#haruchika minase

[citrus-cactus]

Survive Week, Day 5 (Villains)

“Thank you for everything, Dracomon. Without you, I’d feel so alone and powerless in this world.” “Don’t be sad, Haruchika! You’re not alone, and as long as we’re together, I can become as powerful as you need me to be.”

Before the Master, before the ruin and the tyranny and the endless, aching anger… perhaps, for a time… there was just a boy, despondent over the fact he was forced to become a sacrifice, and the dragon-beast (…god?) who followed him everywhere.

(Image description in the Alt text)

I had another series of ideas for this week that was going to be focused on Haruchika, but this was the only one I had time for. I always end up thinking the human antagonists in Digimon are interesting, so maybe I’ll make time to finish the rest someday! But for now, here’s a little sympathy for him, as well as my headcanon for Fanglongmon’s rookie form.

I’m actually obsessed with any and all parallels you might be able to draw between Haruchika and Takuma, so I almost made his partner an Agumon… but Dracomon felt much more interesting to me, and has some lore that seemed quite appropriate for this pair.

[cypreus-and-willow]

Digimon Survive Week

Day 1 Red Spider Lilies

SPOILERS for Digimon Survive True End

Flower of Farewell

Thinking of Yukiha singing the song for her brother knowing they might never meet again and yet hoping all the same.

[not-too-many-eyes]

Digimon Survive, Mistakes and Moving On Part 5: Truthful

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Takuma Addition]

Day 7 of Survive Week: Farewell

This part will focus on the Truthful Route, and what it means for the story, exploring how this route connects to the larger themes of the game.

Were almost at the end! When I started this I didn't expect to make a series of meta posts but I'm honestly glad I did, there really fun to write and I like talking about this game so much.

Spoilers for: parts of Moral, parts of Wrathful, parts of Harmony and all of Truthful CWs: Death, abandonment

Children's Sacrifices

As I briefly touched on in Moral, the Kemonogami world is being sustained by children's sacrifices and Ryo and Shuuji's deaths are connected thematically. You are lead to believe that without Ryo and Shuuji, your journey would flow smoother, that without them your goal can be more easily achieved.

But that's not true, Shuuji and Ryo's deaths are what causes Truthful to be locked, you can't get the best ending without them.

But aside from Shuuji and Ryo, the cast of Survive is filled with children who are seen as disposable, and some of them have been taken advantage of for one reason or another. Kaito and Miu are the best example of this, both of them felt abandoned by there parents because of how they treated them after the stalking incident and were ostracized when they moved.

And the ones who aren't seen as disposable are usually trying to keep a "persona", one that's often likable and "not bothersome". Saki acts carefree and open because she's scared of people hating her, Aoi is responsible and patient even if it harms her and in Wrathful specifically she is very concerned about proving that she's "right" and Minoru forces himself to maintain a happy-go-lucky demeanor and jokes around to ignore his problems.

There's seemingly a divide here between "bad kids" and "good kids" but both camps suffer anyway. Because it doesn't matter if your the goodest kid to ever exist or someone that was kicked out of hell for being too bad. Because there's always the chance you'll be "sacrificed" for the greater good, used by others for there own gain, abandoned for no good reason.

Even before the events of this game, people that believed in the Kemonogami would sacrifice children to the for good harvest or prevent disasters, sacrificing them for "the greater good"

And one of these kids is the main villain of this story, Haruchika. Haruchika Truthful is called Truthful because the cast is finding out the "Truth" of this world, and the history behind the villain they've been facing this entire time.

You see, some time in the past, (Wikimon says the Kamakura period but I can't find the text in game that says that so-) there was a lot of war and strife so five children were sacrificed for "the greater good," those five children harnessed the power of the "God Beasts" also knows as the Four Sovereign Masters, and the one who orders them all, Fanglongmon.

Haruchika was one of these children, offered up by his sister, Yukiha Minase. The feelings of hatred and betrayal that he felt from this is what created The Master in the first place.

The four other children sealed him away, turning them into ghosts in the process. But that really didn't do anything to stop him, and he's been able to drag people into the Kenomogami world and use them to sustain it. Until now.

The main villain of Survive only exists because of a "sacrifice for the greater good" and his hatred of his is only able to continue because all the ghosts did was to seal him away.

Even the ghosts acknowledge their failure, and hope that the cast can do the thing they couldn't do. Save Haruchika.

Takuma and the rest, when asked, hesitates a bit, because Haruchika is trying to End The World, has been trying to kill them all, and has abducted Miyuki. Why should they help him? Because it's the right thing to do.

Seiryu Ghost: The boy is simply drowning in anger Seiryu Ghost: If you can bring him to his sense, this entire world will be saved! Seiryu Ghost: So please, help him-help Haruchika. Takuma: (The Master-Haruchika. The mastermind behind all of this. Is he also a casualty of power?) Takuma: (I can't forgive him for throwing the world into chaos, and abduting Miyuki...) Takuma: (I can't say I'll save him for sure. Who knows if our power will work on the Master.) Takuma: (Still...If someone's in trouble, and only we can handle it, there's only one answer.)

Sealing him away does nothing, killing him means that the worlds will take forever to connect again, leaving him alive and unchanged means he's able to hurt others again, but helping him, however means that the worlds can unite slowly and peaceful.

So they do, they help him, they bring him back to his senses, and Haruchika cries, the guilt of his actions weighing him down, but his sister is there to bring him to a place where this sad, angry, hurt, boy can finally rest.

Conclusion

Digimon Survive, like most Digimon properties, is a deeply empathetic work. It's about doing the right thing even if it's hard, it's about sacrifices and bad kids and kids who are trying there best to not mess up horribly. It's about how we fail the people around us and how we have to do better.

And it's one of my favorite works of fiction ever.

Ending Notes: The Takuma addition has also been posted so if you want you can go read that! I've wanted to get into the "bad kid/good kid" Survive subtext since Part 1, very happy I finally get to explore it. Writing this series of essays made me realize how many games I've been playing with similar themes, I seem to have a type when it comes to what themes I enjoy in a story-

While I think Truthful isn't as great as the rest of the game I do like how it connects with the games themes and what not. I really wish Haruchika was fleshed out a bit more, the villain of Survive being another sacrificed child, thus making the entire conflict of the game be caused by a sacrifice for "the greater good" just works so well thematically.

Honestly just generally while I don't think Truthful is as great as the rest of the game I really like what it does for it thematically. It kinda unites

I know Haruchika and his sister mainly parallels The Professor and Miyuki but I feel like Kaito, Miu and Dracmon and Aoi, Saki and Labramon are the stronger parallels. Feel like there's a stronger connection with the Harmony and Wrathful routes than the Minase siblings we know...

Survive week is created by: @surviveweek

[cypreus-and-willow]

This takes place at the time Shuuj, Kaito and Miu are living with the Minase Fam but I don't think I can fit it in my main fic. Shuuji, of course, spends most of his time at the cave studying the murals. Kaito, on his quest to leave Miu alone, starts bothering Shuuji instead.

Kaito finds him on the floor of the cave, lying on his stomach, out of sight from any intruders. The whole place from the cave to the shrine has been cordoned off. Too dangerous to let civvies in.

"You sneaking past police tapes now?"

That only garners an amused huff from the older boy. "You're here too, aren't you? Besides, it's for the fate of the world."

"You're really good at giving excuses huh?"

"It's a specialty."

Kaito looks at the bottom of the wall where Shuuji’s straining his neck just to see a little bit of wall art. "Is that writing?" Kaito crouches lower.

"Mhm. The kemonogami realm has a fully developed writing system. We don't know if the kemono developed it themselves or if it was formed before the split.” Kaito gets the feeling he’s not really talking to him and more at him. He listens anyway. “The Professor can’t make it past the tapes right now since he’s so high profile. He taught me the writing when we were still stuck on the other side.” At that he deflates and lies perfectly still. “Maybe I should ask Haruchika-dono.”

“Pretty sure you don't have to call him dono,” is his only contribution to the conversation but what the heck.

Shuuji looks perplexed as he massages his head. “It's weird not to.”

“Doesn't your neck hurt?”

“It does now that you mention it.”

Kaito scoffs as he sits up, cross legged. “Pretty sure it hurt before I mentioned it. Cmon, up you get. You’ll get a bad back, bad knees and bad posture if you keep this up.”

Shuuji, in fact, does not get up. Choosing instead to lie on his back, staring at the ceiling. “Miu was right. You really do get kinda naggy. She said you threatened her with dental healthcare."

"Miu was talking about me?" His eyes, bright and shining.

"That's what you got from that?" Shuuji sounds almost as exasperated as Miu. "Still, as far as older brothers go, you're not so bad.” The older boy sighs and closes his eyes in contentment.

Kaito can't help but feel proud at the compliment. He smiles.

“The hell are you doing? Don’t fall asleep here,” he scolds.

He still has older brother duties after all.

Shuuji and Miu are team ‘younger sibling with bothersome older brother’

Shuuji was uncomfortable complaining about his brother at first but Miu’s a good teacher.

I try not to write anyone too ooc but I like when friends pick up each others habits and speech patterns.