#and as much as I hate Danji his actions feel more ignorant than malicious

[gancegancerevo]

Complaining about Danji and Megumi's relationship

One episode of Vanguard willDress made me rethink Danji and Megumi's relationship in light of what he does in the episode and I have no good words for him.

I feel like the key issue is that they don't have an equal understanding of what their relationship entails.

Megumi treats Danji like 1. an older brother, 2. a role model, and 3. a standard of strength. As an older brother, she depends on him emotionally and while this aspect does weaken with time, she still treats him like family would: welcoming him, checking up on him, worrying for him. It comes from a place of caring and concern which is likely fueled by the time they spent together as he helped her out through Vanguard.

As a role model, Megumi aspires to Danji's ability to do things that matter in the grand scheme. Danji has connections, notoriety, and skills which allow him to take actions when he feels it necessary. And I believe Megumi wants to do that too. Being the detective type who can both sniff out wrongdoing and beat up whoever's doing it. It's unrealistic, but not uncommon.

As a standard of strength, Megumi always thinks back to Danji when she thinks of being stronger. It makes sense as he's had the most consistent record out of her friends, he's likely beaten her more than she's beaten him, and he certainly acts the part of the strong guy. It's an image that Danji has built up and Megumi truly believes it.

Compare that to Danji. He likely sees Megumi as 1. a little sister and 2. a strong fighter. The little sister part comes from how they met. Danji was friends with Megumi's older brother first and then bonded with her over Vanguard. It's easy to see this in how he treats her (when he notices her).

The more notable way he interacts with her is as a strong fighter. He regularly compliments her on this as he has fun when they cardfight. Indeed, after his departure from Blackout, he mainly interacts with Megumi through onscreen fights.

Already it is obvious that Danji and Megumi hold very different ideas about each other and that's normal for relationships. The problem comes when you realize that while Megumi relies on Danji, Danji doesn't feel similarly responsible for her. Megumi really depends on Danji or her image of him to guide her; both as a cardfighter but also as a person. She wants him to recognize her and her skills both in the game and outside of it and be someone that he can rely on in turn. Danji has no idea of this and no drive to build up Megumi in a similar way. He just treats her like a friend who he happens to meet when it's convenient.

A more concrete description of the issue here is that Megumi puts Danji on a pedestal and Danji doesn't see Megumi as notable at all.

Two episodes highlight these issues well. The first is episode 0 of overDress season 2. In it Megumi boards the train that Danji is riding in an attempt to run away with him. They fight and ultimately Megumi decides to let him go his own path even if they separate. The second is episode 5 of willDress season 3, a disgusting episode that led to the creation of this very post.

But before we devolve into a complaining session, we'll begin with Blessed Rain, the ep 0. Megumi has always had a unique narrative link to Tohya in that they grapple with the idea of throwing away everything else for one specific thing. Tohya 'successfully' threw everything away for the sake of Vanguard and even when he was convinced of his errors, he never did go back to his old life. This episode is Megumi's attempt of doing the same: throwing everything away to stay with Danji. Danji, of course, objects and makes it so that she get off the train before he does. Seems straightforward enough. In fact, I was fooled into thinking Megumi was thinking over her relationship with Danji in that fight and growing through reflection. On its own, it's a nice sendoff to their relationship as Megumi realizes that she can be connected to Danji through their bond rather than physically. In light of recent events however, I am tempted to interpret that fight as an affirmation of her fixation on Danji. She doesn't seem to say these things as an acceptance that she must let Danji go, instead she speaks as though she will always be connected to Danji even if they are apart. She "has so much of him in her" in the sense that everything she does can be connected to him. And people, that is not moving on, at least not definitely. However, the episode as well-written enough that you could interpret it generously and be correct.

a glorious day, ep 5, has no such interpretations. It is a poorly written mess that takes what little character development Megumi could've had in the Uniformers arc and sends it spiraling down the drain. ok, the episode sees Danji checking up on Blackout after his adventures in the US. Of course, everyone is concerned about Uniformers, especially since two of their best: Zakusa and Megumi have stopped showing up, a tell-tale sign of Uniformers membership. Danji doesn't seem to give a shit. He says Zakusa is a grown man with his own life and is shocked that people blame him for Megumi leaving. Now why would they blame him? Primarily because they all knew Megumi texts Danji regularly and he hasn't answered for a LONG time maybe from the beginning of the Deluxe itself, two seasons ago. Danji gets peer pressured into checking on Megumi and possibly bringing her back to Blackout. Megumi and Danji then have a fight ...

and nothing happens

Yeah, nothing of note happens. We get collectively scared that Megumi would be a Uniformer and truly betray Blackout and all Danji needed to do was show up and act like he actually cared all this time to bring her back. He just needed to act exactly how he always does. And you could see Megumi was frustrated with him but he doesn't actually do anything to assure her or even fucking talk to her. He just spouts his usual nonsense of liking to fight strong opponents and somehow a 6th-damage heal causes Megumi to cast aside all of her frustrations with him.

This episode gave me the idea that while Megumi put Danji on a higher and higher pedestal, Danji has objectified Megumi into another faceless cardfighter. He doesn't actually respect her and he doesn't actually see her beyond Vanguard. He doesn't even enlist her to help train Yu-yu or something. Mirei does that. The worst thing is that he doesn't formulate a real apology for ignoring her. It's not like he went silent over all of Blackout so the choice to ignore her was deliberate. He should've known how important he was to her when she nearly abandoned her life to follow him on that train. The responsible bare minimum would have been to send an update along with a warning/request not to text him while he's on his secret missions. Heck, it would've been better if he just outright blocked her to stop her from messaging him at all. Instead he leaves her hanging because he knows she's strong and that's the only reason he maintains this bond.

A person I follow online suggested that Megumi needs to follow in Raika's footsteps to really move on. Raika truly saw and was disappointed by Michiru's character and so his admiration turned into a will to surpass him. I disagree. I've said it before but Megumi needs a life that she cannot connect to Danji at all. Even when he's the most deadbeat friend, her fond memories lead her to forgive him too easily. Megumi needs to reevaluate herself and build an image that isn't reliant on Danji. Blessed Rain could've worked as this if she put all the things that connect her and Danji in the past as a guide and a fuel but she didn't. She continuously brings Danji to the forefront of her mind and it needs to stop. Danji in turn, needs to decide how much he wants to be there for Megumi because (he may not realize it but) their relationship is especially important to Megumi and he either needs to step up to that importance or start establishing distance. He shouldn't get to show up only when it's convenient for him after leaving her on read for weeks or months.

It remains to be seen what will become of Megumi and Danji and the rest of the cast in the future of the story. Megumi is in a pretty troublesome character limbo that prevents her from winning at all in the face of the current conflict. And we on Twitter regularly bemoan the various ways the do our girl dirty. We will continue to complain until they give our girl the respect she deserves.

Thank you very much for reading this long insignificant rant. I really disliked ep 5 and this all came out the more I thought about it. I would love to hear other people's thoughts on this matter.