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iheartmomochi · 2 months ago

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MOMOCHI CD + CHARACTER ANALYSIS

DISCLAIMER

Everything I say is based on my interpretation of Momochi’s actions, words, and overall character. You are free to disagree with me/have a different interpretation of his character. And if you do, I would love to hear how your interpretation differs from mine! I would also like to say there may be certain character nuances I don’t pick up on because I am not Japanese nor do I know Japanese. But please feel free to point out anything I may have missed!

I structured this in a way where I first summarize the events of each CD and then analyze how Momochi acts within the context of that specific CD. And then, in the end, I analyze his character by taking what happens in every CD into account! I did this just so things would make sense chronologically and to slowly introduce key points of his character as they were revealed. For the most part, I focused on the main CDs, but there are also references to the tokutens (bonus CDs) and songs. I did my best to only summarize the relevant parts of his CDs but a good portion of this is summarizing since I did find it extremely important to do so. This is also why I included “CD analysis” in the title of this post.

There are some direct quotes here. I credit the translator at the beginning of each section and link back to the original translation page when I quote. There are CDs that I personally commissioned to be translated and those have not been posted publicly, so when I quote those I will instead link back to the account of the translator. And while I did reach out and look at FAQs to make sure quoting was okay, if you translated any of his CDs and are uncomfortable with me directly taking quotes, please tell me and I will remove them!

CONTENT WARNING

This analysis discusses abuse (verbal, physical, emotional), childhood abuse, codependency, domestic violence, love bombing, manipulation, and suicide.

OPENING

From the very first minute of the first CD, Momochi is presented as a two-faced character. To fans, the Veronica members, the other vocalists, and anyone he interacts with, he puts up the front of being a friendly, cheerful, and agreeable person. He makes it seem like he cares and that he is genuinely a good person. It is only with Kano that he fully lets the real him appear. Behind all the fan service and fake smiles, Momochi is a cynical person. He gets annoyed and upset easily, mainly regarding Kano. He is extremely possessive of her and has no problem punishing her for so much as looking at another man or not answering his phone calls quickly enough.

All of that makes it very difficult to sympathize with Momochi, but as the series has progressed, it has become clear that there is a reason why Momochi puts on a fake persona and that he is more than just a generic sadistic drama CD character.

SEASON 1: DEAR VOCALIST

Translations quoted in this section were made by Ilinox on Twitter/Yumemirusekai on WordPress (main CD/songs), Currytantou on Twitter/Wordpress (animate tokuten), and Ryuukia on Tumblr (stellaworth short story).

Compared to the later CDs, this CD has very little in terms of an overarching plot. That could be because when Dear Vocalist was first started, Rejet may not have planned on creating seven more CDs, but I honestly think it’s because of the nature of Momochi as a person. From the beginning of this CD, it is made clear that Momochi does not struggle at all with singing or any part of the music process (a point that is continuously brought up in future CDs). The only time Momochi even mentions struggling with music is in Track 4 “A Special Reward,” when he calls Kano and says he can’t sing the way he wants to and that he feels like it’s the end. But when she shows up, he’s not struggling at all and when questioned he says he did the recording in one take as usual. Although he does say he also wasn’t lying about feeling like he was finished.

Something else that is made clear in this first CD is how little tolerance Momochi has for Kano interacting with his band members. After all, track 3 “His True Face” starts with him accusing Kano of being a slut, forcing her to apologize for having fun while talking to the other members, and having her say “From now on, I won’t talk to any men except for you and I’ll always be with you, Momochi.” Throughout all the drama tracks, he does his very best to minimize the interactions Kano has with the other members of Veronica. He goes as far as to lie to the members so that he stays behind and gets to talk to Kano in private, away from everyone else.

Manipulation is a prevalent theme throughout this CD. This is best shown in the 4th track, “A Special Reward.” As stated before, Momochi calls Kano and says he feels like it’s the end, but when she shows up, he says the recording was done in one take as always. One of the first things Momochi says when she arrives is, “You were quite slow in coming.” This comment makes it clear that Momochi wanted her to come as quickly and in his mind pretending to be troubled was the best way to ensure she would be there fast. When Kano tries to leave after realizing Momochi is fine, Momochi stops her saying she’s not allowed to leave without his permission, and then asks her “Are you not happy to see me today?” This is quite literally textbook manipulation, more specifically love bombing. He demands Kano’s attention and when she doesn’t immediately want to give him it, he guilts her by making it seem like she might be unhappy to see him and then uses her reply to prove to her that she actually wants to do what Momochi tells her. The rest of the drama track is Momochi explaining that he just wants to love her all day as he proceeds to kiss and bite her. His intense affection is used as a way to keep her attention and ultimately keep her where he wants her. Even when he bites her finger and causes her pain, he frames it in a way that makes it seem like it’s okay because it’s in the name of love and if she rejects it then she is rejecting his love. Although it should be noted that Kano is constantly referred to as a masochist by Momochi, and she does actually seem to enjoy the pain, there is still a distinction that must be made between Momochi randomly hurting Kano and her asking to be hurt.

Moving away from the main CD, the animate tokuten “O•U•CHI,” CD shows just how extreme Momochi can be. The premise of the CD is that Momochi calls Kano to come over to clean and feed him since he doesn’t have the energy to do it after coming back from being on tour. The first half of the CD is normal until Momochi gets annoyed that Kano is more focused on the laundry than watching a DVD with him (paying attention to him). Instead of letting her finish drying his clothes, he embraces her and starts kissing her. Just like in “A Special Reward,” Momochi guilts Kano by telling her “Don’t you feel lonely after not meeting me for a while? (…) I wanted to touch you, because I missed you.” He once again makes her feel like rejecting his affection means she is rejecting his love. When Kano is relieved that none of the neighbors, specifically the old man next door, didn’t hear them, Momochi decides to punish her (presumably because it meant she wasn’t giving him her full attention while he was kissing her) by holding her against his balcony, on the 12th floor. It’s made clear that Momochi enjoys seeing her scared since he even says she looks adorable and that if he lets go, she’ll fall and die. He goes on to say that he wouldn’t mind committing lovers suicide with her. He follows this up by saying he was just joking and that if she died, he would“no longer [be able] to play with [her]” but that he would consider it if she ever betrays him. His reasoning for this is that it would be better for them to die together than for her just to leave him because he cannot imagine hating her. This shows just how obsessed Momochi is with Kano, after all, people in healthy relationships don’t seriously talk about committing lovers suicide. In his mind, it would genuinely be easier and better for them to die together than for them to be apart. Momochi cannot see his life without her in it. The CD ends with Momochi telling Kano not to leave him and that all she needs to do is “fill [herself] with nothing else but [him]” and to keep loving him, and he’ll do the same back “for as long as [she] needs [him].” His choice of words stands out here because it shows that despite everything he does, he truly does love Kano, and it’s for that reason that even if she did abandon him, he still cannot see himself hating her. It also shows just how codependent he is with her. He needs her to stay with him to keep living. I would also like to point out how Momochi bringing all of this up is also manipulation, since he is using the idea of suicide and killing her as a way to make sure that she will not leave his side. I do have more to say on this specific CD, but I will leave it for the end as there is crucial information that has to be said first for my point to be fully understood.

I would like to touch on the “Stellaworth Short Story.” Unlike the CDs, this is from Momochi’s point of view. This is the first and really only instance where the audience is given an insight into how Momochi thinks. In this short story, Kano wins tickets to go to a theme park in Tokyo and invites Momochi with her. From the very first paragraph, Momochi’s narration makes it clear that he had very little interest in attending the theme park since he had already gone before, and he just found the entire thing annoying. As they are making their way to the entrance gate of the theme park, Momochi notices that Kano is not behind him but instead stuck in a crowd because the heels she is wearing make it difficult to keep up with him. Momochi criticizes her shoe choice and says that he’s going home since there is no way she’ll be able to last the entire trip wearing those heels. As he walks away, Kano chases after him, crying, and when Momochi turns back to look at her again, he notices that she has taken off her shoes and is now walking barefoot. In his narration, Momochi notes that seeing her this way irritates him but if she hadn’t caught up to him, he would be even more upset. He even thinks to himself, “You should always be unsightly like this. Rather, if you weren't so clumsy and so desperate for me, I'd be troubled.” The way Momochi acts in the CDs makes it clear that he feels insecure and worries that Kano will leave him for someone else, but here Momochi outright admits that he feels more secure in their relationship when she acts desperate. And it’s because when she acts that way it is made clear to him that she wants to be with him, and she will not abandon him. Just like in the “O•U•CHI” tokuten, it is once again shown just how much Momochi does not want Kano to leave him. After seeing her barefoot, Momochi decides it’s better for them to just go home and, while trying to get a taxi, he sees her bare feet again and thinks, “I suddenly remembered that fairy-tale about those glass slippers that appeared magically (…) Though I think I know why...... I will never treat you like a princess.” The term “princess treatment,” is used to describe when someone's partner is very attentive when it comes to their wants and needs, and they do their best to treat their partner with love and shower them with attention. The fact that Momochi comments that he will never treat Kano like a princess means he is unwilling to give her extra attention and care and will not treat her gently. Something which is made very clear in this short story. A boyfriend who treats his girlfriend like a princess would have been more sympathetic and probably have bought his girlfriend new shoes so that they could walk around comfortably. Interestingly, Momochi knows why he would never treat her so gently and kindly. In my head, this has two separate meanings. The first is that Momochi is quite literally unable to be that kind due to his childhood and how that shaped his personality (more on this later) and the second is because he knows that there is no point in treating Kano that way. Despite the way he treated her in this short story and as a whole, she still willingly chose to chase after him.

I am not at all good at analyzing songs, especially Momochi's songs but I can’t not talk about the songs from this season. There are a few different ways “Awauta” can be interpreted and for the purpose of this, I’ll talk about it as it relates to Momochi’s mom. The lyrics talk about a prostitute in the red light district who misses a man (most likely a one-night stand) and searches for his warmth through the other people she is sleeping with. Was Momochi’s mom a prostitute? Well, that’s up for interpretation. But what I do think this song is saying is that Momochi was born out of wedlock and that while his mom did fall in love with his dad, his dad ended up leaving both of them. And just like in the song, Momochi’s mom went out and tried to “search” for his dad through other people (again whether or not she actually was a prostitute is something I can’t say with 100% certainty). And there’s no good segue way for me to make my next point but “Awauta” is also about how Momochi’s mom committed suicide. It’s never explicitly said in the song but when you look at the lyrics, the word “bathtub” is used; “If the flickering love is stained bright in the boat” (it’s translated as “boat” here but it does also translate to bathtub), you get the imagery of someone’s blood filling a bathtub. Momochi's mom cut herself and bled out to death in a bathtub. Not just that but when you look at the other song in this season, “Zennokan”, it’s very obviously about someone’s death and how that affects the narrator; the song is about how the death of Momochi’s mom affected him. His mom committing suicide also just makes the most sense logically when you look at how Momochi acts throughout this season. It’s obvious he was never able to properly process the death of his mom and as a result of that he is possessive and is desperately afraid of being abandoned by his girlfriend. He does not want to experience being abandoned again and is doing everything he can possibly do to prevent that. And it only gets worse as the series goes on.

SEASON 2: RIOT

The translation quoted in this section was made by Yumegasaki on Tumblr/Yukihito on Mikorin.net (main CD).

In the third track, “ 粉々,” Momochi accuses Kano of cheating on him for not answering his phone calls. She tries explaining that she was on the train so she had no signal but Momochi retorts by saying she should’ve taken a taxi and that he knows that she was actually cheating on him. This then causes him to remind her what will happen if she cheats on him; he’ll kill her. From the first five minutes of this track, it is already clear that Momochi’s possessiveness and jealousy have increased since the first season. He vocalizes his distrust for her being faithful so much more here. Even after she apologizes for something that is out of her control, Momochi takes her phone and justifies it by saying, “I’m going to check whether you’re lying. If there’s nothing suspicious, then you won’t have a problem with it, will you?” Unlike in the last season where his jealousy only appeared when they were around other people, here Momochi takes it a step further by getting upset at her for having someone other than him in his call history, even if it was for something important (a call to the gas company). He ends up breaking her phone and tells her not to buy a new phone without his permission. He follows this up by saying he will not trust what she says anymore and that she should stay in his house if she wants to regain his trust and she isn’t allowed to leave until he says she can. And since she no longer has a phone he’ll be calling the house phone and makes her promise that she will answer within the first two rings. Just like in the first CD, Momochi guilts and manipulates Kano into doing what he wants under the guise of love, but it’s more extreme here. Momochi fears that she will cheat on him and leave him, so the only way to ensure that will not happen is to not even let her leave his house.

The fourth track, “Scar,” takes place in Momochi’s house. He comes home from work and asks Kano how she spent the day in his house. After taking a shower together with her, he gets mad when she tries drying the laundry, since earlier in the track he had told her to just leave it, so he ends up locking her outside. She ends up crying and apologizing to Momochi, which finally he doesn’t accept but he does let her back inside. The next day comes around and the members keep calling Momochi about practice and he berates the members by calling them third musicians who were only chosen because they are good-looking. Kano tries to defend them, which makes Momochi upset since as his girlfriend she’s not supposed to side with his band members. He then asks her to hand him the ashtray and some of the ashes end up spilling on her as Momcohi snatches it out of her hand. But he blames this happening on her being too slow. He goes on to say that everything is her fault and that he’s upset because “I thought you’d be the one who was always on my side.” After saying this Momochi asks Kano to leave, “I don’t care about you anymore. Why don’t you cheat on me or something? Didn’t you hear me? I’m telling you to get out. Or should I kick you out?” It’s so obvious how much he wants someone to completely be on his side, for once in his life. He thought Kano would be that person…. but she wasn’t. Throughout this CD, Momochi had been very clear that the worst thing Kano could do was cheat on/betray him. It was for that very reason that he had gotten upset in the third track and had Kano stay in his house in the first place. So when he says she should just cheat on him since he doesn’t care anymore, it shows just how hurt Momochi feels. It goes beyond her defending his band members for wanting to practice, it’s the sheer fact that she even defended someone who wasn’t him. In his mind that is betrayal. And to him, it was probably a sign that she would eventually abandon him. His own insecurity and fear of abandonment are so strong that he can’t take a disagreement in opinion for what it is but instead, his mind takes it to the worst possible scenario.

The last track, “Special Charm,” opens with Momochi trying to record the vocals for Mr.BlackBlack but unlike usual, he is not able to record the vocals for the song in one take. This makes him frustrated and he says that it’s because of her. He ends up going to where she lives, while it’s raining, and tells her that it’s his fault that he can’t sing and that ever since she left he hasn’t been able to think of anything else. He goes on to say, “It’s all your fault! Because you weren’t by my side! You said you loved me, didn’t you? Were you lying? Then why didn’t you stay with me? Why did you leave me alone? That’s not important. You would have come back if you really cared about me.” The way he says these words is so heartbreaking because you can just tell how much he truly does love Kano and that he really does want her to stay by his side. He is still blaming her for things that aren’t her fault at all but unlike all the other times, here it is obvious that Momochi is also mad at himself. After all, he is the one who told her to leave in the first place, he pushed her away. It was his not being able to sing perfectly like he always had in the past that made him realize just how much he needed her by his side and that she had a larger impact on his life than he initially thought. After hearing Momochi say this, Kano apologizes for leaving but Momochi says that he can’t forgive her because she didn’t uphold the promise to him and the only way he will forgive her is if she goes back to his side. He then reminds her that he will kill her if she ever tries to leave him and that she only belongs to him. He follows this up by commenting on her disheveled appearance from the rain and stress, “I won’t forgive you if you let anyone else see you like this. I’m the only one who can love someone like you. It’ll be impossible for you to live without me. Isn’t that right?” This is where it becomes very apparent that Momochi is projecting how he feels onto his girlfriend. He says these things but he’s really just talking about himself. No sane person would be able to stay in a relationship with him, he is hard to love because he has a difficult personality (putting it very mildly). And deep down he knows that and that Kano is the only person who can love someone like him. His appearance is also a mess here, he’s also out in the rain, crying, just like Kano is. So that comment about her appearance is also how he feels. He doesn’t want anyone but her to see him in this weak and pathetic state. It also shows that Kano is the only person who can make Momochi this way. At the end of the track he buys Kano a new phone and tells her that since he bought it, the only number that should be saved is his. He notices the scar left by the cigarette ash that fell on her and says that he feels bad it happened “to a woman” but that it shouldn’t bother her too much because he’ll love her even if she ends up with scars and other injuries all over her body, so what other people think of the scar is irrelevant. But this is only if she continues to stay by his side. The way Momochi talks about her scar really shows how he views their relationship. He wants Kano to always take his side and take the pain he gives her, and in return, he will do the same. He doesn’t really care about her physical imperfections as long as she is his. In that aspect, Momochi shows that his way of loving, while it is extreme and selfish, has nothing to do with superficial things but is entirely based on who Kano is as a person. But he is quite selfish in the way he tells Kano that she should only care about his opinion. After all, why should she even care what others think when Momochi is the one loving her? The sentiment is sweet and selfish at the same time. And while I don’t necessarily think Momochi is projecting onto her in this specific instance, I do think his words also apply to the way Kano sees Momochi. She really doesn’t care what other people who aren’t Momochi think of her and as the series goes on, that just becomes more and more apparent.

Initially, I was going to write that there was a big difference in the way Momochi acts in the first CD compared to this CD, and while that statement by itself is somewhat true. If you were just to listen to the first CD and then listen to this one then it might feel like there is this huge jump. After all, Momochi seems so much more affectionate in that CD, than he does here. But it’s just like what I wrote at the very beginning of this, the first CD has little overarching plot and is more so just a collection of 3 different interactions that are very loosely connected. But this CD is so much more plot-heavy, there is an actual conflict, so naturally we don’t get 3 tracks of just Momochi expressing how much he wants to kiss Kano and tease her. The more accurate statement to make is that there really isn’t that big of a difference in the way Momochi acts here than he did last season. When you look at all of the content of season 1, mainly the Stellaworth short story, it’s obvious that Momochi is acting nearly the exact same way. This CD just expands on what Kano and Momochi’s relationship really looks like. Riot Momochi is still just as manipulative and possessive as Dear Vocalist Momochi. If anything, he is more manipulative and possessive in this CD.

SEASON 3: WIRED

The translation quoted in this section was made by Currytantou on Twitter/WordPress (main CD).

The third track, “Under The Mask,” is really the first time up until this point that we are given an insight into how Veronica really functions as a group. With Kano. Momochi has not at all hidden the fact that he finds the members annoying and that he dislikes having to practice and just spend time with them in general. But he has always hidden how he really felt when he was around the members and put on the act of liking them and that he is really putting his all into practice. Even here when he returns to finish recording, after he had finished punishing Kano for something, he starts by apologizing to the members for being gone so long. But here is the first instance where Momochi finally voices how he really feels about the members. Very telling how the thing that made him drop his fake personality was when the members bring up Kano and Momochi takes it as them saying they don’t like it when he brings her to the Veronica recording and practice sessions. To Momochi it probably felt like they were attacking his girlfriend. Her being there while he records makes him feel at ease and we saw in Riot that Momochi really does need her by his side for him to perform well and above all that, he just likes having her by his side. While the members do clarify that their frustration does not really lie with Kano being there but more so the fact that Momochi doesn’t focus on the music as much as he should. This is what makes Momochi finally express how he really feels about them. And he really does not hold back in insulting them. It’s obvious that the members aren’t actually untalented but that compared to himself, Momochi thinks they are untalented. After all, he can record the vocals for the song perfectly and he is the one solely working on the songs and never once in any of the CDs has Momochi ever expressed that he thinks making music is hard or that he even struggles with it at all. So it makes sense why Momochi thinks so highly of himself and why he sees the members as third-rate musicians.

Momochi does project onto Kano again at the end of this track when he blames the fight he had with the members on her for doing something “unnecessary,” which is just his way of saying “If you hadn’t gone out to buy those drinks, I wouldn’t have had to punish you and the members wouldn’t have been looking for me and the fight would have never happened.” Instead of acknowledging the fact that he didn’t have to punish her in the first place, he just chooses to blame everything on her because he refuses to see the flaw in his own way of thinking and acting. Because clearly to him not punishing her for what she did was not an option, she isn’t allowed to leave his side, especially after what happened in Riot, therefore the fight that broke out is solely on her. The fact that he initially tells her to leave but then quickly changes his mind and says he’ll leave instead shows just how distrustful Momochi is becoming of letting her go out on her own (something that only gets worse as the series goes on).

While talking to Kano at the end of Track 1, “Under the Mask,” Momochi says that Veronica was made by him and that Panda should just let him become a solo singer. This specific comment is so interesting. It just begs the question “Why did he even start a band to begin with?” It isn’t like he was ever an easy person to work with, since the original Veronica broke up because they didn’t want to work with him anymore. And Momochi is the type of person who doesn’t do things he really does not want to do, so I’m just curious as to why he even agreed to be in a band. I know it could be a thing of “a job is a job” but that really isn’t Momochi at all… He is the type of person who doesn’t do things he really does not want to. He could have easily just left Climax Records the moment staff told him they would be adding new members to Veronica. And with his skills, it wouldn’t at all have been difficult to find a new company to hire him and that would let him debut as a solo singer. But the answer to that question becomes obvious in the second track, “Lonely Singer.”

Kano goes to the bar where Momochi is to tell him that the band members came to his apartment. Momochi says that it’s too late for them to try and fix things between them, but that it seemed like they all realized they needed him. Kano tries telling Momochi that he should apologize to them and that he also did something wrong. This only makes Momochi upset, and he calls her a “traitor” and goes on to say that he did nothing wrong. And that every opportunity Veronica has been given, and every song has been because of him. He says that he is all that he needs. To prove it to Kano, Momochi goes on stage and sings. Afterwards, when everyone is cheering, he goes back to Kano and tells her that everyone is reacting this way because of his voice, because of him. So he really doesn’t need anyone else and that starting a band in the first place was a mistake, something he’s known for a long time. After telling Kano to leave since her presence is doing nothing but annoying him, he quietly says to himself, “It’s better if those people are out of my sight. I can do just fine on my own. And yet, why does it feel so dull every day?”

The fact that Momochi can admit his life feels boring without his members is so telling of how he really feels about his band members. In the last track, “夢幻泡影,” he says it’s just because he could easily replace people like them and, since they realized that they need him, they’re better than the old Veronica members and will be easier to work with now. But Momochi never really says what he actually means. He isn’t being completely honest when he says that he’s just keeping them around until he gets bored of them/no longer feels he needs them. After all, in both of the previous tracks, he was insistent on the fact that he COULD do everything on his own and that it would actually be easier if he did. It’s obvious that he does enjoy or at least finds their presence interesting. Of course, that doesn’t mean he likes the idea of becoming close with them and telling them details of his life, but he does want to have them around. At the very least, he would enjoy their company more than the company of the other vocalists. But I do think he’s being truthful when he says that he thinks these members are better than the old members. Music is one of the only things Momochi has and the way he talks about himself in relation to music makes that very clear. So the fact that the current members acknowledged that Momochi’s music skills are the things that are important means a lot to Momochi.

Despite the members now knowing what Momochi thinks of them and what his real personality is, when Momochi goes back to the office to meet with the members, he still keeps putting on the fake personality from before. He does not have to do that considering the members still want to keep working with him after everything he said so they obviously aren’t bothered by his real personality. But the fact that he does just shows how unwilling he is to let people know the real him.

After explaining how he could throw away the Veronica members at any time, he tells Kano he can do the same with her. And that he would abandon her the moment he thinks he no longer needs her, “Despite that, I won’t change. I will return to who I was before I met you and I will do anything as I please. Since I only believe in myself.” This is where there is a shift in how Momochi acts towards Kano. Throughout the previous CDs, Momochi made it obvious that he doesn’t want Kano to leave his side, he needs her by his side. But here he says that he’ll be completely fine and will just go back to the person he was before he met her. This change in attitude could be attributed to two things. The first and most obvious one is the fact that this CD has a different writer than the previous CDs, so whoever was writing had a different idea for where Momochi’s character would go moving forward. The second is that this is his way of reacting to the events of this CD and of Riot. Momochi was genuinely hurt by the fact that Kano said the argument he had with his members was his fault. It just added to the betrayal he felt in Riot when she also sided with his band members. Momochi is the type of person to not let go of things easily, so it makes sense why he would tell Kano he would be fine without her. His lingering feelings of betrayal would also explain the second part. The way she’s acted, to him, has made it seem like she does not believe in him one hundred percent. He’s the only person he has. He’s the only person he’s ever had completely on his side. Of course, as the audience, we know that is not true at all. Kano has shown time and time again that she is on Momochi’s side. Even in this track, she shows that by waiting for him in the cold in clothes that are not at all suited for the weather, and the fact that she kept trying to get him to go back to Veronica. And while a lot of the time Momochi’s words don’t reflect what he actually thinks, in this instance, he is being completely honest. He genuinely does believe he is the only person who believes in himself. He goes on to say that if she doesn’t want to be abandoned, then she should do what he says, no matter what. At the end of the track, he says, “ Don’t you want to keep seeing this inescapable dream until death? Both you and I.” His words here go against what he was saying earlier. He says he would just abandon her whenever he didn’t want her around anymore and that his life without her would be the same. But that just isn’t true. As much as Kano does not want to be abandoned by him, Momochi equally does not want to abandon her. The fact that he refers to their relationship as an “inescapable dream,” pairs so well with the name of this final track (transient dream). Their relationship is a dream for two reasons; for the first time, Momochi and even Kano have someone who is focused on them, but like a dream, their relationship could end at any moment because of either of them. But it’s also inescapable because both of them are doing everything they can to not let go of the other/be abandoned by the other. On Kano’s end, that means doing what Momochi says, no matter how absurd. And for Momochi that means going to extreme lengths to keep her by his side, like not even letting Kano look at other people or even step foot outside his apartment.

SEASON 4: XTREME

No direct quotes were taken in this section.

While Wired marked the beginning of a shift in the way Momochi treats Kano, Xtreme is where that shift continues and is fully solidified. The very start of the first track, “因縁生起,” shows the development of their relationship after the promise made at the end of Wired. Momochi gets upset that Kano bought a mug through delivery. While she didn’t interact with the delivery person, she had to step outside the apartment to get the package from the mailbox; she went outside the apartment without Momochi’s permission and broke her promise to him. His reaction to finding this out is also nothing short of extreme since he not only breaks the mug but also takes the new shoes Kano had bought and throws them out the window. Momochi has always been pretty unreasonable with the promises he has had Kano make with him, but it’s clear here that he is now more controlling than he was in the past 3 CDs. Up until this point, Kano was pretty much able to come and go from his apartment as she wanted, but now she literally cannot step foot outside his apartment without his permission.

The main conflict of this CD arises at the end of the first track. After Momochi is done meeting with a female celebrity who is a fan of Veronica and wants to sponsor their next concert, she nearly falls down while they are parting ways and Momochi helps her. Momochi is called to the agency in the next track, “Contrary,” and he’s told that pictures of this happening were taken that make it look like he is romantically involved with her. When Momochi goes home he notices that Kano is acting strangely and, after some prying, she tells him that she saw the story of him and that woman on the TV. She even asks him if it’s real. Momochi tells her it’s obviously fake and gets mad that she had doubted him. Even after she tries apologizing, Momochi keeps telling her to get out and that he doesn’t need her anymore because she had already lied to him in the first track, and she betrayed him by not trusting him. So he kicks her out of his apartment, breaking up with her. The way Momochi acts here is so hypocritical. After all, it isn't like she’s ever broken up with him when she’s been accused of cheating before. But his hypocrisy stems from the fact that, more than anything, he does not want to be abandoned by her. It’s been shown time and time again in the previous CDs that his biggest worry is her leaving him. He’s insecure and deep down he recognizes the flaws in his own personality, and he’s definitely aware that she could find someone better than him. It’s for that reason that he doesn’t like it when she talks to anyone who isn’t him or so much as makes eye contact with another man. And while Kano didn’t even accuse him of cheating, the mere fact that she even wondered if the photo was real or not was enough for Momochi to feel like she betrayed him. And before she can actually abandon him, he decides to do it first by breaking up with her. It’s a protective measure to spare himself from having to actually go through the experience of being abandoned by the person he loves. But whether he truly realizes it or not, Kano has cemented herself as an important person in his life; the most important person in his life. It’s for that reason that even if he was able to sing perfectly fine without her, unlike in Riot, he still went through an entire pack of cigarettes in the one day he was not with her, and he kept thinking of her.

This CD highlights his main struggles; he does not want to be abandoned but at the same time he is just a distrustful person. While Kano is the one person Momochi shows his true personality to, which shows that he does trust her, he still struggles with fully having faith in her out of his fear of abandonment. And he just has a difficult time expressing his true feelings when it comes to these situations. It’s why even after she apologizes for questioning the validity of the photo, he chooses to break up with her instead of forgiving her. It’s also why when he does take her back, instead of telling her that he loves her back, he instead says he hates her and that he is essentially only getting back together with her because she will not leave him alone and this way she will not cause trouble for someone else. Of course, it’s obvious that he’s lying when he says this because his voice is shaking and he is basically crying but he still tries convincing her and even himself that this is why he’s taking her back. It’s difficult for him to say the words “I forgive you,” because he really did feel betrayed and abandoned by her. But even if he does not explicitly say those words, it is also obvious that he does forgive her, after all, he would not take her back if he didn’t. And I think even someone as distrustful as him was able to take Kano staying outside his apartment the entire night, even as it rained, as a sign that she does truly love him and wants to be by his side. But despite her continued efforts to show Momochi she loves him and will not abandon him, Momochi’s fear of abandonment does not subside. And that’s exactly shown at the end of the CD when he decides to buy her shoes that are a size too small and with a heel that is hard for her to walk in. This way she wouldn’t be physically capable of walking on her own and doing something he deems “unnecessary.”

I actually have more to say on Xtreme but it has less to do with analyzing Momochi and more to do with me looking at the relationship he has with Kano and why I love the Cinderella motif going on this CD. If you are interested in reading that you can check out this post and this post.

SEASON 5: EVOLVE

The translation for this CD was made by Risukadarlin on Tumblr, but no quotes were taken from the CD translation. All the lyrics quoted in this can be found on the Dearvo wiki page.

Evolve takes place during the Obon holiday. Momochi is asked by one of his members in the third track, “Helix,” if he will be going home to visit his parents during the holiday. Momochi kind of dodges the question by not giving a yes or no answer. Then the topic of his name and its ties to ninjas is brought up, to which Momochi says that he doesn’t really know if he is related to ninjas but that his parents run a kimono shop. When he’s alone his reaction to the question about visiting his parents is a scoff and that everyone else seems so carefree. Momochi obviously has a complicated relationship with his parents considering he isn’t going to visit his parents for Obon. Even the way he answers the question about his ties to ninjas shows that Momochi isn’t close to his parents and that he isn’t really interested in learning about his family. He found the question more ridiculous than anything. And it’s obvious he’s also never bothered looking into whether he actually is related to ninjas or even asked his parents about it.

When Momochi returns home, he asks Kano if she’s going to visit her parents and if they care that she spends all her time in Momochi’s apartment. She answers no and Momochi brings up how if he left her, then she would have no one, especially since she also doesn’t have any friends. When Kano says she’s fine not having any friends, Momochi reminds her that he doesn’t love her nor does he want her by his side. He goes on to ask her if she feels loved when she’s with him and if she even understands what love really is since she’s never been loved before. While this entire interaction does show how sad the circumstances of Kano’s life are, it also echoes Momochi’s own life. It’s not like he has any friends and his family doesn’t seem to care about him either, if they did they would’ve called him about going home for Obon. Kano is also the only person he has. While Kano’s desperate attempts to always please Momochi are indicative of the fact that she probably has never experienced being loved, the way Momochi acts in their relationship also shows that he’s never experienced being loved before. Most people who were shown love while growing up would not act so possessive towards their partner and be so afraid of abandonment.

In the following track, “Isolated,” Momochi receives a call from someone. His reaction to seeing the number is shock that this person even has his number. When he answers the call he even comments on how this person never calls him. When Momochi goes home he tells Kano to not leave while he’s out tomorrow. He explains to her that his father died and that he’s going to go to the funeral, but only so that people don’t get on him for not going. (Meaning that the phone call he received was from one of his family members.) Kano asks if he is okay and Momochi is confused by the question, asking her if it seems like he’s sad. He tells her he understands what she’s trying to say with his question, but that he is nothing like her. He was not abandoned by his family and he couldn’t wait to no longer be in contact with his family. He says that if she ever tells him something like that again he will kick her out of his apartment. The way he reacts to the news that his father is dead or rather his lack of reaction, shows that Momochi dislikes his father. But not just his father, he dislikes his entire family. However, the way he reacts to Kano’s question shows that he is not as unaffected by the death of his father as he wants to seem like he is. If he truly felt nothing over it, then he would not have reacted almost defensively about his emotions and the relationship he has with his family. Kano most likely was not trying to imply that Momochi was abandoned by his family, Momochi was the one who saw it that way, because he was the one who felt abandoned by them. It’s not a lie that he does not like his family and that he was the one who cut off ties with them but the situation is not as cut dry as he wants to admit. Momochi has always struggled with being vulnerable and open with his emotions, not just to Kano but to himself as well and this is really just a perfect example of that. Momochi does not want to admit to himself that, even though he dislikes his father, learning about his death is making him feel something other than indifference.

In “Helix,” Momochi gives Kano a cartilage piercing because she wants to match him. In “Padma” when Momochi returns from the funeral he gives Kano earrings for her piercing, an earring that looks like a red lotus flower. He then brings up his new song, “Guren Shinjuu,” asking her if she knows what “guren” means (crimson-colored lotus). He compares the color red to flames. He also brings up another meaning of the word “guren,” a cold place; Padma hell. He tells her that if she agrees to go to Padma hell when she dies then can stay by his side. She agrees and Momochi calls her out saying she’s not strong enough to actually go through that. But despite her lying, he tells her that he doesn’t hate the way she is acting right now and that he will continue to stay with her until she changes.

The way Momochi treats Kano in this CD follows up with the ending of Xtreme. He keeps on reminding her throughout this CD that he doesn't love her. It’s still a lie, but the fact that he keeps it up even now just shows that what happened in Xtreme, really did alter the way he goes about their relationship. It might seem contradictory that someone who is so afraid of being abandoned by their partner keeps telling their partner that they don’t love them since saying something like that would likely just increase the chances of him being left. No sane person would stay in a relationship with someone who says that they don’t love them after all. But his claims of not loving her are more due to the fact that he does not want to be left vulnerable again. He’s saying he doesn’t love her more so for himself and to prepare himself for the possibility of her abandoning him. Her abandoning him will hurt less if he doesn’t love her. This may also seem contradictory, but the way Momochi acts is also a way to keep Kano from abandoning him. It’s made obvious in this CD that she doesn't have anyone other than Momochi and because he’s always telling Kano he doesn’t love her but is still letting her stay by his side, it makes it seem like Momochi is doing her a favor. It’s why she acts so desperate to please him, Momochi even says it himself, she has to work hard to not be abandoned by him. Momochi is essentially praying on the fact that he knows Kano has no one but him and to stop her from abandoning him, he just convinces her that she would have nothing without him, especially because he is the only person who can tolerate someone like her. And a large part of her lack of friends is because Momochi does not let her leave his apartment without his permission, he doesn’t even like it when she looks at other people. He is quite literally isolating her and making sure she only has him.

In the bonus track, Momochi goes and visits a grave. While there he says that it’s a shame he, his father, is dead now because he wanted his father to see him become more famous and successful. But they (the person he is visiting) should be happy because of his father’s death. Momochi then says that he is never coming back to this grave and that he has not forgiven them for abandoning him. Instead, it’s his turn to abandon them. Although never explicitly stated, it’s pretty obvious he is visiting the grave of his mother. And what he says here makes it pretty clear that Momochi’s abandonment issues are because his mother abandoned him (a more canon confirmation than just the lyrics of the songs of season 1). It does put more things about Momochi’s childhood into perspective. Momochi’s father never believed his music career would be successful, and he probably wanted Momochi to do something else with his life. Based on that, I assume that since Momochi was young he and his father never really saw eye to eye much, the music thing was probably just the nail in the coffin for Momochi when it came to fully disliking his father. This part also pains me because of the implication of what Momochi says to his mom. He’s been visiting her grave for probably years, telling her what’s happening despite feeling like she had abandoned him and resenting her for that. And it’s only now that he is done visiting her grave. Partially because his father is now dead but mainly because he has someone else in his life now; Kano. Of course, Momochi does not directly say he’s leaving his mom for his girlfriend but it is heavily implied in the way that the first thing Momochi does after leaving the grave is call Kano. He does not want to hold onto the pain his mom caused him, he’s ready to move on with his life. Kano is not a replacement for his mom but she is now the most important person to Momochi. (This is also hinted at in “Guren Shinjuu” but just like with “Awauta” that song can be interrupted a few different ways and again I’m not good at analyzing songs so I’m just going to leave that as that. And “Guren Shinjuu” is the answer to “Awauta” according to IwaD.)

SEASON 6: RAVING BEATS

The translation quoted in this section was made by Currytantou on Twitter/WordPress (bonus CD).

There is not much to say about the main CD but I would like to discuss the Skit Dolce tokuten for this season; After the live. I have written a post about this specific CD in the past. I did write it almost an entire year ago so naturally some of the things I say there I don’t entirely agree with anymore/have a different perspective on what happens.

As the title suggests, this CD is about what happens after Veronica’s live. A party is thrown to celebrate the release of “Makoto no Ai” and the concert. All of Veronica’s members are there along with the staff. Momochi gets upset from the very beginning because he wanted Kano to go home before the party began but she ended up in the room where the party was being thrown. To avoid having her be seen by the Veronica members, Momochi has her hide under one of the tables. Of course, as soon as they get home Momochi lets his anger out on her. She tried explaining how she ended up there; a staff member confused her as a part of the staff and she didn’t correct them because Momochi told her not to talk to anyone. Of course, this just makes Momochi more upset and he ends up throwing the champagne bottle he had previously dumped all over her saying she should leave and just do whatever she wants. He goes on about the fact that all she does is upset him but he brought her to the concert anyway because she begged to go. This entire time she clings to him so that he won’t leave and apologizes to him several times. In the end, decides to let her stay.

On the surface, this just seems like another tokuten where Momochi gets mad for no reason and while it definitely is that, the fact that he lists out qualities of each Veronica member is one of the two things that sticks out about this CD. Right before throwing the champagne bottle, he says, “Are you trying to ogle the members and cozy up with them? Who are you targeting? Ama with the best look? Or is it Ohgi who always tries to sympathize with everything? Ah, I knew it. It’s gotta be Yamato who would pay attention to you. Or perhaps Shizuru who is the most loaded.” This season was when all the band members were given names, character designs, and profiles so the fact that he says this here is probably the writer’s way of giving the members a cameo. But I think this is also a way to show just how insecure he is. It’s been long established by Momochi himself that all the members are attractive and that’s always been part of the reason why he sees them as third-rate musicians; he assumes they were picked for being attractive and not their skill level. But it’s also why he is so adamant about not letting Kano even be seen by them, he’s afraid that she’ll leave him and pick one of them because she might find them more attractive than he is. And this new information about what the members are like just adds to the fear Momochi has. Momochi is not blind to all the good qualities that Ohgi, Ama, Yamato, and Shizuru have and he is aware that in comparison to him, Kano might see their qualities as better. After all, he is not super rich, a model, or all that sympathetic, half of the time he just says he doesn't like Kano and only gives her good attention when he thinks she deserves it. He has practically zero good qualities. The only good thing about Momochi is the fact that he’s musically gifted (and even then back in xtreme he told Kano he doesn’t even need her when it comes to his singing so that isn’t really much to offer in a relationship). And because deep down he knows all of this instead of trying to improve himself or trying to listen to Kano’s explanation he just jumps to the conclusion that she’s trying to cheat on him and gets upset.

In the past, his initial response to Kano upsetting him would be to physically hurt her but that is not the case here. He throws the champagne bottle in anger but he doesn’t throw it at her. She only ends up bleeding because Momochi accidentally pushed her too hard when he was trying to get her to let go of him and she ended up landing on the glass shards. This is probably the one instance where Momochi accidentally hurts Kano and feels bad about it. Unlike in season 2 when he accidentally spilled the ashes on her but says she deserved it for making him angry (although whether or not this actually was an accident is debatable). When he realizes what he did his reaction makes it clear that he does feel bad about it. He even seems surprised and concerned when Kano says she doesn’t care that she’s bleeding, he points out that if she leaves it like that she’ll just end up hurting herself more. As he keeps talking it even sounds like he’s about to cry because of everything she says. It’s really an oddly sweet moment. For once, Momochi shows positive character growth, or as positive as it can be for someone like him. He does enjoy seeing her in pain but only when he is the reason for that pain. (He literally says that at the end of the CD.)

He does decide not to kick her out in the end but that’s only because he feels reassured by the fact that she looks and is acting extremely desperate as she is trying to get him to forgive her; she’s clinging onto him while crying, drenched in champagne and bleeding from the cuts on her feet. Even if he didn’t mean for her to start bleeding, the fact that she ignored that and kept trying to get Momochi to forgive her was something he couldn’t ignore. Kano already knows that he likes it when she acts desperate for him but she probably thinks it’s because Momochi just likes seeing her be humiliated and it partially is that but also because it helps him feel less insecure. He only feels secure in their relationship when he sees her this way because to him actions are more important than words. Sure someone can repeatedly tell him that they will not leave him but he can’t believe it until he sees that person do things to show that those words are true.

SEASON 7: UNLIMITED

The translation quoted in this section was made by Currytantou on Twitter/WordPress (main CD; Momochi side).

In the second track of the Momochi side, “Quiet Water,” after going out to buy more cigarettes Momochi comes home to Kano lying in the bathtub. This freaks him out because he thinks Kano is dead. When he realizes she just fell asleep he gets upset at her, saying, “Are you aware of what you’re doing? And here I thought you ended up like that person-” He tells her that he feels sick and that she should sleep on the couch and leave him alone. While taking a shower he says to himself, “It’s so stupid to lose composure over that, after all this time. Something is wrong with me, really.” He’s talking about his mom here. This is pretty much a confirmation that she did die in a bathtub. Amazing how they set it up in the first season and it all came together in season 7. It’s not just that seeing Kano that way reminded him of seeing his dead mom but the fact that he was worried he had now lost another person he loved in the same way he lost his mom. In “Pieces” the second track of the Veronica side Momochi says he started living with his dad in the middle of elementary school and that was when he took on the surname, “Momochi.” This means that up until that point, he had been living solely with his mom and that he was probably around 9 years old when his mom killed herself. It makes sense that someone who lost a parent when they were so young still would not be completely over it when they are only 22 but Momochi desperately wants to be over her death. He does not want to continue to feel hurt by someone who abandoned him.

Throughout the CD there is a butterfly that follows Momochi. He thinks he sees it right before he sees Kano sleeping in the bathtub and makes the comment that he thought he was seeing that butterfly again. And then he actually does see a black butterfly in the last track, “胡蝶之夢” (Butterfly’s dream) when he’s smoking on the balcony. He tells Kano that black butterflies represent the spirits of the dead. When Kano goes back inside he starts talking to the butterfly, “Are you perhaps jealous? Unlike you, I am acknowledged through my songs. Or is it her? I told you, right? I’m not going to you anymore. Because I’ve decided to stop singing about you. Stop following me.” The butterfly is the spirit of his dead mom. Everything he says here is a follow-up to the bonus track of Evolve when he last visited her grave and told her he would no longer come back. But it’s only here that Momochi tells her that he will no longer be writing songs about her. It’s his way of saying he is now completely turning his back on her and moving on from her. There is an implication here that his mom was also a singer and that her music career never went anywhere. This also matches up with how Momochi denies the fact that his parents were involved in the music industry in “Pieces” the second track of the Veronica side when Shizuru asks him about it. But he does say that he’s had a musical influence from the people around him so becoming a singer just happened naturally because of that. So his mom most likely wanted to be a singer but it never ended up happening, whether or not it had anything to do with Momochi's birth is up for interpretation, but she definitely told Momochi about wanting to be a singer and probably sang around him. Of course, he could always just be lying to Shizuru about his parents being involved in the music industry but that does not really change much because even if he was lying, his mom’s career still led to nothing. If anything, Momochi has probably seen himself as an extension of his mother’s failed career. In an attempt to feel closer to her after her death, he subconsciously started getting more involved with music and when he actually did become a singer, he wrote songs about her. It’s the reverse of parents who use their children to live out the life they never had, Momochi was using his life to live out his mom’s dream. But not anymore. He’s done doing all of that and is instead choosing to write songs about other things; Kano.

Momochi also tells the butterfly, “Next time, do your best so you won’t be abandoned by that person. Oh, but then again, I suppose there is no “next time” for people who die by themselves.” His words are harsh and also reveal that although his mom died when he was living with her, she still died by herself. This could mean that she chose to commit suicide when he was at school so she literally died alone but it’s more likely that he means she died having no one by her side. Momochi obviously loved his mom when he was a child so it’s not that she died with no love but that she died alone because she never accepted that love or reciprocated it. However, this line could also mean there is literally no “next time” for people who kill themselves. As for who “that person” is, it’s his dad. Honestly, if Momochi was referring to himself, he wouldn’t have been so vague so the only other option is that he is talking about his father. Momochi was most likely born out of wedlock (remember when I wrote that all the way back in the section for season 1) so it would make sense that his dad abandoned his mom most likely after he learned that she was pregnant and she just had to deal with it all on her own.

After saying all of that to the butterfly Momochi goes back inside and tells Kano, “Hey, did you mention Japanese food just now?” This line probably seems completely irrelevant to anything but it is such a small thing that the scenario writer included that I love. Momochi specifically uses the word “osechi,” which is traditional Japanese food and it’s commonly eaten on New Year’s Day and the word itself originally refers to a significant period. The reason why it’s mentioned right after Momochi finished talking to the butterfly, his mom, is to show that Momochi is entering a new period in his life, one where he is no longer chained by everything that happened in his childhood. It just further emphasizes everything he said to the butterfly.

As for Momochi’s interactions with Kano this season, it pretty much follows up the dynamic they had in Evolve. There are three instances in this CD that stand out. The first is when she fell asleep in the bathtub which I already talked about. The second is that Momochi tells Kano that he will write a song about her. It’s the first time Momochi has ever told Kano that he is writing a song about her. A development in their relationship, especially with everything Momochi said to his mom at the end. While talking about the song in the second track, Momochi says, “Magic, huh? That makes me a wizard? Hehe. I see. Then I gotta show everyone a lovely dream. But has it ever crossed your mind? What happens if one day the spell breaks and you wake up from your dream? Just so you know, that doesn’t bother me at all. I mean, I’m a wizard. I can cast a new spell, and I can even freely break it.” I love this entire exchange. It feels like a nice follow-up to the whole Cinderella motif in Xtreme (he does actually reference Cinderella again in this CD), and to the fact that his last CD was titled “Makato no Ai” or “Magical Love.” It is a very good metaphor to represent their relationship especially as it stands now. I do have a lot to say on that but it really has less to do with me analyzing Momochi and more to do with me picking apart the relationship he has with Kano. And the last thing that stands out is the conversation he has with Kano when they see the sun setting. He asks her what the color of it reminds her of and she says the earring he gave her in Evolve, the red lotus ones. He then has her repeat what he said when he gave them to her. The way the original conversation went in Evolve left the feeling that Momochi does not really associate the color red with good things since he literally compared it to fire and hell. And it makes sense when you consider the fact that he most likely saw the blood that was oozing out of his dead mom. Seeing something like that would naturally change the way he sees the color red. But here Kano associates it with something good, with him. Just like how he is no longer writing songs for his mom, Momochi can slowly start to change the way he sees things that were tainted by the death of his mom. That’s why he has Kano say what he told her when he first gave her them. It just goes to show the way his relationship with Kano is helping him move past his mom.

SEASON 8: HEADLINER

The translation quoted in this section was made by Currytantou on Twitter/WordPress (main CD; Momochi side).

Headliner is a difficult CD to talk about in this because it feels sort of OOC and I don’t really like the reveal made in this CD but since it’s now canon, I am forced to mention it here. I’ve been summarizing the important events of all the past CDs and since I’ve already made a summarizing post in the past about headliner, to save myself some time I will just be copy-pasting it here.

In the first track of the Veronica side, “光芒一閃,” Momochi gets a phone call in the middle of practice and goes to take it. When he’s done with the phone call he tells all of the members and staff that Veronica is over and he is never going to sing again. Then when Momochi goes home that same day, at the end of track three of disc one, “Days” Kano brings up Momochi’s birthday because of the profile update for Veronica. Momochi tells her that September 20 is the birthday of “Momochi from Veronica,” not him. Kano keeps talking about the birth date and he gets upset because it seems like she cares more about Veronica and “Momochi from Veronica” than him. So he has her say his actual birthday and when she does he tells her, "That’s right! That date is the birthdate of me, who is now standing in front of you! Veronica’s Momochi is not me. I’m not putting on that mask anymore. The new song that you’re looking forward to is not coming anymore. Wait and yearn as much as you want but Momochi from Veronica no longer exists in this world! I am just me. Veronica..? It’s the end."

In track four, “長雨,” Kano wakes up in the middle of the night and goes to the balcony and sees Momochi crying. Momochi denies that he’s crying and says it’s just the rain. But he explains that he’s out there because he had a bad dream. This was a dream he used to have every day when he was younger, and he hadn’t gotten it in years, so he thought it was finally over. But it continues to haunt him even now. It’s then revealed that Momochi has a younger (half) brother who was spoiled by his family. Here it’s also revealed that Kano and Momochi lived near each other, so she must be aware that his younger brother was spoiled. Momochi makes it clear here that he hates his younger brother, and he doesn’t really understand why his younger brother is so attached to him and looks up to him when Momochi was just randomly introduced one day as his older brother. His younger brother started a band in their hometown, and he told Momochi about it. Momochi comments that to him, music is suffocating, but his younger brother sees it as some kind of joke. Momochi tells Kano that he’ll quit music because he would rather die than do the same thing his brother does. He also tells Kano that his brother, Veronica, and even her are just his way of killing time. Kano tells Momochi to sing. He refuses, so instead, she starts singing. He calls her singing bad and tells her to stop and then he sings instead. When he’s done singing, he says that he’ll keep doing music and stay in Veronica, but just until he finds something more pleasing than singing. He then grabs Kano and holds her against the railing of the balcony. He tells her she has to stay by his side and to keep listening to his singing as a way of holding herself responsible.

In track five, “Winding Road,” while at a restaurant with Kano, the table next to them is celebrating a birthday, which annoys Momochi since he hates his birthday and just wants to forget it. Then, as a reward for being good, Momochi decides to tell Kano what his dream was. He tells her that he used to dream of it every day in high school, and it was him as a child sitting alone in the corner of a mold-smelling room, hugging his knees and waiting for his mom to come back on his birthday. That was the entire dream and Momochi hates it because it is just a reminder of the promise his mom made. She promised him that she would celebrate his birthday, but she never did, despite him being her only son and only family. He kept believing that promise year after year, even though it never came true until she finally just disappeared for good. He then reveals that the day his mom left him is the same as Kano's birthday. Kano says that his profile is just full of lies then. But Momochi says that it isn’t because Momochi’s Veronica did start on September 20th and that he hates the fake act he puts on, which is why his profile says the thing he dislikes is himself. Momochi feels like Kano is pitying him for living this way, but he tells her that it was his decision to put on the mask of being a good person and that he’s living in the moment. And that he’ll keep on living doing whatever he wants.

I actually have less to say in terms of analysis compared to every other season just because this CD feels extremely straightforward and again I don’t really like this CD. I almost want to pretend it is its own separate canon. But this CD gives more information as to what Momochi’s life was like growing up. His mom neglected him his entire life, and despite that Momochi still held onto the promise that she made until she died. And when she did die he finally realized that she never really cared about him and that realization just affected him deeply to the point where he had a recurring nightmare about his mom not keeping the promise she made. What he says about his arrival into his younger brother’s life basically confirms that he was born out of wedlock. It is also the first time that Momochi directly comments on how he is two-faced. This and his comment on how he feels about music are really the only part worth analyzing but I’m not going to do that in this section but instead the next section since it ties into larger points about his character I want to make.

OVERALL CHARACTER ANALYSIS

In Headliner, Momochi himself says he doesn’t even know what his mom was doing when she never showed up on his birthday. So, to answer the question I asked in the season 1 section, I do not think his mom was actually a prostitute. And since Momochi only lived with his mother at first, I do not think he ever witnessed her be abused by his father (because he was off with his own separate family) or abused in general. Instead his abusive behavior and behavior in general is caused by the fact that Momochi has a disorganized attachment style (also referred to as fearful-avoidant).

People who have disorganized attachment styles, “have contradictory intentions regarding close relationships, wanting commitment and closeness while simultaneously downplaying the importance of intimacy.” This is the result of their upbringing. Disorganized attachment styles can be caused by several different things but as it applies to Momochi, it is caused by two things. The first is that his mom left him for long periods of time. Momochi confirmed in season 8 that she would leave him for long periods of time and he was used to it so she clearly never spent that much time with him as a child or infant. The second cause is her being emotionally withdrawn from him. When she was there with Momochi I highly doubt she consistently interacted with him the way a proper mother would, especially when he was an infant. Based on the promise she made with him it seems like she would at times give him the attention and care a child needs and then just act coldly towards him (when she was there that is). Essentially, Momochi has this attachment style because he was abused (neglected) by his mother and when she was around, she was inconsistent with her behavior towards him. I think she acted this way because she never wanted Momochi. But unlike his father, his mom wasn’t just able to fully abandon her child so instead she opted for interacting with him as little as possible. Had she never gotten pregnant maybe she would still be with Momochi’s father and maybe her singing career would have gone somewhere. This isn’t to say she completely hated him, because if she did she would have never bothered even promising that she would be there for his birthday next year. But their relationship was clearly complicated. While Momochi longed for his mother, despite how neglectful she was, she longed for the life she had before he was born, the life she could have had.

The fact that she later committed suicide when Momochi was so young left him emotionally stunted and Momochi was never able to properly process the death of his mother. And it only made his avoidant and anxious behaviors in relationships worse. While his mom neglected him, she was still the only family he had ever had up until that point. No one else was there to console him about his mom’s suicide so he probably blamed himself for it first happening but as he grew up his feelings towards the entire situation turned into resentment over the fact that she was able to abandon her only son so easily. And the life he had with his father was not that much of an improvement. While Momochi’s younger brother accepted him, his father clearly did not and he probably only took him in because he felt like he had to. His father would spoil his younger brother and saw him as his true son, Momochi was just the bastard child that was now living with them. Seeing the better treatment his younger brother received only made Momochi hate his father and younger brother. He had no one to actually call his family growing up.

Momochi says in Headliner that he hates himself for pretending to be someone he isn’t but he still does it anyways. He can recognize the fact that hiding behind a fake personality will prevent anyone from ever forming a real connection to him which is something he hates but also finds comfort in. This, of course, is because he has a disorganized attachment style. The only person he’s allowed to see the real him is Kano. But even their relationship is filled with Momochi’s anxious and avoidant behaviors. An article on disorganized attachment in adulthood states, “Their fear of attachment figures encourages contradictory and confused behavior. They seek to approach the partner in times of distress, but these approaches may be interrupted or incomplete, appearing to be chaotic or incoherent, because their fear of the partner may simultaneously cause apprehension and a desire to distance themselves.” Not that Momochi is literally afraid of Kano but the fear he feels is a result of how he was raised by his mom. At times he showers Kano with love but it can quickly change into him telling her that he doesn't love her. He also shows an aversion to being vulnerable around her. Whenever she asks him if he is alright, he quickly distances himself from her and tells her not to ask any questions or make assumptions about what he is feeling. He is generally distrustful of people and because of that, he is quick to accuse Kano of cheating. He just assumes that he will be rejected by her (and others) so he anticipates it. And because he anticipates it, he does everything he can to prevent himself from being hurt by it. Whether that be by creating distance between himself and Kano (and everyone in general) or preventing Kano from interacting with anyone who is not him. The only way he feels secure in his relationship with Kano is by being in control at all times and watching her desperately try to stay with him.

Momochi also has self-esteem issues. He saw his mom’s neglect as a sign that there was something wrong with him. And that was only heightened when he moved in with his father since his father also did not like him. That’s another reason why he developed a fake personality. If he pretends to be nice and cheerful then people are more likely to like him, even if he hates himself. His low self-esteem also plays into why he is so controlling with Kano and it goes hand-in-hand with his attachment style. All of this also plays into why he is so codependent with Knao. He fuels her insecurities so that she’ll stay with him because just like her, he is afraid of being abandoned. His smoking addiction is also a result of his childhood abuse. It is his way of coping with the circumstances of his life.

The way Momchi acts could also be linked to him potentially having borderline personality disorder. According to Mayo Clinic, symptoms of bpd include “a strong fear of abandonment, a pattern of unstable, intense relationships. impulsive and risky behavior, and ongoing feelings of emptiness.” Risk factors for bpd include neglect during childhood and losing a parent during childhood. All of this is applicable to Momochi. I would like to emphasize here that I am not a psychologist nor do I have bpd so I don’t feel like I’m not the best person to go more in-depth into this specific topic.

In Headliner, Momochi says, “Music suffocates me the more serious I get about it, and there’s nothing fun about it.” If he feels this way why does he keep making music? Music is the one thing that Momochi is good at, he is even referred to as a music prodigy. He clings to it because it’s the only thing he has going for him and music allows him to feel better about himself. Through his music, he finally gets recognition from others that he never received from either of his parents. Music was likely the only thing that made Momochi feel close to his mom and after her death, he took it upon himself to continue keeping his mom alive through his music. But this is exactly why he finds it so suffocating. He hates his mom but for so long he chose to make songs about her and his career started because of her. And even after Unlimited when he told her that he would no longer make songs about her, music is still suffocating, It’s an outlet for him to finally let out all the emotions he’d held in about her and his entire life, but coming to those realizations about how he feels is painful for him. Music just serves as another reminder of the mother that never loved him and the unfortunate life he’s had. Music is the cage Momochi willingly puts himself into. But he says himself that until he finds something more interesting, he will keep making music. And it’s also because of Kano that he chooses to continue to make music in Headliner. He almost can’t completely make music solely for himself but he needs a reason to keep doing it.

OTHER

Nearly all of Momochi’s CDs were written by Hidekatsu Miyoshi. The credits for Season 1 say “Hidekatsu Miyoshi (PolkaDot)”, Season 2 “Polkadot” and then Seasons 5 - 6 “Hidekatsu Miyoshi (Rejet)” and then Season 7 just says “Hidekatsu Miyoshi.” So the only CDs not written by them are Wired and Headliner. It is honestly extremely noticeable that both Wired and Headliner are not written by them. I briefly mentioned it before and I’m only pointing out who wrote the CDs here again because it is an important factor in Momochi’s character.

In Wired the change in scenario writer works out well because the way Rejet had that CD play out didn’t feel like too much of a big character shift and I actually really enjoy the direction Wired had Momochi’s character go in. But the same cannot be said for Headliner. That CD just feels strange to me and it feels like there are two different versions of Momochi; Momochi and Headliner Momochi.

Take that information as you will in regard to how you want to interpret Momochi’s character.

CONCLUSION

I felt compelled to write all of this so that I could finally let out all the thoughts I’ve had about this freak over the past two years.

How can I call myself his number-one fan if I don’t write a proper analysis about him? I’m not sure if this is obvious from my username and entire account layout but I Love Momochi So Much. In all honesty, as the series has gone on I can’t say he’s gotten all that much better, he’s actually gotten worse in my opinion. But that’s more than okay with me, I love him for who he is.

All jokes aside, it took me a little over two months to write this (started in September). That might seem like a short amount of time and that’s because I’m insane and practically spent any spare time I could working on this. It was mentally taxing on my brain and at some points, it felt like I was just writing one huge nothing-burger but I am very happy I was able to finish this. I love analyzing my favorite, Momochi especially. And like I said in the intro, you do not have to agree with everything I wrote here but I do just hope my opinions were able to offer a better understanding of his character/provide a new perspective.

Thank you Rejet for creating this freak of a character that has taken over my mind like a parasite. Thank you to Tosshi for voicing Momochi despite him being like This. And thank you to everyone who took the time to read all of this.

#dearvo #dear vocalist #momochi #i just love momochi a lot #mton

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