#where we have a whole scene with yagami straightforwardly saying how his values shifted and what he’s going to do in the future lol

[passthroughtime]

well, aren’t you fucking stupid then

it amazes me how in LJ yagami is ready to save everyone and everything from the powers that be, UNLESS it’s kuwana. one might argue he’d learn something from okubo, but nooooo. granted, it’s not that simple of an equation (okubo’s “i didn't do anything” vs kuwana’s “i did it and feel no remorse”), but... yagami STILL struggles to see nuances of this particular situation.

and that’s ridiculous, because in any other case he’s more than ready to give a person another chance (to be heard/understood/supported/idk)

taking the school stories into account isn’t fair, but giving up on itokura never crossed yagami’s mind, even though she hurt seven people just because she was petty. he hopes that this isn’t what she wants deep in her heart, but is ready to let go if it is really. he talks to her, gives her the chance to accept his help and get out. he happens to be right, she doesn’t want this life. good for her. thank you yagami.

when he suspects sawa may be involved in mikoshiba’s murder, he still gives her a benefit of the doubt (after all, the screenshot above shows how he feels about her being connected to both murders, he just doesn’t want to jump to this conclusion because he knows her). he still goes and confronts her ofc, begs to make things clear, and after runs to her apartment when something troubling has suddenly happened that keeps her away from him, without thinking it can be a trap.

funny little tidbit in the main story as well:

who they are? idk! why does yagami suggest they don’t deserve to be punished? idk again! he’s just being a good guy i guess! (though i honestly think the last words should’ve been directed to kuwana. they always felt out of place to me, why would yagami think public security even has a use for that random dude? but kuwana... yet he can’t say that to his face for some stupid reason.)

kusumoto is a tricky one, because yagami blames both her and kuwana, but here’s the thing. he tries to convince him before he tries to convince her. time and time again yagami has the exact same conversation with kuwana, and only once with kusumoto (that’s undestandable though, BUT he pressures kuwana more in intensity time and time again vs the only chance he has with kusumoto).

an interesting thing here is what they are about to lose if kawai’s murder comes to light. kusumoto herself says it best:

kuwana will be tortured (to death), kusumoto’s political actions will be controlled. fair. the exact same.

btw she’s not the first one to tell yagami that kuwana is in grave danger. hell, yagami himself says (repeats) that to others.

but when kuwana says it to him, yagami suddenly doesn’t want to listen and doesn’t care that kuwana most probably going to die if he is about to go to the police (most obvious example of this exchange is shown before dig in your heels fight). which is kind of ridicuous, and may be the writers’ oversight, but i prefer to think that it is to show us how stagnant yagami’s beliefs may sometimes be.

yeah. tell me more. he literally says “i can excuse ANYONE but i draw the line at kuwana”. that is also considering that he still can save kuwana’s life, as opposite to emi and sawa. getting the truth of sawa’s murder out is retribution.

so, yeah, i believe that for the most part, his approach to justice is closer to punitive aspect than restorative, hence those all “i get how you feel, i know so well that it scares me”. yagami’s main problem with kuwana is that the latter decides himself what’s the right thing to do. it blinds him so much that he doesn’t care about what happens to kuwana after he surrenders to the police.

...to be fair to him, this is true only until the last cutscenes of the game.

this includes kuwana. i don’t care if i’m being delusional. it just does. the point here is that kuwana’s life is worth more than the justice system which is tend to be broken and redefined in the state that it is now.

...that’s not the point of this post though, so i’ll just shut up.

the whole “coming clear with your crimes” thing would work if both kuwana and kusumoto do that, simultaneously, not just kuwana. and yeah, yagami talks to them both, though in the end, kusumoto's confession seems to be enough. because for public security, kuwana is valuable as long as kusumoto’s secret is, uh, a secret. as well as he can’t be used as a scapegoat for soma’s crimes anymore, thanks to mafuyu and takano’s efforts to uncover this whole PS mess.

yet, yagami pressures kuwana the most. as if he’s not just a tool in a large-scale political game lol, and if his whole role in it wasn’t obvious to yagami from the beginning.

or what, he thinks if he was able to put himself in danger while investigating AD-9, and survive through it all, then anybody else can do it? kuwana is much more defenseless than yagami was, there’s nothing that would’ve protected him, or at least avenged the memory of him in the worst case scenario,

it fascinates me how yagami just... ignores the very real threat to kuwana’s life and his obvious insignificance in the grand scheme of things. idk. maybe yagami used kuwana more as an outlet for his frustration, but wow, that was fucking cruel of him to keep repeating to kuwana to go kys (sorry.)

during the boat’s scene, we can see in real time how yagami’s belief clash with each other: he knows that kuwana is about to be silenced for the greater good (the fate unfair to anyone), but kuwana is also a serial killer and that very kind of scum (who brushes away the consequences of his crimes) which doesn’t deserve to be saved.

^ i love this moment, how yagami still can’t figure out how to feel about him.

and then kuwana proves that he’s not, in fact, the kind of a person yagami despises, and the scales tip in his favor. yay. but kuwana is still a serial killer with no remorse to which he seems “deserving” of his justice. nay (?).

although, the problem is solved when kuwana uncovers his crimes. maybe, he won’t kill again, because going public with the reasoning behind them is good enough of a lesson (hard maybe).

but i think it’s beautiful, you know, in the end how yagami ends up losing his judgment of people, and that’s all just because of kuwana.

yes, it is a shippy post after all.