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curejiraiya · 1 year ago

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very very very very long post alert 😭

uhsuifhsoifshoeh Hiro's past is so tragic. I wish it wasn't told to us in so many separate places because it makes it kind of a mess? Like there's what's covered in Rainbow Live, then we get a little more in Pride the Hero; but past that there's Hiro's Young of Prism article, and and what they gave us in Road to SSS in Prism Rush, gah. It's a lot to get through! But his backstory is a big piece of why his actions in Rainbow Live, despite being awful, make sense (oh and he's gay for Kouji but wkjefhwefhowe).

Shortly after birth Hiro is given up to a church, but he does retain memories of his mother? He's taken care of by the father and sister of the church, but then they both DIE IN A TRAGIC ACCIDENT. Leaving Hiro to become an outcast in a foster home. You have to imagine during this part of his life he's pretty miserable? Like he has no friends, he's constantly getting into fights.

After that it's kind of left unclear, but at some point his mom picks him up to move into that shitty apartment. We don't really know why he was dropped at the church, or what his mom was doing, or where his dad is.

With his mom she's definitely some kind of nurse, so I've just assumed or headcanoned that maybe she works as a travel nurse? They tend to get decent money, enough for her to keep paying rent on that apartment despite not living there often. It would make sense that she couldn't keep him because she can't take a newborn around the world with her.

As for his father, we don't really know what's up with him but I think I remember it being stated that he's like a felon iwuefhouefht328m I don't remember where that scene was and I'm too lazy to do an entire series rewatch to find it right now lol. But doesn't his mom go like "Your dad's not a bad person," there definitely is something there on top of the, everything else, but it's mostly space for headcanons.

But then we get Hiro’s Rainbow Live back story, Where he was outside dancing, like being a kid and playing around and Hijiri and Jin’s dad, whose name totally escapes me, sees him and thinks he has a lot of talent so he offers to his mom to take him in; in exchange for definitely some kind of financial compensation. She goes back to what I assumed was working as a travel nurse, but they kept the apartment so there was some type of money in exchange for taking care of Hiro. I don't really know what. And from that point he has probably the most stable part of his life; growing up with two older brothers. That’s part of the tragedy here is he sees Jin as family and his older brother.

So when he first meets Kouji he’s like 12 or 13. I’m pretty sure that’s how old you are in your first year of middle school in Japan. Prior to this he never really had a friend, and never one that he picked out himself. He saw the church elders as his parents, he didn’t bond with anyone at the orphanage, but he did have his mother after that, and he had the Norizuki family, but we never hear about him having anyone his age. In general he kind of has this outcast vibe to him because of all this stuff happening. It would be pretty hard for a normal 12-year-old to relate, right?

So when the only person he could really make friends with was another 12-year-old who had a bunch of stuff happen to him, like having his father die in a car crash. And that’s part of why they made such good friends, and were such a good team. Because on one hand they have this perspective that, to be honest, children shouldn’t have. It’s unfortunate and painful that these tragedies happen to anyone, and they were just children. But they’re also incredibly skilled, like Kouji is an incredibly talented musician for someone his age. It’s really really really hard to imagine pride was written by someone who was at maximum 14 years old. Like go read the lyrics, 14?

I'm different, the stars are different.

Only you are eternal, but I'm starting to notice...

I throw away me, I throw away the stars.

Also the song is a love song right, like we're all on the same page here. This is a song that he wrote for him to sing with Hiro, when they were like in middle school. I just, what other interpretation of the lyrics can I make. I don’t think this is super far-fetched either, Kouji is just a nerdy theater kid who likes big words. His mom has this very haughty atmosphere to her like she sends Kouji to a prestigious private school. I can imagine him being forced to read some shakespeare and some other shit about his reading level.

Like I can remember being 14 and listening to you belong with me by Taylor Swift, honestly I was probably younger than that. This is Kouji’s you belong with me, with all his nerdy theater kid language.

That was a tangent of the point I’m making, But as middle schoolers these two are picked to debut as idols because that’s something the school does I guess. When I first watched this series I thought it was weird they were so young, but I later learned that unfortunately starting at 14 is not weird at all for idols. Auru from PriMagi had like a 14-year-old voice actress, like the first live she did she is 14.

You also have to think back, between first meeting Hiro and now you have the entirety of Jin’s backstory. The thing with losing to Hijiri and breaking his leg; and with Rei and all of that has happened and I have to assume Hiro doesn’t know about most of it because he’s a literal child while it’s happening. So to him Jine is still his older brother, well pseudo-older brother. But Jin has turned into this crazy manipulator. He can use Hiro to do whatever he wants, so of course he picks Hiro to debut. Yeah he can drag along his little friend, that’s free labor! He knows that his family has been helping Hiro out with his mom’s debts for years. He knows that Hiro sees him as an older brother, therefore he could tell them to do whatever he wants.

Like we know that Kouji and Hiro both have insane talent, but I don’t think it’s full main character syndrome, they’re not better than literally everyone else at this including kids five years older than them, there is some nepotism going on so Jin can scheme any way he likes. That’s just how he was at this point in the story.

And I mean, story of Rainbow Live, scheme he does.

But you need all this information to set up how they both react making sense. Because for Kouji, Hero is his first friend after the tragedy of losing his father. And his mom remarks more than once and we see that he’s very emotionally closed off. He wasn’t doing very well mentally because, his dad died when he was so young. His dad who was his entire life, Kouji’s an only child. He seemed like a stay-at-home father while his mom did all of the work, and Kouji lost that.

So Hiro betraying him like that would probably feel like the end of the world to a middle schooler. Hiro was all he had outside of his mother, and he basically proves to Kouji that he should trust no one.

I mean he has Kazuki but we don’t know the extent of their friendship at this point. With them being childhood friends; in my head I assumed that they were distant since their split, with Kouji going toEdel Rose and Kazuki against it. I don’t think they were enemies or anything, they probably still considered themselves friends, especially when you’re that young you don’t like snap to acquaintances. But the rope had to have been frayed. If their friendship was close they would’ve stayed together. Or at least Kazuki would’ve told Kouji his reason for not going.

So Kouji becomes a shut-in, he drops out, Kouji and Kazuki don’t really talk. And Kouji becomes this husk of his former self.

Does this seem like an extreme reaction? absolutely. But he’s just a child. Kids don’t have the perspective of an entire life before them. If something like this happens to a 14-year-old who’s already seen tragedy, it’s going to feel like everything is crumbling. Plus I mean there’s the whole he’s totally in love with him thing, all of this on top of probably getting his heart broken, lol. Poor guy.

But the bigger picture here, and the actual thing that you told me to write about that everything before this has just been the backstory of that most people already know LMFAO. It’s how Hiro reacts, Hiro’s faced a lot of tragedy. He has to have an attachment issue, like there is no person on this planet who could go through what he went through and not develop attachment issues. Him remembering his parents giving him up (which realistically isn’t possible he was too young, but it says he does in young of prism!). Him losing his first set of pseudo-parents because they tragically died. His mother passing him off to yet another family after their reunion. The guys got some trauma. But in all of his past trauma he’s just had to buckle down and keep going. He couldn’t go to his mother and explain why she should keep him when he was one years old. He had to move on from his life in the church. But this time he had the option of talking to Kouji, and we as the audience see the situation as solvable if they just had a conversation, but his brain isn’t wired that way.

He’s a child, the oldest he could possibly be at this point is 15 years old, but I’ve always thought of him as 14 when this happened. And with a similar perspective to Kouji, this is very much an end of the world situation to someone that age. He literally only had one friend and now he’s gone.

But he isn’t alone, and Hiro turns back to who he thinks he has, his mother; who is not home. He stays at their apartment just waiting for her. There’s a lot that can be assumed about this relationship, none of it is written but I mean, yikes. If she truly is a travel nurse you could see this as like she’s not a bad person, she just puts her job above her son, which isn’t terrible because she left him in someone’s care and she’s saving people’s lives as a nurse and etc. but you could see this a lot of other ways too lol. There aren’t a lot of King of Prism fanfiction, but if this was a bigger fandom I feel like there’d be fanfiction about this. About Hiro’s life and his relationship with his mother, because there is a lot there that could be headcanoned.

But because his mother is not home he only has one relationship left, his two pseudo-brothers.

Unfortunately for Hiro, one of his brothers is a maniac. And that’s how he gets caught in this web where he can’t do anything.

He suddenly has to meet all of Jin’s high standards for perfection, and I didn’t realize this at first but I definitely put it together later when I made that connection between Jin’s signature and Hiro signature, but Jin is literally trying to manipulate Hiro into being like him. Because somewhere around this time, a little earlier because the Prism King cup is every four years, Jin loses to Yamada, and he starts crafting Hiro to have him replace him, the way a mom makes her child do child beauty pageants to live through her. It’s incredibly sad.

And I mean there’s another tangent but I think that’s another reason why I assume the breakup with Kouji happened at most in their second year of middle school, because some time needs to pass for Jin to like change him. lol PR:RL happens during their first year of high school and he needs time to change and to become friends with Bell, Waka and Ota etc.

I’ll come back to them, but there’s a lot of reasons why Hiro could’ve turned to his pseudo-obsession with Kouji. But I think there are a few bigger ones that are probably true. The first touches on everything that I just went over, that is how Jin treats Hijiri after their fight. Do you remember the breakdown he has where he says his name over and over lol. Hiro watches this change in Jin happen in real time, and it has to leave some impression on his brain; that this is a normal way to react when someone quote unquote betrays you.

And to be clear this is really not normal lmfao

But another thing, which I can’t believe I wrote all this but haven’t touched on too much, is he is actively being manipulated and blackmailed. He has to claim the song is written by him, because Jin told him to, end of the line. If he doesn’t do it he’s going to wreck his relationship with Jin, which would be beyond unacceptable. He loses his debut, which means he can’t become an idol and give that money back to his mother. There’s the entire legacy of all the money that the Norizuki family had given his mother to pay for their debts, he has to somehow morally pay back that legacy. Even simpler, this family took him in and took care of him, it would be wrong to betray them. From a child in that position’s perspective, he’s in forever debt to them. He is forced to choose between them and Kouji, and it’s a situation where it would be morally wrong to choose Kouji from his perspective. Even though he has a heart and he realizes that claiming Kouji’s song is his is wrong, he literally cannot do anything about it. The adult in his life, his authority figure, is telling him to do this, telling him that this is right, and all he can do is listen. Children are not allowed to speak back to adults, and he is not allowed to have an opinion on what’s right here. This is how he grew up.

And he needs to grow a lot as a person and have the events of Rainbow Live happen. He needs to see the change in Bell to realize that he can stand up for himself, and he doesn’t have to listen to everything authority figures say. And without seeing that change in Bell I don’t think he would’ve realized that until he was an adult. He may have never realized it, he may have fallen into Jin’s trap and never gotten out. Seeing Bell stop her “lonely climb to the top” and embrace imperfection for friendship showed him that he could make that change too.

Also there’s the third reason, that his heart was also broken, and I mean that sure makes you bitter lol. Truthfully I don’t think he nor Kouji were emotionally mature enough to be aware of any romantic feelings that could have been making their reactions worse, but I do think it was an underlying thing that they’d surely think about later! Even if you’re not a KouHiro shipper (😒) you have to see that there was SOMETHING going on there, at least from Hiro, even if it leads nowhere after their fight. (😒)

And god, Hiro and Bell. I think I will watch Rainbow Live again, probably next year. I used to do a once a year read through of a manga, and I stopped maybe two years ago, but since then I’ve stopped having a once a year anime thing I did lol. And I might make that watching Rainbow Live. But as much as I love Hiro and Kouji, and all the other characters, I think the biggest reason I want to watch the show again is to see Bell’s whole story. The way she changes from a haughty manipulative overachiever, to just one of the gang. It’s beautiful. And they clearly illustrate that she wasn’t always that way, like Hiro she was being used by Jin, but she was also being used by her parents. Her parents were putting her on a pedestal and she was not allowed any imperfection. God I already wrote so much I can’t do an analysis on Bell’s life right now, but I think the friendship between Bell and Hiro is really really really important for Hiro.

I think they’re really important to each other because they both, despite not really having similar paths, are in a current situation where the only option is perfection. For both of them there’s not anyone else, at all, that they can relate to.

But something I really really really like about the story, is that Hiro very actively needs to lean on Bell to get better. Hiro is a person that can’t handle being alone very well, we see it illustrated a lot over the series. In Rainbow Live he breaks down more than once. One of my favorite scenes is him laying face down in bed unmoving until his phone shows that video of Kouji. On one hand it shows that he’s a maniac, but it also shows that this guy is dealing with some insane depression. Like needs a therapist and really needs to be medicated depression. Something that isn’t temporary, and with the past like his that’s just what happens; I’m sorry.

And to be honest, I mean this is headcanon but you cannot tell me this didn’t happen, he’s absolutely medicated in the two year gap between Rainbow Live and King of Prism. Like he is, if he wasn’t there’d be no Over the Rainbow. That’s just how it works. And I know like, it’s Japan, he’s from a poor family, and blah blah. No, I just don’t think he’d be able to go on without medication. I just don’t. But sorry that was a tangent.

But they show it again in Pride the Hero, when he absolutely breaks when Kouji leaves. There are a few fanfiction on this though I think they’re explicit so I’m not gonna recommend them unless that’s something you’re ok with reading, but Hiro cannot handle being alone.

And at only 15 he needs Bell to help them through this. And the bigger picture is he needs to see the change in Bell when she embraces herself and becomes part of the Rainbow Live cast friendship. She doesn’t necessarily leave Hiro, but when she does Hiro stops having that person to lean on, and that’s when he fully breaks. And that break is really important for him finding who he really is.

But on the other hand Bell, despite being put on that same pedestal and facing tragedy. She’s someone who works incredibly well on her own. She watches all of her friends slowly fix themselves around her, but the first one to take that step for her is herself. She's happy to have the support of others, but she doesn’t need it. She's an incredibly strong person. From her perspective the friendship between her and Hiro is looking for someone to prove that it’s possible to get through life the way she does. Bell’s a year younger than Hiro, and to her their friendship stands as like a pole of stability to keep her grounded and prove to her that she can keep going.

But because she is so strong, when she realizes her mistakes she can cast that pole aside and still stand on her own. She gets new stability from all the friends she accepts into her life.

I think this is a potential breaking point for the two of them, if Hiro never chose to take his own steps toward redemption I don’t think they would’ve continued being friends past this point. Because they have no reason to. Even if you’re here to argue a HiroxBell ship at this point their entire relationship is built on their shared suffering, so if one of them breaks the suffering and the other doesn’t there’s nothing left for them. In the same way they were supporting each other they were toxic for each other, and honestly in that case I think Bell would’ve became the same as Kouji is for Hiro.

But because he kept inserting himself in her life, he kept showing up to give her roses which is kind of weird, and you can read that in a lot of ways. I don’t really choose to read it as a romantic way. I definitely choose to read as he just felt like it was proper because he has to keep this like haughty air to him. Also it’s something Jin would do because he’s kind of weird. But you can also definitely read that as he has a crush on her sure, he’s showing in a borderline creepy way (but it’s probably really romantic to the target audience) because he has no idea how to show these feelings because he’s an emotional wreck at this point. Sorry again, tangent.

But because he’s reaching out, because he holds some hope, he watches her change and because he was never really a dark person, despite his past, despite his flaws, despite his own self proclaimed darkness in road SSS when he talks about his back story in the foster home, he always had heart. He always had this underlying goal to be a hero for people who struggled the same way he did. And seeing her climb out of the prison life gave her gives him the same courage.

And I mean tangent number 100 but this is amazing to see in a kids show. When you look at the guy characters in shows like this, even looking at Aurora Dream they usually don’t have arcs at all, and when they do they are the one in Bell's position. They set examples for the girl to follow. But in Hiro’s case he’s not capable of setting this example for Bell, and if he did the show would be less powerful. Bell has to show her own strength for the sake of her character, and a lot of shows for little girls don’t do that. They don’t show girls pulling themselves up, they don’t show their own inherent power. I’m sure it’s gotten better over the years, but even looking back

Aurora Dream I’m like actually asking you, what are the guys doing that show other than be solutions for Aira’s problems. Their job in the show is to give Aira the courage to do something, and be romantic interests. That’s it.

But when you look at the three guys in Rainbow Live, though they do of the romantic interest thing, I get that little straight girls like that sort of thing I’m not going to say it’s inherently bad, but I do think it is inherently bad in shows like Aurora Dream where the characters don’t have any other reason to exist. And especially when they take from the development of the actual main cast. But the three of them in PR:RL separately have their own lives and arcs (ok maybe Kazuki doesn’t have much of an arc), and all of the development of the main girls except for arguably Ito & Wakana, is independent of them. Naru has to accept that Rinne is going to leave her. Otoha has to rebuild her relationship with Bell and Wakana. Ann has to develop a relationship again with her father. Wakana has to rebuild her family structure. Bell has to stand up for herself in front of her parents. All of this happens without the three boys intervening.

There’s a bit between Kazuki and Wakana, but the show does a good job of framing it outside of romance and as actual friendship bonding (even if you think the two of them did end up together it still does this,) proving that ultimately Wakana is stronger, because of the way Wakana and Ann are willing to put their friendship ahead of their feelings for Kazuki. I could probably type this much just about those three lol, because that relationship and the way they handled it is amazing, and I literally cheered during their duo episode. I was so happy that they chose to be friends over a gross love triangle with him. I hate love triangles.

This is getting really long so I won't explain why Ito is more powerful than Kouji in their relationship, but it doesn’t matter to me because in the end Ito is better with Otoha and you know how I feel about Kouji if you read this much :p

That was a really long ramble, but I think the point I was making was that the relationship between Hiro and Bell prior to both of their redemptions was actually unstable. It was a relationship of them being forced together by toxic situations, but they fix this friendship through the strength of their own characters. Both of them grow in their own way, which gives them the power to be friends (or a romance if that’s your thing) on their own terms.

God like I know why they don’t, but I really wish the girl showed up at some point during Pride the Hero. Because in my eyes the friendship between the nine of them stays just as strong as the friendship between the three Over the Rainbow guys does. And it does happen we just never ever see it on screen. We see a photo of them together, we see the girls at their performance, but the girls don’t actually get to be a part of their arcs in Pride the Hero and that’s sad. The fanfics I keep in my head of the phone calls they make to each other during the events of Pride the Hero, yeesh.

But man, Hiro. Hiro, Hiro, Hiro. I love his redemption arc so much. I love how they’re not afraid to make him cry. How did I write all this lmao. Hiro is just a great guy, he had to grow up with tragedy and he was forced into a situation that fundamentally hurt and changed him. And he bounces back through the strength he finds in friendship (Kazuki does a lot for him at the end of Rainbow Live too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa). But because he’s written as someone who was just a teenager, he’s written as a soft kindhearted person who is easily manipulated, he’s written as someone in love, he doesn’t handle the situation perfectly. If he did there wouldn’t be an Over the Rainbow, there wouldn’t be a King of Prism, and I’d be talking about the guys in Rainbow Live the same way I talk about the guys in Aurora Dream.

ask me about my Hiro Hayami hyper fixation

#king of prism #hiro hayami #pretty rhythm rainbow live #rainbow live

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