[Character analysis, as well as some ADHD and Depression HCs]
So hear me out, I'm sure I'm not the first one saying this but... the reason why Karamatsu doesn't even try to get a job in season 2's ending, is because he was rejected over and over in season 1. Like it makes sense that it's a direct result of that, especially after the book about getting qualifications poofed (cus Ichimatsu took it), it just slammed down his motivation even more." I can't find it so I'll just not bother."
Not like he has a phone to just Google with either... If it's gone, it's gone. Changing is hard and exhausting, and if he doesn't even have something to motivate him, why try at all? He even outright is the one telling Osomatsu that getting a job is a pain in the ass.
You see everyone working hard to change in this episode, but when it cuts to Karamatsu, he's just staring into the ground, lost in thought.
And maybe he's scared of being alone again, just like in season 1, and just like in the movie, where he lost his only support once already. So it makes sense that he surrounds himself with new friends instead of actually becoming independent. So that he's not alone when everyone else leave.
Then in season 3's ending, he does want to change, even if by just a little. He considers getting a driver's license. He goes to check out the driver's school, and he looks at the cars that are for sale, but he ultimately decides to not do what he set out to do.
They're too expensive, where would he even get the money, nobody wants to hire him, so in what reality would he get a car? He even drops the thought of getting a job immediately on favour of the lottery, making excuses as he does.
Also I just don't think he believes in himself all that much. I think he wants to, really bad! That's why he acts like he's the hottest shit, because then maybe, that can become him. Maybe that confidence will rub off on him, maybe the act will one day become him... But that's not how it works.
Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria is a part of the ADHD experience, so let me just slide this note into my "Karamatsu has ADHD" corner cough. This means that you're much more sensitive to rejection, and you may even develop "learned helplessness", which can cause you to become stagnant.
I can't do it. I'm not good enough. Why do I even try? It's not even worth thinking about, I can't pull through.
I'll just do nothing instead.
And we already know that Karamatsu is depressed. Through season 3, he's repeatedly seen struggling to get into his persona and play his usual schtick, because it's just not that fun anymore. And this used to be his entire Thing. He'd burst out into dramatic acts and ridiculous outfits, he was having fun doing this, but he feels... Dulled down, this season. Like he's trying harder than before to be this person, but at the same time, also like he doesn't see the point in trying anymore. He couldn't even keep his mask on in "Pizza".
In the episode where Jyushimatsu finds a coin, you could say that he's sitting around admiring his reflection, but it almost feels like.. practise.
When Jyushi comes around, he takes this opportunity to ham it up, trying to be dramatic and ridiculous, because he's confident he can practise on Jyushimatsu, but... It feels kinda forced, doesn't it? And he wasn't prepared for Jyushi to have his own struggles, who probably came to Karamatsu, the other one who's over the top, to try out being more sensible.
But it's a perfect example of how he's out of practise.
He feels lost and useless, and the loneliness of being stuck in your own head, being on your own in a room full of people, is wearing him down.
It's sad because he's been alone for so long, that he no longer opens up to his brothers anymore. In "Pizza" he snaps at them, because he's annoyed that they criticize him for not speaking up when they never usually care, but it's not like not a single one of them cares about him.
Choromatsu wants to help him stand up for himself.
Osomatsu repeatedly lets him know that if he's got something on his mind, he shouldn't be afraid to say it.
Ichimatsu seems to listen intently and wants to understand what Karamatsu is thinking, showing genuine interest when he does tell them. He's very perceptive of Karamatsu. Maybe because they're much more similar than he initially thought, and they both struggle with depression. They just handle it very differently.
I'm looking forward to seeing more of this explored in season 4, I feel like there's a build-up to all this...
So I've been thinking about baby Karamatsu, and once again Osomatsu-san does so much with the motto "Show, don't tell" when it comes to this boy. I saw a tag on one of my pictures saying that if teen!Karamatsu's only trait that gets recognised is his crying they feel bad for him, and I can't agree more on that!! I'll joke about it sure, but let's actually talk about what we find out about Karamatsu's teen years.
First of all I wanna address the episode 23 from season 3, "Friend", before we deep-dive into the movie.
"Friend"
In this episode we get to see all of the characters' personalities re-told from Choromatsu's POV. And you know how Choromatsu tends to see his brothers a bit... Exaggeratedly. Just see "Karamatsu and Brothers", where he does impressions of the others, and Karamatsu doesn't even understand who he's trying to be, because he sees his brothers in a much more gentle way than Choromatsu does.
So when Choromatsu thinks of Todomatsu, he's super tiny
And he establishes himself as an unreliable narrator at the end, where he
When he thinks of Ichimatsu, his voice is high pitched much unlike the movie, and his shift into depression-mode is much faster too
[spoilers]
Admits to not even having a friend, he was completely made up.
[spoilers end]
So I bring this up of course, because Karamatsu is described as a scaredy-cat who can't even handle holding a conversation. I'm not saying this is necessarily false, but...
Maybe it's a little more toned down than this. After all, he seems to be very low-key in the movie.
Confidence
Karamatsu's confidence, or rather, his lack of one, has been confirmed by word of God before. Literally.
And it's interesting that it has almost never been stated outright, save for the earlier mentioned episode "Karamatsu and Brothers", where Choromatsu calls him out. Otherwise it's always been a "show don't tell" with him, it can actually be difficult to glean this from his character if you don't know what you're looking for. After all, he's called a narcissist over and over, he's so full of himself all the time! But is he really? I've said this over and over, but this "act" is most likely just him trying to be true to himself and feel good about himself, so it's not necessarily a false picture of himself, but more an exaggerated one that he hopes will boost that poor confidence of his.
Remember how he was in drama club? We'll get back to that so let's put a pin in it for now 📍
What we see
In the movie, Karamatsu is the person that we see the least of what he is like in the company of others, but at the same time, the entire movie is revolving around him. This is his memory, his regret, and ultimately, it's about him getting closure. But even so, we don't ever "learn" what he was like in the same way that we do the others. We don't get funny scenes or examples, but again, everything is unsaid. Shown to us, but never explained. You just have to fill in the blanks yourself.
Yes. He does cry a lot.
It's not something that Karamatsu would subconsciously hide in his memory world. So in a fair observation, we can determine that Karamatsu was indeed a crybaby and easily startled, anxious, and generally unsociable.
We also see this in official art
Karamatsu has for a long time been pointed out to be a crybaby when he was little, because he generally used to be one in Osomatsu-kun. This solidifies this claim, and so I believe his reaction to the whole incident at school where they all fell apart went like this:
• He loses his support network - He is suddenly left to fend for himself, his already frail nature grew, and his social anxiety really took off. Getting teary-eyed or outright crying from even just the littlest thing when you're at your lowest is part of the anxiety-experience, most of us know this. It's not the same for everyone, but it's safe to say that his anxiety was pretty damn bad.
• Isolation - Not knowing how to break out of his shell and attempt to become his own person like his brothers do, he can't let go of what they had, and he feels himself slipping away. He doesn't know how to speak to them all, nor anybody else when he doesn't have his brothers by his side. So it's safe to assume that he had exactly 0 friends back then.
• Sense of hopelessness - We often see Karamatsu staring out into the air, reflecting on his situation, but he never actually does anything about it. And when he tries to, he actually fails. Despite his confidence being nearly non-existent, he still managed to ask them all to meet him to talk about the letter, and I think that does say something about him.
• He still loves his brothers - Again, despite everything, he managed to gather them all together, because his brothers mean everything to him. He just can't let go of them, and that's also why he just can't think of doing anything without them. That's why he doesn't try to become somebody else, or try to impress others. That stuff doesn't matter.
• Then he snaps - He has enough of it, and ends up snapping at his brothers, causing their fight to escalate.
Acting
I will never get enough of baby Karamatsu acting. Ever.
Anyway - We all knew he was in drama club when he was younger, and this is the one thing that we see him actually do to explore his interests. And it's strange isn't it, how somebody so socially anxious would decide to join drama club of all things... Unless it's because he wanted to reinvent himself.
Again, we don't see him do it during the movie's runtime, we only see the others, but we do see this in the credits. Doing a show, don't tell, so that we can figure out ourselves why he would suddenly do something like that. He wanted to build up his confidence, or maybe even pretend to be somebody else for a moment. However it is clear that he never got a chance to actually try this out until he got older, and he managed to sort out his anxiety somewhat.
Do you roleplay? It can be nice to get out of your own shoes for a spell and be somebody else, take a break from real life and play somebody completely different from yourself, or maybe even somebody who is quite a lot like you, but you get to decide what happens in their life. You might even get to experience things that you normally never would have gotten the chance to do.
High school Karamatsu is a deeply complex character, and there's a lot more to him than meets the eye. You just don't get it handed to you, you need to be observant, just like with him when he's older, when it's all an act.
Imagine 💭 f/o clinging to you in the morning still half asleep, arms trapping you into their body heat and head nuzzling against you as they mumble a soft ‘no’ under their breath. Looks like it’ll be more than 5 more minutes!
