I know I’ve been spamming random Asian Circuit videos, but I also want to talk about Link Joker because I think it’s a really strong season in terms of character.
Of course virus that prays on your insecurities isn’t a new idea and it seems most people were just card zombies but I do like how a-lot of the know characters stuck to their motivations.
My two favorites are as always: Miwa and Tetsu!
They are both pulling to expand Link Joker’s power but its not for them, they both act to raise someone else to the top, an oddly twisted but still deep show of the loyalty they have to Kai and Ren respectively.
Miwa’s only goal is remove all obstacles and create a path for Kai to achieve his goal, he turns Jun not because he’s a strong fighter who could help Link Joker grow, but because he could be a threat to Kai.
He never denies that what he’s doing is selfish, simply replies that Kai’s wish is just vastly more important to him than the fate of the world. (Also his conversation with Jun has a lot of strong Miwakai from an outsider’s perspective moments, which I throughly enjoy)
He deliberately taunts Aichi with vague insinuations that play on his insecurities and respect for Kai to lure him out.
He does everything he can to pave a path for Kai to accomplish his goals without need to get his hands dirty, while Tetsu takes up arms to allow Ren to go as wild as he wants, turning the whole of Asteroid to give Ren a kingdom.
Tetsu considers Ren to be something above humanity, a king or a god meant to be worship. The person he’s serving is not Link Joker, but Ren.
Now both Asuka and Tetsu call him this, however Tetsu isn’t trying to control him like Asaku, he genuinely believes Ren is meant to be at the top. Admittedly his card for Ren is clearly twisted, with how he laughs off Ren’s wants to be normal, but that is also something built into their friendship as show in the flashbacks.
Ren has never been just some kid to Tetsu. Sure at first he didn’t like him, but slowly he grew to be someone Tetsu couldn’t leave behind, it’s why he stayed when Kai left.
You don’t suffer through all that verbal abuse without some inkling of care.
I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to properly convey my thoughts about link joker and my love for its character building, but I hope at least some of it got through (or at the very least my passion for miwakai and tetsuren)