Hii!! I'm the anon who sent that ask about Atsu and Oyuki earlier, and I just need to say thank you sooo much for answering so thoroughly. All your explanations and everything you said about them resonated with me so well, thank you for sharing your insight!! ♥
I wholeheartedly agree that there is nothing "motherly" about their relationship. Again, please correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I've seen, the devs have never even spoken about Oyuki being a mother figure to Atsu, this interpretation came solely from some players (mainly I imagine because of their age gap); all that the devs have said is that they meant to portray Oyuki in a way that would evoke memories of Atsu's mother for her, in major part through the music ofc, because they all play the shamisen, and that's how they wanted to connect these three characters. But when they speak about Oyuki's connection to Atsu, they talk about their shared trauma, how both of them were victims of Saito, and how Atsu would be able to relate to Oyuki in that way.
And as you said, I also understand how some people might interpret this as motherly. But again, as you pointed out, nothing about how Atsu and Oyuki behave with each other indicates a motherly or familial dynamic. Honestly, in my opinion, it's quite the opposite; with their very obvious flirting and the amount of emotion during their scenes, when I look at this kind of dynamic that they have, the way they talk and act with each other, to me, what does feel weird is to imagine this in a motherly light, you know?
In short, I don't think the developers and writers would have been "careless" to the point of creating a dynamic that can so easily be seen as romantic, if their intentions were set in Oyuki being a mother figure to Atsu, do you get what I mean?
I'm very glad you pointed out how Atsu never treats Oyuki like an authority or parental figure, and in turn, Oyuki never treats Atsu as someone who would need to be mentored (many people bring up the fact that Oyuki teaches Atsu her skills as a shinobi, but that is not the same as a mother figure mentoring someone lol, I never quite understood why they bring that up). But anyway, you made some really good points. I hadn't realized these details about how they treat each other! And what you said about Atsu finding this feeling of safety around Oyuki, I agree, and I think that's such a beautiful side of their dynamic.
As you mentioned too, their scenes by the end, when Atsu rescues Oyuki and says "let's go home", and also the very final scene, with the two of them pretty much raising Kiku together lol. I also don't think there are many other ways to interpret all of this without it being romantic. And I'm so glad you pointed that out too, because as I said before, I was mostly wondering if I was interpreting things correctly, you know?
If the feelings between them, the immense care, the love that they seem to develop and have for each other were really there, and not just something I was perhaps making up in my mind loll. Because I can't see them as anything other than two people who, despite all they went through, irrevocably fell in love with each other. And again, since it's been said that there's no outright romance for Atsu during the events of the game, I just needed to know if I was interpreting things correctly or not.
Thank you for being so kind. And yes, I absolutely love your stories, you write Atsu and Oyuki so, so well. This is my official request for more. <3
Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me like this as well! "Two people that who despite all they went through, irrevocably fell in love with each other" is I think, an excellent summary of how I view Atsu and Oyuki and the story of ghost of yotei.
I'll maybe return to writing for them one day, for the moment I feel like I said the things I wanted to say about them. I have a BUNCH of fanfics to catch up on, I am more of a reader than a writer, truth be told (once I have a bit more free time again). I've seen some lovely works on here and Ao3 and maybe if I think of something interesting, I'll return to the world of ghost of yotei one day :)
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