#that she went to the same festival as Akito and Ena back then!

[aipurjopa]

It’s still that same festival and it’s still you. Except now you’re here after doing something great, right?

Congrats Akito

+ related Ena comic under the cut

[mymarifae]

I'm starting to like akito more can you write something about him or give akito images to speed up my obsession

okay!

when it comes to understanding akito, you really don't need much. just this lyric from kashika:

like, the kid's been through some shit, right? both in terms of external forces he had no control over and shit he's inflicted on himself. he grew up in a... very difficult household, and while it doesn't seem like shinei goes after him the same way he goes after ena, there's only so many times you can hear your father tell your big sister that she should give up on the thing she loves most because she'll never succeed and she'll never be as good as anyone with "real" talent before you start internalizing that sort of thinking for yourself. this is (part of) why we see him quit soccer the way he did.

and then later, when he first started getting into music and the community of vivid street, he was bullied and hazed by musicians much older than him. he was laughed at everywhere he went, and everyone kept telling him that he should just give up - that he would never be good enough to fit in, much less surpass rad weekend. and you'd think with how quickly he threw in the towel over soccer and all the shit he's internalized thanks to sh*nei this would have been too much for him, but here's the thing!!

soccer wasn't exactly an ultimate passion for him. he just kind of had (has; he does still really enjoy soccer) fun playing and he was decent at it so he figured this must be his Thing. what he will pursue for the rest of his life. there's a few reasons why he quit so abruptly. part of it is because in the minutes after losing that one game, he fully understood what his father meant. he saw the gap between himself - a completely average kid who just played for fun - and these other players who dedicated their lives to soccer, and it overwhelmed him. he knew would never be able to keep up with people like that. and with that, we're starting to get into the other reasons why he quit.

he felt like he wasn't passionate enough. while other people lived and breathed soccer, he was out on the field just "having fun" and making a total mockery of their dreams. he didn't deserve to play. not if all he was going to do was play like some dumb kid. (super healthy mindset for a 10 year old to have, right? A+ parenting, shinei. but keep following this line of thinking and you'll see why he blew up at kohane in the main story.)

we can deduce that after quitting soccer akito was pretty depressed. it would be hard not to be! he just quit doing something he enjoyed and lost the majority of the friends he had at the time as a result. and also he had no idea what he was supposed to be doing with his life. because shinei has pushed this idea of needing to "succeed" at something in order for life to have any meaning at all onto him and ena. seeing ena and other kids his age find their niches early on probably didn't help either. it probably made him feel like there was something wrong with him for not knowing what he wanted to do with his life (at 10 years old. really spectacular job you've done here, shinei!!!!)

and then he ended up at that concert at the summer festival with ena, and she encouraged him to give music a try. and that really, really turned things around for him. even before he wandered into rad weekend, music was slowly becoming something he loved. way more than he ever loved soccer. despite being met with rejection and cruelty, he wasn't exactly keen on letting this dream go. he found something that he could call his. he didn't want to go back to a directionless existence.

and yeah, he was well aware of the gap between him and every other musician on vivid street. how could he not be? he knew he was never going to be on their level. he knew he didn't have any sort of natural gift for singing or an innate understanding of pitch or music theory or anything else. he was going to have to brute force his way through all of this, and he was going to face a lot more humiliation and bullying as he did. and maybe by stubbornly clinging to music he was directly contradicting his own beliefs about passion and talent and dreams, but that's the thing about akito!

he's made up of contradictions. truly i don't think we're ever going to get an event song that encapsulates him as well as kashika did because it's the only song that's really tackled this aspect of his character. he loves music, and he doesn't believe he's worthy of pursuing it. but he doesn't want to give up, because he loves it so, so, so, so much. but yes he does want to give up - why do you think his fragment sekai gave him amnesia? in so many ways his life has become so much more difficult since he decided to pursue music and this dream of surpassing rad weekend, and a part of him wishes he had never gone down this path. it would have been so much easier to just drift along, wouldn't it? and after discovering the truth of rad weekend, that part of him got a little louder. for the first time really since vivid bad squad formed, he wanted to give up; he regretted not doing so sooner and dedicating so much of his life to this. he could have spared himself a lot of pain. but he still loves music so much... like an idiot, really. as painful as it can get, giving up feels unfathomable - even though it's so, so tempting. the mini amnesia episode and the sandstorm he has to pass through to get his memories back is a reflection of this inner turmoil.

when akito truly loves something, he loves it. his love is all-encompassing and fierce. he loves music. he loves vivid bad squad. he loves vivid street. he loves life. it's this love that pushes him through all those feelings of wanting to lay down and die. he is equal parts despair and hope. he is despair because he believes himself to be inherently inadequate in everything he does, and he is hope because he's stubborn and foolhardy enough to hope that if he keeps trying he might be able to overcome this inadequacy somehow. it's this tug-and-pull of these contradictions that's kept him going. this is something that even ken has acknowledged! if akito didn't have this unique way of knocking himself down only to pull himself back up a little higher each time, he wouldn't have gotten as far as he did.

but that leads us into burn my soul, where we see akito beginning to let go of this. what has kept him going for so many years is no longer serving him. he has a strong support system now and he has developed a real skill for singing and performing, so his previous coping mechanisms have turned into chains. if he wants to keep growing, he needs to start singing from the love in his heart instead of that wild, desperate hope.

it's really incredible to see him realize this - to see how bright he shines when he believes in himself. his passion is contagious. rad weekend and vivid street gave him new life when he had all but lost his, and now he's come full circle and is giving back to vivid street that same life. passion. joy. love.

this is why i love akito so much. i'm always drawn to characters made up of love. like, the above paragraphs aside, akito's really got a big heart, you know? he loves vivid bad squad so much it's ridiculous. you can see it in the way his gruffness goes soft around the edges around them, and his protectiveness over them. he really loves his friends outside of vbs too - kotaro and mizuki being the most notable examples. he loves his big sister. he loves ken, the father he wishes he always had but at least he has him now. he loves the virtual singers. he said meiko could put carrots in her dishes and he'd still eat them. he is amazingly tolerant of rin and len's hyperactive shenanigans when you consider how grouchy and irritable he is any other time. he is truly such a sweetheart.

his favorite foods are desserts and he likes his coffee as sweet as possible but he gets embarrassed ordering it this way in front of others. he gets the biggest goofiest happiest smile on his face when he eats pancakes. he's scared of even teeny tiny chihuahuas. he's physically affectionate - it's hard to get this across with the live2d models but we see their attempts at trying to show him slinging his arm around toya's shoulders. and he is literally constantly leaning on toya in just about every official art they're together in. he hates carrots with the ferocity of a spoiled toddler.

he likes hoodies and jackets that cover most of his hands. he once gave mizuki his lunch because he noticed she didn't have anything to eat. he sings and talks in his sleep. i cannot stress enough how adorable that is. he shields kohane from the wind so she can safely change her contacts. he pretends to be scared when luka jumps out at him from alleys because he didn't react once and she was sad. he teaches len how to play soccer. he lets ena drag him to the mall and just about everywhere else and even though he complains he could very easily refuse her if he actually didn't want to spend time with her.

he purposefully deepens his voice when talking so he seems cooler. he has the most blushing live2d models out of all the "boys." he gets flustered so easily it's so funny. he's very, very bad at math. despite the fits he used to throw at the start of the game, he now seems to carry toya's mountains of arcade plushies for him. he hates doing anything "cutesy" but unfortunately for him he is very cute. he's so special and i love him dearly

[project-sekai-facts]

Opinions on the Saki glue theory? From a theory standpoint and just a general perspective. Love ur posts :))

i remember seeing that in an iceberg video months ago and i kid you not that video is what finally pushed me to make this account.

The thing is it's a bit of a stretch. Removing Saki obviously gets rid of Leo/need, and since she is Tsukasa's main motivation it also gets ride of WxS. I don't think that removing Saki from the equation would affect any of the other units, though.

Obviously I was thinking about that from less of a "Saki dies" angle and more of a "Saki doesn't exist" angle, but even if you go with the former, I think it's still the same as if you went with the latter. I believe that even if Saki died, Tsukasa would still help Toya, and VBS would still exist. Honami would still have her job as a cleaner, she'd still find Kanade collapsed at home and call an ambulance, and N25 would still exist. Shizuku would obviously help her sister grieve, but I don't think she'd quit her job over it, so MMJ would still exist. That MMJ one is what I usually see people back the Saki glue theory with and I think it's a little bit far-fetched, I honesly can't think of a reason that Saki would impact the formation of MMJ, regardless of how you remove her from the story.

If you were to approach it as a Tenma glue theory instead, you can hit 3 out of 5 units, but that still doesn't include Honami impacting the formation of N25, or Haruka impacting MMJ.

To be honest there's like an underlying theme of fate in the story. I've mentioned before how this is present in some SEKAI, but thinking about it for a second it does seem present in the overall story. Haruka getting lost at the mall and getting invited on stage by an idol, and Haruka then passing on the motivation to Minori, Shizuku randomly getting signed up to an audition by a friend, Kohane happening to walk by An's performance, then getting lost trying to find a CD shop and meeting her again, Ena calling Akito to the summer festival and taking him to see a concert then encouraging him to try out music, Mafuyu, Ena and Mizuki just happening to find Kanade's song on the internet. A lot of events that could easily not have happened that have a lasting impact and caused the units and SEKAI to form.

[inkois]

uh idk man i just really like Akito

WARNING: EVENT SPOILERS FOR THE SOUNDS OF A SUMMER FESTIVAL, FIND A WAY OUT, STRAY BAD DOG.

Elementary school Akito(SF!Akito), Pre-BAD DOGS Akito(PBDS!Akito), BAD DOGS Akito(BDS!Akito), and to some extent, early VBS Akito was such an anxious, insecure mess.

Well, current day Akito is still a mess, but less of one.

SF!Akito started the perfectionism issues that we see in him today. He played one soccer game, one that meant a great deal to him, and lost the game, despite how hard he worked. Now, that might not seem like a huge deal on the surface, but that game meant a huge deal to SF!Akito. He’d put in so much time and effort in order to win the game, only to get completely destroyed by the opposing team. The feeling of disappointment must have been immense for him, the ace of the team, the one that everyone’s supposed to rely on. And he failed them. He couldn’t pull out a win. This is where his perfectionism issues started(1).

When SF!Akito decided to dive headfirst into music, he had no support systems from anyone. His parents, from what we can tell, are absent from his life during middle school, not even showing up once in the event(The Sounds of a Summer Festival). Despite Ena pushing him into music, she had her own issues(cough cough her dad and entrance exams to art school) to deal with and it’s not her fault in the slightest(4). SF!Akito also cut off contact with Shota, his middle school soccer friend and only remeets him later on when he invites current day Akito to the summer festival event(2).

So without any support, he took on this new world he’d discovered, alone.

This is how we ended up with PBDS!Akito. An absolute mess of perfectionism and anxiety issues. He was without a support system who could only do his best to try and fit into a street culture he knows almost nothing about. He went in blindly, singing loudly and caring far too much about how he sounded. He needed to be good at what he was passionate about, so he stuck around for hours, practicing till his voice became hoarse and longer work(4).

PBDS!Akito was desperate to prove to himself that he was able to stick with something he was passionate about. This desperation in trying to prove himself would have him lashing out at anyone that questioned him(4). To the older musicians on the street, he came off as arrogant and disrespecting RAD WEEKEND(4). Ultimately, his refusal to back down(even though he knew he wasn’t prepared or experienced enough), his desperation to prove himself, and the older musicians’ pushing him around led to PBDS!Akito being humiliated at CRAWL GREEN(4).

After getting humiliated, he hated himself for not being good enough for the venue, even if he knew that he wasn’t experienced enough to perform there(5). He became so frustrated that all his efforts amounted to nothing, just like SF!Akito’s efforts did when he played soccer.

When Ken started a conversation with PBDS!Akito, he had been mentally preparing himself to be told to quit singing and quit trying.

“Junior High Akito: (If he tells me to quit singing like the others…Then, I…)”(5)

But Ken subverted his expectations and told him that hitting setbacks is okay, feeling frustration is okay, and being afraid of not being good enough is okay, and that he can break through that wall if they fight against their self doubt and continue on the best they can(5).

This was PBDS!Akito’s first time experiencing someone who supported him and the sole reason he continued singing. If Ken had said anything that discouraged PBDS!Akito, we would have ended up with a Niigo!Akito. Jokes aside, Akito would have probably given up his dream of surpassing RAD WEEKEND and ended up in that same directionless state he was in when he quit soccer. Because of the support of a single person, Akito fought past his insecurities and continues to sing.

PBDS!Akito continues to sing and meets Touya. His partner and his other major support system. We don’t have much information about their original partnership’s dynamics, growth, and progress, but I’ll work with what I can glean from their partnership with the statements from one of the NPC’s, Mita Koutaro, during the events of STRAY BAD DOG.

When they team up to form BAD DOGS, BDS!Akito is in awe of his partner’s musical abilities. Touya has a deep understanding of music theory, has perfect pitch, and a steady sense of pulse, which are all things that someone can’t gain in a short amount of time. Despite having a supporter in Touya and being close friends with him, BDS!Akito can’t help but compare his own abilities(and feel inferior!) to his partner’s. This, combined with people in the crowd claiming that BDS!Akito is piggybacking off his partner and not putting in work,(6) leads to BDS!Akito working even harder to make up for his lack of knowledge(5).

“Kotaro: He kept at it, even when you weren’t there. Day and night, regardless if he could physically sing.”(6)

“Kotaro: I couldn’t get much out of him, but I think he was trying to keep up with you…”(6)

Later on, BDS!Akito seemingly calmed down after seeing that Touya won’t leave him. This is implied by Koutaro’s statement of “I don’t know how to put it, but it’s like he’s his old self again, you know?”(6) and “You know?, when you guys just became the BAD DOGS? I mean seriously…”

Despite having a better support system(KEN and Touya supporting him!), early in their partnership, BDS!Akito was still insecure, anxious, and worried about his partner leaving him because of his lack of skill. So he worked himself to the point of exhaustion in order to prove to himself(and possibly to other musicians on the street) that he deserved a spot at Touya's side.

When Akito eventually meets VBS, he’s still reluctant to open up and accept their help, but his insecurities doesn’t truly show up until the events of STRAY BAD DOG, when we meet another NPC, Tono Arata, who points out that Akito is the weakest of the group. He winds up overworking himself in order to try and prove that he’s not the weak link and deserves a spot at VBS’s side. 

“I have to keep getting better, so please, I need some time alone…”(5)

At the end of the event, the rest of VBS shows up to help him in his battle against Arata. At this point Akito realizes that he now has people that will support him, no matter what. But the dynamic of him playing catchup and working so much harder to feel worthy to stand by his teammates’ side still remains(this includes his newest JP server focus event, even if that event is him growing past his insecurities). However, current day Akito has grown into someone who is far more grounded, more willing to accept help from others, and less worried about constantly proving himself.

 (and no I will not be talking about BURN MY SOUL in this essay, it’s too long as is, but lemme know if you want one bc i deff be very happy to ramble about my greatest kinnie)

SOURCES

- The Sounds of a Summer Festival Ch 1

- The Sounds of a Summer Festival Ch 2

- The Sounds of a Summer Festival Ch 4

- Find a Way Out Ch 5

- STRAY BAD DOG Ch 5

- STRAY BAD DOG Ch 6