#fun fact about this post it’s nearly incomprehensible as a Twitter thread

[amethystroselily]

Reasons I think the “The Akashi siblings were friends with Mikey and Baji” thing WAS foreshadowed and is NOT the worst writing decision Wakui has ever made. (He’s made plenty of questionable writing decisions but this one really wasn’t that bad)

I think it started being foreshadowed around the Bonten arc. Sanzu, who we didn’t really know that much about at that point is revealed to be Mikey’s second in command. Takeomi is introduced as someone who seems close with Mikey but we’ve never seen him before. There’s definitely some intrigue there, implying that those two will be expanded upon later and definitely have an important connection to Mikey.

Sanzu appears to be devastated when Mikey commits suicide. It in my opinion looked like the shock and panic of witnessing a loved one die rather than someone you have a distant relationship with.

Then we get the flashback of Mucho and Sanzu meeting, where we are shown that Mikey and Sanzu clearly knew each other prior to that incident. They both talk to and about each other with a lot of familiarity. Sanzu doesn’t seem overly worshipful in this scene, as he tells Mikey to let him go.

This is also where we learn that Sanzu and Baji know each other. Baji who we know is pretty capable and good at fighting “can’t handle” Sanzu. This is just speculation, but if there was a conflict between those two in the past, this may be a nod towards that. Also Mikey and Baji are the ONLY ones Sanzu talks about in that chapter, which in hindsight was probably to highlight their specific importance. It probably wasn’t random that Baji was the one who they were talking about.

Sanzu and Mucho talk about Baji and Haruchiyo brings up that Mikey and Baji were childhood friends. Something that apparently was not common knowledge outside of a tight knit inner circle, as Mucho did not know this. Which implies Sanzu knows details about Mikey that he wouldn’t have unless they were close.

We learn that Sanzu got into a fight with another gang because they were insulting Toman (or something similar, that chapter has the worst translation ever and I can’t find the version of that chapter that’s decently translated outside of other people’s screenshots) which I think implies that he was already pretty loyal to Mikey at that point. In this conversation he and Mucho talk about the importance of the king in go, a running theme in that chapter and both Mucho and Sanzu’s characters in general to refer to Izana and Mikey.

Sanzu says he was an only child, and as Takeomi was introduced recently at that point that was definitely meant to be a lie. A lot of people say that them being siblings was made up on the spot but I definitely think Takeomi was created to be Sanzu’s brother. Otherwise it would have been a weird thing to bring up at that point in the story. Also it showcases that Sanzu was hiding a lot from Mucho.

Sanzu murders Mucho and professes his loyalty to Mikey. He has been loyal to Mikey and was planning his death the entire time he says. (I kind of feel like this was a Half-truth or a straight up lie, because there are plenty of timelines where he doesn’t murder him and he also willingly went with him to Tenjiku. Also there’s that scene where Sanzu seems to freeze when Takemichi mentioned how they were betraying Mikey when they kidnapped him. I think Sanzu might have actually gotten attached to Mucho and this comment made him reassess that newfound loyalty. I think that might be when he actually decided to kill Mucho. Maybe it rekindled his loyalty to Mikey. He did do absolutely nothing during the actual Tenjiku vs Toman fight. My other guess is that he decided to kill Mucho after he went to jail, either as a last ditch attempt to regain Mikey’s trust or because Mikey told him to. I don’t know tho)

Anyways there was definitely A LOT in that chapter that was probably foreshadowing of some sort, but I do not have the best reading comprehension or analysis skills so I didn’t really catch all of it.

When we see Takeomi again in the past one of the first things he says is about Shinichiro. And he sounds pretty fond so it was safe to assume that they were close at that point in the story.

When we meet Senju there are some parallels between her and Mikey that everyone seemed to pick up on at the time. We find out that she wants to fight Mikey which also ties their characters together. We then find out that Takeomi and Haruchiyo are her brothers, which ties those four together.

Takemichi himself mentions that Sanzu is going to be a key player in this arc. He also says something like “he’s been with him even in the future” which kind of feels like it’s hinting at them knowing each other for a long time. (I’m not explaining that well)

We learn that Takeomi and Shinichiro were close friends since childhood, and considering Shinichiro is ten years older than Mikey, they knew each other before either Mikey or Haruchiyo were born.

Anyways I lost my train of thought and I don’t quite remember what else I was going to say, so uhhh, rapid fire. Takeomi mentioned Mikey when he tells senju to be more mature. Mikey called Sanzu Haruchiyo and said that he can handle this situation, implying some level of trust. Takeomi was trying to reason with and scold Mikey after the three deities war like he knew him personally. Senju seemed very casual about Sanzu choosing Mikey over her like it made sense.

But like why wouldn’t Mikey’s second in command who happens to be his big brother’s best friend’s little brother be close with him. Of course they were childhood friends. I honestly think it would be more random if they weren’t. Like, they somehow never met and Mikey’s just letting some random ass dude be the only person he talks to at the moment??? I guess I wouldn’t quite put it past Mikey, but remember the Izana situation? Where Takemichi was like “Why would he trust Izana more than any of his friends?” and it turned out it was because Izana was his brother. Or, well, brother-adjacent depending on how you look at it. I think it’s a similar situation here.

The Akashi siblings were introduced to be relevant in Mikey’s story. I think that was meant to be a lot of what the final arc is about now that South is gone. Did you guys think he was going to introduce these random characters last minute, place great emphasis on them, and then just do absolutely nothing with them?

Is the foreshadowing flawless? No. But it’s definitely there.

Anyways, I don’t remember everything I was going to say, and I probably won’t remember until tomorrow, but there’s a lot.

(Also @god-faberena bc you were curious earlier)