astrohyper

[astrohyper]

A kid coming in and saying “I did it all! It was me!”

I saw Episodes 10 and 11 of the Persona 4 anime, and it made me want to talk about Kubo’s dungeon and how it highlights his relationship with the Midnight Channel Killings, and the overall roots of his motive for being the Copycat Killer.

Kubo’s dungeon is titled “Void Quest” and looks very similar a 3D version of old school JRPGs released in the late 1980s to early 1990s. I also want to note that Void Quest specifically resembles the games of the late 80s-early 90s, which makes me want to call attention to the fact that the game takes place in 2011, while the main characters were born between mid-1994 and early 1996.

Now, why does Void Quest look the way it does? Rise accuses Kubo of seeing the entire situation as a game, but I'm not so sure this is quite it. Kubo is portrayed as a hermit prior to becoming the Copycat. Now, Kubo is actually not a hikikomori as many would believe, since he still is shown to attend school, as he’s in uniform when he asks Yukiko to go out with him, and not attending work or school is a requirement to being a hikikomori.

In the first epidemiological study 4 of this phenomenon in 2003, the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare defined hikikomori as a state in which a young person (a) mainly stays at home, (b) cannot or does not engage in social activities such as going to school or working, (c) has continued in this state for more than 6 months, (d) has neither a psychotic pathology nor medium to lower level [intellectual disability] (IQ  <  55~50), and (e) has no close friends.

[Source]

But, he's still very much shut-in and not known to have any friends. I believe that since Kubo's Shadow in the anime is shown to be playing video games, and that in his berserk form, his shadow resembles a fetus inside a shell of an RPG protagonist, that part of the reason the dungeon looks the way it does is that Kubo's best way of processing the world is through video games.

Also, the timeframe of the games it’s inspired by are games that were released slightly before to around the time Kubo was born, such as Dragon Quest. This can give a sense of childishness to Kubo, like he’s trapped in his young childhood. Which is supported by the appearance of Kubo’s Shadow in berserk form.

The idea of seeing the world through video games is supported by the fact that the floors show the events of the Midnight Channel Killings from Kubo's perspective... sort of. Obviously, there's the details that Yamano and Saki's names aren't remembered and they're just registered as "Defeated," while Morooka is named and registered as "Killed," meaning Morooka is the only one Kubo actually killed, but I want to call more attention to the stat changes Kubo gets after he "defeats" the "bosses." But it does show that this is how Kubo processes the world. And we hear commentary from the only consistent presence in his life, presumably his mother. I think the world isn't quite a game to Kubo, but games are how Kubo processes the world. Such as the “rotten orange” scene.

Actually, fun fact: This is implied in the game, but Page 143 of the Persona 4 Club Book confirms that the rotten orange guy is Morooka!

He was formerly a student of Yasogami High, but was messing around in the shopping district when he was seen by King Moron and given a suspension. This incident was a blow to Mitsuo's pride, and he dropped out of Yasogami. He ended up changing to a different high school afterwards. Since then, Kubo held a violent grudge against King Moron, which led to him to be considered the perfect target in his copycat killing.

I translated this. I struggled a bit, but I hope I did well.

Post-Midnight Channel Killings, Kubo has “Emptiness” go up both times, and in Saki’s case, his “Sadness” increases when he “levels up.” This isn’t guilt for killing Saki as we know he didn’t kill her, but we actually do know that Kubo was frustrated about the Midnight Channel Killer not being caught prior to framing himself to be them.

If you are wondering why this isn’t a screenshot, this comes from images taken from Yosuke’s player’s recording. She did not know how to screen record at the time.

But when Morooka dies, things look very different. Partly because Kubo did kill him, but because Kubo turned himself in, all eyes are on him. And here’s the stat increase instead.

So Kubo killed Morooka (and claims he killed Yamano and Saki) and states he did it for the recognition. I actually believe Kubo, unlike the real Midnight Channel Killer, was honest about his motive when he states what it was. Also, when Kubo recognizes Yukiko when he's defeated, he pretends like she came back to him because he killed Morooka when she really was just trying to get him arrested. (I do believe he in part really believes she’s interested, but he is lying to himself here.)

So, why does Kubo want attention so badly? Well, something that’s clear is that Kubo is very much a hermit. We barely see him socialize at all. (He’s not very good at it, for what it’s worth. He pretty much just rants at anyone who will listen, as Rise mentions, and you can experience—Kubo will rant about biker gangs in the “screenshots” I took earlier about him being angry the MCK has yet to be found!)

Now, something I’ve reiterated many times throughout my writeups, especially whenever I discuss the real Midnight Channel Killer, is the relationship between power and connection. Kubo knows this relationship, but can’t connect to anyone. And as such… Kubo doesn’t make much of an impact without people around him. And if you don't make much impact on the world, history won't really remember you. This is a fear that impacts a lot of people: being forgotten after they die. Robert Waska discusses it while talking about parental therapy.

In the course of conducting psychoanalytic treatment with individuals and couples, we come into contact with certain patients who dread the prospect of death because of the very primitive threat of being forgotten forever. This is a pre-depressive or paranoid-schizoid phantasy (Klein 1946) of losing connection with the world, of no-one caring, of no-one being able to remember them. As one patient put it, "I would become nothing," and then she broke down sobbing over this unbearable terror.

[Source]

This is reiterated when Kubo confronts his Shadow, who has a very blunt takedown of who Kubo is.

Kubo just wants the recognition, and is genuinely afraid by the prospect of being forgotten to the point it just overrode his sense of right and wrong, so he committed murder and obstructed justice for the sake of being remembered. Well, I hope he got what he wanted, because all he got was made fun of by the news. And then the Investigation Team found the real Midnight Channel Killer! So all he is is a footnote in this case!

[astrohyper]

I always vibed with Kagutsuchi personally

you ever wonder what Kubo’s Persona would’ve been had he ever accepted his Shadow?

[astrohyper]

Life Series Tarot Arcanas

Look, I have a particular kind of brainrot when it comes to things I like. This kind of brainrot is the kind that says I must associate everything I like with Persona in some way. As such, I have assigned every Lifer an Arcana I believe fits them. You don't need to know anything about Persona, as I will explain my reasoning for each.

Of course, I feel the need to say that in a number of cases, it was difficult trying to figure out just which single Arcana fit best. A lot of them, I can make arguments for different Arcanas, but this list is what I decided to go with.

I would also like to point out that I avoided using any extra Arcana Persona games use, and because of that, some of these fit better than others. I could honestly see all of the Lifers being Fools, but having repeat Arcanas feels cheap to me.

Anyway, here we go!

0/XXII - Fool: RentheDog

The Fool Arcan is typically the domain of the protagonists of any given Persona game, and as such, there's some interpretation necessary when it comes to characterization. In order to help me, I will also go a lot of what the Fool represents, that being beginnings, innocence, spontaneity, and recklessness. See, characters of the Fool Arcana often find themselves as the leader of their given group. We know that they are generally charismatic, good-natured, compassionate, well-meaning, and all-around good people. They're also kinda weird, if you go with the Anime interpretations. But what I find interesting is the other Fools encountered through the series. I won't name them in an effort to be spoiler-free, but there's one in Persona 4 and one in Persona 5. They're both villains. They ended up how they are because of how they were isolated and distrusted. This leads to a "we're not so different" kind of scene in both games between the main character and them. So, why do I bring this up? Well, Dogwarts. The descent into madness and blood and misery with Dogwarts feels like a Persona bad end in a way. Ren's charisma, compassion, and want to help were all turned against him, leading to him using those skills to plunge the server into war.

I - Magician: GoodTimesWithScar

The Magician Arcana represents possibilities, taking action, and resourcefulness, but can also represent manipulation, poor planning, and immaturity. The stories of these characters tend to revolve around learning to let go of or temper immature traits. Also, these characters tend to be one of the main instigators of the plot, being the first ones who take action, often to the point of recklessness. All of this screams Scar to me. He's always willing to be the first to do something, whether that results in death or not. Also, he can be very manipulative, what with his Trader Scar's and everything. Plus, the function of the Magician in modern Persona tends to be the character that the protagonist just hangs out with and gets into shenanigans with, and Scar just fits those vibes. I'd love to get into shenanigans with Scar.

II - High Priestess: PearlescentMoon

The Priestess Arcana typically revolves around needing to regain agency, ignore the expectations placed upon them, and learn to trust one's own intuition. I feel that ever since Double Life, Pearl has been stuck with the expectations of Scarlet Pearl placed upon her, and is finding herself struggling to live up to those. Also a somewhat consistent thing that happens is the Priestess character tends to be isolated (ie, Maki in Persona 1 being hospitalized, Yukiko in Persona 4 being placed on a pedestal for happening to fit a specific societal mould, etc.), which also fits Pearl. To be honest, this one was the easiest to assign for me.

IV - Emperor: ImpulseSV

The Emperor Arcana signifies authority, structure, and protection, but can also mean rigidity, stubbornness, and domination. These characters typically get caught up in singular pursuits and let those pursuits be the only thing they think about. They find something to dedicate themselves to and never look back, for better or for worse. Impulse is very, very dedicated to winning. That man wants to win so badly and has gotten close so many times. He just keeps getting so close, yet falling just short. Perhaps what he needs is to loosen himself up. If he just lets himself look past all this for one moment, maybe that may just be enough.

V - Hierophant: Skizzleman

The Hierophant Arcana, in Persona, usually signifies a character who is a caretaker. Someone who ends up having to guide others, whether they wish to or not. Oftentimes, the major struggle with the Hierophant stories is that past hangups lead to the character being less of a guide than they should be. Typically, grief leads to these characters failing in their jobs as supporters. All of this is to say, Skizz often lets his feelings about his own deaths get in the way of properly supporting those around him as he should.

VI - Lovers: Smajor1995

The Lovers Arcana is heavily associated with love, whether romantic or platonic. This is for good reason, as it's literally called the Lovers. However, the Arcana itself is mostly concerned with the idea of choice. The stories of the Lovers are often about characters making a choice, the consequences of which damage or alter their relationships with those they love. Rise in Persona 4 chooses to leave her life as an idol, which hurts Inoue, her manager. It also affects how she feels towards a fan who always sends her letters. Scott's stories throughout the Life Series emphasize his choices. He chose to not kill as the Boogey in Last Life. He chose to disregard his soulmate in Double Life. He chose to trust Martyn in Limited Life. Whatever the consequences of such a choice, he makes the choice that he wants, simply because it's his to make. There are also a few more details like how these characters draw strength from their relationships, how they're typically peppy and outgoing, and how they often have dreams of romance and love, but those are secondary details to the theming that fits Scott.

VII - Chariot: Smallishbeans

The Chariot Arcana is filled with stubborn characters who won't listen to reason a lot of the time. They're determined to a fault, and keep going and going and going until they hit a wall they just can't overcome. Usually, through the intervention of another character, they are able to stop, reorient themselves, and find the right way through this obstacle in their path. They don't stop what they're doing, but they learn that obsession is only detrimental... So like, Joel and Scott, right? Scott is the obstacle in Joel's path that was insurmountable until Gem was able to get Joel to let go of his obsession with killing him, which brought him to victory.

VIII - Justice: LDShadowLady

The Justice Arcana mostly concerns itself with ideas of justice, fairness, and morality. Typically, characters of the Justice Arcana are victims of deep unfairness within their lives, like Nanako losing her mother to a hit and run in Persona 4. They also tend to take matters of justice and fairness quite seriously, in some cases carrying out what they see as justice for themselves (Ken, Akechi). All of this is to say, Lizzie has suffered a lot of unfair deaths throughout the Life Series. A lot has been done to her, and she usually finds herself trying to right these wrongs and get revenge. It just doesn't tend to go well. So, I think it's only right to let her represent the Justice Arcana. (Also, depending on the source, Justice can be either VIII or XI, and Persona has used both in the past. The thing is, making Justice VIII here places Lizzie next to Joel, so that's what I decided to do.)

IX - Hermit: Bigbst4tz2

The Hermit Arcana is about solitude, introspection, and withdrawal. The player typically interacts with these characters in unusual ways, with the most normal way being with Futaba in Persona 5. Something that sticks out to me about Bigb is that he really struggles to stay with a single group. Even if he does stick with one group, he likes to go off and do his own thing a lot. Not to mention, I think Bigb fits the requisite weirdness that the Hermit entails. Like, the most normal character is Maya/Y-ko in Persona 3, but you still interact with her through an MMO, and she uses mid-2000s internet lingo. Moving beyond the more esoteric parts, the stories of the Hermit Arcana tend to revolve around acting from the shadows, seldom noticed, which just screams Bigb to me. Finally, another major component of the Hermit Arcana is being distrusted, or generally disliked. Bigb tends to act in such a suspicious manner that most of the others find themselves unable to trust him. I dunno, this one is based mostly around vibes to be honest (and also, Hermit is the hardest for me to personally find a pattern in story-wise, considering my options are Futaba, Saori, Maya/Y-ko, and a Fox. The Fox doesn't speak, and so it doesn't really undergo a noticeable character arc beyond just liking the Protagonist more; therefore, I only have three options. There are no Hermits in 1, 2, or 2). Also, it's really funny that none of the Hermits are the Hermit Arcana.

X - Wheel of Fortune: Grian

So, the Wheel of Fortune, also just called Fortune, is mostly about destiny, fate, and truths about who you are. It's also full of characters that I will struggle to talk about, due to the fact that they're either very spoilery or very controversial. But the long and the short is, the stories of the Fortune Arcana tend to revolve around being destined or fated for something, whether that character wants it or not. In the case of Keisuke from Persona 3, he does want to be a doctor, and that seems like the path life is taking him down due to the fact that his father is a doctor as well, but he struggles because he doesn't want his life chosen for him, even though it is still what he wants from life. On the other side of the spectrum, you have Ryoji, also from Persona 3. I will avoid spoilers, but basically, Ryoji has no control over who he is, and thinks it would be best if he were never to have been born in the first place, lest his very existence hurt the ones he loves. And it's Ryoji in specific that has me drawing parallels to Watcher Grian. See, the stories of these characters tend to end with them realizing they have control over their own fates, and that they should use what they've been given or assigned for the betterment of the people around them. And like, Wild Life Grian uses his Watcher abilities to create a fun time for his loved ones. He takes this fate that's been assigned to him and makes his own choice about what to do with it.

XI - Strength: EthosLab

The Strength Arcana represents strength, courage, compassion, and fortitude. In the reversed position, it can represent self-doubt and being controlled by your emotions. These characters go through arcs of doubting their own abilities, unable to equate their old selves with their new ones. Etho is not lacking in courage or fortitude. Despite his wet cat vibes, he is persistent and will keep going no matter what. The lowest point for him was definitely Limited Life, with the whole washed-up thing, but that's just another step in his character arc, don't worry. (Yes, it is really funny to me that Etho ended up being Strength, considering its potential placement next to Chariot. God, Etho really is obsessed, isn't he?)

XII - Hanged Man: TangoTek

The Hanged Man Arcana is about pausing, self-reflection, and contemplation. It asks you to stop and consider before deciding on a path to pursue. Characters of the Hanged Man are solitary. They retreat from public view and give themselves time to stop, until the realities of modern life crash into them and make them realize they don't have much time. While I wouldn't call Tango solitary, he does tend to get overlooked and end up alone in the end. He also tends to become something of a pariah, or at least a sacrificial piece in his alliances. It works, but to be honest, I had no clue where to put him, so Tango ended up being the last to get placed.

XIII - Death: MumboJumbo

The Death Arcana is not necessarily linked to Death. In fact, back when Tarot Cards were first made, it actually had no name. People just called it Death because of the skeleton on it. No, instead, Death is linked to change and transformation, a more metaphorical death if you will. Now, Persona tends to use its link to actual death more often than not, so this was still chosen with that in mind. See, the two things that stick out to me about Mumbo in the Life Series is a) his fear of death, b) just how differently he acts compared to Hermitcraft and such. Yes, in general, he's still a mess of a man in both cases, but he is markedly more paranoid and jumpy in the Life Series. It's almost like being in the Life Series caused his personality to transform into a more extreme version of itself. Also, something something Coal Miner.

XIV - Temperance: ZombieCleo

The Temperance Arcana concerns itself with balance, moderation, and patience. Torn between two pursuits, these characters struggle to maintain balance in their lives. In a lot of the seasons, Cleo often finds themselves between alliances, and dragged around by the tides of server politics. Like in Third Life, with the Crastle being nominally linked to Dogwarts, but also linked with the Desert, and with Cleo specifically kinda bouncing between them. In Persona, these stories usually are about how stressful it all is, and how this stress is straining the personal relationships these characters have. I feel this is apt to mention, as Cleo gets stressed by the constant strains a lot. They're prone to excess levels of violence and destruction, and generally lack moderation when pushed. I dunno, it just fits to me.

XVI - Tower: InTheLittleWood

The Tower Arcana is probably the most negative card in the deck. It's an omen of coming disaster, upheaval, and chaos. The characters associated with the Tower are also not generally great people. They lie, cheat, and steal. And I don't generally vibe with the idea of any of the Lifers being "evil" or stuff like that. That all said, I think Martyn fits the Tower in the context of Persona. You see, the characters of the Tower Arcana tend to be selfish. They tank their personal relationships with others through their own willful acts, justifying it to themselves that they're just looking out for themselves, and really, doesn't it just make sense to do this? Like Shinya in Persona 5 stealing money from the kids who make fun of him and bully him. He's just giving them a taste of their own medicine after all. I just can't help but draw parallels between these character arcs and Martyn betraying Scott in Limited Life, or Martyn betraying Scott at the end of Double Life. Hell, even Martyn's plan to betray Ren in Third Life. It's a pattern of Martyn making the willful choice to betray those close to him in order to get himself further in the game, and that says Tower to me.

XVII - Star: Bdouble0100

The Star Arcana represents optimism, hope, and faith. These characters tend to have a kind of draw to them, and you get swept up in their energy. They're loud, bright, cheery, and altogether just fun. The fact that they use these traits to cover up anything they'd rather not show to the world isn't important. Yes, a lot of the time, their lives are falling apart at the seams. Their home lives aren't usually the greatest. Perhaps they have insecurities that chip away at them from the inside, but at least they never make it known. Don't worry about that. There's nothing to see here. No reason to look deeper at Bdubs or anything he does. He's just a fun, cheery guy, and that's all you need to see.

XVIII - Moon: GeminiTay

The Moon Arcana is about illusion, mystery, and repression. Characters of the Moon Arcana often hide from themselves. They fool themselves into trying to be someone they simply aren't, and in doing so, push people away. They refuse to be honest with themselves and cover up insecurities or hard truths with a social veneer. In Persona 2, Maya covers up her confidence issues with intense positivity. In the same way, Gem covers her hurt and her fear with barbs and teases. She's been burned before, but instead of letting those frustrations out, she covers her ears and ignores it all, pushing it down because she's GeminiTay. She isn't bothered by anything, and she doesn't fear anything. She has a reputation to uphold after all. She wouldn't feel sad over her friend betraying her at the end of Secret Life; GeminiTay would simply get back at her. Is that really who Gem is deep down? Who cares. She's GeminiTay. Oh, also, this just plays into the moon imagery Gem often uses.

XIX - Sun: SolidarityGaming

The Sun Arcana symbolizes optimism, success, and vitality. Though the world hasn't been kind to Sun Characters, they still manage to find a hidden well of hope and positivity that pushes them forward. They find themselves able to achieve their goals that seemed so far out of reach at the beginning, simply by pushing through with optimism and some help from the main protagonist. While a sunny disposition is only occasionally included with all this, it certainly goes a long way. It should be obvious to see why this is the Arcana I chose for Jimmy. I think Star would have also fit, but Jimmy's just too self-confident for it. This man is optimistic to a fault and always pushes himself to greater heights. Maybe one day, he will achieve his dream that seems so out of reach at the moment.

[astrohyper]

The Bridge That Wouldn’t Burn

bet you thought you’d seen the last of Adachi on my blog huh? HAH. This spider’s living in my head rent-free and won’t fucking leave! I’ve met Johnny Yong Bosch over this guy, you think I’m possibly normal about him?!

That aside, I do want to talk about his relationship with Dojima and how interesting I think it is.

The first time we see the detectives have a conversation, it’s initially professional for the most part. Adachi questions if the murders were related to Hiiragi and Namatame, to which Dojima mentions they couldn’t have killed her personally. But Dojima makes a rather obvious comment that the killer is somewhere in Inaba, which leads to Adachi responding with this:

It’s a crack of a joke, and the first sign that these two actually get along pretty well as people. The second sign is the fact that Dojima just straight-up invites Adachi to dinner. There are multiple occasions where Adachi’s just in the Dojima residence with no warning, such as when he’s invited over to the Dojima house after Yukiko’s rescued, and playfully teases Dojima after seeing him talking to Nanako (to which he gets told to “shut up and eat”)

Or the significantly more disorienting scene where he just showed up to the Dojima house after Naoto’s saved. Out of nowhere, wasted drunk. I really want to share it solely because it was funny after we got over the shock of “why are you here? DRUNK??”

Also, Adachi is shown to be attached to the Dojimas. See his relationship with Nanako, pretty well-established in Ranks 4 and 5, such as the scene where he playfully teases her over her mispronunciation of “stew,” and his… questionable life advice to her that shows just how cynical and checked out he is from life.

Also, I’d like to make an argument about the second threat letter. I’ve said it before, but I believe it’s actually a panic letter. Because we already know Adachi was lying when he told the Investigation Team that the kids being kidnapped by Namatame and not dying because they were saved by the IT was purposeful. Unused voice lines make it clear as day it’s Adachi standing here.

I don't think there's any mistaking that rasp... Also, in the scenes leading up to Adachi's Ending, where you burn the second threat letter, Adachi almost openly admits his fingerprints were on the letter and that it could "turn the case upside down" (meaning get him convicted).

Adachi's an incredibly impulsive guy. So, what actually prompted him to bring this second letter? He'd already sent another letter that could clearly be explained as "Adachi throwing a fit over his plan to frame Namatame being repeatedly screwed over." Also, Nanako had already started showing up on the Midnight Channel, and it's realized by Yosuke that the people on the Midnight Channel were most vividly seen by those who knew about them.

Like Nanako. And Adachi is a Persona user who knows Nanako and has been clearly shown to be friendly with her. So it's very likely Adachi actually panicked and was sending an SOS to make sure Namatame wouldn't kill her. Because she's the only kidnapping victim of his that he actually likes.

He also looks after Dojima while he’s in the hospital, as shown in his Rank 7.

No harm done at all. You could argue Adachi would become more suspicious, but Namatame also would be because they’re both at the same hospital, and at this point pretty much everyone (except for, of course, Namatame and Adachi) mistakenly thinks that Namatame is the Midnight Channel Killer.

But Adachi doesn’t seem to seem to realize what he means to Dojima at all. Which is crazy, since he himself states that he’s Dojima’s only real friend after Nanako is kidnapped.

After he unintentionally unveils himself as the Midnight Channel Killer, Adachi openly becomes hostile towards anyone who approaches him. He berates Yu for ever trusting him, not even considering how much his closeness to Dojima may have colored Yu’s view of him, and when Yu calls him out and asks if he’d say that to Dojima, you know, his best friend, Adachi dodges the question to insult him.

Also, when he talks about how the Midnight Channel Killings played out from his perspective, we’ve already proven he outright lies about the kidnapped people being supposed to be alive and that it was all purely a game, which is in part meant for him to distance himself from the Dojimas (and by extension Yu), and in part just meant to make himself look like he was more in control of the situation than he really was.

And he even actively tries to sever himself from Dojima, as dialogue in January shows, where Adachi refuses to speak with Dojima whatsoever while in prison.

thank you @aroaceyunarukami for giving me these screenshots, couldn’t find ‘em anywhere…

But this doesn’t really work. Dojima is persistent in trying to talk to Adachi, and furthermore, even despite the fact Adachi was accidentally indirectly responsible for Nanako almost dying, Dojima called an ambulance for Adachi to make sure he was okay.

Which shocks Adachi. He's tired, thanks to getting wrecked by seven teenagers and a… bear who also is technically a teenager, and then losing his body to a deity, but he even had remarks to say to the IT after that. Here, no snark, no anger, nothing. He’s just shocked into silence. I don’t think he knew how much he mattered to Dojima and how much he cared about him. I think to Adachi’s memory they were just coworkers and drinking buddies, even if he did have some attachment towards him (that, let’s be real here, he vehemently denies. Adachi is outright afraid of attachment). But Dojima's not willing to let their connection sever. He wants answers and clearly genuinely cares deeply for Adachi, which is clearly not something Adachi expects.

I don’t think Adachi really has a grasp on just how lucky he was to have Dojima there, as someone he couldn’t just burn bridges with like he wanted. Adachi is a chronic bridge-burner, he refuses to connect with anyone and that's a big part of the reason his situation isn't all that favorable to him, because he constantly destroys any support network he could have had. But this time it couldn't be destroyed. And as shown in Dojima's January dialogue, he's kept trying. But in the epilogue it's made very clear Dojima never stopped visiting Adachi.

I've not played the story of P4AU, as with the exception of Rise, none of the other players have played Persona 3, so I'll be taking them through it. But I’m a bit curious if Dojima will show up, and if he does, will we get to see more of Adachi’s relationship with him since he shows up in the main story? Part of me hopes so.

[astrohyper]

Who Am I, Really

So, I’ve made it no secret I love Rise. She’s bar none my favorite Persona 4 character. So, I wanted to talk about her Shadow, named Himiko, and more specifically what she represents. (I won’t be covering her connection to her namesake, Queen Himiko, as I’ve done so in a previous writeup.) I also want to talk about Rise’s dungeon in the anime, but this will cover game content as well.

I’ve stated before I believe Himiko is the embodiment of two things:

1. Rise’s resentment towards the isolation and mistreatment she faces as an idol

2. Rise’s fear of not being able to unmask and what she finds beneath being nothing but the objectified versions of herself that the public sees her as.

But why do I assert this? Well, for one, see Himiko’s in-game dungeon dialogue as you traverse the floors of Marukyu Striptease. This is an example from the fourth floor of her dungeon.

She’s pretty much performing for an audience the whole way through. The previous dungeon Shadows, Konohana Sakuya and Take-Mikazuchi, while both performing, both have moments where the performance slips, such as Konohana Sakuya on Floor 6 of Yukiko’s dungeon. Himiko never has that. Best you have is Rise on the advertisement you see at the beginning of the game, which is still a performance.

Furthermore, Himiko is the only one that constantly addresses the audience. Konohana Sakuya and Take-Mikazuchi don’t always acknowledge the presence of the Investigation Team, Himiko does.

Also, the way Himiko is probably the most blatantly sexualized Shadow, wearing JUST a golden bikini in human form, a representation of two things:

1. Rise’s desire to “open up” to others and not “wear a costume,” as she constantly has to hide who she is.

2. The internalization of the young sexualization Rise faces as an idol.

To elaborate on that second one, I want to discuss sexualization of the idols within the industry, especially teen idols (which is what Rise is as of the events of the game, she is 16 years of age), and show how it connects to Rise. Ng Lay Sion (surname first) writes in her essay View of Never-ending Gender/Sexual Cannibalism? about the way this sexualization is intricately linked to consumerism in Japan.

The scenes of a late adolescent female idol in a swimsuit at a pool, followed by her wearing pyjamas in bed, then her donning a maid’s costume in a restaurant—all these separated scenes accompanied with different clothing offer a great deal of excitement and perverted space for the male otakuto gaze and fantasise freely. Furthermore, through the process of gazing into/knowing about her body, the male viewers gain a kind of perverted dominating power over the idol’s body. Here, the lack of any genital exhibition enforces a decentered eroticism that not only maintains the purity of the idol but also exhibits an urge to visualise, ‘a cinematographic perversion’ (Galbraith 196). Ultimately, this perverted, erotic and dominating gaze leads to the consumerism of more photographs or videos that are associated with the images of the female human idols.

[Source]

We see examples of this a few times during the game, such as Rise pointing out that Himiko, right before Rise is thrown in, can't be her because Himiko is noted to have larger breasts than Rise.

In the anime, we also see Rise look at a gravure magazine featuring mainly herself in a swimsuit, and it shows how teen idols like herself are sexualized. There are a few explicitly romantic lines shown within the magazine, but what struck me was the first image's text.

That literally just says "Rise's perfect body," with "perfect body" being in English katakana. (the little bump is Rise's hip, she's wearing various swimsuits in this image.)

Marukyu Striptease is quite a bit shorter in the anime than it is in the game, as the team is pretty much shown to walk onto Himiko’s stage almost immediately. But I want to talk about the scene where a bunch of different “cognitive Rises” as I will call them rise up on the stage.

It’s a very evocative image, using multiple different Rises being present, as these Rises are all facets of what the public sees of Rise Kujikawa, and a piece of her identity crisis. Also, do you remember my word choice of “wearing a costume?” All of these Rises are putting on special costumes for commercials they’re in—costumes and makeup for a performance. It’s all performing for Rise. All the way down. And hell, Himiko is literally on a stage.

To go back to Ng's essay, she also talks about the fictionalization of idols and how this is important to their images.

Constantly present and exposed, the female human idols become real only through the production of their images. As John Fiske suggests, ‘[i]mages are made and read in relation to other images and the real is read as an image’ (qtd. in Galbraith 186); images lead to more images, not to a real person. In Japan, exhibitions on idols, portraits of anime and video game characters are often displayed alongside portraits of idols, emphasising the female human idols as images (Amano 2007). This parallel position between human idols and fictional characters frequently attracts a lot of attention from the male otaku.

[Source]

This is part of the reason Rise kept insisting that the various masks she puts up are not truly her, as she knew she had to put up a specific image in order to work as an idol. And also why Himiko insists this as well, in her rant to Rise, when she tells Rise she's tired of putting up the mask as Risette. This rant I feel is obligatory to mention when it comes to talking about Rise and her Shadow.

Also, one commenter made a very astute observation that Himiko's Supreme Insight, foreshadowing Rise's status as the Navigator of the Investigation Team, may be her way of lashing out at stalkers like the one the Investigation Team and Detective Adachi found and arrested right before Rise was kidnapped. Rise got no privacy whatsoever, so in Himiko's eyes, nobody else deserves it either.

Rise also discusses in Rank 7 of her Social Link how she was deeply isolated because of the image she had to keep up.

This brings us back to Himiko herself, who as you likely can tell is in part the embodiment of Rise's resentment towards her isolation caused by the images she has to keep up. But I’ve stated the other factor is fear. Fear of the people who consume her like a product and sexualize her being correct.

There are pretty clear hints Himiko is this fear in game, but I think the anime spells it out, so I’m going to discuss it here.

During the anime, in Episode 10 after Rise argues against Himiko's assertion that she's the "real" Rise, Himiko in a rage demands she tell her who the "real" Rise is, to which all the cognitive Rises surround the complete Rise and each one starts insisting she’s the real Rise as their eye colors collectively change to gold, as Himiko asks Rise who the real one is. Rise panickedly exclaims she doesn’t know, letting her fear completely break loose. (Honestly you should watch this scene, Laura Bailey did a great job).

Himiko's berserk design also enforces this idea. Her face is meant to resemble the patterns of a kaleidoscope. Kaleidoscopes are pretty interesting things. They use a bunch of mirrors and other things like colored glass to create unique, symmetrical patterns. And you never see the same pattern twice--there are infinite patterns. [Source]

But also, Himiko doesn't have any notable features distinguishing her connection to Rise other than her twintails. Her body is in a million colors and her face is a kaleidoscope pattern to represent how there are so many different ways to see her that Rise feels like a husk. Like there's nothing beyond what she portrays to the public.

Not to mention that as Rise begs Himiko to stop, Himiko just straight up uses a slut-shamey insult on her, emphasizing how deep this fear runs.

Himiko, as Rise's Shadow Self, represents Rise's fear of having no identity, and rage over having no control over her life, whether as an idol or outside of the industry's bounds. Which makes me really like how Rise apologizes to her as she accepts her--she knows that Himiko is doing all this, analyzing the people around her so they can't hurt her and lashing out at Rise herself, because she's just as afraid as Rise is. After all, she is literally her suppressed fear and anger that's been left unaddressed for way too long.

And immediately after this, Rise acknowledges to Himiko that she is a part of her, and that Risette and the various forms of her, as well as the various ways she expresses herself to others, are all equally valid. Even her performances still have Rise Kujikawa shining through somewhere.

This is reiterated in Rise’s Rank 10 dialogue.

I love Rise. And I really love how they handled Himiko in the anime. There was such clear care put into her dungeon, and as someone who has her as my favorite character, that greatly pleased me.

[astrohyper]

I wanted to talk about Marie and her relationship with fate and connection.

Marie is “not of man,” meaning, she isn’t human. She doesn’t know what she is, and her Social Link is trying to help her gain a “self.” This goes haywire once she realizes what she actually is—a deity. And believes she has to die in order for the world to be saved, calling herself a “being destined for nonexistence.” Though, she doesn’t totally realize the extent of what she is yet.

When Marie realizes what she is, she actively pushes the Investigation Team away, and desperately denies herself her attachments to the Investigation Team. She believes she’s damned to die, as that’s what she’s been told her purpose is. Her denial is to the point that it corrupts the items of the Investigation Team. The weapons they wield drain their SP, and they have no items beyond what’s in the Hollow Forest. The reason she denies it so hard is because she’s in part terrified of harming the Investigation Team when the fog takes over her psyche.

Also, look at the statues around her dungeon. These are haniwa. If you don’t know what haniwa are, they’re little clay sculptures, often put around a grave, especially in the Kofun era. Here they’re basically meant to guard Marie’s grave, which the Hollow Forest itself. As she’s meant to die by absorbing the fog. Though, that's not their only purpose here--they're meant to be a source of comfort for her as she passes away. In Fumio Miki's book Haniwa: The clay sculpture of Protohistoric Japan, this is on pages 18-19:

[T]he Haniwa seem to reflect a much more human relationship between the upper and lower strata of early society [compared to that of China]. It is difficult to imagine anything but genuine love and affection for their departed rulers on the part of the artisans responsible for some of the best Haniwa figures. Without these qualities, the notably human and often even warmly lifelike sculpture of much of the Haniwa repertory would be virtually unthinkable. The same holds true for the Haniwa replicas of inanimate objects; not fear and servility but only the warm human desire to provide the departed with the best possible reproductions of the objects he used and loved while still alive can account for the care and affection evidently lavished upon their production.

But look at her dungeon. There are more than just haniwa. There are fragments of Inaba everywhere within the dungeon. Such as the sign of Souzai Daigaku, the steak skewer place you visit in her Rank 1, just casually lying around.

It's of Inaba, and a bunch of things she remembers from her time in Inaba. There are two meanings to the presence of the fragmented but recognizable pieces of Inaba in her dungeon: one, to show that she's lying later on when she claims she hates the Investigation Team and wishes she never met them, proving it's just her way of trying to help them because she genuinely believes she cannot get out of her situation. Two, to show that she doesn't want to die. She loves and adores Inaba, and wants the chance to make any memories she can--she loved living with the Investigation Team, and truly does want to continue. And she’s panicking when they finally confront her, because she genuinely believes this is the only way to save everyone. But she resents it. She’s terrified of and hates the idea of fate and how it can bind her. She makes it abundantly clear she doesn’t want to die at all, fighting off tears as she tries to comfort herself and fails, then cursing her situation.

She makes it abundantly clear she believes there's no way to fix the situation for herself, telling the IT it's impossible to save her. But the Investigation Team proves that she isn’t fated to die at all, because when they ask if there’s any other way, she does explain one, but says it’s risky. She chooses to make a gamble and trust the Investigation Team to literally break fate.

And you know how she learns fate doesn’t exist? Because the plan works. She straight up survives and she just wrecked the idea that she was destined for nonexistence. Much to her own shock and even just incredulously asking why the hell the Investigation Team would do that, claiming they wouldn’t get anything out of saving her too, forgetting the simple truth that they love her and that they got her out of saving her.

And afterwards, she helps Yu fight her other self, Izanami. And Izanami in a sense perpetuates fate as well, because she believed the person who won the battle between "Despair, Emptiness, and Hope" was the Midnight Channel Killer, Adachi. Who had this to say about fate, firmly believing in it:

But Marie's learned that isn't true. And furthermore, I made another writeup about Marie and Izanami’s potential dynamic—it was in part speculation, but we know Marie is Izanami. Specifically, she’s the part that loved humanity as she granted their desires.

I believe Izanami casting Marie away with that magic comb, and the scene where Izanami expresses disdain for Marie, are representations of Izanami throwing away her trust in humanity, as trust is required in order for love to be healthy. Trust and connection changed the course of Marie’s life from being destined to die to having no destiny and being free to live as she wanted, leaving her no longer bound by fate. But Izanami hasn’t learned this yet and won’t until the Investigation Team prove it to her face. I like this because Naoto’s words before the fight against Adachi are correct—you can’t do everything alone, and pushing people away will only hurt you—if Marie succeeded in pushing the Investigation Team away, she would have died. But she chose to trust them instead and have faith in them so that she could live alongside the world, and live however she likes.

[astrohyper]

Differences between Yukiko’s dungeon: Game and Animation

Wanted to talk about Yukiko’s dungeon in the anime and how it differs from the game. I’m mostly going to cover my favorite dungeons (except the eighth, it’s not in the main anime), like Yukiko, Rise, and the Midnight Channel Killer’s. But I might do the others if they particularly catch my interest. I'd have to analyze some of their dungeons individually though...

First of all, the sheer size of it. Look at the platform Konohana Sakuya is standing on. These dungeons are so much bigger in the anime... likely they were always meant to be this big and only looked small because of gameplay limitations.

This size was implied by her comment when they meet her on the second floor of her dungeon, but man I didn’t think it’d be that crazy.

Most of the dungeon enemies are the same. You can see Trance Twins, Lying Hableries and Black Ravens present, which are all found in Yukiko's dungeon. Also, the former two are shown before Chie gets her Persona, which means she's on Floor 1 of the dungeon, where said shadows are located. Good attention to detail!

Though, the Avenger Knight, the miniboss, is absent from the anime.

Second of all, they expand a lot on Yukiko’s character. And she’s already one of Persona 4’s best-written characters, in my opinion. In Episode 3, they show you Yukiko’s room in black and white. I really like the way they use the color red in this scene, emphasizing how Chie’s presence in her life gives her life color, showing how much she deeply cares for her.

They also really drive home her association with birds, adding in that she used to have a pet bird. It’s clearly some sort of songbird. And her leitmotif, Alone In This World, has lyrics that directly state she feels like a trapped bird.

feel like a pet bird (confined) I wanna be who I wanna be

[Source] sorry man i couldn't find genius lyrics There were already signs of this in the game, which is wrapped up in the animated version of the Konohana Sakuya fight, so it will be discussed while I discuss her association with birds.

First, I want to draw a parallel between Yukiko’s relationship with the bird and her relationship with the family. Both Yukiko and the bird are seen as caged, but I want to add that Yukiko puts the bird in an unusually small cage to put a bird in.

Most bird owners would give their birds much larger cages. This isn’t terribly good for recreational activity for a bird, and it doesn’t give the bird much room to move around. Yukiko didn’t seem to realize the bird can fly, as it had fallen and was injured when she found it, but she could’ve given it a larger cage for it to hop around in.

But, Yukiko genuinely cared for the bird, and her parents genuinely care for her. I truly don’t think Yukiko’s parents and their workers were aware of the idea that she might have felt pressured and caged by the fact that she was to become the okami of the Amagi Inn. Just as Yukiko didn’t realize the bird would be able to fly on its own and didn’t realize she wasn’t giving it better options. She did love the bird and didn’t think about the possibility that the bird would feel like it was trapped because of her, she thought she and the bird were both in uncontrollable situations.

Yukiko Amagi: You're just like I am. We can't live anywhere but here...

But the bird breaks free from the cage on its own, which makes Yukiko panic because she hasn’t quite realized she can break out of her own situation yet.

During the fight, Yukiko’s trapped literally in the same birdcage that she put the bird in, further drawing a parallel between herself and her former pet, so she can’t help the Investigation Team oppose Konohana Sakuya. Who, both in-game and in the animation, takes the form of a giant caged bird when berserk.

(As an aside, I also like how it’s clear Konohana Sakuya can control the dungeon herself, such as the scene where she uses candle wax from the chandelier to pin Yu and Yosuke to the ground so they can’t move.) Also, I want to make an assertion about the chandelier that falls on the Investigation Team and pins Jiraiya to the wall that Yosuke's player pointed out to me. I think the chandelier that Konohana Sakuya represents Yukiko’s fear to leave. And you know what fear does to a person if they don't confront it? It completely crushes them. The chandelier is being used to crush Yu and Yosuke, much like Yukiko's fear threatens to crush her.

And Yukiko, when encouraged by Chie to break out of the cage that she was trapped in by Konohana Sakuya, initially asserts she can't do it.

Chie Satonaka: Yukiko, you are one of the strongest people I know. You wanna escape? Then do it! You can break free of that cage all on your own!! Leave there and go wherever you want! You've gotta listen to me... I know you can do this! Yukiko Amagi: You're wrong, Chie, I can't. I'm far too weak to leave... the same was true then [when my bird flew away]...Truth is, I wasn't heartbroken, I was mortified. The bird that I thought was trapped just like me... got up and flew away. All on its own. I admit, I did forget to lock the cage door... but that bird mustered the courage and strength it needed to open the door on its own.

But after some encouragement from Chie and seeing how Chie, Yu and Yosuke are fighting Konohana Sakuya, she... proves herself wrong near-immediately. She breaks out of the cage herself, which is the biggest thing that weakens Konohana Sakuya as she's no longer repressing her, and she is trying to overcome what she represents.

Because Yukiko believed she has no power. That's her story--learning she has more power to change her situation than she originally believed. She thought she had no control over her life, but she does have control. She just needs to take advantage of it. I also like that it's her closest friend who pep-talked her into it--emphasizing the whole "power of trust" theme of Persona 4. This feels more like an extension of my Yukiko dungeon analysis, but there's just a lot added here that adds to Yukiko's already great character. She gets a theme song, for crying out loud!! And it's beautiful!

[astrohyper]

Yukiko’s Castle of Escapism

I really love Yukiko’s dungeon and want to talk about it. I think the imagery in it is great and conveys her character very well. This writeup was honestly long overdue, I should’ve written it back in like February.

I’ve said it before (major spoilers!), but I believe the crux of Yukiko’s story is her relationship with power and how she originally feels she has no control over her life, before learning she has more agency than she believes.

I want to drop a lot of context first, though.

Contextualizing the Amagi Inn

So, one of the first things we learn about Yukiko is that she is the heiress of the Amagi Inn. But what does that mean to her? What is the Amagi Inn and why does she feel so much pressure to inherit it?

Well, the Amagi Inn is a ryokan. Which, “inn” is a pretty good way to translate the word, but ryokans have a lot more diversity than most Western inns do. They also have hot springs, called onsen (温泉)!

Chris McMorran, in his book Ryokan: Mobilizing Hospitality in Rural Japan, discusses the difficulty of the job of the family that owns a ryokan.

This convergence of home and workplace in time and space, along with its relative lack of privacy, makes some ryokan owners feel trapped. Managing a ryokan is a twenty-four-hour a day, year-round commitment. Most of the face-to-face hospitality occurs between 6:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m., but someone needs to answer late-night requests or emergencies. These calls typically go directly to the owners’ residence. They answer the 2:00 a.m. request for an extra blanket or the occasional desperate plea from a woman fleeing an abusive spouse and begging for the physical safety that will come with a job (see chapter 7). Busy inns like Yamazakura close only a few days a year for maintenance and major family events like weddings or funerals.

[Source] located on page 62

As for Yukiko's role, she is in training to be the okami of the ryokan. Which is easily the most important role in the ryokan in total. The Japan Ryokan Association's website describes the role of an okami in the ryokan pretty well.

The okami not only bears the greatest responsibility for waiting on and taking care of guests but also acts as the chief service manager on behalf of the ryokan. The okami's role corresponds to that of a general manager in a Western hotel. In many cases, the okami is the owner of the ryokan or the wife of the owner, which means that the okami, as the representative of the ryokan, attends to all external affairs such as business matters and cooperation with the local community. [...] In the majority of ryokans, the role of the okami is handed down from mother to daughter or to daughter-in-law. In either case, the younger generation studies under the older generation, and devotes herself to mastering the responsibilities and principles of the position of okami.

[Source] page 62

In Yukiko's case, the implication is mother to daughter, as she is the only child of the owner of the Amagi Inn and her husband.

Furthermore, Chie calls the Amagi Inn “the pride of Inaba,” and describes it as basically what’s keeping Inaba economically afloat in the first place, and with the advent of the Junes competition, there’s even more pressure on the Amagi Inn as a bastion of Inaban culture.

Traditional Japanese femininity and the Amagi Challenge

Yukiko also is seen by her peers, male and female, as a personification of traditional Japanese femininity, a "Yamato Nadeshiko." Now, if you don't know what that is, it's the traditional ideal of a Japanese woman. Satoko Kakihara in her dissertation about Japanese femininity titled Flowers in Contradiction: Japanese Imperialism and Gender Construction Through Women’s Writings, 1895–1945 succinctly describes exactly what that is.

Another common label in Japanese discourse is the cliché of the Yamato nadeshiko (大和撫子), a phrase that describes the figure of a beautiful woman, the kind of elegant, flower-like beauty that has become naturalized and idealized in Japanese society. Nadeshiko (撫子) is Japanese for the genus of flowers called Dianthus, which includes more commonly known species such as the carnation; Yamato (大和) is another name for the nation of Japan, used also in phrases such as Yamato damashii (大和魂, the Japanese spirit), which essentialize and valorize Japanese nationalism. Yamato nadeshiko thus literally indicates a flower that belongs to, or is native to, the Japanese nation, embodying its positive and requisite characteristics. This standard of female beauty points to a particularly Japanese female beauty that is found only among the “Japanese”, perhaps even recognized or appreciated by only the Japanese as well—a beauty prized in a society that places significance on nature, the passing of seasons, the grace of flora that enriches the Japanese environment.

[Source]

This leads to her being distinctly sought after by the male students around her. Even older guys who don't actually have any romantic interest in her, like the reporter who interviews her before she's thrown in the Midnight Channel, comment on how beautiful she is and how she must have many suitors. But when it comes to the male students, she has had approximately zero interest in any of them. Even her best friend Chie comments on it.

Which... only makes them more determined for some creepy reason. They made a game out of it, the "Amagi Challenge," to see who the hell is going to get Yukiko as his actual girlfriend, and if he gets rejected, how brutally?

So Yukiko just constantly gets thrown around and hit on, much to her understandable aggravation.

The Castle Itself

So let’s start with the layout of Yukiko’s dungeon. It’s a castle. But an odd detail about it and the aesthetics of the shadows within is that it looks nothing like Japanese castles you’d see all over, well, Japan, which is Yukiko’s home country. It looks very European, resembling more specifically Mediterranean architecture. The shadows within also keep this trend of Western Renaissance-era clothing rather than anything that a Japanese person would be familiar with in their history, such as her fifth floor miniboss, the Avenger Knight, or her post-dungeon boss, the Contrarian King.

Part of the image Yukiko presents from her physical appearance is that of a traditionally feminine Japanese woman. Her hair is in a princess cut. And she states herself that she has never left Inaba.

Yukiko’s Shadow, Konohana Sakuya, keeps saying throughout her dungeon that she wants a prince to take her far, far away, to run away where nobody can find her.

Notably, Yukiko’s own breaking point leads to her admitting she wants to run the hell away herself, which is in Floor 6 of her dungeon, features an interview from a reporter that touches on two huge sources of stress for Yukiko: namely the unwanted attention she gets from her male peers and the fact she is the heiress to the Amagi Inn--in this scene she's recalling being asked about the Amagi Inn by a fellow student

When it comes to the stress on her from her male peers, she understandably doesn’t like the idea of just being seen as a prize to be won, which they clearly act like she is.

She sees everything in Inaba and her association with it as a cage, and uses the idea of this Western castle as an escape because it’s so starkly different from everything she knows—there’s no way Yukiko would be recognized here.

The music in the dungeon has almost no traditional instruments either. It's full of chaotic synths, incredibly modern instruments. It has a slower, gentler side, but still nothing like a shamisen or a flute is audible in the music piece.

Konohana Sakuya, Yukiko’s Shadow

Now let’s move on to her shadow. Her Shadow, later her Persona, is named Konohana Sakuya. If you don’t know who Konohana Sakuya-hime is, she’s the goddess of Mount Fuji, and has some pretty significant impact on Japanese culture—her presence is hugely important to Yukiko’s character. But she is not just the goddess of Mount Fuji. She’s the maternal great-grandmother of Emperor Jimmu, the first Emperor of Japan, and she is considered the goddess of motherhood and one of the most beautiful deities in existence.

There’s a pretty good summary in the Encyclopedia of Shinto in Kokugakuin University.

Konohanasakuyahime became pregnant in a single night, and asked Ninigi to make special preparations, since she would be giving birth not to an ordinary individual, but to a child of the heavenly kami (amatsukami). Ninigi, however, was surprised at her claim to have become pregnant in a single night, and suspected that the child was actually the offspring of an earthly kami (kunitsukami).

Shamed and enraged at Ninigi's accusation, Sakuyahime entered a doorless parturition hut, setting fire to it with the vow that the child should not be injured if it were truly the offspring of the heavenly kami. Ninigi. Inside the hut, Sakuyahime gave birth to three kami, including Hoderi, Hosuseri, and Hoori (according to Kojiki; the names differ somewhat in the various other accounts).

[Source]

Sound familiar? Yukiko’s often sought after for her beauty, and actually, much like Konohana Sakuya-hime, is associated with transience because of the latter’s association with cherry blossoms, which only bloom for a very short time before giving way to leaves.

Right before we meet Tomoe, who is Chie’s Shadow, Yukiko’s thoughts talk about how little she thinks of herself and how much she hates her name precisely because of its association with transience, as her first name (雪子) literally translates to “snow child” or “snow girl.” Yukiko states she believes that because of that short lived nature of snow, that she's only meant to inherit and continue the inn as the okami and nothing more. She believes that is the only fate for her because of how low her self-esteem is.

I spoke about the pressure on Yukiko from the expectation to be the next okami of the Amagi Inn. But I didn't quite talk about how that ties into her relationship with her status as a woman, which is actually much more tied with the Amagi Challenge than you'd think. Something I didn't mention about the role of the okami is one specific detail: the fact she's also to create a successor and train the next manager and okami of the ryokan, as mentioned in McMorran's book.

This ideal of the eldest son as successor places intense pressure on ryokan families to produce a male heir and on eldest sons to accept the duty. However, a disproportionate burden falls on the emotions and bodies of okami. Ryokan owners, male and female, current and retired, frequently told me the most important job of an okami was to bear a son.

[Source on page 83]

It's pretty related to Konohana Sakuya-hime's importance as one of the ancestors of the Imperial dynasty of Japan, as her display of loyalty was to set the house she was giving birth in on fire to show that the kids she was having were actually fathered by Ninigi.

But it's a clear display of the pressure on Yukiko to marry a guy in order to head the Amagi Inn. But according to both herself and Chie, Yukiko hasn’t even had any male friends, let alone a male lover.

And furthermore, you know how I mentioned she’s considered the goddess of beauty and Mount Fuji? That’s a pretty huge piece of Japanese cultural identity, which further ties Yukiko to her status as a Japanese person who is deeply tied with Japan's traditional culture.

Now let’s look at Konohana Sakuya, the Shadow’s, design. She’s a princess, just like her mythological self. But she’s not portrayed as a Japanese one at all. Much like the Shadows and the castle’s layout, Konohana Sakuya adorns herself in a Western princess’ clothing.

Note, princesses are the female children of the royal family according to history. But normally, a princess is not going to be the heir to the throne despite the power she’s supposed to have as a daughter of the most powerful family in the kingdom. Instead, princesses tended to be married off as ways for kings to consolidate power, and usually she never had a say in this situation. So Konohana Sakuya being portrayed as a Western princess represents two things:

1. The perceived denial of power that’s supposed to belong to Yukiko as princesses were denied power for being women despite being royalty

2. The sense of desiring escape from her life by visually rejecting everything she associates with the inn, which includes the traditional Japanese architecture and fashion she’s used to in her life.

Now let’s analyze her Midnight Channel Episode, very clearly based on the idea of the Amagi Challenge, where people have to win “Yukiko’s” affection to be her prince. And it’s pretty clear Yukiko’s basically considered the princess of Inaba, from Chie’s words about her family’s ryokan being the economic backbone of the city. It’s also highly sexualized, which is going to be a theme in the Midnight Channel Episodes, but in Yukiko’s case this sexualization comes from the Amagi Challenge and how she is seen as a gold standard for traditional Japanese femininity. She doesn't feel like anyone can see her as anything else whatsoever, so Konohana Sakuya is, in a sense, giving into what she sees as her fate by sexualizing herself.

Also, the way she presents herself once actually in her dungeon is very clearly meant to invoke the damsel in distress archetype so common in folklore and in video games. Nintendo, even, has frequent damsel in distress stories, and their video games are a modern creation despite they themselves being made in 1889. Damsels in distress frequently do not have much in the way of agency, only meant to be rescued by male protagonists, like how Pauline is rescued by Mario from Donkey Kong in the Donkey Kong games, and Princess Peach (sometimes) in the Super Mario games. These damsels by game mechanics are just destinations, prizes to be won, just as Konohana Sakuya portrays herself to be in her Midnight Channel Episode.

Konohana Sakuya is meant to show how Yukiko feels she has so little control over her life, that she feels she has to meet the expectations of everyone around her, even if she doesn’t want to. Not only that, but she represents Yukiko's relationship with loyalty and connection through her being drawn to Yu, Yosuke and Chie as her "princes," methods of escape from her perceived fate.

Yu and Yosuke are obvious. Yu is a guy from the city and has seen tons of things that Yukiko has never seen before due to living in Inaba all her life, so he represents a life she's interested in living. And Yosuke is the son of the Junes manager, and Junes is seen as an enemy to Inaba, so being with him, likely by working at Junes as she rejects him when he asks her out, would be an active sense of rebellion. But Chie is special. Chie is someone she's known for a long time and therefore trusts the most--and aside from that, Chie is not a guy. She's a girl. Which means unless they adopt (or Chie is transgender without bottom surgery, which is not implied to be the case), there is absolutely no way for Yukiko and Chie to produce a child together. But Konohana Sakuya has eventually come to the conclusion that despite how much Chie means to Yukiko and by extension herself, Chie cannot save her from this situation, likely because Konohana Sakuya realizes her and Yukiko's bubbling jealousy of Chie means that can tear the two of them apart and make Chie a less viable or stable option of escape.

How much or little power does Yukiko have?

Yukiko is the only daughter of the Amagi family. Zero siblings are mentioned whatsoever. So all eyes are on her to lead the ryokan because there's no other known heir, and it seems that everyone just assumed Yukiko would take over the Amagi Inn. Furthermore, Yukiko cannot escape the sexualization of the boys around her despite her repeatedly rejecting their advances, the sheer fact they make a challenge out of it shows how little she is truly respected.

All of this on top of the fact that the job of a ryokan worker can lead to very little privacy, from childhood to adulthood, can lead to the working family members such as Yukiko feeling trapped. And considering Yukiko is an only child, if she does not inherit the inn, who will? The inn might be forced to close, putting more pressure on Yukiko.

And this culminates in Konohana Sakuya's rant:

Yukiko believes that she has no control over her life, and a bitter resentment is growing from that perceived lack of control. Tomoe, Chie's Shadow, points out the bubbling jealousy that Yukiko feels over Chie Satonaka, her best friend, for not having so much unwanted male attention on her.

And Konohana Sakuya insults the inn, as she sees it as a source of stress and a prison. This Western portrayal of a princess is her rejecting this perceived cage that her status as a traditional Japanese heiress gives her. Konohana Sakuya implies that she believes the only way to get out on her own is to sever ties with her family, especially since when she initially starts seeking various jobs, she starts out hiding this fact from her family.

But, there’s actually way less pressure on Yukiko than she initially believed, as shown by a little detail: Konohana Sakuya’s berserk design. She’s a bird in a gilded cage. (One friend pointed out she actually could be considered a lovebird considering the heart on her chest, symbolizing how she's tired of being pursued by the male students around her. I thought that the heart represented how she wanted help from loved ones outside of the inn to escape her situation.)

Of course the sexualization of her because of her femininity is something out of her control, but something she learns isn’t is whether she inherits the inn or not. She doesn’t have to at all. There were already hints other than Konohana Sakuya that her family is more open-minded than she thought, simply because Yukiko is an only child and therefore has no brothers, and sons are seen as the ideal to head ryokans as we've established. But she’s a daughter and she was considered a satisfactory heir. But at the epilogue of her social link, she confirms it.

Her family and their workers are totally okay with her doing what she wants, because they love Yukiko. No strings attached, they just straight-up adore her. They want her to be happy and if that happiness can't come from the inn, that's fine. Yukiko’s the one in control of her life. And she doesn’t need to burn any bridges at all, she’ll be supported all the way through.

Yukiko doesn't really have to escape from anything, at least not related to the inn. She can leave it entirely if she so pleases, and she has Chie and the rest of the Investigation Team by her side. And now she's realized she has everyone at the inn, too.

[astrohyper]

Desirable Masks: Yukiko Amagi and Rise Kujikawa

I was talking with some friends about this, but man, Yukiko and Rise’s stories are a lot more similar than I thought. Both of them have stories about feeling they have to keep up masks or they’ll be cast aside as defects, and how much that messes with their agency and senses of self.

This time I’m actually going to start with Rise, because hers is more obvious. She’s literally an idol, after all, and one of her biggest grievances with being one is the fact she has to constantly put up a mask in order to be accepted by the masses, as shown in her dungeon where there are eye designs all over the floors, as if everyone is watching her at all times. And she’s insanely lonely, which is part of the reason why her dungeon has hearts everywhere—she desperately wants someone to connect to and not see her as a doll. I’ve mentioned it in the writeup about her dungeon and Himiko before, but I’ll still bring it up here. Himiko, who is meant to be the embodiment of what Rise represses, portrays herself as a performer to the end. Even during her boss fight, she calls the Investigation Team her “guests” and refers to them like they’d be in her audience.

It’s to the point that Rise doesn’t know what she “normally” acts like, as shown after she recovers from awakening to Himiko. She’s so used to hiding her emotions for the sake of others that when she tries to be sincere she’s… not really sure if it worked.

Himiko, during her rant, explains that she feels outright chained by the masks, and hates how she has to keep it up. Because Rise being forced to keep up these masks is another way Rise has no power over her life. She can’t eat at the places she likes, can’t have privacy in her own home due to stalkers, is utterly isolated with nobody to vent to about her worries or even just speak her mind with. She just feels like a toy.

this rant is so good, it encapsulates so much about why Himiko exists and portrays herself the way she does Another thing that a commenter mentioned on my writeup about Rise’s dungeon that I agree with is that one of the reasons Himiko uses her Navigator analysis skills on the Investigation Team is a way of lashing out against stalkers and tabloids who try to look into every detail of Rise’s life so she has no privacy whatsoever, so now it’s her turn to know everything and other people’s turn to have zero privacy. Thought their observation was very astute.

Yukiko’s arc is even more keenly about power than Rise’s is, with her relationship with power and the fact she had more control over her life than she initially believed being the centerpiece of her arc. And much like Rise, one of the reasons for this sense of powerlessness is the weight of people’s expectations on her, as seen in her dungeon.

The main one, obviously, is the expectations weighed on her by the fact she is an Amagi and therefore expected to inherit the family inn, and Konohana Sakuya’s rant reflects Yukiko’s (in this case mistaken) belief that she does not have any choice in the matter for her life, and that because everyone just thinks she will, that she has to inherit it, which unnerves her.

But another is Yukiko’s femininity. Yukiko almost perfectly fits the outward image of a “Yamato Nadeshiko,” which, in summary, is the image of a perfect traditional Japanese girl. This leads to many of the boys in Yasogami High being attracted to Yukiko, but Yukiko hasn’t been interested in any of the guys who have asked her out. This, paradoxically, leads to Yukiko being sexualized by the male students around her because she seems to meet this feminine ideal. The students even make a game of people asking her out and betting on whether they’ll get her as a date or not.

It’s actually bad enough to the point that older male reporters make some really creepy comments towards her. Her resentment comes to a head as shown on the sixth floor of her dungeon, showing memories that eat away at her psyche.

And Yukiko feels deeply isolated by her perceived lack of agency, too. She’s treated as a prize to be won by the boys around her and develops a sense of jealousy of her best friend Chie over the fact she doesn’t get the unwanted attention that Yukiko gets, which leads to Yukiko self-imposing even more isolation than she was already subject to.

Both Yukiko and Rise are deeply isolated by this feeling that they’re forced to put up masks and both desperately want a way out. Both Konohana Sakuya and Himiko ask for relief from this sense of crushing expectations on them to come from somebody else, too, and make fun of their full selves for wanting this. Konohana Sakuya asks for it from a “prince,” who can whisk her away from her home, because Yukiko has convinced herself she cannot get out of this situation on her own, and Konohana Sakuya explicitly calls her out on it.

While Himiko is more representing Rise’s fear that she truly is what the masses make her out to be: a doll. A toy. I mean, hell, Himiko in Shadow form looks like a doll with a reflective face. That she'll never find anyone to connect to and only ever be treated as an object. Which leads into the fact that both girls’ treatment as sexual objects is internalized to an extent, seen in their Midnight Channel Episodes. (I mean hell, Himiko outright calls Rise a skank when you confront her, which made the entire group I was playing with (including me) do a double take.) And Konohana Sakuya mentions she's wearing lingerie in her Midnight Channel Episode.

The point of Yukiko’s story is she really does have more power over her situation than she believes, while Rise’s story is more about the power exerted on her by the masses messing with her ability to know who she even is. But both girls become more self-expressive after they confront their Shadows because in both cases they finally have people they feel they can feel confident in confiding in. This allows Yukiko to help stabilize her relationship with Chie, and it gives Rise an actual support network in the first place. And this freedom from their mask-induced isolation helps them learn more about who they really are and helps their different arcs progress—Yukiko learning that she does have more power than she originally believed and Rise learning more about herself, like realizing how passionate she truly is about acting and singing and how she’s way stronger than she’d believed she was.

It’s really neat.

[astrohyper]

I Can Be Her Strength: Rise and her #1 Fan

In the later ranks of Rise’s social link, she talks about a girl who is her Number One Fan. She’s in middle school and never named, but she is crazy important to Rise, and she’s even part of why Rise goes back into show business. We already know some of why Rise is so important to the unnamed girl, but i want to talk more about why the unnamed girl is so important to Rise.

We first hear about the unnamed girl around her Rank 6 when her former manager, Inoue, is trying to get her to come back to the idol industry, and Rise explains who she is: a girl who was touched by an anti-bullying campaign she did at the school, and someone Rise deeply respects to the point seeing her letters makes her stop dead in her tracks to read again.

I'm going to assert that part of the reason the girl is so important to Rise is because of how similar she is to her. And I think Rise knows that, which is why she describes this "mutual respect" between them--they have a sense of what it's like to be each other. And how that motivates Rise through the end of her arc.

Isolation

Rise’s entire life has been spent isolated. When she was a kid, she was shy and often mistreated by her peers, as she mentions in Rank 7 where she talks about how she got into the idol industry in the first place. But despite skyrocketing into fame when she made the audition to become an idol, her isolation didn’t end—it arguably got worse. Rise was at the mercy of not just her peers, but her managers and strangers she’d never met.

It’s so bad that Rise hyperattaches onto Yu and develops a crush on him for just… not being dismissive or putting her on the Risette pedestal. She’s in that much of a terrible state when we meet her.

The unnamed girl is quite isolated, herself. She actually reached out to Rise for the first time to thank her for acting in an anti-bullying campaign and continued contacting her ever since. This is a much less romantic context and more admiration, but isn’t it similar to Rise’s attachment to Yu? The girl got attached because she actually felt seen by someone she admired, so she would speak to her about anything she could. It’s pretty clear the girl’s deeply lonely, much like Rise.

Also, Rise was a shy kid when she was young and was mistreated for it, as she mentions in her Rank 5.

So she’s always been pretty isolated, even before becoming Risette, since she mentioned being alone the whole time and mentions only really being spoken to because she became Risette.

Vulnerability

Both Rise and the young girl, due to said isolation, are in highly vulnerable positions to being controlled by others around them.

The girl struggles with making friends and ends up struggling with peer pressure, as shown in the epilogue rank with Rise.

And Rise has been straight-up exploited by the public, and has to deal with stalkers following her around even in her hometown, like on the day she was kidnapped--the Investigation Team and Adachi ended up chasing and arresting a stalker of hers trying to look inside her room. She's been oversexualized and literally can't have a partner because she's an idol. It’s why Himiko portrays herself the way she does as a Shadow. Both she and the girl are at the mercy of the people around them. In the scene leading up to her boss fight, Himiko is literally ranting about how angry that she has to put up these masks to be accepted and how desperate she is to not put one up, to not have to change who she is in order to be accepted.

It’s probably another reason Rise cares so much for the girl. She sees her younger self in her and similarities to how her life went. Which is emphasized by how much she thinks about her, which leads into my next point.

Inspiration

Rise and the young girl are both highly inspired by each other. I mean, when Rise explains who the girl is in her Rank 6, it’s just made abundantly clear what Risette can be—more than a mask. A beacon. An inspiration.

I think their similarities are the biggest reason why they’re inspired by each other-though, as Rise points out, the girl doesn’t know a ton about Rise’s situation, so she doesn’t know how similar she and Risette truly are. Which leads into…

Why Rise Returned for Her

It may seem like an odd decision for Rise to go back into the idol industry, since Rise’s story was about how much she hated the excessive control it exerted on her. But the girl was why Rise came back, so she could help people like her who didn’t have anyone to look up to and aspire to be like. Rise does acknowledge the pain she was in initially in her max rank, the way she was tightly monitored by her agency and the prying eyes of the public. So she resolves that instead of being in the agency she was in, she’ll be more independent. She’ll start over entirely, not going back to the same agency since she already burned bridges with Inoue in her Rank 8, and says that she’ll honor herself and Himiko’s desire to not have her smile be fake. Because with all the lack of control she had, she couldn’t have a genuine smile because she lived in fear of the public and had no real connections. She’s not going to live in fear of the masses constantly judging her anymore. She’s not going to be controlled by the masses anymore. She’s going to stand above them, push through, and just be… Rise Kujikawa. Whatever that entails. It’s a new day for her. And she’s going to be allowed to be herself.

I think Rise wants to be the person she wished to have there for her, back before she became Risette. The person that could inspire others to believe they were worth something. It’s further implied by her dialogue in her epilogue rank.

Because the girl mentions having to give into peer pressure in order to keep the questionable “friends” around her. It’s not a good send-off for the poor girl and she deserves better, to not have her personality forcibly shaped by others around her… much like Rise was. She’s in danger of going down a smaller-scale version of the same path Rise did as an idol, and Rise wants to put a stop to it and help the girl (alongside anyone else in that situation) see she doesn’t have to change and run away from who she is just for the sake of others’ acceptance. Which is exactly what Rise learned throughout her arc. And that girl, that very girl in danger of falling into the same trap Rise did, helped her realize what Risette truly could be: a beacon of light in the turbulence, where she could really be a role model to help protect and inspire the girl and others like her.

[astrohyper]

Against an Archetype: Kanji Tatsumi and Chie Satonaka

Kanji and Chie are pretty damn similar, and I initially noticed it soon after we beat Kanji’s dungeon. And I want to talk about why.

So let’s start with Chie. When she is trying to save Yukiko from her dungeon, Chie’s Shadow, Tomoe, confronts her and accuses her of being jealous of Yukiko for being able to draw more male attention. And Chie… is cast aside because she’s too masculine. She cuts her hair short, doesn’t care what you say about eating, she’s pretty tomboyish. And because of that she (for the most part--there are guys who genuinely have crushes on her) doesn't get any attention from guys because of that masculinity.

Tomoe even points out this lack of attention makes Chie feel inadequate as a young woman because of the treatment she gets—nobody even looks at her except maybe Yukiko. And Chie internalizes how she’s ignored, too. If Yu romances her, she’s actually startled by him doing so and questions why. Chie notices the attention Yukiko gets and feels envious of it, and begins negatively comparing herself to Yukiko constantly because of it since Yukiko does (mostly) fit the archetype of an ideal girl. She feels lesser as a girl because of it.

This is the reason for Tomoe talking about how she (and by extension, a tiny amount Chie) likes the power that she has over Yukiko, it’s just a really weird way of saying Yukiko’s love for Chie is the only thing that makes Chie feel remotely worthwhile as a person, as a girl. And it makes Chie feel like she can’t be all bad as a girl because Yukiko, someone who is a “better girl than her” still likes her.

Now for Kanji, this situation is a little different because Kanji isn’t female—he’s male. He’s expected to be a lot like what Chie is. But he is similar to Chie, because Kanji is also someone why doesn’t conform to the archetypes expected of him as a young man because of his passion for textile work and sewing. And he was actively ostracized and mistreated for it, as he explains after being rescued. And his mother elaborates more on it in the Rank 3 of his Social Link, where she talks about how he liked to play house rather than games considered more "manly."

Kanji initially constantly pushes people away and self-isolates because he’s so afraid of being rejected by someone, no matter the gender. This comes to a head when he confronts his own Shadow, Take-Mikazuchi, who expresses Kanji’s trauma over being rejected by the girls around him up to eleven, expressing wildly misaimed resentment towards all girls around him because he's just not allowed to be himself.

But, thanks to that boy he helps who accepts him for who he is, he becomes more open about his passions and uses said passions to help his family business.

Both of them are cast aside by people of a different gender than them because they don’t conform to the archetypes that is expected of people of their own genders, and it affects them and their self-esteem pretty deeply.

And when it comes to their arcs resolving, Chie's arc is more focused on her relationship with Yukiko than her relationship with femininity, but is still strongly connected to Tomoe's words and how Chie's dependence on Yukiko, a girl who seems to be within the borders of ideal femininity, was the only thing that made her feel like a "worthy" girl. So Chie trains throughout so she can feel like she's someone Yukiko can trust and rely on, and most importantly no longer thinks about comparing herself negatively to Yukiko—she and Yukiko are just as good of girls, they’re just different people, and there’s totally nothing wrong with it! Which I think is really important to learn, not to negatively compare yourself to others—it’s called the enemy of happiness for good reason.

For Kanji, his is more bluntly about his masculinity, and learning to be more comfortable with his masculinity in the first place. He should be allowed to just be a guy that likes sewing and cooking and freely express himself without being judged. So he gets to meet other boys who like traditionally feminine things like sewing, like the young boy who he made the doll for who, to his surprise, called him cool when he learned he made it! It gets to the point where he helps the family business by selling the dolls he makes and does little classes!

It's really not a wonder in the scenes they're shown interacting, they're clearly friends. In the beach scene during August 23, you can see Chie racing Kanji in the water at Shichiri Beach and them playfully being competitive, and it’s really fun to see!

[astrohyper]

hi i just read your e!gem post (same anon) and yeah. e!gem is such a fantastic character 💜💚 i don't have much to say that you practically touched all the points as to why gem's pov and her character in empires felt so special to me 🏔

but now i'm interested in your traffic!gem thoughts, because she's also one of my favorite blorbos to think about; on one hand she's really difficult to crack because a lot of things don't really seem to face her (at least after secret life) and she like, barely creates attachment to material things. on the other hand, her relationship with pearl does help to know gem as a character better because of how uniquely they treat each other (both in sl and wl).

i definitely think she tries to put a facade of "i don't heavily care about death or anything because this is all a game" while also constantly bringing back secret life, almost like that season and what happened (end portal, eye taken 'against her will', a camel and the weight of leadership she never desired) haunts her to some degree that she won't ever admit outloud. some things she brings back are certainly remembered with fondness (her saving that camel during ep6 and then making sure it stayed safe in the barn... you could tell she missed pearl) and others are not (she does not like sacrifices after sl).

the idea that a celestial being, who had been boundless all her life and held control over every aspect of her existence, now keeps coming back to the games because she wants to recuperate what, for the first time in all her life, she lost during sl (her agency? control? freedom?) is an interpretation i'm a fan of rn, but ofc there's so many other things you can delve into (i could rant way more about how she actually is her own biggest enemy and that ties into her trying to not care too much about people and stuff after sl but it’s kinda late lol).

as for fic recs, i definitely recommend this series from dustaundonut (https://archiveofourown.org/series/2796937) basically a canon divergence that explores a reality where corrupted!gem isn't cured, roseblings are really nuanced and complex, shinyduo is shinyduo, and the world is still moving forward. updates for the main fic are slow, but it’s still soooo worth it for the great narrative. one of my faves ever

(also i do think someone should put all gem variants in one room and see which one comes out of the room as a better person and which leaves wanting to commit more crimes)

Hey !! Thank you for all of this !! I’m so proud of my Empires 1 Gem analysis, glad you enjoyed and extra happy you want to hear more :)

I'll do my best.

Traffic Gem’s theme is control. She is constantly fighting to maintain it, to get it back, to pretend she has it, while the whole world makes it their mission to take it from her. She’s a trophy, threat, leader, lover, and at the end of the day: she is and has lost. The tragedy of Gem is her inability to fulfill her full potential, how her situation leaves her no option but to resign, giving a glimpse into what could have been if she was allowed. And the triumph of Gem is when she rejects that, spins things around so her only option is committing, delighting not in the spoils but in the hunt.

Gem is wonderfully difficult to pick apart, with Traffic!Gem as the worst offender -- most of my #analysis were posted during WL trying to figure her out. But the fun is in discovering another aspect/layer that completely changes an interpretation. All to say: this isn't my first crack at Traffic Gem, and it certainly won't be the last. Written mostly in January, I was gonna wait till I had a companion fic to post with this (EDIT: now posted!) but Simple Life April Fools spelled soooo much out, I can't resist posting now. Enough disclaimers, let’s get into the great Gem analysis!

Traffic Gem, willingly or not, is the villain of everyone's story. Even her own.

Gem (and most other mcyts) are very utilitarian with adapting to what reputation is thrust on them: as it's the smartest decision if she wants efficient power/control over the situation. There's less legwork for her in establishing motive, skillset, tone, etc. and makes her very accessible to other players: they already know her story and can work around/within it. Her HC intro season having a cottagecore theme and really her cute girl aesthetic in general is fitting into a marketable stereotype that she can then go on to subvert. And this is the fun of CC's in general, especially for the audience! The difference comes in how freely they're able to act.

In every season Gem is sought after by others: defending them, being a target, challenging them to act. If she's standing near someone, she can't be ignored, and people are always seeking her out. Many other traffic villains (Scar, Martyn) don't try taking leader at the same time, and the few that have (Ren, Lizzie) dedicate their time entirely to managing it. Gem has the worst combination because she can't turn it off: she's too aware of playing the physical and social game (and playing it well) to not lead. Because of her skill she must be used and fought against. Funnily enough Scott has this same problem, which is why he usually attaches to someone with a similarly strong reputation (social and/or skill) to mask his movements. Grian also falls victim, but his position as gamemaster and first victor often takes the heat off: people trust him to prioritize lore and not overextend. Obviously Gem and Scott would also like to RP, have you seen them, but to individual players it's more tactical to be wary.

So Gem is caught in a terrible cycle. If she embraces her villain leadership status, she has power over the server, but will never catch a break or get to tell any other type of story. And if she tries to reject her reputation, an uphill battle on its own, she'll be targeted anyway for an entire season, without the allies to block the bullets. She still finds ways to thrive in subversion: Gem explicitly follows the rules of the Life Series to the letter: passive till it kills her, because everyone's expecting her to murder from the start. Gem loves playing the villain, her SL aesthetic lives rent free forever, but also longs for peaceful episode segments and initiating her own shenanigans -- which can only come when others are independent. Oddly, I think Real Life demonstrates her ideal vibe: everyone was a lot more laid back so while she was still feared and followed, it wasn't stopping her from having fun. Meanwhile, Simple Life is her nightmare. All this to say: Gem has a lot of complex emotions around embracing slash being forced into villainy and leadership.

Gem uses this reputation for her benefit. She doesn't have much choice.

Let's talk about how other players see her, and what she does about it. Gem was typecast as everyone’s antagonist before she even entered the games. Subbing in for Cleo with her only direction as “Kill Etho if you can” only cemented her reputation. In her actual seasons, she shows sportsmanship with her kills, but rarely seems (or really has reason to be) apologetic for them. Gem takes initiative to gear up and becomes a problem if left alone too long, all the while grinning behind honeyed words and pretty walls. And even regardless of any actions, she’s known for pvp and building prowess, cutting wit, and seemingly effortless control over most situations. If Gem's this deadly when she's forced to hold herself back, what is she like at full power? She can never be under the radar because Gem’s entire existence is a challenge.

The contrast between SL and WL is insane. SL feels like a joyride: she’s got her historically closest allies and they’re completely loyal, the server is entirely at her mercy either in competitions and dragon fights or actively hunted as prey, she even gets to rp toxic yuri with no consequences! And then in the final hour her hubris blinds her to both Scar and Pearl's feelings, and she dies in disgrace. WL Gem is significantly more skittish: narrowing her field of view to only a few goals and broadcasting how uncomfortable she is with everyone paying attention to her all the time. Making a point not to tryhard for kills, merely surviving out of obligation, Gem acts like she's given up everything. She's trapped by the narrative, so she stops fighting against the current. Obviously, at least.

And the other players are clearly off balance from this change. They're unsure whether to fear Gem's machinations as if she was at the height of her boogeyman army, or to hang out sympathetically at her base. Most opt to take the safe route and target her anyway: only to face tauntingly little resistance as she uses their attempts as evidence to her innocence. Is her head still a trophy if she stands still under your minecart? Why are you making her a more dangerous color? Gem admits she played "aggressively passive:" her offense was a manipulatively weak defense. It aims to disorient others and gain sympathy for herself. There's a clear rebranding effort at play, all to change popular opinion towards Gem into something favorable.

Lifelong Allies (by accepting they all want you dead.)

After SL, Gem changes targets from directly winning to interpersonal goals. She’s already demonstrated her strength, though learned the hard way that nobody will ever leave her alone long enough to safely take her win. And since she's joined late, there's no foundation of trust or love to fall back on -- if anything, she's almost ostracized -- so now she chooses to build one. Gem needs strong allies, but even stronger ties to her enemies. If Grian and/or Pearl hadn’t intervened, had they gone for the other enemy instead, she almost certainly would’ve been crowned. Don’t be fooled by her facade: Gem never gave up on winning. Everything she does in WL is setup for her next Red rampage.

If there’s anything she learned from Scott, it’s having relationships everywhere. She wants to have a stronger tie to them so that when it comes down to a 2v1, the worse side isn’t Gem. They don’t have to love her or even want her to win, they just have to want the other person to lose more. To do this, Gem butters up every player -- she only truly denounces the G's, everyone else receives kindness and civility. She also constantly calls out the enormous target on her back, both for sympathy, but also making every attempt on her life impersonal. If everyone’s targeting her, she has no reason to be enemies with you even if you do kill her. She's friendly, if blunt, and competent enough to deserve the win, if only everyone would leave her alone! Boldly, to an almost insane degree, Gem is trying to circumvent her reputation as "Biggest Threat" into "Enemy Of Your Enemy."

Why team with Joel? As she's building bridges with all players, she also covers her tracks with the other greatest threats. Among Grian, Scar, Martyn, and arguably Etho, (all of which she also dedicates extra time to befriending,) Joel is the best fit for her mission. Loyal to the grave, there's no risk of a surprise betrayal. He doesn’t put much effort into peace talks or reputation, so he’s a perfect contrast against the smiling, hands up, ‘peaceful’ Gem. Although aggressively lore-phobic: often off-setting the tone of her story moments (most glaringly trying to kill Pearl in the finale while they’re talking,) even that demonstrates her being a storyteller instead of a sweat. He’s also competent and the perfect Champion: their team does win as a group effort. She directs him towards targets, quietly takes heat off him, and they keep each other alive to the finale. Gem more or less succeeds with Joel, and establishes her position as unfairly targeted, mostly harmless, maybe there's someone better to go after...

But Gem can't befriend everyone. …Unless (and they never got off that camel.)

Singling out the G’s fits perfectly into her “enemy of your enemy” plan, since EVERYONE can get behind stopping GGG. The G’s are the only other team that faced constant sweat allegations, despite their clear intent to infight and do lore -- something Gem clocks as she's experiencing the same thing. Also, the G's have an arsenal of messy dynamics with everyone from past series and many would target them before Gem. Beyond that, it's implausible to befriend everyone, nevermind the stigma when you're called out on being a floater (BDubs, Impulse.) But more than any convenience or necessity: Gem loves a nemesis. To say nothing of entertaining content: if her attention seems focused on someone else, she's not aiming for you, and they're both getting weaker in the process. Though, that only actually hurts Gem if her and her enemy are properly fighting.

Pearl sees through exactly what Gem is doing. If anyone's an expert on being trapped by the popular narrative, it's Pearl. As such, Pearl doesn't want to win, and only really cares about uplifting her loved ones -- and having chaotic fun while she's at it. She's the only player (except maybe Grian) who doesn't want to kill Gem, for reputation or for a safe victory. Sure, she's pressured into it by Gem's promise of a 1v1 on red, but that’s all in service of murder camel reuniting. Her attempts are half-hearted, and Gem only fights back when a third party gets involved (poor Impulse), maintaining the enemies illusion while functionally just having fun/RP. (Not that I think Pearl ever wants to be bloodthirsty 5 AM again anyway, although Gem sure does.) Pearl also takes a “yes, and” attitude to everything Gem does ever, and willingly slides into the role she needs Pearl to be: pulling more attention than Gem, and (depending on what the players/you're looking for) villainous and/or heroic while she’s at it. As long as Impulse is off the radar (and he is compared to the dramatic GGG), Pearl is fine with whatever. And Gem serves her in return: an undeniable threat to target despite Pearl’s allies’ objections. There's enormous flexibility in the storyline too: since neither of them really care about the 2v1, or trying to win this time for that matter, they can spend as much time as they want taking it in any direction. In a quiet, twisted way, being Gem’s nemesis is the best way Pearl can help her.

(Eternal dynamic of Pearl, willing to jump headfirst into whatever Gem's up to, not caring about what'll happen to her own reputation, or even fate, so long as it helps Gem and makes her happy. That unconditional safety allowing Gem to reach higher, unleash her full potential, and having a safe place to land if she falls. And she uses that power to take care of Pearl in return ohghghhh. For the shippy interpretation, I direct you to my ao3 :)

Of course there are consequences to this playstyle. The G’s are very scary on their own to be enemies of, although Gem has unusually strong relationships with all four, so they probably won’t hold a long lasting grudge. Maybe. Moreover, Gem is publicly called out for her unreasonable beef with Pearl, the consequences of which may create an actual enemy in the future if Pearl ever lets herself properly hold her exes accountable. Most of all, it makes Gem look cruel or — worse — sloppy, both of which discourage others from working with her / being on her side. But even with all these downsides, Gem vs. the G’s succeeded in balancing her reputation. And it’s undeniably a highlight of WL.

Yet a villain needs her thematic demise :/ or “what is a victory but other people?”

The best Gem moments and stories are when she gets to have fun doing what she wants. The Boogey Army, lore with Pearl, even the moments of peace at her base where she talks to the camera about her process. But the most disappointing is when she’s forced physically and narratively into a box. Gem is constantly pushed into passivity because it’d be ‘unfair’ — also punished by the rules, unable to instigate until the gimmick (inconsistently) or other players send her to yellow/red. But in WL, Gem had organized things so that when she finally went Red, the most compelling and coherent option was murdering those who wronged her, finding long awaited closure with Pearl, and a satisfying final death that laid groundwork for next season. Unfortunately, by nature of the game/rules, they didn’t have the time or space to execute that throughout the season let alone the finale, resulting in her hard work falling flat.

And isn’t that frustrating? Her playstyle is dictated by the rules and, despite appearances, puts control of her actions/storyline in other players hands. SL worked because Gem could satisfyingly get herself on Yellow and interact with/terrorize other players within the rules. But WL left no time or room for either. She’s a villainous character — decided for her and embraced for maximum effect — and so it’s agonizing to take all the heat with none of the payoff. Gem always finds ways to work with it: building relationships, supporting Joel and Scar and others in getting kills, salvages a rushed makeup with Pearl, but it’s not her lore, her joy, her victory. It's dying to a mob, alone at her base, with only a sardonic outro as closure. And yet she keeps on trying anyway.

The stakes are too high for Gem. She wants to win so badly, in spite of the target on her back preventing her honest victory. So she weaves her own story into the villain narrative: an underdog, or at least a lesser enemy, that treats you kindly and deserves the win. Gem creates a rival in Pearl to showcase her innocence and a weakness so others let their guard down. All of this to promise that, when she goes Red, she can finally get some murder -- some control back. Yet Gem falls, unsatisfied and unfulfilled, before she can take her moment to have fun and thrive. Traffic Gem is constantly fighting for control, and we yearn and fear for when she finally realizes her hunt.

E1 Anon thank you for the ask !! I've been preparing a major Traffic Gem analysis for a while, and your prompt was the perfect jumping off point. There's still so much to talk about, but I think I've covered the major points here, at least until the next ask. So excited to see what develops next in Life Series that’ll add even more depth :) Thank you for reading!

Bonus Thoughts: Real Stakes cc!Gem, Meta Worldhopper Gem, and Taking Her At Face Value c!Gem

No Gem character is complete without intense interconnectivity between her worlds. Everything above is the Traffic Gem intent/action analysis, as seen and interpreted by other players. But here are some other more Gem centric ideas that I'd be remiss if I didn't discuss.

Traffic Gem is intense because the stakes are real.

Life Series is a microscope for mcyts. It's a Situation with just enough guidelines to build a cohesive story, a finite time limit incentivizing risks, a sandbox of character dynamics and with players they already have history with to utilize and alter. Part of the lightning-in-a-bottle value is seeing the mcyts at 100%: using their full arsenal of improv, relationships, production, and lore, on the most elite stage they have right now. One's content, brand, fandom, their very legacy, is indisputably shaped by Life Series. It’s an insane level of pressure even by mcyt standards. And Gem enters that as a newbie four seasons in, with all eyes on her.

If Wizard Gem is a collection of her themes into one masterpiece, Traffic Gem is the refined core of GeminiTay: who she is without any structure to fall back on, how she operates in the middle of chaos, and what she fights for when she can't have everything. It’s an ornate quilt versus a knight’s sword: you admire the comfort and handicraft of the quilt, but the sword challenges anyone to wield it — with varying levels of mastery. That's why Traffic!Gem is such a beautiful challenge compared to all her other characters: she is overpowering and raw, and her very presence challenges you to investigate deeper.

CC's often say their characters are exaggerations of themselves, but Gem's Traffic character is directly interwoven with her general CC struggle. Sorted into a box of "scary, competent, cottagecore," it's interesting that much of her battle is breaking out of her reputation. Gem loves playing around with perception, it's "how she gets away with things," and Life Series demonstrates both the strengths and weaknesses of her openly deceptive brand/playstyle. (I also consider False and Keralis this subtype, and can rant about this endlessly.) While she's soooo careful to not overextend, Gem is constantly beating back the "too good at PVP/minigames/etc." accusations, often to the point of handicapping herself. The more actions she takes, the closer she gets to winning, the louder the outcry to stop her -- even in the name of "fairness." And she subverts expectations by embracing that role for her own ends. I think that's beautiful.

Worldhopping! Yippie!

I could go on about the delicious c!Gem lore around an eldritch creature originally delighting in the death game, until struck with the horribly real betrayal woven into every single player, having a nihilistic and desperate attitude in every game afterwards. But this post by rainecreatesstuff already covered that beautifully. I think this is 100% intentional on Gem’s part: she keeps a lot of her machinations behind the curtain but loooves character building and consistency. Her "its fine" mantra fits perfectly in anyway. Similarly, much to appreciate from the Watchers specifically choosing her to join the games and cull the herd. Gem carrying on the eye-lost-to-portal plot is a fun nod to that interpretation. Imagine if she gets to boogeyman again in the future. Personally, I love a Worldhopper Gem who actively seeks to change events -- as opposed to simply enjoying the chaos and/or getting her feelings sent through a woodchipper by the Watchers -- but both interpretations are great.

An important aspect of Worldhopper Gem for me is how she actually cares way too much about every world. You’d think remembering tons of them and knowing it’s all roleplay would make her detached and here to have fun, and oh how she tries, but she can’t stop loving everyone too much and is always punished for it. Her fondness for Impulse, Scott, and Pearl, is thrown in her face in SL. Despite calling in dragons and fighting tooth and nail, Empires 1 gets raptured. Everything always ends. and Gem knows it from the start, and still she cries for every fallen world. Something to be said for loving her friends in every universe too!

Grumpy, impatient, and hurt Gem - what does she actually want to happen?

While I subscribe to a very tactical and intentional Gem — targeted actions influenced by her emotional priorities — the spiteful pure emotions Gem is worth discussing, especially regarding Pearl. Things like laughing as the barn burns, SACRIFICES, "did you even look me in the eye during our murder camel... happenings?" Gem is CONSTANTLY using whatever's being done to her and trying to manipulate it into something she can accept. She desperately wants to go on a murder spree with Pearl again, camel included, but doubled down on playing hard to get so now they're circling each other like (pathetic, wet) cats. It annoys her to no end that she keeps getting interrupted by murder attempts and base visitors, so she hides her irritation and pretends she's already given up on a safe, intact, quiet base, all the while grumpily snarking and retreating to the woods. Part of the fun on SL was being a yellow name and too scary to approach, getting to menace others just by standing next to them, so why is it taking so long to get there this time? Surely somebody should be able to kill her on their own. Gem is perpetually unsatisfied, and not even hiding it all that well, yet players seemingly refuse to see past her evil cottagecore facade. Much to be gained and appreciated in a grumpy, pretending to be detached Gem, who cares a lot, actually, and would appreciate if somebody would take the hint and let her murder already!

Thank you again for reading!! Stay tuned for the companion fic going up on my ao3 sooner or later :)

EDIT: now posted!! take a look!!

[astrohyper]

Love worldhopper gem in the context of the life series. You spend your days gleefully, playfully flitting through universes, and one day you are swallowed by one. No one life has ever mattered much to you. You have fun, you like the characters in it, but you will always leave eventually. It has always been a game. Now, in the universe that has stolen you away, you are told it’s a game. That’s fine, you already knew. Now everybody else knows too. This will be fun. This will be so much fun.

Except dying hurts, and living hurts more, and the faces of your friends that you have known across worlds twist with anger and fear and gleeful violence. You are respected, but you are new, and you are only respected because, as your friends enemies inform you, you are to be feared. You are chosen by whatever plucked you out of the universe to sow chaos and distrust. Your best friend in nearly every world betrays you.

This is not a game. Except.

You wake up, and you’re in another one, and everyone is acting as if nothing that just happened matters. Like none of the wounds hurt, like they’re not still eyeing you warily, like the betrayal doesn’t still sting.

To them. To them this is a game. You have played countless games. This is not one.

[astrohyper]

My Dream Traffic Teams

Is this a thing we're still doing?

Either way, explanations under the cut

Blue Sword Boys Return: I just think about the Blue Sword Boys a lot

Jimmy Plays Mediator: Toxic Traffic Shiny Duo, but with Jimmy to... probably make things worse, to be honest. Plus, imagine if Pearl wanted to help Jimmy win instead of Gem. More fuel to add to the toxic fire.

Slapstick Cartoon Trio: The amount of slapstick shenanigans these three would get up to. Like, imagine the Three Stooges, but two of them are chasing each other like it's Tom and Jerry, and the third tries to sell you snake oil while you're distracted by the other two.

Lizzie Has to be The Responsible One Again: I just think Lizzie having to wrangle a few irresponsible doofuses is funny.

Cleo's Headache: Ren would do his theater kid stuff, and Cleo would spend the entire time sighing and muttering, yet still go along with it.

Can Four Redstoners Build a Successful Trap?: Alternatively, Team T.I.M.E. Honestly, the name is based more on Mumbo and Tango than Etho or Impulse, due to their notable deaths to traps backfiring, but I vibe with them. And yes, I know that this is kinda just Team T.I.E.S. again, and I did try to avoid doing repeat teammates, but I couldn't help myself.

Notable Teams I Decided Not To Do But Still Really Like

Gatekeep, Gaslight, Girlboss, Gem: Exactly what it says on the tin. The GGGs and Gem.

New Team Canada: Gem and Etho.

Shiny Duo: Just Shiny Duo. I would go feral.

Chaos Trio: Gem, Grian, and Pearl. They would cause so much chaos, and probably win the season in the process.

Fairy Fort 2.0: Lizzie, BigB, and Gem. OKAY, LOOK, I KNOW ALL OF THESE HAVE BEEN GEM TEAMS, BUT I CAN'T HELP IT OKAY!?!?!?!?

...

Okay, so Gem and Scar, right-

[astrohyper]

Make Them Understand You

This is probably going to be the first time I use supplementary material that you all see, if the Saki writeup hasn’t already been released, but I wanted to talk about Kanji again because he’s been floating in my mind. I do like this fish a lot.

So, as we all know, Kanji’s arc is mainly about how gendered norms limit self-expression, and how this hurts him. I’ve already wrote about how I felt he and the young boy in his social link needed each other, but I want to talk more about Kanji himself and how his inability to express himself affects him overall—not quite focusing on gender though it does obviously play a role.

At the beginning of his arc, Kanji is very self-isolating as a result of resignation to the idea that he’ll never actually be understood as a person. He heavily implies he barely talks about himself. He’s even startled by his own willingness to talk about himself after he’s rescued.

Actually, in the Persona Club P4 book, it’s stated Kanji really does want to join the sewing club, but doesn’t because he doesn’t want to scare the members of the club… unaware he’s already doing so because a six foot tall teenager staring into your window trying to hide his longing while not explaining anything is incredibly intimidating, Kanji.

And, this is part of a pattern, of Kanji making things worse for himself because of his self-imposed isolation. We see this when we first meet him (albeit the IT members running like hell aren’t helping). He’s pretty hostile towards the IT (albeit there is one moment where he is genuinely trying to clear the air), and chases them off on a few occasions, and jumps to conclusions as they’re trying to warn him about the Midnight Channel Killer potentially targeting him.

And we find out why due to his arc and Take-Mikazuchi. It’s because of the negative attention he gets from primarily the girls surrounding him, but everyone for the crime of *checks notes* liking to sew. And cook. Kanji actually explains it during the scene he gets recruited to the IT:

So he self-isolates—it’s what everyone else has been doing anyways, isolating him, so why shouldn’t he join in? None of them bother to understand him and just mistreat him anyways. And during his social link, we see him continue to self-isolate initially, becoming defensive when he reveals he made the young boy (and his friend) the new doll. Because he’s so used to being ostracized for it by everyone.

But actually, Kanji starts breaking down these toxic barriers as early as the scene where he explains his past to the IT, since Kanji’s whole arc is about the suffocating nature of toxic masculinity, Kanji’s already starting to break through those toxic barriers here—a lot of men have pointed out how sometimes their friendships feel distant thanks to the idea that boys and men should stoically just not talk about their emotions. He’s already starting to not repress himself for the sake of fitting an archetype and it startles him.

And how you initiate his social link is very related to his desire to change for the better and stop self-isolating, as his link is initiated by talking to a girl who’s repeating a rumor about him being involved with a group of bullies. When confronted, Kanji panics and explains he isn’t the one doing any bullying, and then apologizes for the rumors surrounding him and offers to explain everything to Yu, which allows him to start actually being honest and start to allow himself to be vulnerable, something denied to him and then later him denying himself.

And slowly but surely, he breaks down these barriers with the help of the Yu, the young boy, and the other kids the boy brings for Kanji to help out. I mean, even the “I’m gonna RENOVATE your ass!” line from his Rank 2 is him trying to calm down so his behavior doesn’t negatively impact Yu.

But the thing is, even as Kanji opens up, he hasn’t quite realized how the impact of his self-isolating behavior remains. It’s why the police officer in Rank 2 is immediately hostile towards him, to which Kanji gets justifiably defensive and tells him to leave him alone.

It’s then not mentioned as much, as Kanji’s mainly in the company of only people who have positive opinions of him, as he opens up and successfully changes.

But that doesn’t stop the effects of his previous self-isolation from hitting him dead in the face during his Rank 8, as he’s still the main suspect for being the bully mentioned around town. Kanji’s mom, Yu, and the young boy all defend Kanji however, and it causes Kanji to realize something that he states in his Rank 10. And this line I think just encapsulates Kanji’s entire character, I love it.

And this is the last push for Kanji to become completely open with his passions, as shown at the end of this rank, where Kanji fully expresses his passion for sewing and arts and crafts, and even starts a session teaching others how to make little hand puppets!

He is clearing the air now and he is making sure people know: he’s actually a cool dude who likes sewing and cooking and other things! He’s not a bully or anything, he’s Kanji Tatsumi! And now easing away from his trust issues! He’s a friendly dude who’s learning to not be closed off! And he’s now confident in himself and how his perception has changed is for the better!

[astrohyper]

Behind the Curtain: Teddie Hanamura and Rise Kujikawa

this is a comparison piece between Rise and Teddie and it was inevitable. Rise’s my favorite character and I’m looking for any excuse to talk to her, and I’m having a “Category 5 Teddie Event” out of nowhere. Their shared identity issues and their discomfort with how they are and can be perceived are mainly what I want to talk about. It’s why Teddie’s Shadow, Kintoki-Douji, just suddenly pops up out of (almost) nowhere to call Teddie out after he saves Rise.

Starting with Rise. Rise Kujikawa’s primary arc is about identity and how she can express herself and trust in the people around her to allow her to do that. Her relationship with masks and theater and performance is woven into her character. I’ve done two entire writeups about her and her relationship with identity.

Himiko exists because Rise is having an identity crisis. As a Shadow, she is the embodiment of Rise’s terror over not having anything beneath the mask, that she really is just the doll Himiko portrays herself as, existing for the audience. Hell, the floor design in her dungeon is full of eyes. She’s terrified that she can’t escape their hypercontrolling gaze.

And Himiko rants about Rise’s identity crisis and how much she hates being in this situation where she just… can’t be perceived. Where does the mask end and the face begin? Who is she? Is she truly nothing? And is Rise just naive for wanting someone to see her as “herself?” What is “herself?”

Himiko’s berserk design has her body in every color, the only feature identifying her connection to Rise being the twintails she has. Her face is a series of mirrors, a kaleidoscope.

On Teddie’s end, Kintoki-Douji is the representation of the terror Teddie faces over the fact he is a Shadow. He sees Shadows, and by extension himself, as monsters to be fought. He’s a shard with no whole in his eyes. Less than human. Again, Kintoki-Douji’s design fits this perfectly.

Both Rise and Teddie are afraid that what they’re portrayed to be, a mere doll and a monster, respectively, are correct interpretations of them as people, and how they both feel chained by public perception of them. When for both of them, they realize this isn’t true.

Now this goes about differently for both of them. Rise’s arc is about herself and her ability to find her own identity and passion, and also stand up for those that can’t do it for themselves yet.

Rise, after being rescued, ends up finding friends who accept her for who she is. But she’s still not entirely sure on how she’s supposed to express herself yet, as she puts on an energetic persona and admits she’s not sure whether it’s actually how she’s supposed to act??

But as her Social Link goes on, she gets a taste of freedom and loves it, and as the story continues she becomes more comfortable with the Investigation Team. She loves being able to choose and when she’s worried she loses the choice to go back to her passions, she’s terrified because she realizes her passions are as much a part of her as anything else.

And the little girl in her Social Link, like what she says in her epilogue rank. She doesn’t want anyone to be as vulnerable as her, and now even though she’s returning as an idol, she’s now mainly self-managed so she has more control over herself.

Teddie’s is about his friends, and how just because Teddie is “fundamentally different” from his friends due to being a Shadow, this doesn’t make him any less worthy of love as a person. After all, Teddie’s main fear is related to being accepted by the Investigation Team. I've done a writeup about him, too, which covers Teddie in a lot more detail, and how he hates the idea of what he is.

The whole point of soothing Shadows and awakening Personae are about facing yourself and accepting who you are. Which strongly implies Teddie, by facing Kintoki-Douji, has acknowledged to himself that he’s a Shadow… but Teddie doesn’t admit this to everyone else until the Midnight Channel Killer is revealed. Because even though I'd argue he knows he’s a shadow at this point, that doesn’t mean he likes it. He’s still terrified of the idea of being perceived as a Shadow, because he’s still (mistakenly) interpreting Shadows, and by extension himself, as a monster that shouldn't be interacted with...but he loves the Investigation Team!

And he only admits that he's a Shadow when he’s in the Velvet Room and planning on leaving, and then later convinced to come back because at least Yu didn’t care he’s a Shadow. And then Yosuke just says this.

Both Rise and Teddie ended up being accepted by people who didn’t ostracize them for any specific details, and just were willing to be their friends and offer them support, even against the fear they had for themselves. It’s okay if they’re “empty” or whatever, they’re still people and deserve love. They didn't fully accept themselves, but the people around them did, and that's what helped them get better and become more confident as people.

Also, as a final note, both Rise and Teddie have primarily support-based Personae. For Rise… Himiko is literally a Navigator Persona. Rise doesn’t really fight. I’ve mentioned it before in a little ramble about Teddie, but you can easily build Teddie as pure support, even though he does have both physical and magical attacks. Which fits with their personalities, not just the idea of how they struggled with the idea of a “self” so that their Personae are by necessity “selfless supporters,” but these two are super sweet and incredibly important to the team.

anyways I am so feral about these two

[astrohyper]

Because Double Life has been so mythologized in fandom over the past few years and a lot of us don't fully remember all the details of what actually happened between Scott and Pearl, or didn't watch their povs and only know about what happened through incomplete/vague fandom osmosis, I spent all of today binge watching both Scott and Pearl's Double Life seasons and took notes on the full history of the relationship between Scott and Pearl in Double Life and all of their major interactions.

This is going to be a really really long post since I'm summarizing almost every relevant mention of or interaction between these two in either perspective for the entire series, so I'm leaving all of this under a cut:

I will be trying to keep my points in chronological order, though it's sometimes hard to sync up events between two povs, so forgive me if anything is slightly out of order.

EPISODE ONE:

For the early parts of both of their episodes, neither Scott nor Pearl really engage with the idea of their soulmates much at all. they both express wanting to stay safe for their soulmate's sake and apologize when they take damage, but generally don't seem to have soulmates on the mind all that much, both doing their own thing. Pearl largely continues this for her entire episode up until actually finding Scott at the end, so my episode one notes are mostly Scott notes with occasional supplemental notes to add context from Pearl's pov for what's going on with her at any given time.

Scott's episode, Pearl takes 2.5 hearts of damage, which seems to freak Scott out a bit. "Oh god, we just took three hearts of damage, please stop that! I don't know what you're doing, but undo it". This is seemingly the first time Pearl takes significant damage, and Scott doesn't seem to feel especially comfortable with it.

Scott meets up with Cleo for the first time, they almost immediately piece together that Martyn and Pearl have to be their soulmates because every other pairing had already found each other.

Pearl and Martyn get the achievement for going into the deep dark in chat. Scott expresses concern over their soulmates recklessness, and Cleo suggests "We should form an alliance against them". They don't immediately commit to the idea and partially treat it as a joke. (supplemental note: that pearl and martyn didn't actually go into the deep dark, and that pearl specifically refuses because she doesn't want to get her soulmate killed, though obviously scott and cleo had no way of knowing this)

After leaving a conversation with Jimmy and Tango, Scott says; "Honestly, Cleo, do we need soulmates? What if we just become soulmates? We just go against the grain? Everyone else is with their soulmates and we're just like 'no, this is us'?" which is approached much less jokingly.

Scott and Cleo start planning to build homes together around a ravine, making plans as a duo and largely not thinking about their soulmates or incorporating them into the plans.

Pearl takes very minimal damage. Scott voices this, "Oww, whoever my soulmate is just took damage", to which Cleo responds "Of course they did" with a note of bitterness that Scott doesn't seem to disagree with. Shortly after Martyn takes damage too, which concerns Scott briefly before he remembers their soulmate. None of this is major, but it establishes a precedent that, at this point, their soulmates are solidly established a mostly faceless source of anxiety and frustration in their minds.

Scott turns to the camera and says; "Guys, sometimes you need to take life into your own hands, whether that's through work, or friends, or love, and you find your own soulmates, and you make them friends, and you live in really cute houses across from each other"

Cleo rushes to Scott and yells that Martyn and Pearl have gone into the nether. Scott replies "It's only a matter of time before one of us explodes", and Cleo adds an outraged "How dare they?!". Scott and Cleo perceive this as incredibly reckless and it seems to further their view of their soulmates as a source of anxiety and frustration rather than teammates, as well as the idea that their soulmates don't care about them enough to stay out of danger.

Martyn and Pearl are taking fire damage. Scott yells "Oh god, oh god, oh god, oh god", immediately running to Cleo and throwing them food. "What the heck?!" Cleo laughs with immense anxiety, to which Scott, with mild frustration, notes "They've gone into a fortress for some reason", and Cleo replies with another mildly bitter "Of course they have". (supplemental note: entering the fortress was Martyn's idea, and Pearl repeatedly expressed immense doubts about it; "I don't like any part of this, this is why I didn't want to come in here", though she does still go along with going through the fortress in the end, even knowing- as she comments on- how much it was probably panicking her soulmate.)

Pearl starts taking fire damage, taking half of their health, and then takes another heart or two of damage a few moments later. This upsets Scott: "Ow, ow, ow, ow- whoevers taking fire damage please stop- ow, ow- stop it!"

Scott and Cleo talk to Jimmy, who is weirdly aggressive about them living together despite not being real soulmates. Cleo and Scott inform Jimmy that their soulmates are in the nether and that they don't know who is who yet, before Scott adds; "We have been on the surface the entire time, we have met every single other person, we have put ourselves out there, we made ourselves vulnerable, AND THEY DIDN'T SHOW UP!"

All four members of the Divorce Quartet finally meet up. Martyn tries to put on a game to find their soulmates, but they find out who their soulmates are very quickly. Then the Argument starts. Scott begins with, "This is what happens when you two don't come onto the surface or look for anyone, we meet every other person who's soulbound and we kinda put the dots together. So you know what? Me and Cleo are actually soulbound to ourselves, we've decided. We put ourselves out there all day, we were ready to meet people, we were vulnerable, and then you two were just off together in the nether doing your own thing. And you kept BURNING!". Pearl counters that Scott has taken damage too, but Scott points out that he hasn't taken nearly as much as Pearl, which she concedes, saying "I know". Pearl doesn't seem to want to fight, asking "What are we doing?", but Cleo and Martyn are getting Violent in their own argument and Cleo decides she and Scott are going to leave, which Scott agrees to. Pearl is upset, asking "Are we not going to gaslight gatekeep girlboss?" but Scott expresses feeling like Pearl abandoned him. Pearl blames Martyn, explaining that "I was just following Martyn", but Martyn announces that Pearl wasn't unreluctant and Cleo snaps that Pearl knew her soulmate was out there and chose to go with Martyn to the nether anyways. Scott and Cleo storm off.

After Scott leaves, Pearl seems devastated. "Everybody else is with their soulbounds and ours think we've abandoned them or something…I feel like my heart's kinda broken, I'm not gonna lie". And then Martyn, to add insult to injury, tells Pearl "I blame you for this" and leaves her too. "Well. Okay. That's..that's my season." Pearl says, sounding miserable, before closing her episode.

EPISODE TWO:

Pearl opens the episode by talking again about how upset she is about the previous episode. "My heart is broken, I got broken up with like two or three times last session, I don't remember, but you know what? I'm a little bit battered, I'm a little bit torn, and I'm a little bit sad."

Scott and Cleo decide to axe crit each other to scare their soulmates. The idea was that as long as their health is high they'll regen quickly enough that it won't do any real harm but that it will scare their soulmates, which Cleo and Scott see as equivalent to what Martyn and Pearl put them through in the previous episode. (obviously pearl has no idea this was done on purpose and from her perspective brushes it off as scott accidentally taking damage)

Pearl seems to have changed her mind about accepting any blame for taking damage in the previous episode, saying "I was good the whole time, we got pork chops, I was healing, I even apologized for taking damage! I don't feel so bad anymore! I think today I'm not going to be as careful!". While she doesn't outright say it, Pearl seems to be implying that she plans to take damage to punish Scott, which is confirmed for me as Pearl zooms in on herself and says in a purposefully 'creepy' tone "This is Pearl now. You've done this, Scott. This is what happens when you don't want to be on the side of me! You know I looked after you last season, you know I could do it this season, but you didn't trust in me! And now this is the state that we're in". So Scott and Pearl have both independently, at almost the exact same time, without being aware the other is also doing this, decided to hurt themselves on purpose to hurt the other.

Scar asks Pearl for a bucket, and she happily agrees to give it to him for free "If you help me mess with Scott". Shortly after, they use a bucket of powdered snow to "torture" their soulmates. Pearl "tortures" (as she describes it) Scott for a little bit over a minute before Scott, on his end, has the realization that this is intentional damage and throws himself out of a tree, taking a chunk of damage to scare Pearl so she'll stop hurting him. This successfully freaks Pearl out and she stops when Scott takes significant enough damage, since she doesn't want them to die, but she fully plans to do it again later on.

BigB tries to 'console' Scott by 'reassuring' him that there's "still hope" for Scott to be with his real soulmate, to which Scott snaps "I like Cleo. I don't need a soulmate, I pick my own destiny!"

Cleo axe crits Scott again to get back at Pearl for the powdered snow.

Scar comes by to offer Scott some powdered snow, so Scott stands in it, knowing Pearl did the same thing earlier. Once Pearl figures out what's going on, she decides to stand in powdered snow again as well, getting revenge for his revenge. When Scott sees Pearl in the treeline, he goes to talk to her. Pearl yells at Scott that her heart is broken because he abandoned her, to which Scott bitterly replies that "Now you know how it feels!", though Scott does stop, calm down, and give her his condolences when he finds out Pearl's dog died. They then proceed to have a pretty calm conversation for a minute until they start arguing over how much damage the other had been taking that episode, at which point they do both admit to hurting the other on purpose. Pearl threatens to stand in powdered snow again, and Scott challenges her to put it down, so they both stand in powdered snow together. They then start talking about the previous session. Scott reminds Pearl how much fire damage she took, but Pearl insists she had it handled and that Scott should have trusted her, to which Scott points out that he didn't even know which of Pearl and Martyn were his soulmate until the end of the episode, so he couldn't have known to just 'trust her'. Pearl snaps that Scott could have trusted her AFTER finding out they were soulmates, but Scott says that he and Cleo already bonded and formed a partnership, to which Pearl points out Scott can form bonds with more people, and Scott replies surprisingly positively, saying it'll take time instead of shutting that down outright.

Scott accidentally misspeaks when referring to his and Cleo's base, accidentally calling it his and Pearl's base instead, to which Pearl decides to move in since Scott 'said' it was hers. Pearl runs across the clearing to Scott's base while Scott objects. Scott tells Cleo that Pearl's forcibly trying to move in, and Cleo threatens Pearl. Pearl replies that "Scott said it's our base, so he's already kicked you out" and refuses to listen when Scott insists he obviously meant it's his base with Cleo. Scott calls Pearl a crazy ex and Pearl snaps that she never wanted to be Scott's soulmate, to which Scott asks why she's making a big deal of it, and Pearl responds that it's fun to bother him. Pearl then leaves and dejectedly comments on how they don't want her. Ren says he has something for Pearl, but Pearl mistakes the message as being from Scott, so she heads back to Scott's base. Scott calls her obsessive and points her in the direction of Ren's base instead, then proceeding to go vent to Joel, Scar, and Martyn about everything that had happened with Pearl in the episode.

Pearl stands in powdered snow again while explaining to Ren that she likes to hurt Scott sometimes. Pearl also tells Ren she'd happily kill Scott if Ren wants her to if Ren gives her a dog first.

After getting Tilly back and recovering from her earlier grief, Pearl decides that she was overreacting and "got a little bit crazy", and that she needs to calm down. Pearl expresses having mixed feelings. First she says Scott deserved it, so she "doesn't feel bad", but then she quickly acknowledges that okay, yeah, she does feel bad, and that she feels like she might have been lashing out because of both exhaustion and the grief of losing Tilly.

Joel comes to Pearl and says he's heard she's been intimating Scott, to which Pearl immediately confirms that she has been intimidating Scott and stands in powdered snow to illustrate.

EPISODE THREE:

Pearl makes a side comment about how she "Maybe wants to see Scott die"

Scott and Cleo do their daily axe crits

While in the deep dark risking their lives, Pearl acknowledges that she doesn't want to kill Scott, though she amends that to "Well, I do, but I don't". Multiple times while in the deep dark, Pearl mentions how she's sure she's scaring Scott, and always makes a point of saying she isn't sorry, but then once she makes it out a live she implies she kept herself safe for Scott's sake to some degree; "You know I care enough, Scott!"

Scott and Cleo run into Pearl. They let Pearl know that Scar and Grian were framing her by claiming Pearl is the one with the sugarcane on the server and are very amicable, though Pearl does make a jab about how Cleo and Scott don't want to be her friends.

Scott is attacked by mobs at night and Pearl finds him. She immediately makes a jab about how he's taking too much damage and asks if he doesn't value their lives. Scott does acknowledge that he should have waited until day, and Pearl helps protect him from the mobs. Scott comments that Pearl has one up on Martyn as far as being a good soulmate goes because Martyn pushed Cleo off a cliff, and Pearl laughs that at least she's trying to protect her soulmate. Pearl jokingly threatens to kill Cleo, Scott tells her she has issues, and Pearl points out that, of course she has issues, everyone's abandoned her. Scott pauses the conversation specifically to tell Pearl that her tower is so pretty, which surprises Pearl, but Scott jokes that he can be nice when she's not unhinged. Pearl replies that it doesn't matter if she's not unhinged, she tried being nice to Ren and BigB and they still cast her out. Overall the interaction was largely amicable despite the occasional jabs.

Pearl decides she's going to live on the bridge between Scott and Cleo's bases. They come and object to Pearl building on their bridge, but Pearl just tauntingly asks if she's "getting between them". Scott takes the disc from Pearl's jukebox and Pearl attacks Scott, hitting him multiple times with her axe and saying she doesn't care if they die, at which point Cleo steps in and threatens Tilly. Pearl pushes Scott off the bridge and then she's pushed off after him. Cleo burns Pearl's bridge house while Pearl's away so Pearl gives up on building there.

EPISODE FOUR:

Cleo lets Scott know that they gave Pearl permission to move in and live on their bridge, which Scott seems happy enough to agree with, suggesting Pearl could maybe build something hanging under the bridge. They also don't do the axe crit this episode.

When Scar makes a comment about his soulmate baking bread for someone else, Pearl sympathizes, saying her soulmate is doing the same thing.

Pearl signs up for Grian's powdered snow game and, when the prize pool turned out to be awful, Pearl comments that "The real reward here is torturing Scott, I'm happy with that". While competing against Cleo to see who can stay in the powdered snow the longest, Pearl announces "Come on Scott, I believe in you!" before backtracking and saying she doesn't actually believe in him (pearl does this often where she will instinctively speak positively of scott- worrying about their shared health for his sake, expressing regret for hurting him, saying she believes in him- and then backtrack). Meanwhile Scott and Martyn are back at Scott's base and, when they both start taking damage, immediately decide to also stand in powdered snow together because they think Pearl and Cleo are doing it to hurt them and want to hurt them back. So the entire divorce quartet were just standing in powdered snow at the same time.

Pearl walks right up to Scott, towers up a bunch, and jumps off the ledge, bringing them down to half a heart. Scott tried to put down water but was too slow. Pearl then encouraged Grian to hook her with his fishing rod and pull her up the tower with it, causing Scott to panic, repeatedly yelling "I hate it here I hate it here I hate it here" and telling Grian not to do it. The first time Grian pulls Pearl up, she loses four hearts. Scott yells at Grian to stop again and threatens to shoot him, but eventually gives up and says he's accepted his fate and won't watch anymore, to which Pearl gleefully replies "You're gonna die, Scott!". They hook people in a chain, and this time Pearl loses seven hearts on the fall. Pearl incorrectly tells the others she only lost five hearts, and while Scott loudly corrects her, the others don't seem to pay that much mind and Etho joins the chain. Pearl goes down to three and a half hearts and Joel and Etho both die, at which point Pearl steals Joel and Etho's stuff and refuses to give them back. She tries to give it back last minute, but Joel and Etho kill her, leading to Pearl and Scott's first death.

Immediately after they both die and Scott goes back to his home, Pearl stands in some powdered snow, and then has Bdubs hit her with an axe repeatedly, two normal hits and one crit. Scott is very upset by this and comments that when he gets to red he'll just off himself.

EPISODE FIVE:

Scott and Cleo do their axe crits.

Upon finding out a red alliance is forming, Scott and Cleo dejectedly decide they have to team up with Martyn and Pearl. Scott, Cleo, and Martyn head to Pearl's tower, and as soon as they get to the top, Scott compliments Pearl on how pretty it is, and then they suggest a team up to deal with the newly formed red army. Pearl is standoffish initially, instinctively reading insults into Martyn's words and questioning how she can trust them, especially Martyn (who she saw sneaking around her base earlier). Martyn and Pearl start to argue about her base setup, but Scott cuts in to praise how Pearl's base is the most defensible location on the server which seems to ease tensions. The four fall into an amicable enough teamup and start planning together. They largely work seamlessly together, though there is the occasional jab from Pearl specifically, who makes a point of putting audible air quotes around calling the others her 'friends' and telling Ren "You can shoot the other guys, I don't mind". But other than the occasional jab, there are a lot of fun team shenanigans and they're very functional.

Pearl splits up from the group to go back to her tower, and as soon as she gets home, Scar and Grian (currently the most wanted people on the server) invite themselves in and seek protection from her. Scar offers Pearl a cactus and she stands on it, taking damage and freaking Scott off, who is briefly afraid they'll die until Pearl stops. Scott makes his way back to the tower and is immediately upset; "Are you harboring refugees, Pearl?! We can't have them here! You're putting a target on our back!". Grian keeps standing in the windows even with the reds nearby and Scott gets incredibly anxious about it, yelling at Grian to stay away from the windows, and scolding Pearl to put her armor on, seeming very on edge. The two bicker a bit, especially when Scott finds out the reason they took so much damage is because she was purposefully standing on cactus. They get back to being a relatively functional team once Grian and Scar leave, though.

Scott and Pearl breed their dogs together and it's a very amicable interaction once again. Pearl coos over the puppy and then they make some plans together without arguing. Pearl considers pushing Scott off the tower (harmlessly) as a joke but doesn't as Scott heads out again.

Scott and Pearl both attend the 'funeral' for Jimmy and Tango and while they don't have many direct interactions, they do have a very friendly group interaction, laughing together with the rest of the group without any real tension or jabs. Scott also once again comments on how good Pearl's base is, pointing out that she's the only one on the server who didn't make a flammable base.

When Cleo asks if they should care about the Relation Ship burning down, Pearl replies "Of course not, that's not in our alliance". Scott and Cleo both take note of this, and Scott asks "What is our alliance?" with Cleo almost simultaneously asking "we're an alliance now?". Pearl immediately responds defensively, interpreting their reactions as rejection. She immediately replies that they're not an alliance and adds "Okay I guess I don't have any friends then! Bye!" and walking away. Scott and Cleo follow her and say they do have an alliance but they just also thought Pearl had other alliances, at which point she insists she does have other alliances and decides to leave Scott and Cleo as they go to deal with their burning bases.

Scott and Cleo come by Pearl's tower again later shortly and immediately help her fix up the damage done by a trap that had detonated inside, and they have another mostly friendly casual conversation catching each other up on what happened while they were split up before the episode ends.

EPISODE SIX:

In the intro of Pearl's episode, she seems surprised but not necessarily unhappy with her current alliance; "Last episode we left off in this tower right here in an alliance with Martyn, Cleo, and Scott- hm. Yes, that happened."

Scott and Pearl have a cute little interaction where Scott bursts into the tower and cheerfully yells "Boo!" to which Pearl exaggeratedly replies "So scary! Oh my gosh!" to humor him and they both giggle. Scott also briefly coos over how cute Tilly and her babies are, which Pearl is more than happy to join in with. Cleo asks whose gonna die first and Pearl immediately replies "I'm gonna die first, sorry, Scott, no Cleo death" and Scott made a comment about how that would be two of their lives Pearl loses. Pearl responds with an indignant "Hey!" and points out that Scott could die first, but Scott replies that he's not the one who aggravates people, and Pearl grumbles "Yeah, whatever". Despite the brief jabs, Pearl doesn't seem too offended, and they're all getting along rather well and they make a plan to snoop into the red army's business.

During the red life meeting, Pearl tells the red names that they can kill Scott and she'll be fine with it as long as they don't do it through her, though Pearl isn't forthcoming at all when pressed for information about where Scott actually is and doesn't agree to lead him into a trap when asked.

Once the group meets back up they're very friendly again. They all laugh together as they recount what happened while they were split up, and then the red names attack. Joel yells at Scott for burning the ship, but Pearl actually jumps in to shoot back with "Rightfully so from the sound of it! Well deserved! Go Scott!". Scott and Pearl run toward the box and giggle about how it looks, and then Scott stops and calls for Pearl when she lags behind. Scott is surprisingly focused on where Pearl is and whether she's in active danger, making sure she has resources and knows the plan and pouring water for her to climb, waiting for her to get up before moving on.

Pearl asks Scott if he has a secret base, and he tells her yes honestly without hesitation. They agree to go to the bunker recoup for the time being. Pearl accidentally pushes Scott down the ladder but instead of it causing an argument Scott just laughs and tells Pearl about how he caught himself on the ladder. Scott feeds Pearl's dogs to heal them once they're settled in the bunker, and Pearl is thrilled.

There's a surprising lack of arguments. They come up with a plan easily and don't bicker about it. At one point Pearl accidentally loudly blows a goat horn while they're trying to be sneaky and instead of anyone scolding her or being bitter about it Scott just urgently tells her to come over to where the rest of them were. Pearl sets off a shrieker while they're in the deep dark and while Scott snaps "Pearl!" it sounds playful and they both laugh before going back to work.

Scott and Pearl separate from the others and end up having a Talk. Pearl opens with "You know what Scott? It might have been hard to forgive you at the start of the season for just abandoning me like that, but you know what? You're a pretty good partner, you know?" to which Scott replies, "…Thank you…I mean, we tested it last time and it worked well, it was just, you hurt my feelings when you went away with Martyn and then me and Cleo looked for you for ages and then we couldn't find you and I was sad", and Pearl counters with "How about the reverse? You ran off with Cleo from my perspective, we both just paired up with whoever was nearby." and Scott replies that "Well we ran into everyone else, we were actually looking for our soulmates." at which point they run back into Cleo and Martyn and the conversation dies before they can really sort through things (also there's something to be said for the conversation starting with accusatory language that's not conducive to a productive talk, but i digress). They at least managed to talk about it calmly without blowing up.

Martyn and Scott are being silly and Pearl and Cleo are giggling. Pearl playfully bemoans "This is who we're teamed with". Notable both for the mundanely positive interaction and for the casual confident acknowledgement of them as a team.

Pearl wants to go check her tower to see what's left in it after the red names attack, and Scott actually volunteers to go with her, asking if Cleo's willing to stay with Martyn while he and Pearl check the tower. Scott and Pearl have another very successful adventure together where they don't argue at all or even make any bitter jabs, just working together well and laughing together as they mess with the red names. While chasing them Joel asks if they've made up and they both very unconvincingly reply "Noo" in a tone that is very much an implied yes. Eventually they get split up and Scott is killed. Pearl gladly declares that they're even now, and Scott doesn't complain.

Scott and Pearl head back to the bunker, at which point..Pearl points out that the other red names don't seem to like Scott much. "They weren't going after me that entire time, I just feel like..maybe I should take the bigger stance here, y'know? I mean you're a great partner and all, but.." at which point Scott realizes and immediately, deeply upset, asks "Are you gonna ditch me after this?!" and Pearl, well.."Scott, come on, look how big that group is! It's just..look, don't make me feel bad, okay? It's my time to ditch you after the first episode, think of it as karma!" which launches another argument about the first episode, about how from Scott's perspective, Pearl was the one who abandoned him first by not being there for the first episode, so from his perspective, this is all full circle! Pearl points out that they did try to find their soulmate with the little minigame, but Scott shoots back that that was AFTER everyone else was already "loved and doved up" and HAD their soulmates! Pearl switches to arguing that Martyn would have died without her- and Cleo too for that matter!- so really Scott should be appreciative of her for saving Cleo. Scott just completely stops and dully replies "Right." before adding "Lets get out of here.", though Pearl immediately reminds him there's no "lets" about it. As they leave, Pearl switches to arguing that she's trying to keep them BOTH alive in a way by joining the bigger group and asks why Scott would go back to the yellows, to which Scott replies, sounding a bit pained, that he can't betray Cleo. Pearl tells Scott to just think of Pearl joining the bigger group as a "strategic advantage" and Scott is silent for a LONG moment before very quietly agreeing. Before they split up, Scott says "The moments we got to spend together were nice while they lasted", and Pearl returns the sentiment, and then they come up with "Tilly death do us part" as their goodbye for the scene.

After Pearl's alliance with the red group fell through, Pearl went back to Scott, Martyn, and Cleo and is accepted back immediately, the group going right back to planning together like nothing happened, and they hunt Impulse and Bdubs together without much more discussion.

And then the final scene in the season. Scott and Pearl are the final two left. "I honestly didn't have a lot of faith in us, but I had faith in me and Tilly." Pearl says. "Pearl, you deserve this more, Scott replies, and light a tnt under his feet. "Tilly death do us part," Scott says, and Pearl yells his name as they blow up. "Scott! Oh no- what- Scott?! Did he just sacrifice himself?! For me?!? We were the last ones left..Scott..I guess I forgive you after all".