#enstars analyisis

[distortedmoondisc]

"In a way, HiMERU's involvement in Crazy:B with Rinne puts him closer to Kaname's vision than what he was doing as a solo artist - someone who embraces the new, but in a way where fairness is advocated and everyone can compete on an equal playing field." I'm screaming because this was so beautifully said, and I never thought of it that way - but you're right! Against all odds, Crazy:B and Rinne's ideals align a lot with Kaname's, ideals which Himeru - Oremeru - wants to reject since he associates them as the reason for Kaname's downfall, but by being with Crazy:B he is widening his perspective and slowly getting to understand what Kaname wanted.

"Aira challenges this, encouraging Hiiro to see himself as equal to the rest of Alkaloid, to do things for himself, to see himself as an important person just as Hiiro sees everyone else." I'm just so 🥺🥺🥺 about this part. You wrote it and put it so wonderfully...

And indeed, Aira directly telling Hiiro that he must decide things for himself and that his life isn't owed to anyone is what Hiiro needs to hear, and I like that you mention Tatsumi's and Mayoi's soft approach to this matter, specially since Tatsumi was the first one to notice that Hiiro had been severely conditioned by his hometown in a negative way and it gave him hurtful motions about the world at large, and even then, the one that incites the most change inside Hiiro is Aira, who directly tells him to follow his own heart - and that despite Aira has his own selfish wishes regarding Hiiro (such as Aira wanting Hiiro to stay with him and Alkaloid), he is going to respect and support Hiiro's decisions, whatever they might be, because they weren't ordered by someone else - they are Hiiro's own.

I also really like that you mentioned Hiiro's lawful neutral moral compass - about how he thinks that sacrifices are necessary in order to preserve peace and social order, and how he's more than willing to sacrifice his own happiness if it means reaching this goal, because that's what he was taught was correct. I almost forgot about it, since Hiiro has grown past this sort of mindset to some extent, as he is now more aware that doing what he believes is right is more important than keeping order and peace and that his feelings have value, so he isn't meant to or obligated to sacrifice himself in order to fulfill this goal.

However, this more independent side of Hiiro regarding standing up for what he believes just hasn't been shown a lot, and I think it is because Alkaloid works as 'soldiers' for Ensemble Square - they are, by definition, the unit most loyal to ES, their whole existence is meant to protect the institution and they were created for this sole purpose, and Eichi has been known to use them as supporting pieces in the 5D chess game he plays with Ibara and the other higher ups of ES to push his own interests (and Eichi's interests are ES's interests about making sure idols never die and become a staple in Japanese society - and even in the whole world).... but now that I wrote all of that, isn't Alkaloid's story similar to Hiiro's? A unit born with an imposed purpose and duty, working inside a system that forces it to comply for what is best for the idol making machine? Unlike Crazy:B, that is constantly revolting against Ensemble Square, Alkaloid are the goody two shoes that always follows the rules - so perhaps what Alkaloid needs is to break those shackles and act however it desires, without being pressured by ES to do what they want or what they believe is best, just like Hiiro was liberated from Rinne's role as servant. I wonder if this change that Alkaloid needs will be forced by an outside source, or started by within (by Hiiro or Tatsumi, who seem the most likely to encourage change, in my opinion) 🤔

(Ahjf sorry for going on a tangent)

"Rinne and Hiiro are very similar in this regard - they both think they're alone. They're self-sacrificing as hell, something that everyone in Alkakurei struggles with." Yes! Alkakurei is so extremely self sacrificing, some of them to a toxic degree. They are the personification of that Berkeley Mews comic where two characters are constantly shielding each other from being shot.

Rinne and Tatsumi are the worst cases of chronic self sacrifice, I think. Especially because they tend to pin all the faults on themselves in very extreme ways and accept the role of sinner/villain if it is to ensure the safety and happiness of others. (Coincidentally, this reminds me that I read a Korean tweet thread analysing Tatsumi which pointed out that his tendency of self sacrifice might actually stem from an enlarged sense of ego — a sort of twisted satisfaction of becoming a martyr — and it was a very compelling and interesting argument. I wish I could find that thread again and share it... I'll try looking for it later...). Given how often and to the extremes Rinne goes to sacrifice himself for the sake of others, sometimes I'm even inclined to believe that Rinne's sacrificing tendencies also come from ego - but then you see how deeply he suffers by the choices he forces himself to make, and it's undeniable that in reality it all comes down to his immeasurable love for his little brother and close friends that have become a family to him at this point.

Even to this day, Rinne (and Tatsumi as well) struggle to rely on their unitmates and/or ask for help, but we know now that Rinne is aware that he is loved by them and that even if he refuses their help and tries to act on his own, the bees will stubbornly try to aid him anyway, whether he wants it or not, and that is a very comforting thought - specially for someone that has been so severely lonely as Rinne has.

I can make the exact same argument for Tatsumi - he would rather bear the weight of things if it means his unitmates don't have to. All of Alkaloid (Hiiro, Aira, Mayoi) comment about how they wish Tatsumi could rely on them more, that he could stop shouldering responsibilities and things in general by himself, and Tatsumi relents on this sometimes but it is for the small things (I distinctly remember this scene of the MS, in one of the chapters after Hiiro is disowned and all of Alkaloid is discussing the events at the old dorm, where Tatsumi tells Mayoi that he promises "(he) won't tell him any lies... lies that could hurt him, anyway" and I am so obsessed with that because it implies Tatsumi can and will lie. It isn't meant to be malicious, Tatsumi doesn't want to hurt Mayoi - but Tatsumi himself is deciding what might and might not hurt Mayoi in the first place, which is a wrong thing to do), and it looks like he seems more comfortable sharing his burdens with Mayoi, probably because he sees him as an equal and as the seniors of Alkaloid that must shield the young ones, such as the time he told Mayoi the story behind his leg injury (and I believe we never know just /how/ much Tatsumi told him - we don't know if Mayoi knows about Kaname... - but Mayoi must definitely know about the Reimei Revolution and that Tatsumi's leg injury is due to an accident in which another person was hurt even worse, and that Tatsumi blames himself for it). Getting Tatsumi to rely on Alkaloid is one of their principal matters of resolution currently, and I tend to wonder if this will be explored in Alkaloid's climax event since I think it will be Tatsumi center.

"He realizes that Aira may be "naive", but isn't a passionate person with a good heart exactly what this industry needs?" This made me pause and think for a bit - it makes me reconsider a little Rinne's stance in all of this. I always had the impression that Rinne had sort of given up trying to change the tide, in trying to stop ES's expanding monopoly, he even says this himself - that he's tired, and that he doesn't nor wants to keep fighting anymore.

This is something that always stuck with me and I always thought it was so sad because Rinne has gone through such terrible and painful situations, being stripped from his dreams and wishes constantly, never being able to win. At this point, he's just tired, and has resigned himself to accept that the industry is going to ruin but that at least he isn't alone, because he has his unitmates and brother besides him. He will still fight, albeit in little ways, but they aren't meant to make some systematic change and just a way for him to keep some of his ego since he just can't let ES win so blatantly, yk?

But your comment about Aira probably being a beacon of hope since he is what the industry needs makes me change my view a little - so I'm not as pessimistic about ES's expansion and factory-ization of the idols, there might be still some hope out there. Change might not have to be made by brute force as a war or a revolution, but slow change from the inside, made by people that sincerely love idols and what makes them special - and who has a more pure view on idols than Aira himself, that knows that idols must be unique, different, and loyal to their own individuality, because that's what they inspired him to do? Rinne can trust the future of the industry in someone like him, since they share that same vision and love, but Rinne is just too jaded to share it with the same vigor as Aira and is too disenchanted by ES to buy into its capitalist schemes.

And absolutely, Aira is a core piece of the message of the !! main story and an incredibly important character. While Hiiro represents the new players that know nothing about idols and that initially wants to destroy them, Rinne is the antagonistic force that wants to destroy the "paradise of idols" that is Ensemble Square for reasons the player is still too young to understand due to the complex politics of the industry, Aira stands as an anchor that reminds the player the media they're in - they're in Ensemble Stars, a game about idols, and the game /loves idols/, and presents you all the different reasons why they are meaningful or might be meaningful to someone, and Aira is a perfect character to showcase this. Aira is the one that introduces Hiiro to the world of idols, Aira is who reminds Rinne why he loves idols and encourages him to keep being one, Aira is the one that helps the brothers make up at the end of the story. Aira just kinda ties the main story together.

This is very personal, but I hope they give Aira a similar plot prominence in some Alkaloid/Alkakurei story in the future - perhaps in the big Alkakurei event that's going to happen in April of 2024 signaling the passing of the year chronologically inside the story, but who knows! We can just patiently wait and speculate what might happen.

Do you ever think about the parallels between Rinne and Aira

Not only they have a shared interest in protecting Hiiro and ensuring his well-being/growth as a person, (and it's extra interesting given how Aira sort of dislikes Rinne for how he dealt with Hiiro in general—by leaving him alone at their hometown and disowning him in the summer of the MDM—, so even though they have the same interests and goals regarding Hiiro, they aren't exactly friends nor like each other — though this is mostly from Aira's part, because Rinne does like Aira and even acknowledges him as someone important to Hiiro that he must keep in his life), but Aira kinda is what Rinne used to be, before his dreams of becoming an idol we're crushed by the new rules of ES.

!! Main Story, Episode 171, "Revolution"

I've seen many people talk about how Rinne and Aira would get along because they're both idol otakus, but I believe that's a common misunderstanding of Rinne's character, because Rinne isn't an idol otaku (at least not anymore). He doesn't like the current idol system and the way Ensemble Square is running the industry. That's why he tried to change it by force in the !! Main Story by acting out. This is different from Aira, who loves the idols born from this system, and is a participant in the ES system that is going to hurt the industry in the long run (because ES is mass producing idols like a factory, stripping them from their own individuality and what makes idols especially in the first place — which is why Aira likes idols to begin with! Because they're different from ordinary people!)

!! Main Story, episode 220, "Despair"

Aira is aware that the idol industry isn't perfect, in episode 171 he even acknowledges that the mass production of idols similar to items of consumption made in a factory is wrong and it strips idols from their beauty and value, but he doesn't have the insight and first hand experience with heartbreak as Rinne had, so he doesn't have the motivation to protest or change the way ES is running the industry. They both love idols and dreamed of becoming one, but Rinne isn't an idol otaku, because he can't be a fan of idols mass produced by the current system.

What Rinne does instead, is support underground idols that would otherwise be trampled or forced to disappear by ES because they don't fit their sets of standards (and because ES has monopoly in the idol industry, they can easily do this without much repercussions or public outcry) and gives them his protection. This is explained throughout the course of the story of Night Club.

Nigh Club, Epilogue 2

Aira tries to impersonate an ideal idol persona, as the ones he watched when he was younger. He wants to embody a model idol and inspire others as idols inspired him in the past. Rinne used to be similar, but ES arbitrarily destroyed his solo career making him lose that dream, and that's why he embodies the wild and rebellious persona he portrays on stage, which is a complete opposite to how a traditional idol should act (and this is a constant point of conflict between him and other idols, such as Himeru; Himeru tends to scold Rinne for being so wild and doing whatever he wants because it goes against what is expected of an idol, but in Night Club he comes to understand that this is Rinne's soft way to protest against ES, despite having lost to them in the first part of the !! Main Story).

(Sometimes, I wonder if Rinne is happy being the wild and playful self he is with Crazy:B, or if he would prefer to be on stage as an ideal idol like he used to do years ago....)

However, despite their differences and the dislike/intimidation Aira might feel towards Rinne, he admits he understands his feelings and where he comes from, and that he can't help but to relate to him due to the fact that they both love idols. Aira scolds Rinne in episode 220 "Despair" to make him stop his pity party, but later in episode 224 "Flutter" he comforts and encourages him instead—telling him that he should not give up being an idol, because he recognizes that Rinne loves idols as much as he does, and that he still has a reason to live because he has fans of himself and of Crazy:B waiting for him among the crowd, meaning that he is still loved and accepted by someone, despite all the wreckage he had caused.

(And if I'm allowed to get personal for a moment, I just need to make emphasis in how important Aira is to the development of the Amagi brothers in the last arc of the !! main story, and this scene is a perfect example of that. Aira is the one who encourages Rinne to join the others on stage and sing, and after that it is Hiiro that pushes Rinne to give that step which finally leads them to perform on stage together 🥹)

So as we can see, Rinne and Aira have a lot of similarities, but they act in completely different ways due to their circumstances. They have similar backgrounds as idol lovers but they have different views and feelings about the industry and the profession, (however, they seem to share the same ideals as to what an idol should be, and love the same type of ideal idol inside their hearts). Adding to that their shared most beloved person, Hiiro, and how the two of them want what's best for him but they have a point of contention due to Rinne's bad actions in the !! Main Story, and their relationship becomes x10 more interesting, and I wish we talked about it more!

And we know Happyele hasn't forgotten about them, because Aira appeared in Rinne's recent relationship chart, just below Hiiro.

(also, a little unrelated, bu i think it's funny that despite having a heart to heart at the ending of the main story, their relationship is still "want to tease him" and "he's a little scary" ahdks Aira, who scolded Rinne in front of hundreds of people in the MDM, regressed to feeling intimidated and troubled by him. A couple of friends commented that it was probably because Aira had a burst of courage in the MDM because of the severity of the situation, so he had the determination to call out Rinne, a senior that he particularly feels intimidated by, publicly without second thought. It is canon that after the fact, Aira admitted that looking back on the MDM he felt embarrassed for doing such a bold thing. Idk, it's just something i find very interesting and fun about their dynamic www)

So this leads me to believe that they haven't forgotten about the history these two had in the main story, and all I can do is just wait for them to expand on their relationship and dynamic more eventually in some future event.