Analysis - Tumblr Posts
"Oh so I'm a bad parent?"
No. You're not. And that's what hurts the most.
Because I know that you're not.
I know you love me, I know you care about me, I know how much you suffer so I don't.
But sometimes, sometimes, I can't help thinking that you are.
You love me, but you hurt me just as much.
You hurt me, and I can't wonder but think you hate me.
You would burn down the world for me, yet you burn my heart with it.
I cry you know? Because I hate that I hate you for not loving me enough. I sleep at night wondering, if you love me, why do you hurt me?
And I hate you, because you make me hurt you too.
And I hate myself even more for it.
So please, if you love me, don't make me hate loving you.
Wondering what was that little smirk about ?
The thing that really captivates me about this performance is the lighting and how it mixes with the choreo of the other queens. They are draped in shadow almost the entire time and their faces are specifically obscured whenever they put their hands on Howard. It gives me two distinct impressions, 1. that the men in her life were never genuine with her and always hid their true intentions to get closer to her, and 2. that this was how those men saw Howard, a faceless nobody, pretty enough to be used for their pleasure and then discarded, because she meant nothing to them. She wasn’t a person in their eyes, she was barely more than a shadow.
Also like the specific placement of their hands. At first it’s hands on the shoulders like a controlling parent keeping you in line, then there’s another on the waist from behind, unable to see who’s grabbing you but keeping you pressed against them, facing outwards like a prize to show off but unable to leave, and then they add the ones on the legs, keeping her from running away. All of them focus on hindering movement. They also remind me of puppet strings, which I find interesting as the only part of her without a “string” is her head. The rest of her body is being used against her will but her mind still remains, despite the slowly forming cracks.
This ties in to the order of the placement too. They take her hands first as a metaphor of them leading her down this awful path via their grooming and also to do some of the less than holy acts she describes in her second verse. Then they take her torso, her body, to use for their enjoyment. Lastly they take her legs now that she’s doubting if this is something she’s okay with, if she wants this, so she can’t run away from it. But again, notice that they never take her head, something she herself remarks on in her last verse. They don’t care if they control her thoughts or emotions as long as she’s doing what they want, those don’t matter. Even if she says no, if she says she’s done with this, they own the rest of her, what she says and thinks has no value to them. They tricked her into agreeing while she was young and by the time she realized it was wrong she was already in too deep.
Well, that was depressing. Ask me if you want more thoughts.
@yourboywitch Do you mind if I ask you to weigh in on this? I’m curious what you think
Honestly, so true.. I literally love the Meta Liberation army characters yet they have been watered down and became tasteless in the anime, I really like Skeptic the most because he was always so snarky but in the anime they barely even captured his bitchy attitude, LOVE HIS VOICE ACTOR. But I think Trumpet's should have been more charming, yk?
Bones Studio Screwed Over The Meta Liberation Army So I’m Doing An Analysis To Complain:
(Slight Spoilers: Mentions of Season 7 and the Manga)
So, As the title suggests, I’m going to be complaining about Bones Studio and how they handle my favorite arc and my favorite characters and how basically they water them down where it’s kind of lame. As I have written this, This could change after written/posted. We’re on Season 7 and while they showed the very important battle of certain hackers. They missed an important part...
That is Geten and Mr. Compress talking in prison about Geten’s family being toxic. This was an important part to not only Dabi’s backstory to reveal the harmful ways the Himura family bred for improved and better quirks, but also important to Geten’s story as well since this revealed, Geten is related to Dabi. They removed that scene even though this involved Dabi is loved by fans. This is truly beyond me since I believe it was a crucial part of the story. In my personal opinion, I believe it’s a personal hatred of the Meta Liberation Army on Bones’s part…
Which is why… I’m making this post, talking about everything Bones Studio did wrong with the MLA Arc and the Meta Liberation Army, why this makes me angry, and the created differences between the Manga to Anime.
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How Bones Studio Handled The Meta Liberation Army Arc:
This is an arc I absolutely love and is one of my favorites, Even in the anime it’s still my favorite. HOWEVER, I can’t forgive them for what they done to it. I personally believe that if the arc was animated properly and included the scenes missing, The MLA would have been almost as popular as the other villain groups and a lot more fans would be on board with them. Have you seen the merch for the MLA it is very little and usually exclusive to Japan. Now you must be thinking but “Myvillainacademiafan, They cut a lot of those scenes out to make it work for the anime!” I’m aware you gotta make room for time and other purposes. I’m aware some scenes don’t seem relevant. And yes, I’m aware some scenes might be inappropriate for a TV-14 rating. I “MAY” have forgiven them if it was only like a couple of times. BUT THERE WAS OVER A DOZEN SCENES CUT OUT, CHANGED, CENSORED, AND MORE. At that point, you might as well either create a new story with the amount of changes and bonuses made. Now let’s get to the changes…
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Re-Destro’s Introduction And The Proper Introduction Of The Army:
In the Manga, instead of the introduction of the Meta Liberation Army being the call with the League of Villains in the episode “My Villain Academia”. It’s actually when the UA students are hanging out and a certain commercial comes on the tv. It’s Re-Destro advertising for his company Detnerat. The commercial shows how the company is to help people in society with mutant like quirks or abilities live in the world easier with the help of their items. (I would also say that in a way, whether his company or the army, he wants citizens to live freely with their powers and this commercial was a perfect way to show that). After the commercial plays, it turns out it was being watched by Re-Destro and his assistant as well. (they don’t even reveal his assistant in the anime. Rip Miyashita for not getting an anime adaptation…)
The two talk for a bit when suddenly Re-Destro lets the word “Meta Ability” slip. Miyashita questions this and this was a perfect time to advertise Destro’s book “Meta Liberation War”. While he was hoping the assistant would be on board of the Meta Liberation Army, Miyashita however wasn’t convinced and saw this book as harmful and Destro nothing but a “Ranting Criminal” So with a slight uncomfortable and chilling scene, Re-Destro makes sure the man didn’t have any close loved ones before cracking his neck. After doing so, He expressed not only disappointment in Miyashita disliking the book and insulting Destro, but mourned the loss of the life taken…
After this we get the familiar scene we got with Re-Destro walking in to the lieutenants of the army to talk about their updates of the league in the episode “Revival Party”…
Why Removing This Scene Was Wrong And Makes No Sense:
While starting with the call for the League Of Villains is good at giving Re-Destro a mysterious feel to him, I believe you still would have gotten the same even if you included the original scene. Not only that, but it gives Re-Destro some unpredictably with how he’s going to react when you insult basically his lively hood. The commercial was a smooth and charming introduction of the character himself and having him talk and introduce the book was an excellent way to introduce the reader/viewer to the next arc. The murder of Miyashita was also an excellent way to introduce the threat and uneasiness of the Meta Liberation Army and what’s to come, Especially since it perfectly transitions to the fight with the ice villain fighting Shoto and Bakugo and that the villain was using Detnerat products. (Revealing panels later that Detnerat also helps villains in the black market as well)
In the anime, nobody is going to understand the ice villain and why his weapon was destroyed after he was caught because the manga explains better with the context. People were confused at first on Slidin Go’s sudden appearance and relevance to the story, (however, that could be a fault on both ends). When you go straight to the phone call for the introduction and appearance of the army. A lot of people were confused on who the hell those guys were anyways. So, instead of seeing them along the story and getting excited to see them finally go into action when the League of Villains do fight in Deika City. You’re left a bit confused with the anime…
AND SPEAKING OF CONFUSION, Is anyone going to talk about Giran in this?…
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Giran’s Sudden Kidnapping In The Anime:
While both the anime and the Manga don’t reveal how Giran got captured in the first place. The Manga added a bit more understanding compared to the anime. Before they show Giran in the Manga, We cut to the Meta Liberation Army talking with each other about Re-Destro’s black market items. (Which was played exactly after the ice villain was arrested. Literally a perfect transition and explanation on to the MLA as a threat and why everything happened the way it did) To which Skeptic told Re-Destro their “Guest” has arrived. We see Giran being dragged in by two body guards. And while the army has tried to beat and threaten the information out of Giran. He refuses to sell out his clients/League… And then after that we cut to the introduction of Gigantomachia like how we have in the anime.
…For the Anime, He’s just already there… He’s already Kidnapped, tortured, and had his stuff recovered while looking sad… Where’s the stubborn refusal and where’s the context on the anime’s part? While I guess it could be forgiven, they went easier on Giran in the anime given that his bruises are a lot more tame compared to the manga. It’s just confusing to have him suddenly there with not really any context. BTW, in the manga, they LITERALLY showed Giran’s fingers being placed around the areas the League has been. The anime really cut down the gore for that. (Not to mention the small dialogue revealing Skeptic got the information from Giran’s files after he thought he deleted them) Anyways, It’s just giving me earlier Mario games where you hear Princess Peach is kidnapped but they don’t show it. At this point, I feel like Re-Destro is going to tell the League “Their Broker is in another castle.”
The Mistakes With The Beginning Fight Of Deika City:
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I’m not going to go over the missing details with the League of Villains and such because this post is talking about the Meta Liberation Army. So here’s a list of missing mistakes until we get to the major big con of the anime again (While these are not really a big deal, I felt it would have been more cool if they kept these)
*After Trumpet welcomes them to the Revival Party and the fight begins. We see several shots of security cameras around the city. In the anime, They usually show the security cameras like once or twice. (While I can understand this being cut out. It’s a way that not only shows this is being recorded and that the citizens of Deika City are constantly watched. But it is also implying the incoming threat of Skeptic)
*Theres a shot of a hero trying to stop a worker from heading in Deika City area and Re-Destro talks about how it’s a city in a far away place covered with trees, Explaining it’s a perfect place to lay low in. (This one is understandable too and anime fans may already get the point. It’s still a way to show how the MLA haven’t got caught yet)
*The small dialogue removed from citizens/soldiers defending the army (Personally. I like them all to have a word. It just makes it more lively).
*The gore and violence being toned down. (I’ll talk more about, this but Bones Studio tends to have this thing where they either tone down certain things, Go off screen, they even clean them of blood. I understand it’s for TV-14 but if you’re going to develop the manga. Develop it right.)
And Finally, How they handled Curious’s Death which is my next topic…
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Curious’s Death And How It Had Much More Effect In The Manga:
From what I described in the little difference above after Trumpet introduces the army and the fight with Curious, There wasn’t a lot of major changes to complain about (I still will though) However, one thing I found specifically interesting is Curious’s death and how it was almost completely brushed away in the anime…
In the Manga, When Curious fell down it was brutal. They did not shy away from hiding the bodies dropping to the ground. After her death and Toga finding the shed to hide in. We cut to Re-Destro talking about Curious’s death and mourning her as Skeptic comes in. We see Re-Destro actually cry at the loss of Curious. Which brings me to the next part of this topic…
How The Lieutenants Handled Curious’s Death In The Manga:
While neither the Manga or anime showed Geten’s reaction to the news, The Manga showed how Re-Destro, Skeptic, And Trumpet handled the news of their comrade.
As I mention, we seen Re-Destro cry. He has cried TWICE. And yet, Bones Studio decided to cut those scenes out! (It’s like they don’t want Re-Destro to show emotion) But removing this was such a huge waste to his character because having a villain that cares so much about his subordinates is so rare to see these days and while we know he cares, It’s good to see this.
Now back on subject, Skeptic then talks about how they can’t use the footage of Curious’s death because “Toga isn’t a good fit for the tragic lead of narrative they’re pushing” Giran asks about the footage and Skeptic lectures and nags Giran about being stupid and to ask properly. Just like with Re-Destro’s scenes, Removing this is also a waste since it shows Skeptic’s character and behavior that could have been entertaining in the anime. (I will go over how they toned down Skeptic’s character in the next topic)
After, Skeptic goes on his tirade, Giran questions the MLA, and Re-Destro remains determined, We cut to the scene of the league fighting (It’s the same scene we see after Toga kills Curious however with a twist) Trumpet comes in on his political van and announces some tragic news. He announces the death of Curious and the soldiers/citizens are distraught. Trumpet uses his words to let them know of Re-Destro’s wishes and to fight harder making the crowd even more determined and angry, A harder challenge for the League of Villains.
Obviously with the anime, Curious just dies and nobody says anything about it. Removing those scenes is also a wasted opportunity because Bones isn’t showing how the lieutenants value one another, They don’t show the effect on everyone and how it would make the MLA fight harder after the league killed a valued member. It also makes it look like they just don’t care that she was killed to begin with. She just dies and we’re done. If Anime!Curious was in the afterlife watching them move on just like that, I bet you she would be fuming…
While Geten’s and Dabi’s fight remains the same, As we move on. There is some slight differences we notice with one Lieutenant with the Manga compared to the anime…
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Skeptic Being Toned Down In The Anime:
(Btw we never got this scene with the manga, Below is merch. While I love the art, I find it frustrating he was never seen animated like this) Anyways, while I’m aware this one isn’t really too much of a big deal and I’m happy to see Skeptic anyway I could since he is my favorite character, I believe Bones Studio toning down Skeptic really effects his character and removes the charm from it. It’s like Bones studio shoved chill pills down his throat.
For the manga, we get almost the same scenes we have from the end of “Revival Party” and the Beginning of “Sad Man’s Parade” Despite some subtle and not too much of big deal things, it’s a bit noticeable that Skeptic’s attitude is toned down. We talked about the reactions of Curious’s death, there was a scene cut out between Giran and Skeptic. Bones Studio has removed his nagging moments. (They removed another scene with him nagging at Slidin Go after the war so it just seems like Skeptic was always watching and collected. Interesting way to go at it but where’s the spice, You know)
But throughout his thing with Twice in the manga, Skeptic’s movements and behavior was slightly more chaotic. His poses were more backbreaking and animated yet his dialogue stayed similar to his character (And how it is in the anime). It was a way of showing that Skeptic doesn’t care how he acts, he’ll do whatever he wants and get the job done.
One more scene was cut out and as a Skeptic fan, It really frustrated me and that’s when he uses his quirk in action. After we get Twice becoming stronger, Skeptic telling Re-Destro he didn’t fail, the League fighting hard, and Dabi and Geten fighting (All which we have in the anime) We cut to Twice trying to clone Toga to do a blood transfusion. One of the Twice clones gets knocked back and they see that it’s one of Skeptic’s anthropomorphs to which soon… More start appearing! We see Skeptic looking insane and determined as he began to make multiple clones, commanding them all to go after Twice and capture him as he began to run after him. He was determined to capture himself because Skeptic “did not” fail.
Bones removing that scene was ridiculous because not only would that given Twice more of a challenge and show that the MLA will get their hands in there if it means success, but it also takes away showing how Skeptic’s quirk works in action. Having the scene removed and he’s just out in battle is a little strange, Like he’s just roaming and standing around? That isn’t like his character at all, he would take action! We finally got to see how his quirk works in season 7, however it was a little late when it should have been included in Season 5 to begin with… It would have been so cool to see the animation of the anthropomorphs forming and Skeptic running through the city madly and it would have been so cool to see the nagging scenes animated. (Think of it like Deku’s mutter scenes. But instead, It’s an a slight creepy nag with a dark background and the words “Nag” popping up haha)
And there is several times where Anime!Skeptic was toned down more compared to Manga!Skeptic however this is talking about the MLA arc so that’s a complain for another time probably…
Before we got that scene with Skeptic running after Twice, Most of the scenes are pretty much similar to the anime (With a scene from Hawk being placed in the middle of the MLA fight instead of earlier in the anime. That’s the only thing I will agree with for the anime’s decisions.) But one detail was also changed strangely that I also can’t help but notice…
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Regards Of Re-Destro’s Relationship With Destro In The Manga Vs Anime:
I don’t know what Bones Studio was thinking when they decided to make this choice, But in the anime Re-Destro claimed and was heavily hinted to be Destro’s son, when all actuality and in the manga, Destro is just his ancestor. There is so many reasons wrong with this and why this couldn’t work.
First of all, the time of Destro being alive wouldn’t work with Re-Destro’s because this was a time quirks were starting to appear and this was a time All For One was starting to make his ways in the world of villainy and All For One is confirmed to be over a hundred years old. (If Re-Destro was Destro’s son then he would be so old and wrinkly at this point of time… Or dead because how?)
Second, It’s just incorrect. It’s not true. Destro is just an ancestor to Re-Destro, Not his father. And when you talk about Re-Destro and Destro to fans who only seen the anime, They get confused when told Destro is actually an ancestor to him and not a father. At this point, If Bones Studio is mixing up the characters’s information. We should too, why not make AFO Shigaraki’s Biological father or make All Might related to Mineta. Because it’s fun ig!?! (Obviously people can have their headcanons, I have mine too! But when a whole studio is just getting information wrong, It’s just annoying)
@Stillness-in-green made a very good post talking about this and explains it much better then I could. So definitely check that out!
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More Minor Mistakes Before We Talk About The Final One:
*More dialogue from citizens/soldiers missing. (I already explained why this annoys me)
*Some dialogue between Trumpet and Spinner was removed. (Especially since it helps with Spinner’s character development and trimming while still works in the anime in terms of understanding and plot is still frustrating to manga readers)
*A scene of Slidin Go blocking a van from entering at the outside of Deika City when suddenly loud booming noises are heard and the hero mistakes it for earthquakes (While not really a big deal or a must have scene. This would have given Slidin Go more on screen moments… Maybe where he wouldn’t be forgotten).
*A scene/panel of a page from a children’s book talking about being kind to those with Mutant based quirks. (While also not a must, It would have been cute animated. Plus it would have been very funny if that plays after Trumpet gets offended to be compared to Spinner).
*Even though I said I wasn’t going to talk about the scenes missing with the league, this one I will. There’s a scene/panel with young Shigaraki looking on at a mysterious man leaving as his mother bows in apology. (If you’re caught up in the manga, You would know why removing that scene was a big mistake. Once again, Bones Studio picking and choosing what they want to add or not. I had to point this out because that’s what they did with this whole arc.)
*They removed Spinner clinging on Trumpet’s political van as Trumpet tries to reach Re-Destro, Basically clinging on to the van as it drives. (Suppose Spinner just ran over there quick in the anime)
*Re-Destro’s Claustro slowly breaks down in the manga. (Not much to complain. It just would have been cooler animated like that)
*And finally the last thing to complain about is the gore… Or less gore in the anime…
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Bones Studio Censoring The Gore Of The Meta Liberation Army Arc:
When people complain and talk about the comparison of censorship between the manga and anime of My Hero Academia, it’s this arc that has a lot of examples… A lot. While I’m aware and understand that this is a TV-14 rated show, it’s still in the manga and it should be represented to keep it faithful. The violence was toned more down with Giran’s bruises, to Toga’s bloody face from Curious, Shigaraki getting his fingers snapped off, and finally to the one picture above where Re-Destro’s legs were chopped off to save himself from decaying from Shigaraki’s quirk. The final scene with Re-Destro bowing to Shigaraki as his new leader was so chilling yet so cool in the Manga. It’s cool in the anime, But we could have had much more of it if it wasn’t toned down. It just feel like a cop out and lazy on Bone’s part…
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In Conclusion:
After the scenes I talked about, Everything is almost pretty much the same in the anime as in the manga as well, leaving my talk of the Meta Liberation Army Arc closing.
While I’m thankful for Bones Studio animating the anime I love, I feel frustration with how they handle not only the Meta Liberation Army but characters that are not as popular to fans or the main characters, Villains or not. Bones Studio usually will focus on characters that are more popular and give them as much screen time as they can while depriving others who aren’t as popular with scraps. (If you also notice, Throughout my talk, I had no complains of Geten’s scenes because he was usually seen with Dabi who is considered a popular character. So Geten’s scenes remain in tact because Bones knows Dabi is popular)
What caused them to do what they did to the Meta Liberation Army in the anime adaptation is beyond me? Whether it’s simply not caring about them, putting more focus, time, and money on characters that are more popular, Someone even theorized it was to put the budget of animation on the filler episodes or the movie that was coming up at the time. Whether it was, the fact that the characters I love were discarded and basically fans either don’t know or don’t like/care about the MLA and/or Arc, Hurts because THIS IS MY FAVORITE ARC. And I’ll be damned if I lie and say it isn’t because a lot of people say otherwise.
Whether anime or not, The MLA and the arc will still remain my favorite even if the studio working on doesn’t think so. These are characters I love and value a lot when it comes to My Hero Academia. But with how the Meta Liberation Army was handled and continued to be handled in the anime to this day is just frustrating. In Conclusion, Bones Studio do better…
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Bones Studio Screwed Over The Meta Liberation Army So I’m Doing An Analysis To Complain:
(Slight Spoilers: Mentions of Season 7 and the Manga)
So, As the title suggests, I’m going to be complaining about Bones Studio and how they handle my favorite arc and my favorite characters and how basically they water them down where it’s kind of lame. As I have written this, This could change after written/posted. We’re on Season 7 and while they showed the very important battle of certain hackers. They missed an important part...
That is Geten and Mr. Compress talking in prison about Geten’s family being toxic. This was an important part to not only Dabi’s backstory to reveal the harmful ways the Himura family bred for improved and better quirks, but also important to Geten’s story as well since this revealed, Geten is related to Dabi. They removed that scene even though this involved Dabi is loved by fans. This is truly beyond me since I believe it was a crucial part of the story. In my personal opinion, I believe it’s a personal hatred of the Meta Liberation Army on Bones’s part…
Which is why… I’m making this post, talking about everything Bones Studio did wrong with the MLA Arc and the Meta Liberation Army, why this makes me angry, and the created differences between the Manga to Anime.
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How Bones Studio Handled The Meta Liberation Army Arc:
This is an arc I absolutely love and is one of my favorites, Even in the anime it’s still my favorite. HOWEVER, I can’t forgive them for what they done to it. I personally believe that if the arc was animated properly and included the scenes missing, The MLA would have been almost as popular as the other villain groups and a lot more fans would be on board with them. Have you seen the merch for the MLA it is very little and usually exclusive to Japan. Now you must be thinking but “Myvillainacademiafan, They cut a lot of those scenes out to make it work for the anime!” I’m aware you gotta make room for time and other purposes. I’m aware some scenes don’t seem relevant. And yes, I’m aware some scenes might be inappropriate for a TV-14 rating. I “MAY” have forgiven them if it was only like a couple of times. BUT THERE WAS OVER A DOZEN SCENES CUT OUT, CHANGED, CENSORED, AND MORE. At that point, you might as well either create a new story with the amount of changes and bonuses made. Now let’s get to the changes…
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Re-Destro’s Introduction And The Proper Introduction Of The Army:
In the Manga, instead of the introduction of the Meta Liberation Army being the call with the League of Villains in the episode “My Villain Academia”. It’s actually when the UA students are hanging out and a certain commercial comes on the tv. It’s Re-Destro advertising for his company Detnerat. The commercial shows how the company is to help people in society with mutant like quirks or abilities live in the world easier with the help of their items. (I would also say that in a way, whether his company or the army, he wants citizens to live freely with their powers and this commercial was a perfect way to show that). After the commercial plays, it turns out it was being watched by Re-Destro and his assistant as well. (they don’t even reveal his assistant in the anime. Rip Miyashita for not getting an anime adaptation…)
The two talk for a bit when suddenly Re-Destro lets the word “Meta Ability” slip. Miyashita questions this and this was a perfect time to advertise Destro’s book “Meta Liberation War”. While he was hoping the assistant would be on board of the Meta Liberation Army, Miyashita however wasn’t convinced and saw this book as harmful and Destro nothing but a “Ranting Criminal” So with a slight uncomfortable and chilling scene, Re-Destro makes sure the man didn’t have any close loved ones before cracking his neck. After doing so, He expressed not only disappointment in Miyashita disliking the book and insulting Destro, but mourned the loss of the life taken…
After this we get the familiar scene we got with Re-Destro walking in to the lieutenants of the army to talk about their updates of the league in the episode “Revival Party”…
Why Removing This Scene Was Wrong And Makes No Sense:
While starting with the call for the League Of Villains is good at giving Re-Destro a mysterious feel to him, I believe you still would have gotten the same even if you included the original scene. Not only that, but it gives Re-Destro some unpredictably with how he’s going to react when you insult basically his lively hood. The commercial was a smooth and charming introduction of the character himself and having him talk and introduce the book was an excellent way to introduce the reader/viewer to the next arc. The murder of Miyashita was also an excellent way to introduce the threat and uneasiness of the Meta Liberation Army and what’s to come, Especially since it perfectly transitions to the fight with the ice villain fighting Shoto and Bakugo and that the villain was using Detnerat products. (Revealing panels later that Detnerat also helps villains in the black market as well)
In the anime, nobody is going to understand the ice villain and why his weapon was destroyed after he was caught because the manga explains better with the context. People were confused at first on Slidin Go’s sudden appearance and relevance to the story, (however, that could be a fault on both ends). When you go straight to the phone call for the introduction and appearance of the army. A lot of people were confused on who the hell those guys were anyways. So, instead of seeing them along the story and getting excited to see them finally go into action when the League of Villains do fight in Deika City. You’re left a bit confused with the anime…
AND SPEAKING OF CONFUSION, Is anyone going to talk about Giran in this?…
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Giran’s Sudden Kidnapping In The Anime:
While both the anime and the Manga don’t reveal how Giran got captured in the first place. The Manga added a bit more understanding compared to the anime. Before they show Giran in the Manga, We cut to the Meta Liberation Army talking with each other about Re-Destro’s black market items. (Which was played exactly after the ice villain was arrested. Literally a perfect transition and explanation on to the MLA as a threat and why everything happened the way it did) To which Skeptic told Re-Destro their “Guest” has arrived. We see Giran being dragged in by two body guards. And while the army has tried to beat and threaten the information out of Giran. He refuses to sell out his clients/League… And then after that we cut to the introduction of Gigantomachia like how we have in the anime.
…For the Anime, He’s just already there… He’s already Kidnapped, tortured, and had his stuff recovered while looking sad… Where’s the stubborn refusal and where’s the context on the anime’s part? While I guess it could be forgiven, they went easier on Giran in the anime given that his bruises are a lot more tame compared to the manga. It’s just confusing to have him suddenly there with not really any context. BTW, in the manga, they LITERALLY showed Giran’s fingers being placed around the areas the League has been. The anime really cut down the gore for that. (Not to mention the small dialogue revealing Skeptic got the information from Giran’s files after he thought he deleted them) Anyways, It’s just giving me earlier Mario games where you hear Princess Peach is kidnapped but they don’t show it. At this point, I feel like Re-Destro is going to tell the League “Their Broker is in another castle.”
The Mistakes With The Beginning Fight Of Deika City:
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I’m not going to go over the missing details with the League of Villains and such because this post is talking about the Meta Liberation Army. So here’s a list of missing mistakes until we get to the major big con of the anime again (While these are not really a big deal, I felt it would have been more cool if they kept these)
*After Trumpet welcomes them to the Revival Party and the fight begins. We see several shots of security cameras around the city. In the anime, They usually show the security cameras like once or twice. (While I can understand this being cut out. It’s a way that not only shows this is being recorded and that the citizens of Deika City are constantly watched. But it is also implying the incoming threat of Skeptic)
*Theres a shot of a hero trying to stop a worker from heading in Deika City area and Re-Destro talks about how it’s a city in a far away place covered with trees, Explaining it’s a perfect place to lay low in. (This one is understandable too and anime fans may already get the point. It’s still a way to show how the MLA haven’t got caught yet)
*The small dialogue removed from citizens/soldiers defending the army (Personally. I like them all to have a word. It just makes it more lively).
*The gore and violence being toned down. (I’ll talk more about, this but Bones Studio tends to have this thing where they either tone down certain things, Go off screen, they even clean them of blood. I understand it’s for TV-14 but if you’re going to develop the manga. Develop it right.)
And Finally, How they handled Curious’s Death which is my next topic…
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Curious’s Death And How It Had Much More Effect In The Manga:
From what I described in the little difference above after Trumpet introduces the army and the fight with Curious, There wasn’t a lot of major changes to complain about (I still will though) However, one thing I found specifically interesting is Curious’s death and how it was almost completely brushed away in the anime…
In the Manga, When Curious fell down it was brutal. They did not shy away from hiding the bodies dropping to the ground. After her death and Toga finding the shed to hide in. We cut to Re-Destro talking about Curious’s death and mourning her as Skeptic comes in. We see Re-Destro actually cry at the loss of Curious. Which brings me to the next part of this topic…
How The Lieutenants Handled Curious’s Death In The Manga:
While neither the Manga or anime showed Geten’s reaction to the news, The Manga showed how Re-Destro, Skeptic, And Trumpet handled the news of their comrade.
As I mention, we seen Re-Destro cry. He has cried TWICE. And yet, Bones Studio decided to cut those scenes out! (It’s like they don’t want Re-Destro to show emotion) But removing this was such a huge waste to his character because having a villain that cares so much about his subordinates is so rare to see these days and while we know he cares, It’s good to see this.
Now back on subject, Skeptic then talks about how they can’t use the footage of Curious’s death because “Toga isn’t a good fit for the tragic lead of narrative they’re pushing” Giran asks about the footage and Skeptic lectures and nags Giran about being stupid and to ask properly. Just like with Re-Destro’s scenes, Removing this is also a waste since it shows Skeptic’s character and behavior that could have been entertaining in the anime. (I will go over how they toned down Skeptic’s character in the next topic)
After, Skeptic goes on his tirade, Giran questions the MLA, and Re-Destro remains determined, We cut to the scene of the league fighting (It’s the same scene we see after Toga kills Curious however with a twist) Trumpet comes in on his political van and announces some tragic news. He announces the death of Curious and the soldiers/citizens are distraught. Trumpet uses his words to let them know of Re-Destro’s wishes and to fight harder making the crowd even more determined and angry, A harder challenge for the League of Villains.
Obviously with the anime, Curious just dies and nobody says anything about it. Removing those scenes is also a wasted opportunity because Bones isn’t showing how the lieutenants value one another, They don’t show the effect on everyone and how it would make the MLA fight harder after the league killed a valued member. It also makes it look like they just don’t care that she was killed to begin with. She just dies and we’re done. If Anime!Curious was in the afterlife watching them move on just like that, I bet you she would be fuming…
While Geten’s and Dabi’s fight remains the same, As we move on. There is some slight differences we notice with one Lieutenant with the Manga compared to the anime…
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Skeptic Being Toned Down In The Anime:
(Btw we never got this scene with the manga, Below is merch. While I love the art, I find it frustrating he was never seen animated like this) Anyways, while I’m aware this one isn’t really too much of a big deal and I’m happy to see Skeptic anyway I could since he is my favorite character, I believe Bones Studio toning down Skeptic really effects his character and removes the charm from it. It’s like Bones studio shoved chill pills down his throat.
For the manga, we get almost the same scenes we have from the end of “Revival Party” and the Beginning of “Sad Man’s Parade” Despite some subtle and not too much of big deal things, it’s a bit noticeable that Skeptic’s attitude is toned down. We talked about the reactions of Curious’s death, there was a scene cut out between Giran and Skeptic. Bones Studio has removed his nagging moments. (They removed another scene with him nagging at Slidin Go after the war so it just seems like Skeptic was always watching and collected. Interesting way to go at it but where’s the spice, You know)
But throughout his thing with Twice in the manga, Skeptic’s movements and behavior was slightly more chaotic. His poses were more backbreaking and animated yet his dialogue stayed similar to his character (And how it is in the anime). It was a way of showing that Skeptic doesn’t care how he acts, he’ll do whatever he wants and get the job done.
One more scene was cut out and as a Skeptic fan, It really frustrated me and that’s when he uses his quirk in action. After we get Twice becoming stronger, Skeptic telling Re-Destro he didn’t fail, the League fighting hard, and Dabi and Geten fighting (All which we have in the anime) We cut to Twice trying to clone Toga to do a blood transfusion. One of the Twice clones gets knocked back and they see that it’s one of Skeptic’s anthropomorphs to which soon… More start appearing! We see Skeptic looking insane and determined as he began to make multiple clones, commanding them all to go after Twice and capture him as he began to run after him. He was determined to capture himself because Skeptic “did not” fail.
Bones removing that scene was ridiculous because not only would that given Twice more of a challenge and show that the MLA will get their hands in there if it means success, but it also takes away showing how Skeptic’s quirk works in action. Having the scene removed and he’s just out in battle is a little strange, Like he’s just roaming and standing around? That isn’t like his character at all, he would take action! We finally got to see how his quirk works in season 7, however it was a little late when it should have been included in Season 5 to begin with… It would have been so cool to see the animation of the anthropomorphs forming and Skeptic running through the city madly and it would have been so cool to see the nagging scenes animated. (Think of it like Deku’s mutter scenes. But instead, It’s an a slight creepy nag with a dark background and the words “Nag” popping up haha)
And there is several times where Anime!Skeptic was toned down more compared to Manga!Skeptic however this is talking about the MLA arc so that’s a complain for another time probably…
Before we got that scene with Skeptic running after Twice, Most of the scenes are pretty much similar to the anime (With a scene from Hawk being placed in the middle of the MLA fight instead of earlier in the anime. That’s the only thing I will agree with for the anime’s decisions.) But one detail was also changed strangely that I also can’t help but notice…
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Regards Of Re-Destro’s Relationship With Destro In The Manga Vs Anime:
I don’t know what Bones Studio was thinking when they decided to make this choice, But in the anime Re-Destro claimed and was heavily hinted to be Destro’s son, when all actuality and in the manga, Destro is just his ancestor. There is so many reasons wrong with this and why this couldn’t work.
First of all, the time of Destro being alive wouldn’t work with Re-Destro’s because this was a time quirks were starting to appear and this was a time All For One was starting to make his ways in the world of villainy and All For One is confirmed to be over a hundred years old. (If Re-Destro was Destro’s son then he would be so old and wrinkly at this point of time… Or dead because how?)
Second, It’s just incorrect. It’s not true. Destro is just an ancestor to Re-Destro, Not his father. And when you talk about Re-Destro and Destro to fans who only seen the anime, They get confused when told Destro is actually an ancestor to him and not a father. At this point, If Bones Studio is mixing up the characters’s information. We should too, why not make AFO Shigaraki’s Biological father or make All Might related to Mineta. Because it’s fun ig!?! (Obviously people can have their headcanons, I have mine too! But when a whole studio is just getting information wrong, It’s just annoying)
@Stillness-in-green made a very good post talking about this and explains it much better then I could. So definitely check that out!
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More Minor Mistakes Before We Talk About The Final One:
*More dialogue from citizens/soldiers missing. (I already explained why this annoys me)
*Some dialogue between Trumpet and Spinner was removed. (Especially since it helps with Spinner’s character development and trimming while still works in the anime in terms of understanding and plot is still frustrating to manga readers)
*A scene of Slidin Go blocking a van from entering at the outside of Deika City when suddenly loud booming noises are heard and the hero mistakes it for earthquakes (While not really a big deal or a must have scene. This would have given Slidin Go more on screen moments… Maybe where he wouldn’t be forgotten).
*A scene/panel of a page from a children’s book talking about being kind to those with Mutant based quirks. (While also not a must, It would have been cute animated. Plus it would have been very funny if that plays after Trumpet gets offended to be compared to Spinner).
*Even though I said I wasn’t going to talk about the scenes missing with the league, this one I will. There’s a scene/panel with young Shigaraki looking on at a mysterious man leaving as his mother bows in apology. (If you’re caught up in the manga, You would know why removing that scene was a big mistake. Once again, Bones Studio picking and choosing what they want to add or not. I had to point this out because that’s what they did with this whole arc.)
*They removed Spinner clinging on Trumpet’s political van as Trumpet tries to reach Re-Destro, Basically clinging on to the van as it drives. (Suppose Spinner just ran over there quick in the anime)
*Re-Destro’s Claustro slowly breaks down in the manga. (Not much to complain. It just would have been cooler animated like that)
*And finally the last thing to complain about is the gore… Or less gore in the anime…
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Bones Studio Censoring The Gore Of The Meta Liberation Army Arc:
When people complain and talk about the comparison of censorship between the manga and anime of My Hero Academia, it’s this arc that has a lot of examples… A lot. While I’m aware and understand that this is a TV-14 rated show, it’s still in the manga and it should be represented to keep it faithful. The violence was toned more down with Giran’s bruises, to Toga’s bloody face from Curious, Shigaraki getting his fingers snapped off, and finally to the one picture above where Re-Destro’s legs were chopped off to save himself from decaying from Shigaraki’s quirk. The final scene with Re-Destro bowing to Shigaraki as his new leader was so chilling yet so cool in the Manga. It’s cool in the anime, But we could have had much more of it if it wasn’t toned down. It just feel like a cop out and lazy on Bone’s part…
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In Conclusion:
After the scenes I talked about, Everything is almost pretty much the same in the anime as in the manga as well, leaving my talk of the Meta Liberation Army Arc closing.
While I’m thankful for Bones Studio animating the anime I love, I feel frustration with how they handle not only the Meta Liberation Army but characters that are not as popular to fans or the main characters, Villains or not. Bones Studio usually will focus on characters that are more popular and give them as much screen time as they can while depriving others who aren’t as popular with scraps. (If you also notice, Throughout my talk, I had no complains of Geten’s scenes because he was usually seen with Dabi who is considered a popular character. So Geten’s scenes remain in tact because Bones knows Dabi is popular)
What caused them to do what they did to the Meta Liberation Army in the anime adaptation is beyond me? Whether it’s simply not caring about them, putting more focus, time, and money on characters that are more popular, Someone even theorized it was to put the budget of animation on the filler episodes or the movie that was coming up at the time. Whether it was, the fact that the characters I love were discarded and basically fans either don’t know or don’t like/care about the MLA and/or Arc, Hurts because THIS IS MY FAVORITE ARC. And I’ll be damned if I lie and say it isn’t because a lot of people say otherwise.
Whether anime or not, The MLA and the arc will still remain my favorite even if the studio working on doesn’t think so. These are characters I love and value a lot when it comes to My Hero Academia. But with how the Meta Liberation Army was handled and continued to be handled in the anime to this day is just frustrating. In Conclusion, Bones Studio do better…
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cannibalism in media being portrayed as a form of love, hunger for love is moving. an appetite for someone that is so strong a person is brought to feel an intense desire to devour the other. carnal and tremendously agonizing, cannibalism and autocannibalism can be beautiful when portrayed as a means to satisfy a need to be touched, seen, felt in a way that is deeper and more devastating
Today I present to you an absolutely non-delusional analysis I’ve made for over a year now. The song “Man on the Moon” by Alan Walker and Benjamin Ingrosso reminds me of Luke Skywalker and Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader’s story in the events of the Original Trilogy. The more I listened to this song, the more I felt it was made for them so I will proceed to explain:
“What happens in dreams where we fly?”
It’s the first line in the song, and casually one of the first introductions that is given to us about Luke’s character. He feels stuck, head full of dreams about flying away from the desert lands of Tatooine into the wonders of the galaxy
“Never been as high as tonight”
The battle of Yavin. Not only is Luke high up in the sky, but it’s a high point in his life. It’s the start of his long journey on a crucial mission which he succeeds, but that comes with pressure
“Staring through a window in time for someone to show me what I’m like”
The forever iconic horizon scene. The horizon acts as a window in time through which Luke stares into nothing and everything, thinking about the future that could await him. He hopes to find answers to all the questions he has about his past but everything just seems to make him more confused
“He said hello, it’s like a mirror in the sky”
The vision in the cave. When Darth Vader’s helmet falls to the ground and explodes, Luke sees his own face inside. That’s the mirror of his fear, the reflection of what he could become
“Oh boy, we looking good tonight and I just don’t understand”
Luke’s first duel with Darth Vader on Bespin in which he decides to tell him the truth, the big revelation. He is his father and this stuns him as well as his emotions. At that moment Luke is vulnerable physically and emotionally: defenseless, one hand and his weapon missing, clinging onto a bar to keep himself from falling and fighting to deny what has just been told to him. Vader tries to use this vulnerability as a way of turning Luke, but he can’t understand his restraint as if saying “Imagine how great it would be if we could rule the galaxy together as father and son, I don’t understand why you won’t cave into temptation and join the dark side”
“I met the man on the moon”
Initially Luke thought that the Death Star was a moon. That makes Vader, the man on the Death Star, the man on the moon
“I met the man on the moon, he wore his hat to the side”
When Vader asks Luke to remove his helmet so he can look at him with his own eyes for the first and last time
“I met the man on the moon, he asked if I had a light”
This part is difficult to explain, but it’s in Vader’s last moments that he understands Luke “gave him light” (made him understand that there was still good in him) but it was too late
“He told us to hold it together, we’re falling apart”
When Vader tells Luke that he was right. “You were right, you were right about me. Tell your sister you were right” acts as a sort of reassurance and a way of letting him know that nothing was in vain. Yes, his death couldn’t be prevented, but now he would die as a good man. They are both falling apart in different senses: Vader is literally falling apart, falling into his inevitable death. Luke is emotionally falling apart, grieving for the death of the man he saved but couldn’t save at the same time
“Lost, all my tears have turned to dust”
The Ewok celebration is seemingly a time to celebrate freedom, the threats of the Empire are finally gone. Happiness arises while Luke tries to process what he just lived, he feels lost. The dust can represent the ashes of the fire in which his father is being burned
“Maybe somebody is calling us, the man on the moon”
This can represent two scenes:
The one where Luke is talking to Leia about how he must face Vader and try to turn him back to the light. His instinct is calling for him to go and attempt to save their father, the man on the moon
And the one where Luke sees the force ghosts of his former mentors and his father. His father out of his suit, not as Darth Vader anymore, but as Anakin Skywalker
English is not my first language so there might be some mistakes, but I needed to share this and finally get it out of my system
So I was listening to Madds Buckley’s ‘Sunset on Summerville’ Album about MHA and couldn’t help but notice that a lot of the songs could fit Umbrella Academy characters. I wrote this in like five minutes so it may be a bit jumbled but I hope you enjoyed.
One/Luther to me is Scotch Tape and Cellophane. The first verse when taken at face value is frustrated with the stickiness of the tape, forcing the singer to suffer while unwrapping the gift. I thought of this like the struggle of Luther and Reginald. Everything Reginald did stuck to Luther and even though his intentions were clear, he wanted his kids to suffer and Luther to be hidden away from the world. The rest of the song is more silly and loving, which shows the character growth Luther went through. He started as a leader type but grew into a very silly and loving character and the transition is mirrored in the song.
Two/Diego would be Little Big Boy. I originally thought that this would fit Five but listening to the song more and more made me change my opinion. Diego has this need to be seen, a need to prove himself. This is shown in his conflict with Luther and his vigilantism. He’s so determined to show everyone that he is the best, due to the fact that he feels as though he is a small fish in the metaphorical pond. The metaphor for water also fits with him since his power in the comics is breathing underwater but that’s less relevant to the comparison. He always wants something out of his reach, something bigger than him, saving JFK, being Number One in the Umbrella Academy. His desperation to prove himself makes him seem like a child vying for the approval of his father even well into adulthood, hence the ‘Little Big Boy.”
Three/Allison is Ambrosia Wine; she can give pleasure or pain, she can rumor someone to shoot themselves, but also to fall in love with her. Her power is quite literally giving people temptations and making them give into them. She is also known by many names and epithets due to her acting career. You cannot deny her, she is quite literally an urge you cannot ignore. This comparison is pretty self explanatory but it’s cool to draw it anyway.
Four/Klaus is Hawk in The Night. This one is more of a broad commentary of how Reginald wanted him to be. Hargreaves wanted Klaus to be powerful, to be obedient. The song is sung from the perspective of someone telling Hawks about how they are happy how he lost himself in his training and childhood, likely his handler. While Klaus didn’t meet the expectations set for him, he lost himself in drugs. The phrase ‘we raised you right’ comes up many times and it shows the self righteousness felt by both Hargreaves and the Commission. Reginald wanted to train Klaus so that he had the potential to be Number One and in doing so caused Klaus to lose his childhood and to shove down himself, desperately clawing at the world that wronged him. Hargreaves wanted him to be empty and emotionless, obedient like One was, and in doing so raised him ‘right,’ with days in the Mausoleum and traumatizing him so much that he had to turn to drugs and not tell anyone he was struggling because both him and Reginald had so much pride.
Five would be Child of Ashes. The warped sound of the song highlights the fact that he’s so much that his mind is a bit twisted. He is a child of ashes and without a home, raised in the apocalypse where his only company was burned buildings and the memory of his dead siblings. The song can also be seen as the manipulatings of the Handler. Telling him that his family won’t care for him now that he’s killed so many, and that he would be better off staying with them. The last line ‘We can watch the world decay,’ only reinforces this. The Handler wants him to stay and watch as his family dies again, in the same inevitable way. He has nowhere to run, his only home for so long was the ashes of the world’s end. The song is only about a minute and a half long so there isn’t much to analyze but it’s sad in its brevity.
Six/Ben is Sunset On Summerville. The sun is brought up again and again, a metaphor for life, the sunset and night being its opposite death. Ben is waiting for Klaus to realize that life is worth living, waiting with him. He is in twilight, the area between life and death, and everyday he is being called to the beyond, but he won’t give up on Klaus. The moon, or death indeed casts a cold light, we see this in the other ghosts that Klaus interacts with, it is so easy to give in to the despair but Ben finds comfort in his brother, the moons frigidity ‘only lasts the night’ but Klaus is there, a warmth or a beacon, a light like the sun of life. This reminds Ben that waiting is worth it. Waiting for Klaus to get sober, to stop being scared of his own power. While Ben longs to live again, he accepts the fact that he can’t, but seeing his siblings live and grow is enough for him to evade the cold embrace of death totally.
Seven/Viktor is Reach. This is actually what got me thinking of this whole thing. He is jealous of his siblings, she wants the spotlight they have. He wants the powers, the acknowledgment from their father. He works so hard, becoming exceptional at the violin, but it is impossible to become exceptional in the eyes of Reginald. He is constantly asking himself what he is doing wrong and when it will be his turn to be in the spotlight. He writes his book to try and lash out and get that spotlight, but instead it makes everyone shun him. He wants his life to be easy, while reaching for something he thinks is out of his grasp. He is left behind, his siblings have training, missions, but he has isolation and his violin. He is bitter, and in Season 1 this is very apparent. He harbors so much anger and frustration that it overflows into all of his actions. Also, fun little factoid, during the line ‘Why can’t I excel at something…like you’ like you is repeated six times, six times for his six other siblings who have powers.
If I had talents in creating edits or art I would make videos of these characters to these songs but alas. Hope this makes sense!
growing up is realizing that dipcifica was actually a pretty damn good ship and holy shit i totally misjudged this pairing.
i never really liked dipcifica mainly because of how it got represented by the fandom, but looking back on it, it would've made a lot of sense and it would've been beneficial for both of them to date each other. and even in a completely platonic sense, their dynamic worked well enough that they could've done a lot more together.
dipper is a very nerdy awkward guy, clearly. he likes solving mysteries and sometimes he gets a little in over his head because of it. and his silly little awkward teenage love life reflects all of these things. that little shrimp was disney's #1 simp, it's actually insane. whenever he'd start to fall for a girl it'd end up going pretty terribly because he'd have no idea how to just act like himself and he'd also become a little bit of a jerk. (i'm not trying to like dog on dipper btw. he's just a kid and these are all understandable flaws, especially at his age and at the time period gravity falls took place in). however, with pacifica, a lot of these flaws are manageable solely because of how they're introduced to each other. dipper hates pacifica at first and wants nothing to do with her, but eventually they're forced to work together and realize "huh. we actually make a really good team." for dipper, this gradual building of a relationship is really beneficial to him. he wouldn't just go head-first into simping for some random girl and he'd also learn to respect her as a person and realize when he's being a little bit of a dick. being with pacifica, platonically or romantically (though personally i think romantically would strengthen their pros more but thats just my personal taste), would've helped dipper become a better person.
this goes for pacifica as well. pacifica's homelife is extremely controlling and it's what groomed her into becoming the mean girl that she's first presented as. as the show continues though, it's clear that she doesn't really want to be mean to anybody. she only acts spoiled because she doesn't know what else she can act like. she wants to connect to people but she's been so forced into this fake rich life that she has no idea how to be genuine with anybody. that's why her having a connection to dipper is so important. dipper is a little blunt, and he especially won't hide that from pacifica because he initially hates her and her family's lifestyle, so this'll eventually help pacifica realize "oh shit. i'm kind of a dick. my family are kind of huge dicks." and we do end up seeing this from her in "Northwest Mansion Mystery". she learns how to be herself, learns who "herself" even means, and learns to stand up for who she is when she figures that out. also pacifica's pretty damn smart???? especially socially???? she could absolutely help dipper do a lot of things when it comes to mystery solving, and with her status it'll most likely be things that dipper could never pull off and never even thought about because that's just what he's used to. they'd both end up learning a lot from each other because they'd be dragged into environments that they're not familiar with, but the other is. and their different perspectives/lifestyles would help the other view their environment in a new light.
not only is their relationship genuinely really beneficial to the both of them, but i also just know that their dialogue and scenes with each other would be so damn silly i can't not say yes to it anymore. i also just personally like headcanoning them both as bisexual so that's a plus for me.
anyways, tldr: i was wrong about dipcifica and its actually really good, i just think people should really analyze their relationship more since the way the fandom presents it (or how ive personally seen the fandom present it) is a little icky and shallow at least in my opinion. yay for dipcifica being silly little goobers :3
an analogical analysis from an intrulogical idiot
as a newly converted analogical enjoyer and orange side/dark side logan truther i feel the need to mention that their arcs FUCKING MIRROR EACHOTHER. I AM SO NORMAL ABOUT THEM. so because i have absolutely nNO life i am going to give you, unlucky scroller, unwitting follower or one of the folks who followed me for invader zim, the play-by-play of these emo nerds.
so
in the beginning (only going from the start of the series) they were admittedly at odds, but not as much as say, virgil and princey or logan and patton. the first time (to my recollection) that they interact outside of the group setting is the negative thinking episode where they debate, in which virgil (to my recollection) receives the first positive feedback from any of the lightsides. now, at this point in the series, logan is still relatively respected and listened to by the lightsides and thomas while virgil isnt, given he's a darkside its not that surprising. in this period logan gets progressively more and more ignored and brushed off, slowly but still, an important piece in this timeline that i dont think is recognized enough is mind vs heart in which is the first of MANY times he is forced to compromise or back down to keep the peace. in the same time however, more and more virgils points are heard out and taken into account and compromised with (dark side of disney, alone on valentines day, etc) for virgil being compromised with is a step towards being heard, for logan being forced to compromise is a means to shut him up.
then excepting/accepting anxiety happens. OH BOY! i feel the need to point out that our bespectacled boy very much does his best to help the situation by providing hard facts that "no anxiety=bad". but the consequences of this episode should also be mentioned, that being, when virgil gains a seat at the metaphorical-but-also-probably-literal-given-this-series table, logan's is all but ripped out from under him. this is shown in the episodes immediately following, in which patton copies logans logo (minor but should still be said), being forced to be stage hand in can lying be good, etc BUT something i skipped over on purpose so i could talk about it here
THE FUCKING NOSTALGIA 2 PARTER (aka 38:33 seconds of why patton is my 2nd least favourite side) now before i continue, do note i am relentlessly biased about how based logan is in this episode because his advice in it prevented my own anxiety spiral SO BE WARNED. so, in this episode logan suggests that partaking in recreational nostalgia could help thomas cope with being reminded of his breakup, this leads to the whole crew (+ janus who was probably in disguise as roman but i digress) going on a field trip to pattons room. this causes virgil to freak out and logan likely blaming himself for hurting his anxious associate because of his mistake (likely associating this with his other mistake of misdefining infinitesimal and that might be why he doesnt like to be reminded of it but thats just a theory A FILM THEO-) so logan leaves and lets everyone else sort shit out, starting a pattern in which instead of causing what he perceives as unnecessary conflict logan attempts to remove himself from the situation at all costs, while virgil becomes more vocal when he's uncomfortable with an idea or plan.
then a bit later things continue going downhill for logan with his contributions being more ignored and solutions dismissed, becoming more vocal, confrontational, aggressive and frustrated when he is pushed aside (sound like a certain early arc anxious side anyone?) this period also features an odd 2 episode alliance between logan and roman that i still dont quite understand but feel like it is worth noting. also during this time virgil generally doesnt show up in an imprtant role for a while for whatever reason (truly the episodes, why do we wake up through learning about ourselves fundamentally confound me) also during the period of crofters the musical going forward logan fixates on being taken seriously more than usual. now one of my least favourite and simultaneously favourite episode.....
LEARNING NEW THINGS ABOUT OURSELVES!!!! MY BELOATHED!!!!!! THIS IS THE EPISODE THAT STARTED MY 3 MONTH LONG PUPPET OBSESSION (DONT ASK)!!!!!!!!! now while i will gladly go into more detail about my thoughts on this episode at a later date i'll do a quick run down. thomas calls out that logan has a temper in the overlap bit (orange side probably= anger temper= logan therefore anger= logan and logan probably= orange), logan rebounds like a goddamn kickball from the prior episode into desperately trying to prove that he is serious, logan is a LOT more resistant to compromise than usual, while virgil just rolls with it when earlier in the series the opposite would be true, logan and roman are back to fighting as usual, and thomas says that virgil doesnt have to go puppet if he doesnt want to but literally everyone peer pressures logan to. i will go more in depth on this episode later, mark my words fam(ILY).
now, the next several episodes (besides are there healthy distractions, which has some adorable analogical btw) follow the format of "darkside pulls up/patton in the plushie episode, puts logan in their crosshairs, silences him for the episode, problem eventually fixes" (listen as much as i ADORE svs: redux, the amount of disrespect for logan in it is lethal to my system)
to summarize
1 for virgil being compromised with is a step towards being heard, for logan being forced to compromise is a means to shut him up.
2 when virgil gains a seat at the metaphorical-but-also-probably-literal-given-this-series table, logan's is all but ripped out from under him.
3 a pattern starts in which instead of causing what he perceives as unnecessary conflict logan attempts to remove himself from the situation at all costs, while virgil becomes more vocal when he's uncomfortable with an idea or plan.
4 logan becomes a LOT more resistant to compromise than usual, while virgil just rolls with it when earlier in the series the opposite would be true
5 thomas says that virgil doesnt have to go puppet if he doesnt want to but literally everyone peer pressures logan to
... am i the only one who sees this??? their character arcs are going in opposite directions!!!!!!!! if we analyze this trend, we might be able to gleam where logans arc is going next!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I wrote a reply to this post but OP has deleted it and even though I should probably leave well enough alone, it got to me that I could have sworn I saw this post months ago and then realized it was actually from yesterday. This is a long reply so I'm putting it under a cut, but after I went to OP's blog and saw a post from them complaining how mean everyone was to them on this post, I replied to say I'm sorry if they got any anon hate I don't know about but otherwise none of the comments on this post were mean or hateful, they just disagreed with OP. I pointed out that this is partly because they cited non-canon events as canon, and OP immediately blocked me (this may be why I can't reblog the post even from another user, though that's not how tumblr usually works so who knows). I can't help but feel that OP's post was made in bad faith, as a result, and I've seen enough people on this hellsite who are more interested in protecting their egos than admit when they could have been approached something more thoughtfully, so I'm diving in. If you're going to say a character "is very interesting to study" while doing the exact opposite, then you'd better have the critical analysis skills and textual evidence to back it up.
I think OP has some misconceptions that are frustratingly common, and seem to stem from people not having read the books, or not read them for a long time, and conflating the movies with canon. While I mostly agree with the replies above, I want to take this opportunity to cite the text to refute some of OP's points. I often forget details from the text, but I choose to either look them up before asserting unconfirmed points as fact (Potter Search is a great tool, or you can just do a ctrl+F search if you have the books digitally), or else I usually state clearly that I'm not sure if I remember something correctly and don't have the spoons to look it up.
I saw OP say in the comments in response to someone arguing their points:
"that's your interpretation, I have mine, I think both can coexist within the material we are given."
It doesn't sit right with me that so many people think that referring to their subjective memory of what the text meant to them is the same as actually citing it and offering an explanation. OP's interpretation can't exist within the material given, because some of it doesn't exist in the material at all, and you can't interpret what isn't there. OP is essentially claiming to have done critical analysis, and although no one is required to always critique a text analytically on a tumblr post, I find it upsetting when people claim to do so while failing to cite a single source to support their argument. To me it sounds like someone trying to pass off a creative writing essay as an academic research paper, and in an age of rampant propaganda and knee-jerk reblogs that eschew critical thinking, I feel an almost compulsive need to go through OP's reply and argue it with the textual evidence they conveniently avoided, if for no other reason than to show why it's important to discern between loosely formed opinions and informed ones.
I also want to explain why I don't accept the films as canon, because while I do think that canon can exist across several mediums (such as with Good Omens, in which at least one of the writers of the text is directly involved in writing the TV series), I don't think that applies to Harry Potter because the original author was only marginally involved in the films, in only a consultant role, and had little input on the writing. The HP films are an interpretation as written from the perspective of Steve Kloves, except for OoTP, which was written by Michael Goldenberg. I've gone into it on other posts, but suffice to say these interpretations did not prioritize story and character development and were often influenced by pressure from the studio to prioritize marketing opportunities over storytelling. Important elements like foreshadowing and themes were not carried over from the text to the screen. These changes affected the storytelling significantly and left out crucial elements. This, combined with the films having been written with little to no involvement from the original author, is why I feel the films can't be taken as canon. This doesn't mean they can't be enjoyed by any means, just that they scenes that appear in the films but not in the text, or are presented differently on screen than in the text, are not a reasonable basis for character analysis.
And now, on to OP's ask:
"I think he is a very good representation of a man who felt insecure in his manhood; his male ego was permanently wounded by James' bullying and he decided to make it everyone else's problem by being the most insufferable teacher at Hogwarts."
The first thing we have to establish is that the books are told from Harry's perspective, so we have to take narrative bias into account. Calling Snape "the most insufferable teacher at Hogwarts" is a subjective statement and I can only assume it's based in Harry's biased perspective as narrator, given that he and Snape have a bad relationship from the outset. I have a brief analysis here about how Snape dislikes Harry because in their first class together he interprets Harry's ignorance of the course material as a lack of curiosity and appreciation for his gifts as a wizard, while also recognizing something of his own experiences with childhood poverty and abuse in Harry. Harry, being ignorant of these factors, just feels singled out for hate by a strict teacher, and their relationship deteriorates throughout the rest of the series, until the end of the final book.
To pull back from the narrative bias, let's look at some of the other teachers are Hogwarts:
McGonagall:
“Miss Granger, you foolish girl, how could you think of tackling a mountain troll on your own?” Hermione hung her head. Harry was speechless. Hermione was the last person to do anything against the rules, and here she was, pretending she had, to get them out of trouble. It was as if Snape had started handing out sweets. “Miss Granger, five points will be taken from Gryffindor for this,” said Professor McGonagall. “I’m very disappointed in you. If you’re not hurt at all, you’d better get off to Gryffindor Tower. Students are finishing the feast in their Houses.”
Philosopher's Stone, Ch. 10.
“I’m disgusted,” said Professor McGonagall. “Four students out of bed in one night! I’ve never heard of such a thing before! You, Miss Granger, I thought you had more sense. As for you, Mr. Potter, I thought Gryffindor meant more to you than this. All three of you will receive detentions — yes, you too, Mr. Longbottom, nothing gives you the right to walk around school at night, especially these days, it’s very dangerous — and fifty points will be taken from Gryffindor.” “Fifty?” Harry gasped — they would lose the lead, the lead he’d won in the last Quidditch match. “Fifty points each,” said Professor McGonagall, breathing heavily through her long, pointed nose.
Philosopher's Stone, Ch. 15
In just the first book we see McGonagall punish Hermione for successfully defending herself against a troll and take house points, then sends her back to her common room without getting medical attention, as if a ten year old can be responsible for assessing how badly they're hurt. A few chapters later McGonagall takes several hundred points from students in her own house (more than we see any other teacher do at one time throughout the series), and assigns the students detention on top of it. As we later see in the same chapter, the detentions aren't even served with her directly, but instead the children - again, ten years old - are sent into the Forbidden Forest at night with only Hagrid to protect them, to hunt down whatever creature is vicious and cunning enough to kill unicorns.
Although it's said that Snape favors the students in his own house, he doesn't seem to be the only one:
“Potter's been sent a broomstick, Professor,” said Malfoy quickly. “Yes, yes, that’s right,” said Professor Flitwick, beaming at Harry. “Professor McGonagall told me all about the special circumstances, Potter. And what model is it?” “A Nimbus Two Thousand, sir,” said Harry, fighting not to laugh at the look of horror on Malfoy’s face. “And it’s really thanks to Malfoy here that I’ve got it,” he added.
Philosopher's Stone, Ch. 10
Not only did McGonagall make an exception to school practices and allow Harry on his house Quidditch team despite being a first year, she used either school funds or her own (unclear) to purchase a first-rate broom for him. We know the school has brooms, as first years are not allowed their own and they are provided for flying lessons, and because “Harry had heard Fred and George Weasley complain about the school brooms” (PS ch. 9). And yet, McGonagall ensures Harry has his own broom, and an expensive one, new enough to be the show model in a shop window in Diagon Alley a few months earlier:
“Several boys of about Harry’s age had their noses pressed against a window with broomsticks in it. ‘Look,’ Harry heard one of them say, ‘the new Nimbus Two Thousand - fastest ever -”
-Philosopher's Stone, Ch. 5
If we're discussing which teachers are Hogwarts are the most "insufferable" then we also have to talk about Hagrid, who might mean well and be affectionate, but is also irresponsible and dangerous.
In Philosopher's Stone, Hagrid:
Punishes Dudley, a child, for his parents' offenses, the final straw being his father insulting Dumbledore (Ch. 4). While Hagrid acknowledges that he shouldn't have lost his temper, he also admits that his intention had been to turn Dudley fully into a pig.
Hatches a dragon in his cabin (Ch. 14), tries to raise it illegally and against the animal's need of care, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione (again, ten year olds) have to fix the situation and get Ron's brother to find some friends to take the dragon away safely and prevent Hagrid losing his job (Ch. 14). In the process Hagrid endangers himself as well as the children, and it's because of this that McGonagall gives them detention and deducts hundreds of house points. Hagrid not only allows the children to endanger themselves for his sake, but to be punished and subsequently ostracized by their peers also for his sake.
The reason he even has a dragon is, as we find out in Ch. 16, because he was foolish enough to accept it from a faceless stranger in exchange for unwittingly divulging the secret to getting past the three headed dog guarding the Philosopher's Stone (and the stranger later turns out to be Quirrel/Voldemort).
In Prisoner of Azkaban, Hagrid:
Starts his first lesson with a volatile creature (Ch. 6) and, although Malfoy acted irresponsibly, Hagrid was nevertheless the teacher and responsible for providing course material consistent with the experience level and maturity of his students' age.
Gets drunk and has to be taken care of by Harry, Ron, and Hermione (again, children) (Ch. 6)
Skipping ahead to Order of the Phoenix ch. 30, we find out Hagrid
Compromised his return from the mission Dumbledore sent him on by bringing a giant back to England.
Brought said giant into the school grounds and left him in the Forbidden Forest.
Asks Harry and Hermione (still children) to look after him if Hagrid is sacked.
Although Hagrid means well, his actions are consistently thoughtless and irresponsible, requiring those around him - often Harry, Ron, and Hermione - to fix the damage he causes. Although I think it remains subjective which teacher at Hogwarts is the "most insufferable" I think Hagrid is a strong enough candidate to qualify OP's interpretation of Snape holding that title as extremely contestable. Of course, since the books are presented through the lens of Harry's narrative bias, and he's fond of Hagrid, respects McGonagall, and dislikes Snape, an uncritical reading could lead one to OP's conclusions. However, a more objective analysis of the text shows that many teachers at Hogwarts are strict, punitive, biased, and wreak havoc on students in ways that make the Snape's actions look fairly tame, or at least the norm. And this is excluding an analysis of various DADA professors like Lockhart and Crouch/Moody, who were insufferable in their own rights (Lockhart was smarmy and dishonest to the point it risked students' lives; Crouch/Moodly transfigured a child into a ferret and humiliated him with torture as a disciplinary measure and deliberately triggered Neville's trauma in class).
OP continues their reply to say:
Add to this that he is a halfblood and only his mother was around, iirc?
They don't recall correctly. Snape, whose father was a muggle and whose mother was a witch, was indeed a half-blood (as is evidenced by him being revealed to be the Half-Blood Prince - I assume I don't need to cite a source as this is a pretty well-known fact and the literal title of an entire HP book, but should you need a reference it's in Ch. 28 of HBP). Both his parents were around in his childhood:
Snape staggered - his wand flew upwards, away from Harry - and suddenly Harry’s mind was teeming with memories that were not his: a hook-nosed man was shouting at a cowering woman, while a small dark-haired boy cried in a corner …
-Order of the Phoenix, Ch. 26
‘How are things at your house?’ Lily asked. A little crease appeared between his eyes. ‘Fine,’ he said. ‘They’re not arguing any more?’ ‘Oh, yes, they’re arguing,’ said Snape. He picked up a fistful of leaves and began tearing them apart, apparently unaware of what he was doing. ‘But it won’t be that long and I’ll be gone.’ ‘Doesn’t your dad like magic?’ ‘He doesn’t like anything, much,’ said Snape.
-Deathly Hallows, Ch. 33
We know that Snape's father was around because he's mentioned both in Snape's memories in OoTP that Harry accidentally invades during an Occlumency lesson, and when we see in Snape's memories that he gives Harry as he dies. Lily asks about his home life by referring to both his parents, implying that his dad is a consistent presence at home. We also know from JK Rowling that Snape's father "didn't hold back when it came to the whip" but this is supplementary and not mentioned in canon, so I don't expect anyone to refer to it when analyzing the text, I'm just adding it as bonus material.
Continuing on with OP's reply:
Snape, Voldemort and Harry all act like foils of each other in that sense, but whereas Voldemort fixated on his blood status as the main reason for his insecurities, Snape fixated on Lily.
So much to unpack here. Firstly, all of this should be backed up by examples from the text, as they are subjective readings that have significant bearing on character analysis.
Snape, Harry, and Voldemort don't act like foils of each other. For one thing, a character doesn't act like a foil, a character either is or isn't one. That being said, I don't know OP's background and there could be a language barrier because English isn't everyone's first language, I'm just being pedantic. Even with that in mind, the statement remains incorrect. A foil is a literary device - a character who contrasts with another character, often with the protagonist. It is not a choice a character makes or an action they take.
In Philosopher's Stone Snape is set up as a foil to Harry in order to misdirect the reader from suspecting the real villain, Quirrel/Voldemort. Snape is presented as secretive, sneaky, and nefarious, contrasting Harry's role as a protagonist who is outspoken, honest, and brave. As the series progresses, Snape, along with Voldemort, are eventually shown to have more parallels than contrasts with Harry. Snape and Voldemort were born into muggle poverty, and although Harry was raised in a middle class home by the Dursleys, they thrust poverty and neglect onto him in a way that parallels his childhood of neglect and want with that of Snape and Voldemort. Snape's father was abusive, as was Harry's guardian, Vernon Dursley. Harry, Voldemort, and Snape all had traumatic experiences growing up in muggle environments. If anything, Snape and Voldemort might be foils to Harry in that they both harbored resentment for their muggle fathers in ways that signified the separation between the wizarding and muggle world, while Harry's experiences with the Dursleys didn't color his image of muggles in a comparable way.
The contrast between Harry, Snape, and Voldemort is in the way each of them deals with their trauma. As Dumbledore says:
"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."
-Chamber of Secrets, Ch. 18
This becomes one of the overarching themes of the HP series, Harry, Snape, and Voldemort are all examples of how their choices took them to such different places in life from their comparable childhoods.
At school Voldemort was a handsome boy with talent, intelligence, and the recommendations of his teachers, but he chose to pursue power instead of success:
“He reached the seventh year of his schooling with, as you might have expected, top grades in every examination he had taken. All around him, his classmates were deciding which jobs they were to pursue once they had left Hogwarts. Nearly everybody expected spectacular things from Tom Riddle, prefect, Head Boy, winner of the Special Award for Services to the School. I know that several teachers, Professor Slughorn amongst them, suggested that he join the Ministry of Magic, offered to set up appointments, put him in touch with useful contacts. He refused all offers. The next thing the staff knew, Voldemort was working at Borgin and Burkes.”
Half-Blood Prince, Ch. 20
Snape chose to become a Death Eater for reasons we can only assume. We know he was in Slytherin during an era when Voldemort was in power and many of his allies had children in Slytherin house. At least two of Snape's dorm-mates, Mulciber and Avery, are canonically acknowledged to have become Death Eaters (both are present at the Ministry when Harry and his friends fight the Death Eaters in the Department of Mysteries in OoTP Ch. 35). It's unclear whether Snape chose to become a Death Eater out of admiration for them or out of peer pressure, or perhaps a lack of other options, while at school:
'… thought we were supposed to be friends?’ Snape was saying. ‘Best friends?’ ‘We are, Sev, but I don’t like some of the people you’re hanging around with! I’m sorry, but I detest Avery and Mulciber! Mulciber! What do you see in him, Sev? He’s creepy! D’you know what he tried to do to Mary Macdonald the other day?’ Lily had reached a pillar and leaned against it, looking up into the thin, sallow face. ‘That was nothing,’ said Snape. ‘It was a laugh, that’s all -‘ ‘It was Dark Magic, and if you think that’s funny -‘ ‘What about the stuff Potter and his mates get up to?’ demanded Snape. His colour rose again as he said it, unable, it seemed, to hold in his resentment.
-Deathly Hallows, Ch. 33
It's unclear what Snape thinks of Avery and Mulciber, as his reply to Lily is downplaying but doesn't defend their actions. We see Snape's indecisiveness later in the argument he has with Lily after he calls her a Mudblood:
'It’s too late. I’ve made excuses for you for years. None of my friends can understand why I even talk to you. You and your precious little Death Eater friends - you see, you don’t even deny it! You don’t even deny that’s what you’re all aiming to be! You can’t wait to join You-Know-Who, can you?’ He opened his mouth, but closed it without speaking. ‘I can’t pretend any more. You’ve chosen your way, I’ve chosen mine.’ ‘No - listen, I didn’t mean -‘ ‘- to call me Mudblood? But you call everyone of my birth Mudblood, Severus. Why should I be any different?'
-Deathly Hallows, Ch. 33
Although Snape does ultimately choose to become a Death Eater, we see in his reply to Lily about both Avery and Mulciber and later her assumption that they all want to become Death Eaters that Snape doesn't argue for or against her accusations, but instead is evasive and unsure of himself. He opens his mouth to speak when she accuses him of wanting to become a Death Eater, but then closes it again without saying anything - he can neither argue against her point, nor state clearly, let alone with any kind of conviction, that this is indeed his ambition. It can be argued that it's the passivity of his choice that lands him with a Dark Mark on his arm, and it's the active choice he makes to risk his life in order to defect from Voldemort's ranks and turn spy that defines his character and without which Harry could not have defeated Voldemort.
Harry, as the protagonist, is also significantly defined by the theme of choice:
'But, sir,’ said Harry, making valiant efforts not to sound argumentative, ‘it all comes to the same thing, doesn’t it? I’ve got to try and kill him, or -‘ ‘Got to?’ said Dumbledore. ‘Of course you’ve got to! But not because of the prophecy! Because you, yourself, will never rest until you’ve tried! We both know it! Imagine, please, just for a moment, that you had never heard that prophecy! How would you feel about Voldemort now? Think!’ Harry watched Dumbledore striding up and down in front of him, and thought. He thought of his mother, his father and Sirius. He thought of Cedric Diggory. He thought of all the terrible deeds he knew Lord Voldemort had done. A flame seemed to leap inside his chest, searing his throat. ‘I’d want him finished,’ said Harry quietly. ‘And I’d want to do it.’ ‘Of course you would!’ cried Dumbledore. ‘You see, the prophecy does not mean you have to do anything! But the prophecy caused Lord Voldemort to mark you as his equal … in other words, you are free to choose your way, quite free to turn your back on the prophecy! But Voldemort continues to set store by the prophecy. He will continue to hunt you … which makes it certain, really, that -' ‘That one of us is going to end up killing the other,’ said Harry. ‘Yes.'
-Half-Blood Prince, Ch. 33
There's a clear point made by the author through Dumbledore as her proxy here, that choice is what matters, not fate. It's Harry's choices that make him the person he is and lead him to eventually defeat Voldemort. While Snape, Voldemort, and Harry all can be contrasted through the lens of their choices, this does not make them foils, as it is the the theme of choice and how it is exemplified by each character that makes them unique, but their experiences and many of their character traits (boldness, bravery, a personal sense of conviction) that make them parallels of one another. Each of them occupies their own place on the spectrum between the light and dark that the series establishes, Voldemort at the dark end, Harry at the light, and Snape in the grey area between them.
OP goes on to say:
His character is all about male entitlement, he was obsessed with her at Hogwarts and then showed to have no boundaries as he went into her house to cradle her dead body in front of her traumatized kid.
There's a lot to unpack here, and it's particularly challenging because you can't provide textual evidence for something that didn't happen in the text. After the above scene from Ch. 33 of DH in which Lily ends her friendship with Snape, we never see them interact again:
'No - listen, I didn’t mean -‘ ‘- to call me Mudblood? But you call everyone of my birth Mudblood, Severus. Why should I be any different?’ He struggled on the verge of speech, but with a contemptuous look she turned and climbed back through the portrait hole … The corridor dissolved, and the scene took a little longer to reform: Harry seemed to fly through shifting shapes and colours until his surroundings solidified again and he stood on a hilltop, forlorn and cold in the darkness, the wind whistling through the branches of a few leafless trees. The adult Snape was panting, turning on the spot, his wand gripped tightly in his hand, waiting for something or for someone …'
-Deathly Hallows, Ch. 33
The scene in the corridor in front of Gryffindor Tower between a fifth year Snape and Lily leads directly into the scene where Snape begs Dumbledore to protect the Potters (which I wrote an analysis of a few months ago but is too long a subject to derail this post for). We see no more interactions between Snape and Lily, and therefore there is no canonical support for the idea that Snape behaved obsessively or failed to respect her boundaries.
There's also no mention of Snape going to Godric's Hollow at all after her death. Snape holding Lily's dead body is only shown in the film version of Deathly Hallows, and as mentioned, the films are not canon. That moment doesn't exist in the text and can't be considered in an analysis of Snape's character. The scene on the hilltop leads directly into the scene of Snape crying in Dumbledore's office:
The hilltop faded, and Harry stood in Dumbledore’s office, and something was making a terrible sound, like a wounded animal. Snape was slumped forwards in a chair and Dumbledore was standing over him, looking grim. After a moment or two, Snape raised his face, and he looked like a man who had lived a hundred years of misery since leaving the wild hilltop. ‘I thought … you were going … to keep her … safe …’ ‘She and James put their faith in the wrong person,’ said Dumbledore. ‘Rather like you, Severus. Weren’t you hoping that Lord Voldemort would spare her?’ Snape’s breathing was shallow.
-Deathly Hallows, Ch. 33
This is the only depiction of Snape immediately following the Potters' deaths. The scene of him cradling Lily's dead body was Steve Kloves' invention and has no basis in canon. If anything, Snape's actions in canon can be interpreted to show that he respected the boundaries Lily set, and that even when her life was at risk he chose to go to Dumbledore - who he thought might kill him on sight - rather than talk to her directly after she ended their friendship. In addition, in all the information the text gives about the night Voldemort fell in Godric's Hollow and Hagrid collected Harry to take him to Privet Drive, there's no mention of Snape whatsoever.
There isn't much in the text to support the interpretation that Snape exemplified male entitlement either. So far we've seen him being as strict, if not milder, than other teachers at the school, his favoritism is also comparable to that of other teachers - implying it's more of a norm than an example of entitlement - and there are no canonical examples to support the argument that he was obsessed with Lily or violated her boundaries. Snape struggles to argue with Lily when she accuses and berates him, and the usual markers of patriarchal entitlement - silencing women, gaslighting, dismissing women's opinions, talking over them - are all nowhere to be found in any of their interactions. The only time we see him lash out at Lily is when he calls her Mudblood (OoTP Ch. 28) which, while inexcusable, he does under traumatic duress, and is not indicative of his usual interactions with her, as exemplified by the fact that she ends their friendship over it. As cited before:
'No - listen, I didn’t mean -‘ ‘- to call me Mudblood? But you call everyone of my birth Mudblood, Severus. Why should I be any different?’
There's a clear implication that Snape has never called her this before. An argument can also be made that it speaks volumes of Lily's own biases, or perhaps her own affection for Snape (who, not long before this, was still her best friend), that she excused this behavior from him when it was directed at others, and only took issue with it when it was directed at herself. That, combined with Lily's own acknowledgment that they were "best friends" shows that Snape's relationship with her was a balanced, consensual one even when it became strained, up until their friendship ended.
Continuing with OP's points:
He only saw Lily as a trophy to be possessed, which you can see from the way he hated Harry, because Harry reminded him Lily wasn't his and that Lily had sex with another man.
There's no support for this in the text anywhere and is pure conjecture. I can appreciate it being OP's headcanon, but it's certainly not a result of studying the text and relying on it to form opinions, but rather seems to be OP projecting pre-conceived notions onto Snape as a character and trying to find justification for it. I've written a whole post extrapolating Snape's first class with Harry, but the tl;dr is that Snape, who grew up in muggle poverty and knew Aunt Petunia enough to guess that Harry didn't fare well in her care when he showed up at school bearing signs of neglect, likely expected Harry to have the same hunger for learning that he himself did at Harry's age. Instead, Harry couldn't answer a single one of his questions and showed no curiosity or enthusiasm towards being a wizard as far as Snape could tell.
Nevertheless, even though Snape did seem to dislike Harry, hate is an awful strong word given that it is revealed at the end of Deathly Hallows that Snape has risked his own life to protect him. This isn't particularly surprising when you consider that this goal was established as early as Philosopher's Stone, when Snape protected him, which Harry initially interpreted as Snape trying to kill him:
Harry couldn’t take it in. This couldn’t be true, it couldn’t. ‘But Snape tried to kill me!’ ‘No, no, no. I tried to kill you. Your friend Miss Granger accidentally knocked me over as she rushed to set fire to Snape at that Quidditch match. She broke my eye contact with you. Another few seconds and I’d have got you off that broom. I’d have managed it before then if Snape hadn’t been muttering a counter-curse, trying to save you.’ ‘Snape was trying to save me?’ ‘Of course,’ said Quirrell coolly. -Philosopher's Stone, Ch. 17
Again, the story is told through the lens of Harry's bias, but that doesn't mean his opinions of Snape reflect Snape's character. As another example, there's an implication in OoTP that Snape, having seen some of the Dursleys' abuse of Harry through his memories during Occlumency lessons, passed this information on in an effort to protect Harry, and that this is the reason why several Order members (Arthur Weasley and Moody in particular) show up at King's Cross at the end of the schoolyear and threaten the Dursleys to stop mistreating him. There seems to be no other explanation in the text for why these adults are suddenly aware of the abuse Harry experiences, except that Snape, who was abused as a child himself, and who is an Order member himself, is the only adult in the series who we see witness Harry's mistreatement firsthand. At no point in the narrative do we see Harry complain about the Dursleys to the adults he trusts or ask them for help, merely to spend his holidays away from them without explanation.
While Snape did indeed dislike Harry and often compared him to his father, his dislike for James had much more significant roots in bullying and trauma than in his concern for Lily's relationship with him. It's established in canon that James Potter and Sirius Black dislike Snape from the outset (as in the scene on the Hogwarts Express in DH Ch. 33). In their fifth year, Sirius - annoyed that Snape is so curious about where Lupin goes each month - tricks Snape into following the tunnel under the Whomping Willow to the Shrieking Shack, as Lupin tells Harry:
'Professor Snape was at school with us. ... Sirius here played a trick on him which nearly killed him, a trick which involved me -‘ Black made a derisive noise. ‘It served him right,’ he sneered. ‘Sneaking around, trying to find out what we were up to … hoping he could get us expelled …' 'Severus was very interested in where I went every month,’ Lupin told Harry, Ron and Hermione. ‘We were in the same year, you know, and we - er - didn’t like each other very much. He especially disliked James. Jealous, I think, of James’s talent on the Quidditch pitch … anyway, Snape had seen me crossing the grounds with Madam Pomfrey one evening as she led me towards the Whomping Willow to transform. Sirius thought it would be - er - amusing, to tell Snape all he had to do was prod the knot on the tree-trunk with a long stick, and he’d be able to get in after me. Well, of course, Snape tried it - if he’d got as far as this house, he’d have met a fully grown werewolf - but your father, who’d heard what Sirius had done, went after Snape and pulled him back, at great risk to his life … Snape glimpsed me, though, at the end of the tunnel. He was forbidden to tell anybody by Dumbledore, but from that time on he knew what I was …'
-Prisoner of Azkaban, Ch. 18
From this we can deduce that Sirius intended for Snape to die, or at least get severely injured, and that even as a grown adult Sirius doesn't regret trying to mete out this punishment to him as retaliation for curiosity. We can also deduce that Lupin was unaware of Sirius' intention and did not consent to be used as a weapon. For his part, Snape never did reveal that Lupin was a werewolf while at school, or even during that school year, until after Lupin ran amok on Hogwarts grounds, endangering others' lives, including Harry's.
There are other meta posts that go into Lupin's insecurities and vulnerabilities, but in short, he was grateful just to be allowed into the school as a student, let alone to have friends, and was in no position to challenge James and Sirius. Even as a prefect he didn't curb their behavior, as we see when he allows James to bully Snape later that year after their O.W.L.s:
'Leave him alone,’ Lily repeated. She was looking at James with every sign of great dislike. ‘What’s he done to you?’ ‘Well,’ said James, appearing to deliberate the point, ‘it’s more the fact that he exists, if you know what I mean …’ Many of the surrounding students laughed, Sirius and Wormtail included, but Lupin, still apparently intent on his book, didn’t, and nor did Lily. ‘You think you’re funny,’ she said coldly. ‘But you’re just an arrogant, bullying toerag, Potter. Leave him alone.’ ‘I will if you go out with me, Evans,’ said James quickly. ‘Go on … go out with me and I’ll never lay a wand on old Snivelly again.'
-Order of the Phoenix, Ch. 28
James acknowledges that he has no real reason to bully Snape and uses violence as a bargaining chip to coerce Lily into going out with him (James' behavior reflects much more entitlement than Snape's, in my opinion). He also chokes Snape with a bar of soap and then assaults him by dangling him upside down and removing his trousers (threatening to remove his underwear but we don't see it happen).
Lily herself refers to James as arrogant, and it's this trait, along with the trauma from James' bullying of him, that Snape perceives in Harry. He doesn't resent Harry for looking like his father because it reminds him that Lily had sex with another man, he resents him for it because of all the trauma James inflicted on him. The conflict-laden relationship between Snape and the Marauders is a significant driver of the story through several of the books and OP seems subjective to the point of being problematic in ignoring it completely and instead focusing Snape's dislike of Harry onto an invented idea of sexual jealousy that doesn't exist in the text.
It's never stated whether Snape had romantic feelings for Lily, or vice versa, only that they were friends. The closest we see to a hint of this is when “The intensity of his [Snape's] gaze made her [Lily] blush," or when “The moment she [Lily] had insulted James Potter, his [Snape's] whole body had relaxed, and as they walked away there was a new spring in Snape’s step …”
Lily's blush could be interpreted as implying she was attracted to him, or conversely that she didn't and felt awkward thinking he might be attracted to her. Similarly, Snape's relief at her insulting James can be interpreted as indicative of his attraction to her, or of him simply being worried about a friend hanging out with people he perceived as dangerous and was relieved to learn she wasn't putting herself in the way of danger by becoming friends with them. Although JK Rowling has said that her intention was for Snape's affections towards Lily to be romantic, and that she may have returned his affection had he not chosen the path he did, this is - like the note about Snape's father whipping him - extratextual and more of an interesting fact than a bit of canon to be extrapolated from the text.
Finally, OP says:
His interest in the Death Eaters was only secondary to his obsession with Lily and I think Lily rejecting him pushed him toward joining the Death Eaters, because, once again, his male ego was bruised and he needed to replace it with something else.
We've already seen that Snape's interest in joining the Death Eaters was a big part of Lily's reason for ending their friendship. Therefore, logically, Lily's decision didn't push him towards becoming a Death Eater, but rather isolated him from having any support system outside of the DEs. She didn't reject him, because rejection is the refusal or dismissal of another person's advances or proposal. They were friends, meaning they had a mutually consensual platonic relationship. Lily therefore didn't reject Snape, she ended their friendship and, as already stated, nothing in canon implies he didn't respect her boundaries.
As we have also seen in canon, Snape was bullied at school and had, at best, a neglectful and dysfunctional home environment in his childhood. In addition, he shared a dorm with students actively interested in becoming Death Eaters, and his one social lifeline away from them was cut off when he called Lily a Mudblood. What OP interprets as Snape's male ego being bruised is actually a much more complex set of social and emotional factors being described throughout the series to eventually reveal the profile of a character - young Snape - who was a vulnerable youth primed for radicalization by a violent faction of zealots. Although the enforcement and upholding of patriarchal norms is often a huge element of these kinds of social movements, that didn't seem to be the driving force for Snape based on everything we learn about his character. Instead, what we see is a boy who comes from abuse, lives in abuse at school, who loses all the support systems that might give him an alternative to the fascist cult he's being radicalized into which - if it's like most hate groups - would have been more than welcome to both take him in and help him cut his ties to anyone else in his life he might escape from them to.
It also goes against the argument that Snape was sexually obsessed with Lily that he continued to risk his life in order to protect her son an defeat her murderer for almost two decades after her death. He knew it would neither bring her back from the dead nor bring about forgiveness, and it goes without saying that sex was no longer an option. Framing Snape's motivation as obsession dismisses the realities of the complex and meaningful relationship we form as people, and the lasting, transformative influence we can have on each other, which is what Snape and Lily's story illustrates.
Finally, OP concludes with:
He remained mysterious up till the end and his back-and-forth with treason was very compelling to read about. So I hate him (as a "person") but he is such a good character narrative-wise and he is very interesting to study
OP openly admits to hating Snape, ie. having a bias against him, while stating he is "interesting to study" - except no part of their answer has shown that they've actually done so. Their arguments are unsupported in several ways, one being that they don't offer any evidence, and the other being that none can be found in the source text. What's ironic is that OP seems to resent Snape's subjective bias against Harry (and misinterpret his reasons for it in baseless ways) while also showing the exact same kind of bias against Snape themselves. You don't have to like a character by any means, but claiming that the kind of unfounded, superficial, and unsupported opinions that OP stated in their response have a basis in any kind of study of his character is ludicrous and an insult to the intelligence of anyone reading it.
Gojo and Toji - the two extremes of the Jujutsu society - How position, power and lineage shapes the very narrative of jujutsu kaisen
A very common occurrence within jujutsu kaisen is the persistence of certain characters. Their relevance to the story even after their death. One of these characters is Toji Fushiguro, often referred to as “the black sheep” of the zenin clan due to his lack of cursed energy.
Gojo and Toji exist as stark parallels to each other. While one was gifted with the strongest technique, one was cursed with no curse energy at all. It depicts the two extremes of unfairness in the jujutsu world, how Toji, despite belonging to an influential clan, was mistreated for something he had no real control over, whereas Gojo was revered for the very same. Both depict a very interesting parallel of how lineage and power truly disbalances the scales in the jujutsu society and plays a very crucial role in determining the fate of a person.
Gojo clan possesses a certain set of techniques that are passed down onto generations of sorcerers, and while there may be the possibility of generational disconnect in terms of hereditary techniques, it still distinguishes the Gojo clan in terms of power and influence. Gojo’s possession of both limitless and six eyes is not determined by any specific factors, rather just his sheer fortune and lineage. Had Satoru belonged to another clan, he would hold no significance to the story.
When we talk about Toji in terms of lineage, his fallout plays a greater role in helping us understand how his lineage led to his ultimate demise, not his lack of cursed energy. His mistreatment occurs simply because he fails to satisfy his position as a man in the zenin clan, a clan whose roots are bound in orthodox ways of conduct. Maki Zenin, is able to flourish as a sorceress because of her severing her roots i.e annihilating the zenin clan that served as an anchor to her existence, thereby uprooting the very curse of lineage upon her.
Toji’s possession of heavenly restriction helps him outstrength Gojo Satoru himself, and Toji serves as a catalyst in making Gojo Satoru untouchable by allowing him access to reverse cursed technique. By strength alone Toji defeats Gojo and later mocks Geto for having the blessing of lineage (a very big gag to the narrative itself)
His departure from the zenin clan ends up making him an unstable hitman who kills for money, while there may have been a period of stability in his life after meeting Megumi’s mother, it is brief and he eventually falls into the same inescapable pit.
Toji’s fallout, not only as a member of the zenin clan, but also as a person, starkly contrasts Gojo’s flourishment as a sorcerer and member of the Gojo clan. Both products of perfect lineage, yet standing on two extremes of unfairness, that renders both helpless to their pre-determined fate.
Toji’s lack of cursed energy rendered him powerless in the eyes of the zenin clan, whereas Gojo’s possession of the limitless and six eyes makes him stand out as the strongest sorcerer of the current era, both standing on the two ends of a scale balanced by position and power alone.
Toji’s position rendered him helpless against the odds of the jujutsu society, who’s ideals are bound in determination of strength through lineage and being a man in the zenin clan took away any possibility of him attaining normalcy in his life. Had Toji belonged to any other bottom of the barrel clan, his lack of cursed energy would not reduce him to being a failure, and he may have been able to live out a normal life. Similarly, had Satoru not been born as a Gojo, he would not have possessed what made him the strongest. He may just have been any other sorcerer.
The unfairness of jujutsu society goes beyond their preference for lineage, it stems from their inability to see beyond their orthodox parameters of judgement that disregards individuality in sorcerers and reduces them to being a measure for power, something that lineage plays a massive role in determining(i.e certain techniques that are considered strong only being heritable through lineage). Whereas an individual’s position in this said lineage also determines how their fate is going to play out.
jjk 271 has convinced me that no famous piece of media can ever have a tolerable fanbase.
To start off, Gojo’s death was actually very beautifully done and not once have i believed that he should’ve come back. One thing that Gojo strived for after Geto’s defection was to create a Jujutsu society that wouldn’t corner their sorcerers as mere weapons and take away their youth. He was a firm believer of the fact that honing strong students would reshape and shake the very foundation of jujutsu society.
We know of Gojo’s inherent weaponisation. But it is not only Gojo who undergoes this objectification and weaponisation, it is actually every sorcerer in the jujutsu society. We don’t see Nanami, Yuki, Gojo or even Yaga get a funeral. It is because of two prominent reasons. One being the fact that the jujutsu society was built upon such shallow beliefs that the death of these sorcerers was simply brushed aside as a common occurrence. They are not offered a “funeral” or a memorial simply because these sorcerers are mere weapons to the jujutsu society and the death of a weapon simply concludes its existence and its period of serving. It is to be discarded, not mourned over, for it is simply a weapon. But another, surprisingly kinder reason, is offered to us by the narrative. As Todo Aoi says, “Grieving over the departed can tarnish their memories. Instead we must carry their will forward.” Through this we are allowed to finally understand the reason for the innumerable Gojo flashbacks during these last few chapters.
Gojo is a character who suffered from loneliness and isolation in his own unique way. It was never something that held him back yet he expresses his want to not be forgotten in the last conversation he had with Yuji. He also expresses his firm belief in his students rather than himself because he is aware that even if HE loses his students won’t. This completely changes the meaning of the infamous “Nah I’d win” panel because he wasn’t talking about his solo victory, but rather his victory as a teacher who raised sorcerers to be stronger than him and of the victory his students would achieve for him.
For a character like Gojo who wants not to be forgotten, Sukuna offers him the much needed solace of remembrance. “I’ll never forget you.” Sukuna ensures that Satoru and the very narrative make note of his choice to remember the sorcerer for the rest of his life. The two strongest sorcerers who exist as complete anti parallels to each other in both ideals and beliefs find a common ground in their shared loneliness that comes with being the strongest.
Satoru’s death was a very deserving and beautiful end for his character. He died while being acknowledged and remembered. He passed on to go south, back to his old self where his happiest memories lay, no other ending would be greater for Satoru Gojo than this.
Secondly, the interpretation of Sukuna and Uraume’s relationship. There was no context given as to who they used to be or where their uncanny companionship stemmed from, throughout the story we only see them as entities of the present, not getting a look into their dynamic during the heian era. The only few panels we get during Yorozu’s part just reestablish Uraume as a dutiful and faithful servant to their lord. So to see Sukuna display such tenderness towards them in the last chapter kind of dismantles our idea of their relationship. Mahito says Sukuna sought revenge for the execution of “that wench.” Then further, Sukuna explains how he had two paths, one with a black haired woman and one with Uraume, he chooses the one with Uraume to begin their lives anew.
In the conclusion of their story, Gege’s choice to keep Sukuna and Uraume’s joint past unexplained was a clever choice to not tarnish the sanctity of their relationship. It allows the reader to interpret their dynamics in whatever way they wish to. Because what is more important than the nature of their relationship, is Sukuna’s openness to understanding and partaking in the act of “love.” You may see it as parental, familial or romantic, it is not the nature that holds significance, it is the act itself.
Personally I like to picture Sukuna as a guardian or authoritative figure who took in Uraume with a guardian like intent to raise them and in this new life, will be able to nurture them with love. But again, the ending is quiet open for everyone’s own interpretation. Its just that i feel for Sukuna, a character who refused to believe in the very concept of love, a guardian-like role would be truly grounding as it wouldn’t impose conditionality on them, like a romantic relationship does. However, as i said, the nature matters less than the act itself.
To argue over the nature of their relationship is simply stupid. People are allowed to have their own interpretations of unspecified relationships, and creating unnecessary arguments over the validity of your own interpretation of their relationship takes away from the very essence of Sukuna and Uraume’s ending.
A very important dynamic people seem to often miss out or gloss over is the one between Gojo and Sukuna. They are both products of the jujutsu society and exist on a pre mounted platform, above everyone else, isolated from the very world around them that renders them untouchable to an inhumane extent. It is the price they pay for being the strongest. Both Gojo and Sukuna, hindered by their clashing beliefs in love and strength, ultimately find common ground in their shared loneliness. To Gojo, the jujutsu society's renewal is a burden he is meant to carry, he was born with his role decided and this role becomes his very identity, similar to Sukuna who loses his name, and his very identity, to a title. He is the two faced spectre, similar to how gojo is, the strongest, the honoured one. They become reduced to mere positions they uphold, the titles that define them find root so deep into their being that they ultimately get reduced to it.
Who is gojo if not the strongest? And who is Sukuna if not the two faced spectre?
This is all i got from "The craving (single version) "
I WONT TRANSLATE TO ENGLISH IM TIRED USE GOOGLE LENS IDK
Basil - BPD headcanons
This is a self indulgent post (maybe a vent?) but I’ve seen that other people headcanon Basil with bpd so I decided to make a more in depth post about it.
Major spoilers btw
Affective (Emotional) Instability
Basil tends to flip between emotions quite quickly. During the final fight, he switches between being gentle and being upset/angry. He first talks calmly to Sunny, then switches to being mad at him for moving away, then trying to be calm again as he tries to take on Sunny’s pain, then of course he ends up fighting Sunny and getting mad at him for trying to stop him. He struggles to keep his anger in and ends up having bursts of anger directed at Sunny, ultimately leading to him badly injuring Sunny.
It’s also implied that Basil had suicidal thoughts since he was about 12 or even before then as he is the one who comes up with the idea to frame Mari’s murder as a suicide by tying the skipping rope into a noose, which again suggests even at a young age he has had difficulty controlling his emotions.
Also, if you assume the Hooligans tell the truth, when Basil goes to the hangout spot, he spontaneously starts screaming and crying for no reason.
Disturbed Patterns of Thinking
Unlike Sunny who chooses to repress the incident, Basil holds onto the guilt. Basil grasps onto the belief that Sunny wasn’t the one who killed Mari, that Something overcame him and that’s what killed Mari and scribbled out the pictures from the photo album, therefore removing the burden of guilt from Sunny. He also sees his Something, even though the reality is nothing is there. But he sees it and feels it’s presence. And the Something is what made him fight Sunny and cut him in the eye. He believes that he is removing Something from Sunny, when in actuality he was just hurting Sunny.
Impulsive Behaviour
It’s not really shown what sort of impulsive things Basil does, but I assume that he probably does or has self harmed considering he knew about suicide from a young age. Also, on the final day, it’s safe to assume his desire to commit suicide was somewhat impulsive. He hadn’t attempted suicide before then (that we know of), but the shock of seeing Sunny again and stress of him leaving likely caused Basil to go over the edge. (And ofc depending on your choices, he may end up actually killing himself. He likely bottled up his pain and stress to the point that it caused him to end his life.)
Unstable Relationships
After the incident, Basil seemed reluctant to study with Aubrey, perhaps out of a fear that she would abandon him like Sunny did. And sadly that fear came to pass when Aubrey mistakenly believed that Basil scribbled out the faces in the photo album. Also, on “two days remaining”, Basil goes back to the hangout spot, likely because he can’t let go of what everyone has. He desperately wants things to go back to normal, when everyone was together.
Basil also refers to the friendships he had with everyone in the past tense, showing he feels as though everyone had left him and they were no longer friends, though Kel assured him of their friendship.
The biggest example of this though is that Basil keeps telling Sunny not to leave him. He feels immense distress and pain whenever Sunny tries to leave this room, probably not helped by the fact he was left alone to deal with Mari’s death alone and also because he didn’t know Sunny was moving until Kel mentioning it casually. This likely isn’t helped by Sunny’s repressed emotions, which may have come across as abandonment to Basil. Going back to the battle, Basil flicks between a desire to save Sunny and rage at Sunny trying to leave him again.
Basil cares deeply about Sunny, so after the incident, having Sunny suddenly hide away caused Basil a great deal of anxiety. Seeing him again 4 years later and learning he would soon be gone again would have only increased that anxiety, which is why Basil gets paranoid about Sunny trying to leave and so repeatedly asks Sunny not to go.
———
Anyways, hopefully this wasn’t insanely inaccurate. My knowledge of bpd is still fairly limited, but I plan to research it more…for no particular reason. Please let me know if you have any thoughts!
Why Royai is Objectively Canon
I love this topic so much and had to enthusiastically yak about it. I’m also nervous making this post… but you know what? Life’s too short to not talk Royai. I said about a week ago that I’d write a post demonstrating why canon material presents romantic Royai as objectively canon. Haha, I don’t believe this is Royai shippers perceiving skewed information for what we want! ^.^
For my perspective, I’m someone who tends not to be drawn to romantic ships, canon or fanon. I rarely ship and I’m almost never gungho about ships. I’m aroace and I find the greatest celebrations in familial platonic and familial relationships. Those are the things I emphasize and look into in my own fictional fixations. I’m slightly cynical by nature that authors intend a close relationship to be implicitly, implied romantic unless there’s obvious sign posts demonstrating that. I’m more likely to argue something implicit isn’t romantic rather than argue it is, honestly. Even if I find myself shipping something (and I do hardcore ship Royai), I keep a strong distinction between what’s canon and what’s fanon, and I don’t care if my ships become canon or not. It doesn’t mean I’m without my bias, but hopefully this gives everyone an angle on what my biases or not are.
Regardless, I firmly believe that Hiromu Arakawa - and in fact every iteration of the FMA franchise - intends Royai to be perceived as romantic interest. It’s written subtly at times, but it’s written intentionally.
Some points I make below will be more objective, undeniable, concrete proofs than others. For each section I’m writing, I’m (generally) putting the strongest, most concrete evidence on top, alongside asterisks to say that this is a VERY important point. But my list also includes minor moments that on their own wouldn’t “prove” Royai. However, in the context of everything else, they provide a gestalt understanding of how Royai interact and are intentionally written/drawn throughout the franchise and especially the manga/FMAB.
I could honestly write essays over EVERY bullet point on this list, but I’ll restrain myself. Yes, this long post is me actually restraining myself. XD
A BRIEF STARTING ESSAY SUMMARIZING KEY POINTS
Grumman, who’s rather keen in sensing motivation, suggests Roy marry his granddaughter, Riza. Roy’s foster mother Chris suggests that Roy should “play with Elizabeth” when he’s feeling blue. When Roy says another man takes Elizabeth-chan away from him, Vanessa asks if this means Roy’s now romantically available - indicating that Riza is where Roy’s romantic interests lie. In fact, both Roy and Riza demonstrate occasional moments of jealousy when someone shows romantic interest in the other. Roy gets disproportionately defensive when Barry hits on Riza. Riza, meanwhile, tries to sabotage one of Roy’s dates by overloading him with paperwork. When she fails to prevent the date, she goes to the shooting range to noticeably vent, catching both Falman and Fuery’s attention for her abnormal behavior.
Royai tend to use formal language to one another, Riza almost exclusively addressing Mustang as「 大佐 」 (colonel). Roy makes sure to put in「 中尉 」 (lieutenant) lots amidst various second-person pronouns. However, when both are emotionally vulnerable and speaking from their heart about each other, like when Riza thinks she might have to shoot Roy, they drop formalities. Roy then never calls her “lieutenant,” instead exclusively uses a term that can be endearing and affectionate, 「 君 」, and uses this word when he says, “I can’t afford to lose you.” Riza, even more tellingly, calls Mustang 「あなた」- something she never calls him in formal situations - an affectionate term wives use to call their husbands.
The body language and facial expressions Royai give each other is notably different from how they interact with family and close friends. Mustang isn’t someone who engages in much physical contact, be it with his aunt or his best friend Hughes. He sometimes appears irritated if Hughes hops in for an arm around the shoulder. Riza in turn doesn’t reach out for notable physical contact with Rebecca or other friends. But the look of affection Roy gives when Riza is injured in his arms and he realizes she’s safe… is a look he gives no one else. He cradles her and embraces her so tightly that Mei has to remind him Riza’s still injured. When Mustang loses his eyesight, he doesn’t just grab Riza’s hand to get some navigation guidance… but manages to sling his arm around her shoulder. And while it makes sense for Hawkeye to hold onto him in the final fight to keep him oriented, there is a certain level of intimacy to not just holding him by the shoulder, but putting her hand on his chest, too.
Royai demonstrate extreme closeness for one another and preference for the other above all else. Romance doesn’t have to be your closest relationship, but the fact that Royai are so emotionally close only adds support to the rest of my points. Riza would be devastated at the thought of losing Mustang, so much she starts crying and gives up on life in “Death of the Undying,” and then in “Beyond the Inferno” says she’d kill herself alongside Mustang. Roy, in turn, has traumatic flashbacks imagining that Hawkeye might get killed by Gluttony, and is so frantic about her health in “Lost Light” that he is oblivious to an enemy almost attacking and killing him from the back. Mustang even admits to Bradley that he almost risked his physical health and the entire country’s safety… because he wanted to do human transmutation to save Hawkeye’s life. He would risk all that for one special woman.
Multiple characters beyond Chris Mustang, Grumman, and Vanessa indicate that they know Royai is close. Envy immediately believes Riza when she suggests she and Mustang are intimate. The gold-toothed alchemist and Bradley both know that Riza is the specific way to get to Roy’s heart. And throughout the story, Royai is written as a parallel point to Edwin. Riza tells Winry that she sticks with the military in support of one man, which helps give Winry the resolution to support the own man she loves. Riza understands Ed’s desire to protect Winry - a woman Riza knows Ed loves - because Riza, too, has someone dear she needs to protect. Everything from in-story parallels to official art often put Edwin and Royai as counters to each other.
An oft-quoted interview with Hiromu Arakawa published in the thing manga art book has the writer answering a question of why Royai aren’t married. If they weren’t romantically inclined, Arakawa would have said that. Instead, she explained that the thing preventing them from joining in matrimony was military anti-fraternization regulations.
Other material outside of what Arakawa wrote herself or was placed in FMAB depict romantic Royai as well. 4Koma Theatre (which Arakawa also drew panels for in Chronicle) contains jokes where Mustang shows attraction to Hawkeye. The 2003 anime ends with Mustang reaching out to Hawkeye’s hair and calling her beautiful, and the two of them sharing smiles in the marketplace that show emotions they’ve given no one else. The 2003 character song “Rainy Day No Thanks” contains extremely flirtatious lines from both - it’s in fact a love song. Hawkeye calls Mustang’s actions “cute” and says she wants to hold him close, while Mustang says Riza is “a sexy lady to escort with a kiss.” Art from Daughter of the Dusk and Conqueror of Shamballa show Riza with her hand on Roy’s arm, much as you would see couples walk down the street. Mustang, sparkling and grinning in flirtation, calls Hawkeye so beautiful she takes words away in Prince of the Dawn, and is rather keen to hold onto a sexy photograph of her in a stunning dress in (I believe) Daughter of the Dusk. Maes Hughes seems rather interested in the idea of Roy and Riza pairing up for a team event in Dream Carnival, and teases them to the point of suggesting he could see them making out - which gets Riza abashed.
All this material combined presents what I believe is a clear case to canon Royai romantic affections, regardless of whether or not you wish to ship it! (and no worries, we can all ship what we please!)
Now, this isn’t about the idea that romance is inherently “closer.” Roy and Riza are clearly close. Familial and platonic bonds can be just as close as romance, though. But the proof that this is coded as implicit romance is clear throughout the franchise, and clearly intended by the creator of the characters herself. So many of these things I mentioned would never be the case if not intended to be romantically coded. Vanessa asking if Riza’s departure means Roy’s now romantically available; Hawkeye sabotaging a date; Riza calling Mustang an affectionate term that’s not familial or platonic in nature; Arakawa herself saying Royai would get married if not for work regulations. Roy and Riza might never be able to act upon romantic interests in one another, but their affections are nevertheless underlyingly romantic.
And now… the list I have. It’s not even anywhere close to comprehensive. But it should more than enough get the point across.
Czytaj dalej
My Current List of FMA Analyses (more in drafts coming soon)
Posted for an anon friend who wanted to read through my FMA analyses. Thank you so much! I have several large FMA analysis projects in my drafts ongoing, and am always VERY happy to receive new prompts and discussion points!
FMA 2003 First Runthrough Thoughts (note: contains criticism)
Roy Mustang Character Meme
Why I recommend FMAB to everyone
Why Mustang’s Gate of Truth has Flame Alchemy and why Father’s is blank: seeing how character choices influence their door’s design
Why Arakawa chose Riza Hawkeye to bear the Flame Alchemy tattoo but not be an alchemist herself (Part 1 in series of 3)
Riza’s relationship with her father, why he gave her the tattoo, and why he never taught her his research (Part 2 in series of 3)
Madame Christmas’ information dealing, Mustang’s upbringing, and how this relates to why he entered the military (Part 3 in series of 3)
Comparing Ryuukou Mouten and Roy Mustang’s character designs
Mustang’s “uselessness” with Flame Alchemy and his knowledge of other alchemical fields (Part 1 of 2)
If Mustang was the youngest State Alchemist before Ed. How Mustang memorized non-Flame Alchemy transmutations for years (Part 2 of 2)
When we’re alone the colonel calls me Riza
FMAB’s subtle glamorization of characters. An analysis of Maes Hughes’ dark imperfections. And looking at how Hughes and Mustang cope differently during Ishval (Part 1 of 2)
The balance of FMAB softening material but still maintaining integrity to morally complex characters and lessons (Part 2 of 2)
A few reasons it can be fun to pay attention to small details in the FMA manga
Why Royai is objectively canon
Roy and Riza don’t have a secret relationship
Foreshadowing within the character’s given names in Tokyo Ghoul :re Sasaki Haise – Ihei Hairu – Washuu Kichimura
Hello everyone,
this is my first analysis about some things I noticed while I thought about Tokyo Ghoul :re.
Note that I’m not a native speaker of the Japanese language, I only took two years of classes so far and I still have so, so much to learn. English isn’t my native language either. I hope I express myself in an understandable way.
Nethertheless I noticed some small details about the names of some characters (namely Haise, Hairu and Kichimura) and I wanted to share them in case somebody finds them interesting or useful in any way.
I hope this hasn’t be done yet. If there are any mistakes, please feel free to correct me.
Sasaki Haise
Sasaki’s first name Haise (琲世) is composed of the Kanji for “string of many pearls” (琲) and “world” or “genereation” (世). Interestingly, the last Kanji is the same one that is used to construct Rize’s name showing the connection between both of them. I don’t want to ramble about the whole dimensions of meaning behind his name. Rather I would like to focus myself on the first Kanji of the name Haise. As the wiki states, the choice of the Kanji 琲 is based on the fact that it is also used to construct the word coffee. This could be interpreted as a sign that his still holds the Anteiku very dear. Also “hai” is homophone to the Japanese word for ash, giving Haise’s name the implied meaning of “ash world”.
But there may be yet another dimension of that Kanji. Looking closely, it can be seen that the Kanji is constructed of two different characters: 王 and 非. Kanji are constructed of radicals (components) put together to gain a new character with a new meaning. Even though the “official” radical for 琲 is 玉 (tama – jewel), in this case, it more resemble the Kanji 王 (ou). Interestingly 王 means King. This may foreshadow Kaneki’s later role of the One Eyed King. The second character 非 may mean “wrong”, “incorrect” or “mistake”. This could be a hint how Kaneki performed the role of the One-Eyed-King, which eventually lead to disaster and death of thousands of people.
All in all Kaneki’s position as the OEK and the miserable outcome was yet foreshadowed by the first Kanji of the given name of his Persona of Sasaki Haise.
Ihei Hairu
There’s more foreshadowing when it comes to the Kanji of a character’s name. One example is Hairu’s first name. The name “Hairu” is constructed by a single character, which looks the following: 入. It takes diverse meaning, for example “to enter”, “to go into”, “to admit” but also “to invade”. Especially the latter is quite fitting since she was an outstanding investigator and also one of the CCG’s driving forces during the Tsukiyama Operation.
The Kanji for “Hairu”( 入) looks very similar to the Kanji for “human”(人). Actually, when seen written on paper, the two Kanji seem to be mirrored versions of each other and are not easy to be told apart at the first glance. This may be a hint towards the fact that at first glance, Hairu seemed to be a human, but was in fact a half-human. Like the Kanji of her first name, Hairu was extremely similar to a human, but there’s still a slight difference.
Interestingly, an alternative reading of the Kanji serving as Hairu’s given name is “shio”. This lets her relative Ihei Shio come to mind. Even though Shio’s Name is written with different characters, the connection may be still there (or it may be just a coincidence).
Washuu Kichimura
I always wondered why the name “Kichimura” was so different from the usual namesake of high-ranked Washuu, who are using “Yoshi” as part of their names (Yoshitoki, Tsuneyoshi etc.). But then I noticed that the name may be not so different: Kichimura is written as 吉福, while Yoshitoki is written as 吉時 and Tsuneyoshi is written as 常吉. The character for yoshi 吉 (meaning “good luck) is present in all the names, even in Furuta’s. The reason it is read different is, that there are serval readings for the same Kanji-character. The readings are divided into “onyomi” (sino-japanese reading) and “kunyomi”(japanese reading) (there are some more classifications of reading, but that’s not important here). In short, there is more than one way to read a Kanji and the way a Kanji is read depends on the context and the Kanji it is combined with. The Kanji looks the same, regardless how it is read. Especially in names may the way of reading not always be distinct. But this is important when it comes to the name of Kichimura.
Let’s take a look at Kanji 吉. One possible reading is “yoshi” as in Tsuneyoshi and Yoshitoki. Another possible reading for the same Kanji is “kichi” – as in Kichimura. Furuta’s name still uses the same Kanji as his father and half-brother did – but with a different way of reading. This tells us a lot about Furuta.
It seems to be a tradition among the Washuu-family that the name is changed the moment a member enters a major position. For example, Yoshitoki was formerly named Chika (時) before he became Bureau Director. Presumably after that, he added the Washuu-Clan’s signature Kanji 吉 in front of his given name, creating the name Yoshitoki (吉時). The new name seems to be created the following: The Kanji 吉 read “yoshi” is added in front the given name, while the Kanji of given name is modified to have a different reading than before. “Chika” and “toki”, as in Yoshitoki, are alternative readings of the same Kanji. The Kanji stayed the same – the reading altered.
At the surface, Furuta added in line of the Washuu’s traditions. Furuta as well put the Kanji 吉 in front of his given name Nimura( 二福, meaning “two happiness/good fortune”, which is a very ironic and bitter name to have considering his fade. Maybe it can be interpretet as “to be twice as happy/lucky” or simply “very happy/lucky”. Maybe the “two” could also represent him and Rize? In the end none of them found happiness. Either way, the name has a tragic irony in it. But I digress.), which led to the Kanji combination 吉福. So far, so traditional.
But Furuta wouldn’t be Furuta if there wasn’t a twist.
Instead of altering the reading of his given name-Kanji, Furuta changed the reading of the Clansman-Kanji. He changes the traditional “Yoshi” into the alternative reading “kichi” while he keeps “mura” of his given name “Nimura”. This may be a subtle sign of his rebellion against the Washuu-Clan. It may be a traditional Washuu-name by the look of it, but it is read differently. This shows Furuta is not giving in to the clan. It is expected to change the “mura” of his name to another reading “in favor” of the clan’s Kanji. This may be a symbol of the clan undermining the identity of its members. But Furuta doesn’t change the Kanji’s reading of his given name. Instead he modifies the “yoshi” into “kichi”. Doing this stays true to himself. At the same time he breaks with the tradition of the Washuu-Clan, showing everyone in the CCG that he is the key of a new era. It may also be his way of exercise power over the Washuu-Clan once again. While the Washuu-clan had the power to altering the names of its members, Furuta has now the power to alter the character that symbols the Washuu-Clan. Also it may be a sign of alienation towards the Washuu-Clan he hated so much. That he simply didn’t want to carry a similar name as Tsuneyoshi and Yoshitoki did.
Intriguingly, if you read the name Kichimura differently (using the reading “yoshi” instead of “kichi”, as usual for the Washuu-Clan), it can be read as “Yoshimura”. Even though Eto’s surname is spelled differently (芳村 Yoshimura, meaning something similar to “fragrant village”), it is still very ironic because of their hatred for each other and the way they contrast each other. But despite their differences both of them are connected on serval levels (for example: both of them being one-eyed ghouls, were rejected by their parents, both share relationships to V, both of them plot to destroy the current world order etc.). So it fits them to have a similar name, even if the similarity shows in such a subtle way.
I will just leave this here. Thank you very much for reading!. :D
The small stone and the involved nut - The theme of isolation and connection within Haibane Renmei
Actually sitting down and writing an analysis? For an anime that was released almost 20 years ago and that like almost nobody knows? Me? Apparently, yesh!
After I rewatched Haibane Renmei months ago I couldn’t get it out of my mind all this time and writing about it has burned under my nails ever since, so yes. This analysis will examine the themes of “isolation” and “connection”. At first there will be an examination of the setting and the way the world is built in Haibane Renmei and how it presents “isolation” and “connection”. After that there will be a closer look to the characters. The second chapter will analyses how the characters isolate themselves and how isolation is presented. The last chapter will focus on connection, the breaking up of said isolation and will further discuss how the theme of “connection” ties to other main themes, which are “guilt” and “forgiveness”.
Charcoal Feather Federation and the end of the world
I’m sorry for putting a reference from the title of the book “Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World” in the title of the chapter, which talks about the setting of Haibane Renmei. But it is stated from the creator ABe that he drew inspiration from Haruki Murakami’s (imo fantastic) book “Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World” and the similarities in the setting are striking. But this is not about the relationship between Haibane Renmei and the book, but Haibane Renmei alone and how it integrates the theme of isolation and connection in its setting. The setting of Haibane Renmei is a setting of isolation. The town of Glie and its surroundings are sheltered from the outside world by massive walls. It serves as a closed microcosm, the inhabitants of Glie – as shown with Sumika – may wonder what’s behind them, but never make actual attempts to overcome it. Coming neat towards the wall or even touch it leads to serve injury and sickness, which happens to Hyoko in the past and to Rakka in the present of the narrative. This way the isolation stays untouched. There are three entities, which are able to cross the walls: The crows, the Touga and Haibane that receive their Day of Flight. Their life as Haibane ends as they overcome the walls, the closed, isolated space which is Glie. Curiously their life as a Haibane starts in a similar way, namely sheltered in a cocoon. The cocoon isolates the Haibane from the world outside, serving as a sort of wall in itself. The first episode shows this very well with paralleling shots of Rakka in her cocoon and the other Haibane in front of the cocoon, who are discussing what to do. As soon Rakka hatches, she is no longer isolated, starts to connect with others, becomes an active part of the world around her. The progress of a Haibane hatching from the cocoon parallels in them crossing the wall during their day of flight. In both instances an isolated space is left behind, in other words: The Haibane are breaking free from the isolation. The cocoon could be seen as an Day of Flight on a smaller scale, preparing the Haibane for their mental journey that leads to cross the walls someday.
But the isolation is not only empathized in the world around the Haibane, but becomes especially clear in the social coexistence between Haibane and humans. Haibane are subject to the strict ruleset by the Haibane Renmei. They are separated from humans as they live in long-abandoned buildings like the Old Factory or Old Home away from town. On top of the physical separation and the appearance (halo and wings) that separates Haibane from humans, there is the social ruleset that furthers the Haibane’s isolataion. They are only allowed to possess goods that they have made themselves or that the townspeople have cast aside, like donations and discarded items. They have to find an occupation. On the other hand, money is something Haibane are not allowed to have as well; instead they carry notebooks used as scripts. These are instruments of oppression, creating a power imbalance, separating the Haibane further from the humans. Furthermore Haibane are seen as someone who brings luck, which makes them to be seen more as a “lucky charm” than a person by some. This is especially apparent with the woman who is harassing Rakka, who was already struggling with being sin-bound, by highlighting her strangeness as well as calling her Haibane, a term and a position, like I said Rakka was struggling with at that point.
The theme of isolation and separation is also explored with the entities, who are directly involved with the Haibane: The Haibane Renmei and their Communicator and the mysterious Touga, who are able to leave the walls behind and serve as merchants. The Touga are generally not allowed to speak directly and communicate with sign language only the Communicator knowns – furthering the Touga’s isolation within the community and the “otherness” of their status. A similar phenomenon can be observed between the Haibane and the Communicator. The Haibane are not allowed to speak to the Communicator directly (showing the power imbalance) and use their wings for sign language. “Silence” and “not speaking” are prominent elements to show and strengthen the theme of isolation. This is not only appearing in an outward ruleset but also within the characters (Rakka and Reki), but we will get to that later.
There are two other separated groups within the setting: The sin-bound Haibane and the crows, which curiously both have black feathers. It may be strange to examine those two together just because of this, but there is a reason, as both are separated by their unique statuses in the setting. Sin-bound Haibane are Haibane who can not fully remember their dream, which separate them from other Haibane. As seen in Reki’s past, they are shunned and avoided because of their otherness among other Haibane. Furthermore the ultimate fate of a sin-bound Haibane is “to fall”, to lose their wings and Halo, living a life separated from humans and Haibane alike. Speak: Ultimate isolation.
The crows are isolated because of their unique status of crossing the walls. Especially Kana shows disdain towards crows, scaring them away (similar to everyone except of Kuramori was discriminating and avoiding Reki because of her black wings). Rakka (and as well Kuu, who foils Rakka in being the youngest Haibane, their dream/name is about falling, both are struggling to finding themselves and a purpose in life, as well as Kuu being the first one to receive her Day of Flight while Rakka’s ability to receive the Day of Flight is questionable for a long time due to being sin-bound) on the other hand is much more empathic with the crows (which becomes an extremely important plot point later on), even suggesting to give them food. In her response Kana shows a lot more insight and motifs that go beyond that crows are “dirty” animals and envy that they are able to cross the wall: If they get too comfortable they might not want to leave and lose their freedom, which shows Kana’s wish for her own freedom but also a empathy for the crows that only Rakka seemed to show.
While crows can cross the wall by nature, the formerly sin-bound and fallen Haibane have lost the possibility to do so at all – Haibane on the other hand all have the potential to cross the wall on their Day of Flight.
While all the restrictions that are put on the Haibane makes the town of Glie appear like a bleak world, the opposite is actually the case. Glie presents itself as a peaceful, even idealistic place. One does wonder why there are restrictions in the first place – but Kana’s dialog with Rakka about the crows offers a interpretation: If the Haibane would get too comfortable within the town of Glie they would have an harder time to leave it, receive their Day of Flight and to move on with their existence. The life in Glie is a peaceful, worriless one. Every human is kindhearted (even the woman at the shop who tried to touch Rakka’s wings has no ill intention), conflicts don’t arouse. Even though some of them are curious about what is behind the wall (such as Sumika used to search for book) the human inhabitants and Haibane alike mostly don’t seem to mind the fact that they are not able to cross it and focus on their lives within the walls. The shop-owner is generous and friendly, Sumika the librarian is kindhearted, the man who works in the clock tower may seem grumpy but he appreciates Kana a lot.
The first episodes focus on Rakka being following Hikari, Kana and Nemo to their workplaces. Not only she connects with her fellow-Haibane this way, learning about their daily life and personality, but she also forms connection to humans this way. Human and Haibane are even able to connect through their differences – this is what the pregnant Sumika did when she asked Rakka what it is like to be born (empathizing the theme of birth). Most Haibane have initially connection to humans through their workplace, they even form deeper connections like friendship as it is shown with Nemu and Sumika. The town of Glie is a idealistic, kindhearted world – even impactful events like Kuu’s disappearing are, though they are mourned after, accepted relatively quickly and everyone goes back to their mundane everyday life pretty fast. But from this arises the problem what happens to them who don’t conform to such a idealistic world, for those who struggle and feel pain in an intense, long-term way? Who don’t seem to fit in a world where open, negative emotions don’t seem to have a place in? This is what happens with Rakka and Reki respectively.
If conflict arises it appears mostly within the realm of the Haibane. And if there is conflict in the realm of the Haibane, it revolves around those who are struggling with negative emotions and can’t find a place in such a idealistic world und struggle with those feelings: Rakka and Reki. Either in the form of inner conflict (wondering what is their purpose of their existence, struggling with their status of being a Haibane) or outer conflict (Nemu’s negative emotions arise from the worry for Reki; Rakka feeling out of place since she can not cope with Kuu’s disappearance but everyone else can; Reki’s past as a sin-bound Haibane, her feeling betrayed by Kuramori, her plan to escape, hurting Hyouko and Midori in the process). How Reki’s and Rakka’s struggles steam and are fueled by isolation shall be observed in the following.
Birds of a feather – Rakka, Reki and the burden of isolation
Isolation is one of the main themes surrounding both Rakka and Reki and during the narration they heavily foil each other via paralleling and contrasting.
Reki’s start as a life as a Haibane is defined by loneliness, pain and isolation – her cocoon emerged in a boarded up room and when she was found she already hatched. She had to bear the confusion of her new life, the erupting of her wings and the accomplished pain and fever all by herself. She was found unconscious and covered in blood, her wings being black instead of the charcoal color. Kuramori took care of her, cleaned her wings and nursed her back to health.
Rakka’s start highly parallels and contrasts Reki’s arrival. Rakka’s cocoon is found by Reki by chance in an abandoned section of the building complex. But contrasting her own fate, Reki finds before Rakka hatches. And right after she emerged, Reki takes care of her. Reki explains the situation to her, warns her about her condition, nurses her in a devotedly (she uses her own thumb so Rakka doesn’t bite her tongue while being in pain, foreshadowing her self-scarifying personality) and stays at Rakka’s bedside the whole night, watching over her and cleaning her wings. Reki gives Rakka what she couldn’t have at the start of her life: Company, care and compassion – the feeling of belonging, a connection to others. Rakka’s start in the life of a Haibane highly contrasts Reki’s because of the influence of Reki herself, who gives Rakka a different fate than her own by taking care of her.
The contrasting doesn’t stop there: Reki compliments Rakka’s charcoal wings, a callback to her own darkly stained feathers. While Reki started out as being sin-bound from right the beginning, Rakka adapts the status of being sin-bound only later on due to Kuu’s departure. What are Reki’s starting conditions is a development for Rakka. The black wings and the stigma of being sin-bound are the reason why Reki was discriminated by the other Haibane with only her mentor Kuramori giving care of her. In the present, Reki adapts Kuramori’s role as a caregiver towards Rakka. But in contrast to Reki, Rakka is able to bound to the other Haibane right from the beginning. She is bid welcome, everyone introduces themselves in a friendly manner and over the course of the first episodes, Rakka is able to connect with them individually with each episode being decided to a certain Haibane (Episode 3 is focused on Hikari and Kuu, Episode 4 focuses on Rakka’s and Kana’s relationship and Kana showing Rakka her project and Episode 4 Rakka helps out in Nemu’s workplace). All this activities are centered around giving and receiving help. Rakka is introduced to the world of the Haibane, receiving help to orientate herself in her new life, while Rakka on the other end gives help as well, e.g. helping in the library. The other Haibane willingly connect with Rakka, letting her into their personal lives.
As said before, Reki’s first time at Old Home was very different, spending her time as an outsider. Her first experience besides Kuramori introducing herself was Nemu, who refused to talk to her and ran away from her. A situation that would draw through all of Reki’s early experiences in Old Home. While Nemu is surrounded by the other Haibane children, Reki, a child herself at point, it standing isolated on the side, hiding herself. This highly contrasts the warm welcome Rakka receives. Furthermore her caregiver Kuramori falls ill several times due to her weak condition and the exhaustion of collecting medicines to bleach Reki’s wings. Something, Reki not only blames herself for but is blamed for it by an outside force, namely Nemu, who loves Kuramori as well and shoves the blame for her sickness towards Reki. In the end, she openly says to Reki, it will be her fault, if Kuramori died, which makes Reki cry out of fear and self-blame (the long shot on Nemu’s face instead of showing Reki crying suggest that Nemu is sorry). While Nemu watches over Kuramori, Reki is isolated again, even from giving help...until the point she shows up with food she bought for Nemu, thinking she was hungry. Nemu not only accepts the food, but apologies for what she said before. After that she suggests that they could cook together. A connective activity, showing Reki that she is accepted, wanted by someone else but Kuramori. Both are connected by the caring for Kuramori, but Reki bringing food, Nemu understands that Reki not only cares for Kuramori (by coming back instead of staying away) but for her as well, despite of what she has done (by bringing her food). Reki’s action of reaching out to Nemu leads to Nemu reaching out for Reki on her behalf. Nemu even integrates Reki in her activities, allowing Reki to be there and help, doing stuff with her instead of being isolated. In the next morning, when Kuramori wakes up, she sees the two Haibane sleeping on her bedside (paralleling how Reki stays at Rakka’s bedside several times, highlighting her caring nature), holding hands, which symbolizes the connection and the friendship the two girls have made. They are not only connected by caring about Kuramori, but also caring about themselves. Reki’s connection to others even expands further from this point, as she receives the job as the caregiver for the younger Haibane from Kuramori, which – after a moment of doubt if she is really fit for it (same as Rakka is always struggling with what she wants to do) – she accepts happily. She, who only was on the sidelines, is now not only in the center of other people and strongly connected to them, but has also a position of responsibility, showing the trust Kuramori has in her.
Rakka and Reki are slowly finding their places in the world, but both are taken aback by a loss in this stage of their development. In both cases Rakka and Reki are losing their mentor and family figures Kuu and Kuramori through their Day of Flight. Kuu and Kuramori disappear suddenly and the grief Rakka and Reki feel, pushes them into isolation. Reki feels betrayed by Kuramori disappearance, who promised to never leave her, fueling her existing trust issues and self-hatred. She can’t believe or accept Kuramori is gone, paralleling to how Rakka refuses to believe that Kuu won’t come back. Reki’s grief turns against herself in form of self-hatred and anger against Kuramori who seemingly abandoned her, Rakka’s depression partly stems from the fear for another person, namely that Kuu, who was so important to hear, will be forgotten. But this is only one aspect of Rakka’s depression. She is also unable to get back into normal routine after Kuu is gone, holding onto her grief. Seeing how all the other Haibane are going on with their everyday life every fast cuts Rakka’s emotional life off from the rest of her peers. She is unable to fit in and isolates herself. Her black feathers only emphasis her isolation from the world around her. Because of what happened to Kuu she begins to question the existence of the Haibane in the first place, asking questions humans and Haibane ask alike. “Why am I here?” “Where do I go?” “What is the point of my existence?” “What’s the point of my existence if I will disappear? If no one will remember me anyway?” Not only is Rakka unable to find an answer, but she also questions the legitimacy of her very own existence as a Haibane since the black feathers mark her as sin-bound, a “flawed Haibane”, in her and Reki’s eyes. Not only Rakka’s view of the relationship of the Haibane and the world around them (which is obviously a world were Haibane disappear someday) is torn apart and thrown into insecurity – but her own relationship with being a Haibane is just as well torn apart and thrown into insecurity. It is implied that Rakka always had those feelings of inadequacy (as she questioned why her, a normal girl, would become a Haibane) and was prone to questioning her own existence (how she wondered serval times over the nature of the Haibane even in the first episodes). Reki on the other hand always seemed to have the same feelings of inadequacy and loneliness accompanied by the fear of abandonment. In both cases, the disappearance of another Haibane (who was a mentor figure just as much as a part of the family), fuel and worsen Rakka’s and Reki’s existing issues.
In both cases it causes them to run away – in Reki’s case she found shelter in the Old Factory, where other Haibane most importantly her friends Midori and Hyouko live. So it was not a complete isolation, but she did cut ties with her actual home. Also the isolation furthers as Hyouko and Reki tried to flee together as it not only cuts ties with Midori, but Reki and Hyouko are planning to leave this world (the town of Glie) entirely. The attempt to run away is not only fueled by Reki’s perception as the town of Glie as a prison (as it not only her status as a sin-bound Haibane is a prison for her, but also her distance to Kuramori and the rest of the outside world), but also an attempt to reunite with Kuramori – which is an evidence that Reki forgave Kuramori the “betrayal”, even though she never overcame the feelings that “betrayal” left in her. The plan to run away horrible fails as Hyouko is badly hurt through touching the wall, almost bleeding to death – leaving Reki with an immense sense of guilt. Not only their plan is foiled, the ties between Reki and Midori are even more cut, as Midori blames her for Hyouko’s near-death. Furthermore, the Haibane from Old Home and the Old Factory are not allowed to interact with each other as an aftermath of their stunt, leaving Reki and Hyouko isolated from each other.
In comparison to Reki, Rakka is a lot more aimless. She is convinced that she can’t go back to Old Home anymore because she is not a “proper Haibane”, but she doesn’t have a concrete plan and – different to Reki – no other Haibane to support her in the situation (expect Reki, but Rakka has the feeling that she can’t entrust her worries to her and that nobody cares about her anyway. Here we have the theme of “not talking/staying silent” and how it causes issues.). The one guidance she has are the crows, which she emphasizes/connected with right from the beginning of her life as a Haibane (unknowing that she has a much deeper connection to crows due to her dream, which she can’t remember). She is able to emphasize enough with the crows to follow them in the forest, where she finds the skeleton of the bird in a dried up well (dried up as a symbol of death or how Rakka’s happiness has dried up). The theme of isolation and connection is heavily empathized with everything surrounding the well. First of all, it is a symbol for Rakka’s mental state: In a deep hole, unable to crawl out, the ladder is broken, her ankle is hurt (making her even more trapped); the well is in an isolated place so nobody could hear her, nobody knows where she is. In other words: Rakka is feeling depressed and hopeless, she doesn’t know how to feel better (in comparison to Reki, who thought she would feel better if she climbed the wall), any opportunity to feel better doesn’t work, her body is working against her (like the black wings), she feels isolated, nobody knows how she feels or that she needs help. The skeleton of the bird could foreshadow her possible fate (read: death) in the well, which is only emphasized by the falling snow, as snow is traditionally a symbol for death.
In this moment of isolation, Rakka is able to reconnect to the past: She remembers a time, where she felt exactly the same – lonely, isolating thinking, nobody was there for her or would grieve if she was gone. She is also able to recognize the skeleton of the bird as someone she knew, someone who was dear to her. The present reflects her past situation and through meeting the skeleton Rakka is able to remember her dream, having a moment of self-recognition: She remembers that the crow was indeed there for her and cared for her – even though she is unable to remember the context or who the bird originally was. What Rakka remembers is, that she felt lonely in her past life, wanting to disappear, thinking that nobody would care. But the person, represented by the bird, wanted to show Rakka that she was not alone, wanted to save her. That relates to Rakka’s dream how the bird is trying to stop Rakka’s fall – without success. Rakka feels guilty about letting the person, represented by the bird, down, for being unable to recognize their care, for leaving and leaving the bird alone. As a last act, Rakka buries the skeleton, an act of connection and respect, giving piece to the bird. And giving piece to herself. Soon after, Rakka is found by the Touga. Despite the gaps and restrictions between the Touga and Haibane, they both assist Rakka and help her out of the well, most likely saving her life. They never speak to her and are probably not allowed to interact with her, but they still emphasize with and reaching out to her.
It is no coincidence that Rakka and Reki both happen to be in the forest as a part of their personal journey. The forest is an isolated place, not meant to be intruded. Here, Rakka and Reki are confronted with themselves (as isolation means continuous self-confrontion with no one else) and with the consequences of their actions. Reki is confronted with her own recklessness wanting to cross the wall, while Rakka is confronted with the actions of her past and her inability to accept others attempts to reach out to her. In a similar line, both confrontations surround the theme of death and grief, as Hyouko almost died and the withered corpse of the bird – Reki and Rakka both being stricken with guilt. But for both, Hyouko and the bird, there is some sort of relieve. Hyouko survives while the bird is buried, giving it salvation and a reconciliation with Rakka. As Rakka touches the wall, as Hyouko did und falls seriously ill afterwards, Reki is confronted with her past all over again.
Receiving and accepting forgiveness from the bird and forgiving herself releases Rakka from her sin-bound status (we will talk about it in more detail later). Being told this throws Reki into depression – the only person who was like her archived what she never could. Rakka being sin-bound gave Reki comfort, the feeling of not being alone; shared pain is half pain after all. But for Reki it feels, they are no longer the same and Rakka cannot empathize with her anymore. She feels confirmed to the idea that she always be alone. That Rakka is no longer sin-bound can be interpreted as a “betrayal” in Reki’s point of view, which fear of it is one of the main themes surrounding her. A fear that comes true in her eyes. Furthermore the information of the Communicator that Nemu is always worried about Reki drags her down further as she fears to burden Nemu, hindering her Day of Flight – something which she does fear she will never accomplish. Not receiving the Day of Flight/worring about Reki too much would delay Nemu’s Day of Flight and may cause her to “fall” as a Haibane. This is what Reki thinks. She feels guilty about Nemu caring about her, this is why she tells her not to see her as a burden (cementing her worldview of not being able to ask for help). This shows, even though she will feel lonely and she feels envy of the Haibane (especially Rakka), who can take their Day of Flight, she wants others to take their Day of Flight, even if it means to be all alone.
As her time runs out more and more, Reki isolates herself more and more. She makes preparation to leave, thinking she will disappear soon. She is giving Rakka her cigarettes reminiscent on how Kuu gave her coat to Rakka, making Rakka worried. Furthermore she gives Hyouko his bell nut, the symbol of apology, a week earlier because she thinks she wouldn’t make it until the festival. She isolates herself not only emotionally by covering her pain with a smile but also physically, locking herself up in her room.
Reki may have received forgiveness from Hyouko and Midori, but that doesn’t better her condition.
She is convinced that she is not allowed to ask for help or rather she is afraid to ask, because she fears nobody would answer what only would confirm her ultimate loneliness. Reki expresses the wish to become a unfeeling stone – she can’t stand her feelings, because she feels too much, especially pain. Becoming a stone – this not only dehumanizes her, but gives her no chance of communication, no opportunity of interaction. It also reflects how low she thinks of herself, a stone on the sidewalk nobody notices. That the younger version that appears to confront her turns into stone, makes Reki cry, trying to stop the process, hugging her petrified, dissolving self. She doesn’t want this, she doesn’t want to become a stone. She wants someone to do what she did to her younger self – hold her, stop her from emotionally dissolving.
As Rakka offers Reki her real name as a last straw, the name indicates that there was no salvation for her in the first place (something that Reki is already convinced off). “The one who was run over and torn apart” – this being reveled her true name, suggest that there is no hope for Reki, only despair, pain and death. Reki remembers her cacoon dream, remembers the despair, the helplessness and hopelessness, the feeling of being always betrayed and the strong sense of abandonment and loneliness that she felt at this time in her past life. But not only within her past life, but her life as a Haibane as she feels abandoned by Kuramori, the other Haibane who reach their Day of Flight, by Nemu, who she thinks she only sees her as a burden, by the Communicator who refused to talk to her after the incidence with Hyouko (as part of the montage in ep 13 implies, which may be why she didn’t trust him anymore), by Midori (even though the conflict resolved). And last but not least she feels abandoned by God, who won’t give her blessing despite of all that she tried. This, mixed with the despair stemming from the current situation, that she thinks she is really beyond help (confirmed by her nametag), lets Reki hit her lowest point. As a result, Reki pushes everything away ultimately. Her own life and identity. And she pushes away Rakka, who can only watch helplessly. Reki claims to only care about herself and using Rakka as a tool for her own salvation. She opens up what she perceives to be her true feelings to Rakka: She tried to be a good Haibane to shed up the guilt that she felt all her life. But “being good” means to Reki that she was only accepted if she closed away her true feelings and acted that she was nice. Reki’s true feelings harshly clashes with what has been shown about her and her caring nature towards Rakka. To Reki, these feelings weren’t genuine. She harshly tells Rakka, her feelings for her weren’t genuine, but that it could have been anyone, that Rakka wasn’t necessary. Furthermore Reki expresses her jealousy towards Rakka, as both were sin-bound, but only she “was forgiven”. Her jealousy towards the happiness of others makes Reki hate herself even more. As the final straw Reki mentions the bet that she made with herself: That if she could make the Haibane that hatches from the cacoon trust her, that she would be forgiven. She says that to underline her selfishness to Rakka, who refused to believe that Reki is bad in any way. Reki refuses to believe in her own kindness, sees it barely as a facade to cover up her faults that she sees a her true personality (similar on how she dyed her wings to cover up the black spots. To her everything positive about her is just a cover, a facade for the “ugly” interior). By claming that her kindness has merely been a lie, Rakka is pushed away completely. Reki hates herself so much, that she pushes the last one away that she has, thinking she doesn’t deserve the love that she gets (just as Rakka used to think, which was made explicit during her conversation with the Communicator). She hates herself so much she can not accept the positive feelings towards her and does everything to push them away. Furthermore her plan to use Rakka for her own salvation failed, Reki abandons herself completely. Showing what she thinks is her true self to Rakka is relieving to her, since she doesn’t have to act anymore, can finally show how she really is and can finally get a reaction she thinks is appropriate to her (= abandonment). She tells Rakka to go out. Rakka, completely agonized and shattered by Reki’s words, leaves the room and Reki alone. This makes Reki’s isolation complete and her situation ultimately hopeless, because Rakka, who was the last hope to help Reki and the only one who was even trying, abandons Reki and feels to hurt and betrayed that it is unlikely that she will come again. Inside the room, Reki is isolated. Reki even compared the room to a cocoon, which is a symbol for isolation in itself as discussed before, emphasizing that theme. In the first episode, Reki said that there shouldn’t be help to break the cacoon – if there was help, the hatchling wouldn’t grow strong. This implied that she viewed to get help as a weakness right off the bat. But alone she can neither leave the cacoon nor her room nor her dream nor her negative self-image. All those words are synonyms in this situation. This is implied by how Reki said, that she never stopped having that dream – implying she never stopped feeling as worthless and guilty as she did in her past life. She was never awake and always in a dream – isolating her from the “real world”. She never stopped abandoning herself, as she abandoned herself on the railway.
When Rakka leaves, Reki has a conversation with a younger version of herself. A version, who actively wants to ask for help and saw this opportunity to help within Rakka, who reached out to Reki. Reki refused, says that she doesn’t deserve to be saved – her younger version desperately asked if she can’t even ask for it. She confronts Reki with her fears, if she was afraid to be betrayed. Reki agrees, agonizing, watching her younger self turn into stone and dissolving (symbolizing Reki’s wish to become a stone, Reki’s own loneliness [even a part of herself leaves her…by becoming that what Reki wanted. But Reki’s agony shows that she clearly did not want this] and her fear of vanishing if she can’t get salvation). She claims that there was no way of asking for help. After all salvation has never come to her. The younger self replies, it is because she never asked for help. She only did passively wait. By this, the younger self represents Reki’s own desires, not only turning into stone, but a Reki who wants to be helped, who isn’t afraid to ask. Reki on the other hand was too afraid for help, because being refused would confirm to her, that she was truly alone and nobody there to help her. Instead of acting she avoided it, the uncertainty was less agonizing than the possible truth and confirmation, that there was really nobody there for her. That somebody could help her never crossed her mind, due to that asking for help would mean to open up, to show her side that she considers “impure”, which would dispel any willingness to help from the person who offers help. Reki hugs her dissolving self, an act of despair (she can not stop herself from dissolving) and last act of self-care alike. Her other self vanishes and Reki is truly alone in her room. The painting comes alive and Reki is shown agonizing, waiting her fate. She knows what this fate is, since this situation perfectly mirrors her past experience, which she not only knows because of her dream but the as well as the letter which accompanied her true name.
Outside the door, deeply hurt Rakka begins to cry, thinking that she can’t love Reki anymore. And this would be the end of it…if Haibane Renmei wasn’t a story that would value connection, empathy and forgiveness.
Breaking the circle of sin – breaking the circle of isolation
Before talking about the theme of connection in Haibane Renmei further, this analysis will examine the Circle of Sin, as it presents itself as a closed, isolated system like a circle always leading back to the starting point – seemingly without a way to break free. Despite their name “sin” and “sin-bound” are original concepts within Haibane Renmei, working by their own rules which this analysis will try to approach. The first information we get about sin-bound Haibane are embedded in Reki’s and Rakka’s dialogue, after Rakka becomes sin-bound. Reki explains the sin-bound Haibane as Haibane who are not blessed and who are unable to remember their dream within the cocoon. Sin-bound Haibane are unable to receive their Day of Flight. Reki distinguishes between “good” and sin-bound Haibane – marking herself as bad in the process. During the dialog with Rakka on the other hand she claims that Rakka is not sin-bound because her feathers were charcoal when she emerged from the cacoon – Reki strengthens her point by telling Rakka that it was her who took care of her and saw this, emphasizing their connection in a positive way, using it as a proof for Rakka’s “goodness”. At this point Reki tries to comfort Rakka, but telling her that they are not alike creating a gap between them. On the other hand Reki is secretly comforted by the fact that Rakka is like her – explaining her feeling of loneliness when Rakka is no longer sin-bound. Within Reki’s explanation the title sin-bound seems like a condition that is inherited within a Haibane. As Reki views it, it can neither be obtained (as she denies that Rakka is sin-bound despite her black feathers) nor shed off (as she says, sin-bound Haibane can never achieve their Day of Flight). This reflects how hopeless she sees her own situation, having no hope in ever breaking her condition. She claims that it is something that just doesn’t work (because nothing she did to break from the condition showed effect) – but because nothing works it only strengths her despair and her feeling of being trapped in her situation. Again, at first it seems that there are “good” and “sin-bound” Haibane and there is no way of development and change. But when Rakka meets the Communicator within the forest, he discusses the circle of sin with her and we learn that there is more to the nature of “sin”.
The Communicator says that Rakka’s wings and Halo are the proof that she has no sins to be atoned. Noticing that Rakka bleaches her wings and her sin-bound condition and Rakkas question whether she was a sinner, leads the Communicator to tell Rakka a riddle. Rakka is convinced that she is a sinner and not supposed to be here – she feels that she doesn’t deserve the kindness she receives from the town. This leads to following dialogue, the Riddle of the Circle of sin.
Communicator: "To recognize one's own sin is to have no sin. I ask you, are you a sinner.”
Rakka: “If the dream in my cocoon was real, then I think I am a sinner.”
Communicator: “Then, are you recognizing your own sin?”
Rakka: “If so, will my sin be erased?”
Communicator: "Then I ask you again. To recognize one's own sin is to have no sin. So, are you a sinner?"
Rakka: "But if I think I have no sin, then I become a sinner!"
Communicator: "Perhaps this is what it means to be bound by sin. To spin in the same circle, looking for where the sin lies, and at some point losing sight of the way out."
There we see that Rakka proclaims herself a sinner no matter the circumstances. She thinks she is a sinner because of neglecting the person, who is represented by the bird, and was unable to acknowledge their care – leaving thinking nobody was there for her, unable to see someone was indeed with her, hurting the feelings of the person. Rakka equals “recognizing the sin” with “erasure of the sin”. But the Communicator corrects her, that “recognizing the sin” equals “having no sin” – therefore there is no sin to be erased. But Rakka misunderstands the remark, calling herself a sinner again – if she sets herself free from the belief that she has a sin and thinks she has no sin (= not recognizing it), she will become a sinner. This comment of the Communicator shows that this is, what he is talking about by the Circle of Sin: Being caught in the idea of being a sinner, being obsessed with the idea of a bad person and struggling with getting another perspective of oneself. This is not a sin, because there is no sin in the first place. Sin-bound Haibane don’t have sin – they are obsessed with the thought of having one, being obsessed with negative thoughts. A way out of the sin-bound condition is to make a “reality-check”, realizing that those intrusive thoughts are not true. This is shown with how Rakka was obsessed with the thought that she didn’t matter and that nobody would care about her – Rakka recognizes those thoughts and realizes that they don’t withstand reality. That indeed people care about her – this is highlighted not only with the bird, but with Reki (who hugs her when she finds her at the edge of the forest) and the other Haibane as well who desperately search for her. Rakka’s condition strongly paralleled with her situation in the past – in both time she realizes that there are people who love her and care for her and miss her when she is gone.
When Rakka consults the Communicator later on in Episode 9, there are other details about the Circle of Sin revealed. The key to break free from the Circle of Sin is forgiveness, especially forgiving oneself. But sin-bound Haibane are so obsessed with negative thoughts about themselves that they are not able to forgive themselves. Therefore another person is needed who stands by the side of the Haibane and believes in them. Offering forgiveness for the Haibane to their “sin” will break the Circle of Sin and enable the Haibane to take another perspective on themselves. Note that there is no “sin” and the Haibane are not shamed as being “sinful” for their depression. There is no sin. But there is the perception of being “sinful”, or to use other word “flawed” or “not worthy love” that leads the Haibane to be sin-bound. In other words: There is no “being bad” but only the perception of “being a bad person” that lead the Haibane to be obsessed with those ideas, their minds literally circle around it, their negative thoughts about themselves reflect in the black stains of the wings. But the reality is that they are not, but being forgiven for it (and the negative behavior that was caused by those thoughts) loosens the burden and enables the Haibane to forgive themselves. The escape from the Circle of Sin is not atonement or any sort of “making up for it” (this is why Reki’s attempt to reach salvation by taking care of Rakka didn’t work) – but sheer forgiveness. Rakka’s statement that it was not like she forgave herself, implies that forgiving oneself is not necessary to free oneself from being sin-bound. Receiving forgiveness from another person is enough, it is not necessary to be able to forgive oneself. On the other hand being able to receive forgiveness from others requires to forgive oneself to a certain degree. But forgiveness from others and being free from being sin-bound is only one step – the last step is to overcome to behavior and the thoughts that are bound by the perception of being a “bad person”.
This act of overcoming is shown with Rakka, who was obsessed with the idea that she was all alone – realizing that she is not, that people care for her, that she deserves to be happy and she starts to connect with others again. It is also shown with Reki finally asking for help (we will get to this in a minute).
But what makes a Haibane sin-bound? It is shown that the Haibane are born without memories but not without a blank slate as their emotional life. Rakka felt always insignificant, questioning herself and whether she had the right to exist. Those feelings erupted after Kuu’s departure where she questioned her existence even further and starts to isolate herself, thinking nobody would understand her, being afraid to open up to others and unable to receive their care - which she did before in her past life. Reki on the other hand is more obscure, since she had been sin-bound from the very beginning. But it is shown that she is born alone. Knowing how painful the progress is, Reki must have felt scared and abandoned, it is possible that she wanted help and even called for it – but nobody listened; which is exactly the thought pattern she had in her past life, which may confirm these already existing thought for her (even though she doesn’t remember, the feeling of always being betrayed and being unable to ask for help was still left). So a Haibane may become sin-bound if they fall back into destructive thought patterns that lead to their demise in their first life. It may also be called Circle of Sin because it never stops and it reaches from the previous life to the life of the Haibane. Connection to others, empathy and forgiveness are the key to overcome the “sin-bound” status. Breaking the Circle of Isolation means to break the Circle of Sin.
But even before introducing this concept, connection, forgiveness and empathy is something the narratives values strongly.
Kuramori emphasized with Reki and connected to her, helped her with her wings, acted like a mother figure to her and helped her to find to place in Old Home. Reki forgave Nemu mistreating her, emphasized with her as she gave her food and both connect by caring for Kuramori.
Hyouko emphasized with Reki, as she was depressed due to the loss of Kuramori and wanted to help her. He and Midori gave her a new home and Hyouko wanted to do help her more since she understood how much she missed Kuramori. Even though the attempt to help her ended intro tragedy and a long time rip in their relationship, they are able to reconcile their relationship. While Reki is nearly to her darkest point and closing herself up in her room, entirely giving up on action or interaction (which is even emphasized due contrast by the fact that there is a festival, the sense of community and happiness), Hyouko and Midori seek out for her and sending her a message of forgiveness by using fireworks. While Reki has expressed her apology (and her goodbye) before by the bell nuts, she shuts herself up after this. But Midori and Hyouko reach out on their behalves, not allowing it to be a one-way-communication. The firework their launch for Reki represents their forgiveness. This leads to reconciling their relationship, something Reki had already given up to.
But even before reconciling and apology happened on a smaller scale, since Hyouko and Midori gave the Haibane from Old Home sweets. These sweets serve as an apology as Hyouko had made Rakka upset by talking about Kuu’s Day of Flight (that he apologizes for it underlines is empathic personality that he also showed with Reki. It is even possible that Rakka reminded him of Reki). The treat symbolizes the reconciling between Old Home and the Old Factory and serve as a thematic foreshadowing to Hyouko’s, Midori’s and Reki’s reunion.
Nemu is so worried and cares so much about Reki that it is introduced that the only thing that makes her stay in the town of Glie.
Reki supports Rakka after she becomes sin-bound, she reaches out for Rakka, when she started to cut herself of from everybody and avoids every contact because of the grief and shame she feels. She shows compassion to Rakka and hugs her, comforts her, tells her, that she did nothing wrong. Just like Kuramori treated her. On the other hand, Rakka is so emphatic enough that she notices how Reki hides her grief and sadness behind her smile. This becomes extremely noticeable as Reki cuts herself off more and more over the span of the last episodes and Rakka constantly ponders how she could help her. Rakka is both, extremely empathic and helpful and she loves Reki. This leads her to finally reach out to Reki as the final attempt to save her – and as the last opportunity – give her the tag with her real name.
But as described above the situation escalates horribly, worsening Reki’s despair even more instead of saving her (which is symbolized by her wings turning even more black). She not only abandoned herself again, after realizing that she used to abandon herself and feel the same before and that there apparently no way out. Her harsh words to Rakka made Rakka abandoning her. This situation parallels three other constellations within the story. First of all, it mirrors the relationship between Reki and Kuramori. Reki was distraught because she thought, her mentor and mother figure betrayed her and never cared for her in the first place – now she is the one who betrays Rakka by telling her that she only used her as an attempt to ease her guilt, find salvation and be forgiven.
The other is that Reki’s past situation before becoming a Haibane is mirrored in her lowest point. Thinking she is worthless, being only betrayed and unable to ask for help.
The last situation is the constellation between Rakka and the bird. Rakka parallels Reki, as both cut themselves up from the world, convinced they are all alone and hurting another person in the process. Rakka parallels the bird who tries to save the other person, who is not able to accept their feelings. They want to convince them, that they are not alone, but they are hurt and unable to know what to do. Also, Reki’s room parallels Rakka’s well. Both are isolated places, where the person is locked in – either due physical or emotional borders. While Rakka’s well represented her feeling of emptiness, Reki’s room symbolizes the darkness of her heart (that she painted the room this way herself indicates that her negative self-image is not the real Reki. She paints the room as she paints herself in dark colors). In both cases, the past in confronted and overcome, both Reki and Rakka are able to overcome the sin-bound status. But there is still a long way to go before Reki is able to forgive herself…
Rakka is crying in despair, but she still refuses to think that Reki’s words are true. But she comes to the conclusion that she wished not to know, because she could continue loving Reki – implying that she can’t love her anymore. But Rakka’s view changes as she finds the painting of Kuramori which symbolizes that Reki once genuinely cared for a person. She says she wants to believe Reki, but is still in doubt. These doubts however vanish in another step, namely when she finds Reki’s diary. The first pages imply Reki’s hopelessness because she apologizes to Kuramori for not being forgiven. The next pages on the other hand show sketches from the town, showing that Reki still loved the town in a way despite viewing it as a prison. Last but not least one page shows Reki’s genuine, ecstatic happiness about finding the cocoon. She even thinks God send it to her – launching her thoughts that this Haibane could be a way to find salvation. She expresses that she wants to be very kind to the Haibane and wants to always be with her. She expresses her wish, that she wants to be a good Haibane, like Kuramori. The entry show that Reki doesn’t have ill intentions, she just wants to be a good person. This is empathized by the form of the diary, she writes it for herself and it is not intended to be shown to anyone. So Reki does not have to play-act – the diary implies that these are her true feelings. Feelings who are not as impure as she thinks they are. Rakka remembers as Reki talks to her when she was in the cocoon. How Reki expresses her happiness. She says, that the initial period as a Haibane may scare Rakka and she may feel lonely, but she promises to be always there for Rakka, protecting her. Reki promises to be there for Rakka no matter what. With that she is showing her unconditional love before she was even born. On the other hand, Reki “entrusts Rakka with her last hope”. This is not the selfish enrichment that Reki makes it to be – it is putting trust into another person. And Rakka – realizing that Reki was there for her right in the beginning – fulfills that trust. She emphasizes with Reki with empathy as the key for forgiveness. She not only recognizes that Reki is kindhearted, but is not able to recognize it herself and that Reki’s self-image is not the necessary the real Reki and her real feelings. She realizes how similar hers and Reki’s situations are and decides to become “the bird” for Reki, somebody who offers her forgiveness and shows her that she is not alone and being loved the way she is. By this, Rakka not only chooses to forgive Reki, but finally also her own actions, who are extremely similar. By forgiving Reki, Rakka is able to forgive herself.
Even though Reki shut herself in, Rakka wants to reach her, help her. The separation between both is symbolized by the door. This is reminiscent to the scene where Reki discovers Rakka being sin-bound. Rakka flees into the room, isolates herself, only for Reki opening the door, stopping her from hurting herself, giving her help and comfort, telling her that there is nothing wrong with her. Furthermore that parallels Reki’s past, when she was the one who cut her feathers, only to be stopped and comforted by Kuramori. Now it is on Rakka to overcome Reki’s self-induced isolation, to offer her comfort, to tell her, she is okay. In the current scene, Rakka opens the door, overcomes the isolation, breaks the cocoon from the outside – and steps right into Reki’s dream that became reality (similar how Reki’s negative self-image is reality to her). Rakka sees Reki lying on the railway in distance to her. As she tries to get close, connect with her, it is the younger Reki who holds her back, claiming that Reki is no longer able to hear her. This furthers the isolation between them too. The younger Reki claims it to be too late, paralleling the bird, who tried to stop Rakka’s fall with Rakka telling it that it is no use anymore. Rakka is in the same situation, trying to save a person but this person tell her it is too late and no use anymore. But Rakka doesn’t give up on her, calling out to her desperately. In before the younger Reki was used to contrast the real Reki, questioning her choices and symbolized the wishes Reki had and couldn’t make true, therefore she had an opposing role. This time, she acts according Reki’s wishes, holds Rakka back as Reki decided to vanish. But Rakka is – thanks to empathy – able to realize what Reki really wanted, able to realize that Reki is asking her for help. But knowing that she can only help Reki if she asks for help (because younger Reki holds her back because of Reki’s desire not to get help but to disappear), she calls out to her, asks her to say, Reki needs her. The train (not only representing a real train [reminiscent how Reki may have died in her first life by walking in front of a train] but also symbolizing Reki’s depression and struggles) is getting closer to Reki. In this moment, Reki is able to notice Rakka, is able to realize that Rakka truly cares for her and truly wants to help her – and is finally able to ask for help. This shatters the dream and Reki’s nametag alike, the younger Reki is dissolving. Rakka saves Reki from the incoming train, as she is paralyzed by fear.
Being forgiven by Rakka and forgiving herself through Rakka’s forgiveness by asking for help (if she hadn’t for forgiven herself, she would let herself run over regardless thinking she deserves it) frees Reki from her sin-bound status. Finally she is able to receive the Day of Flight. And this time, the Day of Flight is not seen as a negative event or as a loss, but as an opportunity to see each other again. Rakka and Nemu both view Reki’s Day of Flight with relieve and happiness for her, even though they will miss her.
In the end, Reki won her bet, as the Haibane emerging from the cocoon was the one who helped her to overcome her sin-bound status.
After she is gone, Reki is still valued. Everyone keeps her in good memories, her pictures are cherished and wall-hung for everyone to see. The last sentence of the whole series is Rakka saying “I will never forget Reki”, highlighting the value of memory and that a person is never gone when you remember them.
Reki’s and Rakka’s proneness to isolating behavior reflects in their names. For Rakka, it is Rakka’s “true name”, which has been presented to her by the Communicator. Her “true name” means “involved nut”. It reflects how she used to isolate herself from the world, shut herself up within the dark. Without willing to make any connections to the outside. It also represents her change, how she connected with other people. A nut is a seed (similar to the cocoons the Haibane start their lives in and that does eventually break same as Rakka’s isolation broke). A seed means growth, which reflected how Rakka grew. From a clueless newcomer Haibane with no idea about the world, she began to be actively involved with other people and the world around her. Even if learning about the world and herself was a painful progress (suffering from a loss, becoming caught up in her own grief), she overcomes this pain and reaches out for other people. By getting involved with the crows, she can receive forgiveness from the crow that represented a beloved person and save herself. By other people getting involved with her, she is saved vice versa e.g. how the Touga saved her in the well or how Reki shows her compassion after Rakka becomes sin-bound. She is no longer someone who cuts herself off from others, but interacts with others willingly. She became close friends with all her fellow Haibane and after being forgiven by the bird, she is able to accept their kindness. Most importantly she also chooses to involve herself in Reki’s problems, when everyone else thinks that is not possible (how Midori said Reki cannot be helped, because she doesn’t want help and gives up because of this. Rakka on the other hand doesn’t give up on Reki and stays involved). In the end, it is Rakka’s final choice of involvement and of action and her choice of forgiveness that saves Reki.
While the isolation and breaking up this isolation is the main theme of Rakka’s true name, isolation is the theme of Reki’s name as a Haibane. Reki means “small stone”. It reflects her desires to become a stone in a sense of becoming unfeeling, numb to pain, but also unable to act or interact. While a seed has life in it and it has the possibility to grow, a stone is a dead, static object (this also reflects how Rakka was able to change, to get rid from being sin-bound while Reki wasn’t). So Reki’s name is a lot more depressing than Rakka’s, which has a hopeful perspective and indicates change. It gets even worse when Reki’s “true name” – that is supposed to reflect the true nature of a Haibane – means “The one who was run over and torn apart”, giving Reki’s name an even more negative, destructive and hopeless perspective. For Reki, there is no other perspective than being destroyed. Or so it seems. Because when Reki overcomes her own flaws, the name changes. In before Reki’s true name reflected the result her destructive behavior led to in the end and what is about to happen all over again: To be run over and torn apart. Both figuratively (by her own feelings) and literally (by the train). By changing, by being able to ask for help this time, Reki’s fate changes and so does her name.
This is especially interesting because one would think a “true name” can not change, it is established and set in stone – but in Reki’s case it does according to the choice she makes. So it is very possible that Rakka’s “true name” was something else as well before she started to open up. Even if it is a “true name” it changes. Even something that is considered as someone’s “essential nature” may change! Even if her first “true name” was so negative and let Reki fall into despair – it still had the potential of changing. This is similar how Reki presented the sin-bound status, saying Haibane who are sin-bound can never reach their Day of Flight. That being sin-bound is not a set status is shown with Rakka at first, who becomes sin-bound and is also able to overcome being sin-bound over the course of the story. It is a fleeting status, nothing that is there forever. Nothing is set in stone. This also reflects in Reki’s relationship with Midori and Hyouko. It made the impression to be always strain, since they were even officially forbidden to interact with each other – but in the end they were able to reconcile their relationship and forgive each other. Reki who thought that there was never help for her and she would always be betrayed and that there was no salvation for her in the first place is proven wrong in all these aspects by Rakka. Reki’s true name returns to mean “stone” again – but this time it is a stepping stone. Someone who supports the weak with their strength. The stone that Reki represents is no longer an unfeeling, unconnected object, but something that interacts with others, connects with others, supports others. Her name highlights her caring nature, a nature Reki denied to have in her self-hate, but now is ultimately confirmed to her. Her “true name” and her name as a Haibane were both connoted negatively – but her new true name emphasizes gave her not only a positive true name but also a positive, hopeful connotation to her being a stone.
Haibane values connections to others and forgiveness. It doesn’t shy away from showing how people get hurt by loss and hurting each other and themselves and the effects of it. But in the end there stands the overcoming of grief and (self)hatred and grudge in favor of forgiveness, empathy and love.
On top of that it shows even if a situation seems to be hopeless and that there is no way out of it to the point that they are perceived as fate or “essential nature” – there is always, always the possibility of change and improvement.