the pjsk fandom is so full of misogyny i want to kill myself. Why are the 4 boys in a cast of 20 characters the most popular over 16 girls. And why are characters like Airi, Ena, Shiho, and any other slightly rude/disagreeable/not PERFECTLY PLEASANT girl hated so much! kills myself
I know they’re not mirror images, but I also see emu getting a LOT of hate for the same things people adore in Tsukasa. Fuck
“She’s loud and annoying and repetitive!” Tsukasa OFTEN screams at the top of his lungs. He’s absolutely annoying with that. Hes loud as fuck. Cmon
“Shes so childish!” And… wow. She still has a lot of character depth does she not. Tsukasa isn’t childish then? He doesn’t have an entire toy land as the manifestation of his feelings? Hes not so deeply connected to his past and inner child?
“She’s always the same! She never develops!” Here you just straight up don’t read her stories. Gulp. Not a good look on you….!
“Her voice is bad in the songs!” Usually this complaint is that she’s not really ‘singing’ and more so ‘screaming’ which is… what Tsukasa does yeah??
I love Tsukasa more by all means, he’s my favorite, but like,,, you have to be shitting me. Theres literally no way people can say this stuff with a straight face. Help
Ena is VERY frequently branded as “bitchy” and “rude” (and she absolutely is at times. Woah! God forbid we have flawed female characters!) but people will either flat out ignore those traits in akito or endlessly praise him for being the most realistic character in the game, admiring how sega wasn’t afraid to make him distasteful; wowwww…
this may be a stretch but seeing as n25 is the most popular all-girl group, that may be in part because niigos struggles are a lot more upfront and explicit than the other groups (without delving into their stories, of course; most people may not expect that cutesy idol group or girl band to have any significant worries! Honami is suicidal??? Where was that said??? Haruka has an ED? you’ve gotta be joking I never heard about that…) and although they ARE beautiful characters it may have something to do with people not wanting to dive very deep into female characters because they don’t think they could be complex enough. Right off the bat, if that makes sense
had a person join a pjsk roleplay I help run today. They didn’t check the masterlist and weren’t familiar with reservation systems (they were trying to submit Tsukasa, who I had reserved) and when notified of this … they said he was the only one they could roleplay. They mentioned their follow-ups being akito! Rui! Touya! Mhm. Nods. They complained about everyone being taken by the way.
Analysis on Mizuki and Ena's insecurities and their importance in the relationship with each other.
I very much like to write MizuEna fanfiction, most of which i never publish because i have to do a million drafts before deciding to get it out on my ao3. In most of these works, as Mizuki is my favorite character in the game, and because i relate deeply to her, i always tend to write things from her perspective (not in a POV way but more like, instrospection about what she feels in detail). These days however, and mostly because of the new Ena event, i have been analysing Ena more deeply than i used to, (and noticed i am very alike to her too) along with reading other people's takes on her personality and behaviour.
I think a very important aspect for MizuEna is how difficult it is to express their thoughts to each other and the fear the other will judge them for it. This can be boiled down to the fear of intimacy. It is far more noticeable in Mizuki, since her story revolves around having a secret she fears she will be judged for. We can see this used to lead her to do things that hurt Ena (Like leaving her alone in the middle of a mall, very rudely blurting out Mizuki has nothing to talk about to her. Like yelling at her, tearing away from her grip a little bit too agressively and ending up physically hurting Ena. Not to mention, twice.) And these actions always make Mizuki feel ridden with guilt.
So in fanfiction, I, as well as other authors, tend to use Mizuki for the fearing intimacy part.
These leads me to writing romatic and sexual tension between them. In the romantic sense, Mizuki's avoidant and closed off nature is often portrayed by her having oh so many things to say but not saying them for the sake of not ruining the friendship she has with Ena, which happens in canon too, in a certain sense. In the sexual aspect, dysphoria takes a big role on the fear that sexual intimacy constitutes. Even if not textually said in canon, there are MANY hints at Mizuki's dysphoria, some of the most noticeable being her covered mirror in the span of her life in which she repressed her femininity, along with the quite obvious use of garments and accsesories that cover her throat, and my favorite, the convo with kanade where Mizuki asks if she ever realized something about the way her voice is lower that the rest of N25's. We can of course also see many other little details like her height and how sick it makes her feel to be stared at. Also in many N25 songs, Mizuki always gets the lines regarding disliking one's own body. This lets us see that despite not talking about it Mizuki is incredibly insecure about her body.
Mizuki is, as seen by reading the stories, very very insecure about her thoughts feelings and personal image, and in many instances we see her always scold herself whenever she thinks about being close to someone, telling herself bonds don't last forever. (not much anymore, but in Ena7 we see her telling Ena she wants to hang out with niigo while she still has time to, asuming that she will lose them one day) Mizuki wants to be close, but has trouble with it due to her insecurities, insecurities that make her act in a way she regrets and ends up pushing the people she loves away.
But what about Ena?
We always picture Mizuki as the insecure one, but Ena is no less scared than her.
Ena is a really honest person. She is also, very sensitive to being judged. Being told she is talentless by her father beared a strong blow to her confidence, leaving her shattered and profoundly insecure of herself and her art. She tries to draw in the entrance exam for the art school she wanted to go to, and getting anxious and controlled by her fear of not making it, ending up paralyzed and unable to draw freely, only proving her father's point in her eyes. How could she possibly fumble it so badly? Why couldn't she just draw as she normally does? She must really suck if she can't do even this. In the bloomfes she is met with all of her failed paintings, the sinking girl she tried drawing over and over again but failing and getting her so stressed to the point of throwing her sketchbook away. She tried to quit under the impression she wasn't enough. In her art classes, she is met with many people much better than she is. She feels crushed when seeing futaba's drawings, and her critiques are always harsh and she always feels bad about it. Even after deciding she wants to go to tokyo university of arts, she cries her eyes out when explaining to yukihira that she understands she is not good enough for a school like that but that it is her dream. Her art account rarely gets recognition, when she still had her selfie account, all the notifications she got were from there and not her art (yeah i feel you Ena it happens to the best of us) which made her so so sad, she always hoped someone would see her art and no one did.
Living with so little approval, so little recognition, her sadness turned her into a beast. After her father had told her she didn't have talent, she became depressed and irritable, she shut herself in her room to avoid him, she had arguments with her family, and even more with her brother. We know that when being really stressed, Ena hurt him physically a couple of times (Akito's and Toya's convo about the scratches on his arm, Toya thinking it was a cat and Akito explaining it was Ena). And so her family stopped pressing her. She avoided her father like the plague, and he never looked for her, never apologized, never spoke to her (At least untill knowing the unseen). Her mother saved her sketchbook, kept quiet about it because she didn't want to make her feel bad. Akito never really sat down to have an actual conversation with her, thinking she was too much to deal with, even if he still tried to show he cared subtly. Ena shut herself away from her family and when they sought after her she responded with violence, pushing them away, saying many, many hurtful things to them (and feeling very sad about it).
Enter Mizuki.
Makes a video with her art, ends up getting them both into niigo, becomes her friend, cheers her up. Teases her, teases her about her obsession with taking photos of herself and the places she goes to.
Ena putting herself out there for people to see in an attemp to get some validation, to get some compliments, to get some ilusion of self worth. It takes over her life, it becomes a habit, an addiction, even.
Mizuki slowly chips away at Ena's surface, getting under her skin, making her angry and self conscious. Ena feels guilt for her addiction to social media and exposing herself to the public. Mizuki likes all of her photos but teases her about it. And teases her, about every little thing she can think about, and always gets her worked up and annoyed, gets her angry and grumpy, makes Ena become everything other people distanced themselves from her for.
And Mizuki finds it fun and charming and doesn't leave her when Ena gets moody. Ena then finds being around Mizuki despite her being so annoying actually makes her feel comfortable. They hang out too often, become shopping buddies, stay late on call with each other (Niigo working audios in which Mizuki asks Ena to just talk to her until she gets sleepy. Ena tells her to just not distract her a lot, but talking with Mizuki is so easy Ena ends up in fact distracting herself and getting too into the conversation with her. They make me sick), and they are pretty much the only ones who talk all the time in the niigo hangouts. Mizuki buys little things for Ena and Ena can't resist her company.
And then Ena realizes there is something wrong with Mizuki, and she tries so hard to make her talk to her, Mizuki ends up getting scared and flees froom her.
Ena, is, as i said, someone who is very honest. She feels things too intensely and can't keep quiet about what she thinks. And if she is worried about someone she will express it loud and clear and try to get to the bottom of things. Except, Mizuki is an avoidant little shit, and gets scared when Ena asks what's wrong, and tells her indirectly to not pry in that low, coarse voice that scared Ena away. And then Mizuki regrets it as she always does and runs, runs far from her, and Ena is left there alone with her thoughts.
She sticked her nose where she shouldn't have. And Ena is met with her own intense, explosive feelings pushing an important person to her away. Again.
And so she goes and vows to wait for Mizuki and not press her until she decides to talk to her.
But i think we never dig deep into that, we never really think about the fact Ena always felt she was walking on eggshells around Mizuki. She knew asking too much would scare Mizuki and put distance in between them, which she obviously did not want because Mizuki is the closest person to her, aside from Airi who is also very honest and she didn't have such problems with. Ena is always mindful about Mizuki's boundaries, and worries she might lose her.
Ena is as insecure about losing Mizuki as Mizuki is about losing Ena. She knew a false step could bring everything down and that's why she decided to wait in silence, and when the moment came to talk to her, the opportunity was taken from them, and Mizuki again ran away from her. This time, Ena couldn't just stand and let her go, and chased after her, ran so fast her body was on fire, but when she catched up to her... nothing. There was nothing she could say, she didn't have nearly enough time to think about what to say that wouldn't hurt Mizuki, she didn't have enough time to think about a proper answer to the things happening, she was too terrified to do anything, because in a moment like that doing something wrong would be all that takes for her to lose the person that always stayed with her despite her flaws and fears.
And then Mizuki went on to ramble about how she didn't want any false kindness and Ena didn't know how to express all that she did was genuine, and Mizuki went on to tear herself from Ena's hands and apologizing and running away again. And Ena did not chase after her this time because she did not have anything properly prepared to say, and she witnessed a loved one spin out of her reach again, all because she worried too hard. And we know how she suffered the days after that, looking for Mizuki not only because she was worried about her, but also because she didn't want to be left alone again. She had finally been seen by someone, and been treasured and loved, and now she was all alone again.
And in writing Ena's complex relationship with validation is rarely explored. She was always scared of losing the people she cared about because of her clumsy way of showing her feelings, and she was always sad about being recognized only by her looks and her body. Ena always had a heart too big and no one ever had the bravery to take the handful her twisted and complicated emotions are before Mizuki took it in her arms and embraced it. Mizuki was always a safe space for Ena and Ena always felt comfortable and seen for who she really was and she was scared of losing her place in Mizuki's life and her place on earth.
Writing romantic tension on Ena's side is something that can be very rich, she always yearned to be understood and be apreciated, and Mizuki gave her all that, and the tension resulting from her finally being aknowledged and actively chosen is huge. She is seen and adorated with all her chips and cracks, and still, she is fragile and heavy. She could be dropped to the floor and broken in a million pieces at any moment. She was, before, before she met niigo and Mizuki. She pieced herself back together with their help, but the fact that she is whole again does not mean she is any less fragile. Ena feels a lot and it could be too much for her sometimes. She was scared of being seen and disliked, being seen and being labeled as not enough again. But she was chosen and loved and that is such a beautiful aspect to be explored in writing. A beautiful vase accepted, almost like a kintsugi piece. Loved for and despite her cracks.
And this results in the sexual tension being much more deeper and important. Ena had to resort to her physical image to receive the approval she so desperately craved. She put herself on display for the sake of feeling even just a little bit of love. She was objectified and sexualized. But Mizuki always poked at her for this. She always teased her, little by little making Ena realize this was wrong. And even when Mizuki liked her photos she never, ever objectified her. Mizuki always saw Ena beyond her body, she always saw her as a beautiful person outside of her looks. And even if Ena's obsession for her image was something that was wrong and hurt her, Mizuki never really shamed her for it. She was always playful about it and never sought to actually make Ena feel bad. Instead, she accepted it along with all that Ena is. It was a part of her, one Ena never liked, and one Mizuki respected as much as the rest of her. Mizuki respects Ena and her complicated relationship with her body and self image because she understands how hard it can be to get caught up in trying to keep an appearance to be validated. Both of them needed femininity to feel good about themselves, and i think Mizuki's dysphoria helps her understand Ena's relation to her body better. And this is so beautiful!!! Ena's relationship with sexual behaviour is really deep and intricate, and i think it needs to be explored more.
MizuEna is much more than a strong x insecure ship. Both of them are so scared about different and yet similar things, and both of them chose each other despite it. Both of them chose each other and chose to love the other and all that comes with them. They love each other in the good times and the rough ones, they love each other in the most sincere and pure way, sigh, young love...
n25 is not heading towards disbandment. they are healing and moving forward, all thanks to each other's support. they are now able to find solace and hope in the real world outside their nightcord chat room and sekai. but none of that means they have to separate. quite the contrary in fact.
they are heading towards a future where they can come together not just at 25:00 but in the morning light too. and that's a good thing.
or it will be. except one of them isn't ready. one of them doesn't know what will become of her once the sun rises on their group- the only one whose name means nighttime.
this might be cringe but project sekai really DID change people’s lives for the better. because at the root of all these different characters and storylines, they’re all teenagers trying to find their way through life and accomplishing their dreams, and that’s fucking inspiring. especially in a mental health epidemic where so many kids are severely depressed or struggling with mental health, having fictional teenagers who have similar experiences or problems and having them be resolved can be so reassuring. not only the kids too, but the adults can relate to with some of the material that PJSK’s covering. there’s something so special about the fact that a rhythm game about hatsune miku has garnered such a special community when it comes to the characters and how they go about their lives as they try to grow as people and improve and have such complex relationships and motivations. ive met so many people, especially on tumblr, who have a connection to one of the pjsk characters and its so amazing to see especially since they love that character so much. im kind of rambling but i just think PJSK gave so many people an outlet and a chance to see themselves in a variety of situations and characters, or just an escapism to see characters that you love and care for succeed even after obstacles. im lucky i get to be a part of such an incredible community, and im lucky i was introduced to my favorite character since she’s become such an important part of my life and inspiration for me to grow and improve too.
read the event basically when it dropped yet it took me till now to finally gather my thoughts enough to try an make a comprehensive analysis. i have seen some people call it a “filler” or “simple”, and i think that’s far from true. the narrative is incredibly layered and the dialogue is packed with one-liners that have all kinds of metanarrative implications. because it’s so densely interwoven and packed, i apologize in advance about this analysis being a bit long.
when mizu7 came out and mizuki dropped the bomb “what if i’ll have to leave niigo”, many started freaking out about an eventual niigo disbandment. i made a few posts already back then (here and here) in which i incidentally discuss why i dont think niigo is at risk of disbanding (like, at all), but to reiterate, mizuki’s fears of having to say goodbye to niigo are founded in 2 main issues, which can be solved and dont mean certain disbandment: 1. her own past as someone who is avoidant and has a tendency for pessimistic thinking and believes nothing ever lasts, and 2. the pace at which niigo produces songs. in one of my posts on the subject, i mentioned how the pace at which kanade is churning out song after song can only be matched by 3 other depressed teenagers who have nothing else in their lives. as ena and mizuki heal and focus on their future, it makes sense that they wouldn’t have much time to stay up basically every night from 1am till early morning working on discord. it’s simply not realistic.
while ena has offered mizuki a “forever” (which she first promised her on the rooftop, and has followed through in her promise until the alley) and mizuki feels more secure in her connections with niigo (now that her “secret” is out and the distance between them has been obliterated), i think it makes sense for a character like mizuki to still struggle in internalizing the belief that her bonds with niigo run deeper than their musical collaboration. kanade is another character who has this tendency to conflate niigo and the love and friendship they share with their endeavors as a music group. in this sense, kanade and mizuki are narratively pitted against mafuyu and ena, who feel the opposite. i think it’s telling that in this event, it’s mafuyu who reaches for one of the jars that the ena in her trained card has been creating — both of them see niigo’s bonds as unshakeable and more closely connected with their shared struggle and experiences, rather than with their activities as a group. mizuki is getting there, but sometimes stumble. on the other hand, kanade is stagnant.
in the beginning of the event, ena is busy with her art assignment, and notices that kanade has delivered two more drafts. the writers are now telling us more directly: the rhythm at which kanade is working does not match mizuki and ena’s schedule now that they are healing. and ena realizes this immediately, unlike mizuki, who in mizu7 spends several sleepless nights alternating between sewing and editing before she realizes she probably won’t be able to do both. something else that ena realizes almost instinctively at the beginning of ena7 and that mizuki entirely misses in mizu7, is that it’s not niigo’s activities as a whole that don’t match with their fuller, it’s kanade’s desperate pace.
as ena and mizuki discuss what they can do to help mafuyu and kanade de-stress, mizuki finally voices to ena (albeit a bit indirectly) her fears about niigo going their separate way. ngl, at first, ena’s reaction to mizuki’s words felt out of character. she seems to immediately accept the idea of their looming disbandment without fighting for it. however, the more i thought about it (and by chatting with @biocrafthero), i realized that her reaction makes perfect sense. ena is more at peace than we have ever seen her: she’s finally eliminated any distance between her and mizuki (something she has been worrying and obsessing over since the very beginning), she’s talked with her dad and found her determination, and she’s finally set a goal for herself when it comes to her art. creating does no longer cause her pain, and she feels grounded and secure in her relationships with all the members in niigo. ena is also a bit dense - she does not always get implied subtext, especially when someone is being as indirect as mizuki. so, i think it makes a lot of sense to interpret ena’s reaction to mizuki’s words as ena simply thinking “oh, yeah, we might make less music and meet up less often to celebrate our songs being released”, but it does not even cross her mind that they might disband, go their separate ways, lose one another. to ena, this trip is not about creating some of their “last” memories ever – it’s about creating More memories to add to future ones.
in the event, mafuyu says something very interesting: she wanted to go to the sea because she liked the way the light was getting reflected in the water of the fountain, but not in real life: in ena’s painting of it. to mafuyu, niigo’s bonds are also unshakeable, as they are for ena. niigo has given her family and belonging when she was ready to disappear. niigo helped her find herself. it’s not about the music. it’s through the music they make together that mafuyu finds herself, and a reason to live. mafuyu canonically struggles with dissociation. her feelings were so strong that she was able to birth a sekai all on her own. the first time she smiled in the story was listening to kanade’s song, and now she claims to like the light in ena’s painting. overall, mafuyu seems to have had a special place in her art for niigo’s creations, especially those that come from the heart: kanade’s songs to save her, mizuki’s matching bracelet, ena’s portrait of her. ena7 shows us once again that mafuyu is healing, she’s starting to feel more, and her dissociation is getting better. in her wl3-3, she even managed to drop her mask in front of others.
ena7 also drives home the point that ena is niigo’s light (which is also the title of the commission song for this event, and what mafuyu liked about her painting), and she shines bright throughout this event. she is the one who first gets worried and makes a plan with mizuki, she keeps the conversation flowing, she paints mizuki’s happy smile when she receives the keychain and other moments she wants to never forget from their outing together. she even includes the virtual singers over and over, constantly. in this event, ena is niigo’s center around which the others revolve.
narratively, this is the perfect build-up for the next event, which is probably going to be an arc that will mirros mizuena5, but with kanamafu. because kanade is stagnant. worse than that, kanade is almost regressing. while ena and mafuyu (and soon, mizuki too, maybe thanks to her wl3-4? one can hope) already see that niigo’s bonds are what matters, kanade is stuck with her father’s curse. if she finally saves mafuyu, what will be of her? i described before the current state of kanade and mafuyu’s relationship as a sort of umbilical cord. so what will happen once it’s severed? kanade is too comfortable living with mafuyu, living for her. she does not need to think about herself, about her future, about niigo’s future. all she has to do is compose, compose, compose. save mafuyu. live by her father’s last words. what would happen, if mafuyu told her “you already saved me”? would she be relieved? or will she fall into despair? and if her only reason to live is mafuyu, how different is she from mafuyu’s mother? if mafuyu were to leave kanade to go back to her mother or to go to university, would kanade react like mafumom? would she also desperately try to make her stay? would she sit in her room with all the lights off and refuse to eat just like mafumom has been shown?
this event is not “simple”. and it’s also not just a set-up for kanamafu7. it positions ena as also aware of the fact that niigo might need to slow down when it comes to music production, and it shows us in a beautiful way how happy ena is making art by having her drawing what she loves the most (niigo) rather than her assignments or illustrations for their music videos. she draws almost constantly throughout this event, without any pain. just like her illustrations are meant to “bottle” memories, in her trained card she seems to be someone who creates jars full of memories. the one closest to her is from wounded hands (because of course it is), and the one mafuyu reaches for is the one from this event. and ena smiles encouragingly at her, proud at her friend for wanting to hold on to something, for moving forward.
in her untrained, mafuyu is holding a shell that in this lighting, is quite clearly meant to recall kanade’s unit color. she gazes at it, a purple watch on her wrist. the clock for niigo (which she holds in her hands in her trained card) is ticking.
kanade does not hear it, ena doesn’t worry about it, and mizuki is scared of when the clock will strike the next hour. the future of niigo is in mafuyu’s hands, right now, rather than kanade’s. which is good, because mafuyu will make sure to prioritize friendship over music, kanade’s well-being over the song kanade promised will finally save her. because mafuyu is already “saved”.
and while i am also worried about kanade and i know the next niigo event will probably devastate us, i want to reiterate how niigo’s story was never about suffering, but healing. it’s about finding a place with people you love where you can feel safe, regardless of whatever horror is going on in your life. just like mafu5 set the scene for mizu5, ena7 seems to set the scene for the next event. so let’s remember how after mizu5, ena5 quickly came to fix things. ena chased mizuki down, and saved her. kanade and mafuyu will be okay. but the balance between them needs to tip. it’s like that metaphor of a cupboard full of stacked china ready to tumble out and shatter all over the floor once you open it. however, you can’t keep the cupboard closed forever. you gotta open it, and then pick up the pieces. there is for sure something you can salvage, or anyway, create from scratch.
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