Here we see the narrator’s internal struggles and their own discomfort with themselves. This is related to Megumi as we see that he struggles with his self-worth and seeing the value in his life.

These lyrics first made me think that the narrator was giving up and giving into hopelessness, but upon reading it further, I think that this is actually where we start to see a push back. There’s a fight that’s coming through and leading up to the rest of the song, which we can see with “you are no longer inside me.” In my mind, this is being said to Sukuna by Megumi.

The finale of this song is a final banishment and an honest “screw you” to the darkness that is plaguing the narrator. This was first touched on in the second and third paragraphs (stanzas?) and we see now that the narrator has finally overcome it and does not want anything more to do with it. This could be directly related Megumi’s internal struggles with his own value that he’s placed upon himself or with Sukuna. You decide.

MEGUMI’S SONG 2: ISLAND IN THE SUN by WEEZER

This one is probably the most analyzed that I’ve seen since it’s in English and is a somewhat well-known song. This song is about a narrator and their desire to run away with someone and live a peaceful life, away from their troubles so they will “never feel bad anymore.” I think once again, this is so applicable to both Tsumiki and with Yuji, ESPECIALLY after 266.

The narrator’s desire to better understand the person they’re addressing, along with their thoughts and feelings, is really interesting to me because we see that Megumi doesn’t quite understand his sister or Yuji. He respects and admires them and appreciates their ability to see the goodness in the world, but he has such contrasting views that he just doesn’t get it. We see him even refer to Yuji’s ideas as naïve. But there’s a desire to learn and understand.

Then there’s the obvious chorus bit with a desire to live a peaceful life, one where they are together and that’s the only happiness Megumi could ask for. I will not be including the chorus after this point, since it’s pretty repetitive.

In this section of the song, we see the narrator pointing out how the person they’re referring to has little wants or needs. They have a desire to just be, as if all they need is a place to belong. This section here is what makes me think of Yuji the most.

Going back to my overall analysis, this song really is just a desire for a normal, peaceful, and happy life. One where the narrator (Megumi) and the person (Tsumiki or Yuji [or both]) they’re talking to are just able to live their life. We see in 266 that all Megumi wanted for his sister was for her to just be able to live. We also see that Yuji is the only person that he thinks truly deserves to stand alongside them.

NOBARA’S SONG 1: SEISHUN KYOSOKYOKU by SUNNY DAY SERVICE

The first song for Nobara’s selection reminds me heavily of her flashbacks with her friend in her hometown. This song is all about the desire to catch up with an old friend (maybe a lover? But we’ll say friend because as far as we know, Nobara’s relationship with her friend was strictly platonic), reminiscent of a connection that they used to have.

In this initial set up, we see how this person is feeling lonely and heartbroken. Immediately followed by “What about you? Are you doing well?”, we see that the narrator is going about their day and desires to know about this unnamed person. There’s a feeling there that they haven’t spoken in a while. There’s a desire to know what they’re up to now, what is life like for you, what funny stories do you know?

Similarly, we know that Nobara never got a chance to see Saori again after leaving for Tokyo. We know that she looks back on that time fondly, and even from Saori’s POV, we see that Nobara only cried twice in front of her—once when Fumi moved away and again later when Nobara moved away.

There’s a sense of hopelessness that you sense from the lyrics here as it seems like the narrator is only able to speculate about the person because they feel they may never meet again. There’s this desire to know how they are doing, but they are in a situation where they won’t get to know, hence “there’s nothing I can do about it.”

We know that Nobara never really wanted to go home, but she did extend an olive branch to Saori by telling her that they should all meet up in Tokyo one day. But we know with how the events of the story took place, them meeting again is unlikely.

However, there’s still a sense of hope within the narrator as they think about what their conversation would be like should they ever meet again. This is interesting since we know that Nobara thought of Saori in her last moments and we see that imagery with Saori sitting in the chair across from her.

NOBARA’S SONG 2: ANO DEPAATO by NATSUKO NISSHOKU

This song is about the desire to return to simpler time in one’s childhood as they go through the struggles in adult life. There are several references to things that you experience first as child, as well as just the simplicity of youth. This song is really tragic for Nobara because we know that she always wanted to just grow up and leave her hometown when she was younger, but she also never got to be a kid by the time she became a sorcerer.

The first part of this song is calling back to a place the narrative used to frequent as a kid, and how they would look to the top of the building and never knew what resided up there. It wasn’t until they were older when they finally learned that it was a beer and coffee shop, whereas before they only knew it to be a store and a place to get soft serve ice cream.

We then learn that now, years later, that building will be gone and the narrator finally learns the nature of the rooftop shop. However, they dismiss the “bitter taste of adulthood” and instead turn back to ice cream, like they did in their childhood.

I think making this song Nobara’s theme song is what makes her death in the series a lot more tragic. We know that she is a kid, and maybe she has childlike qualities, but at the end of the day she is a jujutsu sorcerer who must be able to fight and face death. But there’s this desire for more mundane things. We know that she became a sorcerer because she wanted to live in Tokyo. We know that she loves trending things, shopping, and even trying trendy foods.

This part is about returning to your roots, despite your experiences as you grow and change. This makes me think about how Nobara last thought of her friendship with Saori and her childhood, and that no matter what, there would always be that part of them within her, even if she moved away and never saw her again.

However, in the end we know that they are still living separate lives away from that department store and their childhood memories. This song leaves with a bit of a sad ending, highlighting that store will no longer be there anymore. So, no matter how much the narrator wishes to go back and relive those memories, they will never be able to because that building will be gone.