#lmk if i missed anything youd want clarifications for

[mihai-florescu]

im laying down and listening attentively please tell me about kanata...... element ep3 left me with more questions than answers

Omg ok so Element is not gonna cover it but Meteor Impact is the story of what happened to Kanata before and during the war! I might be foggy on some details but basically, Kanata was born in a cult and worshipped as their living god. The story of how the cult came to be was that a long time ago a meteorite had fallen on earth with a disease that made people ill and die. Thinking it was a curse, people who didnt become ill were sacrificed and eaten. The belief was that once a human becomes a sacrifice they are considered a fish, a being made to be eaten (so you know when Kanata calls himself a fishie it's, well, i'll come back to it in a sec...). Eating the sacrifices cured people of the illness, my guess is that it worked like a vaccine? Eating the flesh and blood immune to the disease strengthened weaker people immune system?

Anyway the Shinkai cult protected the healthy members of the family of the sacrifices as Gods able to grant miracles by getting rid of curses. These are Kanata's ancestors. It implies that if the curse came again, Kanata would become a sacrifice to be eaten... actually more about Kanata's ancestors, apparently someone ill who had been thrown into the ocean when they were still figuring out ways to get rid of the disease returned back to the land as a Monster (the story doesnt go more in depth since it's just a legend Kanata overheard during ceremonies, so make of it what you want). The God and the Monster married and that's how the Shinkai bloodline came to be. The illness returns at some point when a land chief refused to worship the Shinkai cult anymore and a lot of people died as a result (iirc that chief was an ancestor of Souma's and that comes back in the story when Akatsuki tries to take down Kanata as one of the 5 eccentrics in the war).

Kanata's execution as one of the eccentrics is the second after Shu and it marks a point where the plot Keito had for the war starts to unravel a bit out of what he had planned. He describes how bloodthirsty the crowd was and how they hated the 5 eccentrics beyond a reasonable level (the students were actually screaming for Kanata to be killed), Chiaki even expected rocks to be thrown. Fun fact, Eichi wasn't even involved in this part of the story, it was Akatsuki who held the Battle Vs The Sea God. It's a fun fact because people love to blame Eichi for everything when it's literally not true.

Anyway the details of how the cult eventually got torn apart are more complicated, inside the school the student council helped students start having a negative impression of Kanata (there are some really good chapters about Keito using Souma's connection to Kanata to manipulate people into thinking all their wishes are actually granted by the student council, which diminished their faith in Kanata as a god), but Madara's the one who spent his life trying to take down the actual cult outside (that he also grew up in. I dont know what details to mention since i'm not sure how much you know already, but Kanata and Madara were childhood friends, and Madara figured out the cult was a scam when Kanata couldn't heal his disabled sister. We can go into the madakana dynamic later if you want)

I just realised I completely forgot to mention Chiaki's role in helping Kanata become a human. Chiaki was the first person at Yumenosaki who didn't make a wish for Kanata to grant and treated him not like a God but as a fellow student. Initially after making contact, Madara showed up and asked Chiaki to not get involved with the Shinkai cult so they cut contact for a while, time in which Kanata becomes lonely and Chiaki is struggling to make it in the lawless pre war Yumenosaki. At Madara's request Chiaki helped save Kanata and make him realise he's human, a special genius one, but a human nevertheless. Well, at Madara's request Chiaki initially just went to the beach where he saw Kanata was actually drowning (the first wish Chiaki ever makes is for Kanata to not die, those chapters make me insaaane). The greatest thing they can do for each other is to just offer friendship and be there for each other. Which is why Chiaki is by Kanata's side during the execution. Well, at first Chiaki wants to become the sacrifice in Kanata's place but Kanata doesn't let him go alone, it's very sweet.

Basically, Kanata's story is that of embracing humanity and finding allyship, becoming an idol in Ryuseitai and cutting ties with his controlling cult upbringing. It's also a story about the role of religious figures in society and manipulation through faith, things Kanata was a victim of because of the circumstances of his birth.