Hahahah, a curious Anon who reads tags appeared! xDDÂ
So about Worick, I personally linked stuff together only recently because the last time I read the whole manga was when the hiatus was just announced, so forgive me if this is not new for you.
First, about the âstorageâ bit: I was confused as hell for a long time, thinking that maybe it had to do with the Arcangelo family but in fact, âstorageâ is the name given to Worickâs special ability:
And Chad also said on the subject thatâŚ
it was the reason the Handymen were better off as a neutral party, even if Daniel Monroe took them in for a while in the past and even recommended him to Uranos Corsica, precisely as Worick went to see Georgiana.Â
Secondly, about Worickâs goal and joining the Corsica family, after the violent killing of Miles: in the first place, there isnât much doubt that Monroe probably knows about Worickâs ambivalence towards Twilights due to what Nicolas did to his family, hence why he warned Uranos just as Worick was going to Georgiana.Â
However, the difference is that Worick never was as radical as Monroe in his alleged dislike of the Twilights and, as a result, he always chose to do what was necessary to make sure that a war would be avoided (for example, ch11):
(âŚto which Nico ended up thinking that âno matter how determined the rest of you are, we Twilights wonât be able to surviveâ, which is frankly pretty depressing but fitting the currently crazy situation).Â
So personally, I donât think that Worick wants to join the Corsica family because he doesnât want to die a dogâs death along with most Twilights. Rather, he knows that without what Daniel Monroe used to represent, this city will go back to being the hell it once was and thatâs whyâŚ
âŚhe has to âget in the wayâ.
Considering how mysterious Uranos Corsica still is at this point, besides his hatred of the Twilights and the fact heâs the one who unleashed the third Destroyer on Ergastulum, right now itâs a bit hard to be sure of why Monroe stated that Worick could âimmensely help himâ.
However, Iâm wondering if the reason might not be that both Worick and Uranos have issues regarding how the governement is taking care of the Twilight âproblemâ:
âŚUranos, because something apparently happened to his family and he holds the Twilights (as well as the government who doesnât deal properly with them?) accountable, and Worick because of his own ambivalence towards the Twilights (ch28) and how he knows theyâre unfairly treated.Â
Worick once said to Delico that he hated his kind, which might not be a complete lie, but at the same timeâŚ
So Worick might not be able to pretend that he is as compliant as Loretta towards all Twilights, but heâs definitely not like Daniel Monroe either:
âŚmeaning that âgetting in the wayâ (ch39) of the Corsica family/the government is probably the same as doing it for the Twilightsâ sake, now that Monroe betrayed them all.Â
TL;DR he definitely did not become a bad guy (not that anyone believed that, I hope), but in Ergastulum, either you step up your game to save yourself and the few people you care about if you have the ability for it, or you die in the gutter.Â
Thatâs my current conclusion for Worick. I hope it answers your question :3Â
The thing about the Witch Hat Atelier world is that the magic system sounds great until you realize it's essentially programming and that sobers you up immediately. Sure, maybe you reach the level of skill needed to draw perfect curves, straight lines, and circles without looking down, but after that you still need to be able to logic out which combination of sigils will actually give you the desired effect, and if you misplace a single line it all goes to shit. Add to that the inclusion of effect-altering inks and you start to understand why Olruggio is Like That.
I'm pretty someone had mentioned it here on Tumblr-
Let's talk about Link, Atuuda and the resemblance to Ouroboros.
Atuuda being called the "the healing serpent" (roughly because translation differs) reminds me of Ouroboros and I find this symbol fit with Link's character development.
Ouroboros takes the form of a snake/serpent that eats its own tail. In various myths and religions, it symbolizes endless cycles, death and rebirth.
When Link received Atuuda, he came back from a near-death experience. "Death and rebirth". Atuuda is also the kind of power that eats away the caster's life. Once it is all used up, the caster can pass it to their (unfortunate) successor, creating this endless cycle that goes on and on.
This Atuuda-to-Ouroboros resemblance not only presents literally but it can also be interpreted in a metaphorical sense: A turning point for Link's development and belief.
Link receives Atuuda at a very odd point in his life. He lost his friends (the Thirds), he just survived a fatal blow. His boss faked his death and he is sent to aid a fugitive. Everything he knows about Innocence and the Order is about to change and so is he.
Link could not resist this change. From the moment Atuuda is given to him, it marks a rebirth/reevaluation in his belief system, whether everything he has known until that point is true. Hence, him as an Atuuda caster and the Ouroboros symbol seem to intertwine deeply.
_
I remember someone on Tumblr mentioned that Atuuda has this mark that is similar to the Helix of Life. I wonder if it might be the Ouroboros of DGM
the way DGM tackles institutional abuse really gets me. innocence can only be used by people marked by hardship, who already have nowhere else to go, and the order has monopoly on innocence. (not only will it kill you if you betray it, not only will it hurt the entire time you're dying, it will take down innocent victims along with you). the main characters' boss may be a chill guy, but he has more powerful men above him who don't treat them as human beings. forming bonds in this place you're trapped in is the only way to keep you sane, but ultimately ends up keeping you hostage. now you're stuck in there together, and the one thing that can protect them is the same one that got you in this mess in the first place. welcome home
Been rereading som DGM to fill the void while waiting for the newest Chapter to be translated.
And had a small brain spiral about the Bookman Clan possibly having special blood for their "Records" (blood magic????maybe???)
And Crystal-type innocence, which is formed from the accomadators blood.
And well I thought I already knew why Bookman(Old Panda ver.) Was stressed about Lavi becoming Crystal-type, but now I'm thinking there's a deeper reason too.
Hi hiii I made another video essay but! It's long, soooo here's the transcript lol I'd do subtitles but I don't know how to encode that stuff properly yet
The sources I used for the mentioned topics are also linked here, if yall wanna do some extra reading (I tried my best to link to sites with free access to the texts, but there are just some that aren't readily available online)
Just click the little numbers and they should take you right to the sources!
Happy Chinese New year in advance! GĹng xÇ fÄ cĂĄi, everyone.Â
Half of the Sui siblings have now boarded Rhodes Island, and this coming Chinese New Year, the seventh will be joining us! Iâm excited to see who itâll be, so in preparation, I decided to have a closer look at the siblings that we do have on board. Those who have seen me at my worst know that I harbor a deep affection for one ex-Grandmaster of Yumen, so this will also serve as a self-indulgent activity for me.
Thereâs something fascinating about the way the Feranmut, the genderless gods of Terra often referred to as It or They, upon taking the form of mortals, lean heavily into the physical gender spectrum. One would think that they would want their mortal forms to be closer to their primal ones, with ambiguous gender and an ethereal air about them, but no; They actively choose to fall under the physical gender binary. The way the Sui siblings do this is exceptionally intriguing.
Every aspect of their design is done on purpose, even on a meta level. Which siblings get which powers, what gender the siblings are, how they look in response to all the variables; Upon further inspection, itâs all meticulously chosen to tell not only their personal stories, but also the story of Sui and Yan as a whole. Not all of the siblingsâ designs have been revealed. Weâre still waiting on the musician sister and the wandering medic brother, so I canât discuss their physical appearances. However, Iâll still talk about their other aspects, because even the few details we know about them from the other siblingsâ archive files, event story mentions, and even in Arknightsâ social media promotional material says a lot.
Sexual Dimorphism
The siblings generally share the same design language; dragon-y features, the jacket that gives them that long silhouette, and long hair. While all the siblings share their particular horn shape and their draconic tails with tufts of fur at the end (except for Chongyue and Yu), their design points differ in patterns that I can only attribute to their manifested gender.Â
The male Sui siblings usually have gold decorations on their tails; Chongyue has his spikes, Yi has his small gold embeds all along the side, Ji has his little nubs, and Wang has odd gold spatterings all over his tail like patches. They also have their arm markings reaching all the way over to their chest area*, which you can see in Yiâs and Wangâs open collars.
*Iâm a bit shaky on this design note, as Chongyue, Ji, and Yu donât share this trait. Iâm willing to attribute Ji and Yuâs lack of chest markings to the fact that theyâre meant to be different from their brothers for reasons Iâll elaborate on in other sections of this, but Chongyueâs is something I have a theory on rather than any concrete observations.Â
The female Sui siblings have no decoration on their tails and are more slender and ribbon-like compared to the brothers (save for one; Shu). Their markings also generally reach up to their forearm only, compared to the brothersâ full sleeves.Â
It should be noted that the oldest sibling (Chongyue) and the youngest sibling (Yu) are the only ones who have a different tail tip unlike the rest of their siblings; rather than being tipped with fur or wisps of hair, Chongyueâs tail is tipped with a sword-like implement, and Yuâs tail is tipped with flame. Because I donât know where else to put this section, Iâll mention it now; I believe that there are two reasons why this is. Firstly, both of them have given up their powers inherited by Sui. Chongyue has sealed âShuoâ away within a sword, and Yu âreturnedâ his power before he left the Tomb of Sui (at least, according to his Archive File 4). Secondly, theyâre the beginning and the end of the sibling line. Of course theyâd have a signifier of their status in the sibling list, or so I believe. Either way, this design choice isnât based on their gender presentation.Â
The ones that differ from these set patterns are Yu, Ji, and Shu.Â
Yu has his markings only up to his forearms, and his tail has no gold decoration in it whatsoever.Â
Ji has the most slender tail of all the siblings, while Shu has a rather thick tail, thicker than Chongyue.Â
Itâs very interesting that itâs these siblings in specific that differ from the set design patterns, considering the next topic;
Powers and Perception
Itâs no lie that many jobs and abstract notions have been assigned a gender throughout history, though said assignments might vary depending on which culture you partake in. Looking at the powers assigned to the Sui siblings then looking at how these were tied into their design is fascinating, and the implications of it within lore even more so.Â
For context, and for those who haven't gotten to that part in Integrated Stages #6, the reason I believe the âwhyâ of the distribution of powers to the siblings is a deliberate choice is because Jie, despite fading away and her consciousness returning to Sui, is still remembered albeit vaguely through her imparted knowledge of calligraphy.Â
Calligraphy, though most used by male scholars back in the day, had many women that were credited with the proliferation of the writing despite many attempts to smother the history. The wife of Qiu Hu in the pre-Qin period, created a type of calligraphy script called the Diaochong Zhuan, which could be argued to be the start of more artistic forms of calligraphy, no longer just being scholars using calligraphy for clerical writing. In the Shi Jing (Classic of Poetry) as well, many mentions of women using ink brushes and writing calligraphy are mentioned. Most importantly, in the Hou Han Shu (Book of the Later Han), it was female officials who wrote and recorded the achievements and blunders of the ancient rulers.[1] Quite frankly, it was women who allowed and pioneered the spread of calligraphy, and history rewarded them by erasing them from the narrative. It makes sense that Jie, the Sui sibling who taught the mortals calligraphy, was a woman.Â
Martial arts throughout time has always been seen as a masculine activity. In China, martial arts were credited to the Yellow Emperor, a legendary figure who supposedly pioneered many martial arts forms and fought with Chi You, the alleged progenitor of jiao di (which was like, the old form of modern Chinese wrestling).[2] Hence, it makes sense that Shuo took on a masculine form. Alternatively, if weâre to look at it from an in-world perspective, martial arts were perceived as masculine because at the time Shuo took on a masculine form when he created the different martial arts of Yan. However, nowadays and even in the world of Terra, itâs not just men who are participating in martial arts, as we can see in characters like Waai Fu and Jieyun and most importantly, Chongyueâs protege, Qiubai. Along with this, Chongyue himself seeks to propagate the knowledge of martial arts to anyone willing to listen to him, or at least anyone willing to comprehend the many books heâs had written. Perhaps the reason why Chongyue doesnât follow the established sexual dimorphism of the Sui siblings entirely (lacking the chest markings) is due to this, in the sense that martial arts, while spearheaded by men, was never perceived as entirely masculine.[3]
Poetry was seen as a feminine expression[4], and the most popular form of it was lyric poetry (ci)[5]. In this form, female writers talked about their daily sorrows, their love, or the general social pressure placed upon them as women[6][7], so youâd think it would only be women participating in the practice. Unsurprisingly, some men (notably names like Li Bai and Du Fu) entered the space under female pseudonyms and published their work. Thankfully, poetry is still heavily credited towards the women due to the subject matter most poems covered and the âfemale voiceâ present in any writing of this form. This manifests curiously with Lingâs character; she is entirely physically female and has the personality of a traditional poet (living in seclusion and sometimes speaking cryptically), but she is heavy with drink, which is attributed to a more masculine character.Â
Nian has a similar situation, although itâs somewhat reversed. Within the five elements (Wuxing), metal was seen as a feminine element, strong in Yin.[8] Metalworking itself was seen as a masculine job, however it was seen as religiously feminine. There are many shrines set up around China (such as in Zunhua, Laiwu, Shandong, Shanxi, etc.) dedicated to the âwomen of the furnaceâ; Female deities or legends worshipped by artisans for blessings before smelting or during the process.[9] These include people like Li E, a 15-year-old military officerâs daughter who threw herself into the furnace to create iron, the two daughters of Kang Er who threw themselves into the furnace at the news of their fatherâs death penalty and created iron, or the more famous tale of Ganjiang and Moye[10], who were both artisans but due to repeated failures and mounting pressure from the emperor, were struggling to create the deadliest sword. The story goes that Moye sacrificed herself to the furnace, and from her sacrifice came two legendary swords.[11] Nian has a very headstrong personality, which could be where the physical masculine influence comes in to contrast her feminine presentation.Â
Painting was practiced by both genders[12], but it was the reception from the audience that differed.[13] The standards for success and general acceptance for male painters were much lower than what female painters had to go through; Female painters had to go through a time of schooling under a master who would accept them, then they would also need to paint about things that the general populace cared about, and along with that, endure comments and doubts that male artists would never otherwise.[14] Duskâs personality is that of a stereotypical painter, in the sense that sheâs moody, likes to keep to herself, and would rather talk to someone who understands her paintings rather than just speaking about the techniques she uses. Otherwise, she presents as entirely feminine.Â
Knowledge â the pursuit of it, practicing it â was often seen as a masculine expression, at least back then. Scholars were predominantly male for a long time, and they often served in high positions like advisors or researchers or astrologers.[15][16] Wangâs obsession with weiqi is also traditionally masculine. The aristocratic class of Ancient China were required to know the Four Arts of the Chinese Scholar. These were the main academic and artistic talents required of the scholar-gentleman, which was the social class of government officials and, as the name implies, scholars.[17] Known as the qĂnqĂshĹŤhuĂ , these four arts were qin (playing the guqin), qi (playing weiqi), shu (calligraphy), and hua (painting). The earliest source detailing these four arts was from the Tang dynasty in the Fashu Yaolu (Compendium of Calligraphy) by Zhang Yanyuan in the 9th century.[18] Iâll go further into how weiqi is important to Wangâs story in the next section, but just keep this information in mind.Â
Architecture was also an entirely masculine practice, with the first female Chinese architect ever recorded being Liu Huiyin, who was born in 1904 and died in 1955.[19] Even in modern day, architecture (along with engineering) is seen as a predominantly male practice with lots of stories about gender inequality within those spaces.* [20] Yi displays this masculine perspective very prominently in his design, having all the male design point differences of the Sui brothers.Â
*Iâll come back to this point in the next topic of discussion. This is something important to note when talking about Yi.Â
Iâll mention them here since they havenât been revealed in their entirety but thereâs still an unnamed musician Sui sister whose domain is law, and an unnamed wandering medic Sui brother whose domain is medicine.Â
Law in Ancient China was deeply sexist, to put it frankly. The society was built around Confucian principles, which entailed that women be submissive to their husbands, and if unwed, their brothers, and their fathers.[21] Women werenât allowed to practice law at all; thereâs no record of female magistrates at all in historical texts, unlike the other professions I previously mentioned for the other siblings. Music however, was almost entirely feminine. At all social classes, women sang and played instruments. Some families expected women to know how to play at least one instrument as well for status, which you can see echoed in modern day by Asian families expecting their children (usually daughters) to play either the violin or piano.[22] During the early Song period, an establishment called The Court Entertainment Bureau (sometimes known as the Music Bureau) was brought back from the Tang dynasty, and it was part of the inner court which was dominated by the palace women.[23] They would employ male and female musicians to play at important events and festivals, something which threatened the scholars and officials of the outer court.[24] While there was a level of discrimination levied against them by society for being of the entertainer class, they were given an education that wasnât freely accessed by those of the same social classes as them. While we havenât seen this unnamed Sui sister yet, I wonder if sheâll follow the pattern of having mostly feminine Sui traits while having some masculine aspects too.Â
Medicine was a shared practice between men and women. Though male doctors were more commonly seen due to them having formal education and thus allowing them to further medicinal techniques and cures, herbal remedies and âhome medicineâ were taught and practiced predominantly by women. There was also a requirement of female doctors for female patients, as propriety and gender norms did not allow the male doctors to touch women which made it difficult to diagnose and cure them properly.[25][26] Midwives were also considered to be doctors, and were incredibly important to all social classes for their knowledge of childbirth. Just like the unnamed sister, we have no clue about the appearance of this unnamed brother, so I am curious to see how they portray him and if heâll follow the established patterns.Â
Now we return to our odd three out; Shu, Ji, and Yu.Â
In Ancient China, agriculture and textiles went hand in hand. Due to the rise of Confucian principles, where farming was initially seen as a duty of both genders (especially if oneâs status in life was as a commoner), farming became an expression of âmoral worthâ for the men of all social classes, and men were expected to tend to and progress the farm further. Meanwhile, to show their worth in society, women were expected to do the weaving.[27] During the Han dynasty however, there was a rise in womenâs contributions to the farming sector due to the popularization of the pit-farming method. Textiles began to also be produced by the Ancient Chinese, citing it to be an âagricultural productâ rather than an art as we see it today.[28] Soon, the Silk Road was set up, and silks were produced specifically to be sold. Since men were expected to work and do their duties, the women were left to tend to the farm. As the years went on, there was also a period of time where there was mass propaganda of women farmers, depicting women working happily in the field and growing crops.[29] Due to this, we can see Shu and Ji have the tails of their opposite gender, and Ji is missing the chest markings of his other brothers. Their domains of power were never entirely just one gender, and were even the opposite of what they physically present as.Â
Ancient China has a long and I mean LONG history when it comes to food and cooking. The legend of Shennong had him cultivating the Five Grains[30], the oldest noodles were found in the Lajia site in Qinghai made of foxtail and broomcorn millet,[31] they had baijiu, they invented methods of food preservation; History of Chinese food went all the way back to the Bronze Age. Over time, according to historical records (most seen in statues) as cooking became more and more sophisticated, it fell to the women of Ancient China to manage the kitchen.[32] It would be expected of them to cook food and to host lavish meals for the family and most importantly their husbands. Of course, âprofessionalâ cooking where meals would be served to the nobility were jobs given to male cooks as per the patriarchal roles of the time, such as people like Peng Keng or Yin Yi.[33] During the Song dynasty however, female cooks started being professionally recognized, most notably Liu Niangzi as the first.[34] Despite this, and especially under Confucian principles, cooking was seen as a womanâs job. For this reason, I believe that Yu not having most of the physical traits his brothers exhibit (no gold decorations on the tail, no chest markings, tapered tail more similar to Nianâs) and the way heâs designed to present more androgynous not only in his youthful appearance but also his voice (Every single one of his voice actors are women and his voice type ranges from young boy to almost feminine) is absolutely a purposeful choice.
Presentation and Plot
While none of the event stories about the Sui siblings focus on their gender troubles or self-identity issues (except for Yu to an extent, but even then his story is focused on who he wants to be separate from the collective âSuiâ rather than anything else), that doesnât mean that their presented gender or at least how people perceive the abstract gender of the powers they have dominion over doesnât affect their stories.Â
Jie is the most prominent example of this to me. As stated previously, despite women being the ones to make calligraphy more accessible to the general public and away from the rigid scholarly usage of it, most of their contributions and their writings were smothered by the patriarchal society they moved in. This is mirrored in Jieâs life and death; She gave the people of Yan the knowledge of calligraphy, and when her consciousness returned to the Bestial Sui, her memory now only exists vaguely as the calligraphy still being used by the Yanese people to modern day. Even most of the other Sui siblings have a hard time remembering her, like how Yu can only remember her having the same tastes as Wang.Â
Yiâs story and role are also affected by what he presents as. The tale of a younger brother taking advantage of the hard work of an elder sister is a tale well-worn in Chinese society, as to this day, in most families, sons are favored over daughters.[35] Following Jieâs death, Yi not only hoarded all of her relics and memories, but also turned her garden into a display of the treasures heâs collected over the years. He refuses to dedicate the Garden of Grotesqueries solely to her, despite her giving him the idea to construct it to begin with, and also refuses to allow her remaining work to be publicized despite most of the other Sui siblings (at least the elder ones) reminding him that Jie loved humans and thus would want them to have her work.[36]* He claims to love her and to understand her the most out of all the siblings despite these inherently selfish decisions.Â
*I didn't elaborate on this in the video, but I felt like I should mention it here; another point of him essentially overwriting Jie's influence on the Garden can be further seen in the way the Garden is named in CN. In CN, what got translated into 'Garden of Grotesqueries' basically meant [Jie('s) Garden]. This is even more egregious then, considering he's filled the garden with his treasures rather than anything of Jie (items of Jie which he does have and he instead stashes away in a 'shrine')
While these arenât event stories, I think a lot about the Suiâs Daily Slices: Mundane Mortal Life official manga when it comes to how Nian and Dusk are affected by their gender presentation. It isnât directly blamed on their gender why they get the treatment they do, but itâs interesting to me that Nian, despite being a popular movie director as a Sui sibling, when sheâs just a regular mortal in this What If? world sheâs merely a prop-maker. Sheâs scolded heavily compared to her coworkers for putting her own spin and interpretations in the jobs sheâs given.Â
Meanwhile, Duskâs first appearance in the manga has her being criticized by what seems to be an exhibition owner, saying that her paintings lack technique and the topics of her painting being too outdated and âclicheâ, then turning around to a male artist and happily buying his work. Itâs also implied that the two of them are broke and overworked. While these are regular troubles faced by people working in these fields, itâs difficult to argue that theyâre not having an even more difficult time because of the prevalent discrimination, quiet as it is.Â
Here A People Sows showed that Shu and Jiâs story was very much like the way agriculture and textiles developed over the course of Chinese history: they were once inseparable twins that worked together until textiles became a source of commerce through the Silk Road. Shu and Ji lived together with Shennong in what would become Dahuang until Ji left, met a merchant, and became an impressive businessman himself while Shu was left tending to the rice fields and the people of Dahuang. Putting that aside though, Shuâs personality comes off very maternal, so much so that despite her not being the eldest sister, she reigns the sisters in and scolds them when they get rowdy. She came off very much like a stereotypical Asian mother (those that get what I mean get it) during Here A People Sows towards Zuo Le as well.
Comparing and contrasting them appearance-wise and to their siblings is an interesting practice too. Shu, despite seeming like sheâs showing a lot of skin, is actually incredibly covered up unlike her sisters. Sheâs wearing a full tank-top with a necklace accessory to cover her cleavage, full pants with at least two layers under the outer one, and the classic Sui jacket. Meanwhile Ji, despite looking incredibly covered up, is showing a lot of skinâ his shirt isnât even a shirt, itâs just like the necklace accessory Shu wears wherein itâs square panels covering his torso. The only thing not making that obvious is the Sui jacket he wears, which actually doesnât seem to be a full jacket at all; Itâs a panel draping from his neck then detached sleevesâ you can see his sideboob and the mole he has right on the top of his breast, along with the window exposing the curve of his waist. Both of them share the fashion language of each other, like the twins they are. Compared to the other siblings though, they donât follow the established gendered fashion uniform at all which is fascinating. Â
Chongyueâs presentation is more of an inward thing; the way he keeps away from his siblings, letting them live out their days and find themselves on their own and simply hoping the best for them is definitely a more commonly masculine way of treating family, but he nags and fusses over all his younger siblings when theyâre in the same vicinity which is commonly seen as a feminine trait. He even nags the Doctor to take more care of their health. Truthfully, I feel as though gender doesnât really exist as a concept to Chongyue, at least not one he practices. He doesnât discriminate as to what students he teaches, as long as theyâre willing to learn, heâll teach them the ways of martial arts. Case in point, he took in Qiubai, someone who initially planned to kill him, and now sheâs his protege. It could be simply because heâs the first to break away from the bestial Sui and thus heâs so old that he doesnât see a need to differentiate physical attributes anymore, but it could also be that he consciously focuses on oneâs intent and desires rather than what they are outwardly because he knows that such notions donât really apply to him, even if heâs living as a simple âmortalâ now.Â
Wang presents himself and acts in a way I can only attribute to a prideful scholar. He allows himself to be misunderstood, he takes the harshest methods, and he holds this level of ego where while it may be earned, he believes himself capable of bending the Heavens and moving mountains and in the end, succeeding in his goals. Despite all this, he has a deep love for his siblings, even if he himself doesnât admit or recognize it as love. He wants to help his siblings become fully human and separate from their identity as âSuiâ, and every day he mourns Jieâs passing and blames himself (and the Sui Regulators) for it. As mentioned in the previous section, Wangâs obsession with weiqi isnât just a fun little quirk. Wangâs story somewhat echoes the legend of the origins of weiqi. The legend goes that Emperor Yao, one of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, had an unruly son, Danzhu, and needed a way to discipline and teach him at the same time. While thinking, he created the game Yi, which would then go on to be named Weiqi, which he said would teach Danzhu discipline, concentration, and balance.[37] While Wang ended up becoming obsessed with weiqi after the Grand Tutor, it was through learning weiqi that he came to begin his plan of the survival of they siblings. Truly, he is the second eldest brother of the siblings.Â
Lingâs story is interesting to think about when looked at the lens of gender; she used to be a military strategist serving Yumen alongside Chongyue before leaving and finishing her task, then going off to live on her own until she heard of Wangâs plan, then she joined Rhodes Island to aid the plan of reuniting the siblings. Sheâs also a poet that can only write when sheâs drinking, and sheâs incredibly heavy with drink. The roles sheâs held are in fact very feminine; As mentioned previously, poetry was a feminine practice, so much so that men who wanted to partake had to use female pseudonyms to have a chance. One would think being a strategist or having any military contribution would also be seen as a masculine activity, and while socially it was, Ancient China still had many well-known female strategists. The most popular being Wu Zetian, Chinaâs only female emperor, but there were also figures like Fu Hao, who was a priestess, a queen, and a general all at once under the rule of the king Wu Ding[38], and the Ming dynasty general Qin Liangyu who defended the dynasty against the Manchus of the Qing dynasty[39]. While it wasnât primarily a womanâs field like poetry was, there were still recognized women there.Â
Personally, looking at cooking from a gendered perspective is difficult as Iâve grown up knowing everyone should know how to cook with no exceptions. I hold a lot of bias against beliefs and cultures that say women should be the ones tending the kitchen, as I cannot imagine for the life of me how people who practice these views could live independently. Ancient China held this belief though, further enforced by the patriarchal views brought about by Confucian teachings. Even now, modern China is still influenced by these Confucian teachings (hence a previous statement where I mentioned sons are still favored over daughters), so I find it incredibly interesting that the youngest Sui sibling is not only physically androgynous, but also presents himself as male. This doesnât affect his story as far as I can tellâ his struggles are mainly based around wanting to stay as himself, as âYuâ, and wanting to be together with his siblings and be his own individual at the same time. Heâs the sibling that stayed behind in the Tomb of Sui the longest, figuring out what to make of himself and how he should go about becoming his own person. According to his Archive File 4, heâs returned his powers to Sui and went on to run Savors at Yuâs, serving food to those who might need it. While I donât see how his gender presentation affects his story in-world, I can see how it perhaps influenced the devs while writing it.Â
There have been many stories where the main goal of the lead is to âfind themselfâ through hard work or by seeing the world, even Hallmark movies have it as the base motivator before it devolves into a cheesy romance story. There are many Chinese media where the lead grows up wanting to become a chef either because they tasted a dish that changed their life or they grew up around people who cooked food for others, and goes through hardships (plot shenanigans) to achieve their goals like Cupidâs Kitchen, Chef Hua, Go Ahead, or even the various short Chinese dramas you can find scattered around Youtube. These stories often have female main characters and always end up with them being successful and opening up their own restaurants and if the writers feel like it, with a lover of some kind.
All this to say that Yuâs personal story isnât new, this is something thatâs been done for a while now, so itâs very interesting that they gave him this kind of storyline. Of course, his story isnât a carbon copy. The most interesting difference is what happens once Yu has his restaurant; he doesnât seek to expand it and he doesnât choose to upcharge his prices. He simply wants to provide a comfortable space for his siblings and other guests to eat at. He doesnât keep track of peopleâs debts properly, he lets people pay what they want or not at all, and the restaurantâs usually constantly running short on cash so much so that their rent payment to Ji comes in meals rather than actual money. Yuâs motivations for making food are much closer to how Ancient Chinese society viewed domestic cooking.
Interestingly enough, Yu also has many references to Confucian proverbs in regards to cooking in his voice lines and his Operator Record. His Operator Record could be interpreted through the lens of the proverb âĺéŁćźćĺŞč äšĺ´ďźćŞĺ飽äšăâ (Be considerate of guests (especially those who are suffering)) where he, as the host, serves the people of Baizao food and listens to their woes. Meanwhile, some of his voicelines reference Confucian proverbs such as âä¸ĺžĺ śéŹďźä¸éŁâ (Pursue harmony between food elements) and âä¸ćďźä¸éŁâ (When not in season, do not eat).Â
As a fun fact, the line Yu quotes in his Talk after Promotion 1 line ("A nobleman stays clear of the kitchen.") is a real saying often misattributed to Confucius. This is a line from another philosopher, Mencius, and this is in fact a shortened form of what the real quote was. Mencius stated;
Which when translated means; For a gentleman holds (empathy and compassion) toward animals: Having seen an animal alive, he can't bear to watch it die; having heard its cries, he can't bear to eat its meat. Therefore, a gentleman stays away from the slaughterhouse and kitchen.[40][41]
We donât know much about the unnamed siblings yet aside from the fact that the musician sister seems incredibly jolly and that she was heavily involved in creating Yanâs legal system thatâs used up to modern time, and that the wandering medic brother wanders like heâs half-dead, hates when he canât help others, and burdens himself with many matters that his other siblings worry and have to constantly remind him that heâll still have them in the end. Iâm excited to see if their stories will also be affected by their gender presentation, though we can already see hints of it with the few information we know about the musician sister.
Interpretation
As a disclaimer, I doubt weâll ever get an event story that focuses on the effects of the gender identity of whichever Sui sibling. Itâll always be a subtext thing, like the way Yuâs story is or the way Shu and Jiâs designs are conceived.Â
That aside, seeing how gender identity is tackled from the writersâ desk to the in-world happenings when it comes to the Sui siblings is fascinating once you see the patterns. As stated at the start, every part of their designs and their personalities are purposeful. Understanding how they present their identity is crucial to understanding their character, how they interact with others, and even their motivations.Â
Itâs fascinating how the writers decided to use the proxies of Sui of all things to portray these themes. The Feranmut as a whole within the lore of Arknights have been considered to be âgodsâ, genderless and ancient. Sui Itself is described as bestial, and the pronoun âItâ is used when referring to the bestial Sui. Meanwhile, Its proxies present themselves as not only their own people, but also their own identities that are built upon the experiences theyâve had. No doubt these forms were chosen after a long while of interacting with the human world, after walking the ways of man and speaking with people close to the earth. These immortal beings learned what itâs like to be human, and have thus chosen forms that reflect their learnings while also being closer to the mortals.Â
Moving past just the sphere of the Sui siblings, the way Arknights treats gender as an element in its worldbuilding is so easy to overlook. Youâll notice it first with the Sarkaz, more specifically the Teekaz, how their oldest lords and kings are titled that way not because of gender but due to age and power.
For the Damatzi cluster, they donât even have a gender at all and for the Banshee, theyâre a female-only society, which is why the existence of Logos was such a baffling mystery and why heâs regarded in a mysterious light. Thereâs also the Confessarii, who are the same souls reincarnating over and over in different bodies and genders, so much so that the soul inside the bodies donât even consider the form they take anymore.
Then you notice the Seaborn, who are labelled as We Many, considered primitive and the basest of lifeforms despite being so prolific and such a threat. Their most evolved form of being is having a name and a gender in the form of Martus, in the form of Deepcolor, and in the form of Mizuki.
Even with the more âhumanâ races, youâll notice that some of the gendered terms normally used in our world donât match the character; Vina is called a King, the Duke of Caster is called a duke rather than a duchess, these things despite the traditional terms being used for other characters like the Twin Empresses of Leithania.Â
In Arknights, gender is a symbol of humanity. A Feranmut is genderless, a Seaborn is genderless, an Ageless can treat gender as a suggestion. Meanwhile, a Beast Lord is gendered, a human has gender.Â
To go back to the Sui siblings, I feel this adds another layer to the initial story they all share; they have separated from the Bestial Sui and are now their own people. They have gained a humanity all their own, and with it, identity in more ways than one. Identity as in their own names, identity as in how others see them, and identity as in how they present themselves, appearance and gender and all.
As the title says, this is a theory delving into Izayaâs attachment to humanity. It will explore Izayaâs origins, his background, and his two relationships - with Shinra and Shizuo. While I meant this to be a theory just about Izaya, there is implication of Shizaya near the end because those words just called for it. But mostly it is a theory on Orihara Izaya, and how he came to be the way he is.
With that, let us begin.
Izaya said to Mikado he wants to see and observe humans other than himself.
âI donât know about that. I honestly canât even read my next move. In the end, what I want to see is humans other than myself. How they react in the situation that cannot be expected, to observe that is the biggest motive of my life. In order to achieve that, I will both cause trouble and help as much as I can.â
- Durarara Volume 11
The narration said in Volume 5 it could be interpreted as a grand form of narcissism - but he never includes himself in the humans he loves.
He was a human himself, yet he loved the beings called âhumansââ.
One could interpret it as a grandiose case of narcissism, but he never included himself in the âhumansâ he loved.
To put it in more exact words, he was deeply in love with âothersâ.Â
- Durarara Volume 5
That could imply Izaya doesnât love himself.
And from what he said to Mikado, it could be that heâs so true to his own desires he canât even predict his next action.
Itâs like how Shinra said Celty has nothing on the other side of the balance.
Celty may be more kindhearted than even the average human being.
When an average human being helps another for nothing in return, they may hesitate after calculating the costs of the task and the risks it poses to their social status or personal safety.
But Celty has hardly anything like that to put on the âother end of the balanceâ.Â
She has lost even her own head. The only things left to lose are probably her pride and her life free from guilt. To safeguard her pride and her guilt-free life, she would choose to help people. So these things would actually end up adding to the âhelp peopleâ end of the balance.
Thatâs whatâs so awesome about her.
At least I canât say that I have a human heart like hers.
- Kishitani Shinra, Durarara Volume 6
Considering this, it seems Izaya doesnât have anything on the other end of the balance either.
That âattachmentâ of hisâŚWhen there is one thing he has an eye on, itâs honestly ominous how focused heâll become on it to where even your own life is irrelevant.
If there is any âfearâ towards him it would be that one point.
So, watch out. First, his own life is secondary to him. Anytime I thought âwith this heâll lay off,â heâll take another step forward and come at me again.
- Heiwajima Shizuo, Interlude: The Man Called Izaya Orihara â¤, Orihara Izaya and the Sunset
So, does that mean Izaya does indeed have attachment to Shizuo as a human, possibly beyond his âattachmentâ to other humans? Enough to risk his life that even Shizuo notices?
âŚWell, thatâs not the point.Â
What if Izaya, like Celty, doesnât have anything on the other side of the balance?
If humans calculate the costs of the task and risks posed to their social status or personal safety, then Izaya has nothing to safeguard.
He let his own social status go down the drain and outcast himself from society. The social status of money is something he has plenty of. And he doesnât really care about his personal safety if he can fulfill his own desires.
Simply put, Izaya doesnât follow utility theory. Gains and costs are nothing to him. Itâs like gambling. There was an experiment, the Iowa Gambling Task or something like that, that found that participants with damage to an area of the brain involved in decision making, the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, chose the obviously riskier option in spite of losses and showed no galvanic skin response. In simple terms that means they werenât able to anticipate risks like normal people.
But then Izaya went for a brain scan and thereâs nothing wrong with his brain. And itâs not as if heâs incapable of rational decision making.
