Triggers for cults, men in power, brainwashing and like all the triggers for AFTG Becuase they are heavily referenced.
The Ravens aren’t just a team it’s a cult, and the Nest is a cult compound. Tetsuji Moriyama doesn’t coach teenagers, he recruits children and breaks them down until they can’t imagine a life outside the Ravens.
Tetsuji’s methods are straight out of a cult handbook isolation from family, sleep deprivation, relentless pressure, and physical punishment. Every part of a Raven’s life is controlled. Cut off from basic kindness and dignity, the only way they learn to feel worth anything is by performing. This ties the image of who they are to exy and exy alone. So many ravens kill themselves after they lose Becuase the one thing that was holding their self worth together crumbled before them. Thea says it best: “A raven who cannot play is no raven.” And if you’re not a raven, you’re dead. That’s the core of Tetsuji’s manipulation if you do not perform, you will die. Playing Exy is not longer ambition, it’s survival. For most of them. (Kev is built different.)
His long‑term goal is honestly hard for me to understand. I think it was less about long term goals and I think Tesuiji more enjoyed having power over these children. Jean once describe the Ravens as an ‘anger violent mass.’ (If anyone has any thoughts on what Tesuiji might have been wanting truly tell me)
Tetsuji has a hierarchy inside a hierarchy Riko (or Kevin) create the perfect Court, a king and its lap dog with a select inner circle. This is culty 101. These are the chosen ones who get extra lessons, trips, privileges, and, most importantly, promises, the master’s favor, money, and a guaranteed spot on the US Court. With only so many positions available, everyone else is forced to tear each other apart for a chance to move up. The violence we see between Ravens isn’t random it’s the logical outcome of a system where your only safety is SUPPOSEDLY being number one.” This I find to be the a very interesting part of The Prefect Court, their privileges are an illusion, Jean has it arguably the worst in the nest than any one else. Yet he has assumed privileges based on your place in the hierarchy. A place that is made up by Riko. (I think that Kevin truely believes in Prefect Court, and I think he also figures out Tesuiji is using it against them to fuel Raven violence. I think watching Tesuiji is how Kevin truly learns to be manipulative. Kevin watches and learns from 9 fucking years old he’s in this system. It’s horrendous to imagine a 9 year old here. And he’s still there mentally even 2ish years outside the nest.)
King is a lie Riko tells himself, in the hierarchy established he is at best, one step above the ravens because of his name alone. He not above coach’s, he is not above nurses, he is certainly not above or even close to being equal toTesuiji. That is no true King. Riko’s Prefect Court is nothing but a mechanism for Tesuiji to use to manipulate Ravens. Riko on some level has to understand this and thus it contributes to his violence. He is a raging Narcissist and psychopath his cruelty is simply just cruelty for cruelty sake. No manipulative undertones when he literally scraped think layers of skin off Jean back. he just did that for the love of the game.
A huge part of how this works is the Ravens’ fanbase. The Nest keeps players zero‑contact with their families, but not with the outside world. They have phones. They see the monstrous, aggressive, almost rabid fanbase that worships them and defends Tetsuji and Riko to the death. They also see what happens when anyone speaks badly about their “master” or their “king.” From a Raven’s perspective, that’s normal, even justified. Of course their fans would act like that the Ravens are the best and if they were prefect court they would have the ‘privileges’ Kevin and Riko do. (Reminding that Jean and Kevin hid most of Riko cruelty from the ravens so they ravens don’t know that it is actually a cruse to be prefect court.)
So why doesn’t any Raven, past or present, speak out against this horrific system?
Because starving, socially inept, brainwashed children do not make good revolutionaries. They go into the Nest as teenagers and come out with the minds of cult members, chronic pain, severe mental illness, and a loyalty they can’t untangle from fear. “To speak is to die” isn’t just a rule it’s carved into them, just as much as Kevin’s tattooo. Even after they leave, they’re still members. They still hear the master’s voice in their heads “You will play.” And they know the fanbase would burn their lives down if they ever turned on the Ravens ( Just ask Jean.) This to me is especially sinister part of it, they do not ever seem to escape this mind set.
They are just are branded, not physical but mentally.
Everything is set up perfectly for Tetsuji a cult, a king, a future Court, and players too broken to ever betray him. And why would they want to? He’s their master
But then it’s all starts crumbling underneath the master when Kevin runs away.
There will be a part two to this if I ever get around to it. But basically Kevin is that guy. He’s the revolutionary that changes everything. Part two will focus on Keys to holding power in a system and why Tesuiji failed to maintain control.
Now to this is not me saying that Riko, Greyson, or any ravens are ok in any of there actions. They are not, Riko is complicit in rape (ans Zane) and Greyson (and any other backliner who touched Jean on Riki’s order.) nothing here makes that any less horrific. They are also victims of The Raven Cult system.
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