Eichi's "Left Hand": An Archetypal Analysis of Wataru Hibiki's Role
Well, specifically of Wataru as Eichi's left hand, anyway. There's way too much ground to cover for Wataru's archetype to do it in one post.
The ruler's "right hand" is a pretty common archetype and trope that you're all probably familiar with. The "left hand," less common, shows up in different places as well.
The "right hand man" is defined by Merriam-Webster as "a very important assistant who helps someone do a job." The term comes from archetypal understandings of the function of the "right hand" which have evolved over the last centuries. In general, because most people are right-handed, the right hand has been favoured across many cultures, associated with luck and goodness.
The right hand is traditionally the hand which holds the sword, and so it is associated with action; the "right-hand man" enacts the will of the king. In his description of "the king/queen" archetype, J. E. Sandoval writes:
The sword represents power over life and death, as well as defense against those that threaten the greater order.
This is the exact role that Keito takes in Enstars. When Eichi is ill at the beginning of the year in ES!, Keito takes it upon himself to ensure that the school does not fall into disorder, tightening his hold on students and making the regulations very strict. He does this for the purpose of securing Eichi's place on Yumenosaki's "throne" while Eichi is away, and once Eichi returns, this is still frequently the role that Keito plays.
The right hand represents Deity. The aggressive hand, hand of growth and strength. Right hand laid on a person conveys authority, blessings, power, strength. Right hand lifted to heaven, and oath, swearing.
(Gertrude Jobes, Dictionary of Mythology, Folklore, and Symbols, quoted here)
The king depends on the right hand for recognition of his power and authority; the right hand is his strength and the one who exercises his will.
On the other hand (lol), the left has often historically been treated to unfavourable interpretations. Left-handed people have historically been discriminated against in many cultures and even forced to learn to use their right hands rather than their lefts.
In symbolism the body is divided vertically into halves, the right half being considered as light and the left half as darkness. [...] the light half was denominated spiritual and the left half material. Light is the symbol of objectivity; darkness of subjectivity. [...] darkness is considered as the veil which must eternally conceal the true nature of abstract and undifferentiated Being.
... several early nations used the right hand for all constructive labors and the left hand for only those purposes termed unclean and unfit for the sight of the gods. For the same reason black magic was often referred to as the left-hand path, and heaven was said to be upon the right and hell upon the left.
(Manly P Hall, The Secret Teachings of All Ages)
We see this reflected in the "narrative" created by Eichi and Keito. Keito is a member of the student council, the force of justice and order at Yumenosaki Academy, and the vice-president, cementing his role as Eichi's second in command. Wataru, by contrast, is one of the "Oddballs," who were castigated by the student council and made enemies of the public at Yumenosaki. Wataru plays the role of a "jester," associated with trickery and mischief, and Keito constantly fears that Wataru will corrupt Eichi.
The right hand bravely holds the sword, whereas the left hand does the ruler's "dirty work" in the darkness. Wataru is a member of fine, and is frequently treated to being part of Eichi's unsavoury business - trying to buy up Hokuto from Trickstar, threatening Ra*bits, and facing off against Wataru's own friends in UNDEAD and Valkyrie. The student council enacts "order" in the school through rules and regulations, and creates the guidelines by which students are subject to judgment (DreamFes participation is reflected in grades, for example). fine, on the other hand, is how Eichi threatens others using their status as a peer unit rather than by invoking the student council's authority. He challenges and uses underhanded methods to get others to compete against him, and really gets into the thick of the "battles" on the stage.
In the ES! Main Story, Eichi compares Wataru to Mephistopheles, a charming demon who (seemingly) reluctantly lured Doctor Faustus down a path of corruption and to hell, after Wataru threatens his plans for Trickstar. Eichi's plans were cruel, but they were done in the name of the student council, and so Wataru was like Mephistopheles in that he was pulling Eichi away from his own "just" decree and imperial edict.
Wataru is often the one who commentates on Eichi's tyranny - he refers to him as a tyrant, to start with, but also lauds praise upon him for his majesty and ruthlessness.
You are definitely not "evil"! You are "justice", and yet you commit atrocities and greedily devour the tears and dreams of others! Love and hatred! Hope and despair! Dreams and nightmares! You have achieved a way of life that is contradictory and conflicting!
(Ensemble Stars! Novel Adaptation, translation by maluridae)
The left hand has also been associated historically with the feminine, because it was often the hand that held the shield while the right held the sword. In China, the right hand is associated with the masculine yang, strength, and war; and the left hand is associated with the feminine yin, and honour (Carla Huffman).
... as the source of Being is in the primal darkness which preceded light, so the spiritual nature of man is in the dark part of his being, for the heart is on the left side.
(Manly P Hall, The Secret Teachings of All Ages)
Part of what makes the left hand so fearsome and threatening is that it's connected to the "heart." The honourable right hand which lives in the light does not know the truths concealed in the king's darkness. Femininity has historically been associated with chaos, emotion, and "touch," whereas masculinity is associated with rationality, order, and and "vision" (I don't have a source on hand for this one but I got my Bachelor's and Master's degrees in gender studies so just take my word for it; I'm sure it's easy to look up). The right hand is the sword and the "all-seeing eye" which dispassionately and honourably enacts justice; and the left hand guards the heart and represents desire, intimacy, and unpredictability.
The left hand has the potential to unravel the power of the king because it appeals to his heart.
Wataru plays this role so, so many times throughout Enstars. In one of their first conversations (which Eichi may have imagined, but it doesn't make a difference symbolically, because it still represents what Wataru is to Eichi), Wataru asks Eichi if he's meant to be the villain who dies or the princess who embraces him with a kiss. Eichi tells Wataru that he struggles to imagine him losing, and confesses that it pains him to see Wataru in this position even though Eichi is the one who put him in it (Element).
When Eichi tries to tear Trickstar apart, invoking his position as the Student Council President to pull Hokuto into fine, Wataru gives Hokuto a letter from his grandmother encouraging him to hold fast to his dreams. Eichi is famously angry about this, and his expression of it is incredibly intimate:
He lightly runs his fingertips through Wataru's long silver hair and, like a child throwing a temper tantrum, suddenly grabs it.
With a grip so tight that Wataru's hair could possibly tear, Eichi brings his face so close that they look like they are about to kiss.
He's like a woman who has gone mad with jealousy.
(Ensemble Stars! Novel Adaptation, translation by maluridae)
After some back and forth between the two, Wataru says to him:
"That is how you wished for this to unfold, yes?"
Whispered to him like a fallen angel, Eichi does not react to his words; he reluctantly stays silent. He always speaks so fluently, so it's rare to see him have such trouble coming up with a reply.
(Ensemble Stars! Novel Adaptation, translation by maluridae)
This quote shows that Wataru knows what's truly in Eichi's heart and that his actions are motivated by this. Subaru asks Eichi later in Main Story why he created an opportunity to be defeated in the first place, and Eichi admits to him:
Hehe, I sure wonder why... I might have wanted to see it happen. A miracle. To see your shine that enables you to overcome any fate, no matter how hopeless it may seem. To see your limitless potential. I was born with a weak body. I've cursed the gods countless times. However, if somehow a miracle can happen in this world... if there's hope, if there's love... Then I'd also be able to love this world. That might have been what I was thinking. You can't be an idol with only love. However, if you don't have love, you aren't qualified to be an idol. I just, simply... wanted to become an idol.
(Ensemble Stars! Main Story, translation by Freddie24f)
Wataru knows what Eichi wants before Eichi knows what he wants, and he ensures that Eichi will get it even if it means doing things that Eichi doesn't like in the moment. This is the defining pattern of their entire relationship. It is the exact reason why, in the hospital before their DreamFes, Wataru says to Eichi:
I am not quite sure if it is because the script is just simply awful or not, but it is difficult to see what part I have in this! [...] I do not know whether I should be stabbed by a knife and die while letting out a scream of death and agony, or give an embrace and a kiss!
(Element, translation by Shoe/maluridae)
That what Eichi really wants is intimacy and love is obvious to Wataru, despite all of Eichi's posturing as though he wants Wataru to be the villain. Wataru lets him keep his narrative, but joins fine shortly afterward. In Diner Live, Wataru baits and then switches Eichi by challenging Knight Killers to a "showdown" against Träumerei, only to surprise him by turning the performance into a joint live and switching out all the penlights which the audience was supposed to use to vote into ones that emit rainbow light, representing togetherness. When the live is over, he tells Eichi that his real motive was to express his desire for the two of them to keep performing together as equals and stay together in the future. Eichi agrees and tells Wataru that this is his true dream too.
Wataru grants the wishes Eichi can only make in his heart, the ones that are too unconscious and in the dark to articulate - and it is the role of the "left" to know the unconscious desires that the heart conceals.
Because of this, the left hand has influence over the king that the right hand does not. The right hand is blunt, offensive, the upright "hand of justice." When the right hand and the king are not on the same page, when they disagree, it undermines the king's power and causes tension and friction, but the right hand does not have much ability to influence the king to change. The right hand is unsubtle and doesn't speak directly to the king's heart. The right hand and the king must be in sync to secure the king's authority.
This is why, in the ES! Main Story, when Keito disagrees with Eichi's methods in breaking Trickstar up, he basically can't change Eichi's mind. He ends up undermining Eichi's intent instead by permitting and even encouraging Mao to leave Akatsuki and rejoin Trickstar. When the right hand is out of sync with the ruler, he takes on a quality that is hypocritical or mutinous, either resentfully enacting the ruler's will despite his own wishes, or betraying and actively acting against the ruler's will with the blunt force of the sword. These tensions culminate in Quarrel Festival, when Eichi challenges Keito to a straight up fight and threatens to disband Akatsuki, forcing Keito to acknowledge his own will and push back against Eichi. Ultimately, Keito explains that he does not feel bound by Eichi to any further extent than what he would want, but expresses that it was a relief to vent his frustration with the decisions Eichi sometimes makes.
The left hand, by contrast, is subtle, and can speak to the king's heart. This is why Wataru can influence Eichi while remaining at his side; in Jingle Bells, Wataru expresses disappointment with how Eichi handles Tori, and Eichi, although defensive, immediately reflects on how he should change his approach. Wataru's involvement in the ES! Main Story is another example of this. Eichi may become angry with him, but Wataru speaks directly to his deep desires, leaving Eichi speechless and subject to his influence.
The right hand depends on the ruler for its position and purpose, and the ruler depends on the right hand for its authority and power. The left hand, however, speaks to the heart and flows from the heart, and so it can act independently and influence.
A conflict with Keito is between Eichi's ideals and Keito's; a conflict between Eichi and Wataru is between Eichi's own actions and his own principles. When Keito betrays Eichi, it's because they don't agree. When Wataru betrays Eichi, it's because Eichi has betrayed himself.
Sandoval, continuing his description of the king/queen archetype, writes:
The king/queen archetype is, on the whole, not pacifist. It is always prepared to establish "justice", or order, by whatever means necessary. But because of this, it also requires a counterbalance from its opposite side - the idealistic heart [...] The king/queen archetype, if left to itself, can fall into a state of tyranny where the same power originally used to safeguard the city from harm eventually becomes the greatest harm to the city. Due to the natural passage of time, the king's commands eventually become outdated and dysfunctional as the world around him changes. If they are not revisited, via a return to the pure ideal that they were aiming to uphold, the king's reign will collapse. The role of the [...] compass, is to check the king/queen's values and character to ensure fitness to rule and to redirect them to their northern star.
As Eichi's right hand, Keito is the one who enacts Eichi's vision justice/order. But as his left hand, Wataru keeps Eichi in touch with his true desires and ideals and subtly redirects him back onto his path while staying at his side and helping him do his "dirty work." Where Keito carries the sword, Wataru is a rogue at Eichi's side, understanding more than he lets on and performing sleights of hand and illusions that charm him and guide him.
As the carrier of the sword, Keito's role is comparable to the archetype of a knight. Wataru's role is closer to that of confidante - connoting "confidence"/someone you "confide in." The right hand doesn't necessarily have to be one person; it could be an army. The left hand is always one person; it connotes specialness and secrecy.
This is the archetypal pair that is regarded from the outside with suspicion. The ruler and right hand are "easy to understand." The ruler and the left hand have a special closeness that causes rumours to fly about temptation, corruption, and secret love affairs.
When Keito pleads with Eichi to get rid of Wataru, Eichi tells him:
If you're my right hand, then Wataru's my left. It'd be a shame if I got rid of either just yet... ♪
(Circus, translation by Enstars Translates)
In this quote, Eichi suggests to Keito that if Wataru is expendable, Keito is too. However, it's important to note that Eichi is actually left-handed, a point that Wataru actually comments on:
He calls himself "Eichi's right hand"! Even though Eichi is left-handed - how interesting! Ahh, interpreting those sentiments surrounding this matter gives me such a fuzzy feeling... ☆
(The Flag's Honor ＊ Flower Festival, translation by Shoe/maluridae)
Flower Fes was written by Akira, and so the symbolism behind Eichi's left-handedness with Wataru as his left and Keito as his right is definitely intentional. When Eichi suggests to Keito that he's subject to being gotten rid of as much as Wataru is, he is not suggesting that Keito and Wataru are equal. The loss of Eichi's left hand would be more detrimental to Eichi than the loss of his right. As much as Eichi loves and appreciates Keito, and has no desire to get rid of him, he needs Wataru in a different way than he needs Keito, and if he were to get rid of either of them, he would probably get rid of Keito first. (And indeed, he does try to push Keito away in Quarrel Festival, whereas he and Wataru are in the same unit and declare their intentions to keep performing together into the future).
Theories about the left and right brain also further illustrate their specific positions. The right hand is controlled by the left brain, which is associated with logic, math, and structure. The left hand is controlled by the right brain, which is associated with creativity and art. Keito represents "discipline" in Eichi's life, structure, order, safety, security, and the masculine values mentioned above. Wataru represents Eichi's creativity and imagination with his magic, and the two perform together as artists. Being left-handed, Eichi is more firmly planted in the creative side, despite his role of representing order in Yumenosaki Academy as part of the student council with Keito.
As Eichi's "left hand," Wataru fulfills a major role in Eichi's life; namely, that of representing his heart. Despite being associated with the darkness and looked on with suspicion, Wataru knows Eichi's heart and his unconscious desires. Independent from Eichi's will, Wataru is able to remind and guide Eichi on the basis of his principles, and subtly influence Eichi in ways that push him to grow and be his best self. He is Eichi's confidante, and, owing to Eichi's left-handedness, the person that Eichi would be most reluctant to get rid of. He is the unpredictable chaos that Eichi craves, capable of unraveling Eichi's best laid plans, and, because he knows Eichi's heart, Eichi knows that when he does unravel them, it's because that's what's best for Eichi.
Of course. I trust you more than anyone in this world, including myself. Also, I wouldn't mind a betrayal - if it's from you. I wouldn't care even if you did anything awful to me. Is this feeling love, as the others call it?
(Eichi in Tempest, official English Ensemble! Stars translation)
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