#and once the story will move its focus on other characters he'll do the same for them

[franeridart]

The Housecat Philosophy - Ep 36

Ep 00 || < Prev || Next >

Read the next four episodes on Patreon || support me on ko-fi~✨

[annoying-probably]

WELCOME! This is the analysis done by yours truly of Moonlight! The commissioned event song for vbs~ We really have a brain rot for this song like we did with cinema!! So here!!

Few changes: character lines are going to be coloured as the character! So! Akito, An, Kohane, Touya, Meiko! And I will not be doing MV analysis alongside it! I just think it's neat how the MV is framed through a back circle, portraying them in the moonlight/spotlight (moon and spotlight are kinda synonymous here!) Another way the moon in general can be seen is as something like false hope, something so far off you want to reach but never can. So! Let's get into it!

This is also all personal opinion!!

Ko: "Collecting nothing but trash, covered with a single torn rag,"

A strong strong first line. Kohane immediately sets the scene- everyone here is junk, throwing away their talent or lives to be what they want- an overall group theme for VBS; they are outcasts wading through loneliness and solitude with each other, trying to make their own name without help. They're 'covered with rag', because they're being hidden away, I'd guess by something like society in general in this analogy.

An: "is a replica with a hideous form."

An adds onto that strong start up- not only are they junk all thrown together, they're horridly trying to replicate their idols, forming a 'replica with a hideous form', because they are all very different people to those who they idolise and want to pass, no matter how much they want to be their own people and make their own unique space, they keep falling into this replica.

To: "A tale someone spun, the timbre at which someone played a song,"

Aki: "made and distorted into a collage of fakes."

This is about the same thing- it's their idols words that they made, it's their songs they're trying to replicate. VBS is only coming together to make some vague collage that looks like them, trying to replicate that same image. It's very harsh on themselves, really. Because what's this song about? Its an akito song! So it's about self hate! yaaaay /s. But this is a running theme, self doubt, anxiety and panic, from both Akito songs. For someone so repressed, songs made from his feelings really lay his emotions bare.

Mei: "In the very beginning, there was progressive youthful love under a veil."

To: "When we notice it, it disappears, crying like a child who’s lost a toy"

Definitely Touya focus since he sings after Meiko but, I think this is his love for Street music- at the start was just progressive to move him away from classical, he didn't really love it in the same way Akito did, he just liked it not being classical, since he wanted to piss off his dad. When he noticed that's why he did it, it was like a child losing its comfort, starting to cry. A slap in the face to reality. That 'veil' was comfort, noticing ye was just hiding away behind that veil made it disappear.

Mei: "Why is that so? That spotlight is shining on me."

Aki: "Your back turned, you are once more getting farther from my reach."

Meiko asks why Touya starts to cry, after losing that veil, then comments the spotlight is on her- I believe this means nobody else is doing anything to deserve the spotlight right now, shying away from themselves. This leads into Akito's line which to me personally tells me this takes place in chapter 14 of the main story, these last few lines. Touya realizes he's 'half-assed' by using this 'progressive love' as a comfort and turning and running away- as Akito laments Touya was growing further away from him again, but instead of it being a talent thing from Akito's view, it's literal.

To(An/Meiko): "I couldn’t become anything like you, like I was chasing after the moon."

See what I mean? Its Touya's main anxiety in the early story, that he'll never catch upto Akito because of how he framed music- he compares Akito to the moon, something so distant and far off he can only stare out and hope to be like. An is also here, more related to how she views Kohane!

Aki: "My thirsting heart remains unquenched."

Without Touya beside him, he feels unsatisfied, his need to surpass cannot be fought alone, and nor can be even sing alone.

To(Ko+Mei): "Becoming alone, becoming alone, We trace over, as we continued to have sombre dreams."

Touya has a very big character theme with dreams, both in the ones you see at night sense and the life long goal sense! This is a rehash of that from other commissioned songs, particularly a sadder outlook- when Touya is alone, his dreams are dull and sad, going against mirai when he talks about his dreams being full with colour and laughter. And! They add on that they're, An and Touya tracing over, just following someone else- their parents. Following a path already laid for them, even if they want it or not.

Aki: "It’s trash, it’s rags, The blood leaking from your heart, held anger only from myself."

Ouch this line hurt! I think this is self hate, Akito calling himself and what they had trash and rags, like something thrown together and out without care. The blood leaking from Touya's heart was only bleeding from the anger Akito had- hey remember when Akito decked Touya /j. It isn't really as literally as that I believe, moreso that he takes his anger out on Touya sometimes, even unintentionally, when he only hates himself.

Ko: "'What is it I lacked?’ After I asked God,"

Ko+To: "The arrow of a fallen angel struck to silence me.

From outside help (ily guys /p but tysm), I've gathered this is an analogy for passion, always wondering what you lack and need to be perfect, because that's what every artist does- before getting struck down realising there's nothing they can do; they're stagnant. That's the best they can do. Everyone in vbs tends to suffer with 'im not getting better' disease, so it's not surprising to have this followed up by An and Akito, too.

An: "I knew it from the start, I was putting on a forgotten show."

An+Akito: "I’m holding close the sword you gave me."

An says how from the start of her doing shows alone, shes known the truth- nobody would remember her or what she does. Akito adds on, agreeing that together they hug a sword given to them by someone else. I believe this is meant to be something like a blessing and a curse, they were gifted the sword (something like passion or ambition to sing), but it only ends up cutting them and hurting them when they try to use it, because they can't wield it properly. Most they can do is show it off and use it as best they can.

Mei: "How many times have I been disappointed?, ‘I’d rather just throw away everything,’"

Meiko quite literally sings vbs' song, as after this line they harmonize after her- she's voicing their complaints, the way they give up. Its motivating, showing them they all think the same, but also meant to show us the watcher how everyone truly thinks of themselves, even subconsciously.

To: "Surely, nothing will be left in the end, the love, the songs I made up, my name, it’s all withering away too."

Touya is definitely one of the most self doubting, from this at least. He's scared (as he has been in a few songs and events), that one day, they'll all be split up and everything will be worthless. One day his love and his songs and even who he is will be fine- and apparently it's already starting to wither away.

Mei: "Why is that so? Clinging to my heart,"

Aki: "is a loneliness not unlike the silence of a winter night."

Meiko asks why Touya feels that way, and redirects him, showing him in away that she knows everyone else is lonely and scared, too- especially Akito. This seems to kick something off in the next chorus. That also just seems like it's meant to be a reference to Touya in general, from silence to the winter and the loneliness that Touya mentions here;

To(/Ko+Mei): "Surely, you were watching the stars alone, in all your ignorance,"

Akito focuses on the future more then Touya, atleast in the life long goal way, Touya has already found his future.

Aki: "still paying no heed to me, my eyes bloodshot."

He's crying(or is exhausted) looking upto the stars, for some reason. These last three lines most sound reminiscent of an argument, Akito saying how secluded he feels, only for Touya to say he felt just the same, with Akito feeling so distant when he's stood next to him. Then Akito says how Touya didn't even see how he was crying. If this is a song crystalized from Akito's fear, it makes sense why an argument would be here- Akito hates the thought of something like this happening, of him being a bad partner.

To(/An+Mei): "You, who stood next to me, are getting farther. Those sombre dreams may be fading out of view"

in contrast to the previous chorus where Touya said he could only dream of dull things. Even being next to Akito gives him full dreams, yet he feels isolated, still next to him. Probably because Akito is still running for the future, when Touya, who still wants to surpass rad weekend, is happy where he is for now, atleast emotionally. It's also a very very, very sweet line, harking back to Touya's overall theme with dreams! Like all over mirai, and been in vbs commission songs since rad dogs! Dreams are really important to Touya- especially since it's now like double stated that Akito gives Touya better dreams.

"But you should continue to chase them."

Oh hey it's backing up what I'm saying. Touya wants to test and enjoy this time while they have it, but he's always surprised to have to quickly follow behind Akito who 'wont stop chasing that far off moon.' Yet, I don't think Touya is meant to be perceived as angry or anything- he wants to encourage Akito, to keep running towards his dreams, so they won't be alone.

Aki: "It’s a fake, it’s the truth, If I turned back now, I would only see that those fuzzy memories were there."

It's Akito's thought process, while 'running'. An inner dialogue. No matter what he's doing and if he's cut out for it, he's only been doing things in the spur of the moment without thinking, and now he needs to be serious, not to stop running now. This is accelerated by the fact all his memories are fuzzy- they're fast paced and hard to remember off the adrenaline of the moment.

An: "Waste and a converted irony I tried to break free from cliche, and yet,"

To: (‘Is this a rehash of someone else’s work?’")

Very interesting to me that's in quotes, not Touya's or An's own thoughts. He shares a lot with An in the trauma sector, so they share this, the worry they're only meant to be someone they're not and only follow and rehash want they do. Especially when VBS is a cover group, and atleast Touya's dad has been said before to hate people not recreating songs perfectly, as not to disrespect the composer. Could very well be stemming from An and Touya, which is quite strange from the Akito trauma song!/j But as this was followed by An's line, definitely both of their anxiety.

Ko: "The stardust is countless, A eustasy sinks and disappears."

Aki: "The Moonlight is merciless."

So Kohane talks about people giving up and failing because they can't stand the changing tides of being a big star, I think, Akito adds on saying the moonlight, or probably also called, the spot light, is daunting and a moment of weakness could ruin anyone.

An: (‘Is my identity a sham, too?)"

Ko: (‘Do you want love so much you’d resort to theft?’)

This is either Kohane and Ans personal struggles and thoughts, or they're playing out Akito's. It's kinda hard to tell. Could also very easily be both- talking about being shams following someone else's image and also that they'd have to steal love, either meaning they 'steal' other people's work to show off as their talent or that their own identity is a lie to get love.

Ko: "Afternoon, when sheep-like clouds were floating in the sky..."

An: "A nostalgic song wavers in the wind."

At first this made no sense to me- it's akito dreaming, is my guess. Passing out to escape from his own horrid thoughts in the ruthless moonlight of the night. That's why the song calms down, and he starts hearing a nostalgic song. It's also why Touya did not sing there at all, and only now is singing again.

To: "The words that you said to me..."

Aki: "I’ve written the same thing down, so I won’t forget them, even now."

Even if Touya says Akito taught and helped him, Akito doesn't believe it. Or atleast is hypocritical of himself and forgets to assign his words to himself, writing them down over and over to remember them. Its a cycle they always fall into, Akito never believing anything he does.

back to the chorus.

To+An(/Meiko): "I couldn’t become anything like you, liike I was chasing after the moon "

Aki: "My thirsting heart remains unquenched."

Touya can't keep up the same lifestyle as Akito, never being satisfied and always chasing the next biggest thing, as he's happy in his 'future' being the present. An always feels like she's falling behind the incredible progress Kohane has made.

To+Ko(+Mei): "Time pases, time passes, (we trace over,**) so that we won’t avert our eyes when the time comes to turn back and look."

They just want to heal and not be scared of the past, but accept it. Which I'd say is far more prominent to Touya's story than Kohanes, but she might be shy or scared about her own weaker past, looking where she is now. They trace over their past so they can make a better one, but also need to accept their past.

** v

Because In their past, they were- both following someone else's life. They're trying to walk away from that path without being hurt, or hurting to look back.

Aki: "It’s trash, it’s rags, beyond the pursuit of a dream we will never wake from, my light, and only mine, will always be there."

Even if right now, they're called everything, theyre nothing compared to the actual people they aspire to follow, they're the throwaways of society- they keep pushing forward no matter what. They'll find their own light, separate from that ruthless moonlight where they can shine without worry, together. They'll never wake up from this pipe dream, as others say, but that's fine by them because no matter what they will have passion and love for this, no matter what.

[abysscronica]

Hi hi~ hope you’re doing well!!

I just wanted to piggyback on the execution ask a little bit. If the marines successfully executed her, would Kid get revenge or just focus on becoming PK in your opinion? Assuming Killer wouldn’t reign him in.

Also, randomly thought of this just now, if she died during the fishman attack, how do you think this would affect Kid’s psyche? I know this is getting kinda deep into like analyzing his character, but I’d really love to hear more of your opinions and analysis of how Kid’s mind works. Either in your story or in canon. Or, how do you think Kid would move past Killer dying?

Anyways, thank you and have a great weekend~ ^ㅅ^

Hey, sorry it took so long to get to this ask! I'll divide it in parts because it's actually three different scenarios.

Marines executing birdie

If birdie were to be executed by the Marines, Kid would go absolutely feral. He will want revenge for sure, and Killer won't sway him from it, because he'll be secretly seething as well, even if he's much better at hiding it.

What Killer can do though is convincing Kid to be smart about it (after an initial homicidal sprint). Attacking the headquarters would just lead them to their death. Focusing on finding the ancient weapons instead? Becoming the new Emperor and absolutely annihilating any marine warship that crosses their path? Enforcing the efforts of pirates already destabilising the status quo (like Blackbeard)? That sounds much more efficient.

This way, focusing on becoming the PK indirectly serves the revenge as well.

One thing for sure, and the whole crew with him, would become much more brutal, bitter and violent in his path to greatness.

Birdie dying during the Fishmen attack

That would be also quite terrible for Kid's psiche. You know, when a person dies we often tend to remember them better than they ever were. Mostly the good things remains. We idealise them. As time passes by, this phenomenon can increase its grasp in our mind, even if we eventually learn how to deal with the pain or we find a place to put it.

Given the particular moment of the Fishmen attack, when Kid and birdie were at their best, I think this would happen to Kid. They had admitted their feelings to themselves and to each other, they weren't thinking about the future or their situation and just enjoying the moment together.

If the loss came at a time like this, Kid would basically think he lost the love of his life, even if it might be a subconscious feeling. Even after the initial devastating pain and rage, his heart would harden and he won't let anyone new close to him again. Any woman that came along would be compared to an idealised image of birdie and kept at distance or treated harshly as a tool.

He would still follow his dreams and continue his travels, he would still trust his crew with his life, but I don't think there would be any more romance for him. And, even after decades, when the pain doesn't mar him on a daily basis anymore, the dream of that little feisty woman he once "loved" would still visit him at night, from time to time.

Moving past Killer's death

This is very tricky. Kid and Killer grew up together, set sail together, fought together all along. I wonder if Kid even really knows himself without Killer at this point.

Unfortunately we didn't get their backstory (yet?), which would be great to answer this.

Did they make a deal with each other before starting their adventure? Like, if one of them dies, the other won't let that stop him?

I feel like they should at least have had a conversation at some point. Probably initiated by Killer. He's so ready to sacrifice himself for Kid that it would be weird if he didn't ask his captain to move on from his potential death. And if he did, I feel like Kid would do his best to honour that promise.

But he wouldn't be the same Kid. The loss of Killer would be much more devastating for him compared to birdie's, although he'd be more prepared for it.

It would take ages to find a new balance without his partner. I see two possible scenarios: either Kid acknowledges he needs to slow down and find a new way to live and be a pirate, or he throws himself blindly ahead regardless of the consequences.

And if he does manage to realize his dream and become the new PK, I can see him become the new Kaido: from this point on, it's either death or chaos.

[bestbonnist]

Chapter 141.2

Izumi backstory! IZUMI BACKSTORY!!

OK before I begin analyzing the actual content in this chapter, I'd like to discuss why Fushi is so lenient with Izumi in particular despite having talked to her only once for two seconds. This could be explained by Fushi's tendency to view all humans as fundamentally good, or their wish that Mizuha has a happy life surrounded by supportive people, but I think an exchange from Chapter 125.2 leans towards a different interpretation. After Mizuha shares how Izumi lied about where she got the new hairband, Fushi says this:

Mizuha quickly shuts them down, but when they take Izumi's side it implies that they relate more to her than they do to Mizuha. They later prove that they personally believe this is a reasonable decision when they hide the fact that the world isn't peaceful from their friends later in the manga.

I thought Satoru left in the previous chapter, but no, he's really been dragged to a fast food place at 12:00 A.M. Sumika must be having a fit. He hasn't really done much since he appeared in the previous chapter, but before they disperse for the night he'll probably have something to say.

Yuuki is really, really pushing to do what Hirotoshi did. It suits his optimistic personality but "making Mizuha want to live again" isn't possible. I've said this before, I'll say it again: Mimori was put in a position where she was forced to say she wanted to live, or else someone would die. That's not a choice, and it's not the "living for herself" that Hirotoshi said he wanted her to do. Mizuha and Mimori both lived for the sake of their mothers instead of themselves, and it didn't turn out well. Replacing one botched relationship with another won't change a thing, as Fushi has successfully proven. The relationship between Mimori and Miyabi never developed at all, we were given context and then Mimori was stuffed back into her old life with no elaboration.

The flashback of Fushi's talk with the Left Hand from Izumi's perspective is intriguing, because I think it's from the moment when Fushi was talking with Mizuha, when she asked them to love her and for a hug. Izumi saw that and realized that (1) her daughter has a desperate need for comfort and affection and (2) said need comes from the absence of those things from her family. That's when she had her big revelation, processed it quietly, and then continued to follow Mizuha until the confrontation in the rain where she decided that Mizuha was too far gone to bother saving.

And so we get Izumi's backstory. Fucking FINALLY. So first thing is that she's talented but unable to connect with others just like Mizuha is, but while Mizuha never stops trying to make friends, Izumi doesn't bother being cordial with her classmates. They're both very aware of their pride and look to others to accept it. Izumi's latched onto Mizuha as the only one who can affirm her, and Mizuha's done the same with Fushi.

A little bit of lore surrounding the knockers and Hayase's descendants is sprinkled into the story: "everyone says they were mankind's enemy" means that most people believe that the knockers, at one point, existed, unlike Fushi who's considered a legend or maybe an exaggeration of a real person. The Left Hand has been elevated to a position of power within the Defense Corps. too. Instead of something kept around to serve Hayase's descendants it's now considered holy. Interestingly, the focus of the Defense Corps. also seems to have shifted from Fushi to Hayase. Kahaku has not been completely erased from the narrative like I thought he was, but the way Izumi's dad describes things it sounds like the Left Hand was the one defending Renryrr side by side with Fushi with Kahaku tagging along, when in reality the Left Hand was an impediment. His phrasing also implies that the Left Hand going to Paradise was a chosen ascension to a higher plane of existence instead of Kahaku's effort to destroy it for good that it desperately tried to avoid.

As we see how Mizuha was initially raised, it looks like there was a healthy separation between her and Izumi unlike what they had before she died. Mizuha enjoyed trying lots of different things but it doesn't look like she was particularly skilled at any of them, she was putting her all into it and Izumi was proud of that.

I've been wondering why Izumi ended up marrying a white guy. Visually, it adds contrast to a character who hasn't really done anything other than exist in the background. At first I thought it was to add to the distance between Mizuha and her peers: most of them are of the same ethnicity while she is not. But as I began inferring more about Izumi I also thought she chose to marry someone as far removed from the Defense Corps.—a cult that hasn't garnered enough influence to spread outside Yanome—as she thought possible, which was apparently not far enough. Either this man was raised in Yanome but lied about it, or is a foreigner who moved to Japan, meaning the Defense Corps. got him hooked really quickly, or they do reach outside of Yanome and Izumi never knew.

Although Izumi's husband insists he didn't marry her solely on her dad's orders, his first move after she finds out is to take advantage of Mizuha's distress to get Izumi to back down. Maybe he really does love them, but preserving his position in their family matters more to him than their happiness.

So now we understand a lot more about who Izumi is as a person, and even if the next chapter doesn't finish this flashback we can still infer what happens next. Izumi and Mizuha were quite similar when they were younger. But the key difference, and what caused Izumi to raise Mizuha in the way she did, was her stubbornness. She needs Mizuha to be the proof that she's in the right, which she thinks will give her hope to live, by having Mizuha follow in her footsteps and succeed where she failed. Anything else would be akin to admitting defeat, and Izumi will not. If Mizuha's running into a brick wall, she shouldn't change direction: she just needs to push harder.

The final panel where Izumi's clinging on to Mizuha mirrors the one where her father grabbed onto her in their cluttered house on an earlier page. I think that says enough on its own.