xia01i

[xia01i]

i know this will probably lead to nothing and really more of spot the difference in these images (really nit-picky really), but it feels odd to say that this lu guang:

is the same lu guang as this one:

or let alone this one in one of the character profiles:

why do i think this? well, it has more with the nit-picking details i picked up from the clothing (the detail on the collar and pocket). for the very first two images of lu guang, he is depicted to having blue and black rectangle or stripe on his collar and one on his pocket, but on it's left side (although the watches are so switched too, so do with that information as you will).

not even cheng xiaoshi's outfit looks the same as it is not buttoned and has the pocket, but i guess it's a little change if you ask me. on the others, there is always a blue rectangle/stripe on the top part of the pocket, with some of the images missing the blue rectangle on the collar without the stripe or everything just missing (although it could just be to simplifying the outfit for animating it). however, for some reason, the vibes between these two lu guang are just not, the same? (if you catch my drift).

lu guang with the blue rectangles/stripes on both the collar and side of the pocket is always looking at the audience (which lu guang in most of these artwork does or looks away from the audience/us), with mostly similar vibes to lu guang in S1 and S2. yet, the lu guang with only the rectangle on his pocket is looking at cheng xiaoshi from below, with such a hopeful or innocent expression.

to me it looks a lot like wishful thinking, which he does a little (or most of the time) in the yingdu/bridon arc as he continues to keep cheng xiaoshi alive (at least). to me, it doesn't come off as the lu guang we've known (or at least developed into); more like his previous version of himself (who has made some mistakes in his own theories of perceiving time or to save cheng xioashi) as he's dived back in time a lot by now.

these little differences can be seen back to back (mostly in a second difference between each frame/scene):

although this could just be animation mistakes/errors in forgetting minor details, it's just so consistent in which details are missing or even the scenes it's missing from. perhaps at the end of this arc, lu guang thinks it was a mistake of bringing cheng xiaoshi to bridon this early instead of 2021 and tries to fix it in his later dives (S1 and S2), or perhaps is one of the dives he has abandoned.

[xia01i]

idk what's more heart wrenching: the fact that lu guang probably gets nightmares of cheng xiaoshi's death over and over again as he dives back in time to the point he sometimes feels like he's drowning with only punishment on the other side of it; a living hell waiting for him.

or the fact that in these dreams and nightmares, the time on his watch is always 13th September 00:05, as if subconsciously accepting the inevitability of cheng xiaoshi's death, that he cannot be saved. the fact that every time, he chooses to dive back in time and look at cheng xiaoshi like its the first time, and act like he's okay, that he's alright. even if lu guang knows that death is an unchangeable point, he'll keep doing this over and over again for the very slim chance to save him.

lu guang is literally playing single-player while the villains are in co-op

[xia01i]

honestly i agree with you about theorising about this particular point as Red Eyes, especially when they hadn’t really planned Red Eyes completely after S1; there was a different direction taken which @kuschelkissen brought up.

personally it bugged me when they introduced vein having red eyes and quite the fighting skills. it always felt odd to me that li tianchen didn’t possess the same fighting prowess as the Red Eyes from S1, seen through how lu guang forced him to be on the defensive in the episode where he was taking cheng xiaoshi to the boat or when cheng xiaoshi flipped him over near the later episodes of S2. honestly the fighting styles seem closer to vein than with li tianchen as when qiao ling was possessed, she was comfortably with holding the knife in their left hand and right hand, also using their legs as well. these traits are similar with vein, as in the start of episode 4 in the bridon/yingdu arc, where he fights off the crazy fans, blocking naturally using the metal fan on his right hand, but then is seen holding it on his left as he throws one of the fans to the wall.

anyways these are just thoughts and i am very excited to see what direction the show goes in.

what i find really interesting is that when qiao ling was possessed, she talked about punishment and the "game" restarting due to breaking the "rules"

but you know the only other character that really talks about punishment:

which is odd to me, meaning that the Red Eyes we saw in S1 cannot be the same red eyes as in S2, because if that truly was the case, Li Tianchen technically should enjoy killing and know about this "game" or so-called punishment throughout S2. Moreover, the killing styles are different since Li Tianchen kills others through suicide and specifically remembers his first kill as such.

however, i find it interesting when Red Eyes makes these claims because throughout S2, we never see Li Tianchen address this ever again or try to take Cheng Xiaoshi's powers via death which we see when qiao ling gets hers from li tianxi or when cheng xiaoshi died in the previous timelines. this means that Red Eyes already knows of the existence of other powers, i.e., probably lu guang, and how to take them as well; either from their own knowledge, or perhaps someone else (i'm looking at you, liu xiao). it could also explain lu guang's surprise when he learns about "someone having the ability possess spirits" as he probably never reached this far into a dive (assuming this actually takes place in 22/10/2021). this is also supported by the fact that in the yingdu/bridon arc when lu guang had a nightmare, cheng xiaoshi didn't say anything about the xu shanshan case.

and the only way to reset the "game" is technically to kill off the one who keeps doing that and the one who possesses the powers to dive back in time.

[xia01i]

what i find really interesting is that when qiao ling was possessed, she talked about punishment and the "game" restarting due to breaking the "rules"

but you know the only other character that really talks about punishment:

which is odd to me, meaning that the Red Eyes we saw in S1 cannot be the same red eyes as in S2, because if that truly was the case, Li Tianchen technically should enjoy killing and know about this "game" or so-called punishment throughout S2. Moreover, the killing styles are different since Li Tianchen kills others through suicide and specifically remembers his first kill as such.

however, i find it interesting when Red Eyes makes these claims because throughout S2, we never see Li Tianchen address this ever again or try to take Cheng Xiaoshi's powers via death which we see when qiao ling gets hers from li tianxi or when cheng xiaoshi died in the previous timelines. this means that Red Eyes already knows of the existence of other powers, i.e., probably lu guang, and how to take them as well; either from their own knowledge, or perhaps someone else (i'm looking at you, liu xiao). it could also explain lu guang's surprise when he learns about "someone having the ability possess spirits" as he probably never reached this far into a dive (assuming this actually takes place in 22/10/2021). this is also supported by the fact that in the yingdu/bridon arc when lu guang had a nightmare, cheng xiaoshi didn't say anything about the xu shanshan case.

and the only way to reset the "game" is technically to kill off the one who keeps doing that and the one who possesses the powers to dive back in time.

[xia01i]

THE FACT THAT LU GUANG’S PIECE IS LITERALLY THE KNIGHT… WHAT SYMBOLISM IS THIS?!?!?! guess that explains liu xiao's actions, especially around his odd curiosity about him