#Daiji analysis is definitely coming up next

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Let's get it, bois

Man you already knO what time it is >:)))).

Previous Revice analysis:  1 , 2 , 3.1 , 3.2 , 3.3 , 4 

Bonus: Igarashi Ways to Affection

Warnings: Spoilers, mentions of self-harm and suicidal ideation (Spoilers up to ep 19)

Analysis of the Igarashi Sibs Theme Under the cut:

Before we begin, here are some things to keep in mind:

What each sibling sings during their solos

The Lyrics that are duet-ed (and why the third is excluded/not joining in)

The lyrics directly before the solos

.....Right. So, from the moment this song came on in episode 16 I knew I needed to find the full version and then find a translation of it.

When it started playing (in the episode) it surprised me — I wasn’t expecting a character song to pop on…..much less one with the siblings in it, and for it to be about them…..consider me stunned. And you know what else didn’t escape my notice? That in the song we hear *for the first time* (unless I’m wrong here, which is completely possible, wouldn’t be surprised if it flew over my head) Sakura’s name-pun catchphrase. Before this, only Ikki and Daiji used their names during their finishers. So…for the song to come on in the episode where the siblings plead for acceptance (for all of them) to fight; and this *acceptance* is gained the moment the fight breaks out, the sibs theme starts, and all the siblings start fighting together? Poetic cinema.

I only needed to hear their silly little name-puns in that small segment of the episode to know that the song was probably gonna have some banger lines (Haha I was RIGHT. Maybe i'm nOT insane lmaooo). Alright, then.

Onto my analysis (why did I write that longass intro? LOL):

Ikki starts the song — he is the oldest, the MC, annnnnnd the sibling with the most influence over the other two —so this makes sense.

“After having witnessed this drama of tragedy and affliction, I want to do something. Furthermore, if the family is at stake I’ll risk my life — I’ll be there!”

I don’t really need to do any analysis here. Ikki’s solo is obviously what drives him. It’s his own self-sacrificial little motto, and the reason why he became a Kamen Rider in the first place. Self-explanatory. The next two verses move on from Ikki’s solo straight on to Daiji’s.

“Once again you’re playing the hero, burdening yourself alone, can’t you quit it?”

Daiji’s solo coming right after Ikki’s is important for a few reasons.

First, Daiji is obviously commentating on Ikki’s lyrics. It feels like a direct response; Ikki’s lines are about self-sacrifice and martyrdom — something that obviously annoys Daiji. “Once again.” He says, obviously used to watching Ikki carry everyone and their mother’s burdens — “Can’t you quit it?”. Now, on the kamen rider fandom wiki these lines were translated as: “why can't you stop being too nosy or overburdening yourself?.”

I brought up this separate translation, because this second one makes it feel (to me) more like a question. “Can’t you quit it?” Essentially does mean the exact same thing, but the connotation is definitely snottier lol. Is Daiji being snotty here? Helllll yeah :D. But, this is an actual genuine question as well. A question that is *very* important for some of the later Daiji & Ikki verses. Daiji not being able to understand *why* Ikki continues to take other people's burdens — even when he isn’t asked — is what leads to their main conflict.

If Ikki’s solo is why he became a rider + what drives him; then it stands to reason Daiji’s is the same.

....Which is another reason why Daiji coming in right after Ikki is something noteworthy. There’s a lot of symbolism here; Daiji’s the second born son, the middle child, the kid always standing in Ikki’s shadow whether he wants to or not — even at Fenix he got stuck in the position of second fiddle…..all the way up until he snaps and becomes, well, the second Kamen Rider. Second. Second. Second. Second. (Even the second Kanji in Daiji’s name spells out ‘Second son.’) Right, and so what’s Daiji’s second verse in his solo?

“Once in a while, watch me be someone you can rely on, believe in the “family time.”

This.

This is originally why Daiji wanted to become a kamen rider, and it's the reason why he joined Fenix. “Watch me be someone you can rely on.” In the KR Wiki, they translated it as: “Once in a while, I want to be relied on! Believe me, Family Time!”

It’s….exactly that. Daiji joined Fenix because — well…what better way is there to show his family that he *too* can be responsible, trustworthy, and reliable? What better way to show Ikki?

See, Daiji constantly struggles with feeling loveable as he is. As a kid, he saw how achievement resulted in love and praise; Ikki takes care of Daiji and Sakura and is complimented for it? Ikki helps others and is complimented for it? Ikki is capable and reliable and everything else under the sun and he is complimented for it? Daiji internalized this in his mind and he developed his identity around gaining attention through success.

But not *just* success, because being a successful office worker won’t gain Ikki’s trust. It won’t convince Ikki that Daiji’s someone who can also shoulder the family burdens. No. To do that he would need something big, something that will *prove* that Daiji is someone who can be reliable and capable. And well…. Ikki won’t be able to argue and say Daiji can't protect them when Daiji fights Other-worldly monsters in a military organization everyday, now can he?

So yeah, he can get success from a myriad of other places. But the thing Daiji wants most is for Ikki — yes, specifically Ikki, to lean on him. To need him. To confide in him. This is the exact reason why Daiji’s solo verses revolve around Ikki; because his motivations and goals are centered around him.

[This can be seen in episode 1 when Daiji and Ikki are talking in the bath. While this scene is also providing great characterization for Ikki (that he gave up on pro soccer to take care of the family, shows his inherent self-sacrificial nature and how he places his family above his own wants and needs), this scene also has something I didn’t really think much of before.

Daiji’s question.

Daiji asks Ikki *why* he gave up on his dreams of becoming a pro soccer player. While this question tells the audience a lot about Ikki, what I hadn’t realized is what it tells us about Daiji.

(1) That he is interested in Ikki’s goals and motivations

(2) He cares about success. (He didn’t understand how Ikki could give up his dream when he was good enough to become pro.)

(3) He’s curious about his brother’s personal issues

--Here, back when everyone was more innocent, Daiji got a high position in Fenix — the coronation is tomorrow, he’s riding high; probably more than a little hopeful and….seeing how Ikki was acting a bit off during dinner (because of Vice lol) he decides to first imply that Ikki was being weird. Ikki declines to comment. (Just tells him not to worry about it.) And then Daiji asks about the soccer thing; which Ikki also shuts down (again) with a ‘don’t worry about it.’ But the thing is….Daiji does worry about it. He wants Ikki to confide in him. That’s why he asked in the first place.

Perhaps he might have even been thinking that his Fenix position would elevate his status in Ikki’s mind….and so maybe there would be a possibility of Ikki opening up. ]

Digging even deeper, Daiji’s verses are directly related to his duality. The first verse is what creates Kagerou and the second verse is what brings Daiji back to being Daiji. EVIL versus LIVE. (More on this later.)

“I’ve become aware of the cracks. I’ll always realize my inner self.”

All of them sing the first part of the verse, up until “always” and then Ikki has a short solo line. All of them sing about becoming aware ‘of the cracks’ because….well that’s what happened. The three of them started cracking.

Wiki Translation:

“The cracks of awakening! Always comes with inner awareness!”

So conflict hits, and the sibs can’t ignore their inner demons anymore. But more interesting is that Ikki gets the solo line “realize my inner self/comes with inner awareness!” Since Ikki lives his life with repression and rejecting himself, his emotions, and his problems, obviously his solution would be to *confront* his personal issues. So, since Ikki ‘became aware of the cracks’ it led to him ‘realizing his inner self.’

Or, on the flip side —

The cracks that have awakened inside of him have come from his own inner awareness. (Even if he wants to reject or repress it.)

Both translations I would say are correct. Nacho and I were talking about this, and Japan really loves abstract ideas and art because the language can be so vague. We agreed an apt comparison would be ‘text speak.’ Where if an old person sends you a text that reads: “Thanks….” while that might send shivers down your spine because it feels like the texter is being passive aggressive, in actuality they aren’t and they put it that way because they’re writing from a different context. Tldr; context is everything, especially when a language can be vague asf, which means multiple interpretations are possible.

“To change my idealistic philosophy, my heart is heating up and overflowing.”

Wiki trans:

“My changing ideals, and my heart! It's boiling up!”

So, we’ve finally arrived at Sakura’s first solo part.

I think the reason she is *specifically* the one saying the ending line here (even though they all sing the first part) is because Sakura’s the only one whose ideals have really changed. Not to say that Ikki and Daiji’s ‘idealistic philosophy’(s) aren’t going through a metamorphosis — there is a reason they sing that line too— but Sakura’s metamorphosis hit its boiling point and has changed properties already. The philosophy that changed here would be what Sakura defines ‘true strength’ as. For about 11 episodes she struggled with being vulnerable, but when she learned that true strength comes when you accept your vulnerabilities (rather than bury and hide them) she was finally able to transform.

Hmmm, also notice that Ikki starts the song, Daiji goes next and directly riffs off from Ikki, and then after they’ve become aware of the cracks and their ideals have started changing….

THAT’S when Sakura comes in. This is essentially a replay of exactly what happens in the show. Ikki becomes a kamen rider, which then acts as the catalyst that causes Daiji’s personality split, they start to see the cracks and gain inner awareness (because you know, Daiji’s attempting fratricide and Ikki can’t directly ignore that), Sakura has her own crisis because of the Ikki & Daiji arc, then her ideals shift and she joins them in battle.

And that completes the first stanza and we hit the chorus. I don’t really have much to say here about the chorus. Idk. Maybe I’ll come back to this.

Ikki and Daiji duet the verse line of the second stanza.

“The extreme power of perfect misunderstandings — they make the world turn.”

Wiki trans:

“ An extreme power, a complete misunderstanding, and the revolving Earth”

Ikki and Daiji sing this together, because these lines are about their relationship to one another. The “misunderstanding” is making their world turn. Now, what does this mean? Well. This is where that question “can’t you just quit it? /why can't you stop being too nosy or overburdening yourself?.”from Daiji’s stanza 1 solo becomes important.

Daiji’s misunderstanding of why Ikki ‘burdens’ himself is what’s caused each of their worlds to spin. He believes Ikki goes around ‘playing hero’ when it isn’t needed because he’s an attention-whore.

(There's more to this that you'll see below; but that's at least what Daiji wants to believe.)

Yet, for Ikki--- in all actuality, he sacrifices himself over and over again because of his childhood trauma of having to be responsible for their family from a young age. He was never able to properly learn how to love himself and can therefore only be happy when he’s helping others. He’s not doing it for attention. Hahaha it’s the opposite actually. He doesn’t *want* attention or notoriety or fame or success. He’s doing this because he doesn’t know how to live any other way. And I mean this literally.

Sacrificing himself for the sake of others…..is the only thing keeping him alive. He told Vice this in episode 18 when he admitted to not liking himself.

“That’s why I turned my attention to others….to try and make their happiness my reason to live.”

Without his martyrdom…

........Ikki would no longer have a reason to keep living. This is why he-

(and by extension Hiromi because Hiro-micchi literally has the same exact mentality going on here, like #UnfortunateChildhoodTraumaTwins)

--is so fearlessly able to do an incredibly risky and self-harming action like using the Kamikaze stamp even after George warns of the backlash, and again after the backlash lit him on fire. George tells him that using it a second time could kill him. Yet Ikki still goes anyway. He even apologizes to Vice — the literal embodiment of the child Ikki was never allowed to be.

That scene is really f**king tragic too — that Ikki is apologizing to the child he wasn’t able to be for not caring about himself, and for doing borderline-suicidal actions because he has nothing else to live for. In an — ‘I’m sorry that I don’t care about myself and that I keep getting us hurt, I’m sorry for doing things that’ll get us killed. You deserve better than this.” — kind of way. It’s just sad. Even sadder yet is knowing that he would willingly die if that meant his family got to be happy, or if it was what they needed from him.

…..

But Daiji doesn’t understand this, and it leads to Kagerou fully popping out. Hence the line “They (the misunderstanding) make the world turn.” See, when it comes to Ikki and Daiji’s relationship — for Ikki, his family is the most important thing to him, and since he raised his siblings, them even morso.. Not only are Daiji and Sakura Ikki’s 1st place priorities…but to him, they’re his entire world.

A perfect example of this would be during Daiji’s fratricide arc:

I already stated this in my Revice Analysis Post #2, but Daiji’s name is really poetic.

Nacho:

“-Daiji” is also how you pronounce the Japanese word for “important/precious ``. In shows people usually use the term to talk about a vague “important thing” in their lives, like they’re loved ones or whatever.”

… “Man, real funny in a sad way. Like the parents only cared to name him (Daiji) “second son” But his name is the homonym to a word that means “important”. I didn’t really think about it either until Ikki was crawling over to him like “Daiji, Daiji!”. Grabbing onto his foot and stuff. It just hit different when he was groaning his name like that with desperation. I was like “wow, his name sounds like something else ;_;"”

Welp. This always devastates me.

And --as expected--- Ikki did not handle Daiji/Kagerou’s hate and attempted fratricide well. I mean, who would? His reaction here, of crawling over to his brother holding on to his legs and desperately saying his name…and since Daiji’s name is a homonym to a word that means “important / precious” this scene perfectly conveys how Ikki feels and views Daiji (and Sakura/his family)) as his entire world.

So their shared verse ““The extreme power of perfect misunderstandings — they make the world turn.”’ is a reflection of this, and how it’s turned their lives upside down.

The next verse Ikki and Daiji sing is:

“[I + D]: Where is it? The unaffected variance of time—the light I can touch.”

Wiki Trans:

“Time lags when the light hits, wherever you are at the moment..”

.....So what I first took notice of is, “Where is it? — - “the light I can touch.”

Sakura doesn’t sing this line with them because she *knows* where the light is, she’s found it and it touches her through her acceptance of her inner demons. But since Ikki and Daiji refuse or otherwise don’t know exactly how to address this inner darkness / childhood trauma of theirs, essentially “time lags”. They become unaffected by the passing of time because they have become stuck in the past and as such are not able to grow and mature as people.

“[I + D]: I understand that it’s one and the same—to protect your own side and protect the one beside you.

Wiki trans:

“I understand, that both sides, the protector and the protected, are one and the same”

While I was analyzing the lyrics, Daiji’s solo ‘I understand’ here threw me off. I was like 🤔🤔🤔🤔….why does he say this before Ikki’s solo? Obviously the two things were correlated but I didn’t know exactly how. So — I obviously asked Nacho what they thought was going on there.

NACHO:

“Good question. Daiji's solo part is pretty much a raw translation so no translation notes lol.

I wondered it myself tbh when I was translating. All I could think about were those shots when Ikki would talk to George or whoever about wanting to save the Deadmans, and the camera takes its time zooming on Daiji's face all thinky-thinking

NACHO:

“Idk, I started to wonder if this means that Daiji does understand where Ikki is coming from, but refuses to understand y'know?

Like, (I guess this just boils down to the problem with the Igarashi family/Japanese and Asian culture)—maybe Daiji understands and knows that saving people is a hangup Ikki can't get over, and that it's a deep mark on his psyche. Simultaneously though, like everybody else, he (Daiji) doesn't/has a hard time accepting that the family has harmed Ikki.

Like it's one thing to be like "okay, this person's flaw is that they put their self-worth equal to how much they can do for others".

And it's another to be all "our family is responsible for psychologically traumatizing my brother"

Idk if I'm making sense, but basically it allllll goes back to what I'm saying is the root of all tragedy in Re:Vice. Everybody is getting better, facing their traumas, trying to improve, all that good stuff. But everybody (and understandably so) is also tiptoeing around the core issue. That the family has hurt each other permanently. It's partly an Igarashi thing, partly an Asian/Japanese thing, to not talk about past pains in an effort to move on, but not digging out the root means the weed grows back.

ANYWAYS all this to say I think Daiji is saying that, like Ikki, he understands more than he really lets himself.”

…

So…yeah…. speechless.

Daiji understanding more than he’ll let himself…connected a lot of irregular dots that I previously had yet to understand from a bunch of different episodes — (Episode 2; Episode 3 & 4….that I won’t talk about because I’ll be posting an analysis on that soon lmao; episode 7….) A lot of weird little camera-shots that showed Daiji’s reaction to certain things Ikki was doing or saying that had me like ??? Why….is he reacting like that?

(Me, in response):

Yeah this (Ikki being a martyr) I even commented on WAYYYY back as being one of the reasons why he (Kagerou) might hate Ikki -- basically for the guilt of playing bystander to your brother playing hero for everyone except himself.

Cause back when the mom made the comment about Ikki and the father being similar (haha they were having their talk about Ikki's "happiness" and how he should do things that make him happy and Ikki in a confused tone goes: "My,..happiness...?" And we cut to a shot of Daiji, who is awake and listening to this conversation.

….And I thought that was an interesting scene to include; Kagerou/Daiji listening in on the mom telling Ikki to do things that make him happy instead of others / to stop putting others’ happiness before himself.

Then, for Ikki’s solo line: “I understand, that both sides, the protector and the protected, are one and the same” (Wiki)

NACHO:

I was thinking about the wiki translation too, it was going where I was going—Ikki saying that to be "safe" and to protect somebody else is the same thing to him—>aka his self-worth thing again

Next verse,,,,,,

[I + S]: To save each and every person, nothing in this world is more difficult.

The halation of darkness will completely become exposed.

My own convictions and feelings—if I accept them, I’ll truly become invincible.

Wiki trans:

“It's difficult to say how to save each and every person.

The Halation of Darkness, what it brilliantly reveals are

Our feelings and emotions, the acceptance of them... are invincible!

Okay — first things first, yes Ikki and Sakura duet about saving people because that’s what they are both trying to do right now. Daiji’s the only one saying the ‘realistic’ things like: ‘As of right now, we can only kill them, not help them.’ So those lines are self-explanatory.

Moving on to the next line….I know some of you are probably saying: ‘Now, what in the prick plack paddy-whack is halation???’ because that was my exact reaction.

Merrium-Webster defines Halation as:

‘1 : the spreading of light beyond its proper boundaries in a developed photographic image.

2 : a bright ring that sometimes surrounds a bright object on a television screen.”

Okay, so what is being said here is that this light spreading past its boundaries is what causes them to confront their feelings and emotions. This is why Daiji has the solo lines “become exposed.” His convictions and his feelings are coming out for God and everyone else to see.

Now, while they all say “the emotions/feelings” bit, only Sakura says the “invincible” part. Which is, as stated previously — that’s because Sakura is the only Igarashi Sib to have reconciled with her inner demon/accept them. Ikki’s well on his way (as seen from him telling Vice that he doesn’t like himself + ep 18’s end of ep piggyback ride). And who even knows what’s going on with Daiji as of rn.

To BE CONTINUED-

(Give me a second so I can quickly post the last bit hahahaha ...)