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rickyriddle · 5 years

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Kaminaga Kouko analysis

Hi there! I’m back with a new AnR analysis, this time about Kouko! After Suzu it’s time to analyze our favourite class representative. It had been a while I wanted to make an analysis of her, I was supposed to do her before Suzu but ended up doing Suzu as a request for someone. But now it’s Kouko’s time, the girl deserves some recognition, and I’m going to give it to her.

So, let’s start by examining Kouko’s past. We know that Kouko is an orphan, so her parents died when she was a child and she was ‘welcomed’ by an orphanage, who is actually a criminal organization training kids to become assassins, seemingly specializing in bombs. Kouko was good at making plans but terrible at handling bombs. It made her an easy target for bullying. It didn’t seem as intense as what Shiena went through, from what we seem it seems to be mainly mockery, but to be put down like that by people of her age and view as a failure by the adults must have given Kouko a pretty bad esteem of herself. Her only source of happiness was her senpai and mentor Irena, probably what kept her from breaking, and she, unfortunately, killed her by accident as a teenager. It didn’t help with her esteem, made her feel terribly guilty, and increase the hate her superiors had towards her. Kouko was basically sent at Class Black because it was judges as an unimportant mission and didn’t want to waste a good assassin on it.

Here’s a little headcanon about Kouko’s orphanage. I personally think they are a religious fanatic group, terrorists. The catholic orphanage could be a cover-up, but in one scene they really seemed to imply they do believe in God, which is strange for an assassin organization unless they are extremists. Irena also implied in KnR that she never kissed anyone because she “chose that kind of life”, which lead me to believe she’s an actual nun, thus religious. The fact they are religious and use bombs really give me a big terrorist vibe, but that’s only my opinion and I won’t use it for the rest of the analysis, I just wanted to share this headcanon with you (and having a terrorist among the assassin add some ‘diversity’ in the cast).

Back to what’s canon. From what we have seen in the series, well during Class Black, Kouko was acting really assertive, bossy, challenging anyone who wanted to question her authority. She was determined, focus, hardworking, smart, act confident and didn’t want to accept failure. Despite her clumsiness, from what we see she was a rather competent class representative. But in the flashback before Class Black, where she was also a teenager, Kouko looked more submissive, she lacks confidence, she was shy. Even her voice sounded different. It was way soft and high pitched before Class Black, and during Class Black, it was way deep. And it’s not like there were a lot of years between those two periods, she looked the same age. It seems to indicate that she forces herself to sound deeper now, to assert her authority and dominance, to not be viewed as weak.

Kouko tried to make herself look assertive and in control, she seeks positions of power, she wants to be in charge, she wants people to rely on her, and she can’t accept failure. It’s like she was craving for some feeling of superiority, not to put down others, but to put herself up. Even if Kouko is trying to assert her authority on others, she doesn’t try to put them down, all she wants is putting herself up. She doesn’t want to feel above others, she wants to be at the same level at them while protecting her need to feel in power.

Let’s examine a little bit of Kouko’s psychology. We don’t know at what age she lost her parents but we can assume she was young, so it’s possible that she didn’t experience much parental love as a child. She was disliked by her classmates and by the adults around her, the only person who seemed to love her was Irena. To be overall disliked by others and lacking love as a child must have a serious effect on her self-esteem. Also, accidentally killing the only person who gave her love, her only source of happiness, the person who was giving her self-worth, must have left her with a deep feeling of guiltiness, remorse, and possibly hatred against herself. All of this must have left a feeling of inferiority in Kouko.

And this is where I wanted to bring you. If you read my AnR mental illness post you know what’s coming next. I’m talking about Kouko’s mental issues. She’s a prime example of someone suffering from an inferiority complex.

Let’s start with a symptom of inferiority complex, low self-esteem. People with low self-esteem have heavy self-criticism, Kouko views herself as a failure. Hypersensitivity to criticism, Kouko was quick to challenge others who question her authority and get really sensitive when Suzu asked her question about her wish. Perfectionism, Kouko wants everything to be perfect and doesn’t accept failure. Neurotic guilt, she feels guilty over Irena’s death. Floating hostility, she’s quick to argue with people who question her authority or doubt her. Pessimism, I would say that in general, Kouko is a pretty pessimistic person. Envy, she expresses resentment against Tokaku for being an elite assassin while she’s a weak assassin.

But what about the inferiority complex. From what I read, it can be rooted in the young child’s original experience with weakness, helplessness and dependancy. As a child, Kouko was treated as weak, she was forced to be an assassin, making her helpless, and dependant on Irena, her only source of happiness. It can be intensified by comparison to others, and I have no doubt that the teachers at the orphanage kept comparing her to the kids who were more competent than her. Kouko seems to display a certain “superiority complex”, a desire to appear superior in a way, dominant, assertive, in control, a craving for position of powers. But superiority complex can be a defence mechanism against inferiority complex, which I believe is the case with Kouko. She feels inferior and to cope with it, she tries to compensate with a need for power, dominance and control over others, to try to put herself up and gave herself self-confidence. She’s so desperate for it that she literally changed her voice just to look more assertive. And when she loses or fails, she feels worthless again and breaks in cry, feeling overcome by her deep feeling of inferiority.

I have been told that I view characters too much through mental illness, so let’s talk about Kouko’s traits that are personal to her and not to a disorder. I talked about it before, but Kouko is extremely clumsy, it’s a little quirk of hers. It could be the result of her inferiority complex, but Kouko is clumsy since she’s a child, so I think it’s more something personal to her that may have gotten worst with her overall low self-esteem. But I still consider that her clumsiness is part of her personality. Kouko is also shown trying to help Haru with her homework, showing that Kouko is willing to help others. It may be related to her class representative role, but I feel like she genuinely wants to help people, deep down she has a good and generous heart, but was forced to bury it in order to be an assassin. Kouko still tried to kill Haru with no hesitation, showing that she’s capable of murder (she’s just incompetent at it… well she’s better with a gun than bombs, we have to give her that). Something I found really interesting with Kouko happened during her childhood, Irena said her “blueprint” (I think it was some bomb blueprint?) was well done, and some kid mocks her, saying that “drawing well means nothing”. Sure it was a blueprint, but I have the feeling Kouko might have some artistic talent, she’s good with a pencil. She could either be good at designing other types of blueprints (possible future jobs? Tho I headcanon her as a doctor in the future), or, she could use her skills with a pencil for more creative stuff, like drawing. Would it be cute for Kouko to have as a hobby drawing? Maybe that would help her get some self-esteem, have a passion, feel some enjoyment in life, learning to love herself. I’m all for the Kouko to become an artist later in life. Also, during the epilogue, Kouko successfully escape from her organization despite the risk, showing how brave she is, and we saw that in KnR she did it to honour Irena’s wish that wanted her to be a hope for everyone (that it was possible to escape I presume and live a normal life), showing that Kouko is someone who will go out of her way to honour someone’s wish.

So, we’re arriving at the shipping part. I suppose I should talk about Kouko’s relationship with Suzu. But I can’t do that without talking about her relationship with Irena first. Irena was Kouko’s senpai, her mentor, her role model, the only source of happiness and self-worth at the orphanage. Kouko was dependant on her, and when she lost her it left a void in her heart and a deep feeling of worthlessness. Irena was like the sun in her life, and without her, she’s stuck in a dark and cold night (okay that sounded cheesy but you get my point).

Okay, now we can talk about Suzu. She’s not a replacement for Irena, but she’s a new mature and adult person in Kouko’s life, a new person she can rely on. Suzu is like a mentor to her, teaching her stuff, helping her with her life (and literally saving her life in KnR). This is what Kouko needs in her life, an adult with experience to help her out, to heal her heart from the loss of Irena. Kouko needs emotional support, to feel appreciated by someone, someone to guide her, and Suzu is the right person for that. They are both lonely and hurt by life, and having each other can help them both to heal their own inner wound. Suzu and Kouko have more of a grandma/grandchild relationship than a romantic one, Suzu does look like she has a little crush on Kouko, but we have yet to see Kouko reciprocate those feelings. I personally ship them as a romantic couple, but as they are portrayed in the series, they are canonly pretty platonic.

Wow, working on this analysis made me realize how deep Kouko is as a character despite her low screentime, I genuinely feel bad for her, her past is really sad, and I sincerely wish her to be happy in the future (with Suzu, of course).

So in conclusion, Kouko is someone struggling with low self-esteem and an inferiority complex due to a childhood devoid of love and appreciation, she hides it behind an assertive and power-seeking persona, but deep down she’s a generous, honourable, brave and determined person, with possibly the soul of an artist. If she starts a new life (possibly with Suzu) she might finally learn to love herself and be happy, and especially, be free.

That will be all for my Kouko analysis, thanks for reading and if you have any comment, stuff you want to add or questions, don’t hesitate to ask me!

ps: may add a video later to illustrate one of my points.

#akuma no riddle #riddle story of devil #anr #kouko kaminaga #kaminaga kouko #suzukou #suzu x kouko #analysis #ricky analysis #ricky talk

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