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couldtransitionsaveher · 8 months ago

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GUREN ICHINOSE from OWARI NO SERAPH/SERAPH OF THE END

JUSTIFICATIONS:

"Ichinose Guren was born into a religious Sect which was created five hundred years ago in a political conflict in which two brothers from the main house fought over an Ichinose woman. She had chosen the younger of them and as punishment she and here lover were violeted and disowned. The outcasts created a new sect in their name. Guren is believed to be their saviour, the one destined to liberate the Clan from their oppression, paralleling her role. The main Clan, Mikado no Oni, view Guren and everyone of Gurens family as naturally weak and subservient in a way that clearly mimics patriarchal oppression. When Guren was five years old she met Mahiru Hiiragi, heir to Mikado no Oni. Guren was very obviously jealous of her and their meeting is used to symbolise Guren learning her place in the world. Continously throughout the Guren refuses to give up on Mahiru despite her quite frankly ruining Guren's life and being unable to catch up with her. Guren gives up her humanity to inject a demon all for purposes of protecting her friends and striving to liberate her clan, while also chasing after Mahiru and her power. This eventually leads Guren to cause the apocalypse in a first act of free will. (forced to choose between the strength she desires and her own emotinonal "weakness") Mahiru mends with Gurens weapon taking over as her demon, causing Guren to become a namanari (a half demon made from two separate personalities, Gurens and Mahirus in this case who's human personality slowly starts to adapt the demonic traits). In consequence of this Guren acts all the more feminine when striving to get what she wants (to ressurect all of humanity. I think thats also trans because its a sort of rebirth in metaphor for transition.) Transition could have saved her, as i believe her gender envy for Hiiragi Mahiru caused the apocalypse." - @cannibalfrodo

"im really shit at writing out media analysis i either do it solely in my head or via fic so yall are just gonna have to trust me for this one.

the writer really horribly sucks at writing female characters but it's clear from the start (in catastrophe at 16 most noticeably, but even in the manga too) that guren isn't written like any of the male characters (even the other male protag of the manga, yuu) and much more resembles the female characters. a lot of her personality and identity is heavily sculpted by the traumatizing and pressuring life she's lived so far (being brought up as the head of a scorned branch, beaten by adults for simply being born in the way she was, raised with a lot of crunching expectations, etc). most of her actions in ca16 come from a deep want to please who she's with, or to not cause trouble with herself (#same bestie)—she knows she needs to be a son for her father, for her clan, for their retribution. she knows she doesn't have time to think on her emotions or wants, which is very evident throughout all of ca16 until the final book as more and more shit piles up on her plate and she's forced by her romantic interest, mahiru, to finally confront her "human sin" (which is loving her friends. and also being trans).

she never fully opens up to anyone, this includes mahiru, but nonetheless their relationship IS different (guren is very much like "i love you, you're so much like me but braver, i wish i were you" @ mahiru). in their first meeting again as teenagers she compliments how beautiful and powerful mahiru has grown, and does so multiple times throughout the books, most of which are immediately after her inner monologue beats her down and she goes into great depth on why she's so weak and unworthy (especially compared to mahiru).

she's not allowed to be herself, as a man and definitely not as a woman, throughout all books and manga & i believe that if she came out to her friends (who love her so much and would support her through anything) everything bad she ever does in the future (which i didn't even begin to COVER the main series) could be prevented because she'd be much more happy with herself and spectre in her relationships.

also she experiences the end of the world. truly just a girl in the world" - @9ureshin

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#could transition have saved her #guren ichinose #ichinose guren #owari no seraph #seraph of the end #catastrophe at sixteen #transgender #trans hc #cannibalfrodo #9ureshin

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gurenismywaifu · 2 years ago

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Is Guren a narcissist?

Lately I dislike Kagami's portrayal of Guren as much as the next person and tbh there's absolutely no way you can make me think he's an innocent victim or a tragic hero we should root for (though I still do root for him cause he's just pathetic and gay I love him). However, the amount of times i've seen both the hispanic and english fandom call him a narcissist is kinda surprising 👀 Now the question is...

So since I'm petty and I like analysing useless stuff, let's take a look at Guren's behavior and at what makes a narcissist to try to give a more elaborate answer. I'll give as a disclaimer that I don't intend to attack anyone or force anyone to like Guren with this post, I'm just a psychology student currently investigating personality disorders and I thought this take would be fun to share.

Also, english is not my main language so do feel free to point out if you see I make any mistake so I can correct it, please ;u;

So for starts, if we're talking about the reasons for why people use to call him a narcissist I believe that pointing out his behavior towards Yuu is a very fair argument, especially his behavior towards Yuu at the beginning of the manga. Guren expresses himself with superiority, these airs and graces and apparent laziness and lack of thoughtfulness. However I believe that if you know how the story in the light novels go and even more if you've read them, you'll realize that all this "I'm your saviour, your god, you owe me your life, blah, blah, blah" crap that Guren tells to Yuu is a way of imposing authority and exerting some kind of control over him.

Guren needed to exert this control and authority as a way to protect himself, his subordinates and his investigations from the JIDA higher-ups, but also to keep Yuu at bay, not only because he was a part of Guren's experiments but also because Yuu used to be a very asocial and volatile kid when Guren took him under his wing. Having an angry kid acting impulsively at his leisure all around the JIDA was not convenient for Guren or for anyone, honestly.

And yes, I'm not gonna deny that Guren is kind of a jerk, but that has more to do with his personality and his sense of humor than with being a narcissist. He's sarcastic, super hard-headed, quite blunt and may come off as conceited, but he's actually extremely aware of all of his mistakes and shortcomings. He recognizes that he is not the smartest or the strongest out there, he knows how powerless he is in the grand scheme of things and most importantly, he recognizes his mistakes and is absolutely willing to take his share of the blame for it.

Sure, he knows that he is a strong individual but that's because he's worked towards the objective of "being strong" his entire life, he's cultivated perseverance and done sacrifices in order to achieve that strength, and while he does like to show off sometimes, recognizing one's merits and being aware of your capacities is hardly the same as having delusions of grandeur. Plus, his motivations are very much oriented to help others, protect others; and although Guren used to have a very strong sense of self-preservation, after the catastrophe he decides to let go of it if it means that it will help him to achieve those goals of keeping his loved ones safe. He starts doing what he 'has' to do rather than whe he wants to do.

After Nagoya's Arc, the shameless and overbearing side of Guren's behavior gets toned down. He becomes more serious, he doesn't play and makes jokes as often and he also stops trying to impose himself to Yuu in the same way as before. There's no need of that superiority facade anymore after all the things that came to light and now that the JIDA poses less of a threat and that Yuu has become less of a subordinate and more of a collaborator, exerting the same authority as before is just not necessary.

And now that we're referring to Yuu, we also gotta point out that a narcissist lacks empathy and doesn't go out of his way to try to help or benefit other people, but Guren does feel affection towards Yuu. When Yuu came to him as a child full of rage, resentment, guilt and lust for revenge, Guren genuinely empathized with him, he took care of Yuu, tried to teach him what he knew and he pushed him to build a support network with his classmates when he didn't really had to do all that. He could've simply taken advantage of Yuu's grief and solitude to control everything about him and force him to collaborate, but he didn't. Even when doing that would've been the best and most practical option for Guren's purposes, he still decided against isolating Yuu. Plus a narcissist wouldn't be capable of the affection and compassion that Guren feels for Yuu. And it is also made clear that Guren does not enjoy using Yuu or hurting him, but Shinya and his squad are Guren's priority, putting his options in a balance, he knows that he has no choice but to keep using Yuu to make his plan work. And it IS selfish and cruel and abusive, we're not going to deny that, but arguing that he doesn't care about Yuu or anyone else but himself is a pretty reductionist (and tbh also incorrect) statement.

Now, let's take a look at Shinya's opinion about Guren, taking into account that Shinya is probably the person who knows Guren the best out of all of the Catastrophe at 16 cast and probably all of OnS.

First of all we have this scene during the Nagoya Arc in which Shinya shows concern about Guren cause he knows that Guren suffers when people die and that he's not good at handling that.

Guren cares about his subordinates, he is saddened by the death of his soldiers and during this arc, he even makes the rather emotional choice of going straight into a trap in order to save other soldiers that Crowley is holding as hostages, even when Mito and Shinya warn him that they shouldn't do it cause it is clearly a trap.

I know there's a lot of material that I'm not covering, but for the sake of not making this post longer than it already is, let's go ahead and just check some of the behavioural criteria that a person has to meet to be diagnosed/classified as a Narcissist; of course, taking into consideration that meeting one or two criteria isn't enough cause it is very likely that everyone will present some of these criteria some times throughout our lives. For a person to be considered a narcissist they must meet various criteria which manifest constantly in various different contexts of their life for most of the time. Some of the criteria include:

•A grandiose sense of self-importance, being it fantasies or behaviors and the expectation to be recognized as superior without real reasons.

In Guren's case, he's not really the type that brags about his deeds or that goes about life expecting people to praise him, specially when there's no reason. The only times one could say that he sort of acts this way is in his interactions with Yuu in the early chapters.

•A narcissist is very often preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love.

Although Guren, does desire power and recognition, he is aware of all he's lacking and beats himself up because of all these things that he knows he isn't good enough to achieve. We can also notice that ultimately, his desire for power originates from his desire to keep his loved ones safe.

•A narcissist believes that they are “special�� and unique and they only want to associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions).

In Guren's case, he knows that he kinda sucks. A lot of the people around him belong to a higher status, have a higher military position or are better than him in one way or the other. What Guren does is working towards his betterment. He doesn't believe he's special, in the novels, he even seems to be a bit ashamed about the subordinates in the Ichinose manor thinking that he is a prodigy. We also have that although it is obvious that Guren regards his squad as the most important people to him, and is willing to commit atrocities and become very self-sacrificial for them it is not because 'they are the best' or because they have a high status that Guren's ego can feed on, but just because he loves them.

•A narcissist has an excessive need for admiration

Guren is indeed an admired character, however he doesn't "need" to be admired. Even before the apocalypse, the motive behind his goal was not to be admired but bring respect and dignity to his beaten up clan. He's had plenty of chances to show off, but he just doesn't really needs to be admired for that.

•A narcissist exploits their interpersonal relationships for their own benefit.

This point is a bit tricky cause Guren is undeniably using Yuu and he had the same intentions with Kimizuki and Yoichi to achieve his goals. However, besides from knowing that Guren would not be doing this if there was another way, when we take a look at the rest of his interpersonal relationships, specially with his squad, being exploitative of their relationship for his own benefit is just not there.

Some other criteria include an excessive sense of entitlement, a lack of empathy, constant envy and the belief that others are envious of them, and haughty behaviors, all of which we already tackled before.

So, taking everything in consideration, we come to the conclusion that although Guren has displayed some narcissistic attitudes, overall he does not fit the profile, therefore, Guren is not a narcissist.

This of course doesn't mean that we have to condone all the bad things he's done, but rather may help us gain a bit more insight into Guren's character. Exploring his relationship's dynamics, and other mental health conditions which's profiles he may fit would be fun as well. He is indeed a very flawed character, and maybe that's what makes him interesting.

And that's it, if you read the whole thing, thank you for sticking till the end :) If you enjoyed this do let me know and in the future maybe we can tackle some other ons characters and their issues from a clinical perspective, I would also love to know your opinion on this if you have one or for you to point out any contradictions, mistakes or important things I may have missed to make this post better. Thanks for reading ♡. ❛ ᴗ ❛.)

#owari no seraph #seraph of the end #guren ichinose #ons #gureshin #shinya hiiragi #catastrophe at 16 #yuichiro hyakuya #narcisstic personality disorder #character analysis #ichinose guren #catastrophe at sixteen #sote #guren's squad

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