Arukenimon, Mummymon and Oikawa character design analysis (made by two lunatics)
A friend requested us (= me and @pupusukka, since socks come in pairs) to give them our analysis on the character designs of these three
Because we are not one bit normal about character design in general and not about these three either, it is time for some insane ramblings, co-written by your local online lesbians
This is gonna be long, so the rest of it is under read more
Let’s start with the basis of all character design: the colors!
Oikawa’s main color is purple, and it splits into its basic components in the form of red in Arukenimon, and blue in Mummymon. Keep these three colors in mind, because they are going to appear again further down in the analysis
We all know purple is often considered a royal color and is used a lot with villainous characters in media, so we don’t really need to explain why that was chosen for Oikawa. What is interesting though with Arukenimon’s red and Mummymon’s blue is the dynamic between those two colors: they are usually the main character - the secondary character colors when presented together, so it nicely shows what kind of hierarchy Arukenimon and Mummymon have in their relationship
But off to individual design analysis: Arukenimon!
Arukenimon’s disguised design has a clear witch-inspiration, which fits well with her hair-based abilities. While not pointy, her hat adds to the entire witch thing, and so do the upwards tips of her shoes.
She wears sunglasses, and she is not once seen without them in her disguised form.
In Japanese culture, wearing sunglasses excessively is often seen as hiding something, be it one’s identity or true motives. This creates an air of mystery around her, and she does possess many secrets before the main characters or viewers get a hint of her motives or identity.
And what color are her glasses? Purple. She sees the world through Oikawa’s ideals, and she is his eyes, arms and legs in the Digital World, which are all colored purple.
The stripes on her hat share a similar design trait to her Digimon form, and with that, let's move to analyze the form in question!
The aforementioned Digimon form’s stripes are most likely inspired by the yokai tsuchigumo, which is said to have tiger-like stripes on its body. Her Digimon design is also very jorogumo-inspired, which is also a spider yokai, but almost exclusively depicted as a beautiful woman, who lures men into her den to be eaten. While these design elements are inspired by Japanese folklore, Arukenimon’s Digimon form has very Egyptian-based patterning and aesthetics, which is most likely to match with Mummymon’s design.
Also note, how her glasses are now gone - her true nature is now for all to see.
Next up, Mummymon!
A friend pointed out how Mummymon’s entire look most likely has marching band inspiration behind it- the cane is a nod to the gun-crutch from his Digimon form, but it could also very well be based on a marching band baton. Marching bands also have a military history, and Mummymon does look like some sort of fucked up military priest, so the marching band allegations sound pretty plausible to us.
Mummymon’s coat has a slit on the back, which was a design choice originally made for horseback-riding, whereas speaking of Oikawa briefly here - his coat doesn’t have one. This may be me (=P.M.) looking too much into it from a seamstress’ perspective, but it is a nice nod to how Mummymon is a working man, and Oikawa is the boss who doesn’t need to do the heavy manual labor.
Returning briefly to the colors - Mummymon’s design has the yellow dots all around (including his eye), which are an opposite of purple, which is Oikawa’s - the main villain’s - main color. One could argue that those are the little glimmers of good/light that are in Mummymon despite him being assigned a villain, because he does question his very existence, the concept of a soul and such through the series. It also does look a little bit like stars in a night sky, which was an entire thing for him in a certain episode, but this part is most likely us looking too much into it.
The one-eye thing most likely ties to only one of his eyes being visible in his Digimon form, but we like to think he has lost his ability to look at some things three-dimensionally, hence his unwavering love towards Arukenimon despite her abuse towards him.
And then we. We have his Digimon form.
It fucks severely. This is peak Digimon insanity - the crutch that is also a gun, the entire Rambo-like aesthetic, and the leg lengtheners (or supports?) to this already lanky creature? Peak shit.
Another friend pointed out how the gun is an amalgamation of multiple real guns, but making a full chart of that deserves its own post entirely, so we are not gonna handle that here.
We couldn't figure out why the Egyptian theme was chosen for both Arukenimon and Mummymon though, given how Oikawa's entire thing is based on more gothic/vampire-like vibes. Speaking of him!
The man of the hour, Oikawa!
Can we just say how fucking rizzed this guy is? The coat, the fancy clothing underneath it, everything?
Oikawa’s coat has this patterning that subtly hints at the entire secret vampire thing he has going on, and the long coat really makes him look like some sort of a mob boss (which he kinda is with his two Digimon subordinates), with hints of his office job past underneath with his blouse, tie, etc.
He wears a red blouse, and like we discussed earlier here, red is Arukenimon’s color. Or perhaps it is blood red, hinting to Vamdemon?
Can’t really say much does it have any symbolism behind it though, it was most likely just an aesthetic choice to go with the design’s main piece, which is the coat.
As for his non-clothing character design looks, it is an interesting contrast to see the length of Oikawa’s hair change between now with long hair, and before with shorter hair. The change of a character’s hair length is usually a symbol of change in their character, so in Oikawa’s case, it is not out of the realm of possibilities, that him letting his hair grown is a) a sign of depression and/or b) a sign that he quit his job entirely in his pursue of getting into the Digital World, so he no longer has the social pressure of keeping it short in an office setting
It is also amazing how a simple change like removing his eyebrows and making his skin sickly pale immediately changes his entire vibe, once the psychic vampire is out of his body.
And since we didn’t ramble enough yet, here’s a bonus brief BlackWarGreymon!
Opposing Arukenimon and Mummymon straight from his birth, he is colored with mostly greys, black, and again, yellow.
Much like with Mummymon, yellow is opposite of purple and BWGreymon does nothing but oppose Oikawa and his gang, despite being created from the dark towers and by Arukenimon. He is born from darkness, but even this darkness has its light (and it creates a nice contrast to his main color black)
BONUS BONUS! Pipimon!
Pipimon is just a lil unripe tomato, but you can find some interesting things when you go check out some tomato symbolism: life, love, fertility, etc, so do what you will with that information. Maybe the lil guy being unripe is a sign of them never truly getting to go on an adventure with their tamer, because the time was never ready for the two of them?
And that’s it for today! Thank you for listening to our insane ramblings once more
Here's something I thought would be a little project in midst of my commissions, but ended up being a 5-day detour instead
So, Arukenimon and Mummymon plushies! I tried to mimic the style of the good ol' DigiPals series here, although both of them ended up being more firm than the official plushies haha (I have no idea how Mummymon is able to stand on his own)
(this is a screenshot im sorry 😭 i didnt realise I saved the file as a pdf insead of a png)
So for today, I planned on doing a brief Arukenimon write up but I didnt know how appropriate it would be to gush about the way she manipulated and gaslit these kids (i dont use that term lightly, but I might have to write about it some day when Im brave enough). She stressed me out so much lol.
So I drew this fun little thing instead.
@surviveweek
Spoilers for part 3 under the cut
Rated T for Shuuji (?!) And Minoru's inappropriate commentary
I was gonna draw this too but I wanted to focus on finishing tomorrow's fic
"I wish I could just go somewhere far away from here"
For @surviveweek day: A new world!
[image id: Digital pastel drawing of Miu Shinonome from Digimon Survive. She's shown in profile in full body, happily running running towards the left. She's in the forest with the red spider lillies, which is composed with several layers of trees to show depth. Creeping from in between the trees, there's Arukenimon, stalking Miu.]
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