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[kohakurin8]

‼️LIGHT NOVEL OFFICIALLY RELEASED‼️

Hey, everyone! I know it's been a while since I've posted any analysis or discussions, and now I hope you can see why.

I'm so excited to be sharing my first light novel! Please take the time to give it a read -- Prologue and Chapter 1 are currently available on the link below!

As always, I'm more than happy to address any questions or comments you may have ~

[kohakurin8]

7am is entirely too early to wake up and be mentally destroyed by the realization that Sunny at 16 wears basically the same outfit that he did at 12 because he was never able to mentally move on from the incident...

[kohakurin8]

~ Delaney Chainsworne ~

Meet our quirky, fun-loving protagonist of When Hares Have Two Faces.

Delaney is a bubbly and aloof Necromancer in the realm of Eydís. Although sometimes her excitement gets the better of her ...

What could possibly go wrong?

designed on @iwose's picrew "五百式全身メーカー" linked at the end of the post

designed on @iwose's picrew "五百式立ち絵メーカー" linked below

[kohakurin8]

S o o n

Cover Art by @springtime-creations

[kohakurin8]

I know it's a bit different from what you usually cover here, but do you wanna try out Do You Copy? It's straightforward enough plot-wise, but covering the possible folklore inspirations as well as the psychological elements given the entire game is a battle of wits between you and a cryptid might be fun!

Honestly it sounds like a lot of fun! I'd gladly give it a shot provided I have the time.

[kohakurin8]

Thank you to everyone who got me to 50 likes!

Wow, thanks so much, everyone!! I never expected to get that much attention. I'll keep on writing until my veins run dry!

[kohakurin8]

~ Dissecting Kimetsu no Yaiba ~

Kyōjurō Rengoku, Dragonball, & The Tale of The Monkey King

I'm sure you can already tell where this is going based on the title, but this is actually a post that I've wanted to make for a while now and just... couldn't find the words to put it in. Eventually, I just realized that the words probably won't come to me until I start writing them, so here I am!

Let's talk about a relatively obvious reference made within Kimetsu no Yaiba that a surprising amount of people completely missed. That is, the fact that the Hashira Rengoku is an uncanny, undeniable reference to the Monkey King, or Sun Wukong, from a very famous Chinese folktale -- Journey to the West!

Fun Fact: Dragonball was originally a loveletter to Journey to the West, with Goku originally being a direct reference to Sun Wukong as well!

Haha, that fun fact may seem random but it actually plays a big role in what I'm about to say.

See, I'm no expert on Journey to the West, but thanks to the widespread popularity of Dragonball and the Shounen genre, you really don't need to be in order to understand the relevance and significance of Sun Wukong!

It's pretty well known that Dragonball was essentially the progenitor of the Shounen genre, and before it got into Dragonball Z with all of the aliens and galactic drama, the series actually focused on Martial Arts and its relationship with the mystical forces of the world. Of course, this means it's not at all surprising for Goku to be a reference to Sun Wukong since Journey to the West essentially defined the Martial Arts Movie genre of Eastern Asia.

You see where I'm going with this yet? 😏

Yes, Sun Wukong defined the Martial Arts Movie protagonist, and through him Goku defined the Shounen protagonist.

Sure, not every Shounen protagonist rides through the sky on a cloud like our beloved Saiyan Hero or the Monkey King, but there are still plenty of other shared character traits that became staples. An astounding, almost insatiable appetite; unyielding willpower; enough love for friends and family to move mountains; almost inhuman courage and heroics; supernatural power to rival even the gods -- basically anything that makes you think of a Shounen protagonist is a trait originally beheld by Sun Wukong.

So now that we've done the background knowledge, let's shift our focus to Rengoku specifically.

I know what you're going to say. "But Rin, if Sun Wukong is in every Shounen protagonist we've ever drooled and cried over, what makes Rengoku so special?"

And to that I say sit down and have some patience, I'm getting to that!

Rengoku is special because he somehow masterfully represents all of the things that Sun Wukong was known for while avoiding the bland and boring tropes yet somehow simultaneously expressed everything you love about classic Shounen.

He has a razor-sharp wit and instinct, smoothly hidden beneath playful, charming, and almost clown-like behavior. His bright personality, warm kindness, and furious power remind one of the sun itself -- something that Sun Wukong was widely representative of.

Delightfully eccentric and quirky. A blazing glory that touches and warms hearts until he's etched into their very soul, shaping viewers into brave warriors the same way he shapes Tanjiro Kamado into one himself.

Kyōjurō Rengoku is a flawless loveletter to everything that ever was, and ever will be, The Monkey King.

[kohakurin8]

~ A Sticky Spider's Web ~

An Explained Post that Untangles Arachne's Web in My Own Words

⚠️ WARNING ⚠️

This post contains spoilers beyond this point!

Although I do not personally believe that these spoilers will inhibit the gameplay experience, if you would like to play this short game before reading my post, please scroll to the bottom for a link to where it can be downloaded!

Bold of you to assume I'd stop playing spooky horror games just because it's November. After all, they're one of my favorite genres! And last night I had the pleasure of experiencing another one of @starwarspurgefan 's suggestions -- Spider's Web by Teamsin3

Full Disclosure -- Although I wasn't as completely impressed with this game as I was with Birthday Kid, I still found it adorable, intriguing, and charming. There isn't a lot of lore to unpack with this lil one, but I still want to share my thoughts about what the true story behind it all really is~

Yes, I will be loading this post with official Arachne art. Leave me alone, she's adorable!

So, a little synopsis to start. Spider's Web is less of a... horror game and more of a spooky mystery with horror elements. Which is fine too, I love those just as much! Throughout the game you play as Arachne, exploring your house and learning bits of information about your mother. Arachne is obviously very aware of all the lore you discover while exploring, but it's presented in a very mysterious way for you as a player, which helps make the game more intriguing.

Additionally, the game very subtly hints you in the right direction to discover everything necessary in the game. It even pushes you to experience all of the bad endings before unlocking the True Ending, which is a mechanic I really enjoyed.

Although you aren't aware of it when starting the game it becomes very quickly apparent, regardless of what ending you unlock first, that Arachne is a young Jorogumo (spider-woman yokai) living with her mother. Not only is her mother a widow, but it's heavily implied that their species of Jorogumo is specifically belonging to the "true widow" genus of spiders. More on that later.

Each ending divulges a little more detail about Arachne's situation with her mother as she struggles to find a way to leave the house. Unlocking these endings all involve an interesting series of puzzles revolving around blood splatters, hidden rooms, and thirsty spiderplants. However, those aren't the only important things about these endings; seeing as there are several bad endings and only one good ending, which is also the True Ending, it stands to reason that most of these endings are representative of poor decisions that Arachne could have made.

Because of this, I think the best way for me to explain my thoughts would be to elaborate on the symbolism of the bad endings first. Buckle up, kiddos!

The easiest ending to unlock is the Bloodlust Ending. Why? Because all you need to do is interact with all of the blood splatters in the house.

Relatively straightforward, this ending is what would happen if Arachne were to give in to her instinctual bloodlust and devour her first human. Of course, this would be a mistake on her part because she gives in to becoming a monster, which is a fate Arachne has the ability to change for the better.

The next easiest endings to achieve are the two where you use Special Scissors to cut the web covering the front door. At that point, Mother appears and chases you, prompting you to get a different ending depending on whether she catches you or not. If she does catch you, it's pretty likely that Mother kills Arachne out of anger and betrayal, and if you happen to escape then Arachne abandons her Mother on bad terms.

Both of these endings clearly represent Arachne's potential mistake of trying to run away without settling things at home, which could come with major consequences. For real, guys, you can't run away from your problems and expect them to disappear.

Another bad ending, Like Mother Like Daughter, is the only ending achieved by unlocking the Cellar. There you meet Mother and witness her several cocooned victims hanging from the ceiling. It's implied that Arachne gives in to her bloodlust in this ending as well, devouring the victims alongside hr Mother.

Moral of the story?

My best insinuation is Willpower. Arachne makes the mistake of giving up what she believes in (not eating men whom she doesn't love) and becomes exactly like her Mother. Which is something that we later on come to understand that Arachne really doesn't want to do.

The last bad ending is also particularly alarming. You achieve it if you do everything necessary for the True Ending but make the mistake of interacting with any of the blood splatters. Here, Arachne finds her mother's bedroom, looks in the mirror and has a massive panic attack as she realizes that she's all alone and will seemingly never find love. Arachne then cuts at herself several times with the Special Scissors until she dies...

This ending explains to us a few different things:

• Arachne apparently suffers from severe depression stemmed from a deep loneliness.

• Jorogumo instinct is so powerful that the only way for Arachne to retain her innocence is to avoid temptation altogether. Pretty insightful considering spiders represent temptation itself.

• This ending would most likely happen eventually if Arachne never manages to leave the house, even after the endings where she becomes a monster.

• This is actually a callback to the intro of the game, where Arachne muses that she's essentially suffocating. That is very clearly the beginnings of a panic attack (triggered by feeling trapped in some way) which implies that throughout the entire game Arachne is fighting off this growing sense of anxiety and pressure.

Now for the True Love Ending -- the good and canonical ending with the most details of the story.

Essentially the moral of the story here is that if Arachne can manage to resist her Jorogumo instincts, then she can achieve happiness by becoming a better person than her mother. But, this can only be achieved by remembering the True Love that Arachne's father taught the two of them.

Here, we learn that Arachne's Mother would date (and possibly marry) men time and again before devouring them. That is, until meeting a man who embraced her spider-side and appreciated her for it, rather than treating her like a monster.

That man became Arachne's father, and the two were very happy together. However, unfortunately when he began to shift his love from his wife to Arachne, Mother became so jealous that.... Well, it's implied that Mother devoured him out of jealousy, and then immediately regretted the action so badly that she refused to ever marry again.

Arachne grew up, but has been struggling and struggling to find a suitor for herself, and whenever she disapproves of one Mother will devour them instead of Arachne.

In the end, Arachne has come to the realization that she wants to go out into the world and find someone who loves her the way that her Father loved Mother. This is the only way that she'll be satisfied, but for pretty obvious reasons she's unsure how to break the news to Mother.

Still, Arachne succeeds because she finally understands that everything her mother has done...has been a show of her love. Despite possessing the Special Scissors, Arachne refuses to cut Mother's Web. Instead, when Mother appears Arachne tells her that she loves her, but it's time for her to find the True Love that her Father taught them both about. And finally... Mother understands Arachne's desires, and allows her to go out into the world.

Arachne untangles the web instead of cutting it, symbolic of preserving her connection to her mother instead of severing it as she had on all of the previous endings.

This ending was.... really sweet and beautiful. Definitely worth all of the tedious puzzles to unlock.

Although this game is very mature and leaves some to be desired, it's definitely a fun game worth experiencing!

I'm especially intrigued with the amount of research the creators seem to have done on widow spiders, since Mother only shows up when you touch her web, and in my own research I turned up...

It stands to reason that Mother shows up only when you touch her web because she can feel the vibrations through the silk!

Such a cool little detail...

Well, that's it for my analysis! If you have opinions or theories to add, please throw em in the comments!

‼️ DOWNLOAD LINK‼️

Please experience the game for yourself here!

[kohakurin8]

Have you looked at/played Pocket Mirror? It's a free RPG horror game with beautiful art. Idk if it has any deeper meanings since I haven't finished it myself yet lol.

Ooo, I've never heard of that one! I'll have to check it out

[kohakurin8]

~ Birthday Bunny ~

An innovative analysis for an innovative game

It's still Spooky Season! So of course, I'm still at it with the spooky games. And as suggested by @starwarspurgefan tonight I played the Horror RPG Maker game, Birthday Kid by @livisart !

⚠️ WARNING ⚠️

This is an analysis of the overall game plot and contains spoilers beyond this point.

If you would like to experience the game for yourself before reading this analysis, please scroll to the end of the post for a link to where the game can be downloaded!

Holy. Crap.

I absolutely love this game!

In the ending bonus room livis admits that the game is their first ever finished RPG Maker game and honestly, I'm impressed. The story and overall structure is such a treasure -- simple yet deliciously complex at the same time.

Not only that, but it has a lot of little details and themes that remind me impeccably of another absolute favorite of mine, Omori by Omocat -- and considering Birthday Kid was released before Omori, I wouldn't be surprised if Omocat actually played this game and drew some inspiration from it!

So then, let's jump into it. What is Birthday Kid?

Well, to put it simply the game follows a bunny-person named Pepper who is continually reliving the day of their 12th birthday. The focus of the game is exploring Pepper's house as they try to remember something important, finding various clues in order to sort out trauma in the process.

To start with, I'd like to compliment the game mechanics because they are incredibly creative. They guide you through what you're supposed to do while still making it feel like you've solved some sort of puzzle, and the guidance is portrayed in a way that's very realistic to a sort of dream world or delusion.

The usage of blood marks and subtle key words to tell you where to go is spooky and satisfying, and a personal favorite mechanic out of anything I've seen so far.

Secondly, the designs of Pepper and Rascal may be simple, but they've completely captured my heart. I absolutely adore bunnies, and freckles, so Pepper had me excited to play the game before I even started.

And lastly, the story is beautiful and told with such nuance that one can both generally infer what happened, but still ponder the details with healthy curiosity.

But you know me. I can't just ponder this shit -- I have to write it!!

Alright, since it was written so nicely, there isn't much room for theories necessarily. But that's okay! Instead, allow me to explain the string of events and details as I perceived them while playing.

Pepper is officially classified as "a gender", although the dialogue suggests that they may have been born female but prefers to be agender and chose a name for themselves that isn't their birth name-- something which their peers bully them for relentlessly. On top of that, Pepper is a mute and only communicates through sign-language, which adds fuel to the discriminatory fire.

Considering the usage of the bunny theme, and the posters which read "Alice? Is there a god?" I speculate that Pepper's birth name may have been Alice.

And considering livis specifically stated that Pepper "prefers" not to speak, I theorize that they are not mute by birth but rather by some sort of trauma-induced muteness, or perhaps even non-verbal autism.

Regardless of the reasons why Pepper is how they are, even their own parents abuse them for being different. In fact, it bothers their parents so much that they have issues between each other over it.

But one birthday, Pepper was walking home when they found a talking rabbit -- the demon bunny Rascal. Rascal is severely injured, so Pepper decides to take him home and their mother convinces their father to allow them to keep it.

However, poor Pepper's home life soon deteriorates. At first, they seem fine so long as they have their friend Rascal. But the plot suggests that their Dad eventually murdered their mom and shoved her in the wardrobe of the master bedroom, then proceeded to neglect Pepper and abuse them verbally, even to the extent of not allowing them access to the fridge. Although, while sneaking into the fridge to get food for Rascal, Pepper notices a bottle of poison...

During one of these abusive episodes, Rascal actually attacks Pepper's Dad, and judging by some of the dialogue apparently pushes him into the hot stove, burning his hands. (Either that or he once burned Pepper's hands with the stove...) In a fit of rage, the Dad snaps poor Rascal's neck, and locks Pepper in their wardrobe.

Obviously distraught, Pepper uses the poison to kill their father, then summons a demon in an attempt to bring Rascal back. The demon makes a contract to do so with Pepper, offering to erase all of their painful memories in the process. Thinking this was a good idea at the time, Pepper accepts the offer, only to forget all about Rascal too!

This brings us to the start of the game -- Pepper reliving their twelfth birthday party. However, with the lack of memory everything about the part feels strange and fake, prompting Pepper to investigate. I believe that the act of repeatedly killing all of Pepper's party guests is symbolic of their strong feelings of hatred towards those who bullied them. A wrathful feeling that cannot be merely erased even with the help of a demon

All hope is not lost, however, since Pepper does eventually regain their memories. Upon remembering Rascal's name it's revealed that Rascal had been the demon all along, and using his name actually takes him! I'd like to think that in the end, the two were happy together.

And uh... That's it!

Once again, I really loved this game. Thank you so much for suggesting it, I've had a lot of fun with it. If you have anything you'd like to add, feel free to comment!

‼️ SKIPPING SPOILERS? STOP SCROLLING HERE ‼️

As promised, here is the link to where you can download this amazing game.

[kohakurin8]

Two-year-old Albert Apsassin feeling the spirit at National Indigenous Peoples Day in Camrose, Alberta.

[kohakurin8]

It's Not Me, It's My Basement

Explained

⚠️ WARNING ⚠️

This Post Contains Soilers Following the First Paragraph.

Proceed with Caution.

That's right! It's Halloween time, my favorite holiday ever, and I'm back at it again with the semi-extensive theory posts. This time I'm tackling something in one of my favorite genre of media -- Horror RPG Maker Games.

Last night I experienced an adorable, eerie little game called It's Not Me, It's My Basement.

Developed by arcadekitten, the incredibly short-&-sweet story follows a non-binary child named Embry G. Oliver who is hiding a horrible monster in their basement. Although they didn't see it for themselves, they believe that the monster ate their parents, and Embry now feeds it whatever they can so that it doesn't attempt to eat them too. Unfortunately, as the story progresses it appears that the more the monster eats, the stronger and hungrier it becomes...

The story then begins to reach its climax when Embry visits the market to find a traveling doctor in town. Since Embry has been telling the villagers that their parents are bedridden sick, they're forced to meet Dr. D. Light (who is acutely of his punny name) and take him back home. Dr. D. is incredibly kind and helpful, even capable of making Embry trust him enough to open the basement door. However, in an attempt to stop him from descending the stairs to meet the monster, Embry accidentally pushes the Dr to his death. Truly tragic ...

Throughout the entire short story, the monster is never truly seen. However, it does demonstrate its ability to mimic voices and presumably shapeshift, all the while acting mercilessly manipulative. By the ending, that took me entirely by surprise, Embry has a nightmare where they confront the demon and get consumed by it, only to wake up and brazenly descend the basement for real.

And that's it

That's where it ends.

Boom, roll credits.

Now, my intense OCD ass simply can't cope with an ending so sudden and inexplicable, even if it was written incredibly well. In fact, the entire story was cryptic and felt immensely symbolic, steeped so heavily in allusions to depression and guilt that you could serve it at tea-time. So of course, I began to research popular opinions and theorize about what all of it really meant.

Now, the most popular theories (and almost exclusively) are either:

1) Everything is exactly as it's spelled out for you. A monster ate Embry's parents, it can shapeshift and manipulate, and Embry finally gains the courage to confront it instead of running away.

2) Embry actually has a Split Personality, or psychotic alter-ego, which murdered their parents and now the Main Personality of Embry is living with guilt that they don't entirely understand.

3) Something bad happened to Embry's parents that, as a child, Embry cannot understand and the entire story of the game is Embry suffering from traumatic hallucinations.

Obviously, these all have some pretty big flaws. The first theory is simple enough, but relatively uninspired, and feels rather like an insult to the thought put into the nuances of the story. Not to mention, Embry, their parents, and even Dr. D. Light cameo in other arcadekitten games that canonically take place afterwards.

Which farther disproves the second theory, since the characters are all clearly alive and well. Not to mention, as someone with a lot of experience in the field of child trauma and psychological issues, the story really gives no hints whatsoever to Embry potentially having a split personality. Nor does it hint at any potential triggers that would cause them to kill their parents.

And the third theory is the best yet, but still leaves some holes.

So, after careful consideration, I offer you my inspired theory: The Coma Dream.

Perhaps they were in an accident with their parents, like a car crash (or in this world, carriage crash). They were sent into a coma and assumed their parents died based on the sounds they'd heard, since while in a coma they couldn't remember the details of what happened.

Being a child, Embry would have related the sounds they heard during the accident to some sort of monster. Especially if they were asleep when the accident occured.

Within the mysterious subconscious of a coma they could have fabricated a story based on their fears about what really happened and what life would be like without their parents. The heavy theme of guilt and mistakes would even be Embry's immature mind trying to cope with what happened, and feeling like they had done something wrong since they couldn't really understand it all.

Kids have a tendency to blame themselves for things that weren't their fault, simply because they don't understand the situation.

Then of course, facing those fears in the basement is what allows them to wake up.

This even potentially explains Dr. D. Light. Considering Embry's mother was a nurse, as revealed in her cameo in Crowscare, the Dr could be her boss or the family's personal doctor. Someone Embry trusted and liked.

Although Embry acted like they'd only just met the Dr, it isn't unheard of to not entirely recognize (or only subconsciously recognize) someone typically familiar in a dream.

And have you ever had a really intense nightmare where things start to get better, and you think something good might happen and help you, but then your fear and anxiety of something bad ruining it actually causes that to happen in the dream?

Because I have and that would explain why Dr. D was so reassuring only for Embry to panic and push him down the stairs. The more they worried about D getting hurt, the more they thought about what bad could happen, and suddenly those thoughts came to fruition.

Following this theory, after facing the monster in the basement, Embry may have either unlocked their memory about what happened -- a painful, terrifying memory that they were trying to hide -- or perhaps they merely finally gained the courage to wake up from their coma. Either way, when they wake up their parents and Dr. D would be safe and sound, and they could all live together happily again.

Of course, this is only a theory, so I'd love to hear your thoughts on it!

If you're interested in playing the game, you can download it here:

[kohakurin8]

From Franz Kafka’s Letters to Milena

[kohakurin8]

This is a theory I've supported for years, folks, please give it a read

Additionally, here's some supporting information about Sarsaparilla as a hallucinogenic drug.

(Reference link below)

WOZWALD theory post

A comprehensive explanation post on the vocaloid song WOZWALD by Niru Kajitsu ft. v_flower, a song about the evils of humanity, the definition of happiness, and possibly Walt Disney.

CW: depression, suicide

Keep reading

[kohakurin8]

Because I Love Percy Jackson...

Okay, so I was scrolling through Pinterest and found this post (I'll link it too)

And after reading over it I simply had to speak my mind. Now you all get to hear my rambling too.

Most of the comments here seem to be saying that "this is a children's book, Rick can't explore those dark themes!"

but honestly, in this day and age we NEED some of those dark themes to be explored in children's books, and if anyone should be able to do it in a child-friendly way it would be Rick Riordan. I mean, just look at everything he's already written. Despite being marketed as children's books, all of his works are far more mature than nearly anything else in the Children's section and I've only seen it affect readers positively.

So if the books are already addressing serious topics like depression, abuse, discrimination, and war, it's definitely pretty disappointing to see the aftermath of these traumas so scarcely represented.

[kohakurin8]

Dissecting Kimetsu no Yaiba

~ Cowardice & The Eyes of Children ~

I promise there are no spoilers !

Okay, well I did not see the end of Mugen Train coming, holy shit. Yet, somehow in the midst of everything, the strangest little detail stuck out to me. So, without really giving any spoilers to Mugen Train, I'm going to discuss the concept of cowardice.

During the arc, a Demon is running away as the sun rises. Tanjiro furiously screams after the demon as they run, calling them a coward and reminding them that Demon Slayers are always fighting Demons in the death of night "when you have the advantage"

The emotion in Tanjiro's voice when speaking these words is powerful, sure. But the content of his words... don't really make any sense.

First of all, Demons have no real advantage to fighting at night, nor do humans have any real disadvantage. Humans are highly adaptable, to the point that anything a Demon could do to manipulate the nighttime can easily be overcome and adapted to by a human. It's a natural back-&-forth between enemies.

Secondly, we all know by this point that Demons die in sunlight. Like ..they just straight up vaporize! Fighting at night isn't giving them an advantage, it's literally their only option for survival.

Can you call someone a coward simply for choosing the best, smartest option to ensure their survival?

But then I've come to realize that Tanjiro's words are structured this way on purpose. The kid is 16 and he's really going through it right now. He's angry, heartbroken, despaired -- of course he's going to scream some shit at the enemy that isn't about them at all.

Because it's about himself.

In that moment, Tanjiro was the one who felt like a coward. He felt helpless, useless, and defeated. He was angry at the Demon, sure, but he was also angry at himself, and the Demon became the perfect target for that anger.

All frustrated teens do this. It's in human nature and it's part of learning maturity. I'm honestly impressed to see such a casual representation of this in a Shounen.

[kohakurin8]

Dissecting Kimetsu no Yaiba

~ Zenitsu & Susano-O ~

💜🐇

So, I began watching Kimetsu no Yaiba because I adore yokai and mythology. It's so immensely fun for me to try identifying what yokai are being referenced in the series, since it takes place during the time period of Japan before they were classified as distinct species, instead simply being collectively labeled as "Oni".

However, while the obvious mythological parallels in the series lie within the titular Oni and their significance, I recently came to the realization that this has blinded us from the mythological references made by the human characters as well.

And it all starts with Zenitsu Agatsuma

I was recently researching the Japanese kami of storms, Susano-O, for a character when I came to this creative epiphany, if you will. Let's start by summarizing the absolute rollercoaster that is this kami epitome of an annoying little brother who grows up to be real hot shit.

Most accounts agree that after Izanagi visited Izanami in Yomi, he bathed himself and from it created several children. Amaterasu was born when he washed his right eye, Tsukuyomi from his left eye, and awkward ol' middle-child Susano-O was born when Izanagi washed his nose.

Cause ya know, that's a great way to start out life. The Nose Child.

But more upsetting than that to newly "born" Susano-O was actually the absence of his mother, Izanami. He cried and cried and threw big fits and tantrums because he missed his mother so much, something his siblings I guess couldn't really relate to. And, true to form, Susano-O continued to act out as he got older, oftentimes quarreling with perfect-child Amaterasu. Without going into too much detail, let's just say one of these fateful quarrels led to Susano-O throwing one of his Tantrums ™ and getting kicked out of Takamagahara -- a.k.a. Heaven for Gods

So while he was meandering around the mortal realm, he met a grieving old couple who requested his assistance. Turns out they've been terrorized by a monstrous 8-headed serpent called Yamata-no-Orochi who's eaten one of their 8 daughters every year. So instead of just...moving away like normal people, they ask for Susano-O's help in saving their final daughter. Susano-O, being a nice guy and all, promised he'd save her in exchange for her hand in marriage. They agreed and to protect the girl he turned her into a comb and placed her on his hair.

That's one way to handle a damsel in distress I guess.

Then he had the couple prepare a huge tub of sake, let the Orochi get so drunk it passed out, then carved it up into little pieces, discovering a sword in it's tail. Because that's totally normal. But, hey, in the end Susano-O got a pretty little wife and regained the love and approval of his family so... win-win?

Now at this point you might be wondering "How exactly does this apply to Zenitsu?"

Or maybe you're thinking "Rin, are you sane? Should I be getting you help?"

In either case just hear me out here. Susano-O is described as being wild and emotional, as well as very destructive and short-tempered. Zenitsu also displays these traits -- his reactions are overdramatic, he tends to be very emotional, and he's very quick to anger in certain circumstances.

There's also the fact that they both have lightning powers, but that's a given. As a side note, they also both have messy and odd hairstyles.

Zenitsu is always afraid of something and always animated. His emotions spike erratically and tbh...he whines a lot.

But that's fine because remember when i said Susano-O threw fits over missing his mom? Well, this is probably where the comparison of the two is most relevant -- though it's made to sound more like Susano-O is a bratty child, but if you read between the lines, it's more accurate to say that he was just... lonely. Susano-O whined for his mother because he felt left behind, alone, and scared.

If we look back to the Spider arc on Mount Natagumo we see Zenitsu feeling the exact same way, and even admitting that he feels abandoned and alone quite frequently. It's a mutual feeling the two have.

There's also the matter of Nezuko and Zenitsu's valiant determination to protect her. It's incredibly reminiscent of Susano-O's determination to protect his future wife.

So the more I research it, the more I've concluded that Zenitsu is definitely supposed to be a reference to Susano-O.

Feel free to share your opinions on the matter with me!