Deeper and Deeper from the Perspective of a System
Deeper and Deeper is Kamishiro Rui's fifth event, and is by far his most intriguing event in my opinion. There is a lot you could say about how this event sheds light on Rui's experience in society, recontextualizing a lot of his character up to this point. However, this event also touched on an aspect of myself. This being the part of me that is a system, and how this event could be interpreted with that in mind.
I do wish to acknowledge beforehand that I don’t necessarily consider all of this canon. However I think part of the point of Deeper and Deeper to begin with is that you’re able to make your own reading out of it, as your own reading is how you are able to connect with Rui in this event. The connection is the most important part of this event, and is the heart beating behind it.
I do have my own opinions on the actual meaning the play, but I do wish to focus on an interpretation that connected me personally to Rui. Again, this being the part that touched me, as someone who is plural.
To start with, one of the points of this event is that Rui wants to create a show with depth, which implies a layered direction.
The resulting play he wished to create in Deeper and Deeper has this, being vague enough for readers to form their own meanings on what the symbolism means. This in particular applies to the character of The Bard, and The Hunter, with The Monster being universally accepted to be Rui.
While the character of the hunter, from my understanding, is universally accepted to be society, I believe that the character of The Hunter can also be interpreted as another aspect of Rui. In particular the part of Rui that is a manifestation of his suicidal thoughts, or, to a certain extent, a person separate from himself. This is what I intend to argue in this post.
The first thing to establish is this play is meant to be Rui as a whole, conveying his experience as a human being.
This aspect and messaging, how art represents and is a connecting point for the artist, is the heart of Deeper and Deeper. With this aspect in mind, it could be interpreted that the play that comes about in this event is meant to be Rui's experience entirely. Thus you must dissect the play that comes about with this.
Rui since the beginning of Wonderlands x Showtime’s story, is a character that is shown to be an outsider. He was isolated as a young child from his peers due to the consideration by the people around him that Rui is strange, or in particular a danger to them. This leads him to not being allowed to enter society due to his “otherness” and this backstory, his loneliness, is one of the core conflict of his character. This is metaphorically told through the play, including the emotions that he may have felt as a result of this.
In this show, there are four central moving parts. As established, three of these are The Monster, The Bard, and The Hunter. However, the fourth moving part in this play is not an individual character, rather the society surrounding the three of these characters.
While I do recognize the interpretation of The Hunter as “society", I do not necessarily agree with this statement. I believe that the society contained within the play of Deeper and Deeper does enough to convey this aspect of Rui’s relationship with society.
My reasons for this are furthered by the character of the bard. On a surface level, the bard is a stand in for Wonderlands x Showtime, someone who gave him a path to reenter society and find a place among them. I do not believe this is entirely the case, as I believe there is more to the bard, however, the bard is the reason why The Monster is able to join society. It is through her that The Monster, Rui, is able to find a place of belonging, or people who become receptive to him (despite the fact that he is hiding his monster nature from them).
This change in reception is emblematic of the change in reception society has with Rui, with him starting to have friends and belonging and be accepted among him.
However, if the society that rejected Rui is not The Hunter, then the question becomes, who exactly The Hunter is. There is a very simple answer to this though, and that is Rui himself. However, in my honest opinion, there is an even deeper answer. This answer is found in chapter five of the event.
This Rui, who presents himself as both himself, but also as a separate voice, is The Hunter, speaking directly to Rui.
The Hunter is a character who is defined by the hatred of The Monster, one who wishes to kill them for the safety of society. The Hunter arrives in the middle of the play while The Monster and The Bard are among people.
With this in mind, it’s easy to interpret these as an extension of Rui’s suicidal thoughts, but I truly believe this “Hunter” can also be interpreted as a separate person.
I do wish to make a side note, that a person writing a story, dividing different aspects of themself into different representations can lend itself to this interpretation. The nightmare did not have to be here for me to believe this. Whether it be two, or, in the my own opinion, even three (which I will get to), ultimately the key point is that not only are these different distinct aspects of Rui, they are also individual roles, formed into people.
When it comes to systemhood, it is commonly considered that each alter has a “role” or “function” within the system to keep it functioning and surviving. Not every alter’s role in the system is very apparent, and they can even take on multiple roles at once. However, in the case of Deeper and Deeper, the role of The Hunter can be equated to that of a persecutor.
The role of the persecutor can be sort of explained as a “misguided protector” of sorts. Persecutors are not inherently dangerous and are not “evil alters” but they are there to help keep the body alive. I hesitate to call The Hunter this, as this would play into this misconception surrounding persecutors, but I do believe this is ultimately the role that fits The Hunter best.
To tie the character of The Hunter back to Rui’s nightmare, I want to highlight the Rui who appears in that nightmare. Particularly the quote, “Even if you pretend not to see me, I won’t disappear.” To make sense of this quote, I want to highlight a common theme within Rui’s events, or at least with events like Wonder Halloween, and Curtain Call, that being Rui’s disconnection with his own emotions.
Wonder Halloween in particular is really fascinating due to just how unaware, or even dissociated, Rui seems to be in the event. With him not being able to identify his emotions, nor recognize that he’s feeling any different, with him having to have other people describe that he is. It is through other people describing his behavior is he able to identify these feelings, and the cause of why.
This behavior is not just present in Wonder Halloween, and is also in Curtain Call, with his reasons for “dissociating” coming back to his place in society, and how Wonderlands x Showtime give him a place to remain in society. This is especially evident in Wonder Halloween, where the exact reason is that he was afraid of that rejection.
This rejection is exactly the reason why The Hunter, essentially telling Rui he cannot be there, because he is a danger to society. That they are incompatible, because if he were there as he is, ever unchanging, then not only will he hurt people, but so will someone like Tsukasa him, and the system in turn. Yet this thought never occurred to him, and if he were a system, that would be because it was not his own to begin with.
As a sidetrack, I also wish to highlight Curtain Call. There is something I want to mention in regards to something Rui does in the event when it comes to his conversation with Asahi.
Rui not only distinguishes himself as a director, but it's made note that his face betrays his thoughts. Something about being a system is that every alter is their own person, with their own thoughts and feelings on something. A system is essentially in constant conversation with themselves, and one could want one thing while another could want a different thing, and one’s thoughts (especially if they are not aware of their systemhood) could disagree constantly. This is part of a system’s experience.
To return to the main conversation, Rui’s refusal to look at his alter, in a sense one could say Rui repressed this alter or never properly acknowledged them. Simply refusing to see them because The Hunter, this alter, is the part that fully believes he cannot exist in society. As Rui demonstrates a certain emotional detachment (or unawareness) and conflicting thoughts and emotions, this would extend to something like suicidality or the dehumanizing feelings. The idea that he cannot exist there even though Rui wants to keep being there.
If The Hunter believes that The Monster is a danger, then by enacting violence upon it it can protect society. Although even if it’s protecting society, one could also argue by hurting the one that wishes to remain there, it is separating the one that would get the body hurt. As again, persecutors ultimately act out because they’re trying to protect the system. By hurting the one that is a danger to society, then pushing them away means society will not have a reason to hurt the body as a whole.
With this in mind, I would like to suggest that if The Hunter is representative of an alter, then one could extend this interpretation to The Bard.
While The Bard lends itself to a representation of Wonderlands x Showtime, if The Hunter is supposed to be an aspect of Rui, then The Bard also has this possibility. Specifically, The Bard is representative of a protector.
The role The Bard plays can almost nearly be equated to the role of The Mask in the case of Mafuyu. Mafuyu’s Mask is something that fronts in an effort to protect her from people like her peers, or her Mom, which is nearly the same operation as The Bard’s.
Throughout the story The Bard is giving The Monster essentially tools to help blend in among people, protecting it from rejection. (Even if contextually that was not what The Bard was going for initially) The Bard is the reason why Rui is able to be among people. To be interesting to people, and to get along with them, but to not hurt them. The Bard is a guiding force that protects the system. It is also playing a role.
The role of The Bard is best exemplified by Wonder Halloween actually, where Rui, or his alter, started freaking out essentially and started holding back, because of the fear of rejection and the fact that Rui, in a sense, showed his monster. The disconnection Rui experiences in that event between himself and his actions become two different people trying to navigate a situation that could potentially get the system hurt.
It is also The Bard being the one to advocate for The Monster in the face of The Hunter that demonstrates her role as a protector. As it’s with both her help, and her own belief that The Monster can still continue to remain there in society. Contrary to The Hunter’s belief, who it and even The Monster believes are incompatible among, with The Hunter urging that The Monster must be hurt to protect society (and themselves.)
Despite it all though, even though The Hunter declares that The Monster can continue to exist in society, there is an added caveat…
The Hunter continues to observe even when it’s decided The Monster can live. It, as a part of Rui, is an external observer watching him from the back of his mind to make sure he can continue to exist here. If, at the very least, The Hunter is a separate part of his thoughts conveyed through story, then it establishes there a separate part of Rui that is watching his every move to make sure he can’t do any harm.
It is ultimately The Hunter, a part of the system, that can, and will decide whether or not he can exist, even if Rui himself wishes to be there. They are watching him.
It is this line that I believe is the most systemcoded part of this event, the simple establishment of someone else in the back of his mind, always watching him. There are other interpretations of this line of course, but if it’s all supposed to be an internal study of Rui, then I believe this interpretation fits best.
The open ended nature of the play lends itself to a sort of, feeling that even Rui doesn't know whether he himself, and the rest of society can continue to exist among them. It reflects an uncertainty about the future, with the one who will be the deciding force at the end of the day being the internal observer watching his every move. Not Rui himself.
With all of this in mind, the play in Deeper and Deeper reads as a conversation among a system. This conversation being about how the system can move forward and continue to exist among society. Between one that’s scared of being hurt, and rejected, and two who wish to continue on among them, despite any fears and acknowledgements about their, or Rui’s, nature they may have. Ultimately because Rui, and the system as a whole, wishes to hold onto what they’ve waited for this entire time, the friendships they’ve finally made.
If Deeper and Deeper is about Rui connecting with people through art, conveying himself through it, reaching his audience and cast members, then one could extend to himself, and a system reading. Connecting the disconnected parts that make up their mind and understand each other and Rui himself.
The story within Deeper and Deeper feels deeply internal, and despite what may be the actual authorial intent, Rui touched myself as a system.
Deeper and Deeper Translation by Tree / Tree Car (x) (x)
Screenshots taken off of Sekaipedia (x)
It’s On! Wonder Halloween!, and A Sad Farewell at Curtain Call Translation Taken from Ensekai
Screenshots taken off of sekai.best
Deeper and Deeper from the Perspective of a System
Deeper and Deeper is Kamishiro Rui's fifth event, and is by far his most intriguing event in my opinion. There is a lot you could say about how this event sheds light on Rui's experience in society, recontextualizing a lot of his character up to this point. However, this event also touched on an aspect of myself. This being the part of me that is a system, and how this event could be interpreted with that in mind.
I do wish to acknowledge beforehand that I don’t necessarily consider all of this canon. I also wish to make it clear I don’t necessarily disagree with a lot of takeaways with this event. I think part of the point of Deeper and Deeper to begin with is that you’re able to make your own reading out of it, as your own reading is how you are able to connect with Rui in this event. The connection is the most important part of this event, and is the heart beating behind it.
I do have my own opinions on the actual meaning the play, but I do wish to focus on an interpretation that connected me personally to Rui. Again, this being the part that touched me, as someone who is plural.
To start with, one of the points of this event is that Rui wants to create a show with depth, which implies a layered direction.
The resulting play he wished to create in Deeper and Deeper has this, being vague enough for readers to form their own meanings on what the symbolism means. This in particular applies to the character of The Bard, and The Hunter, with The Monster being universally accepted to be Rui.
While the character of the hunter, from my understanding, is universally accepted to be society, I believe that the character of The Hunter can also be interpreted as another aspect of Rui. In particular the part of Rui that is a manifestation of his suicidal thoughts, or, to a certain extent, a person separate from himself. This is what I intend to argue in this post.
The first thing to establish is this play is meant to be Rui as a whole, conveying his experience as a human being.
This aspect and messaging, how art represents and is a connecting point for the artist, is the heart of Deeper and Deeper. With this aspect in mind, it could be interpreted that the play that comes about in this event is meant to be Rui's experience entirely. Thus you must dissect the play that comes about with this.
Rui since the beginning of Wonderlands x Showtime’s story, is a character that is shown to be an outsider. He was isolated as a young child from his peers due to the consideration by the people around him that Rui is strange, or in particular a danger to them. This leads him to not being allowed to enter society due to his “otherness” and this backstory, his loneliness, is one of the core conflict of his character. This is metaphorically told through the play, including the emotions that he may have felt as a result of this.
In this show, there are four central moving parts. As established, three of these are The Monster, The Bard, and The Hunter. However, the fourth moving part in this play is not an individual character, rather the society surrounding the three of these characters.
While I do recognize the interpretation of The Hunter as “society", I do not necessarily agree with this statement. I believe that the society contained within the play of Deeper and Deeper does enough to convey this aspect of Rui’s relationship with society.
My reasons for this are furthered by the character of the bard. On a surface level, the bard is a stand in for Wonderlands x Showtime, someone who gave him a path to reenter society and find a place among them. I do not believe this is entirely the case, as I believe there is more to the bard, however, the bard is the reason why The Monster is able to join society. It is through her that The Monster, Rui, is able to find a place of belonging, or people who become receptive to him (despite the fact that he is hiding his monster nature from them).
This change in reception is emblematic of the change in reception society has with Rui, with him starting to have friends and belonging and be accepted among him.
However, if the society that rejected Rui is not The Hunter, then the question becomes, who exactly The Hunter is. There is a very simple answer to this though, and that is Rui himself. However, in my honest opinion, there is an even deeper answer. This answer is found in chapter five of the event.
This Rui, who presents himself as both himself, but also as a separate voice, is The Hunter, speaking directly to Rui.
The Hunter is a character who is defined by the hatred of The Monster, one who wishes to kill them for the safety of society. The Hunter arrives in the middle of the play while The Monster and The Bard are among people.
With this in mind, it’s easy to interpret these as an extension of Rui’s suicidal thoughts, but I truly believe this “Hunter” can also be interpreted as a separate person.
I do wish to make a side note, that a person writing a story, dividing different aspects of themself into different representations can lend itself to this interpretation. The nightmare did not have to be here for me to believe this. Whether it be two, or, in the my own opinion, even three (which I will get to), ultimately the key point is that not only are these different distinct aspects of Rui, they are also individual roles, formed into people.
When it comes to systemhood, it is commonly considered that each alter has a “role” or “function” within the system to keep it functioning and surviving. Not every alter’s role in the system is very apparent, and they can even take on multiple roles at once. However, in the case of Deeper and Deeper, the role of The Hunter can be equated to that of a persecutor.
The role of the persecutor can be sort of explained as a “misguided protector” of sorts. Persecutors are not inherently dangerous and are not “evil alters” but they are there to help keep the body alive. I hesitate to call The Hunter this, as this would play into this misconception surrounding persecutors, but I do believe this is ultimately the role that fits The Hunter best.
To tie the character of The Hunter back to Rui’s nightmare, I want to highlight the Rui who appears in that nightmare. Particularly the quote, “Even if you pretend not to see me, I won’t disappear.” To make sense of this quote, I want to highlight a common theme within Rui’s events, or at least with events like Wonder Halloween, and Curtain Call, that being Rui’s disconnection with his own emotions.
Wonder Halloween in particular is really fascinating due to just how unaware, or even dissociated, Rui seems to be in the event. With him not being able to identify his emotions, nor recognize that he’s feeling any different, with him having to have other people describe that he is. It is through other people describing his behavior is he able to identify these feelings, and the cause of why.
This behavior is not just present in Wonder Halloween, and is also in Curtain Call, with his reasons for “dissociating” coming back to his place in society, and how Wonderlands x Showtime give him a place to remain in society. This is especially evident in Wonder Halloween, where the exact reason is that he was afraid of that rejection.
This rejection is exactly the reason why The Hunter, essentially telling Rui he cannot be there, because he is a danger to society. That they are incompatible, because if he were there as he is, ever unchanging, then not only will he hurt people, but so will someone like Tsukasa him, and the system in turn. Yet this thought never occurred to him, and if he were a system, that would be because it was not his own to begin with.
As a sidetrack, I also wish to highlight Curtain Call. There is something I want to mention in regards to something Rui does in the event when it comes to his conversation with Asahi.
Rui not only distinguishes himself as a director, but it's made note that his face betrays his thoughts. Something about being a system is that every alter is their own person, with their own thoughts and feelings on something. A system is essentially in constant conversation with themselves, and one could want one thing while another could want a different thing, and one’s thoughts (especially if they are not aware of their systemhood) could disagree constantly. This is part of a system’s experience.
To return to the main conversation, Rui’s refusal to look at his alter, in a sense one could say Rui repressed this alter or never properly acknowledged them. Simply refusing to see them because The Hunter, this alter, is the part that fully believes he cannot exist in society. As Rui demonstrates a certain emotional detachment (or unawareness) and conflicting thoughts and emotions, this would extend to something like suicidality or the dehumanizing feelings. The idea that he cannot exist there even though Rui wants to keep being there.
If The Hunter believes that The Monster is a danger, then by enacting violence upon it it can protect society. Although even if it’s protecting society, one could also argue by hurting the one that wishes to remain there, it is separating the one that would get the body hurt. As again, persecutors ultimately act out because they’re trying to protect the body. By hurting the one that is a danger to society, then pushing them away means society will not have a reason to hurt the body as a whole.
With this in mind, I would like to suggest that if The Hunter is representative of an alter, then one could extend this interpretation to The Bard.
While The Bard lends itself to a representation of Wonderlands x Showtime, if The Hunter is supposed to be an aspect of Rui, then The Bard also has this possibility. Specifically, The Bard is representative of a protector.
The role The Bard plays can almost nearly be equated to the role of The Mask in the case of Mafuyu. Mafuyu’s Mask is something that fronts in an effort to protect her from people like her peers, or her Mom, which is nearly the same operation as The Bard’s.
Throughout the story The Bard is giving The Monster essentially tools to help blend in among people, protecting it from rejection. (Even if contextually that was not what The Bard was going for initially) The Bard is the reason why Rui is able to be among people. To be interesting to people, and to get along with them, but to not hurt them. The Bard is a guiding force that protects the system. It is also playing a role.
The role of The Bard is best exemplified by Wonder Halloween actually, where Rui, or his alter, started freaking out essentially and started holding back, because of the fear of rejection and the fact that Rui, in a sense, showed his monster. The disconnection Rui experiences in that event between himself and his actions become two different people trying to navigate a situation that could potentially get the system hurt.
It is also The Bard being the one to advocate for The Monster in the face of The Hunter that demonstrates her role as a protector. As it’s with both her help, and her own belief that The Monster can still continue to remain there in society. Contrary to The Hunter’s belief, who it and even The Monster believes are incompatible among, with The Hunter urging that The Monster must be hurt to protect society (and themselves.)
Despite it all though, even though The Hunter declares that The Monster can continue to exist in society, there is an added caveat…
The Hunter continues to observe even when it’s decided The Monster can live. It, as a part of Rui, is an external observer watching him from the back of his mind to make sure he can continue to exist here. If, at the very least, The Hunter is a separate part of his thoughts conveyed through story, then it establishes there a separate part of Rui that is watching his every move to make sure he can’t do any harm.
It is ultimately The Hunter, a part of the system, that can, and will decide whether or not he can exist, even if Rui himself wishes to be there. They are watching him.
It is this line that I believe is the most systemcoded part of this event, the simple establishment of someone else in the back of his mind, always watching him. There are other interpretations of this line of course, but if it’s all supposed to be an internal study of Rui, then I believe this interpretation fits best.
The open ended nature of the play lends itself to a sort of, feeling that even Rui doesn't know whether he himself, and the rest of society can continue to exist among them. It reflects an uncertainty about the future, with the one who will be the deciding force at the end of the day being the internal observer watching his every move. Not Rui himself.
With all of this in mind, the play in Deeper and Deeper reads as a conversation among a system. This conversation being about how the system can move forward and continue to exist among society. Between one that’s scared of being hurt, and rejected, and two who wish to continue on among them, despite any fears and acknowledgements about their, or Rui’s, nature they may have. Ultimately because Rui, and the system as a whole, wishes to hold onto what they’ve waited for this entire time, the friendships they’ve finally made.
If Deeper and Deeper is about Rui connecting with people through art, conveying himself through it, reaching his audience and cast members, then one could extend to himself, and a system reading. Connecting the disconnected parts that make up their mind and understand each other and Rui himself.
The story within Deeper and Deeper feels deeply internal, and despite what may be the actual authorial intent, Rui touched myself as a system.
Deeper and Deeper Translation by Tree / Tree Car (x) (x)
Screenshots taken off of Sekaipedia (x)
It’s On! Wonder Halloween!, and A Sad Farewell at Curtain Call Translation Taken from Ensekai
Screenshots taken off of sekai.best
Deeper and Deeper from the Perspective of a System
Deeper and Deeper is Kamishiro Rui's fifth event, and is by far his most intriguing event in my opinion. There is a lot you could say about how this event sheds light on Rui's experience in society, recontextualizing a lot of his character up to this point. However, this event also touched on an aspect of myself. This being the part of me that is a system, and how this event could be interpreted with that in mind.
I do wish to acknowledge beforehand that I don’t necessarily consider all of this canon. However I think part of the point of Deeper and Deeper to begin with is that you’re able to make your own reading out of it, as your own reading is how you are able to connect with Rui in this event. The connection is the most important part of this event, and is the heart beating behind it.
I do have my own opinions on the actual meaning the play, but I do wish to focus on an interpretation that connected me personally to Rui. Again, this being the part that touched me, as someone who is plural.
To start with, one of the points of this event is that Rui wants to create a show with depth, which implies a layered direction.
The resulting play he wished to create in Deeper and Deeper has this, being vague enough for readers to form their own meanings on what the symbolism means. This in particular applies to the character of The Bard, and The Hunter, with The Monster being universally accepted to be Rui.
While the character of the hunter, from my understanding, is universally accepted to be society, I believe that the character of The Hunter can also be interpreted as another aspect of Rui. In particular the part of Rui that is a manifestation of his suicidal thoughts, or, to a certain extent, a person separate from himself. This is what I intend to argue in this post.
The first thing to establish is this play is meant to be Rui as a whole, conveying his experience as a human being.
This aspect and messaging, how art represents and is a connecting point for the artist, is the heart of Deeper and Deeper. With this aspect in mind, it could be interpreted that the play that comes about in this event is meant to be Rui's experience entirely. Thus you must dissect the play that comes about with this.
Rui since the beginning of Wonderlands x Showtime’s story, is a character that is shown to be an outsider. He was isolated as a young child from his peers due to the consideration by the people around him that Rui is strange, or in particular a danger to them. This leads him to not being allowed to enter society due to his “otherness” and this backstory, his loneliness, is one of the core conflict of his character. This is metaphorically told through the play, including the emotions that he may have felt as a result of this.
In this show, there are four central moving parts. As established, three of these are The Monster, The Bard, and The Hunter. However, the fourth moving part in this play is not an individual character, rather the society surrounding the three of these characters.
While I do recognize the interpretation of The Hunter as “society", I do not necessarily agree with this statement. I believe that the society contained within the play of Deeper and Deeper does enough to convey this aspect of Rui’s relationship with society.
My reasons for this are furthered by the character of the bard. On a surface level, the bard is a stand in for Wonderlands x Showtime, someone who gave him a path to reenter society and find a place among them. I do not believe this is entirely the case, as I believe there is more to the bard, however, the bard is the reason why The Monster is able to join society. It is through her that The Monster, Rui, is able to find a place of belonging, or people who become receptive to him (despite the fact that he is hiding his monster nature from them).
This change in reception is emblematic of the change in reception society has with Rui, with him starting to have friends and belonging and be accepted among him.
However, if the society that rejected Rui is not The Hunter, then the question becomes, who exactly The Hunter is. There is a very simple answer to this though, and that is Rui himself. However, in my honest opinion, there is an even deeper answer. This answer is found in chapter five of the event.
This Rui, who presents himself as both himself, but also as a separate voice, is The Hunter, speaking directly to Rui.
The Hunter is a character who is defined by the hatred of The Monster, one who wishes to kill them for the safety of society. The Hunter arrives in the middle of the play while The Monster and The Bard are among people.
With this in mind, it’s easy to interpret these as an extension of Rui’s suicidal thoughts, but I truly believe this “Hunter” can also be interpreted as a separate person.
I do wish to make a side note, that a person writing a story, dividing different aspects of themself into different representations can lend itself to this interpretation. The nightmare did not have to be here for me to believe this. Whether it be two, or, in the my own opinion, even three (which I will get to), ultimately the key point is that not only are these different distinct aspects of Rui, they are also individual roles, formed into people.
When it comes to systemhood, it is commonly considered that each alter has a “role” or “function” within the system to keep it functioning and surviving. Not every alter’s role in the system is very apparent, and they can even take on multiple roles at once. However, in the case of Deeper and Deeper, the role of The Hunter can be equated to that of a persecutor.
The role of the persecutor can be sort of explained as a “misguided protector” of sorts. Persecutors are not inherently dangerous and are not “evil alters” but they are there to help keep the body alive. I hesitate to call The Hunter this, as this would play into this misconception surrounding persecutors, but I do believe this is ultimately the role that fits The Hunter best.
To tie the character of The Hunter back to Rui’s nightmare, I want to highlight the Rui who appears in that nightmare. Particularly the quote, “Even if you pretend not to see me, I won’t disappear.” To make sense of this quote, I want to highlight a common theme within Rui’s events, or at least with events like Wonder Halloween, and Curtain Call, that being Rui’s disconnection with his own emotions.
Wonder Halloween in particular is really fascinating due to just how unaware, or even dissociated, Rui seems to be in the event. With him not being able to identify his emotions, nor recognize that he’s feeling any different, with him having to have other people describe that he is. It is through other people describing his behavior is he able to identify these feelings, and the cause of why.
This behavior is not just present in Wonder Halloween, and is also in Curtain Call, with his reasons for “dissociating” coming back to his place in society, and how Wonderlands x Showtime give him a place to remain in society. This is especially evident in Wonder Halloween, where the exact reason is that he was afraid of that rejection.
This rejection is exactly the reason why The Hunter, essentially telling Rui he cannot be there, because he is a danger to society. That they are incompatible, because if he were there as he is, ever unchanging, then not only will he hurt people, but so will someone like Tsukasa him, and the system in turn. Yet this thought never occurred to him, and if he were a system, that would be because it was not his own to begin with.
As a sidetrack, I also wish to highlight Curtain Call. There is something I want to mention in regards to something Rui does in the event when it comes to his conversation with Asahi.
Rui not only distinguishes himself as a director, but it's made note that his face betrays his thoughts. Something about being a system is that every alter is their own person, with their own thoughts and feelings on something. A system is essentially in constant conversation with themselves, and one could want one thing while another could want a different thing, and one’s thoughts (especially if they are not aware of their systemhood) could disagree constantly. This is part of a system’s experience.
To return to the main conversation, Rui’s refusal to look at his alter, in a sense one could say Rui repressed this alter or never properly acknowledged them. Simply refusing to see them because The Hunter, this alter, is the part that fully believes he cannot exist in society. As Rui demonstrates a certain emotional detachment (or unawareness) and conflicting thoughts and emotions, this would extend to something like suicidality or the dehumanizing feelings. The idea that he cannot exist there even though Rui wants to keep being there.
If The Hunter believes that The Monster is a danger, then by enacting violence upon it it can protect society. Although even if it’s protecting society, one could also argue by hurting the one that wishes to remain there, it is separating the one that would get the body hurt. As again, persecutors ultimately act out because they’re trying to protect the system. By hurting the one that is a danger to society, then pushing them away means society will not have a reason to hurt the body as a whole.
With this in mind, I would like to suggest that if The Hunter is representative of an alter, then one could extend this interpretation to The Bard.
While The Bard lends itself to a representation of Wonderlands x Showtime, if The Hunter is supposed to be an aspect of Rui, then The Bard also has this possibility. Specifically, The Bard is representative of a protector.
The role The Bard plays can almost nearly be equated to the role of The Mask in the case of Mafuyu. Mafuyu’s Mask is something that fronts in an effort to protect her from people like her peers, or her Mom, which is nearly the same operation as The Bard’s.
Throughout the story The Bard is giving The Monster essentially tools to help blend in among people, protecting it from rejection. (Even if contextually that was not what The Bard was going for initially) The Bard is the reason why Rui is able to be among people. To be interesting to people, and to get along with them, but to not hurt them. The Bard is a guiding force that protects the system. It is also playing a role.
The role of The Bard is best exemplified by Wonder Halloween actually, where Rui, or his alter, started freaking out essentially and started holding back, because of the fear of rejection and the fact that Rui, in a sense, showed his monster. The disconnection Rui experiences in that event between himself and his actions become two different people trying to navigate a situation that could potentially get the system hurt.
It is also The Bard being the one to advocate for The Monster in the face of The Hunter that demonstrates her role as a protector. As it’s with both her help, and her own belief that The Monster can still continue to remain there in society. Contrary to The Hunter’s belief, who it and even The Monster believes are incompatible among, with The Hunter urging that The Monster must be hurt to protect society (and themselves.)
Despite it all though, even though The Hunter declares that The Monster can continue to exist in society, there is an added caveat…
The Hunter continues to observe even when it’s decided The Monster can live. It, as a part of Rui, is an external observer watching him from the back of his mind to make sure he can continue to exist here. If, at the very least, The Hunter is a separate part of his thoughts conveyed through story, then it establishes there a separate part of Rui that is watching his every move to make sure he can’t do any harm.
It is ultimately The Hunter, a part of the system, that can, and will decide whether or not he can exist, even if Rui himself wishes to be there. They are watching him.
It is this line that I believe is the most systemcoded part of this event, the simple establishment of someone else in the back of his mind, always watching him. There are other interpretations of this line of course, but if it’s all supposed to be an internal study of Rui, then I believe this interpretation fits best.
The open ended nature of the play lends itself to a sort of, feeling that even Rui doesn't know whether he himself, and the rest of society can continue to exist among them. It reflects an uncertainty about the future, with the one who will be the deciding force at the end of the day being the internal observer watching his every move. Not Rui himself.
With all of this in mind, the play in Deeper and Deeper reads as a conversation among a system. This conversation being about how the system can move forward and continue to exist among society. Between one that’s scared of being hurt, and rejected, and two who wish to continue on among them, despite any fears and acknowledgements about their, or Rui’s, nature they may have. Ultimately because Rui, and the system as a whole, wishes to hold onto what they’ve waited for this entire time, the friendships they’ve finally made.
If Deeper and Deeper is about Rui connecting with people through art, conveying himself through it, reaching his audience and cast members, then one could extend to himself, and a system reading. Connecting the disconnected parts that make up their mind and understand each other and Rui himself.
The story within Deeper and Deeper feels deeply internal, and despite what may be the actual authorial intent, Rui touched myself as a system.
Deeper and Deeper Translation by Tree / Tree Car (x) (x)
Screenshots taken off of Sekaipedia (x)
It’s On! Wonder Halloween!, and A Sad Farewell at Curtain Call Translation Taken from Ensekai
Screenshots taken off of sekai.best
blakekathryn
stormborns
kianamaiart
2087
germansingergirl