#jshk chapter analysis

[amyyythestarry]

CHAPTER 111 OF TBHK!

I hate TBHK.

MY POOR BOY, do not listen to your brother he’s mentally ill, he’s not in his right mind.

I like how Tsukasa calls people weird when they don’t know what they want. Like with Kou when he was in the Red House.

Amane is weird, he says he hates Tsukasa, but he can’t stand when they’re apart. Such a weirdo, not knowing what he wants.

For the people who say that this proves Tsukasa is fake, please reread the Red House arc again, especially the last part.

Like mother like son though, I guess. Their mother also thought Tsukasa was a fake.

Even though the change of Tsu is visible after being in the Red House and merging with the dark entity, he’s still Tsukasa.

Tsukasa and the entity resign in the same body, they are the same person now.

Amane’s so sensitive.

He’s not able to handle the rejection. Tsukasa still wants to leave, even after Amane’s tried to tell him they can never be together again ( And he doesn’t want that ), his feelings didn’t reach his brother. Tsukasa still wants to leave him.

He’s not in the right mind, coming up with this conclusion is just showing his instability.

And, in the Manga Up translation Tsukasa actually yells “Amane, behind you!”

But now it’s kind of dull. Interesting, though?

Maybe Iro just doesn’t what Tsu to yell or scream or something.

I like that Kako says ‘so-called imposter’. He knows Tsukasa isn’t a fake, it’s what inside of him.

And the fact Hanako still moves to protect him and Tsukasa, even after calling him a fake.

TSUKASA GRABBING HANAKO LIKE HE WAS GOING TO MOVE AND PROTECT HIM. OH MY GOD.

Gay a**.

Kako’s Santa Claus.

What does he mean by ‘eating away’ at Kamome?

The entity is the root of the problem. But what problem?

We aren’t talking about the yorishiros…. The clock? Natsuhiko destroyed the clock though?

What is the entity doing?

I’ve heard people had a theory about this. Congrats, you all were correct!

I didn’t know what the entity was at all. Now we have an idea.

I wonder how it got to the Yugi’s house then?

It’s not good for supernaturals or humans.

Then, I wonder if it’s ever affected Tsukasa before. As a human, and as a supernatural. Or maybe it hasn’t, since they’re the same person.

Now they’re in 1968.

The Clock Keepers are trying to prevent whatever happened here, and make a new presents.

They could have went back to when Tsukasa granted wishes to the dark entity under his house. They could have went to the time Tsukasa got back from the Red House. Even when he got murdered by his brother.

But, they went back to when they were just 12 years old.

What happened then?

What happened during that time, that’s supposed to be the root of why all of this is happening, whatever is happening?

At least Nene knows something is up, she always does.

I’m hoping she can at least do something to stop the Clock Keepers.

Maybe, that means working with someone to stop this, she can’t do this by herself.

Maybe, a certain Yugi? Tsukasa, purhaps?

This is what he meant.

[tofusfortbhk]

Tbhk Ch120 Analysis:

(Warning: Spoilers)

#1: Teru did not kill Kou on accident or by reflex.

I’ve seen this take on tumblr and Twitter and I disagree. As much as I like the poetic irony of Teru’s violence towards supernaturals causing him to hurt whose he’s sworn to protect from them, I think it’s wrong.

As Teru blasts Kou, Teru is already upset.

Comedy moments in the manga aside, this is the 1st time we’ve ever seen Teru visibly devestated. Prior to this he has always, consistently approached supernatural danger with whimsy and lighthearted cheer. Even when there were dire stakes:

Teru after realizing Aoi was essentially dead after coming getting kidnapped by Number 6. (Ch70)

Teru in ch79, after learning his baby brother went into the notably deadly Red House. (Ch79)

Teru after getting betrayed and apprehended in the Clock Keepers’ boundary. Where they’re supposed to be “undefeatable.” (Ch109)

The uniting factor is that Teru had some level of control. That there wasn’t any true danger/death. He’s gonna get Aoi back, he had faith in Kou to not succumb to the house’s wishes, and you can’t die in boundaries (applies to when the gang got jumped by Num 6 too).

Here, Teru is devastated — not bc Teru is sacred that Kou may get hurt (active threat) but bc Teru knows Kou is already dead.

Look at how Teru walks to the well immediately.

Teru isn’t falling to his knees like “Wait, I didn’t mean to kill him. What have I done?“

He walked there immediately. With intent.

He’s not acting like someone who’s killed his brother on accident. On reflex. He’s acting like someone who knows. Who’s already grieving. Who’s checking for confirmation.

Confirmation that his little brother died in that well. Has been dead.

This isn’t a boundary or fictional world. That is the real Kou — just of a different timeline — and in this one he died. No control, no games, no convenient truth. And Teru couldn’t protect him.

[iamhereinthebg]

Spoilers Tbhk chapter 126

The end of the new chapter appears with a brand new question: Who is this Akane?

Is he the same one as the one Nene just tried to kill in the last Timeline?

I had a lot of random ideas about it, so let's talk about it! Disclaimer: It will be a little bit all over the place, some ideas will contradict each other! It's mostly to see what we have right now.

One of my first idea is: Nene doesn't exist in the Present anymore.

At the end of the chapter, Nene appears during the 103rd festival which takes place in 2005, 10 years before the main timeline, and for once, she doesn't seem to wanna use the sandglass right away.

Which means it may be a timeline where Akane and Teru remember, like in chapter 112, and Akane realizes that Nene doesn't exist as she should. It may be even coming from before this after all since she was born in 1999/2000, she should be 5/6 in 2005. He then decided or is asked by Kako to check each festival from 2014 to older years, to see when she is.

It also seems that the Clock of the clock keepers only functions during the three days of the festival. I won't go into details but I am pretty sure they can use the clock keepers biggest power at least only during the festival, which is why time is also so fragile at this period and would also explain the three days limit for the memories.

Second Idea:

Nene is 'stuck' in the hourglass.

This is Kako's reaction to Nene using the hourglass, he is shocked and angry that she wants to use it despite saying his Tale but here he seems just 'mildly annoyed'. The hourglass did disappear with her though. It's great to keep in mind that The sanglass wants to get more and more people into it, probably gaining power like this like the God Pit. Contrary to the God of the pit who at least gives people wishes in exchange, the SandGlass only set people to fail. Its malicious intention way more present than the other Kami the god pit.

It always make Nene go back to the Sand everytime, never allowing her to say she wants to get her old timeline back, to stay there, never giving her a break into the loop, driving people quickly into madness and losing all senses of self.

'It's alright, you can try again and again and again' until your lose your life and soul so you can join us. The Sandglass already knows what's waiting for anyone who uses it, it's never offering a solution, just forcing her to go back until she completely loses it. Making her thinks she has a choice in any of the decisions when she has none. After killing all her friends, I am pretty sure only a few more loops would be enough to make her take her own life or die by becoming much more reckless, and finally be part of the sandglass.

All stories told by Kako end up with the person using it dying. Either by their own hands or by others. The only one who ''didn't kill himself'' is the ClockMaker, putting a curse onto his own soul so it could never rest, so his soul would remember what he did and create a supernatural born from grief. So he could prevent people from doing the same mistake as all those people. The clockMaker is the only one who didn't use the sandglass 'one last time' to get what he wanted.

The Sandglass doesn't care what the present will look like, it only wants to empower itself by using greedy humans.

Which is why I think there is a possibility that the timeline Nene is in right now, is 'stuck' in the sandglass. I can't explain exactly how it would work tbh, maybe that just the sandglass 'create' false or alternatives timelines, enough to make the human using it go insane. Like it's a sandglass who can ''travel'' through timelines? I don't really know how it would work, but the dimension Nene is in is clearly a different space like the Nowhere where rules don't apply as in the real world.

But only humans can have access to it, hence why Akane is the one at the end who appears to potentially get her out, not Kako or Mirai, but a human, who can break the rules that bound the supernaturals and can fall under curses more easily, who can be cursed so can lure the sanglass to allow him to use his power. The sandglass would allow a human to use it, not a supernatural.

I already said here that I think there is a possibility Akane was already going after Nene since some times. The question now is: from which timeline it is? This this will be even harder to explain.

I personnaly think that Akane from the first new timeline (chapter 112 to 125) and from chapter 111 are the same, or at least, share the same memories.

Everything he says in chapter 113 is just so personal.

Which add to my idea that Nene is in a different timeline, that is not the same as the one she just left. She is not trying to change the timelines she is in, she is in a brand new one. The last twos were way more linked together than the ones Nene is in.

Because Teru and Akane don't remember anything, compared to the old one where the clock keepers used their powers.

Like when Kako uses its power in chapter 27, or when people are stuck in boundaries.

People with high spiritual energy always have better chance to remember.

Which implies to me that Nene hasn't really gone back in Time in the same way as they did previously. The Sandglass works differently that the clock keepers's clock. Kako and the Cat stayed in the real hourglass/clock.

Nene only has a part of its sand. The big part of it is controled by Kako and is what helps going back in Time, the clock keepers' powers over the Past.

I just wanna note that for the new timeline, only those who were present during the changes, ended up remembering right away (Nene and Teru). But it still happened at one point for others characters like Kou and Mitsuba/Sousuke. Characters like Tsuchigomori aren't shown remembering anything, but it's hard to say how much it may affect him since he is an old supernatural. His three days of memories left may have already passed, this memory thing is really wonky and only works when AidaIro want it to work though so I have no proof.

I also personnaly don't think the Akane from the many timelines Nene goes through, is the same as we see at the end of chapter 125. I don't think this Akane is supposed to remember the timelines. For a lot of different reasons that I think don't make sense, but Nene is pretty obvious in the way she acts that something is happening.

Akane doesn't change anything in the way he acts at all. He even worries for her because she acts differently and says non sensical stuff. There is no way he remembers all those timelines here. Or he can have the Oscar for the best actor idk it makes no sense. The only thing where I am not sure is the last one, the only time for me he would finally remembers all of it, is when he is dying. But I still think it's a weak plot point, really random and would go against the idea that he has been looking for her for some times.

(Funny note: Akane is a character who is always shown with half lidded eyes when ''''dying''''compared to the others like Teru. He is dying/losing conciousness, not dead/inconscious, right away.)

I still feel like what Kako did is way different than what Nene is doing with the hourglass. Nene is under the sandglass's influence, Kako uses its power only once to get things right (from his pov), never using it without taking precautions and doing his own investigation before acting.

Nene has a part of the sandglass, the core that wants it so bad to be used by human, but Kako still has the biggest part of its power with all the sand present when Nene enters the Clock.

And Kako, is supposedly working with Akane.

Let's go over Akane's role as a clock keeper.

This is more of a personal preference, but it would be insane to me that Akane has been stuck in the old timeline, in the boundary, alone, not doing anything when he has one of the most ''pro active'" personality of the cast. And especially that all this last arc, was for nothing. This arc already makes me mad that apparently no one will remember, this is just unfair to all others characters.

The idea of memories is important for the Clock Keepers in general. The idea that Nene is here using a hourglass creating different timelines and Kako being able to remember the first timelines/changes don't seem like a big stretch to me. They can't pinpoint exactly where/when Nene is and what she has changed since Akane implies that he has been looking for her for some time, with the 'Finally'.

But they know and remember that she is traveling through Time.

Which still begs the question of: why is Akane here in his clock keeper outfit if he doesn't remember/if he is supposed to be dead since he died in all new timelines? And I will be really honest with you and says that I have no clues which make really sense.

If we go into a more of one of the Meta sense of the Present, Akane may have something like Shijima's power.

A kind of power of Ubiquity power, but accross Timelines. There is the human Akane from the new Timeline, and the one from the boundary.

And the one, stuck in the clock keepers boundary, gain the memories of the others once they are erased, like a safety net so the supernatural part of him can still exist like Kako wants him to. By creating new timelines, it create new Akanes, that shares all memories before the changes were done by Kako but the clock keepers of the present is still out there. And with those memories he can see if something has gone wrong, that multiples bad timelines are being created, which is why, he finally acts now.

The only thing that point to this, is the fact that it's implied that Akane has two bodies. And that we don't really know how it works. But it's pretty clear that these two bodies are separated, they only share the same soul. (and we know that souls can be cut too)

He is way stronger and resistant as a supernatural.

If he kept his injuries, Akane should have died when the severance happened, or at least be not okay but he was. His injury only coming back when he gained his clock keeper form back in chapter 85.

Throughout the manga he is one of the character that has taken a lot of injuries, but only in his clock keeper form, and it never interferes with his human body, not even once.

(disclaimer: it may only be just a choice of Aidairo to absolutely refuse to show consequences btw :)) I will put it here because for all others characters it worked like this too when they went back from the far shore, humans go back to how they were when coming back from a boundary)

It's also shown that his power don't work when he wants to use it, because another Kami is in front of him. But he also supposedly know that it doesn't work outside of the school? And he thought that it would give Nene his autorisation but it broke?

We also know that his watch works outside of school in supernaturals prominent places, like the far shore.

I honestly don't really know how it would work, but I at least really think that Akane from the new timeline and the one in the boundary in chapter 111 have the same memories that's for sure. Is the human Akane able to use travel in time if he doesn't go himself 'free the clock keeper Akane'? I am not really sure how it would work once again.

The Akane in the new timeline is still Akane, like every other characters. I am just not sure about the timelines Nene is going through in the loops though. But I can't explain it more than 'it may be something the sandglass is trying to copy the way her friends are/to give her a sense of false security'. Is it some kind of tests to see how long Nene's soul would break? The sandglass don't even need to really travel back in time, it just needs to break Nene's soul to get her in the sand. But tbh this would be a weird choice too. So I am not sure about this, just that the sandglass definitely doesn't work the same way as Kako's clock.

The last option is, Akane at the end of chapter 126 is the one from chapter 111 (so from the old Timeline) and he absolutely doesn't share memories with Akane from the new Timelines, only Kako told him to go after Nene in the Timeloops. But once again it would kinda strange and really underwhelming from AidaIro, the writing for the characters this arc were... not really good for most of them, Nene being the only expection. I at least want one of the character to remember the Timeline we have been in since 1 year (10/12 chapters) for us readers. And Akane is the one who would make the most sense.

Last insane theory is Akane is the cat and he already tried to travel through time without being allowed to and Kako punished him but I won't expand on this because I don't like it much and would add a layer of 'wtf is happening' to this already really confusing arc.

New insane theory: he has another body that's made like the one of the clock keepers since they can cut souls. (I don't like it but here it is)

The clock keeper of the present can see through the eyes of people using the hourglass (no proof at all for this too jut random ideas)

And for the question: Will Akane pay the price to go back to the old Timeline? I already talked a little bit about it : here

I will be really honest but the only way it could have worked for me is: if it was confirmed that Akane was supposed to die at 12 and that the clock keepers extended his life with the contract, in the condition that they can take it back if needed.

But once again, we have no infos, Akane would have known this and I personally think it would be unfair to do that. To Akane, and to the clock keepers as characters. And for the loop Nene is stuck in, why would Akane pay for this? He isn't Kou or Hanako, Akane is a kind character, still he woudln't do something like this right away as the first solution expect if he had no choice, it's not Akane's place to pay for this. Nene shouldn't either but it would make more sense for her to pay a price to me for her timeloops.

I will end all of this to say that AidaIro's writing has... not been the greatest for me in this last arc. I understand the need to keep a lot of things mysterious, but they often put setups they never use after (*coughs* the key Nene got from Amane from the past *coughs* Akane's weird body thing I absolutely don't understand) and now we have so littles informations that we can create anything we want if we cross random informations.

I don't think it's too bad if people guess stuff from time to time, if it means the writing is less blurry. Being able to do theories is cool, but like the broadcasting club I just think it makes everything way more underwheling. Right now, absolutely everything could happen, and we could only nod. Because we have absolutely no informations, on Akane's contract, on how time travels really work in tbhk, wtf is going on with Amane and the big clock, how boundaries and the fare shore really work, why tf is Tsuchigomori a supernatural that can appear to human and not some of the others, why Nene is so special and what is the limits of her ''powers'' etc... They refuse to acknowledges some of the early rules they put, and absolutely don't make the characters deal with consequences. I really hope I will be proven wrong this time and to note that this is my opinion btw, but it's been a long time I've had this feeling with the writing and it's even worst with this arc.

I am glad Nene was proven wrong in this chapter (and it ties to something I talk about here more in details with Kou's character too), mostly because it's good to see something that has been implied since some times.

Nene is a good person, a really nice person, but play with the rules when they have been said explicitly, and see how they answer you.

Supernaturals are bound by rules and I truly think humans characters will be the ones who help them all in the end like it has been happening in the manga, even if humans are also the causes of a lot of their sufferings.

I think a human, will be the one to break the curse and the timeline from the clock keepers who are too stuck on their own rules, because it's still not fair. Nene is absolutely right on this and we understand why she took this risk. But I am still glad Nene was proven wrong this time. You can't expect to play with something as powerful as Time and think you will be okay after it.

They were against Death and Life in the last arc, trying to play by the rules and go out of it without consequences. Now they are against something more powerful than Death, something that can controls everything and suposedly exists everywhere, Time.

And the last thing they will probably be against, with the 7th mystery, will be something even more powerful than that.

Something probably close to Omnipotence, Creation and Destruction. Something that doesn't exist by the rules.

Little detail:

It's important to note that the Future still hasn't woken up yet contrary to the Past, since the Present isn't fixed/isn't here :)))

I can't wait to see if she will have a bigger role now, I am excited for her to appear at least. I also don't think Kako said the full truth and we will have the rest of their backstories a little bit later.

[venxomi]

TBHK Chapter 125 Analysis - Duty and Determination

This chapter has been a lore-heavy one that opened the door to a lot of possibilities.

The introduction of a new 'God'

We always knew multiple gods existed via multiple mentions throughout the series, but the pit god was the only one introduced as such. We now welcome our second 'God', the Sand Clock.

You may ask, "How is the Sand Clock a God?", and I will reply with "Because it's so similar to the Pit God, it feels like a cruel joke".

Its origins unknown, with a will of its own- It wants to be used so it can claim its prize.

"Turn the clock upside down, make a wish, give up your present, and you can redo your entire life". Simple enough, isn't it? Make a sacrifice and get a chance at happiness.

It operates in a very similar way the pit god does, it just works by a different mechanism; It wants you to use it, it lets you use it as much as you'd like to reach your desired outcome, and when you're done wasting your soul away trying, it takes its due compensation in a very 'natural' and ironic way.

It either claims the lives of those who use the clock for themselves or the lives of those they want to save.

One who used it to become rich died at the hands of bandits, one who used it to gain fame died at the hands of envy, one who used it to gain love died with the one she loved- And finally, the one who used it to make another happy made it so that person never existed.

The theme of "happiness" reared its head once again- a honest desire to make another happy turned to ruin. We saw it with Tsukasa and Amane in the Red House, we saw it with Hanako and Nene in the Severance, and we saw it just a few chapters ago with Nene and Amane. We now see it with the watchmaker and his niece. In an honest attempt to make her happy, her existence was erased instead.

Kako's Purpose

After he experienced tragedy himself, the watchmaker decided to seal it. Desire is a part of human nature, so a human couldn't be tasked with guarding this cursed item.

As both a solution and punishment for himself for his actions, he used his own flesh and soul to create Kako, the Clock Keeper- A perfectly inhuman supernatural who would never fail in fulfilling his duty to guard the Sand Clock.

This reflects in the Clock Keepers' Yorishiro, the Key. It's the very key used to unlock the Sand Clock's seal and it is proof of Kako's duty, his purpose for existing. He was created solely to guard the clock, and having his yorishiro destroyed means destroying his entire reason for his existence.

Kako's inhumanity is meant to combat the Clock's ability to fan the flames of desire. It does not allow him to fall prey to the Clock. And it's proven up to a point- Nene tells him of Akane, the Guardian of the Present's death, along with her other friends' death. But Kako is unfazed. Like Akane said in the Clock Keepers arc, they do not value human life at all.

However, it is important to note that it's not perfectly inhuman. The watchmaker only used himself to create Kako, so who created Mirai, a clockwork doll in the likeness of the watchmaker's niece, if not Kako? Does it not contradict his intended inhumanity?

Which leads me to further think- He stored his yorishiro, the key to the Sand Clock, inside Mirai. Wasn't it so he wouldn't be able to use the Clock for himself, so he wouldn't be able to abandon his duty, as he would be forced to destroy the machine that looks like his niece to do so? A bitter reminder of the tragedy that follows.

It is also important to note that it is specified that Kako was created to prevent the Sand Clock's use. So why is it that Kako claims that his purpose is to "use it perfectly"? Is it his pride in his inhumanity that his actions would be based off logic and not desire?

The one thing "that must be protected above all else"

It is something that is so important it precedes mass killings. That it's fine if dozens, if not hundreds of people die, if this something is unharmed.

Most importantly, Kako says it's a secret, but it's something that even if it was revealed, Nene wouldn't be able to threaten Kako with it.

That opens up three possibilities:

It's something beyond Nene's reach, something that Nene can't do anything about anyway;

It's not a something, but a someone; Nene refused to destroy Sumire, who was a human yorishiro- So how could she threaten Kako at the expense of someone?

For me, it's the most likely one: It's someone or something Nene cares about, someone Nene would never want to come to harm.

I do have my own ideas, but I reached them via my intuition and not solid evidence, so they're not meant to be explained here.

The Intruder

The alarm rang since chapter 124. The cat assumed it's an alarm for an intruder, and it's confirmed in chapter 125 by Kako.

But see, Kako says that the alarm rings when someone invades the Boundary. But it didn't ring the moment Nene entered the Boundary, did it? It took one and a half chapter for it to ring. Which means Nene is not the invader the alarm went off on.

Perhaps you remember in chapter 121 when Akane ran his mouth in the Red House about going back in time and the curse of the Red House heard him?

"Still, a clock that can control time... That could be trouble."

Akane, Aoi and Teru put their lives on the line to get Nene enough time to get to the clock and turn back time. But that time seems to soon expire, and Kako will have to confront the issue he didn't bother prioritizing. He will have to confront the arrogant belief that he used the Sand Clock correctly, just because he was made 'perfect', 'beyond human'.

Nene's determination and... self-sacrifice?

Nene's determination is to be admired, for sure. For the entirety of the chapter she is told how the Sand Clock is a curse that brings the user to ruin. In the previous chapter, she is told about how others who attempted to turn back time were turned into mechanical dolls and forced into the Clock Keepers' Boundary for eternity.

She does not waver.

However, is that a good thing?

"I heard what you said, and it doesn't make any sense at all."

No, she does understand. She made it clear that she understands that if she takes the Sand Glass, ruin will await her.

But she doesn't want to acknowledge that she understands. Because if she does, she would acknowledge her own doom. Not only her own, but possibly others' aswell. Or rather, she feeds into the mindset she started having since chapter 91.

She... No longer values her own life nor her own personal happiness. As if befitting her role of a 'kannagi', she has a dangerous mindset- She starts thinking she's fine with sacrificing herself for others.

She doesn't care that she risks more than just her life anymore. She cares about reaching her own goals for others' sake. I, as of now, do not see a good outcome for Nene. Hanako picked up on this mindset and tried to rid her of it early in 91, but it would seem he failed.

I wonder how things will progress from here.

[thelunarfairy]

The price of empathy

The mysteries of death, oh, it usually comes with despair, melancholy and a certain drama. A slight touch of nostalgia, and of course, the farewell - which doesn't always come.

There are those who hate it, those who fear it, and those who believe it is the solution. But in death there are no answers, perhaps there is silence, I can't tell you for sure, after all, fortunately I haven't encountered it (yet).

They say there is nothing like living someone's experience in order to understand them. But I fear that in some cases not even that would be of any use.

There are experiences that we interpret in ways we never imagined. What can we say about a simple girl who just wanted to have an ordinary life, with an ordinary boyfriend and ordinary desires and had the empathy to try to "save" a murderer.

Sometimes it seems like she already knew, that she already felt that there was something pure in him, something that only she could feel. The girl who tried to give him a little company and the joy she could offer, even if it wasn't much.

But getting involved with a murderer isn't something that should be done by good girls, by kind and naive girls, and often superficial.

The world isn't cool to kind people.

It usually offers the opposite.

Nene now holds the knife that was so heavy in Hanako's hands. The knife that reflected the image of the greatest love of his life.

Now in her hands, reflecting the image of the people she promised to save.

Irish, isn't it?

She's living a little of what he lived, feeling slightly what he felt, even though she can't compare to him, after all, he took the life of the brother he loved so much, he can't compare to some of his school friends.

Not even the best of them.

The naive girl still hasn't realized that she's being prepared for this. To kill someone she loves the most, someone she cares about the most.

Because Sakura once told her how terrible Tsukasa's death would be if she didn't remove his yorishiro, something Hanako wouldn't allow.

Because Tsukasa asked her directly to kill Amane if she wanted to get out of that false world.

For everything to end, does Amane need to die? Or will it be Tsukasa?

The visceral sensation of blood dripping from the knife onto her hands, Aoi's still warm body falling as she begged Nene to wake up while she hugged her, knowing that Nene was innocent, she didn't give up on her best friend at any moment.

She accepted her in a hug, even though it literally tore her heart apart.

Maybe it was the same cold sensation Amane felt when Tsukasa smiled at him one last time after the stabbing.

For the first time, she is feeling on her own skin what that lonely boy felt. The regret, the pain, the fear, the shock.

Death came to her several times, once to take her, when she refused to go with it, she found something worse, to be responsible for the death of those she loves.

She is capable of doing it, said the entity.

It was a matter of time.

Death would come.

And it did.

And more Death will still return.

[mari-lair]

Let's talk about Teru and Aoi and how interesting Teru behavior with Aoi is.

Teru is on a mission to see what has changed from the original timeline to this one, he said so himself.

But he makes a strange move and completely ignores the very big change he was presented with: His engagement with Aoi. The plan was to abandon his 'brand new fiance' and go look for other changes.

Aoi holding his armband, asking for his attention in a very Aoi way and showing a willingness to go on a date with him shocked Teru less than the engagement news but it stuck to him in a way the engagement did not.

Just compare how Teru go 'welp it is what it is, what a strange timeline,' with a level of dismissal that makes him talk to Akane instead of Aoi about the situation.

To how he takes this Aoi at least seriously enough to question her request for them to go out.

So the idea Aoi wants to date him is more confusing to him than being engaged. So much so he does what he does with the original Aoi and starts asking her questions, even picturing the old Aoi as he ask for her hand, adding a lot of '...' in it.

It feels like a test.

A test Aoi failed by accepting his hand, doing something the Aoi he knew never would.

Teru is closed up during his date with Aoi.

He goes with the flow because he needs answers to go back home, he needs to figure out why she is so different but he is tense about this date. His sword bag strap is in a tight fist, which he pulls at it when she clings to his arm.

During their entire date, he keeps this fake little smile on. Avoiding to touch her as much as he can, and not having much to say despite usually not only being good at acting like a flirty prince when people want him to, but having fun in the role.

So Teru isn't indifferent in his date he is tense as fuck.

When he decides he'll send the picture to Akane and Aoi breaks character from lovey dovey fiance, Teru shows a hint of interest again, he goes "ohh? is there a problem?"

It's another test.

She fails but her panic about hurting Akane must either remind him of the og aoi or entertain his more sadistic side, so he goes 'hmmm', which is unimpressed for sure, but still a far more positive reaction than the "unease" that popped up when aoi had held his hand.

By the end of their date i'm pretty sure Teru comes to the conclusion Aoi likes him. I believe this for two reasons.

First, he start playing along with his fiance role instead of being guarded and silent, asking her to feed him with a smile that doesn't feel fake or tense, it's his usual :D expression instead of the :) he has been wearing this whole chapter.

The second thing of note is that this is the first time he actually touches Aoi.

During the entire manga, even in the old timeline, Teru had never even poked her shoulder, but this time he lightly holds her hand to stabilize the snack.

He seems bothered by people crowding them and he actually perks up when Aoi asks him to go to a more isolated place, his smile feels somewhat casual at the invite too, not like his tense ones from before.

When Aoi slaps him he is surprised.

And this part only further suggests that when he had asked her to fed him, he was under the impression this Aoi genuinely likes him.

So he doesn't have a problem doing couple things like being fed by Aoi as long as he believes Aoi enjoys it too.

But she doesn't like him.

Just like the Aoi he knows doesn't. It feels right.

Teru is happy.

Immediately after learning this Teru tries to find more similarities with the old Aoi, asking about her crush on Akane and going back to his mission of determining why changes happened.

Aoi mentions they are both unhappy in this arranged marriage and that they are only playing along to appease their families. Teru is surprised that he is unhappy too.

I am not entirely sure what this means but it is noteworthy that he seems genuinely surprised the 'him' of this timeline is opposed to the marriage with Aoi.

This little Teru is a brat, but his smile and blush contrast with his word. Either he is displeased greatly by this but refuses to 'play victim' like Aoi, or he cares more than he lets on.

He was the one who found her when Aoi admitted her intention was to hide. So he went out of his way to find this "annoying victim blaming girl"

Maybe this means his parents ordered Teru to go find her fiance, make a good first impression, and put on appearances, maybe he went to find her himself for some reason?

As of now, it's hard to say, we don't have enough info about the new timeline to guess very well, but it's food for thought.

Now back to the old timeline, with the Teru we are familiar with: Aoi asks about his family, about expectations and performance, and that isn't a topic he is very comfortable with, just look at his face.

But he does answer her.

He is very awkward, but he doesn't lie, it feels genuine.

He even mentions his mom, which he hasn't mentioned to anyone before.

[musicalmoritz]

Akane finally trusting Aoi

This single scene shows so much growth for this ship I’m gonna scream

At the start of the arc, Akane was keeping extremely important information from Aoi for the same reason he usually hides things from her- to protect her

It’s no secret that Aoi plays a damsel in distress role throughout the series, be it for Nene, Akane, or Teru. That often makes her a catalyst for the action, the princess the three heroes must save. More specifically, it often leaves her out of the action. I don’t have a problem with damsel in distress Aoi, at least up to the severance arc. It makes sense for her character at that point in time, but that role has clearly been holding her back. She even tells Akane in chapter 69 that she hates being lied to, and why did he lie to her? To protect her

Pre-Ch.69 Akane lied to Aoi about the Clock Keepers to protect her, and in the alteration arc we see him doing the same thing with the timeline. In fact Teru is the one who brought into the action during this current arc, Akane was initially very against it

However, this chapter finally puts Aoi and Akane on equal footing as two heroes. She gets a chance to reverse the roles and save him, using Teru’s sword (I love that this version of Aoi seems to have some exorcist training). Akane’s initial instinct is to save her, to sweep her off her feet so she doesn’t have to fight anymore. He tells her to run and to get to safety. But one look at her face is all it takes for him to realize there’s no way in hell Aoi’s going anywhere

This little change is so important to me, because Akane finally starts prioritizing Aoi’s feelings and decisions over his own instinct to protect her. I’m not saying it’s wrong of him to want to keep her safe, but that protectiveness is often misguided. It leads to him keeping things from Aoi, which feeds into her fear that she’s being rejected (she seems to think that Akane lying to her = he hates her and plans to leave her). It also prevents them from fully being equals, as they fall into very gendered roles- the hero and the princess. Here, Akane stops viewing Aoi as a princess, or as the girl in his life, and finally sees her as an individual capable of making her own decisions. He sees her for who she truly is, and isn’t that what Aoi’s always wanted? So instead of making her run, he tells her to go check on Teru. He stops being so damn overprotective and allows Aoi to fight alongside him (tho, judging by the look on her face I don’t think he had much of a say in what she was going to do lol). This advances Aoi’s narrative role from “girl who needs to be saved” to one of our main heroes. It’s development I didn’t even know I needed from her, and I couldn’t be happier to see it. It also strengthens her relationship with Akane so much because fighting alongside this version of Aoi will likely give him more faith in our original Aoi. I’m very excited to see where their relationship goes from here, I hope we see more of the Sunflower Troupe fighting as a trio

[legend-of-cupcake]

Spoilers for TBHK 110!!

Small analysis and thoughts below

This right here, it broke my heart. Tsukasa has went this entire time believing with all his heart that Amane hates him, and that it's okay for him to disappear. That mindset he had at 4 years old never changed. And Amane doesn't help himself at all, he never says what he really means, and watching him say this:

Is even more tragic, because we know he doesn't mean it literally. But Tsukasa will take him that way anyways, further strengthening his beliefs. Reading this though, it brought my mind back to that small flashback we had during chapter 101.

I wonder if Tsukasa spent a lot of time trying to coax Amane into revealing his true desires, wanting him to be more honest so Tsukasa knew where he stood. But because of the way Amane naturally is, he doesn't say anything regarding his true feelings-- maybe he feels he can't. When Tsukasa grants a wish, bad things start happening.

Maybe Amane knew that, and became more guarded about his dreams and desires. Became more closed off about how much he truly loves his little brother, never saying the words themselves, but feeling it all the same. Amane loved Tsukasa so much that he followed him into the afterlife, just so he could see him again, made him his yorishiro so they would always be bound together.

Perhaps, had Amane told Tsukasa how he felt before they died, even just once, then things could've been different.

[httyddragonfox]

Tsukasa (Toilet Bound Hanako-Kun)

There really is no rhyme or reason to whatever that kid does, but I've decided to do something perilous and crack into his mind a bit. Wish me luck, and if I don't return...remember me.

Anyways, he's always been a messed up little dude, ever since he discovered the truth about him and Amane's destiny. So who knows, maybe he's always been a bit messed up, considering he told the deity of the red house that he wasn't going to "Hold back" anymore. I'm a twin myself, so I know that spats between us can get a little violent. We don't ever see the extent of Tsukasa's insanity as a human, but I feel it was a bit more than whatever me and my sister ever got up to. This guy is obsessed with his brother; yes I feel like my life can't be fun without my sister but I'm not that obsessed with her. Just read his character stat page and you'll know what I mean.

It all started as a normal twin relationship, his brother was sickly and Tsukasa just wanted him to feel better; he realized Amane's true wish was to be healthy. So he sacrificed himself for his brother to get better. Tsukasa didn't seem to understand his family's feelings, or the fact that they would miss him. He then learned that Amane would throw his well meaning sacrifice away one day and die young, and despite saying he loved him he would murder him. This doesn't make Tsukasa distraught, it just makes him curious. Despite Amane wanting to live so badly, there is something that would make him want to die. Despite Amane loving him, there is something that would make him want to kill him. Tsukasa just wants to know what these things are; he wants these events to come to pass, to satiate his own curiosity.

Upon his return, his mother can tell there's something demented about him. She wants him exorcised. From what I can tell, Tsukasa still spends time with his brother Amane, but he also can get a bit violent with him at times. Amane refuses to tell anyone who's hurting him. In one flashback, it also seems that Tsukasa can be emotionally manipulative as well, asking Amane if he would be okay if he just disappeared.

As a Twin, I hate to admit it, when I was younger I was emotionally manipulative. I threatened to run away or kill myself when arguments got too heated. I am aware, that was not good of me. In all fairness, she did that as well, and she is aware that was not good of her. We never beat each other up, but I wouldn't be surprised if Tsukasa got that way sometimes. Little Amane admitted that if you interrupt Tsukasa from doing something he's invested in or enjoys he gets a tad violent. That is reflected in his supernatural self, only really getting upset at people if they interrupt him or try to stop him from what he's doing at the moment.

So all in all, Tsukasa is a psycho. I can't end it there though.

He does anything to satisfy his morbid curiosity, like seeing a pufferfish's insides, building an artificial ghost to see if he could, or from the after school manga, seeing if fireworks still work inside someone's gut, or seeing if he can swim to LA. Whatever curiosity, whatever disturbing thought comes to mind, he wants to act on it. A ball of chaos, as he admits in his introduction to Kou. He doesn't believe in restraints or social order, he believes every supernatural should be free to act as they please, anyone should act to true heart's desire, even if it's acts of violence, especially if it's acts of violence. Violence is the one true thing that's a societal no-no, and since Tsukasa doesn't believe in a social order, he wants violence to run rampant. He admits loves the faces of those who don't hold back anymore, faces of people like himself.

Tsukasa is an honest person, he never once lies in the series. It's a belief of mine that he believes the social order is holding everyone back, forcing them to lie to themselves in order to uphold it. Of course some people don't want to hurt anyone, but like he cares about that. When Mitsuba in the Hell of Mirrors chose to run away instead of fighting the main group, he ends up punching him telling "you can do it" in a threatening tone. He truly believes Mitsuba can defeat them easily, and wants to see that in action, but Mitsuba doesn't want to. Also, even though he doesn't lie, he does know how to spin his words in order to make it seem like someone doesn't have a choice. He tells Mitsuba if he doesn't become the new school wonder, he's going to fade away, and "he doesn't want that, does he?" He wanted Mitsuba to gain a whole lot of power for himself to go against the group, and told if he didn't he was going to fade. It wasn't untrue, but Tsukasa made him make the wish to become the new school wonder. So Tsukasa knows how to manipulate things so that both and them get what they want, maybe in an indirect way.

When he twisted Souske's rumor, it was to grant his wish to have friends. It was rather messed up of him, because at that point Souske was happy Kou was his friend. Tsukasa didn't care about that, because Souske's true wish was to have friends, it didn't matter if Souske was okay with one. According to Tsukasa, "Your wish was to have many friends, and you're okay with just one? That doesn't make sense." Not to mention when Souske went off on his own and was receiving help from Kou, Tsukasa punched him through the stomach. It seems he wants people to go through with their original wants, and not change up their plans where it is most convenient. After turning Souske into a monster, he claims that if Souske were to make Kou like him they could be friends forever. I truly think he meant this, he just had no concern for what would happen to Kou or the fact that Souske didn't really want to hurt him, he just wanted Souske to be the worst he could be with no restraint and then have him go after what he wanted. He wishes more people would act as he does. He truly lives by his own beliefs, and wants others to follow that doctrine.

After Hanako ended Souske, he wasn't too torn up about it. As I said, he's only really upset if people interrupt him. He was more happy to see his brother again. Also, it's violence against violence, why wouldn't he be for that? He likes it when people don't hold back.

What is overall end goal? What does he want? Well for right now, he sees it as a game of good vs evil. He wants himself and Hanako to "Play together" like they used to. Of course, them playing is more on the violent side this time around, but that doesn't mean he doesn't love him. Tsukasa adores his brother (he's upset when Yashiro says he's not her type), but he thinks that violently going against each other is a form of fun. He admits to Yashiro that he sees himself and his brother as arch-enemies, and he's fully embracing the role he's playing in this game they're playing. He went after Yashiro for two reasons, first to get to know her because she's friends with his brother (he fully thinks they're dating), second to go against her in this deadly game (get rid of her) because he sees her as playing this game as well. Sakura and himself vs Yashiro and his brother; he doesn't so much care for Natsuhiko and Kou, they're just there, they help out sometimes. The real opponents are them and their assistants. Getting rid of his assistant would give Tsukasa an advantage in this game they're playing, so of course it'd be the move he'd take.

Of course, he's not too torn about it when she survives. So what, they won that round; we're no longer playing that round, we're no longer addressing that round. It's also great as that means she can keep playing. He finds her quite fun, when he first met her he was impressed by her gusto and how she just went to attack him like that. He doesn't like it when she interrupts him, but he's learned to be gentle to girls. He usually goes after Nene when trying to influence what happens next on his brother's side. He put a spy on her to see how his brother handled a twisted rumor, he had Sakura influence her to go tothe 4pm bookstacks to learn more about his brother, and he used her donut gift to find a way to visit him.

This is because he's met her before, and thinks she's fun to play with. In the picture perfect arc, he even wished her luck in killing his brother, and sent her with Mei because she helped her realize her wish, untimely freeing her from her cell Hanako locked her in. He seems like he's on her side, as he seems to support whatever crazy idea she has; like when she's suddenly okay with dying, he tells Hanako to let her die or else he's being selfish and a hypocrite. Then again, when his brother gets the idea to break every Yorishiro and then get a wish to save her, he's all for that because that would mean much more chaos would be unleashed. So not exactly on her side, just in support of her usually not supported ideas. He just wants to see what she'd do in these trying situations, because he likes her gusto. Of course, he knows that breaking every Yorishiro would lead to her death, but he's okay with that; he was okay when he himself was murdered. He does know she doesn't like killing people, but if she does end up doing it, she has his full support. If not, well she's locked in the boundary until she does. He likes playing with her. We get to school festival arc, and Tsukasa from the past asks her to play with him again.

When time is frozen, it seems he's talking to her more than Hanako. Probably because Hanako knows most of what he's saying already. He does ask him if he would still save everyone even if meant bringing Yashiro closer to her death. Tsukasa wants him to break the Yorishiro and save everyone, it's why they broke the clock in the first place. However, he is curious on what they rather do in this situation.

Why does he do what he does in chapter 105? For starters, I think he just wanted to know what kissing was like. When he met Yashiro for the tea party and he though Sakura was dating his brother, he asked what the kisses were like, and said he heard they tasted like lemons. When that's cleared up, he asked Yashiro what his brother's kisses were like because he assumed they were dating. When that's cleared up, he asks Sakura if she would smooch him, and that was a no.

Now Yashiro and Hanako are frozen in time but still conscious, and Tsukasa is aware that they like each other (Did he see them kiss in the boundary? Maybe.) These guys aren't going to do anything, and he can do anything to them. He kisses Nene. Nene is mainly confused, as she usually is by what Tsukasa does, and Hanako is not just confused but also very upset by that. Tsukasa probably did that to know what kissing was like, but maybe to also know what's it like to kiss her (like his brother does), and lastly probably just to get a rise out of Hanako. Yeah, I don't think he likes Nene like that. He likes her as another player of the game and thinks she's interesting, but probably only kissed her because of Hanako's feelings for her, to make him feel more helpless. He does seem pretty happy after he does it, probably because it was nice, and it satisfied his curiosity.

After the kiss, he kidnaps her, saying "You're my assistant now, okay?" He already has an assistant, and Yashiro doesn't even owe him anything, so she's not bound to him. Tsukasa is an honest guy, but I'm not sure how much of this he truly meant. It probably means he's going to keep her, and maybe force her to do what he wants like with Sumire and #6. He might be expecting Hanako to try to save her, but Hanako doesn't know where his hideout is. Also the two of them are frozen, can Tsukasa get Nene out of it? How is he expecting Hanako to get out of it? These things I don't know. If he can't get Nene out of it, he probably just wants to keep her frozen body around. If he can, he might force her to destroy #1's Yorishiro. If Hanako doesn't get out of it, everyone will be in frozen torment for eternity, which could be nice. If he does, he'd need Yashiro to destroy the Yorishiro, unless they force #1 to destroy it themselves.

Another thing I'm not sure about: he's a yorishiro. If he's destroyed he'll cease to exist, so he won't get to see that world he want's to see so badly or finish his game. Did that slip his mind? Probably not. My guess is that he wants to have a final battle with Hanako, and the winner will see the world come to fruition and win the game. Maybe he'll be content enough that the world of chaos will come to pass even if he won't get to see it. Maybe since Hanako doesn't want to hurt him again, he try to force Yashiro's hand.

Anyways, with Tsukasa as a villain I'm a little excited to see how things will play out, and also a little horrified.

[amyyythestarry]

Amazing theory. I have been thinking of Tsukasa’s hinted suicidal side, or just the miserable side we’ve been seeing lately.

I really do wonder what Tsukasa wish is anyways. He claims he’s only wanted one thing, and that’s for his brother to be well. But just like he says, people’s desires are endless. He’s not excluding in this, right?

I hope he gets what he wants.

Adding my food for thought on this, because there is symbolism in Nene’s class doing Wizard of Oz for this arc, which I’ve seen others already talk about, but Tsukasa singing the signature song has its own symbolism.

Of course the first thing that ran through my head was “Oh, just like Nene.” This moment of him singing reminds me of when we see Nene daydreaming of things she wants or can’t have. Over the Rainbow is a song about that, about a girl who was in trouble and wanted to run away from her home, and dreams of going to the most colorful thing in her life, a rainbow. Something unobtainable, but still she wishes for it. And in the movie, Dorothy says “Someplace where there isn't any trouble. Do you suppose there is such a place, Toto? There must be. It's not a place you can get to by a boat, or a train. It's far, far away. Behind the moon, beyond the rain…”

We know that Tsukasa made a deal with hole-kun and that’s shrouded in mystery in itself and could also play a part here, but I believe this is Tsukasa’s wish. He wants to go somewhere that isn’t here, something that is beyond the afterlife that he’s living now.

[amyyythestarry]

Chapter 26, After School Boy.

I knew something was going to go wrong. I thought the cat and Tsuchigomori in the new chapter cover was going to be involved in the original manga, but I guess not.

His simps go feral whenever they see him because he doesn’t show up that often.

It’s always the mokke, isn’t it.

Where does he get these artifacts from. The one where your personality gets swapped, the gender bend one, and now this?

Who’s allowing him to get these?

Definitely not Tsuchigomori…

And who is allowing him to cuss?

How dark of him.. Wanting to cut Tsuchigomori’s new very real cat ears… Hanako needs God in his life.

My sister said she thought Aoi would be a major cat person.

I said she’s giraffe person instead. Not an official thing, but it’s a title that works in her case.

What an ugly cat.. 💀

I would have thrown it away… He’s uglier than hairless cats.

Also, she just has cute accessories on her?

I love their dynamic. It’s ship-worthy to me.

Oh my god, Teru, cats are not even safe from him.

But what if he already knew it was Tsuchigomori and that’s why he said that? “This ‘cat’ “. There’s no way he would actually say that to a regular and normal cat.

Or he probably wants revenge for all the cats that have wronged him in the past.

I was really really really confused on this part.

A fight? With Tsukasa?

What could you guys possibly even fight about??? What is there to fight about???

Is he being over dramatic, misunderstanding what happened between them or did they actually fight?

I hope we see what their fight could have possibly been about, would Aidalro drop information like this and expect us to think this is a normal occurrence? I mean, I believe some people would think this is a normal occurrence, but idk….They’ve never really fought. Not in a way that would make both of them feel like it was a fight.

Tsuchigomori’s father-tendencies kicked in.

Vivian….? Quick name-giving…

He really has a desire for someone to stay with him forever. Bound by death. God Mitsuba, your lonely.

You have Tsukasa though, you have to get to know him better! I promise he’s not so bad!

Oh my god. 💀

Mitsuba’s facial expressions changed so fast.

A whole grown a** man, having cat ears on, and sitting on his 13 year old lap.

I would have screamed. ( In a horrific way )

Liked this though. 👍🏽

[redcamellia13]

Mitsukou Analysis: Alteration Arc

(I should really get to organizing all my analyses)

The end times have come. I must analyze the most heart breaking moment of JSHk, and this is also where these analyses come rot an end, at least until an entire new arc finishes up. However, there will be a part two (mostly because I don't have the emotional strength to cover chapter 120)

Without further ado, let’s go…! (Forced enthusiasm)

My overly Korean grandma bows for everything, and I think that rubbed off on me, because that bow Kou just did is something I have to refrain from doing every time I'm sorry/thankful (just picture me doing this at least 5 times whenever I say "I'm so, sincerely sorry!" or "Oh my goodness, thank you so, so much!")

Anywayyyyssss... I'm glad to see how Mitsuba and Kou are still friends, and best at that. Which is kind of an... odd decision to make, on Aidairo's part.

Given that in all Twitter AUs as well as bonus art Mitsuba and Kou are always good friends, and they’re so close in the New Timeline- it’s almost as though Aidairo’s trying to say no matter what, Kou and Mitsuba are always friends.

You know what that reminds me of? The red string of fate (aka the mermaid scale) binding Hanako and Nene across time and space. And we all know Hanako and Nene are infamous for being friends, just friends, nothing more, purely platonic friends

Then again, Kou’s special relationship with Mitsuba might not be so special after all, since he gave Nene that ticket without remembering the old world.

It’s a bit… I don’t know, concerning that we don’t see any tears from Teru or Kou about their mother being alive in this timeline/their mother being dead in the last one.

I get it was a long time ago, and both Minamotos have been shown to have healed since then. Teru is sorta desensitized to death, and to Kou, it’s just a fact of life he has to get over.

But come on, this was Kou’s number one wish! I expected a little stronger reaction!

Something I was wondering was, why did Kou and Sousuke (since Mitsuba in this timeline seems a lot closer to Sousuke than No. 3) forget things, while the people involved with the clockkeeper’s trial kept their memories?

You might be thinking, “well duh Camellia, you just said it, it’s because they were involved in the trial.”

But the thing is, there is no established reason why participants in the trial retained their memories, or at least recovered them faster, over the non participants.

Honestly, it would be counter intuitive for Kako and Mirai (let’s be honest Akane couldn’t do shit to stop them) to allow the participants to keep memories of the old world, considering our most powerful character is in that party: Teru. I’m really hoping it’s not just a plot hole Aidairo forgot to patch, and that it actually means something

Also, why haven’t we gotten a Minamoto dad reveal yet? Is Aidairo saving it for a future plot twist?

I wasn’t going to include this panel until I took a closer look at the background, where Sousuke’s mom is black out drunk.

I’m sorry, what?! Sousuke’s mom, in the old timeline, is a sweet, sincere, still grieving woman who cared deeply for her late son. Never are we shown signs of her being an alcoholic.

I can’t tell if it affects Mitsuba’s quality of living, or if this is a one time thing. Does this mean if Mitsuba were alive she would be a worse person?

This is quite a calculated move on Mitsuba’s part. Just as Kou said, he’s a scaredy-cat who would never willingly come to the school at night, so something had to have changed.

It’s… probably not his underclassmen. Mitsuba has never been shown to be social, other than joining the photography club and even then when Kou visited them to investigate Sousuke's grave they told him he was never really close to other members.

So, it's either one of the following:

He wanted to talk to Kou about the "dream"

He had some weird sense it was related to Tsukasa

Oh so they dream about each other now (see After School Hanako-kun)

This has nothing to do with their relationship I just wanted to say that (Aidairo probably didn't mean it like that but I'm taking the win regardless)

Kou has been actively avoiding discussing Mitsuba's death with him, and that is completely understandable: the dude his 90% of his trauma for heaven's sake!

However, Mitsuba isn't shying away from the topic at all, consistently approaching Kou about it.

And this is weird as hell.

Mitsuba's situation in the new timeline is arguably worse than any other character since both iterations live inside of him which must be such an unpleasant feeling, and on top of that, the guy that would bring up the worst memories is now his best friend (okay I take it back things could be worse *ahem ahem YUGI TWINS*)

God, this is heart breaking to read...

RUN, RUN LITTLE MITSUKOU BEFORE ITS TOO LATEEEEE

Desperate attempts to save my children aside, apparently the Red House can just randomly change paperwork to draw victims in.

I'm quite confused as to how it does this, and doubly confused when it comes to the photo Sousuke took that suddenly developed into a pic of the Red House.

It's most likely due to Amane using the powers he got from the hole god, but we don't know what he really is.

The science prep room Nene stumbled into was so long ago it was since converted into a storage room. But in the photos inside the photo album are of modern-looking astronomy technology. If Amane was born in 1955, and we can estimate adult Amane to be ~20 years old, these pictures were taken in the '70s.

If he isn't born in 1955, then could that be the change Kako and MIrai made? But it doesn't cause that powerful ripple effect required...

Now, I am no expert in telescopes, but these do not look like they were made in 1970.

Also. Teru mentions no rumors surround the Red House, which either means it's reality warping effect has gotten much stronger or the house has gotten weaker. Given that Aidairo likes to make things ten times worse, it's most likely the latter, so does this mean the Red House only draws in people connected to the old timeline/those with spiritual energy?

[makshu]

Ok. There's something going on and I need to talk about it.

We've all seen that AidaIro is posting new art every day, and on the 18th there will be a new chapter.

But I noticed something, all these arts are about the last arc and are telling the story of it again.

Let me show you

The first one we had was on chapter 111, which shows Yashiro. Everything is normal, but behind her we can see typical theater spotlights, it could just be something mundane or reference her school play rehearsals. Well we started with this.

So we have this art of 12y Tsukasa. Referencing when Yashiro and Mitsuba ended up in the past and found 12y Tsukasa talking to them. He said a rumor about the big clock that further opened the theme of this arc, really an omen for everything.

This art by Sakura is worth mentioning, as she is part of the broadcast gang. She is behind everything, and theories about her being the god or something powerful are increasing more and more. It's worth mentioning that she wished something for Tsukasa, everything he's doing is because of her (because of Amane too, but he has a bond with Sakura). Sakura is an extremely important piece in this puzzle.

Let the fun begin! Next in the series we have Mitsuba and Kou enjoying their time at the festival. Eating and playing together. We were informed, the festival has started.

More moments at the festival. This scene happened in the manga, it is the beginning of the festival that we see. Hanako and Yashiro in the haunted house made by Kou's class. Until that moment everything was normal (or so we thought).

This one is curious. We only see seal Tsukasa in this arc after the plan is initiated. But I believe he was also out there enjoying his last moments. And you can tell that it's really Tsukasa and not the creature. Well, now we're getting close.

Ohhh look what we have here! President and vice-president enjoying the festival as well, despite their work they still managed to find some time to have fun. Natsuhiko had already confronted Akane earlier and Teru had already discovered the black crane, they were probably already alert for anything suspicious. But, everything's still normal.

We return to Sakura, now in her maid outfit. We also have Natsuhiko's first appearance in these arts. This was possibly before or during the festival, but following the chronological line it must have been during. Note that until then this was the only art that did not have a black border (I will talk about this later). Moving on to the next...

From here things started to get serious. The plan had begun. This moment happens in chapter 105. Blood had started to spread throughout the auditorium and Hanako noticed that something was wrong. We are just a few steps away from entering No.1 boundary.

And finally we have today's art. The revelation of the immortal human, Natsuhiko. Breaking the timeline, in this art we go back to chapter 104, where Natsuhiko spreads his blood across the clock, thus executing the plan to go after the last yorishiros.

And these were all the arts released so far, the arts that reference the arc in this case. They all seem to be retelling the story of the Festival arc. Now why? Why would AidaIro be recapping the last arc?

We know that the past has changed and everything has a chance of being different from what we know. We go back to the beginning of the festival, where nothing had happened yet. Therefore, none of these events had happened, if everything really changed, the arts are telling an alternative version of history, the version we know.

Moving from analysis to theory... did you notice that almost all arts have a black border? Black borders are used to indicate flashbacks, the past in JSHK. Now, why would they be using this artifice? Assuming the present has changed, this would be the past. But not a past like something that happened years ago, but a past that no longer exists, in the sense of what it was before this current one. That's why the black borders, indicating that this would be the past.

What breaks this theory is Sakura's art in her maid outfit, as it doesn't have a black border. Maybe the borders are part of the new AidaIro style and are something made to style the arts, or actually have a connection to something. Well, that part is just a crazy theory.

But what do you think of this analysis? The images seem to be telling the arc of the festival all over again, and for what reason? Maybe we'll find out on the 18th, when chapter 112 comes out.

[sillyyuserr]

posting again at nearly 1am :P

another small analysis (if you can even call it that)

what im going to be talking about takes place in jshk, chapter 79, a quick recap. This is during the red house arc, and at this point in time kou and nene are in the red house, whilst akane and teru are at the shrine talking to what seems to be either a worker at the shrine or a family member/family friend of teru’s (and aoi’s in the far shore but shes not very relevant in this chapter).

after they fail to get something out of the “family friend”, teru exhaustedly lyes down and starts “ranting” to akane ab how hard his life is

and whilst doing this they somehow get to the topic of aoi. And akane starts to wonder if teru GENUINELY likes her. And i mean we can kind of tell he doesnt, but its still a little odd to see him act like this

does he like aoi? We never truly will know, but theres alot of things implying he doesnt like her (and vice versa) but im too lazy to go digging those up so just take my word for it 😭

but akane doesnt even look mad here??? he’d usually either bitchslap someone for talking ab dating her or even hitting ppl with a fucking spiked bat who glance at her

but this? who knows. And not to mention teru looks almost sad when akane mentions him possibly liking her. Almost as if he misunderstood his intenions??

This is very interesting to me, he looks almost distant, but not in the way of no one understands him or he wants to get away from everyone but in the “im trying to tell you what i mean but you’re not getting it” kind of way.

you see it too right? Pls tell me im not insane 😭

but why is he looking like this at akane? Well lets come up with a few ideas. one reason could be because he’s possibly “hinting” to akane that he likes aoi, although this doesnt make much sense considering he literally asked him that straight up and thats his literal direct response.

another reason could be that he’s sad akane’s brought-ten up her again. Not because he dislikes her, but maybe a little reminder that akane still likes aoi, and that he’s still JUST out of his reach.

After that akane talks about going to save aoi on his own since teru’s being a sad sack and wont do it himself, leading up to these 2 panels.

LIKE UHM???? HOLD ON

Lets look closer here 😭 not only does he have the most love-struck eyes ive ever seen, but also he’s blushing??? ON BOTH SIDES?? Also the way his expression takes up the entirety of the upper half of this panel shows us that this is kind of important and for us to really pay attention to it.

ive seen him make this face TWICE. Both times looking at who you may ask? Take a guess

I have so many takes on terukane but no one wants to listen to them so i go to tumblr and share with my singular follower💀 im not even exaggerating

One sided terukane makes me SICK 😭

[thelunarfairy]

JSHK Chapter 116 - Brief Analysis.

An analysis made by request.

Tsukasa's empty gaze always makes me associate his image with the entity. When he allows it to take possession of his body at times, if I can deduce that.

Even if the two cohabit in the same body, the entity still allows him to be aware of his actions. But, it seems that here, specifically in these moments, only the entity is in control.

Even though at times it seems like the boy is still here, reacting.

It made me wonder if the entity was mimicking him here. It tends to do that.

It's good to remember that the entity's voice is apparently the same as Tsukasa's, Nene and Kou said they were hearing a child's voice when they were in the red house, but Tsukasa was talking to the entity.

It's interesting, even if the entity can imitate him, it's still so artificial at times that you can tell there's "something wrong"

Now something that has always intrigued me here is about the victims. The victim who was in the current reality reacted in a similar way to those in the old reality.

I wonder, what is the real objective of this? What does the entity gain by taking full control of someone's body? What is this ability for anyway? We have obvious answers, but I want the main objective.

Why does he need so many to control? Something related to his power? If there are many "sacrifices" (if I can call it that, because technically they don't die), does he use the energy of the person he possesses for some purpose?

What is the entity's objective?

And yet, the entity shares the body with Tsukasa, the most rational one, to achieve greater goals.

He possesses his victims, but do they do anything other than randomly attack other people to possess them as well?

In the current reality, without that ritual, possession happens faster than in the old reality. The Kannagis remained sane for many years until they were completely possessed, but in the current reality, this is not the case.

It is as if in the old reality the entity's powers had already been weakened, or it was trapped somewhere.

Tsukasa simply touched Kou's hand so that it began to spread, and he was quickly possessed, as if the entity was freer to act here.

Kako said that it was a remnant of what that God once was, so he was probably already sealed in some way at that time.

It seems that the entity is stronger here, to the point that it can single-handedly possess and even temporarily change the shape of Tsukasa's body.

Tsukasa's patterns follow the same as the previous one, the "holes" that we see with some consistency. Not only in his body but in Hanako's as well.

But in the other reality, they weren't really holes, they were circular spots.

Here in the current reality you can actually see a depth, there's a hole there.

Does this still reflect on the strength that the entity has in both realities?

Well, this chapter wasn't about Tsukasa, exactly, it was about the entity and the power it has now.

Perhaps to reflect a little on how Amane was responsible for making the entity strong in this way.

A contrast between an Amane who fears Tsukasa because he doesn't believe he is the real one

and the Amane who encourages girls to perform a ritual to summon Tsukasa, knowing that they will be possessed.

So, Amane knows about the entity here.

Furthermore, we see that the entity lives in a parallel version of reality. Something we knew in the old reality, where we saw Tsukasa walking through corridors with dark windows and stained walls.

Something similar to the red house.

So here we confirm the connection between the two places.

And

This caught my attention, Mitsuba didn't feel that his hand was affected. Something similar to what Aoi felt when she touched the dark spot on the far shore.

This made me wonder, are those spots that were on the far shore connected to the entity as well?

Similar effects.

The difference is that the spots on the far shore tend to destroy, while the entity is there to possess.

Hmm… but I still feel a connection between the two things

Why didn't the entity do anything here?

hmmmmmmm…..

But before I forget

Boooy???!!!!! Hitting a 4 year old kiiid????!!!!! I know, he was defending himself, but look at the force with which he hits the kid, it looks like there's hatred here.It wasn't a defensive punch, even Mitsuba was scared.

An observation I've made before in another post, the Mitsuba of this reality never died, but he has the memories of Mitsuba 2, which is purely supernatural.

It means that Yako was right. That is still Mitsuba.

And well, we see Tsukasa playing around trying to find the two. Apparently the possessions do not have a direct connection with the entity.

The possessed girl who saw Mitsuba and Kou could have told the entity their location, even without having to communicate, but it seems that this is not something that happens.

Tsukasa's game, the ritual itself, reminds me a bit of the urban legend called Hitori Kakurenbo, it does not have all the details, but it may have been used as a reference.

And now…

Tsukasa calling out to Amane….

Was he there?

For a moment I thought this scene was a representation of Tsukasa calling out to Amane but never being answered by him.

But the look he gave Kou after he called out to Tsukasa. As if he was "getting in the way" of something.

That look from Tsukasa is the same one he uses in situations like these, when someone is getting in his way when he's doing something important. And, of course, he's about to retaliate.

I would love to put a picture of his expression here, but we've reached the limit of images.

But if you want a reference, remember the moment he looks at Mirai when she interrupts the conversation between him and Amane.

It's almost the same.

Which convinced me that something related to Amane was there… but what exactly? Or Amane himself…

We don't know his whereabouts, but he wouldn't be too far from Tsukasa.

I won't go into this too much now because I don't have many conclusive thoughts about it. Few clues.

About the Yorishiro, serving as its usual role, break/destroy it, and everything will return to normal.

So, I imagine that in the other reality, if they remove all the yorishiros, everything will return to normal.

The problem is…

what is "normal" in the old reality?

Is it living among the supernaturals that devoured humans?

Hmm…….

Kou being possessed by Tsukasa was something I already expected, I would be surprised if it was the other way around.

Teru and Akane appearing to help them is also something I expected.

HOWEVER, I didn't imagine that I would see such a surprised face from Tsukasa. When Teru appeared, Kou/Tsukasa's eyes widened, didn't he expect Teru to appear?

Interesting, it's not every day that you see a surprised Tsukasa.

And well, the entity preferred to walk away, so it probably doesn't want to deal with him now, even though it is strong, it really has no interest in getting involved with him.

Even if it was to kill Teru. Even in the old reality, Tsukasa didn't pay attention to Teru even when they were side by side.

That always made me curious.

Why does the entity/Tsukasa ignore him?

We don't even see any desire to attack Teru. It's intriguing. Something similar with Hanako, who even when he's in conflict with Teru, doesn't seriously try to kill him. Hanako usually just defends himself.

Hmm……

Strange……

And finally, Teru and Akane saying that Tsukasa was different, another reinforcement to convince us that that wasn't Tsukasa.

The same logic as Mitsuba.

Is he the real one, or not?

I don't know about you, but for me that's Tsukasa. In the same way that Mitsuba is still Mitsuba.

This is a story that shows that a person can be many things at the same time. The same good person can be bad when necessary.

Something that reminds me of Hanako.

I like how they always insist on the theme "are you really you?"

And if people will continue to love him when they find out that they can be both versions.

"Do you love all sides of me?"

Hmm……

But if that's the case, why couldn't Kako "get rid" of Tsukasa?

That's the golden question.

I like to think that Tsukasa predicted this and is just having fun.

Tsukasa knows what he's doing, he'll wait for the right moment to destroy Number One's Yorishiro.

[mari-lair]

Kou never mistakes Hanako for a human, and I find that interesting.

He heard about Amane from Nene, who had front roll seats to his past and gained an intimate wake up call that "Hanako is not a 'magic being' from a fantasy book, he was a student, who is now dead"

His death is not a conflict for Kou though, is just who he is. He is well aware the ghost is dead, so what Nene shares isn't a revelation, is just small pieces of the puzzle that is Hanako: the understanding he used to study here.

Kou has no real link to Amane, he never met the guy. Even when explicitly talking about Amane, Kou has no mental image of this 13-year-old who killed his own brother, he can only picture Hanako, the ghost.

Kou doesn't interact with 'Amane' in Picture Perfect either, the very few interactions they have are super short, and always started by Hanako in his Amane disguise.

The one time Kou approaches him is because 'Amane' was carrying an unconscious Nene, so he gets curious, and shows that he doesn't trust him.

But when he learns it's Hanako, he is delighted. It doesn't matter that Mitsuba is acting weird, and that he still didn't get any answers, cause is Hanako! Hanako his buddy!

He never had a wish for Hanako to be alive, to be his classmate, so he doesn't feel any desperate attachment to the idea of 'Yugi Amane' like he did with the idea of 'Mitsuba Sousuke' only ever seeing him as a wrong version of Hanako from the start. Is not real, so of course he doesn't trust him.

His view of Hanako cannot be separated from him being a ghost.

Hanako is the one who properly introduced Kou to the world of supernaturals and served as an informant on the Far Shore when Teru kept him in the dark. He teaches Kou about rumors, boundaries, supernatural festivals, and introduces him to the complex feelings some of the dead may have about lingering on the Near Shore.

There are two main mentalities Kou has when it comes to Hanako, the first is 'I don't know enough about Hanako to tell if he is a threat, he is so weird, I want to learn about him' The second is 'he helps me and Nene. He looks after us, he is our friend.' and usually he focuses on the second.

But the "i need to gauge if he is a threat" mentality is just as important as his attachment to Hanako.

It's what makes him keep an eye on him and occasionally act like a judge, trying to figure out what is going on with him, which is a hard task.

Hanako does a lot of good and bad things to Kou.

He sealed his exorcist staff, which debilitates him through basically the whole manga, but he helps and saves him and Nene when called, he lies and is selfish, but he seems to only lie for silly things or what Hanako seems to believe is the greater good (the tears eye drops, Nene's lifespan). He seems guilty and burdened by his murder but he did murder someone. He is important to Nene, he is important to Kou, and so on.

Is too much to keep track of. Too hard to give a judgment.

So he focus on his feelings way more than logic, and he is very inclined to have a positive view of Hanako. He wants Hanako to be good. To be a friend.

He does notice his slimy behavior and he does change his perception of Hanako, slowly understanding him better and growing more wary of what he says, more careful when trying to read him.

But his doubts aren't nearly as heavy as his hopes for Hanako: He believes he wants the best for them.

If we go back to the scene where Nene is talking about Amane, there is something she says that sticks with Kou, something that immediately catches his attention "Maybe I shouldn't be his friend"

Unlike his death, this is a conflict Kou relates to.

He is making donuts for Hanako as they speak, absorbing everything he learns about the guy and using the information to help Hanako because he wants to cheer up Hanako.

Hanako being important to Nene is important to Kou. They are a group to him, and he isn't alone in his uncertainty.

Kou keep this mentality of just doing what he wants for a while, childish as it is, but slowly, he is forced to give Hanako more thought, to take him seriously.

His view on Hanako has been tipping to the negative recently. He always knew about Hanako being strange and full of secrets but he can't dismiss it anymore, since the ghost started lying about big things, like trapping Nene in a fake world and exchanging Aoi's lifespan for hers without Nene's consent. Is not like his usual avoidance and silly lies, he is getting harmful.

Hanako gave Kou plenty of glimpses into his more 'inhuman' mentality. He has shown Kou a lot of hints that pratically scream "Stop trusting me kid."

It piles up.

It becomes harder to know what is a lie. What isn't. What is okay and what shouldn't be forgiven.

Kou keeps trying to understand him and give him the benefit of the doubt , he truly doesn't want to believe Hanako is just an 'evil spirit' after everything they've been through. He is a supernatural but he is his teacher and friend too, that got to mean something.

But he doesn't have a clear answer. He can think as hard as he want, he still has no idea what is going on inside Hanako's head, he just wants to believe is something for Nene's sake. Because even if he isn't sure what Hanako thinks of him, he wants to believe he wants Nene to be happy, that his care for her is strong and genuine.

Besides the conflict between "he is an apparition, he is a friend" There is also the way Kou is dependent on Hanako.

Hanako is extremely helpful, he gives him all the answers related to supernaturals. Even when Kou didn't trust Hanako, the ghost already took the role of 'the guide' in the group, offering Kou something he always wanted: Information on supernaturals. A ticket to be part of a world Kou had always wanted to be part of, but his brother had sheltered him from.

Kou always goes to Hanako when he is in trouble. Regardless of how shady he acts, Hanako always helps.

So when he tells Kou he is incompetent, it gives him a wake up call.

Kou always had an inferiority complex, but this puts into perspective how he relies a lot on Hanako. He doesn't solve anything by himself, he either follows Hanako's lead, or faces a dead end.

Kou has a lot to think about after that. He doesn't want to keep relying on Hanako, he wants to take action himself, to be something that doesn't follow Hanako or Teru's lead.

He focuses mostly on Mitsuba, convinced the supernatural needs him, but also goes back to the promise he made with Teru.

This 'what do you want to do?' moment gives insight into a lot of relationships, but I'll only focus on what it says about Kou's view of Hanako here.

Kou is usually very sweet with Nene, but he is direct to the point of being cold here, he calls Hanako "The evil spirit of a murderer" as he had when he first met him all the way back in chap 3, It feels like an ultimatum. A judgment.

Hanako is dangerous, he needs to exorcise him. Part of him wants to exorcise Hanako. But he doesn't want to exorcise his teacher, his friend.

This brings me to his wish on the Red House.

Before talking about his wish I want to point out what his wish isn’t: Kou doesn’t want Hanako’s help, advise or support. He doesn’t want Hanako to give up on trying to help nene either, so he is still depends on Hanako's actions to save Nene to some extent, he doesn't believe he can do it himself, nor does he want the pressure of being believed.

He wants Hanako to be a problem that’s easy to deal with, an evil spirit that’s undeniably evil.

Things would be much easier if Kou could exorcise him: It would prove it to himself, teru, and Hanako that he can be an exorcist, it would eliminate any possible anxiety about what Hanako will do next, and it would give Hanako what he wants, Kou wouldn't disappoint him again.

When he pictures Hanako, he is happy and sweet looking, almost innocent. He may have decided he need to exorcise Hanako at some point, that is the right thing, but he doesn't really... want him gone.

He consistently has exorcism in mind when it comes to Hanako post-severance, but he also consistently pictures him happy and friendly. .

"I want to be a bigger help" implies he wants to work with Hanako, so the two help Nene instead of him being the sole person in charge of her lifespan, which is a big big difference from his self-destructive desperation to be the one to help Mitsuba.

"I need to get to the point where I can exorcise him." As it is, Kou does not believe he can exorcise him. He realizes he should, but also that he can't.

What he says when he fights Teru fits into that.

He doesn't agree with Hanako, and he denies the idea that he is doing this for Hanako, choosing to focus on his bond with Nene instead of his exorcism dilemma.

He and Nene have a simple camaraderie he can rely on, a mutual lack of understanding of what to do, but even this more 'safe' decision to be on her side instead of trying to keep discovering his own path got Kou the same reprimand Hanako had given him "You have big ideas but you can't back it up."

Both of the people he looks up to give him guidance told him he is useless. He can not fully relate to exorcists, or supernaturals, the path he is carving for himself, his beliefs, are unclear, easily shaken, and likely useless.

He still wants to be an exorcist, deep down, delighted when Teru gave him a chance. But he can't be an exorcist. Not when he thinks so much about the supernatural, unable to reject them but unable to truly understand or relate to them either.

It makes me sad that Aidairo pushed Kou and Hanako's situation aside, cause they still have a lot to explore, yet all we got recently is these crumbs:

Kou is keeping his eyes on Hanako, his attitude half "I am your friend, I care about you", half "I don't trust you anymore, don't scheme again, bastard" but they don't have meaningful talks with each other anymore.

Hanako will save Kou if he sees him in danger, I'm sure. And Kou will do the same. But their trust is... shaky... and they will never talk about it. Kou won't share that he wants but can't exorcise Hanako and Hanako won't share how much he values Kou. They won't seek each other for help either. Both will slowly yet consistently focus on someone else instead, like a weirdly passive attempt at detachment.

So I have no hope for more meaningful interaction between them. Not anytime soon at least... Is truly a shame.