#hikaru character analysis

[thoughtspresso]

Aqua plans to die.

And his death will be necessary to take Kamiki down.

While the full details of Aqua’s revenge plan isn’t entirely clear to all of us yet, his intention to place himself in danger as he tries to take Kamiki down is a very clear, and very crucial part of the plot that he anticipates.

Before we can dive into how Aqua is going to achieve his revenge, we need to back up a little bit and understand who he is as a person, how he makes decisions, and what he personally wants.

What is Aqua’s Goal?

From a top-level view, Aqua has a singular emotional goal:

Aqua wishes to take responsibility for the deaths of his mothers.

Aqua/Gorou absolutely believes that after two lives of the same thing, that he was the common denominator. He was the fault his mothers both died, because he was useless and helpless. Had he never been conceived, and more crucially, if his mothers did not have to lie about his existence, they would have both stayed alive. If Gorou’s mom didn’t have to conceal the pregnancy from her parents, or did not have one at all, she would have lived a long life. He believes that perhaps his second chance at life was to save Ai, but he was paralyzed and helpless during her murder. He blames himself for Ai’s death too.

This is a driving force in Aqua’s character, and informs all of his decision making, even to the detriment of his own plans most times. It leads us to his supplementary goal:

Aqua wants to keep the people he loves safe.

Whether it was shielding Ruby from entertainment or making sure she’s in a safe agency with good group members, or Akane not going too far in enacting his revenge plot for him, or Kana from steering clear of a career-ending love scandal, Aqua’s key traumas has led him to feel compelled to take action and do whatever it takes to save people if he had the power to do so.

Here is a breakdown of Aqua’s plans, and some key questions we have to ask about each one.

1. Why make a movie called The 15-Year Lie? And what is “Ai’s true wish”?

I have reason to believe that Ai’s DVD for Aqua would have either been a message about wishing to be loved truly and be hated with full honesty for the person she really was, that she wanted her actual self to be revealed to people. In line with that, I think Aqua’s DVD included Gotanda’s original documentary for the B-Komachi dome event. Which is why Gotanda tried to defend Aqua's decision to reveal her secret in chapter 112, and why in chapter 108 Gotanda says about the script that “this is finally my time to fulfill that promise.”

2. What does he mean by “using Arima Kana”?

There were theories circulating that the person who texted Frill Shiranui could have been Aqua, trying to get her to encourage Ruby to play the role of Ai in the film. However, that couldn’t be any farther from the truth. As we know, Aqua was saying that Gotanda should “grow up” and understand that the most important thing for a movie is to succeed commercially first before we talk about artistic value. 

If Aqua had full control over the situation, he would have just straight up casted Akane. After all, that was what he initially proposed, and even contacted her for it despite saying he’ll never have anything to do with her again. What he needed, more than anything, was for the film to succeed commercially. And with the headlining actress no longer (a) the most famous celebrity of their generation, or (b) the heralded genius of their generation, Aqua has no other options.

Except: Arima Kana.

I think the aspect of him using her or manipulating her is mainly to encourage her publicity activities. He’ll be encouraging her to do well in her work to garner more star power for the movie to really be a success, and for her to help his sister be the perfect lead for the show. He’s also going to bank on the idea that Kana will do things for him because she has a crush on him, which he only realized in Chapter 102 after Mem-cho points it out, that he can pursuade Kana to get out of the way of his revenge plot if necessary to keep her safe or place her in the spotlight to attract people’s attention for the movie.

While unlikely, he might even encourage her to stay on a little longer until Ruby gets to the Dome performance.

Or, and maybe this is my shipping delulu talking, but it can also be that he’ll try to just be around her frequently to garner media attention about their relationship. In this way, keeping her close without actually dating her could serve a dual purpose: get people talking about them and the movie, but also make sure that Kana stays safe and nobody makes a rumor of pairing her up with anybody else.

Lastly, also not super likely but another option could be to convince her to headline the show, and play Ai in Ruby’s stead.

3. Why does Kaburagi say that the film is bordering on illegal?

This is a truly crucial piece to unveiling Aqua’s plot. We know Kaburagi likes producing shows that include good-looking young people, and that seems to be his main strategy for raking in young audiences and cashing out.

So why would he have hesitated, even for a second, on a plan to cast the top talent of this young generation, on the biggest news Japan has been talking about, handed to him by a first-hand source--the son of Ai himself?

On all accounts, this would have been the perfect formula for a smash success. So why would Kaburagi say things like, “do you have enough evidence”, when everybody already knew about the University student stalker that murdered her? What was so controversial?

Unless, when they said Aqua will play the culprit, they didn’t mean the Ryosuke.

They meant he was playing Hikaru Kamiki.

Here’s what we know about the film, and what I think Aqua is trying to do:

1. Portray Kamiki in the worst possible way and destroy his reputation.

The 15-Year Lie will be a biopic about Ai’s life from when she was starting out as an idol.  Ai will be portrayed as a poor girl abandoned by her parents, searching for the true meaning of love. We know that this framing will be part of Ai’s characterization because of the scenes where Ruby struggled the most:

In the search for love, they will show her falling for a young man and talented actor at Theatre Lalalai--that being Hikaru Kamiki. Once he gets Ai pregnant, he abandons her, and she runs off to the countryside to hide from the press. When Ai asked him to come visit her, Kamiki, in wanting to protect his career, attempted to send out a stalker. A few years later, seeing his kids wotagei on social media, he manages to find them again and kill Ai.

It is a complete and utter character assasination of Hikaru Kamiki, and while revealing Ai as a flawed person, draws for the sympathy of the viewers to love Ai for who she truly is. Which is exactly why Gotanda keeps insisting for Ruby to play the role, even when Aqua and Kaburagi have sensible recommendations for Akane and Frill.

At that moment, when Ai dies, Aqua will reveal his face, and openly declare that it was his father who orchestrated it all. Then he might even portray his father murdering Ryosuke himself, instead of the suicide that was reported in the media.

2. Aqua will use himself to bait his father out, and force Kamiki’s hand to kill Aqua.

The main reason why Aqua finds it necessary for the film to be a commercial success is because he needs the general public to be one hundred percent in agreement that Hikaru Kamiki is an evil man that deserves to be jailed. (Whether or not he reveals his name in the film, which he could but doesn’t need to.) This public lynching is his first control.

But here’s the thing: Kamiki didn’t directly murder Himekawa Airi and Hoshino Ai himself. At this point in time, Aqua is not aware of Katayose Yura’s murder either. And there is no evidence that connects Uehara Seijirou and Ryosuke’s suicides as murders by Kamiki’s hands.

And on top of all that, when these things happened, Kamiki was fully a minor.

Akane’s fears and interpretation was that Aqua would murder his own father because it’s the only form of revenge he could enact himself. 

But she’s wrong, there’s one more thing Aqua could do: make Kamiki commit murder again. If he kills Aqua, there will now be a murder that the public agrees without a doubt was done by Kamiki himself.

He can go to jail once and for all, or he can also get stabbed by an angry fan--Aqua doesn’t care. All he cares about is that it’s a sure win, and it’s over forever. He launches his sister’s career into the spotlight, he keeps everybody safe, and he atones for the death of his mothers with his own life.

In summary: Aqua plans to get killed by his father, so that an actual murder has occurred for which he could be jailed or publicly ostracized or even killed.

And here’s why I think Aqua will fail:

Aqua’s assumptions about his father are incorrect.

He believes that Kamiki’s reason for killing Ai was because her pregnancy would ruin his reputation and career as a rising actor. That’s why Aqua tries to hit him there. And he believes defaming him might provoke him to get killed.

But I don’t think Kamiki cared about his reputation at all anymore. He left his career as an actor behind after Kindaichi kicked him out of Lalalai, and went on to graduate from Faculty of Science. He never went back in front of the spotlight, instead opening a talent agency around the exact time he believed his kids might be joining the industry.

I have reason to believe that Kamiki thinks murdering Airi and Ai was to protect his children or some other great act of justice against his rapist(s). And that even killing Katayose Yura was done because he didn’t want a liar like her to take the spotlight that was supposedly for his daughter Ruby.

I don’t think Kamiki will harm Aqua.

But I do think he will come forward and expose himself and his twisted justification, and he might even openly give interviews to the media.

Instead, I do believe Kamiki might pay attention to Kana’s honest acting--something he’s never seen before in a person, and try to get close to her somehow. And if Kamiki’s name is not revealed, and if the theories are true that Frill works for Kamiki’s agency, he might recruit Kana to join him.

All this is to say, get Kana out of this manga. Somebody, please save her.

[nicomoon69]

when the doomed yaoi is actually doomed 💔💔 (I knew full well what I was getting into)

[tenebriskukris]

Oshi No Ko Chapter 166 - My Thoughts/Analysis

One last ride. I want to lay these chapter reviews to rest better than the series dropped the ball for its ending. As always, spoilers for Oshi No Ko Chapter 166 below.

And we are back with Oshi No Powerpoint. Can this manga actually organically show events or is this entire chapter going to be more slideshow?

No—it is indeed more slideshow. Fantastic. Ruby doesn’t even get to be a fucking character in a chapter dedicated to her. Of course. After being sidelined for a good half of the manga this is how the authors deal with her character. By having her get over Aqua in such a half assed manner that it doesn’t feel earned, doesn’t feel resonant, and simply does not make sense considering how she was when she found out Goro was dead. That girl has nothing now. Why is she still striving to become an idol when there’s no one waiting for her at the end of the day when there’s nothing that the narrative has done to make us think she could get over this tragedy?

More slideshow of all the characters. It seems I was wrong. Most children’s television shows can salvage a more cohesive and thematic ending than this slop. I don’t even care about the new B-Komachi member, Kana and Akane’s appearances, even Ruby at the Dome. It’s just a hollow and empty slideshow that’s trying to evoke emotions that aren’t disgust at the ending.

It’s incredible that Ruby turned out to be Ai 2.0 when the revelations made in Chapter 122-123 onward said that she doesn’t want to be an idol that lies and now here she is, being an idol that lies. Thank you Aqua, for being such a supreme idiot. Ruby’s time as an idol will fade but I’m sure she’d rather have that transient career rather than have you alongside her.

The final few panels are a kick in the teeth for every fan that’s gotten invested in this series. I’d say that I would be surprised but it’s become obvious that the quality of this manga has massively declined for ages by now. This ending is one final reminder of that fact. 

And that’s the end. Analyzing it further is a useless endeavor. It’s a pile of shit and no amount of pretty art will be able to refute that. I could list off any number of reasons Why I think the ending is a hot steaming pile of garbage but for an ending that fails in so many ways that one could say pretty much anything negative about the ending and it’ll hit somewhat accurately. I don’t even want to give it my time and effort in gesturing to just how bad it is when it’s so plainly obvious. There’s no satisfaction in ripping apart the chapter’s guts when it’s already rotting away in the ground.

This is not a good ending. I don’t want to hear anything about tragic endings and the nature of revenge and tragedy and all that bullshit. All those claims might have some merit if the ending wasn’t a Windows Powerpoint Slideshow that forced its content down the readers throats. Even leaving that aside there are a whole host of subplots that never got addressed, character development that was aborted in this manga’s womb, a complete disregard for the themes established in the previous parts in the manga—it’s just—bad. Bad in a way that’s almost like a “fuck you” for being invested in the manga in the first place.

Tragedy in itself does not make a good ending. Sadness and moving on does not inherently make a good ending. The buildup and relevant character beats for these characters contradict the message this chapter is trying to sell. This ending feels divorced from everything that came before it. I can almost smell that this is a first draft kind of ending that came before everything actually happened.

I’d say that I want the series to put me in my grave so it could let me down one last time, but knowing how bad it fumbled with this ending I don’t even trust it to do That. 

I almost want to see how the anime tackles this ending if only because I’m sure that it’ll be canceled before it can even get close to this point. Could you imagine adapting the clusterfuck that were the last couple of chapters? The utter mess that was the movie arc? I can already smell people defending this ending saying it’s actually good because it’s a tragedy and that there was a host of foreshadowing involved. On almost every scale I can come up with in regards to ending does this series’ finale just fucking suck.

On more content adjacent to the manga but related to the series itself; apparently there’s one bonus chapter that’ll be released with the volume? People are really coping that it’ll save this manga but as far as I’m concerned it’s absolutely nothing. No, it’s less than nothing, because it’s the equivalent of a pie to the face after eating a shit sandwich. A joke at the reader’s expense. How despicable. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was another Kaguya-sama crossover. Any additional content that this manga vomits up wouldn’t change the fact that this ending exists in the first place. One final cherry on top of a pile of shit doesn’t change much after all is said and done.

There is also a light novel that focuses on Akane and Kana coming out for some reason. Incredible. Even after all of that the authors are still trying to milk out fans for their waifu bucks when they were handled so shoddily. But the lowest common denominator and yuri fans will be eating, I suppose. If they get disappointed by the quality of the work, that’s as much as they deserve, I guess.

Doing some light research on reactions to this clusterfuck of an ending reveals in an interview that this was the ending that the author had in mind all along which—well. I wouldn’t trust the author to write a book for children after this ending, let alone another manga. But this world isn’t an ideal one so he’s managed to hitch his horse to another manga artist and is now on the way to make yet another manga. From what I hear he’s already 2 for 2 with shoddily written endings and mediocre series so it’s surprising that people let him get away with crap like this.

I don’t think I’ll be touching any of the other works by the author with a ten foot pole. I wouldn’t even recommend this series to anyone simply because of how bad everything was so close to the end. There are better media out there that don’t waste the readers’ time and handle its themes better. An ending is the last word that the author has on their series and more often than not when a series’ ending is garbage it sullies the rest of the work by proxy. Every single arc before this one will be stained by the knowledge that its ending was so shoddily written that it dispenses with everything that came before it.

Guess that’s the end of the line. I’d say that it was a pleasure, but that would be a lie. Perhaps that’s fitting given that the manga claims that lies are love and never quite did anything with it.

[nocandnc]

Stepping away from shipping for a moment (shocking I know), this exchange between Sudo and Kaoru had some very interesting wording in Japanese and I wonder if a bit of nuance has been lost in Crunchyroll's translation.

Here's the breakdown:

The line of interest to me, in Japanese, is [ 只の人間 / ただのにんげん / tada no ningen ] - this is of course just going off ear - to be truly precise I'd have to get my hands on the raw manga pages but I'm pretty confident in this assessment so just Trust Me Bro. Now, Crunchy translated this as normal person which would be fine if not for the context - that being, this is a scifi show with humans and robots and all sorts of muddying in-between areas. The phrase normal person lacks the oomph that tada no ningen really implies. If I wanted to express the mild sentiment of normal person in Japanese for example, I'd go with something like [ 普通の人 / ふつうのひと / futsuu no hito ]

The largest differences between this is the subject - hito vs ningen.

Hito refers somewhat vaguely to 'a person' - just a person, man or woman, biologically whatever. Ningen on the other hand is strictly referring to humanity. Humans. Homo-sapiens. As in, not Humanoid or AI. A person like them, but very much organic flesh and blood, made the ol' fashioned way.

Put normal person and normal human beside each other and you can already sense a difference in weight between them, am I right?

But now lets look at the descriptors - futsuu vs tada.

Futsuu would be my word of choice when describing something as normal because it means just that; normal, average, ordinary, everyday, humdrum, and so on. But Sudo and Kaoru don't say futsuu, they say tada. Tada can mean something normal or ordinary, sure, but it also implies a harsher sort of unremarkable value - like saying its just X or just Y, a mere this or that. As with ningen, there's more weight to it.

And in combining this weightiness with the context of who's talking and the series as a whole, I think an altogether better translation would have been mere human.

A mere human couldn't possibly understand MICHI's aims, Sudo claims. To this, Kaoru implies that Sudo is no mere human. But then what is he?

Dr. Sudo Hikaru laughs, he pouts, he gets angry and sad and likes sweet things.

He was seemingly adopted by his Humanoid mother, but fell ill at a young age. There was something wrong at the root of him, something that his mother risked everything to cure. He has a need for mysterious blood tests, covertly telling his nurse that he's 'the same as usual' when that doesn't really mean he's not ill, just unchanged.

He's quietly and stubbornly resisting MICHI's will, whatever that really is. And despite being seemingly human, his eyes are devoid of light. Other humans, humanoids, robots, and even the (AI)mighty super computer itself all have a gleam to their eyes that make them appear lively. Now, this difference is never remarked upon in-universe, so I assume it's just a visual cue - but for what? Sudo is different, somehow. Different enough for MICHI to want him in on its plan for the future more than anyone else.

[2-lines-and-a-circle]

Hikaru Hitachiin a member of team sea salt and caramel

Disclaimer: Most of the post has spoilers and is mainly based on the anime.

Link to where it all started: 2 Lines & A Circle : Flavors of love: chocolate edition So I was... (tumblr.com)

I don’t think there was even a debate as to which team he belonged to if I say so myself. Hikaru has that brash nature of team sea salt and caramel, yet there’s also a sweetness in him. In comparison to his twin brother Kaoru, we see Hikaru in search of answers which is usually what makes someone a member of this team. To further explain, I would like to use Kei Tsukishima from Haikyuu as an example.

Tsukishima, a fellow member of this team is someone who is in search of the constant answer of what volleyball means to him. I find that, while he doesn’t openly ask this question his actions give this away. Due to this search of their hidden truth these characters end up on a wild goose chase to find the true answer. In Hikaru’s case it’s none other than the answer to what he’s feeling.

As to mention what the twins often say, they only had their small world that consisted of themselves. By having a connection only between each other it would be a place where no one could hurt them. Or so one would I say, I in fact would argue it harmed them by keeping themselves glued together. Such a deep connection between the twins allowed there to be limited emotions and Hikaru becomes a stranger to these newfound emotions. So, throughout the anime we see him look for the answer as to what he’s feeling. Emotions such as jealousy, fear, and even protection for someone other than his brother pop up. All of which are new to Hikaru, forcing him to come face to face with the new world. That is essentially what places him into this team if we’re talking character arcs and inner struggles.

Team sea salt and caramel are like their name states, salty. There’s no lie that Hikaru is in fact the more devilish twin of the two. We see him as the leader of the twins when it comes to pranks and well, that adds up to his salty side. Now for the other half of him, which is his much more vulnerable side. That is what I would classify to be his sweet caramel side of him. In comparison to his tricks this side mainly comes out when Hikaru is deeply concerned about those closest to him. We could look over at how he rushed to check in on Kaoru when the vase fell on him or even the thunderstorm with Haruhi as examples. It’s in those moments that we see how Hikaru takes on this more tender side to him, making it a sweet caramel of a moment.

Aside from those aspects mentioned, it’s important to note that Hikaru is realistic. What is really the ultimate deciding factor to make this team is how realistic they are. For example, characters like Malleus Draconia fit into team caramel because no one exists like him in real life. To further explain, I mean someone who is so sweet to you that they’re too good to be true. Characters such as these make up team caramel, but characters like Hikaru make up team sea salt and caramel. Essentially, team sea salt and caramel are team caramel but with a dash of realism.

More on Team sea salt and caramel: 2 Lines & A Circle : Flavor of Love: Team Sea Salt and Caramel!... (tumblr.com)

[divine-construct]

I absolutely agree with this (and all the reblog additions) but I think (hope?) Yoshiki reacting less to death might have to do with that whole thing going on Rie’s mentioned. ‘Hikaru’ being around and touching Yoshiki clearly has an effect on him (noticed by Rie as well as Tanako’s hamster, though I’m a little surprised Asako hasn’t said anything yet). It’s not talked about much but it’s certainly there, and Rie even tells ‘Hikaru’ to ‘mix’ less with Yoshiki since it’ll soon end up dangerous. Tbh I’m not exactly sure how to interpret that ‘mixing’ because I don’t speak Japanese so I rely on the translations, and if anyone has more insight that would be nice. Anyway, here are the translated panels:

She specifically says that Yoshiki won’t be able to return to the human world anymore. Imo that is especially interesting because we’ve never seen him fully leaving it in the first place, but this hints at there being more going on with him than visible as well as perceived by him. I’m not sure, but that half of ‘Hikaru’s’ core might have to do with it too.

This leads me to believe that Yoshiki unknowingly dabbles more in the inhuman world than we all (including him) think. And what do we know about the inhumam? Specifically ‘Hikaru’, who seems to be at fault? That he has no real understanding of the concept of death (at least in the human sense) and thus hardly cares about death at all.

So, Yoshiki pretty much being desensitized to death might be a cause of that ‘mixing’ with ‘Hikaru’, since he’s essentially ‘mixing’ with the inhuman.

Hgsn volume 4 and 5’s scary moments feel completely pointless which is a wild thing to think about with a horror story

Think about it, what impact has any of the recent attacks had on Yoshiki and “Hikaru”? There is 0 reflection on any of the attacks. With their personalities in the first 3 volumes you’d think Yoshiki would start depending on “Hikaru” even more as he starts realising that no where is safe from impurities and that “Hikaru” would get even more obsessed with Yoshiki and be terrified to let him out of sight. But this never comes up. The village getting worse is seen as this hypothetical that’ll happen if they don’t figure things out and not as something that is already happening.

Their lack of reaction makes them feel out of character

[yuseirra]

How Hikaai is constructed & the character building of Hikaru- an analysis

Jotted down my thoughts about Hikaai!! as a person who's been drawing a wad of them SO MUCH LATELY!!! This is my thoughts I have about them!!

The reason I've been drawing a lot of hikaai art after Chapter 154 is because I'm convinced that this person could never have harmed Ai.

I know the circumstances seem unsettling, right? The narrative had constantly hinted that he might have been involved in Ai's death, or that he could be the one behind it. The story itself has guided our thoughts in that direction.

But after reading that chapter, I thought, 'Ah, this person isn't the culprit... He couldn’t be the kind of person who would harm Ai...' and I was sure of it. That's why I hopped in. Until then, I had been following the story, but it was at that point that I became certain and committed to this belief.

Yes, if he were the one who harmed Ai, he wouldn't act this way. He wouldn't speak or behave like that. Even if we grant that he might have become a crazy person who would genuinely harm Ruby, I believe it's highly likely that he had no responsibility for Ai's death. Even when he himself directly admitted to orchestrating the crime, I was convinced that it was a lie. And later, there’s a scene, although ambiguous, where he says that he really did nothing and never wanted to hurt anyone. If what he'd said earlier were true, the story would have concluded there; they wouldn't have inserted conflicting elements into the narrative. BUT I KNEW THIS WAS GOING TO HAPPEN. THIS GUY, DID NOT HARM AI. HE CAN'T. The story simply would not lead to that conclusion.

I've been drawing, shouting that there's no way he did it, and that chapter almost relieved my frustrations... until Aqua showed up, and then I got a headache... Haha. Aqua, why are you getting in the way of my happiness... Just let me enjoy this...

I'm pretty sure at least up until the point of Ai’s death, he wasn’t the type to do heinous things.

When he was with Ai, his expression looked so... so genuinely happy. Among all the smiles that characters have shown throughout the series, his stands out as one of the happiest and brightest. That's how much he cherished her. Even in the latest chapters where he seems completely insane, this is consistent—Ai was such an important person to him that he couldn’t let go. Losing her drove him completely mad.

Honestly, while I haven’t managed to present a coherent story myself, as someone who writes stories, I believe:

When Ai confessed that she wanted to live with him forever and that she loved him, that was it. It was over. He would never harm Ai. Not only would he not hurt her, but he simply cannot. He can't ever be the type to bring himself to be aggressive toward her.

Because, from a meta perspective, Ai is a character for whom failure in choosing to love is not an option. That’s crucial to the story’s message.

If he was the kind of person who could make Ai say such endearing things about him, there’s a 99% chance that he did absolutely nothing wrong concerning Ai. This story isn't that twisted or convoluted on that regard. The message it tries to set forth is quite clear.

In terms of character design, I think the authors probably designed Kamiki to be Ai’s partner.

They might have created him alongside Ai from the planning stages, or designed him to match her after creating Ai. That’s really evident to me.

This is because his character arc is thoroughly tied to Ai. Whether it’s in a good way or a bad way, Ai is everything to him as a character. Everything about him revolves around Ai. If he does something, it’s because of Ai. If he wants something, it’s also related to Ai. As expressed in the songs, Ai is his everything. Without Ai, he couldn’t even live—his character is fundamentally tied to Ai’s existence.

Ai has relationships with other characters, not limited to romantic ones, but that extend in various directions. However, with Kamiki, there’s no emphasis on such relationships in the story. Apart from his relationship with Ai, there’s only one other very toxic and exploitative relationship, but it's not worth mentioning, and that connection even pushes him closer to Ai, emphasizing their relationship. I think the authors gave him that past as a way to convey to the readers that such things can happen, and also to highlight how his emotions, insecurities, and misunderstandings shape his connection with Ai.

If I were the author, I’d pair Ai with a good person. Not because she needs a good partner out of pity, but simply because Ai, as a character, should make choices that she won't regret regarding having chosen to love. If she were paired with a truly strange person, it would destabilize the entire narrative structure of the story. Ai is crucial to the story’s direction, functioning like a map or compass for the journey that Aqua, the main hero, takes.

If it turns out that Ai genuinely fell for a truly weird guy, it would only make things worse. It would shake the story’s core so much that I wouldn’t even understand what the story is trying to convey. That’s how I see it. It’s not about romance—it's that, if that were the case, I wouldn’t even know what the story is trying to say anymore.

Kamiki... just looking at him, it’s clear. He’s... a character made for Ai. If you take Ai away, what’s left of this character? Yes, his pretty looks... though lately, they're making him make crazy faces..(please..) I do love how he was kind in the past! I find his character really charming and I look into him a whole lot, I care for him, and I've been exploring his mind so much, spending so much analyzing. I really do care about that character. But objectively speaking, from a narrative perspective, what would he do in the story without Ai? This character fundamentally cannot exist in the plot without Ai, and he clearly, clearly loves Ai. In my view, he genuinely means it. I’ve analyzed his personality thoroughly, and his core nature is truly kind. Whether in a good way or a bad way, his actions are driven by Ai.

If Ai is crucial to the story, then naturally, his importance would rise alongside hers.

If Ai’s wish is connected to him, then, as it’s treated as significant in the story, he too would be treated as significant.

When it comes to him, what matters most is how Ai feels about him.

More than anyone else.

Because... I see it...; he’s a character created to be Ai’s partner. For example, if Ai were a puzzle piece, he’s made to fit her. Ai’s personality seems to come first, he reacts and behaves to it in a way that matches her story.

So their personalities match really well, and they’re incredibly compatible. They just naturally grew close and fell in love immediately, didn't they? That's because they were designed by the artists to be a match. It's a writing choice they made.

The issue with their relationship stems more from external forces than from themselves. If nothing had happened, they would have fit together like soulmates and lived happily. For instance, Ai’s fundamental desire is to love and to find someone worthy of receiving that love and to love them together, right? Kamiki fits perfectly there. He wants to be loved and find someone who would truly love him. Ai loves caring for others, while he, being neglected, needs someone who can understand his pain. Ai might lack some common sense, but she has a certain shrewdness, while he has better social skills than Ai and would get along better with others, yet is so naive and detached in critical ways that Ai could complement him. Ai wouldn’t have wanted to live with him forever for no reason; they were made for each other from the character design stage.

So if Ai didn’t like him, then it means he was actually a bad person, but if she truly loved him, then he was someone worth loving.

And it turned out to be the latter. That’s why I started analyzing from the point of Ai’s judgment. Yes, he was truly someone worth it.

If it’s the latter, then it’s basically over. There’s really nothing else to see here.

But the story keeps dragging on, with him acting crazy, and it’s frustrating. The answer is clear, but the story keeps complicating things. This manga just drags on and on, going in circles... I even took a break during the Aqua-Kana arc because I got tired of the story running around in circles while the conclusion was already there. But I think that’s the authors' style. They seem to believe that this is what suspense is.

Every word Ai says...

Ai should never say such things about the person who killed her. Even if the character might think so, the authors shouldn’t craft the story that way. That scene was meant to be a closure for an entire arc.

Yet they did it.

That means there’s a reason. It means this person is not Ai’s assailant.

Then the song was released. The emotion in that song, the person singing it, couldn’t possibly have killed Ai. Are we to believe that someone who orchestrated Ai’s death would feel regret and produce such a song? It’s an incredibly unlikely and far-fetched idea. Absolutely not. After listening to both songs, I thought, ‘Ah, this person isn’t to blame,’ and that’s why I went back in.

I just wrote in one go, following the flow of my thoughts, but I’m not sure if I actually managed to write the analysis I wanted to.

Anyway, Kamiki is a character who comes attached to Ai. If there’s a piece called Ai, he’s someone molded like clay to fit into that space. I like that kind of thing, and I’m drawing him with the conviction that he wouldn’t have hurt Ai.

Like, “Huh? Turns out this guy might not be as responsible for Ai's death after all?”

If I had believed that things were exactly as they seemed in Chapter 154, even to that extent, I wouldn’t have drawn him at all. A character is a character, but my ethical standards are firm. I don’t count that kind of thing as love. I might observe, but I wouldn’t be drawing this many fanarts of him. What would be so attractive about that…

But it feels like Ai truly loved him, and that he genuinely loved her too.

And if that’s the case, then if he’s someone Ai loved that much, he has to be a really good person. He has to be one of the best people out there.

And it turns out I was right. I was right. That’s how his true nature was.

And Ai… she’s a character who deserves to meet a truly good person. So, from a narrative perspective, that’s what delivers the best message.

My intuition… is usually pretty accurate, though honestly, the story has become really exhausting and stressful for me. I can see all the answers, yet… the story is dragging on and on like this (or at least that’s how I feel; I could be wrong in the end since it's not my story. But if that's the case, then… I’m not sure how they’ll weave it into a good story). I just don't think I'll end up being wrong in the end.

[aeonophagic]

Orokapi in Chapter 52 reminded me of something:

Names.

The topic of names when it comes to bodysnatchers is very important to me, as many of my favorite characters fall into that category. Some body snatchers draw a clear line that they are not their body, some others become their body. Orokapi seems to blur this line.

This excuses characters like Hikaru, who lives on pretending to be Hikaru, thus taking on his name,

But includes characters like Kenjaku or Void Archives that are mistakenly referred to using the names of the body of the host despite them stating they don’t align with that identity.

Kenjaku switches bodies for a purpose. She doesn’t care to upkeep her own identity. If she wants to see something that amuses her, she will go to any length to see it. This includes letting go of any identity she might have had before becoming someone else. It includes letting go of her connections to the world. It includes relinquishing morality.

Man is a moral animal, yet, she forfeits that natural order for the sake of nothing more than the fun of it. That’s her driving force: if it amuses her, she must obtain it. Let me stop here before this turns into a Kenjaku character analysis.

Void Archives is different. The identity of Otto Apocalypse does not belong to them, nor do they want it. They resent him; they hate him. They wear what was once his body, nothing more, covering his face with a mask of their own making so they may not see him in their reflection. So others may not look at them and see him. Void Archives is Void Archives, no matter what apocalyptic traits bleed into them, yet so many perceive them as someone they are not.

This misconception in which bodysnatchers are mistakenly referred to by the name of their host, or even perceived as such when they’re not actively seeking to live under their name, is usually due to the reveal of their identity being later in the story, despite their appearance being distinctly different, one way or another. This is something I’ve always disliked, so Orokapi has always tormented me with the question of which name is more appropriate to use for him. Let me talk about it:

He adopted the identity of his host, Obikawa Kiyoshi, as a sort of disguise to live amongst humans so he could hide from Alula. The important part to me is that he chose his host specifically because he liked the name of it.

It didn’t seem like Orokapi made much effort to mimic the behavior of his host. He was and still is friendly, energetic, overwhelmingly familiar as opposed to the harsh and distant persona his vessel had.

Tokinaga met Obikawa Kiyoshi, then he met “Obikawa Kiyoshi”, then finally encountered Orokapi. Though he had only gotten a brief glimpse into Obikawa Kiyoshi’s life, he accompanied Orokapi through the entirety of his life as the human called “Obikawa Kiyoshi”.

Once his identity as a God was revealed, he’s mostly called by his real name, Orokapi, when the big shots are speaking of him. It seems that no one sees him as “Obikawa Kiyoshi” any longer. No one, other than perhaps Tokinaga whom, despite the betrayal, still sees him as his friend. Orokapi, to them, is a potential threat as well as a potential ally, or more accurately, a weapon.

This drives me to remember this important moment:

He states he’d like to teach his name to Tokinaga, which is the last pointer I needed to reach my conclusion:

It would be more appropriate for me to use the name of Orokapi when talking about him, rather than that of Obikawa Kiyoshi, but it’s not wrong to call him that either. He had become Obikawa Kiyoshi, but he was still Orokapi.

[pumpkinmetaphor]

I ran into your "Ouran, performance, audience" post again and it suddenly reminds me of this TikTok miniessay by @eijifan357865 (ourantok's strongest soldier). Link here ≥ ( https://www.tiktok.com/@eijifan357865/video/7406163938892582190 ... it's also pinned on their profile too) I think the way op discuss the theme of performance & Kyoya's actions during the beach episode to be really fascinating, and also a analysis I haven't seen much of before. I would really like your input on the video and if you agree? I do find your own analysis to be also very compelling and I love your ouran fanfiction too btw. hope you're having a happy new year

Happy New Year! Glad you're enjoying the fic! Just watched it! Common W from a fellow KyoKao truther.

I think yes, the essay is spot on. Ouran is about performance and each character is not only putting on a performance for their role in the club but it putting on a performance for themselves and the people around them, and people invariably see through it. Breaking down those walls is a series of plot points. I think the points about Hikaru and Kaoru are correct. Hikaru and Kaoru have literally no boundaries and are traumatised; it's what makes the act so easy for them to do. I think the point about them viewing each other as an extension of themselves is a good one. I'd push it further to say that they don't necessarily feel the *same* way about that?

Hikaru views Kaoru as an extension of himself in the sense of literally an extension of his own ego and persona. To Hikaru initially, Kaoru can't really have any wants or needs or facets to his personality that differ too far from Hikaru's own because they're basically the same. He's unaware when Kaoru is deferring to him. Because of this, he views Kaoru as the one person who can't betray him-- because how can you betray yourself? It's why it's important for Kaoru to, pretty ruthlessly, stab Hikaru in the back in order to knock himself off that pedestal so Hikaru can view him as a different person.

Kaoru meanwhile views *himself* as an extension of *Hikaru*. Hikaru is the correct model, Kaoru is the facsimile. That then naturally plays into how he views himself.

And, yeah, this allows a level of cognitive dissonance when they're doing their host club act. It's just another joke and it doesn't matter because they're basically the same person but also it's funny because they're not so their customers are soooo stupid.

With regards to Kyoya, yes I agree. I'd also push it in a slightly different direction with Haruhi and him in Ep 8. I'll write a full post about this some other time, but Haruhi's gender is also a performance in itself. Haruhi, at various times, benefits or is hindered by the performance of her gender identity. Ep 8. is a good example of that. When the girls are being threatened, Haruhi approaches the boys as a boy. Perceiving her as a boy, the boys respond with physical violence. The assumption of this scene is that if Haruhi was perceived as a girl, the boys would have responded with sexual violence-- given that is the implication of their intentions with the girls Haruhi is defending. Kyoya threatening her later then reflects this. He perceives Haruhi as a girl, and that's part of the point he's making. It's not necessarily all "Haruhi is a girl, therefore she's weak and vulnerable and needs boys to protect her." It's that Haruhi's seemingly unaware of the manner in which her performance as a boy offers social protection because she views her gender as completely irrelevant.

Haruhi's naive reaction to Kyoya's actions in some ways proves his point, but in other ways proves him wrong: Haruhi is savvy enough to judge the situation for what it is, another performance.

[mindscapic-exposure]

I mean, it does start there, and... Yeah, that's not really great for "Hikaru", who is willing to take any scraps he can get when he's never been able to live before. But I also really feel for Yoshiki here. Because grief is hard. Accepting that someone you cared about, someone you loved, is gone is hard. And so when this comes up I can see why it would be tempting to use that as a crutch to avoid confronting the issue. Even if doing so hurts both himself and "Hikaru".

But despite all of this I do feel like there are little things that imply potential for it to get better. Like Yoshiki realizing that even though "Hikaru" has all of Hikaru's memories he's still experiencing everything for the first time, and responding that by buying "Hikaru" food so he could enjoy it as himself too. Little things like that make me hope that Yoshiki might be able to come around to accepting "Hikaru" as his own person and not just Hikaru's shadow.

i recently read "the summer hikaru died" and i have. thoughts. spoilers below !!

so OBVIOUSLY i feel for both of them. “hikaru” just wanted to be a human. he’s lonely. he craves interaction because he was nothing for so long. he didn’t know that hikaru was so loved by yoshiki. he didn’t know how much this would hurt. he doesn’t know that what he’s doing is wrong, because he doesn’t know how to be human. right now, there seems to be no malicious intent from him. but i understand yoshiki. i understand how he feels when he sees hikaru. he knows it’s not really him, but it looks like him, acts like him, speaks like him. what's the harm in pretending? but yoshiki also understands that no matter how much he pretends, it still won’t be the real hikaru because the real hikaru is dead. nothing he does can bring him back. and the “hikaru” that’s in front of him? that's not who he loved. so he’s conflicted. he doesn’t know if he should let go of his first love or if he should go along with it, cling onto something that isn’t real. because unlike “hikaru,” yoshiki knows how to be a human too well. he knows how to love someone so much that you’re willing to ignore how dangerous that person might be. you’re willing to ignore the horrors that they might bring to your life and to everyone else’s. yoshiki is so human that he knows how much losing someone you love hurts. he’s so human that he’s willing to turn a blind eye to the one thing that isn’t a human, just so he can keep pretending. and i adore how the story plays with humans and emotions. i love the line between what makes something human and what makes something not human. “hikaru” can feel things, he knows emotions, he cries, he experiences empathy. does that make him human? but he’s hurting someone he says he cares about without even realizing it. he stole someone’s body just so he could experience being a person. he took everything from yoshiki- somehow without actually taking anything at all. would a human do that? but yoshiki, on the other hand, the actual human, isn’t trying. he’s not trying to feel emotions or to connect with people. he loved hikaru and his selfishness is making him lie to everyone, but most importantly, himself. is that something a human would do? put his whole village on the line, put himself through hell, live everyday waking on ice and being sick to his stomach around someone he knows isn’t real, just because he loves him? “hikaru” knows how to pretend to be a human, but he doesn’t have it all figured out, and i don’t think he ever will. yoshiki, though, is cursed with being the most human human to ever have the burden of loving someone.

AND AND AND!!! i love how subtle the horror is. it’s not over the top and in your face about “ooo spooky scary monster kills people and is spooky and scaryyyy,” no. the horror IS how human it is. the horror is how both hikaru and yoshiki are horrified creatures who both just want to be normal. the gut wrenching terror of loving someone who quite literally is not the same as before. i love how quick the manga is to expose hikaru. it doesn’t dwell on yoshiki figuring it out. it’s vague because thats scary. finding out that your childhood friend and first love is dead, but still seeing their body walking around is scary. it doesn’t need anything over the top because the mundane, boring, dry humanness of this entire messed up situation IS the horror. overall, i really really liked it. it was like the author just took a part of my brain and put it on paper. i relate to yoshiki and his whole "being too human for his own good" thing. i get ya, poor little guy, but you're the human of the story, no matter how much that hurts you.

[goldenharmony]

Oshi no Ko - My Analysis/Observations

Analysis:

Sweet Today is Foreshadowing (Kaguya-sama Ending Spoilers)

Mem-Cho’s Realization about Aqua’s Feelings: Unambiguous and Correct

Ai’s T.V. Drama -> Parallels with AquaKana during the Main Stage Arc

If Kana will Figure out the Revenge Plan

Aqua/Kana and Hikaru/Ai parallels - OnK Spoilers

KaguPrez/AquaKana - Similarities

Ruby and Akane: Parallels

Oshi no Ko & Fruits Basket: Monologue Comparison

On Akane's Usage as a Character: Post-Aquakane Breakup

Akane's Savior Complex

Observations:

Aqua/Kana’s Interest in Obscurity

Aqua's Genuine Smiles in s1

Aqua: I don’t care about acting

Colour Association with Romantic Interest (OnK/Fruits Basket Spoiler)

AquaKana: Leaving Something Behind

AquaKana: Everybody can see it

Aqua: Starstruck by Kana

[risingscorchingsuns]

What was hikaru's transition experience in the corps? How did they take his coming out (if that happened)? How easy was it for him to get care (you said shinobu did his top surgery)?

This is a great question! Unfortunately Hikaru being trans is one of the most historically inaccurate parts of his story, if not medically, then definitely socially. I use a lot more modern methods and language because I wanted Hikaru to be trans similarly to how I am. It’s my canon-accurate Achilles Heel 😭

Don’t get me wrong, trans people definitely existed back in the Taisho period!! We’ve always been here, but back then we were recorded a little differently, generally regarded as “women in men’s clothing”, et cetera. I will never deny their existence, and Hikaru being modern with his gender expression isn’t meant as erasure or denial to them, but as an expression of myself via a fictional character. Their existence is real, and valid, and they are no less trans than Hikaru- at the end of the day, he’s my silly little self insert, and I wanted to write his experiences based off of mine. If the focus of Hikaru’s story was his gender journey, I would put more emphasis on the time period and the difficulties surrounding being trans in the Taisho period, but the themes surrounding Blazing Heart’s Rhapsody are acceptance and solace found within family, and love in spite of war. This isn’t a story about trans people- Hikaru just happens to be trans ☺️

Hikaru realized he was a boy very very young, (probably around 6 or 7) and his father, Hiroki, encouraged him to live in whatever fashion made him feel most comfortable. Because Hikaru grew up in the woods with only his father and little brothers, he was never really socialized as a woman or a man- he was just Hikaru, the oldest Eritora child. He likely hit puberty while living on his own in the Sumitomo Forest, but didn’t experience dysphoria until he was found by the Kochos when he was 16. When he was brought into the Corps, Hikaru experienced gender norms full-force for the first time. It wasn’t really that they didn’t support Hikaru being trans, it was more that he didn’t fit. He was Different, and that made him Othered. For the first time, Hikaru was struggling with where he belonged, and that was when he started to really learn the societal importance placed on gender roles. Additionally, Hikaru is neurodivergent, so these norms never made much sense to him logically in the first place. So while he never really had to come out, he did have to fit in, which was difficult for him to navigate. He talked to Shinobu, who in all her medical expertise, gave him the best advice she could. She was the one who helped him hormonally transition, (if she can inject herself with 700x the lethal dose of wisteria without fucking poisoning herself, she can probably make Hikaru’s testosterone. She’s iconic like that I think.) and ultimately it was Shinobu who helped Hikaru figure out where he stood in terms of gender identity. Hikaru is a self-made man in every sense of the phrase, but he couldn’t have done it without the help of those around him.

As for top surgery, I don’t really have a canon-friendly justification for that. Shinobu’s not a plastic surgeon, she’s probably done minor surgeries before, but never anything to the level of gender-affirming surgery. I feel like she’d DIY that shit tbh. She could pull it off. I’d let her do my top surgery. Shinobu says trans rights 🗣️

Thank you for this ask!!! I rarely get to do longform Hikaru analysis :D

[furinana]

"Why is this SMT4 character blushing?"

Disclaimer: I won't be counting scenes where characters are possessed, under a spell or the obviously fake beach DLC because this is for accurate character analysis purposes.

Reaction after Hikaru says she's interested in their group. After receiving rejection after rejection from Isabeau, Walter instantly gets his hopes up with another girl with (seemingly) the same age.

Hikaru means light. Morning light... When you think about it, does the fact that the Ring of Gaea is comprised of many female warriors (to the point of being under leadership of matriarchs) has also something to do with Walter getting bewitched by the Chaos alignment so fast? Lucifer's disguise being a highschool girl in this universe doesn't seem like a coincidence.

Law boy gets flustered whenever Walter insists on asking stuff that he, well, isn't compatible with.

In both scenes it's ambiguously conveyed but with sufficient lore in mind, a player will deduce the reason for the red cheeks is due to Walter assuming both share the same type of thoughts towards girls. Jonathan becomes nervous because he feels too embarrassed to be frank on the reasons he doesn't. Possibly something else is added on it, but ultimately it's up to the player...

Isabeau becomes stiff over showing a vulnerable side and breaking her serious warrior front that is needed specially as the sole female Samurai of the group. Hell, the only women we see dressed in Samurai garb around besides her are zombies

The majority was shame over her otaku hobby but in two occasions she becomes nervous at the sight of undressed men and in one from when you're done with the Ring of Gaea's training she lets out her bashful admiration for Flynn (that might get missed by a good portion of players due to the necessity of Flynn being neutral for this scene to play).

Asahi's dad getting the blushes after Flynn throws a flattering remark at Asahi and Nanashi becoming full-fledged Hunters as if he said "Look how far you got as their father!". As evident by how grumpy he becomes when Asahi calls him "dad" when he's working, he feels uneasy at the prospect of not being taken seriously if he's anything but a tough Boss.

It's possible that this behavior rubbed off on Nanashi...

Asahi's crush is straightforwardly part of her character rather than open to interpretation (or an easter egg even) so there's an element of predictability in her case over others.

Everyone recognizes she's super close with Nanashi but something about the fidgety way she acts gives the impression she might be afraid of potentially making Nanashi grow distant in case it happens that he doesn't return her feelings. She also showed to be reluctant in accepting compliments (be they coming from Nanashi or Cleopatra) which exposes a sense of inadequacy from her part.

For a character that was supposed to be Ashura-kai's "spy", Hallelujah soon reveals himself to be a boy with a heart of gold easily vulnerable with Asahi and Nanashi for both heavy and lighthearted subjects, to a point where one could mistake him as being close with the duo for longer than what he's been.

A player will deduce that a reddened Hallelujah is from imagining himself getting made fun or looked down by others since such scenario might have constantly played whenever he showed an exploitable demeanor to Abe and other Ashura-kai members. It's nothing short of a miracle that he didn't let the toxic masculinity of a yakuza group change him

Toki is the "odd" one out of this post because even if you carefully curate the parts where she's not possessed by Inanna, her infatuation nonetheless starts to exist specifically because of the Aether thus it's intrinsic to her character differently from one-time comedic scenes.

In one interpretation, you could say the Aether set free the "devil in the shoulder" and made Toki's inner thoughts become amplified. Even after going separate ways from the Ring of Gaea, Toki directly states she will stay aligned to Chaos in her own terms. In the end, she might not need deep reasons to be attracted to Nanashi similar to Walter jumping onto pretty girls he just met...

Or in another way of seeing it, Toki's thoughts became distorted or possibly even amalgamated with thoughts of other people considering the Aether is stated to be produced from thoughts of humans of Tokyo. Which gives validity to why some players think Toki's consent in this scenario is debatable, similarly to Dagda's influence on Nanashi. But Krishna did comment that humans were supposed to have free will...

Gaston becomes rigid in the context of being thanked by or transparently show concern for his young teammates, possibly from desiring clear boundaries as the "Samurai figurehead" of the group.

In a later private message sent for Nanashi it's made clear that deep down the main reason he gave up on Mikado was because it was through providing protection for your party that he could keep accomplishing his duties thus where he felt needed. Behold the most monumental example of tsundere in the game

[tenebriskukris]

Oshi No Ko Chapter 163 - My Thoughts/Analysis

Three chapters before the end. I don’t expect anything more than a horribly written, badly paced mess of a final few chapters by this point, but maybe the manga will surprise me. By being even worse than I’ve come to anticipate.

Interesting way to start off the chapter. We’re back with Goro for some reason? And Sarina after what is likely some surgery? This definitely didn’t actually happen. It almost reeks of a happy “what-if” scenario right here.

The next few panels seem to solidify that. It’s some sort of delusional happy ending for Sarina and Goro. Neither of them were so lucky in their fates so as to almost get everything they wanted.

Sarina recovering and becoming a B-Koamchi idol alongside Ai…it’s cute and all, but I’m more interested in the why this is being shown rather than marvel at this pitiful attempt at moving the reader’s heartstrings. I’d be more willing to engage with the narrative and have more sympathy for everyone involved here except for the fact that all these recent chapters have just eroded my ability to care with some of the worst writing that I’ve seen in a piece of media since the later seasons of Game of Thrones. Actually no, that’s an insult to GoT—at the very least the earlier seasons of that show were actually good, while as much as people harp on about the earlier parts of OnK, that much is mostly because the anime carried its mediocre story.

Is this a dream? And now we’re back with Aqua and Crow Girl. Are we deus ex machena-ing now?

The world is a virtual image created by observation. Not everything is true. It’s like the world looked completely different before and after you were reborn. Crow Girl is Literally Just Saying Words. It’s so unsubstantial that it feels like I’m chewing on air. These words don’t even fucking relate to this entire dream sequence at large!

In the end, who was I? Are we going to finally get the nail in the coffin for people who don’t want to believe that Aqua=Goro?

Was this actually the wrong choice? AQUA YOU LITERALLY HAD TIME TO CONSIDER THIS POSSIBILITY WHEN YOU PLANNED THIS DOUBLE SUICIDE BULLSHIT. If you were hesitant in leaving everyone else behind, you could’ve, you know, not fucking went after Hikaru after Nino was captured? If he feels sad over leaving people behind there are so many ways for him to survive these contrived series of events that I’m sorry, Aqua you’ve done fucked up. He’s had more than enough time to plan out a series of events that doesn’t end with him dying, so Aqua “regretting” that he might’ve caused more trouble with his actions is just so stupid that it kills my suspension of disbelief faster than Goro falling to his death in the first chapter. 

Through reincarnation, you possessed Goro Amamiya’s memories and will [...] however within your body there are genetic factors that were inherited from Ai and Kamiki. Interesting that she doesn’t mention the concept of a soul here, but everything related to Crow Girl is just a nonsensical thematic mess half the time. Considering that she said that Ai’s children were soulless in one of her first appearances I’m surprised that people take these words to mean that Aqua=/= Goro when the rebuttal to that argument is given so early on in the manga.

This entire bit of Crow Girl hugging Aqua and holding his face and such…I dunno. I don’t quite know how to feel about it? What’s with all this sympathy for Aqua when she was sitting on the fence and giving out breadcrumbs to Aqua and Ruby? If she cared enough to stop this scenario she could’ve easily pulled enough strings as a fucking god to save him, since she is Right There to keep Aqua from dying. I would say that it’s almost out of character, but that gives this series too much credit because Crow Girl is more of a plot device rather than an actual character.

The rest of these scenes are nice except they feel too much like throwing a pity party when Everything that came before it was just so shite that this payoff tastes cheap. I’m supposed to feel emotions coming from this scene, but all I can think of is how fucking stupid these last few chapters were if this was the end result of that entire clusterfuck. It doesn’t hit its mark by a long shot. 

That was all of you, Aqua Hoshino. And with that, all that is left is the keychain. I’m sure that Ruby’s going to be holding onto that keychain for dear life alongside Aqua himself soon enough.

That’s it??? There are—were—four chapters in this blasted manga to get through and THIS is one of those chapters??? As heartbreaking and or heartwarming as this chapter was, it could’ve easily been folded into the last one simply because there wasn’t much substance from this chapter or the last! Hell, even putting that aside, with only a handful of chapters left in the series this chapter should’ve been focused on something more substantial rather than deal with character beats that should’ve been very well established beforehand!

Let’s get down to business. Do I think Aqua is going to live after this chapter? My answer hasn’t changed since the last chapter, but I do have more thoughts to give on it now that this chapter’s dropped.

There are only three more chapters left in this bloody series. Three chapters to wrap up the story as we know it so far. As much as I greatly dislike the way Aqua’s revenge plot has panned out, with Hikaru pretty much down for the count as of this chapter, I think plotline that much has been dealt with. That only leaves a couple of loose ends to wrestle with. If the manga is keeping up this breakneck pace to the end, then I do think it’s possible to wrap this whole mess up. It won’t be the best way to do so by a long shot, but it’ll certainly end. There’s just one thing that I think has to be addressed in the span of these final chapters.

An author has a responsibility to wrap up loose threads when a series inevitably gets closer to the ending. While this series has dispensed with many, many small plot threads that have headed nowhere in order to sprint towards the end of the manga, there is one plotline that I believe needs to be dealt with before the series concludes. The issue of Aqua and his love interests. For better or worse, this plotline has defaulted to one of, if not the main hook of the series since the revenge plot has been so shallow throughout a good majority of the series.

There needs to be a clear “winner” for the Aquabowl, so to speak. 

While fans on all sides will point to various chapters and say, Aqua has romantic feelings for Kana, or, Aqua wants to rekindle his relationship with Akane, or Aqua loves Ruby, the sheer fact that multiple of these interpretations exist within the context of the series itself this close to the ending needs to be addressed. Love triangles often soak the reader with intrigue and suspense before being dispensed of later down the line after it has served its narrative purpose. If the series isn’t going to pivot towards an open ending, then that needs to be addressed before the end.

Killing Aqua off here would render all that utterly meaningless. It would be unsatisfying in a way that would forever damn it simply because of the fact that it’s the equivalent of pushing the reader’s face into a plate of shit and the author saying, “Wow! That’s a good ending because it made you feel bad!”, when after such an event the reader would like nothing more than to refund the time investment they had in said media. It’s daft. It’s insulting. It is essentially telling the fans that all of the time they spent with this character and the romance angle—doubly so because of the fact that this little romance angle had little to no plot relevance for the vast majority of the series—was worth less than nothing because Aqua was going to die all along—and he even didn’t die dramatically, either, though maybe that would’ve softened the blow, but he died in a horribly executed confrontation that culminated in a half baked dream sequence where there were more than a handful of ways for him to come out of it alive.

While there are media that can intentionally make an unsatisfying ending work, with how these past few chapters have been, such an ending would likely fall flat for an abundance of reasons—but since we’re just talking hypotheticals, I won’t make any sweeping statements just yet.

Of course, all of this assumes that the authors are, you know, making good narrative decisions. The buckshot pacing and flow of the last ten, twenty, even thirty chapters have just been a complete garbage heap in quality. There are many things I can feel in predicting within a series that’s still ongoing thanks to performing enough media analysis and understanding how stories like OnK are structured as well as the tropes therein.

What I cannot predict are the authors making irrational(read: BAD) decisions and or torching the media and running. It’s why I was so vehemently against the idea that Akane wearing a fucking wig and disguising herself as Ruby to fool Nino. It’s why having both Aqua and Akane independently coming to the conclusion that Yura was murdered was such a surprise to me. It’s why Aqua meeting Crow Girl offscreen wasn’t something that I’d seriously considered before I read that chapter.

These are, quite frankly, objectively bad decisions. I’d made my disdain for these narrative beats known many, many times throughout my various analyses as well as given my reasoning for Why these decisions are bad, so I’m not going to go over them again, but suffice it to say that these are the type of plot beats that high school teachers tell their students what NOT to do. And yet they happened nonetheless.

I can only predict what a competent author that tries to give payoff to the various plot threads in a piece of media can attempt to do next. What I cannot predict, however, is someone who is haphazardly throwing plot threads and beats around like crumbs throughout the manga with little to no intention of following them up satisfyingly or has any desire to actually pace these chapters with any degree of competence. It’s the equivalent of asking a sane person to try to wrap one’s head around the mind of someone that’s on some of the hardest drugs in the world. There’s literally no use in doing so because both parties have fundamentally different thought processes. The fact that this slop is being published must mean that the editors for this literal godforsaken series must be high, drunk, or are being blackmailed. It’s an insult to all of the actual good manga writers out there that don’t even get a speck of popularity that this series has garnered.

That leads me to my next point. It’s also completely possible that Aqua just fucking dies here. It’d be a horrible decision, don’t get me wrong, but it'd be completely on brand for the series which has already made so many poor choices this close to the end. It’d just be one final shit pie to eat after the author cooked a buffet of garbage.

If that’s the case, I’d expect Ruby following Aqua soon after. Sad, I know, but that girl literally made it her mission to kill Hikaru after she found out that Goro was dead and was willing to go to lengths that Aqua just wasn’t in order to get her revenge. Losing the person she cares about most after finding out he was alive all along only for him to fucking die again??? I wouldn’t be surprised if Ruby just walks into the sea after she hears the news.

Completely unsubstantiated thought that just crossed my mind. Calling it now. Aqua and Ruby both die in the next handful of chapters before they reincarnate once more and then meet each other. It’d be almost an inverse of that whole, “two lovers that committed double suicide get reincarnated as twins” Japanese superstition that I’ve seen talked about. That’d be a godawful ending but we’re already scraping the bottom of the bucket with this series. I wouldn’t put it past this series. It is on the table, after all.

Three chapters left. I’ve lost all hopes for a good ending for the series for some time now, so I’m just sitting on the rollercoaster waiting for the ride to finally come to a close.

[nocandnc]

I really appreciate how the series gave us these glimpses into how Sudo and Risa's relationship has shifted in the ten years they've known each other. This is emphasized by the honorifics (or lack thereof) Sudo uses to address her over time.

On their first meeting she is Higuchi-san, Dr. Sudo's patient, and they are strangers to each other.

When she's discharged some time later, Sudo starts calling her Risa-chan.

He's become more friendly, more casual and familiar, because this is a girl he now feels connected to. But she's still a girl, a teenager, so he refers to her with a warm but diminutive honorific to match.

They continue to keep in touch, and Risa expresses a desire to become a nurse. Sudo wonders if she'd come work for him if he were to open his own clinic - though I doubt the idea was little more than a plain hypothetical at the time.

They must have spent more time apart as Risa got serious with her studies and Sudo continued to advance in his medical career, for the next milestone in their relationship timeline is when Sudo accepts Risa's application to work at the clinic he indeed decided to open.

The doctor is curt with her now, calling her Higuchi-san once more.

They are not strangers, but the dynamic has shifted - she's not a teenage girl now but a working woman and fellow adult. Sudo doesn't coddle her despite their shared past, holding her to high expectations as his chosen assistant.

Those expectations are met, and by present time he's relaxed enough to simply calls her Risa.

We're back to her first name, but there's no -san, no -chan. He is casual and familiar, but it's altogether different from before because Risa is different now and so is he. They've been shaped by time and by each other too, little by little.

Finally, when it's time for them to part ways again, Risa remarks that Sudo looks like his old self. They've never been more even, more equal, but it's bittersweet in that Sudo really is returning to his younger self in a way - setting aside the warm happiness of the present to pursue the past.

But unlike his past self, Risa will be there in the future to help him find his way back if need be.

[chronicoverthinker]

A character analysis of Yoshiki cause he’s very dear to me 😔

I genuinely hope that as the story progresses we’ll get to learn more about Yoshiki’s father and the dynamics in the Tsujinaka household. Even tho we still don’t know the details we can see how much his father’s abusive tendencies ended up affecting Yoshiki , and mokmoklen is truly able to bring it out in a subtle but magnificent way in the things Yoshiki says , both about himself or others , and also in his relationship with “Hikaru”.

So, I’m not a psychology major myself but from personal experience I believe that Yoshiki presents symptoms of the so called fawn response. Fawning is also known as the “please-appease” syndrome, being mainly associated with people pleasing and codependency (see where I’m already going with this?). Usually these people seek safety by pleasing others as a way of avoiding conflict.

A possible reason as to why people might develop this syndrome is because they grew up in an abusive environment when they were little , maybe seeing one of their caretakers have outbursts of anger (we know that Yoshiki’s parents used to argue to such a degree that neighborhoods could hear them + if I remember correctly it is stated in the light novel that his father always used to slam his hands on the table and such).

As a consequence of this , he learnt that being good and pleasing his father would be the only way to guarantee his own survival. We see this happen in one of the flashbacks where his father grabs him (rather forcefully may I add) by the arm and Yoshiki just let it happen , knowing it’s best not to say anything. Even tho we can see how uncomfortable he looks with his father around.

People suffering from fawn response also have a hard time saying no , feeling guilty about expressing their own needs and feelings. Since growing up in an environment where you have to constantly walk around eggshells with others and where communication has never really been a thing , the things left unsaid make these people start believing that THEY might be the problem.

We see this happen in ch. 7. Now , I know that people will probably have various interpretations of THAT specific sequence of scenes , but personally I interpreted it as a metaphor for attempted r*pe or violation of some sort , with “Hikaru” trying to claim Yoshiki in the only way he knows , because he aches for him so damn much but he realizes that stealing Hikaru’s identity doesn’t make Yoshiki his in any way. He’s different from Hikaru and he can’t and shouldn’t expect to occupy the same spot as Hikaru previously did.

And even tho what “Hikaru” did is horrible , Yoshiki is still the one feeling bad about RIGHTFULLY trying to set some kind of boundary with “Hikaru”. He feels like HE is the one that should be apologizing for being harsh with him.

This brings me onto the next point which is being self-sacrificing , with Yoshiki quite literally feeling guilty for all the deaths happening most probably because of “Hikaru” and even deciding to share the burden of his possible next killings with him. Plus I would also add in what he said in ch.21 , where he literally states that he would give “Hikaru” his whole EVERYTHING if it meant that he could live somewhere as he pleased. He’s always thinking about others’ needs before his owns , deciding to share burdens that don’t have anything to do with him and he shouldn’t be carrying.

Other obvious trait very common in people suffering from this condition is having codependent relationships , which perfectly describes what he has with “Hikaru”. Hikaru is no longer here , so I’d rather have a fake around than having to live without him. This is what he says more or less in ch.1 , and it’s actually so heartbreaking to hear because Hikaru was quite literally Yoshiki’s light and source of comfort. He was the one always protecting Yoshiki and taking care of him. So when “Hikaru” goes “I bet you were crying not wanting for me to leave you” it is actually true , Yoshiki is no good without Hikaru! (or at least that’s what he thinks , but I swear you are baby 😭)

And even tho in ch.21 we see his journey of processing his grief for Hikaru’s death finally ending, he’s now becoming even more attached to “Hikaru” and getting all worried when he started thinking that maybe going back to the mountain might be the best option. You can clearly see his distress as he says “Didn’t you finally find the place you belong? You can’t do that. Let’s find another solution together”

Another thing is obviously the fact that he hates being scolded , especially when he’s so well behaved all the time like mokmoklen said.

I would also like to add the fact that he thinks so lowly of himself when he’s actually such a caring and kindhearted person. He says that he’s not sweet , and that he’s as hard on others like he is on himself. But as soon as Asako feels insecure about her hair he goes “I can definitely ask my mom since she’s a hairdresser” , we can see his kindness in the way he cares for his sister etc …

Anyways this was just me rambling about him because mokmoklen is able to write such beautiful characters and Yoshiki is literally my son