Oh ryuuxwq, I have many thoughts. So much so this feels like less of an analysis and more like me embodying this gif:
You have been warned, my thoughts will be below:
The theory Akane died and was rewinded back to life is one I really like, because Akane is the only character in the whole story that has two different bodies, which have been proven to be disconnected from each other (Being stabbed in his keeper form doesn't affect his human body, so it isn't a magical girl transformation. Is a brand new body)and he is arguably not alive in his clock keeper body, since he is not visible to people who aren't near death'
Which is weird, considering we never see these two seemingly disconnected bodies together, there is no "your human body falls asleep when you're in supernatural form" with Akane, no attempt to do the usual "your spirit and your body are different things" which most supernatural mangas do.
Even tbhk consider the soul and the body different things, otherwise Hanako wouldn't be able to possess Nene and 'borrow' her body.
So is not like Akane's soul is forcefully separated from his body when he transforms or that his watch literally gives him a brand new magical body. It's more like Akane time jumps forward to his own death whenever he uses his clock(?) or something equally as suspicious. Time nonsense is involved, that's for sure.
I have a theory that the clock keepers can mess with people's lifespan (said theory doesn't feel as wild as it used to now that we know they have enough power to recreate timelines, effectively changing MANY people's fate) considering Akane used to be a normal human who couldn't see supernaturals (so he wasn't near death) when the keepers were looking for recruits BUT the second Kako decided to form his contract Akane 'conveniently' started seeing them.
It's heavily implied the keepers stopped time when making a contract with Akane and being able to share their power with a human is a power in itself, so their habilities are far vast than the basic "mirai move time forwards and Kako moves it backyards." they are op as hell. Who knows if the flashback ending with Kako's clock means they went back to a time where Aoi was safe or if there is more being done here?
The thing that makes me the most confused is this:
Cause it raises the question "Can Kako rewind Akane's time now that he is an honorary keeper?" I was tempted to say "no, he can't mess with Akane's time" cause why would Mirai sacrifice herself to protect Akane if Kako could heal him as easily as a flick of his watch? I am aware Mirai loves Akane but that seems extreme of Mirai for a staged trial🤨
But if Kako can't mess with Akane's time it would means whatever they did to Akane messed with how he interacts with time itself. Do you know how insane that sounds, especially since his supernatural body grows with his human body (since his supernatural body isn't the body of a 12yo boy, like when he made his contract) everything would become 10 times more confusing if Kako couldn't alter Akane's time (plus, the idea he 'revived' Akane would become impossible)
So I went to the moment you mentioned, the one where Teru talked about Akane's lifespam being affected.
and Teru was wrong here. He had assumed Akane's human body would be badly affected by his wound, unaware both bodies are not connected.
However, both are under the assumption Kako can heal the stab wound.
Which have been proven correct (?) off pages since once the severance was over and Akane got to see the keepers again, he was healed.
He no longer has his stab wound caused by Aoi.
I now have the theory that Kako can rewind Akane's time but whenever he does it, it takes away some of his lifespan.
I think so for two main reasons, first it makes Mirai's sacrifice more serious and understandable.
I understand that Mirai loves Akane but unless there is a scene of Mirai feeling uneased by Akane's pierced and bloody stomach that we are missing, she should not save Akane? She is unbothered by dead or broken bodies, she know Kako for way longer than Akane and clearly love him lots but did not try to save Kako from his staged death, and she likes the idea of turning 'naughty kids' into sand (her rumors is about stealing people's time, and she literally lives with Kako, who can rewind time, so death isn't even relatively permanent to her)
She has always been like that, even Nene's dead didn't stick with her, she could be seen playing with Kako a few pages after the death reveal.
BUT it is important that she isn't as stupid as she acts, she understand the gravity of Nene's situation. She understands humans have lifespans and that even she can't overpower a death set by fate.
So her not wanting Tsukasa to pierce Akane's stomach, because she understands his lifespan would be reduced if Kako rewinded his time makes more sense to me: Even if the trial was a mockery, Akane's body isn't, his injury may be cured but he would have to deal with real consequences.
The second reason is because the theory that Kako's powers reduce people's lifespans would explain why Akane was able to see Kako when Kako needed him to form a contract, despite having enough lifespan to be oblivious to supernaturals before.
However, this paints Kako in a pretty dark light? It would recontextualize Kako's rewinding of the whole school and Akane's anger towards Kako during it all significantly.
It seems extreme??? Especially for keepers that went out of their way to rewind the timeline to save the students and the balance of the world? It also leave many questions about how much control Kako has over people's lifespans, or how much Akane, as a temporary clock keeper, is affected by it compared to other people?
So I'm still firmly putting this on 'cool theory to play with' territory instead of 'prediction' territory.
Regardless, it's clear the keepers are very powerful, especially Kako.
This just makes them pick Akane weirder right? They are powerhouses with the power of time and life on their hands, why pick someone as unremarkable as Akane?
I don't think is a 'you're the chosen one/your blood was in the prophecy' kind of thing. He is genuinely a normal kid of some random family. I don't think he secretly lied, cause Akane was oblivious about supernaturals before his contract and the manga never shows any signs the Aoi family is relevant in any way: No supernatural beauty, no connection to the Akane sacrifices, no suspicious wealth, or tragedy. Even Teru, who is our exposition guys have nothing to say about his family
I will admit that his past is vague enough that Aidairo could potentially reveal something 'special' about it, but I personally hope he remains a normal guy.
The "You're not special, you're replaceable" energy to his contract makes Akane's obedience to the keepers and his uncharacteristically pessimistic stance on the situation way more impactful than if it was a "YOU'RE A DESCENDENT OF THE KEEPERS OLD FAMILY ALL ALONG! THAT'S WHY YOU WERE PICKED!" situation, or something just as dramatic, and 'unique' so to speak.
I like to believe they picked Akane simply because he is a good pick. How do people always describe Akane? Responsible, dutiful, nice, wise, hard-working, stubborn. You need to have all these qualities to be trusted with a key that can change reality, someone too selfish, or too dumb, or too quick to give up regardless of their family name would be reckless with so much power.
Hell, most people would abuse the 15 minutes of stopping time that a keeper is given, but Akane always guards his power until the end of the day, and ONLY when no emergency happens did he use he pause Aoi's time to stare at her, something he always does without time being stoped anyways?? Something Aoi doesn't mind? Since she knows he is always keeping an eye on her??
So he basically wasted his 15 times cause he didn't know what else to do with it????? He really settled for 'i like watching Aoi, i'll increase a little the time i have to do this' ?? What a guy.
During his 3 years under a contract, Akane has never cheated on a test, tried to do anything he believes would make Aoi uncomfortable (like so much as poke her hand/hair/lips etc), or used to get revenge on teru. He was extremely responsible for the standard of a pre-teen who suddenly got powers (he was 12 when he first got the watch. he was a kid T-T)
He is a good babysitter to Mirai, no matter how much he feel some genuine resentment for what she did to him, he has a soft spot for kids and never want to hurt her. Just look at how gently he picks her up after he spend the whole chapter frustrated that she escaped. His hold was so loose and careful no wonder she easily escaped.
He has been working hard and doing more jobs than he should since he was a kid! AND HE DID THOSE JOBS WELL HE WAS DUTIFUL.
So he can work hard, he can do a ton of chores efficiently.
He must be one of the best interns the keepers ever got, cause they are way too happy to abuse their power and make Akane work like a dog.
So I genuinely think they picked Akane because his family name may be unremarkable as hell, but Akane as a person is perfect to have as a maid/babysitter/keeper-of-the-key-that-can-reset-timelines in the school.
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I just want to say you were my first introduction to slay the princess so I partially blame you for my current hyperfixation/j thank you I am deranged over eldritch horror princess and Just Some Guy eldritch horror bird (they are everything to me)
OH I will ask: who is your favourite princess/voice and why? Mine is voice of the contrarian bc he just like me fr, and thorn bc 🫶🫶
WOO glad you're into it! Definitely up there with my favorite games of all time
god I'm gonna have to give you a list. this was a much much longer answer because I have several paragraphs to say for Many Of My Favorites but I'll spare this blog the vomit for now until I can structure parts of it better
fave princesses: Witch and all its routes, Specter and all its routes, Nightmare and all its routes
Fave voices: Stubborn, Skeptic, Smitten. special shout-out to Opportunist for consistently having the best dialogue in the game tho, he sucks and I love him so much
Favorite routes: Razor, Thorn, Damsel
LEGITIMATELY it's so hard to pick but for the sake of giving Some explanation, the razor has to be my favorite for how it exists as the purest subversion of both the story the game is telling (which is itself a subversion of classic monsterslaying fairy tales) and it sort of has to get kind of meta, but it leans into it SO joyously. you as the protagonist being constantly split because the story plot twisted itself so fucking hard that it just. Broke Everything
and the result is absurd and horrifying and slips away from any kind of growth or cogency until both protagonists are stripped completely bare, and it's weird and it's hilarious and no one is having a good time except for the very AGENT of shifting perspectives, no longer constrained by any world or singular force that matters!
and also. How could I not pick the route that gave us The Look™.
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