#Horobi and Fuwa are dealing w/ the lasting effects of what happened to them and the parts of their pasts that they're still missing

[firebirdsdaughter]

Suddenly struck again…

… By how much better the 01 vincinexts coulda been if it was a spy/detective genre about Horobi and Fuwa going vigilante w/ Jin as their smart mouth side kick while Naki and Yua operated in a more official capacity but covertly passed them info and asked them to handle stuff off the books, while Ikazuchi is just periodically already in the establishment like a cat someone fed once.

[firebirdsdaughter]

Conclusion:

The ‘main’ reason I cannot understand this alleged relationship between Fuwa and Naki (and esp not that scene, I’m sorry, but what exactly did humans do to justify that?) is that they never seem to care about each other unless forced to interact.

Neither ever mentions the other, neither ever has any tacit indications that they’re thinking of the other or mention them at all. They don’t seem to remember the other person exists unless they are literally standing in front of them for some reason. Fuwa doesn’t seem at all concerned about Naki, doesn’t mention them, doesn’t ask about them. When the Ark raises and they only see Horobi and Jin, there’s no moment of him demanding if Naki’s okay, what happened to Naki. He never tries to seek them out. Likewise, there’s absolutely no indication of Fuwa having any effect on Naki. They don’t react to seeing the Ark giving them a wolf Key (which, after this development, there are so many connotations about that I hate), they don’t refer to him when facing Gai, they don’t seek him out. There’s no indication that he effected them at all or has any influence over them, esp not enough to counter the Ark’s power. When doubting the Ark, when talking to Jin, they don’t mention Fuwa at all. Fuwa doesn’t mention Naki to Ai-chan, as far as I can remember, nor does he ever specifically bring them up when discussing the chip unless someone else did first. Like, obviously neither would be talking about the other all the time, but the complete lack of interest makes That scene and the show’s repeated attempts to claim they are connected feel very empty and impersonal.

Meanwhile, in contrast, we have Fuwa and Horobi. Fuwa spent the majority of the first arc w/ a grudge against Horobi, and Horobi, while largely pompous and disregarding, seemed aware Fuwa’s existence outside of direct interaction. And on top of that, they spent all that time in the basement together, interacting. Fuwa was the only one Horobi saw, Fuwa talked about Horobi to other people, shot down Aruto’s suggestion to destroy him, confronted Yua about his restarting. When Horobi escaped, Fuwa pursued him.

Like… If they had given any other indication of either of them having any effect on each other outside of the times that ‘required’ them to interact (Naki’s one ep long ‘arc,’ when they were separated, Yua taking them to see him in the hospital), then this wouldn’t feel so weird to me. But it’s just like Yua and Jin. Two characters who give not even tacit indications that they’re connected suddenly being treated like they have some deep relationship.

I have other issues, namely the fact that Naki doesn’t feel like a character anymore, they feel like a device (excuse me while I go vomit bc I’m pretty sure I called that their ending is going to be them being reduced to Fuwa’s ‘Izu’ and I’m just… Just… No.). In the same way Williamson really should just have been Gai, Naki feels like they got wedged into a plot that was originally Horobi’s, for similar but opposite reasons—Williamson was wedged in to fill a space left by an abrupt attempt to redeem Gai, while Naki feels like they got wedged into this plot w/ Fuwa due to the abrupt attempt to make Horobi the bad guy. The unfortunate fact about this unfortunately accurate (for me) comparison is that Naki is so much more interesting than Williamson, it’s like… Painful. Oh my gods. Why is he even here.

But again, the above could have easily been mitigated (like, I’d still be salty bc, hello, die-hard Horobi and Fuwa fan, but that’s me) if, like… Naki and Fuwa had actually acted like they meant something to each other in some way. The lack of that is what makes me feel like I’m being dryly informed of their ‘relationship’ second hand, or at a distance. There’s a disconnect. Like w/ Jin and Yua, the actors give it their all, but they just can’t close the gap.

Alternatively, if Takahashi weren’t absolute shit at writing and developing multiple relationships, we could have had a cool thing about Fuwa being the focal point of realisation for two of the most fragile characters—I would have loved to see Naki get that boost of not being a tool, and then it being them who ultimately gets through to Yua, and that’s part of what prompts her to help mbjr separate them from Fuwa (this would be helped by, like, actually treating that as a thing… Literally the chip plot being expanded would have helped everything so much). I’ve said before I see Naki and Horobi as having been in different situations, w/ them being externally ‘conditioned’ and him being literally ‘controlled’ from w/in. Them recovering quicker and being able to move on would have made sense, Horobi was always going to be a long term project (which it seems humans were ultimately unwilling to commit to…). Following through on the ‘protect Vulcan’ plot w/ Horobi dealing w/ Fuwa and Naki being connected and/or separated, differentiating between them while they deal w/ their situation… I could totally have gone for that.

But instead, there’s this weird thing where all of Fuwa and Horobi’s development is treated like it never happened, and even though Fuwa and Naki hardly interact and show absolutely no lasting interest in each other unless required to do so, they’re apparently deeply connected and have effected each other.

It’s one of those things where Takahashi starts interesting… But then can’t follow through.