#in terms of highlow i am a mashii liker first

[banqanas]

HIGH&LOW EASTER EGGS: MERCY’S HOUSE

In another post, I highlighted that most graffiti in the movie’s backgrounds is a reference to Exile Tribe songs, but in this post I want to focus on easter eggs that’s actually related to the characters in the series.

In Mashii Takehiko’s character profile from the official website, it says:

Suzuran Boys High School 3rd Year student who is also known as Mercy. He lives in a small rundown apartment together with his mother in Toaru city. He has been best friends with Raoh ever since Jr High School and one of the few people Raoh can open up to. Academically smart, Mercy is more than capable to apply to a better school but decided to follow his instincts and enrolled in Suzuran with Raoh. Peculiar guys started gathering around the two, and before they realised, the elite Raoh Faction was formed. He is known as the calm and collected No.2 of the faction. His personality is alike to Housen’s Odajima. The two get along and sometimes exchange information with each other.

The picture above is the scene where we are introduced to Mercy’s home.

If you look closely, the room on the right is full with graffitis, and if you look closer, you can see Mercy’s name written on the walls.

TL note: One point breakthrough is something from Sun Tzu’s Art of War. It has no relevance whatsoever. The person who wrote it probably just wanted to write the most sophisticated phrase they knew and it’s not even the full phrase.

BUT!

In the next scene, we see that Mercy’s house is the one next door, 102.

Which brings the question, why are all those threats and graffitis written at the wrong house?

My personal headcanon is that the Mashii family originally lived in Room 101. They probably had some financial problems and started getting harassed for the owed money. So instead of directed to Mercy, the graffiti around their front door were probably threats for the Mashii family in general. At one point they decided to run away to a different city (or so they say), except that they just moved next door. Notice how they make it look deserted with random things and accumulated trash in front of the house.

I also think that the broken doorbell for 102 is a way to make outsiders doubt that anyone lives there and only Mercy’s the one who answers the door (in case their cover is blown, he could somehow manage whoever that comes).

But I don’t think that the ‘Die Mercy’ graffiti was written by the money lender, instead its probably done by a different party (someone who got their ass beaten by Mercy in the past) who just thinks that he still lives there.

Tl;dr: high&low real lores are stored in the background walls 👍