#not usa blablabala

[shiraoyagi]

additional things

-> yes tenmom is a piano teacher, you are right. on that topic, mafuyu was taught piano as a child, so it's either a really funny coincidence or clpl could do something Really Funny right now with mafukasa. iirc we don't know how the aoyagis met the tenmas just that they r clearly friends in some capacity

-> tsukasa choosing to repress his memories is an interesting topic because you do have things like tondemo wonderz's lyrics implying as such, but it could also be unintentional. it could also be Both. idk repression is very complicated but considering that tsukasa is insinuated to have escapist tendencies (when it comes to his problems), i am leaning towards both or intentional atp (if so then we would call this suppression. whatever blablabala semantics).

especially because we have characters like rui in which his repression is very blatantly unintentional and the way he handles his problems by not handling them is in a completely different way than tsukasa (basically rui fails to recognize when he's upset or when something upsets him, while tsukasa always recognizes when hes upset he just deliberately does not do anything about it 9 times out of 10)

-> with tsukasa forgetting and nobody paying mind to it, iirc it's because tsukasa's memory problems are at a point of where saki is used to him forgetting things (it's just in the case of hinamatsuri/dollfes, the real reason why she got mad at him for forgetting is because he was insinuating leo/need would make fun of her for having the old hina dolls up— which saki concluded meant tsukasa forgot, because she didn't realize his perception of that event was different from hers)

also adding onto hinamatsuri there, this is a rare case of tsukasa not forgetting anything. he actually just projected onto saki and thought that she forced a smile to appease him when he gave her the hina dolls after accidentally messing them up when he fell, because she was crying. the reality was that saki was so happy that she cried ... yeahhh... (not the first time tsukasa has wrongly assumed someone was lying to him about their feelings to appease him cough cough RUIIIII cough cough KAMISHIRO COUgh)

-> tsukasa forgetting why he wanted to be a star realistically had to have happened in late middle school or in his first year of high school. we know it's nowhere in elementary school and it probably did not happen in the one flashback we have of middle school tsukasa currently.

although, the sekai may have been created in main story because we first see the sekai after saki asks tsukasa why he even wants to be a star and he uh... very clearly does not know. like that couldve been the point where tsukasa subconsciously was like "oh Fuck i forgot something" which then created the sekai. like his subconscious awareness. kinda like how mafuyu's formed when she realized she didn't have a sense of self, even though she was already lost her identity prior.

like mafuyu's sekai formed specifically in her initial 3 star card story, which takes place not that long before niigo main story. its way after the whole doctor situation timeline wise, so i think that supports my argument (plus it formed the minute mafuyu thought to herself "if someone asked me to describe my real self, i wouldn't know how" and then she asked herself "asahina mafuyu... who are you?" which feels like an awfully tsukasacore way of phrasing things idfk)

-> also yes as of right now we don't know what triggered tsukasa to uh. have his feelings suppressed/repressed.

-> i am caught up on every single event in the game (waiting for more mmj wl tls as we speak) and uh.... well.

//mild spoilers for niigo wl i guess

mafuyu's wl change is very important because it seems to be that there's a bunny plushie trapped at the bottom of the fucking lake that's also coincidentally named usa chan. YKNOW. LIKE SAKI'S PLUSHIE. IN TSUKASA'S SEKAI. THAT TSUKASA APPARENTLY ALWAYS MADE THE PROTAGONIST yeaahhh this is definitely something (niigo wl was also right before tsukasa4 too, which has usa chan in both his and meikos untraineds) . also we dont talk about wxs wl the tsukasa chapter was terrifying . there's some other shit there that's mafukasa and it's very damning but i do not wanna spoil it

hot take ??

the only reason people say that "mafuyu and tsukasa have nothing in common" when presented with mafukasa parallels is because they equate mafuyu and tsukasa being similar to "tsukasa has depression" because the fandom equates mafuyu's personality to being depressed and nothing else.

it doesn't help that people (primarily younger people in the fandom) who DO believe in mafukasa parallels end up making the mistake of portraying tsukasa as depressed because as of right now he is not (although it's possible he was in past because of his Very Unclear Middle School Backstory but that's irrelevant)

anyways, mafuyu and tsukasa are narrative foils because their core personalities are built off of the concept of wanting to make the people around them— especially their families— happy.

they both developed personalities at a young age based on someone they looked up to. for tsukasa, it was seiichi amami's performance that inspired him to be a star— a hero that could cheer anyone up. for mafuyu, it was her mother taking care of her that inspired her to be a nurse— and you can see the similarities from there.

for mafuyu, her identity would first come into conflict when her mother expressed her want for mafuyu to be a doctor— suddenly, "everyone's" happiness didn't match what she wanted to do, leaving her in a state of disorder and eventual depression.

for tsukasa, his identity was something he nearly forgot in its entirety at the start of the main story— becoming arrogant and fully absorbed in a hero persona, forgetting the kind person he truly is. furthermore, his current character arc seems to be foreshadowing that what "being a star" to him is going to be called into question— maybe it is something more than just being the main character that saves everyone.

their insecurities are incredibly similar.

in mafuyu's first mixed, mafuyu feels insecure towards ichika because unlike ichika, she feels as if her lyrics have no genuine meaning to be expressed to other people— despite them being her very real feelings. this is brought up again in her second mixed as well.

in tsukasa's third focus event, something similar happens. when watching seiichi's performance, he thinks that his acting is "real" and feels inferior towards him, which is ironic because tsukasa has been method acting this whole time. when tsukasa is acting out rio or bartlett or really anyone at this point in the story, it's not just those characters— it's a reflection of his traumas.

just like mafuyu, tsukasa undermines his passions he's poured his feelings into because someone else's work is more genuine in his eyes.

now, then, foils have many similarities and parallels (and i could honestly list a lot more), but how i define them is that they usually have some kind of major branching difference that MAKES them foils.

for mafuyu and tsukasa it's pretty straightforward.

mafuyu's people pleasing behavior comes from external expectations and pressures— her mother's demands.

tsukasa's people pleasing behavior comes internally, from himself— if he can't meet his own standards, if he can't be the perfect big brother or the perfect star, then he is nothing.

and even then, there's some overlap.

tsukasa's behavior was indirectly encouraged by his mother praising him for being a "good big brother" over the phone instead of asking him if he was okay while home alone.

mafuyu's terrified to be herself around other people because she doesn't want to worry or bother them— she doesn't want to be a burden— and projects her mother's expectations onto them, not realizing that they would prefer the real mafuyu if they knew the truth.

and the concept of mafukasa being foils is most perfectly and blatantly portrayed in these two cards.

mafuyu, the marionette, sitting limp on the floor— puppeteered by her mother's demands and donning a mask to hide her true self.

tsukasa, the jester, standing above everything else— puppeteering silenced plushies— his feelings. he's not being completely honest with himself, and he doesn't even realize it.

mafuyu has cut her strings and ripped her mask in half. she has acknowledged her true feelings and expressed them to her mother, even if she had to run away in the end.

tsukasa has not yet cut his.