#ego theories

[septicwriters]

Hey, just had a thought. What if, at some point, we get a crash course through the ego-veres. And we see, like other ego characters that are not considered, "canon". Just like, Marvin drags Chase through the portal, and they see glimpses into other worlds. We see Robbie, S3AN, hell, maybe we even see Jack. But, we only focus on the six because those are the ones Anti is after right now. I think that would be fricking awesome!

[spoopyandtired]

Current anti possession theory and how his mental manipulation works on Chase, Marvin, and the other egos.

^used this as a basis for the theory, credit to @the-moon-awake for the infographics

[beargregor]

wait i'm curious, what makes you say that gregor doesn't like everyone else (if i read that post right)? just curious since i've never seen anyone else say that

i don't necessarily think gregor dislikes everyone else at lcb but i do think that gregor is an incredibly petty person that isn't nearly as close to the rest of the sinners and even outright dislikes some of them cough cough rodya cough cough which a lot of people just Refuse to see because he's as much of a doormat as he is. there's several examples i could get into to try and prove my point however i'll just focus on what i personally think to be the biggest ones.

additionally, this is going to be kind of long, so i'm adding a read more. read more! read it. sorry for being so wordy. i have several diseases.

Pt1. gregor is the type to try and get along at least decently with everyone, especially if he gets a good first impression from them.

this is less a point in favor of gregor's distance w/ the rest of the sinners and more just a contributing factor to it. once again there's several examples i could point to here but i think the most in your face one happened in canto I with yuri, as several people have pointed out. even before gregor comes clean about growing attached to her as quickly as he did because she reminds him of his sister, we get this interaction.

i'll go ahead and make the disclaimer now that i don't necessarily think gregor is the most reliable of narrators, especially when it comes to his feelings and interactions with most people, but from the way he acts when the topic of yuri comes up (and the way we still see him act even all the way up to c7, nearly a whole year after yuri's death) i don't see reason to question his sentiment here. gregor immediately got that aya and yuri were close, potentially even taking note of their traded belts, and went out of his way to get something nice for yuri despite hardly knowing her.

i feel like a lot of people have forgotten as much, especially since it's been so long since c1, but gregor actually spent a good bit of season 1 doing the exact same thing with the other sinners! gregor reads a connection between him and ishmael pretty quickly despite getting off to a rocky start

mostly because gregor can tell that ishmael is pretty sardonic in a very similar way to him. there's been multiple instances where ishmael and gregor have essentially expressed the same sentiment at different moments, most notably gregor's little argument after ishmael got shot with a decay ampule in c4

and ishmael's response to pilot talking about self-sacrifice in c5

i could go ahead and pull up more examples, but in general pm has gone out of their way to show us that gregor and ishmael are pretty similar, so it makes sense for gregor to assume that they're friends, right?

this will be pushpin 1. keep note of this for Later.

ishmael's only the first sinner we see gregor trying to do this with in s1, we also see him try it out with heathcliff, sinclair, and ryoushuu

he's tried to get along with charon, being one of very few sinners that we've seen actually try to establish a connection with her at all

even rodya, despite my insistence that gregor doesn't like her nearly as much as the fandom thinks he does

all of these seem pretty fine and dandy, right? sure it frequently leans towards self-degradation, micromanaging, and commiseration, but gregor can at least be pretty chummy with most of the sinners, can't he?

Pt2. hell's chicken was more than just comic relief guys please

i'm fully aware that this is quite the hot take, but i think hell's chicken deserves a lot more credit for character writing than the fandom gives it. hell's chicken gave us foreshadowing for several events, such as the donqui bloodfiend reveal

heathcliff's distortion in c6 (as well as hong lu's highly speculated distortion at some point in the future)

and ryoushuu and sinclair's continued connection by making him the odd one out on her team

which, hey! that implies something about gregor's odd one out, don quixote, too, doesn't it? yes. yes it does. that's pushpin 2. keep note of that for later.

speaking of pushpins, hey! that's pushpin 1!

splitting into teams is one of the major events in hell's chicken, and most of the sinner's choices are either motivated by very little, backhanded, or motivated primarily by not wanting to be on the opposite leader's side. i didn't include all of the picks, just because i feel like including most of them already gets this across, but i think gregor took one major thing from this: most of the sinners, when push comes to shove, will only side with gregor when they refuse to or can't take his opponent's side.

now, don't get me wrong, i'm fully aware that this is primarily intended to be comedic relief, but when gregor is being described as having his trust broken by ishmael or nearly crying because no one on his team properly sided with him for him, i feel like it's pretty fair to read into this.

something that i think is pretty important to remember in conjunction with this is that we know that gregor is the type to hold a grudge, both from his general attitude towards the G corp soldiers in c1 as well as his continued distaste for vergilius

even beyond the splitting into teams of hell's chicken, the sinners have given gregor plenty of reasons to feel bitter. i feel like this is something people have noticed but haven't really put a finger on, but it's kind of wild just how often the rest of the sinners make gregor the butt of the joke

and sure, we could argue that a fair few of these aren't really made with any ill intent. quite a bit of it could have been meant as harmless teasing, but with gregor being more sensitive than most, it coming from nearly all sides, and as often as it does? yeah, i think he's prone to taking it a bit personally.

Pt3. yes i do still think gregor was the third most important character in canto VII you guys gotta hear me out okay

of course, all of this leads up to the bit of the story i highlighted, doesn't it? c7? i totally get why people haven't really picked up on all the gregor things i did in it, seeing as they were mostly not *directly* said about him or by him.

personally, i think that gregor's distaste for talking about himself on any serious level and thus leading to him getting sort of "sidelined" narratively (which i take issue with that claim, but still. it's effective for getting what i mean across atm) is supposed to lead players to take a deeper look at the times gregor gets held up to other characters and compare and contrast what's being said about them by the matchup. as i showed earlier with his immediate latching onto ishmael, i think this is something gregor himself is at least partially aware of too.

so, that begs the question, who was gregor compared to in canto VII that makes me think it's one of the most critical pieces in understanding his character?

really, i'd like to avoid getting too lost in the analysis of this canto specifically, since i'd like to do a proper post about this later, but i figure i can bury the lede a little before doing it properly.

c7 features several characters being made to perform in sansón's play, acting out the relevant backstory for this segment of the plot. a lot of these characters have rather direct, degrading reasons for playing the roles they do.

outis, a character with an inflated ego who wants her journey to have a purpose, is made to play an aimlessly wandering villager with a single line.

hong lu and ryoushuu, two characters for whom families and the expectations placed upon them are likely going to play a major role, are made to play bloodfiends.

rodya, a character who resents her lot in life and is constantly shown to be eager to leave her destitution behind her and become someone special, is made to play a helpless villager that's too poor to even offer any money to the hero that saves her.

heathcliff, a character that has spent most of his life getting dehumanized by comparing him to beastly animals, is made to play a literal bear whose sole purpose in the plot is to get beat up and then quickly left by the wayside.

sinclair, a character that has two opposed parties essentially treating him as a macguffin to procure for their side, is made to play the character who was arguably the catalyst for this entire canto, not to mention playing a decently major role in ruina.

our star don quixote is made to play her father, the first kindred, but there's someone by their side the entire time, isn't there? don quixote's dear, steadfastly loyal companion. a character which don quixote has tasked themself with getting to come out of their shell?

hello again, pushpin 2.

gregor has been made to play our unreachable star, sancho. someone had to, of course. you can't really tell a story without it's main character, now can you?

now, i should once again give a disclaimer. i am not trying to say that i think adapting what happens to donqui/sancho in c7 to gregor is the road pm is going to take here, not only would that toe a bit past the line of foreshadowing, but it'd also just amount to rehashing that plotline again, which i don't think would make for a particularly exciting story.

what i DO think is that we can take a lot of the things that are said to either directly be the case for sancho and use them to inform how we see gregor.

and god, does playing sancho have some fucking implications for our favorite ossan archetype.

starting off, the earliest moment we get to see of sancho is quite literally her just waiting for death to take her in a pile of ashes.

which, i should remind everyone, is actually pretty damn close to what happens to gregor's literary counterpart at the end of the metamorphosis. gregor samsa experiences one final breaking point that pushes him over the edge and makes him decide to just wait for starvation to take him.

gregor and sancho both consider themselves to no longer be human, something which sancho goes out of her way to highlight repeatedly throughout the canto and gregor is quick to get defensive on her behalf for when outis starts really tearing into her

sancho spends quite a lot of this story denying herself the joys of community and friendship, despite knowing that, even with the rest of the sinners frequently making jokes at her expense and outright insulting her, they were things that she desperately craved.

and, while this is getting into my "outis is a red herring meant to distract us from gregor's eventual betrayal" theorizing, i also think it's worth noting for this discussion that sancho's fellow kindreds, her family, all seem to be under the impression that she dislikes them and ultimately her departure was an act of betrayal

and that, despite gregor being one of LCB's resident mood makers and attempted conflict de-escalators, one of the sinners that's most prone to making appeals to the bonds they've all forged together, only him and faust remained silent during everyone's speech

so yeah, i think there's quite a lot of little details and hints building up to the reveal that gregor's not quite as fond of everyone as he presents himself to be. i do think a lot of this ultimately comes down to gregor getting in the way of his own happiness, similarly to donqui, particularly because he's been frequently portrayed as something of a self fulfilling prophecy, especially by giving him as many christ allegories as they have by way of priest and garden of thorns. gregor is convinced that the rest of the sinners don't like him because he's not convinced anyone could like him, so he convinces himself that he hates them because why should he care if someone that he hates hates him too?

a lot of this ultimately ties back to my personal interpretation of what happens in the metamorphosis as well as my own theories regarding all the times gregor has made weird callbacks and references to lobcorp and ruina, but yeah. i think about this guy and his deeper characterization a fairly normal amount, i think.

to end this off i'll highlight one of my favorite little "gregor is fucking seething and trying so hard to keep it cool" moments, in the credits CG for c7 we see rodya teasing him by drawing a little horse on his window and actively pointing and laughing at it, which gregor really doesn't seem all too pleased about.

i personally think this ties into the other cruel part of sansón forcing gregor to play rocinante, which is the more literal "he's actually just straight up playing rocinante" side of things. gregor was quite literally made to play something less than human, less than even animal really, as he was reduced to nothing more than the shoes don quixote wore as she got to play the leading role. sansón directly makes jokes about gregor being nothing more than shoes in the play twice, which adds to this reading, i think.

this, imo, really plays into the adaptation of the metamorphosis! i've seen a lot of readings for the book that posit that, despite being the protagonist, gregor samsa can't really be considered the main character due to nearly everything he experiences in it being used to further his family's character development at his expense, which i think fits nicely with limbus gregor seemingly having the most said about him through indirect means by holding him up to other characters. also it's rodya carelessly making fun of His Big Major Insecurities™ again like she did in c1 which i always find fun. rodya i love you but god you're the worst.

[schizopostguy]

we are corrupted with the mark of the beast. we shall perish for submission to the beast

“And it was given unto him [the false prophet] to give breath to it […], that the image of the beast [Satan] should both speak, and cause that as many as should not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the bond, that there be given them a mark on their right hand, or upon their forehead; and that no man should be able to buy or to sell, save he that hath the mark, [even] the name of the beast or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. He that hath understanding, let him count the number of the beast; for it is the number of a man: and his number is Six hundred and sixty and six.” Revelation 13:15-18

“And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.” Revelation 14:11

[doc-ocktism]

look at my detectives dawg my murder isnt getting solved 💀

[dark-lord-of-awesomeness]

I should work on the next Cat Stan Short! (makes this instead)

Anyway.

Bill doesn't know how long he's in the theraprism. Seconds blend into minutes into hours into days into weeks into years into centuries into millennia on and on until time becomes a blur and feelings fade away with memories. Voices he once knew are hazier then the faces they belonged to, and those faces are smudges with sounds instead of names.

Who was that human he was so obsessed with again? There was one, but perhaps the other....?

Whatever. It doesn't matter anymore.

Not the smudges or sounds or voices. Not time or who he was or where he wanted to go.

It took millennia upon millennia to the edge of time and back, but he's ready.

He's going to be reborn.

A different time.

A different place.

As someone new.

Free from everything he was or did.

A fresh start.

With a final bow, Bill Cipher closes his eye one last time-

-And Stanford Filbrick Pines opens his.

The person Stanford used to be is a distant thought in the back of his mind. Like a dream he can't quite remember. He doesn't pay it too much attention, because he's got much more important things to worry about.

Like his freakish hands, the scorn of his peers, the coldness of the hospital, and the fact he can't tear all of it to pieces and burn it to the ground. Whoever he used to be, as distant and smudged as they were, used to wield powers beyond his wildest dreams.

Leaving him with nothing but the desire to see the playground burn to the ground, and nothing to show for it but his brother poking him in the forehead and laughing at his pouty expression.

His brother.

Thats the one part in his new life he knows he lucked out on. As terrifying and haunting as the dreams of who he was are, there's one solid fact that stands out and burns across his heart whenever he tries to sneak a peek. That person, as dead and dust as they are, was alone. They didn't have anyone truly on their side, and they kept burning and burning and tearing things apart to fill that empty void inside of them.

Stanford doesnt need to do that, because he has Stanley. Stanley, his twin brother, who stuck with him through thick and thin, stood up for him when the shame of his hands became to much (Even now, even here, he was always a freak), was his loyal partner in crime and the person he could count on to soothe the raging flames that hungered and cried for him to launch himself at Crampelter and tear his face off.

Stanley doesn't have a person who he was, not like Stanford. (he'd asked once, long ago, about the memories that whispered in his mind. Stanley had just given him an odd look, then told him to get more sleep). He was normal, with regular hands, regular brains, and an understanding of people Stanford knows he used to have (or thought he had) but now lacks.

He lacks a lot of things in his new life, but that's fine. This is a fresh start.

And Stanley was the worlds gift to him. Finally, someone who'd never leave his side. His own person, who's loyalty would never waver, who'd never scheme against him, who is his in every sense of the word.

(That piece of who he was screams and cackles and cries at this. It is the best outcome. It is the worst outcome. It is exactly as it should be).

But there is one thing that bothers him about his brother. One piece that tickles the back of his mind whenever they run and play and cause chaos across this tiny pathetic town they called home.

Stanley did not have memories of who he was, but the person he was right now was.. oddly familiar. Whenever they roam the beach and find something washed ashore in the distance, Stanley's first words are always "I wonder if its a dead body!" Whenever they find rats, twisted and dead along the pier, either from poison or some other means, he always shouts "this is the greatest thing i've ever seen!" When the bullies get too much, and Stanford shoves his hands somewhere no one can see them, Stanley throws his arm around Stanfords shoulders and always says "Someday we'll show them, we'll leave this town in the dust and they'll all be sorry."

Which wouldn't be strange, but as they grow and grow and get older and Stanford learns how to hear the whispers of Before, he finds that Stanley's words echo and harmonize with the voice of Who He Was more and more, until they almost seem to speak together more than apart. Whoever Stanford used to be, Stanley is them in miniature. Stanley's smaller, of course, and less grand and powerful, but there's a thread there that Stanford can't ignore. Something inside him screams that there's a connection, and he just doesnt know how to find it.

It pokes at his thoughts more and more as they get older, go to high school, and Stanley keeps being the echo chamber and shadow of Stanfords previous self. Stanford has grown far beyond that part of him, is different in ways they couldn't hope to achieve, has found new passions in showing off with his mind instead of his might. None of these small minded humans have even a fraction of the knowledge he was born with or devoured growing up. None of them understand the music of the universe or how to twist physics. Stanfords powers are gone, but his mind is still here, and he uses it to excel more and more, dragging Stanley with him as he reaches higher and higher.

Stanley is his brother after all, his eternal companion. If Stanfords going towards the top, then Stanley will too. Even if every day Stanford gets more and more frustrated with his inability to apply himself. He knows his brother can excel if he wants to (maybe not as well as Stanford, but better than he currently is) and doesnt understand why he doesnt.

But its fine. Stanford's going places, and Stanley will follow.

And then its their final year, once high school is done he'll go to college, get a degree, then become world famous. Stanley will be by his side, cheering him on as the embers of what he was finally fade in the light of his soon to be fame.

And then its the science fair.

Then West Coast Tech.

Then the presentation.

And Stanford's fury reignites those embers into an inferno, and he is so full of rage the gaping void that he'd spent seventeen years filling bursts open.

Betrayal.

From the one who was his.

Its terrible in its familiarity.

He watches from the window as the person who was supposed to be his partner, who was supposed to be by his side and help put the terrible specter that screeched in the back of his mind to rest, gets tossed out. Tries to figure out what his purpose was, if all he was going to do was push Stanford to be his best self, then pull the rug out from beneath him and leave him floundering.

Why even have a twin, if all he was going to do was make Stanford feel worse than before. How could he, who in another life reigned terror the likes his current one couldn't comprehend, get saddled with some tiny speck of a human who selfishly-

and then he sees it.

As Pa slams the door, and Stanley tightens his fists, there is a spark.

Blue flames, dancing across his fingers as his brother looks up at Stanford in the window. For the first time in their lives Stanley is facing dire consequences for his actions. For the first time in his life, Stanley is shaken to the core as he looks up at Stanford, face full of desperation. For the first time in their lives, Stanley might lose Stanford forever.

And suddenly the connection that has been poking at the back of Stanfords mind his entire life blazes.

He was powerful, once, an eternity ago. More powerful than anything here or anywhere could imagine. The reasons and whys and hows escape him, but he knows power like that can't be destroyed. Stanford didn't have a drop of it, so it must have gone somewhere.

Into another vessel, the unexpected child, when every doctor swore up and down Ma was only going to have one. A funny story to tell relatives, another reason to distrust hospitals, an odd thing, that every test showed one babe, and then there were two.

Unless whatever process turned who they were into Stanford couldn't handle what he was bringing with him. Unless the excess, the raw power and the personality imprinted on it, was given a hastily made last minute form. Unless they were split in two, so that they'd never be alone again.

Not just his partner.

Not just his twin.

Not just his human, to drag and keep and be his.

His literal other half, who held all of their power and not a thought on how to use it.

A part of him wants to shove the curtain closed. To turn his back on the part of himself that couldn't handle his success. To go on and grow up and finally be his own separate person. To maybe watch from afar as the power he knows is hungrily sitting inside of his brother explode and tear the world asunder.

It would be.... hilarious, to watch Stanley fall apart and not understand why.

But not as hilarious if he accidentally incinerated Stanford, the only one who could help him manage their flames.

And whatever else was bubbling deep inside Stanley's soul.

Stanford raises his hand, watches the tentative smile spread across Stanley's face, and bursts into action. He is furious, but more than that he's curios.

and hungry.

What else can Stanley do, what else carried over to their new lives. He pokes and prods at the pieces of who they were, watches hazy visions of fire, of Sight, of bending the rules of the universe until they broke, even as he flings things into bags and chucks them out of the window down below.

How much is there still, and how much can Stanley use before their meager human vessels fall apart.

Not that Stanford would let that happen.

Stanley owes him after all, and he's going to make sure Stanley pays up until their both standing on top of the world.

Together.

[shsl-hubris-guy]

In-Depth Character Analysis On All The DR Characters Because What, Are You Gonna Try And Stop Me? Who Are You, My Mom? Yeah, I Didn't Think So- Part 1: Kiyotaka Ishimaru

Yes, I'm aware the title is ungodly long, it's called comedy. Behold, a series inspired by my overwhelming hubris! Despite my better judgement, I love this series and (almost) every single one of its characters, so I decided to do this little series of posts on the side, just cuz!

So part 1 of like, 88 I think?, going through the characters from THH, DR 0, SDR2, UDG, DR3, and DRV3 with as much objectivity as possible, analyzing their character using only canon material from the games/anime/novel/canon adaptation they're present in. So sit back and enjoy while I go feral! Or just scroll, if you aren't interested. Whatever works for you.

Part 1- Character Design

Kiyotaka Ishimaru is depicted as a very aggressive honors student, and is shown as such through his very expressive facial features and his choice of clothing. He has large eyebrows and big eyes, and is given a uniform meant to make him look more like a soldier, reflecting his rigid dedication to the rules and his ethics. This uniform also includes an armband meant to signify his authority within the class as Hall Monitor and as the unofficial class rep. His sprites are very animated, with big gestures using his arm(s) and his mouth often wide open, whether in a wide smile or while yelling. This makes him one of the more expressive characters in THH specifically, as most of those characters are pretty restrained on a day-to-day basis and only become more exaggerated when put under high levels of stress.

Something interesting about Taka is that his talent changes from the original Japanese to the English translation. His official talent is the SHSL Public Morals Committee Member, meaning his original talent was that of discipline and social order. This was translated to Ultimate Moral Compass in English, as most western schools don't have a Public Morals Committee. This change in translation unintentionally shifted the perception of his talent from discipline to morality. This change in distinction has had a bit of a negative impact on the Western perception of his character, as rather than appearing to impose order on the other students, it instead appears at the beginning as though we, the audience, are supposed to view him as a beacon of morality. We're not.

Part 2- Character Introduction

Taka is one of the first characters to actually speak to Makoto directly, berating him for being late on the first day of school, despite the fact that he and everyone else had experienced a strange warping of memory. He also goes on to interrupt your first conversation with Sayaka, stating that their time is being wasted by 'ridiculous back-and-forth'. Despite this, when it's his turn to introduce himself to Makoto, he goes off on a tangent about how cool Makoto's name is. He's described by Makoto as a 'flawless honors student' and is most publicly known for his work on his local Public Morals Committee. He believes in putting 'every ounce of effort' into living, and imposes this belief on those he interacts with, something Makoto finds irritating(This guy is... kind annoying.").

So in short, Taka's first impression on the player is that he's a mildly obsessive honors kid, and a bit of a hypocrite that isn't fully aware of his own presence or the effect it has on the rest of the cast. The game goes on to use this lack of social awareness as a source of comedy, as he takes Monokuma's initial greeting as Headmaster fully at face value. He struggles to grasp the concept of the killing game at first, opening the discussion upon Monokuma's departure from the welcome ceremony with dialogue that sounds like it was pulled from a customer feedback survey("So guys, how would you define what we just experienced?"). He's not a malicious or hateful figure; he wants to work with the class but isn't quite sure how to.

Part 3- Early-Game Events

The game spends the early-game establishing Taka's more negative traits. He's shown to be inobservant and wrapped up in his own ideals and need to command authority to even notice Kyoko is missing and, upon being informed of her disappearance, cares more about her punctuality than her safety. "Not only is she late, she didn't tell anyone she would be late! A most unbecoming personality trait..."

He's also established as hypocritical once again, and a bit egotistical, as he has trouble fathoming the others' lack of discoveries but overinflates the importance of his own.

He then goes on to agree to Celeste's suggested nighttime rule for all the boys in the class, without letting them speak for themselves. While ultimately, no one has a problem with the rule, this is the first real instance of him doing something that, on paper, is beneficial to the group, but without considering how the others actually feel about it.

Taka doesn't show up in-story again until the day of the motive, when he goes around to the entire class demanding that they will now all have breakfast together every morning after the morning announcement. Although this is a good idea, allowing for everyone to bond and creating a morning headcount, he makes this decision for the entirety of the group. Leon and Makoto both complain about this if you speak to Leon outside the cafeteria, but ultimately go along with it because they don't want Taka to continue bugging them about it. So we can see that his efforts are perceived negatively by his classmates and go unappreciated.

Already we've seen Taka act overbearing and commanding over and over, inadvertently separating himself from the majority of his peers. He's direct and to the point, forming the breakfast meetings expressly to 'become friends and build trust' with the rest of the class. So we can see in no uncertain terms that he wants to befriend his classmates, but that his lack of social skills leads him to fail at every turn. He doesn't ask the class to join him for breakfast, he tells them. The strategy he employs doesn't leave room for choice, and ends up building resentment from his classmates.

It's not until the first body is discovered and the rules of the class trial are revealed that reality fully seems to set in for Taka. He, along with everyone else, are given the rules of a game they don't really want to play- that should they fail in the trial, all of them will be killed. And it sends Taka to a breakthrough- that some regulations can be harmful to those they're imposed upon.

There's now a shift in his actions- he's still trying to push for the class to follow the rules he's set, yes, but there's a newfound urgency to them. When Byakuya disappears in chapter 2, his concern has shifted from punctuality to his classmate's safety. He's the one to lead the search for Byakuya when he doesn't answer. Despite all his harshness, we can see that his strictness now comes from a place of genuine concern for the people around him, a direct parallel to earlier in the game when Kyoko went missing- "I'd like to think so. But I'm worried something might have happened to him."

This growth of character, though not focused on, is undoubtedly present. The dedication he has to his discipline and his ego are still fully intact, but now that dedication has moved beyond just order. It's an act of protection, for him and everyone else. The invisible threat of death has become all too visible with Sayaka's absence from their last breakfast meeting. If he can keep track of everyone, then he'll know they're still alive. He can prevent another murder. It imposes upon him the responsibility of the leadership he craves.

Part 4- Relationship(s)

Unincluding if the player actively seeks him out through FTEs, Taka only ever develops a real relationship with one character of the other fourteen in-game, though he does have some important dynamics with others. We'll continue moving in chronological order.

4.1- Ishimondo (these bitches gay?)

Throughout the game, whenever Taka is saying or doing something stupid, Mondo is typically the one to call him out on it or shut him down. While this doesn't start to take real shape until chapter 2, it is visible here and there in the early game.

But their connection doesn't really start to take focus until chapter 2, as Taka's failings as leader and Mondo's constant correcting him puts them at odds. Mondo's attitude is the antithesis of Taka's, living a life of complete risk and impulsiveness, yet has a matching level of energy, and despite being more intimidating on a surface level, he's able to actually befriend characters like Chihiro, Hina, and Sakura, while Taka's left on the out. One of the best examples of this is found not in the game, but in the stageplay adaptation, where both characters attempt to help Chihiro feel better about her weakness in the daily life segment.

When Byakuya starts mocking Chihiro for her fear, Mondo threatens him, and insists that Chihiro's weakness doesn't matter because she's a woman. But when this makes her upset and Sakuraoi call him out on it, he offers to help Chihiro train as an apology, acknowledging that his behavior was irrational. But when Taka tries to give her advice by telling her not to be weak anymore and is told to be reasonable, he can only insist that Mondo's words don't matter anyway.

In the game itself, Taka's barely present for this exchange, as it chooses instead to focus on Chimondo's relationship. Regardless, the animosity between Mondo and Taka is still made very clear in-game.

Mondo and Taka are both demonstrating the desire to protect their classmates here, but in different ways. Taka is the more logical of the two, focusing on keeping track of resources and devising a system of check for everyone to keep watch over each other in the breakfast promise. Mondo, meanwhile, wants to push the importance of actually getting everyone the fuck out of there. While their endgoal is the same, they disagree on how to go about it, and both their stubbornness drives them to butt heads as time continues to pass, leading to the sauna scene.

After being slowly built up in the background, Ishimondo's mutual anger finally comes to a head, with both not understanding the position that the other is in. Taka still believes Mondo's value to be what he provides to society, and as a biker gang leader, that's not much to a man that lives by lawful discipline. Meanwhile, Mondo can only see Taka as an egomaniac with a stick up his ass and doesn't know the background to why(and neither does the player without actively seeking out his FTEs). They each follow a different code of ethics, and view themself as the protector of the class, leading them to see each other as rivals. Yet, despite that, both of them still share their core value of total dedication, and so when finding a way to prove themself the better man, they end up with an endurance competition. For Taka, this reflects his belief that men connect by baring their souls, and do so by baring their bodies(something only learned in-game by approaching him for FTEs).

(This also leads to the implication that, while Mondo insisted on entering the sauna with all his clothes on, at some point, he was, in fact, naked while with Taka that night.)

The information as to what happened in that sauna is intentionally left unanswered, remaining fully private between both men in-game. The only thing either of them will say is that a brotherhood was formed between them, and that who won their initial contest no longer matters. Finally, Taka has found someone. Someone he can confide in and lean on, someone who'll support him and that he can support in turn("And if you can't do it alone, just find someone to support you, and you can support them back! That's how you can overcome any storm!" -Taka ch 1).

And then Chihiro's case happens.

At first, when the motives are introduced, Taka is one of the few to vocally insist no murder will take place. He has newfound confidence in the willpower of his classmates, and puts faith into everyone else for the first and only time. Even when presented with his own unknown secret, he finds it ridiculous that anyone would kill over the embarrassing memories and secrets. It's here that we truly see the highest high of this character- when he comes up with the idea to share secrets. When he presents this idea, he moves forward as usual, preparing to be the first one to reveal their secret and take the pressure off. But when his classmates insist they can't (Toko & Celeste) he doesn't keep chugging along, and he doesn't completely shut down, either. He looks around at his classmates, and he asks Chihiro. He actually steps back and asks for someone else's opinion.

And when she isn't yet comfortable, he backs off. He respect her wishes, and he stands with the class, ready to help them face their secrets the following day. Finding a friend in Mondo has softened his rigid exterior a little bit, enough to actually consider the opinions of the others. He's gotten comfortable. All that comes crashing down with the discovery of Chihiro's body the next morning. After finally taking a step back and letting his classmates- his friends- make their own choices, it directly leads to the murder of one of them("Dammit! I'm sorry, Chihiro... It's all because I wasn't strong enough!").

Taka fully blames himself for allowing Chihiro to be murdered, and as the guilt of failure starts to set in on him, he looks to his ethics and order to solve it. Chihiro may be dead, but the murderer will be condemned through the class trial("Justice always prevails! Right, bro!?"). A solution, a path forward, still exists for him. He still has Mondo by his side, and he and the rest of the class can surely prevent this from happening again, right?

The trial only validates him at first, revealing the existence of a serial killer among the group, someone so clearly immoral for her killing obsession. But it's not her. Why isn't it her? "Could such a heinous villain really be innocent!?" But his confusion is quickly stamped out- of course, it's Byakuya, the guy that's been threatening everyone and refusing to cooperate, the guy that has no regard for the rest of their classmates. "He kept calling this a game, right? So he'd totally be willing to do whatever it takes to 'win'!" But no, wrong again- he didn't know that the murder was in the boys' locker room, and was taken aback by Chihiro being AMAB. It should be him, someone so clearly antagonistic, that's how it's supposed to go, right?? But no, it's wrong! Why? And, who could kill someone like Chihiro at their most vulnerable?

He's failed. Taka's failed in every way conceivable. Mondo, the first person he's ever truly felt connected to, a murderer? Chihiro's murderer? That can't be it. Even long after Mondo's stopped arguing, Taka continues to push back against Makoto and Kyoko's accusations. It's a coincidence, that's not actually proof, anything to get them to stop, to save his brother, to save himself from the reality he's about to have to face. When sent into the BTB, it's Taka we fight in his despair, not Mondo. Until the very end, Taka won't acknowledge it. He can't. He can't bring himself to vote his Mondo a murderer, a killer. How could the man who gave him the chance no one else would, ever be so cruel? "I- I refuse to believe it... There's no way... no way he would kill someone! Why!? Why why why why why!? WHYYY!? Why did you do it!?"

He learns the truth of Mondo's story alongside the rest of the class, unable to process it all. It makes no sense. They were friends who trusted each other, who helped each other. And what about the man's promise? Doesn't that count for anything!? This doesn't sound right. This isn't Mondo, not his Mondo, not the man from the sauna. How could he have been so wrong about him?! It just can't be, but it is; the truth is but a slap to the face.

He was wrong. He stood by Chihiro's killer and defended him. He let his brother become the monster he saw himself as. He didn't stop it when he could have. He was blinded by his own beliefs, and as he watches Mondo's death, his spirit dies with him, the game cutting out all music as Taka screams, filling a deafening silence. "As Taka's sad screams invaded our skulls, we were each forced to realize once again..."

4.2- Kiyondo Ishida

Taka enters chapter 3 as a hollowed out shell of himself. He's gone near comatose, staring at nothing and saying nothing. He won't eat, won't speak, won't sleep, and although there are a couple weak attempts to get him back in action from Hiro("It's times like this where the committee chairman needs to get things going with a BANG!"), he's mostly left to grieve by himself, as the rest of cast is more concerned with the expanded school than the bossy guy they didn't like that much.

Monokuma even goes out of his way to torture Taka, to punish him for his grief, lying about the existence of a time machine just to fuck with his head and give him false hope, sending him further into despair- "Hmm... You sound disappointed. But actually, I was lying about the whole thing anyway. There's no such thing as time machines!" He's forced to become Monokuma's most successful project from the class, completely and utterly destroyed.

When he learns of Alter Ego, something in his head clicks. He can still talk to Chihiro. He can repent. He can apologize directly to him. So, with Makoto's help, he's brought to the laptop. His guilt finishes totally consuming him as he asks: "Do you... hate Mondo? And since I couldn't stop him... do you hate me?" His own self-hatred stemming from his failure is projected onto Alter Ego in one last attempt to come to terms with what's happened. The response he receives, unfortunately, is the culmination of all the toxic and unhealthy ideas of manhood the other boys carried with them via an attempted simulation of Mondo.

"You're not letting yourself get crushed under the weight of that responsibility, are you!? A man's only worth as much as the load he can carry! You get it, right bro!? Hell, what am I saying? Of course ya do!"

"So you're just gonna stand there, huh? Just wait for things to get better? Just take your time and get all depressed... Take the time to indulge your regrets... You might even start walking again without realizing it. Sure, that kind of mediocre thing might work for some people."

This speech, while attempting to inspire Taka to keep living for Chihiro's and Mondo's sakes, encapsulates the desperate need to be perceived as strong and untouchable that Mondo himself carried, and that Chihiro admired so much. It sinks its way into Taka, convincing him that the way to respond to his guilt is simple- pretend it isn't there! Mondo has clearly returned to him, and he's never letting him go ever again. He fully deludes himself, and he's fused with this idealized version of his bro. He permanently ties himself to Mondo's memory, and goes from the SHSL Public Morals Committee Member to something else entirely- Kiyondo Ishida, the unholy mixture of both men.

This revelation also leads him to an obsession with Alter Ego, viewing it as the vessel in which his bro was returned to him. He views it as another chance to protect his bro from ever being hurt again, as some divine second-chance he's been granted. All desire to be around the rest of his class is gone, replaced with this obsession. He's put at odds with Hifumi, who's also connected with the AI, and separates himself from the group that much more. When Alter Ego disappears, he can't handle it. He panics. He won't let his bro die, not again. And so he dooms himself, refusing to let go of the shadows of the past enough to see his own death looming before him, and he's killed in the early hours of the morning, led by desperation to his demise. And even so, the class can only worry about the semantics of when he died, barely mourning him.

5- Isolation (What's the point of this guy, anyway?)

Rather than learning from the mistakes both Chihiro and Mondo made by subscribing to the societal expectations of what makes a man, Taka ends up doubling down, burning away the optimism and more reasonable logic Taka used to have. Taka's story is that of a doomed fate to become the symbol of manhood and its self-destructing nature, leeching off of his first and only friend's unhealthy behaviors and sending him spiraling. And it's allowed to happen because of his social isolation.

From the very beginning of the game, Taka is singled out as annoying to be around. He's put in a negative light and viewed as unpleasant to spend time with. Every attempt to befriend or connect with a classmate is written off as a nuisance, a hindrance. Taka doesn't know how to make friends. He doesn't know how to do anything besides follow the rules and regulations he's been taught. He sticks to his regimen, because it's comfortable, and doesn't understand why others can't conform in the way that he does. He's very thoroughly isolated mentally and emotionally from his classmates at every turn, to the point where even in the very first trial he's standing with no one but the dead by his side(as Sayaka and "Junko" were positioned on either side of his podium).

All this is done with the deliberate intention to showcase his solitude, and more importantly, the loneliness that comes from it. It's to the point that when he finally does make a friend, he thoroughly idealizes him in his subconscious, coming to view him as some perfect person who'd even support him. It's inherently contradictory from his established beliefs going into the game, that a delinquent could be kind, but he accepts it wholeheartedly. He gets to know Mondo on some deeper level while in that sauna, and it's enough to rapidly develop a massive codependency on him. So when Mondo self-destructs and dies, so too does Taka.

Taka's purpose as a character is to suffer. He wraps himself in his moral beliefs, remaining steadfast in what he views as right and wrong, making judgement calls he's 100% sure of, and when they're challenged/disproven, he's thrown wholly out of whack. He exists to serve a purpose- what would've happened if Makoto didn't accept the truth about Sayaka? What happens when you let your idealism blind you to the truth? What happens when you blind yourself to the reality of the people around you, of the darkness in the people you care about? You self-destruct. He's tossed aside, killed as an accessory to the plot of someone who does nothing but manipulate the truth. He dies, and that's just it. His story is cut short; he doesn't get to heal or grow or come to terms with the truth. Such is the fate of the failed.

6- Afterword

...I didn't even touch his FTEs for this. Holy shit.

I'm gonna be honest, as much as I love Taka, I never expected this post would become as long as it did, or that I'd uncover such a dark fucking reason for why he gets as totally fucked over as he does. Don't get me wrong, I still really wish he'd lived and gotten to grow after this, but maybe his death was more well-written than I used to think. Good god.

[lame2882]

ENA: Fragment Ego (AU)

Masterpost

Welcome back to my ENA au! If you missed the messy background for this idea, you can read it here.

This is still a work in progress so things might get a little confusing.

Today, we’re talking about this lovely boss lady!

Art by me :]

Worker ENA:

This ENA is an older fragment, working a job and generally have a more "mature" demeanor.

Note: ENAs don't have a real age, just varying levels of maturity. They were all born at once, but exist at different stages of life.

She holds a load of memories of the genie she used to be a part of, mostly ones that involved the war the genie had started. She experiences PTSD flashbacks from her former life as a genie. Due to these war memories, she has a predisposition to be a soldier for those she takes jobs from. She's rather good at it too. She's even a good mercenary.

With her Salesperson ego, she can be incredibly charismatic. It's naturally easy for her to get her target's guard down. Interrogation is also something she excels at, both her salesperson side and her meanie side acting as a kind of bad cop/good cop tactic.

Due to her ample amount of memories of the war, she is quite aware of her origins as a genie, and therefore completely understands why those around her treat her so poorly. She tries not to let it get to her, often ignoring it, but the treatment often triggers her flashbacks.

So why would an ENA fully aware of her status as a former genie bother to work for others?

Well, as a genie she was supposed to fulfill wishes. And while she can no longer grant eternal happiness or wealth beyond imagination like she used to, doing odd jobs and making sales is like... granting smaller wishes.

Keeping a job also distracts her from the horrors™.

When approached and questioned about her origins, she will avoid talking about it and will instead try to offer you some divestment opportunity or try to sell you something.

ENAs will typically avoid one another, mostly subconsciously. Due to being fragments of the same entity, they are vaguely aware of one another's locations at all times. It's all a subconscious process and they're probably not even fully aware that that's what's going on. Sometimes they just know that they should really avoid a certain area or direction until the feeling passes.

However, I like to think that if worker ENA did ever encounter another ENA, especially one of a younger maturity level, she'd definitely become somewhat motherly toward them in her... ENA way.

That's the basic rundown of worker ENA. I love her very much.

[aninipanin1]

BLUE LOCK MANGA SPOILERS BELOW:

I am NOT a theory blog, but I am a literature fanatic, so I REALLY want to talk about the Nagi thing and what I think the options are from here. You can debate me in the comments, but please do remain respectful and hear me out for a minute, lol

Idk, I may release a separate account for things like these, so my literature work will not get buried, but idrk.

Okay so, this plot of Nagi being eliminated is something I PREFER AND LOVE better than the other two controversies (the Rinsagi and Barou Shidou one), I am not against these other two but I was a bit confused for a second. But the Nagi one was something surprising yet not at the same time.

Death is foreshadowed for Nagi. And by death means a metaphorical one. Something the other Blue Lock players went through. This is my analysis of the whole Blue Lock evolution.

In order to evolve, one has to die. It has been a theme I have been noticing ever since the beginning of the story. And the thing that sealed it in for me is what Barou said to Nagi after the match between Ubers and Manshine:

Let me list out the major characters that I remember having have to go through this death, forgive me if some of them are a bit bleary because I cannot really decide which one is which.

1. Bachira

Bachira had this happen to him in the 4 vs. 4 in the second selection. In fact, the parallels between him and Nagi in the NEL are almost laughable. Bachira was wondering if his head was filled with thoughts and doubts if he should pass or not. What should he do?

In fact, due to his back story, we know that, like Nagi, Bachira did not want to be alone forever. That is the reason he even attached himself to Isagi because he feels that Isagi is that person he has been waiting for, the one he wanted to play football with.

However, unlike Nagi, Bachira did not pass. Even if he did not score, he made a conviction, a decision that he does not need a monster in order to succeed. He managed to evolve himself into another level, to get rid of the monster (or rather keep it locked in ig because it does come back in the NEL?)

He stopped leaning into his monster to make the beautiful plays he imagined (like how he will pass the ball to his monster when he was a child, that his coach before even chided him for making weird passes), but instead makes those plays himself.

(I will come back to Bachira later)

2. Barou

The 3 vs. 3 in the second selection is very obvious (I won't explain this because it's kind of self-explanatory) and here, he evolved too. He managed to find a new way to fight in Blue Lock. By devouring the light and becoming some sort of the Villain King in order to dominate the field.

It is still connected to his original ego to drag off anyone off the main actor seat, but it is a refined technique and thinking.

3. Chigiri

Now for Chigiri, I personally think that his death happened before Blue Lock. When he had his injury, I think that is where his metaphorical death happened. And unlike the aforementioned players, his death was a little longer as he just managed to rise from the ashes when he entered Blue Lock.

His newer outlook about not caring about being a genius and instead having to run past someone being the only thing he cares about elevated his original ego and made him evolve.

4. Rin

For Rin, I personally think that it's more on the U20 match rather than the snowy night he had the fight with Sae. Since the despair of having so many people by his side made him recoil in disgust.

Due to the realization of this, as well as his realization that he is not just Itoshi Sae's brother but instead, he is the egoist, Itoshi Rin made him stop incorporating his brother's play in his own and instead went with his original ego.

Now, these are only a few examples, and there are some characters who have more than just one death. Isagi literally has to 'die or kill' his current self everytime he incorporates a new skill to adapt (him being literally broken apart with the puzzle pieces)

According to Oxford Dictionary, death is not just the end of the life of a person or organism. It is also the destruction or end of something.

The end of a disillusioned thinking they, as well as their environement buried in their head into a better philosophy that hones their original ego. (I wanna make a post about the effect of the teachings of the past teachers and environment of the Blue Lockers into their egos being buried, turning their philosophy disillusioned and even self-destructive)

But anyway, moving on to Nagi. Out of the major characters, he is the one who has yet to 'die.' And I personally think this elimination would help him evolve his ego.

But wait...what even is his ego?

That is the thing, I don't know if he even has one (forgive me I have yet to read EpiNagi, but I will maybe I'll find something)

But in the main storyline, he doesn't have one. For me, one's ego literally means their original state. It is your nature, the thing you yearn for in your rawest form. Without anything holding you back, no ethics, no pressure, what is it you desire? What is it you hunger?

Whatever your answer is, that is your ego. It's something unique to only you, and even though to satisfy that hunger, you may conclude to a dream that can intersect with other people (like how every blue locker wants to be the best in the world) but your reasons and ways to achieve it are different.

Now, to Nagi. Sure, he has it. The talent, the way to achieve that goal (which we dont even get a confirmation that he wants), but what is his reason? For Reo?

I dont think the answer is Reo. As shown in the flashbacks, your ego is something developed within you when you are younger even. Since well, it is your nature, the thing you yearn for without any of the shackles and experience you go through in life.

As we see, ones ego is NEVER dependent on someone else. Everyone of us is different, therefore to achieve what you yearn for, you have to do it alone in order to fulfill that hunger within you. After all, who knows your hunger better than yourself?

Not wanting alone, maybe? It is debatable. It reminds me of Kaiser's yearning for love, to be human. And Nagi not wanting alone can become a good ego, but does that not sound counterintuitive with what ego is?

Your ego should not be dependent on someone as mentioned. But I can see it go two ways.

1. Nagi has a deeper ego. One that we maybe able to see if we have a backstory of him way before he met Reo as a child (kinda like how Rin had two backstories)

This can follow the same formula as the other major characters, where he will thrive as someone alone. And well, it would put the spin off manga good use lol

Or

2. Nagi's ego IS not wanting to be alone.

For the second option, it may explain the reason why of all characters, Nagi has a spin-off manga. His ego is DIFFERENT from what the other characters have. Where others' ego can stand alone, but Nagi's cant, and he needs someone.

The literal OPPOSITE of how ego is in the original series. Isagi is the mc of the og manga, he is someone who follows the blueprint of Ego's philosophy to a tee. Heck, we can even see that Ego may or may not have some bias for Isagi.

Why would he not? Isagi is literally the player that embodies his philosophy and keeps applying it. Heck they even synchronise in thoughts lol.

Meanwhile, in the movie, Ego didnt seem to like Nagi. The person who is literally the OPPOSITE on what he wanted to achieve. So you cant blame him.

So wouldn't it be interesting if the spin-off and the og manga went the complete opposite of each other? Nagi is the one to follow the plots a lot of sports manga follow. The one who can not win alone, or rather his ego, is dependent on someone.

While Isagi, follows the Blue Lock philosophy. Heck, it would even be funny to see that Ego taught Kunigami to distance himself from the teachings of Blue Lock in order to be the copy of Noa. To get rid of everything, to instill a different philosophy.

To which Kunigami failed (Isagi mentioned this, that even if Kunigami tries to act like a heartless robot, deep down he is still that emotional, good guy with a hero complex and is even the reason why he used this to make Kuni pass to him), but the person that got eliminated is the one who ended up succeeding in something Kunigami failed at.

It can also mirror between Kuni and Nagi being the two major characters that ended up eliminated, but the first one did not succeed in changing his philosophy but the other one did.

Okay, switch topic, about what I think is a theory as to what Nagi's backstory is if my theory is correct and how this connects to Bachira. There is one reason in my mind:

Bachira has a loving mom.

I know simple lmao. But lets get deeper in that.

We know that Nagi's parents practice the 'hands off' parental approach (idk I just call it abandonment), meaning he is always alone in his life. We can have a legit backstory of him as a kid being alone always as well. Because in my read of the situation, this is how he has been raised (if you can even call it that) even as a child.

Meanwhile, Bachira has a loving mom. One that actually affirms his son's feelings. And though he feels lonely when he plays football, he has someone who pays attention to him and loves him, making it easier for child Bachira to yearn for something else other than a companion.

But Nagi does NOT have that. How can he think of anything else when the loneliness glares at him so hard? It even looked like he did not have friends before Reo, meaning he was ISOLATED.

Heck, to prove this, he even has Choki. A freaking cactus just to be able to talk to someone or something. It has been glaring us that Nagi is LONELY. He is isolated. For me, this is a different lonely.

A lonely that is so cold, like in the middle of a dessert wasteland at night with no one to offer anything to him. That's why he yearns to not be lonely. Now, you guys might be saying "isnt it a little close to Kaiser's ego? To receive love?"

My answer is no. Kaiser wishes to improve himself to stop being sub human and become human to become someone worthy of love. Nagi does not have that thinking. He wants someone to be with him, someone who would fill that loneliness.

To deepen this even more, Nagi's loneliness may also be the reason why he is so naive and a bit shallow at times. Like when he asked Isagi why he tried so hard? A question that formed because he is a shallow thinker.

Why wouldn't he be a shallow thinker anyway? He is a genius, a genius that gets everything without trying. Losing the sight of the journey, because he has no journey.

Along with this, no one is there to even teach him any of these stuff. Hes kinda like Rapunzel from Tangled, but without the manipulation and forced isolation.

Also funny, he was compared to a baby chick, when baby chicks are very, very reliant on their mother. To those around them, but Nagi does not have anyone to rely to. To ask his questions to.

Well, until Reo appeared.

That is why when Reo befriended him, it was so important to Nagi even if he isnt showy about it. Whenever he tries to improve, he would always mention Reo's name. About how he is so excited to show it to Reo and everything.

Nagi thinks that if he plays for Reo, he won't be lonely. I know we joke in the fandom about how Reo is so obsessed with Nagi, but I'd argue Nagi is as obsessed with Reo.

It was the first time he had someone pay attention to him. At first, he looked quite apprehensive about it, and a little bit not okay with it since he is still lazy and Reo wants him to play. But, after a while, Reo grew on him, enough that he even started to play even if he complained.

It's a slow build imo. But it is there.

But this yearning for connection can be explored more than just with Reo. He asks questions to different people, Isagi, Rin, Barou, etc. About why they work hard. Why do they even try? And all those questions.

Nagi yearns for connections, especially when Reo does not give him the right answers. Does that mean he is betraying Reo? Nope. In his mind, he is doing this to become stronger for who? For Reo.

Heck, the author can even set Nagi up as a final rival of Isagi for this. Where two different ideologies clash. The two different philosophies of the spin off and the main manga would clash and where a winner will be declared for the final selection.

It is the philosophy of an individualistic egotism vs. the philosophy of collective Egotism. Both are egos but are different at the same time.

Anyways, I hope Kaneshiro continues Nagi's story because he is a really interesting and mysterious character. It would be sad to see such a huge potential both in talent and story wise go away like that.

But I have trust. While rereading some chapters for this, I recognized how good of a writer Kaneshiro is and how the metaphorical death of the players all mirror each other in some way which makes me feel like he is some sort of mastermind.

I know this theory has some holes. Things like, Bachira's words to Nagi when he hesitated to score and relied on Reo. And the negative connotations of his fear of being alone, because with how it is framed, his fear of being alone is negative.

But like I said. This is a THEORY. Feel free to argue with me in the comments! I want to have debates because I am SO BORED, and I wanna talk Blue Lock.

The only thing I dont wanna talk about is how Kaneshiro made a mistake by eliminating with Nagi because I think he made the right choice by doing this (unless he brings Nagi back with that voting system thing which idk how i'll react lol)

Sorry if some of these are scattered because I LITERALLY just typed everything in my head without having to write it down lol. I might repost this with a cleaner format. But for now, just enjoy my yapping😔

Anyways, shoutout to a channel in Youtube named Suzels. Please search his videos since he is like one of the saving graces of the Blue Lock fandom when it comes to literary comprehension lol. This theory is inspired by his video about Nagi.

[ricky-tiki-tah]

Adding to my “Engie was played by Damien” madness we haveeeee

Engie and Dark both have their hair parted to the right while the Actor

Has his either slicked back or parted to the left. Same with his “characters”

(Illinois and Magnus not included becuz hat)

Idk, probably a reach but I can dream.

[riririnnnn]

Want to hear a crazy theory that I know and hope isn't true? I gotchu!

So, I think this man is the reason why Kaiser got invited in NEL:

And that he was the one who ordered Kaiser to crush Isagi Yoichi.

Why?

Because:

I think this PIFA President and Ego has a history.

To be Noa's teammate and rival too, you got to be a skilled player yourself, and yet, somehow, you literally vanished from the history of soccer while your rival is the world's greatest striker??

Nah, something is fishy about it.

I wouldn't have found Noa-Ego rivalry odd if it wasn't for the fact that Ego is Japanese—you might be confused what I'm trying to say, so look at this:

You getting me now?

Sae is a Japanese player who got scouted and went to foreign land, and you can literally see how much he is celebrated in Japan! So, I think same happened in the case of Ego too because until and unless he was already born/raised outside Japan, I don't think he would've been able to make it into the same team as Noa.

Yeah, it maybe that Noa came to Japan to play, but the probability of that seems too low to me.

That's why I think that Ego was a brilliant prodigy too, but then he got scouted and went overseas, and then something happened between him and the PIFA President after which he was never able to make a big name of him like Sae did.

Further, you can't just pop out of somewhere and then BOOM! You are the President of a sport's association. So, taking in the age differences, I think the PIFA President would've been around the perfect age group to be a coach when Ego & Noa were young players themselves.

So, maybe when Ego disappeared into the shadows, the PIFA President was content, but then suddenly, this happened:

And the world saw Isagi Yoichi in that U-20 match.

And guess what?

Isagi is, somewhat, like another version of Ego, so, I guess, PIFA President felt threatened in a way, and that's why, he sent Kaiser to crush Isagi too.

What I said sounds really crazy, but considering that it's THE Blue Lock Manga we are talking about, it also seems pretty plausible.

.

.

.

The only reason I don't want this to be true is because I don't want to hate this PIFA President. It's so rare that we get a DILF that actually looks like a DILF rather than a bulky dude with unkempt beard.

Yes, I have Daddy issues.

[greenfiend]

Comparing Spider-Man (2002) with the van scene

Within both scenes, we have two friends discussing a superhero love interest of one and the other friend (not so) subtly revealing their feelings.

Mary Jane reveals she has a crush on Spider-Man and expresses that she’s “silly” for it… Mike reveals he feels inferior to El who is “Superman”.

Then we have both Will and Peter break eye contact and fib. Peter, as we know, *is* Spider-Man so obviously he’s not exactly telling the truth. Will, as we know, made the painting himself so he’s lying as well.

When Peter says this, MJ understands that while they were talking about Spider-Man originally… this is about Peter and his own feelings. And look at her, she’s truly touched by his words. She doesn’t break eye contact for a second. She doesn’t even ask him about Spider-Man’s reaction… because she doesn’t care. In that moment, she only cares about the messenger: Peter.

When Will tells Mike how special and important he is to El, Mike does not take his eyes off Will for a second, just like MJ. He is incredibly moved by the messenger, just as she is. If either MJ or Mike cared more about the superhero here, they’d look elsewhere and think of them. But it’s the messenger who touched them, the one who is perceived as “ordinary”, not the superhero.

The bystander knows.

In the end, MJ and Mike both choose to reach out to the messenger, not the superhero.

[mvrdermeharder]

Oooo do yall see what i’m seeing…?

That’s 100% the same rose-pattern as Kaiser’s tattoo.

Omfg there’s no way this isn’t an important detail!! There are many stylistic ways to draw a rose, but the flowers on the floor look identical to Kaiser’s when it comes to the design of the petals.

If my suspicions are correct, it’s a pretty obvious hint that Ray Dark, Kaiser’s benefactor, will become a very relevant and important character as the U20 arc is just around the corner…

Ray Dark was clearly involved w Kaiser getting his tattoo done: in the page above we have the superior panel, in which we get a look at the tattoo artist’s hands AND the inferior panel with Ray’s hand on the cane while the rest of his body is not shown. Only showing the hands in both panels is a deliberate decision for visual storytelling (which bllk excels at btw)! It’s also brilliant visual storytelling that the middle panel (the rose in its glass case) serves to connect the two other panels, thus makes it abundantly clear that Ray Dark is connected to the rose-symbolism of the manga.

I’m not necessarily saying that Ray Dark is the tattoo artist himself (i doubt a businessman would be a tattooist, but hey, who knows). Rather, I think it’s supposed to indicate that he is the one who payed for the process. The tattoo symbolizes the financial interest he has in Kaiser (a permanent mark of financial interest at that).

So.

The rose-patterned floor probably symbolizes the vast finantial interest Ray Dark has in the Japanese Football Union, and all the hype and money which the NEL + Bllk players had brought. I mean, we’ve quite literally just got confirmation that Buratsuta convinced Pifa chairman Ray Dark to allow Japan to host the U20 World Cup.

So yeah, there’s just simply no way that this man won’t play an important role in the narrative: both when it comes to the U20 arc and Kaiser’s character development.

[hozaloza]

"God Complex"

C'mon, he's a cult leader and is so close to causing the end of the world....how could this man NOT believe he's the next "messiah" or "god" himself? I've noticed it's sort of a common theme within cults...

And considering history, he's also using the crane as a symbol of fortune and good fortune so his "prophecy" can become true.

He's obsessed with this symbol of luck. No wonder he made pants WITH the crane symbol on them 😭🙏 (ep 30)

[cloakedbynight]

It just hit me that the "leaks" on the IRIS twitter page have not all had the same exact logo. I think that's something we should pay attention to, just saying.

Originally reading this I thought it was just "here's what it MIGHT look like" but now I'm thinking there's more. It's hard to tell the timeline of issue 0 but it sure does seem like Marvin's been tracking the different logos he's been seeing and each one is from a different universe.

[nmoroder]

Let the Irae engulf you, both

aka matvej the artist really likes red color and the sinners that wield said color most amusingly