#rui kamishiro analysis

[demodraws0606]

What Cyberpunk DeadBoy Means and What it's Potentially Foreshadowing (aka very complicated analysis that makes a lot of sense and could happen depending on how colorpalet is feeling while writing the story)

Now I'm seeing so many people like running around wondering what this event could mean for the future for multiple reasons and like I've made like one post throwing my hat into the ring.

I've been frustrated with people's unwillingness to realise that this comm is prob foreshadowing because this is not the first time Colorpalet has hidden foreshadowing into comms weither subtely or not

Exemple's being :

-Akito's second comm foreshadowing his third event

-Lower's cover art literally foreshadowing what would happen to Mafuyu's phone in her event

-88 vocals being emurui and nenekasa foreshadowing the kind of dynamic the disbandement arc had with nenekasa wanting to move forward with emurui being scared of isolation

-Probably way better exemples that I forgot

I've seen people make Some assumptions which I don't agree with but there is one thing I think is true

There is 100 pourcent gonna be struggle between corporation/reality and WxS.

Purely because that's been WxS's entire theme since the beginning. They constantly bash you over the head with the theme of compromising with reality and the importance of dreams. In fact the pick of Maiki-P is not at all surprising as he basically has the same message WxS has just... well harsher.

The Big thing people have ignored however is by focusing on the lyrics, they've ignored something that's personally to me even more telling and that's the line distribution

We know for a fact colorpalet loves to mess around with line distribution, weither it's to make characters say lines that fit them or to kind of foreshadow their headspace.

Now something Big happens with the line distribution of Cyberpunk Deadboy that i've seen NO ONE notice and that's in the last chorus (that and also Tsukasa's lines which people have pointed out but it works less on it's own which is why I'm gonna analyse his lines afterwards).

This is the only time the chorus is like that, the others have a much more even distribution.

In fact the distribution choice makes it look like the rest of WxS is Talking to Rui.

It's even more evident considering the lines they chose to make WxS sing compared to only just Rui

Emu/Tsukasa/Nene saying kimi (you)

Rui saying boku (i)

Which honestly makes me think this is colorpalet foreshadowing some kind of issue reguarding specifically Rui. Remember Emu's second event ? The story of Rilley whose imagination was crippled by the industry to the point where he didn't really have any artistic vision until Emu's grandpa helped him.

In fact remember how the flashback that showcases that has Rilley working on a film

Now we get to Tsukasa's line which have been pointed out to be kind of sus but it's not just his lines.

Tsukasa refuses to sing with Rui (unless it's a line they all sing together but i consider those exceptions). In fact pretty much everyone has a duo line with each other except those two.

In fact in the section where Rui has duo lines with everybody, Tsukasa is the only one he doesnt sing with and the visuals make it clear that it's something that we're supposed to find strange

And then we of course have Tsukasa's solo lines

Tsukasa is the only one that say "fuzakeruna" outside of Rui (of course ignoring entire group WxS lines) and i've seen some people pointed out how it sounds like he's saying it in response to Rui's lines. Which I agree with.

Then we got his big boy solo lines

These lines will make more sense with my theory/analysis but right now if we go with the idea that WxS in the last chorus were speaking to Rui and Tsukasa in this comm refuses to sing with Rui then this implies those lines are Tsukasa speaking to Rui.

And this is where the insanity begins because people have pointed out a concerning trend with Ruikasa that I know some people use for shipping fuel but for me kinda feels more so like foreshadowing.

IGNORING all the ARG ass weirdness of the Fixer 2dmv, this choice to switch Ruikasa's colors have to mean something in my opinion outside of just wholesome shipping influence especially considering the two songs they do this are less than jovial.

What this kind of color switching signifies to me is that, Ruikasa somehow are/or will switch places.

And with that let me bring back Tsukasa's lines

These lines stand out because Tsukasa before remembering his dreams was extremely shallow only doing things for fame and probably the money that would come with it.

Now if you think about everything I've layed out I think you can gain a pretty clear picture.

Of Rui falling into the trap Rilley did, becoming jaded and losing the true motivation of his dream (or at least starting to have doubts). Becoming stuck with the struggle of managing dreams and reality.

Rui's costume even has a mask which can be a metaphor for his artistic voice and individuality being silenced .

Which now you get into the line distribution where WxS is implied to be talking to Rui.

And you get to Tsukasa, who is refusing to sing with Rui and in fact seems to be arguing with Rui if we really want to overthink it. In fact almost switching their roles from the main story.

Because Tsukasa has grown now and how else to show that growth than to switch Rui and Tsukasa's perspectives/roles.

Now how this would happen really depends since there are multiple ways they can go about it with the time they have.

There is obviously mystery dude dude (who i know now is sakaki) who still gives me bad vibes. However there is actually two way they can make mystery dude trigger this sort of plot :

-Mystery dude is malicious and actively manipulates/confronts Rui to make him rethink his worldview

-Mystery dude isn't malicious but instead is just jaded/has been through a lot of industry bullshit which ends up rubbing off on Rui accidentally

But you can even just not have mystery dude involved with this at all (which i doubt but still) because you know what loose plotpoint is still lingering over WxS, fucking Asahi

Rui still has not talked about Asahi to WxS, in fact Curtain Call ends on an explicit cliffhanger which is never really emotionally concluded (at least in Rui's own events, technically the arc ender did but there are still a lot of loose threads from that arc). Why would Colorpalet make Asahi come back after Rui graduates, they could've just had him disappear into the sunset but instead they hint at his potential comeback.

Unless Rui will be forced to again confront similar feelings he did during Curtain Call this time with possibly an added layer of whatever happens during WxS's freelance arc.

Anyways yeah this is overly complicated but then again colorpalet is not being easy with us so...yeah.

[anakirui]

i think we need to talk about this unit thematically

i know it's "haha april fool's day, they're stuck in a futuristic city and rui wants to study the silly sekai aliens" but like... hear me out

im pretty sure these 4 were picked because they all have one major thing in common— the fact that they were failed by society.

kaito v1 was a commercial failure on release, to the point where other vocal synth companies looked at his low sales and consequently made less male vocal synths— leading to the large gender gap in vocal synths that we still have today (although its less than what it was ~5 yrs ago imo). i think clpl actually considered this when picking kaito for this unit solely because it's vbs kaito— the kaito that most strongly resembles old fanon kaito in how he can easily be described as a carefree dumbass that loves icecream.

rui was ostracized his whole life for being "dangerous" with his shows by his classmates, as well as being isolated because of how he was "different" from the other kids (implied neurodivergent). this lead to rui struggling with depression as well as a myriad of other issues (such as his abandonment issues) later on.

akito was ALSO ostracized for being too serious about his passions and having a "bad attitude", which lead to him developing an inferiority complex as well as leading to him essentially being overly polite to strangers because of his past trauma where he was publicly humiliated, had his reputation ruined, and brought disgrace to a place he loved just for accidentally spilling water on someone 💀 (find a way out is so real) ((also i choose to see akito as neurodivergent mainly because of how his behavior is framed idk i feel like him being overly polite is him masking, esp. when u compare his behavior between different people.. recent example: how he acts around rui vs how he acts around mafuyu for example)) (((also, he's rui's narrative foil, so it just makes a lot of sense???)))

and then there's haruka, who was so close to being the "perfect" idol but couldn't because of her trauma from hurting mai— she was unable to meet the expectations of being an idol under the pressure of probably not only her managers but also the large fanbase she always wanted to give hope to

[analyticalstarz]

In honor of autism awareness month, here's a full comprehensible list as to why I think Rui is autistic, or at the very least, neurodivergent !!!! - 1, For starters, he was ostracized by his classmates for presumably almost a decade (2nd grade - 1st yr of high school), all because he was "different" and nobody around him could properly understand him. This has resulted in him struggling to form and maintain relationships. As stated in his second focus event, Revival My Dream, when he was a kid, Rui had a hard time conversering with his classmates because he felt as if he couldn't connect with them.

He's interested in more niche things, like robotics,

and he was also interested in things that people normally regard as "scary", such as moths;

After he became fond of shows and theater as well and attempted to include his classmates in one he thought of in an attempt to grow closer to them, his idea ultimately backfired since his classmates thought his way of directing was "dangerous", and this is where the ostracization seemed to start.

(translation by Arvon Oven) Being ostracized and shunned is unfortunately a common thing with people who have autism, and as I mentioned previously, Rui was alone for presumably seven years straight, all because he was regarded as "different". - 2, He has "restricted, obsessive interests" that can be seen as hyperfixations/special interests. Ever since he was a child, Rui's been heavily interested in both robotics/inventing and shows. A hyperfixation is described as, "A complete obsession with or absorption into a particular task. The task can be a hobby, a TV show, a subject of interest, or something else. People who hyperfixate may tune out the world around them and ignore important responsibilities, such as eating or sleeping." Rui's interest in shows specifically can be seen as a hyperfixation, as in the first side story of his Unforeseen Keynotes (or Unexpected Happenings according to the English translation) card, Rui was so engrossed in thinking about the next show they'd be doing, he had completely forgotten that Robo-Nene was due for maintenance, and Nene mentions that this wouldn't be the first time he's forgotten to eat or sleep because of how engrossed he gets in his thoughts while thinking about shows.

Nene also mentions in Wonderlands x Showtime's main story that Rui becomes so absorbed in his shows that he "loses sight of everything else", (In the original Japanese version, she says "When it comes to shows, he isn't able to look at his surroundings, so things never work out".)

and also in KAMIKOU FESTIVAL!, where he mentions that his tendency to put shows "at the center of everything" might be a flaw of his;

(translation by Ren) It's also mentioned in A Once-In-A-Lifetime Pandemonium!? that he'll get so absorbed in his thoughts while thinking of shows, he'll completely forget about his surroundings.

(translation by tsukasa’s #3 fan) - 3, He has texture issues, which is also common with people who have autism. It's been mentioned multiple times throughout the course of the game that he detests vegetables, but more specifically cucumbers and things in the cucurbitaceae family (such as watermelon & pumpkin), because they all share the same texture.

He mentions in an area conversation with Nene that he usually only eats at restaurants he's familiar with (he sticks to routine; another thing common with people who have autism), so eating out has never been an issue to him, and he even refused to eat vegetables when they were quite literally stranded on a deserted island and in a life-threatening situation.

- 4, He info-dumps. A lot.

This one is pretty self-explanatory, I think. - 5, He's overly logical and struggles with his emotions. He's had trouble on multiple occasions understanding his emotions, such as in Full Power! Wonder Halloween! where he unconsciously holds himself back after inadvertently injuring Tsukasa with one of his inventions, but he didn't realize that he was even holding himself back until somebody pointed it out, and he didn't realize that he was holding himself back because he was worried, either. Something similar happens in Heat Up! Kamikou High Cheering Squad! where he unconsciously holds himself back because he feared being shunned again, but once again, he didn't realize the reason for him holding himself back until somebody pointed it out for him. In the first side story of his I Can't Afford to Lose *4 card, Rui comes to the Sekai, hoping to talk to somebody to put his mind at ease. As he runs into Meiko and Luka and they ask him what's wrong because he seemed down, Rui says that "I just wanted to think about production, but my feelings got in the way of thinking". He then says "Feelings really are troublesome. / Sometimes, you have to hold them back with all of your might... It'd be nice if someone other than me could manage these troublesome feelings". (In the English translation, he says "Emotions are so complicated and can be so troublesome at times. / There are even times when one becomes completely overwhelmed by them... If only someone else were able to help put a lid on them.") Lastly, I'd like to mention that in Revival My Dream, after Rui asks his mom if he's different from the people around him, she responds by saying that, yes, he is different, but she also says that she was "just like him" as a child, and seeing how autism is caused mainly by genetics, his mom can very well be autistic too.

Okay, that is all!!! Thank you for listening to me yap :3

[shiraishi-kanade]

In general I feel like we as a society fandom have moved on from Kamiyama Cheer Squad way too fast, and I also feel like An's role in that event was sorely overlooked. Especially considering she didn't get a card, but like. Look. Listen.

Not only did An switch places with another student, partially because she thought her presence would make Mizuki feel better (it did) despite the fact that she didn't have to and nobody made her do that,

Not only An was one of the first people to openly give Rui her support, because once again, she's incredibly open-minded and friendly,

She was also just. Totally okay with bungee jumping from the school windows.

Do you see what I mean by An being able to meet Rui halfway. Like yeah. This girl heard "we need to do bungee jumping it'd be impressive. Don't worry, I'll make it safe" and immediately went "hell yeah, I'm in". I need more An & Rui performance focused events. I need them like air. Those two are so fun and they don't even have a kizuna.

[yunyunbby]

Ok so ...

Filament fever stage is interesting. One thing to point out is that the sculpture at the side of the stage. The animal sculpture looks like a deer with wings:

It's also in Meiko's trained card:

But for the virtual shop merch. Instead of the same animal, the merch instead has the pegasus instead as the sculpture:

So why the 3dmv stage did not use the pegasus and instead use deer with wings? The deer with wings that we know of is Peryton. Which, is similar to pegasus. A mythical beast.

One of the things about Peryton is that the Peryton can "casts the shadow of a man until it kills one during its lifetime, at which time it starts to cast its own shadow".

This sounds very similar with Tsukasa's gacha banner name:

The text design here has a wing at the y. So what if, instead of the wings belong to a pegasus or a phoenix, the wings actually belongs to a peryton instead?

Also, although unclear, the peryton may derived from the Latin form of the Greek name of the fourth month on the ancient Macedonian calendar (Peritios, moon of January).

Coincidently the next wxs event, Rui event, starts on January. And there's also the moon in the filament fever 3dmv:

So I wonder if Tsukasa is now a peryton instead of a pegasus. Since there's some other lore point out that when the peryton finds its shadow, it can transform into a genuine bird. Like the star Tsukasa admires which is compared to the phoenix. Which is also a bird.

[eclipixnova]

all pjsk characters get mischaracterized everyday. We need to talk parts of them that hasn't been talked abt

[starfilledsky2810]

Y'all are gonna be SICK of how much I say that Rui is so full of love bc it just means. so much to me. You're not going to hear the end of it.

(Blame the Rui and Kanade "full of love for the world that treated them poorly" comparison post) (very late addition: the post by an-inspired-eternity)

All Rui has wanted to do for his entire life is make people smile and be in awe of his shows. He's so full of creativity and ingenuity and skill and ACKK I'M SO ILL, anyways-

People shunned him for accidents and mishaps and what have you, people isolated him, people spoke nothing but harshness of him.

He was at his worst. And yet, he never blamed any of them. In his one-man show in the main story (when Tsukasa, Emu, Nene are about to set to SEKAI at the end), he explicitly says that none of them there are to blame - "they just thought differently to the alchemist."

He's beaten down at this point, almost immediately back to square 1 after the first show with wxs failed. And yet, he forgave Tsukasa after he saw his determination. He chose to love wxs, and that is what brought him happiness.

He's still got a long way to go though (as he thinks all of his classmates still hate him). And yet, he still shares his ideas with his classmates (when pushed to, but still), he still chooses to open himself up, just a bit, to the people he thought hated him.

And look where that got him - his bravery yielded him something that surprised him.

People appreciated his ideas! People appreciated him! People didn't hate him!

(I haven't read Heat Up! Kamiyama Cheer Squad yet, so I don't fully know, but...)

And in the end, look where he ended up - he ended up happy.

People appreciated his ideas, people appreciated him, people didn't hate him,

the "people" that he was once afraid of showing himself to, are now his friends.

He chose to love the world even when he was at his lowest, he chose to try his best to find where that world was going to give back to him, because he knew deep down that the world was going to give back to him.

And in the end, he got that love back.

I think that there are many characters like this, not just Rui, and that's amazing. Because, I think that they teach an important lesson, one that I find very personal to me, too:

One day, the world shall love you back; your people are out there, somewhere, and even thought you shouldn't necessarily have to, you have to find them yourself, or you have to let them find you.

[uraniumnm333]

[heads up this leads into a kanade tsukasa parallel rant so uh. :thumbsup:]

dawg i love mafuyu and tsukasa i think they're both so fun. it's so silly to see how even though they grew up in situations that are like complete opposites they still cope similarly

like listen tsukasa was hurt from the absence of his parents and mafuyu was hurt because of the presence of her parents. tsukasa's parents had to focus on someone else and mafuyu's parents had to focus on her. mafuyu looks inside herself and tsukasa looks outside himself. mafuyu is calm and tsukasa is not. hell even how others perceive them !!! people see tsukasa as self-centered and see mafuyu as considerate of others !!! but they still both hurt so much and have pushed down what they feel to make others feel better which sucks. i would like to present another, possibly even better parallel tho: tsukasa and kanade. they're similar in the way that they want to save others, they became extremely self-reliant, they both are WAY too hard on themselves and they're both basically a doormat i'll be honest. they both look towards other people to ignore how they're feeling (kanade wanting to save her fellow niigo members and tsukasa's future star dream), they both lead other people, they both have music notifs, ectectect. i think kanade and tsukasa should hang out. it would be very funny.

like kanade starts going to kakiyama and tsukasa sees her and it's on sight bro !!! he sees this girl who looks like she's about to melt and the thought process goes straight to "HEY GARRUU MY NAMU IS TSUKASA TENMA I AM STAR I AM WARUDO FUTURE STAR" and kanade is fucking HORRIFIED

tsukasa is slowly integrated into nightcord to the point where he's just. in the discord server. i think it would be so goofy tbh. there's a wxs/n25 group chat and they end up doing a collab song that is just carnival by otetsu also i think mafuyu and rui would get along. ourple to ourple communication. all of wxs has spidey senses and as soon as any of them see mafuyu they Know. like have you read the rui and mafuyu interaction where rui is just ominous as shit like "maybe. you should be careful. perhaps you should communicate with others." and he just leaves. all of wxs know that's a given. mizuki emu pink to pink communication and ena and nene just. they just. yknow how sometimes you just.

anyways yeah give me tsukasa kanade friendship or give me death

[the-one-that-weeps]

i like ur words n thoughts. do more pls (if ur so inclined)

Hello! I'm so sorry I couldn't answer this sooner, I'm glad we're finally mutuals! I've heard many great things about you, it's a true honour!

Your wish is my command, I'll make sure my word smithing skills improve and develop in time :D

I heard you wanted me to specify more on the order of the characters in units, so I'll try to explain that a little bit!

Although I do consider the order of the units characters is exclusively chronological and these are just some instances of coincidence, I'm more than glad to explain:

The third characters in every unit are as follows: Honami, Airi, Akito, Nene and Ena. Their stories seem to gravitate towards validation.

The clear examples of this are the Shinonomes and Airi. Both Akito and Ena share a need to overcome obstacles on a treacherous path, they both suffer greatly over "not being enough" or "getting left behind by their teammates".

Airi is in a similar situation where she was left behind by other idols after she became a variety show idol. She quit the group after being called "average" (not good enough) by the manager.

Honami only ever wanted to not be hated by her peers. Chasing that validation, that "you're good enough", she basically erased her own wishes in order to be accepted.

And Nene is a little difficult, but let's remember she also struggles with self worth and could barely sing on a stage a year ago. She's also afraid she won't be good enough, she's also chasing validation and praise to become like her mentor.

The fourth characters in every unit (Rui and Toya being also the last ones to join in the main story) are as follows: Shiho, Shizuku, Toya, Rui and Mizuki. The theme that I believe connects them best is... Connection. Or, alternatively, reconnection.

Mizuki and Rui are quick to understand: they both have a past full of abandonment and ostracism. They eventually learn to reconnect with their unit and heal over time as well. They're also very tightly knit with the theme of understanding.

Toya's isn't as much about vbs as it is about music in general. Toya had a musical past outside of vbs, but his connection with music was twisted, it brought him pain. His theme isn't even "connection" as much as "reconnection", because Toya grows to love and cherish music again.

Shizuku also plays on this, she's been in an idol group prior to mmj, but she never connected with her teammates the way she did with mmj. Now, she isn't hated or despised anymore, she's not "just a pretty face" — she's herself, she's Shizuku, and Shizuku is the one to create bonds and connects.

And Shiho's is a story of loneliness too. Shiho is guilty for the Leoneed disbandment in the first place, and she almost makes them disband again in Resonating With You, too. She has a very hard time forging bonds with people and comes off as a loner, but she grows past that. She's still Shiho, of course, but she starts letting people in, embracing them, connecting with them.

If this theme doesn't suit your ocs in particular, the fourth characters also have a strong theme of "self" or "loneliness" to them! But that's more of a universal thing, i wouldn't dwell on it.

Anyhow, I hope this wasn't too messy and helped you! Thank you for your attention and becoming mutuals with me once again!

[dumping-ideas]

just a little bit of my thoughts from the newest wxs set

Looking forlorn while looking at the spilled sand in the hourglass. Even though the hourglass is lying on its side, the sand keeps spilling. Probably an imagery of no matter how Rui wishes to stop time, it'll keep moving. He's probably given up to do it though, judging from his expression. Also one hourglass, probably an imagery of how his time with WxS is the only time in his life he wants to cherish the most. Definitely reluctant to see time moving forward. For him, it's time ticking down.

Many big hourglasses, many important moments in her life she wants to cherish. Nene lets time keeps moving forward and is okay with it because she knows she can remember the time with WxS with a smile. From the lighting, her future and her past are lit up with hope. She's probably nervous, but decides to embrace the belief that time keeps ticking down to a bright future.

The many small hourglasses in the background lead to a bright stage--indicating Tsukasa believes that the small moments will lead to a bright future. However, he looks back while holding on to WxS banner, literally moving forward while looking out for them and bringing them on his back to his future. His expression shows he doesn't fear nor aware of the moving time, unlike Nene and Rui.

[theguardianace]

new outfit verdict: rui

[ID: two colored digital sketches of Kamishiro Rui. On the left, he is facing behind him with his back to the viewer, referencing his third anniversary outfit reveal pose. He has a calm, peaceful look on his face. The text below him reads "a fine, respectable gentleman". To the right, his pose has been flipped to show the front. Rui's face has a slightly manic smile on it. The text below him reads "oh he's a little silly actually". /end ID]

[demodraws0606]

WxS THEORY : Rui is driving himself into a corner

Ok I needed to make a big rambly analysis post again because I just read this post that absolutely rotted my brain (pls check it out) -> https://www.tumblr.com/sankatsuka/741871319388389377?source=share

I kinda want to share my overall thoughts on how Rui is being written overall and what I think it could possibly lead to.

Introduction.

So okay... we can agree how colorpalet writes Rui is weird as shit right ?

Like, this is very obvious when you look at Rui's two most recent events Backlight and Curtain. Both of them actually end on cliffhangers, leaving things open ended with hints at future problems. In fact Curtain Call's consequences haven't been fully addressed yet as Rui still hasn't talk about Asahi to WxS and we know he's coming back.

However, it's not just that that could be pointed out as strange, in fact, in both of these events Rui fails.

In Curtain Call, he fails to understand his own feelings as he accepts to join Arcland.

In Backlight, he fails to understand how to fix the issue in the movie

Not only that but those events both show Rui isolating himself from WxS (with varying levels of severity) trying to figure out the problem and fix it. Often to the point where WxS get mildly concerned for him and want to help him (again with varying levels of severity).

Both of these events seem to show that Rui is stuck on something, there is a reason why he can't seem to solve the problems that he's facing weither major or minor.

So, clearly there is a reocurring problem right ? If Rui seemingly keeps on failing then colorpalet has to be setting up something.

With Curtain Call it seemed like what they were setting up was some kind of confrontation about the disbandement but Rui is weirdly set aside in the Emu's event. Which it doesn't feel like a mistake considering they chose to make it an Emu event instead of Rui on purpose when they couldn't have it be a Tsukasa focus.

In Happy End, Rui's communication with WxS is very limited. His feelings never get personally confronted as he mostly just attempts to try and fix the situation until he's met with rejection to which he just very much gives up. It's only when Emu's brothers offer an olive branch that Rui finally jumps at the opportunity to speak.

However, despite it being a hopeful step forward...it doesn't fix Rui's issues here. In fact he withdraws from even speaking about his situation with Asahi which for me is the baseline of Rui being honest with his feelings.

Sure, he does end up helping in Happy End and his feelings are reafirmed but...he also fails here. His first plan to keep them together fails because he didn't communicate with them, it's Emu's brother that truly end up coming up with a solution at the end.

So what is Rui's problem ? What is the red flag that colorpalet keeps waving ?

2. A concerning pattern

Post-Curtain Call helped highlight a very clear pattern with Rui.

It's a toxic mix between his abandonnement issues and self sacrificing nature.

Rui gets insecure a lot about how his potentialy missgivings could affect WxS, to the point where it's become a concerning pattern.

-Dazzling Light Event (and Nene Canary Event) : Rui gets insecure over not being able to be a suitable director for Tsukasa and hurting his acting in the process. This insecurity comes back again in Nene's fourth event in Rui's side card story.

-Shibuya fes with Mafurui : He almost hurts his fucking leg because he couldn't bear the idea that he could inconvenience WxS

-Disbandement Arc : He refused to talk to WxS about his feelings and still hasn't talked fully about them with Asahi. He literally isolated himself to make a plan to keep WxS together behind their back.

All of these show that Rui still has this fear that he could do something that would set him apart from WxS and that often influences his actions.

Rui's issue here is a lack of priority and a self sacrificial nature that borderlines on self destructive at some poiints. Everything he does is motivated in some sense by WxS.

Recently when he mentions his dreams and ambition like in Tsukasa's most recent event, he wants to make WxS shine. It's the subject of one of his early second art stickers.

"I'll bring out your strength"

Which... let's talk about Rui's dreams and amibitons.

3. Rui and his dream

A lot of people characterise Rui as extremely passionate which is true....or is it really ?

Okay here me out, I don't think we can deny he definitely has a lot of passion for what he does but we can't deny there is definitely something going on.

First of all, Rui is the only character where we don't really have an event of him trying to progress towards his dream, backlight is the first one and it shows him failing.

Second of all, Rui is the only one to have been ready to compromise his dream for WxS which has not been the case for anyone else in WxS. Sure Emu left Pheonix Wonderland, but she knows she'll come back eventually.

Which like leads me to this realisation with his second event specifically it's name, Revival My Dream.

The event where we see Rui at his happiest, fully comfortable in where he was compared to now.

His dreams has never just been to bring people smiles, what he always wanted was a way to connect with people with shows to have a group of friends that actually liked him and didn't reject him for being weird.

But he was bullied into accepting that he didn't actually care about other people, he rationalised that maybe accomplishing his dream alone would make him happy but his friends are part of his dream.

It's this conflict between his dream and his relationship with WxS that is fucking him up especially post-curtain call.

He has to support WxS, he has to be the reliable one, he has to figure out how they can still stay together...

But why ? Why does he put that responsibility in himself

Even then in the Backlight event he's so obsessed with finding the answer himself

Because he's still on that mindset, similar to wonder-halloween just a lot less severe. WxS saved him and they mean the world to him that he'll just allow to be trampled just to make them happy. In fact you see that with even more simpple fun moments with how he ate Touya's rancid cupcake just to make him happy, it's shown time and time again he will sacrifice his own needs for the needs of others to a dangerous point.

4. What it means for Rui's future

I think all these things will end up catching up to Rui

We saw this with Tsukasa, we saw his ups and downs of trying to improve and fight his insecurities led to him having a breakdown.

All these things just keep on building up and colorpalet is very unsubtle with how strange they are with his sad expressions in the tetrad 2dmv and his trained cards (which i can go deeper into).

This could go again in different ways but eventually WxS will have to confront him about it, finally make him communicate his feelings for once.

Again we still have Cyberpunk Deadboy and what it could signify for the future of Rui's arc which I already talked about

It's all just really strange and weird there are even stranger things that i could talk about but i'm eepy so i'll leave it at that lol

[tsutenstar]

A very thorough; very long analysis of Tsukasa's latest card.

I first want to preface this by saying thank you to Tsukasa for coming in only 40 pulls. I still have a good amount ready for your next limited!

:)

This card has made me go insane.

This an exaggeration on my part, but it seems like every time I look at this card I find another detail I've overlooked that just makes me love this card even more. It's an understatement to say that the artists of the Project SEKAI cards put a lot of thought into composition, lighting, and the theme for each set--especially for story-driven cards. So this post will be my in-depth analysis of this card and my personal thoughts and theories.

This post is separated into parts in hopes of this post having some semblance of organization.

Card Artwork Composition

Tsukasa's trained artwork from the card A rush of Excitement shows Tsukasa at the very forefront of the card. The camera is positioned slightly upright--giving the viewer the feeling as though they're looking up at Tsukasa. The art is also positioned at an angle, giving a sense of movement which works to emphasize Tsukasa's pose: A confident stride toward the warmly lit stage. The bright light fills the dim backstage with light. This is further emphasized by the billowing movement of the flag he clutches behind him, the tail of his suit, his bowtie, and his hair. He's giving the viewer a bright smile full of confidence

His card highly contrasts Rui's card Blowing in the Evening Breeze. He's static--sitting farther away from the camera. A barrier separates him from the viewer: a tilted hourglass that he watches with a solemn expression. He's surrounded by clutter and darkness floods the room he's in--only a small sliver of light reflecting against the hourglass and highlighting Rui's eyes.

For Nene's card A Childhood Friend's Gaze, there's more movement (shown by her hair and skirt), but she has a bittersweet smile and is seen stopping to look at a nearby hourglass. The light behind her is similar in color to Rui's: a bright white, unlike Tsukasa's warm yellow.

Overall, Tsukasa's card seems very out of place when you compare it to Rui and Nene's cards in the same set. Additionally, there's a large emphasis on the hourglasses in their cards (I'll discuss more on that later).

I feel like this decision to make Tsukasa's card such is very intentional on the artists' part and was the first thing that caught my attention when I saw them. Rui and Nene's cards have a solemn vibe to them--fitting alongside the plot of the set's corresponding event. Tsukasa's not so much.

It's almost as if he is ignoring the weight of it all.

Background Analysis

Let's return to Tsukasa's card.

Tsukasa is backstage, the warm light of center stage behind him floods a usually dim area with glowing light. This symbolizes Tsukasa's dream to be a world-renown actor and that the steps he takes in the present bring him closer to that light--his dream.

But this isn't an event about entering the stage. It's about leaving--saying farewell. A Sorrowful Farewell at Curtain Call--the part of a show where all affiliated actors bow to the audience and the show comes to a close.

It's strange that this card illustrates the polar opposite of the event name itself.

Now, let's talk hourglasses.

The appearance of the hourglass is especially important throughout the event. Hourglasses represent the passing of time--finite time specifically. They could have chosen a simple clock, but the idea of limited time--which the hourglass best represents--fits perfectly when we think of the future end of WxS. Their time together is limited and their goals--the closer they become--will pull them farther apart.

Rui's is situated behind one, glaring at the large hourglass. The hourglass is tilted, but the sand is still falling representing Rui's wish to stay with WxS longer (hence the hourglass being tilted in an attempt to stop the sand from falling to the bottom). This event focuses on Rui's shattering realization that his time with WxS will end in order for him to achieve his dreams. He'll have to let go of the people who accepted him and back into a world where that situation is not guaranteed.

Nene's card has many hourglasses, but here they stand upright and act as supports for the building behind her, symbolizing her dream. She's somewhat come to terms with the thought of WxS disbanding as showcased in past events (Mermaid Admiration and Island Panic) and can deal with it although with a bittersweet smile. She focuses on the good times she had and the good times yet to come with the troupe.

But take another look at the hourglasses in Tsukasa's card.

The hourglasses are small, upright, organized;

caged.

He doesn't interact with the hourglasses at all--not even a glance at them. He's focused on us, the audience, and the stage ahead. You can argue the idea that he just doesn't realize that his time with WxS is slowly fading away, but Tsukasa is a lot more aware than that. We've seen this shown multiple times throughout multiple event stories. He does know, but he doesn't want to think about it. Ignorance is bliss, after all.

Why sulk about the future if you just focus on the present? Why reminisce about the pain of the past if that doesn't make anyone smile? Forget the pain in those bad memories. Push them away, lock them up and never think of them again.

Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

This is further shown through the flag he carries behind him. We've seen this flag in his card in only two instances. His 2-star and 4-star from Wonder Magical Showtime. These two cards symbolize a great shift in the story of WxS: the formation of the troupe and their promotion to park ambassador respectively. The flag partly covers parts of the hourglasses as though he's involuntarily trying to hide them. The flag Tsukasa carries has been a symbol of WxS since the beginning. It's almost like he's trying to reassure everyone. "Everything's alright. We're still good ol' Wonderland x Showtime!"

Tsukasa has yet to come to terms with the future of WxS and the pain that it will cause him. So he does what he does best: he ignores it and forgets it. He smiles, reassuring us and the people around him that there's nothing to worry about.

But the hourglasses remain unchecked, and the longer Tsukasa ignores them, the more sand that will fill the bottom. They're bound to break someday under the weight, and Tsukasa will be left to pick up the pieces if nothing changes.

TLDR: Tsukasa, sweetie, it's okay to be sad.

[getwonderhoyd]

i am ill for wonderland sekai feeling more grounded and real after tsukasa stops living in denial about the fact that he feels emotions

[yunyunbby]

About Filament Fever 3dmv

So unfortunately I'm not done yet. So during the malfunction scene, if you look at the floors, they change to various lights:

Those light patterns has been seen on previous 3dmvs. The smiling flowers pattern was seen in the niccori survey 3dmv:

While the utensils light was seen in the childish war 3dmv:

As for the yellow purple circles spotlight I'm not sure but it does remind me of twhesy 3dmv one. It's just that the spotlight shape is a petal instead of a circle:

[moolmitowlthings]

reading rui analysis posts was such a bad 1am idea I'm tearing up I love him so much RAHHHHHHH