The Big Scene (Heavenly Delusion / Tengoku Daimakyo Analysis + Spoilers)
Content Warning: Sexual Assault, Abuse
Full version here:
The 32-34 series of chapters in Tengoku Daimakyo have reached almost parody-creepypasta levels of in spoiler-filled comment sections all across the world wide information superhighway. After painfully poring over the scenes themselves countless times, I decided to do this write-up.
The chapters were initially published on Christmas to great controversy even in Japan, inviting countless readers to criticize and bash the arc. But why would the author publish such risky, risque, explicit scenes "out of nowhere" in a fun sci-fi adventure romp series that definitely has no related themes of sexuality or identity going on elsewhere in the story?
To properly analyze the controversial Robin Inazaki arc, we must understand Kiruko's character first.
Examples of Insecure Attachment Behavior
Frequent bouts of inconsolable crying, difficulty regulating own emotions
Being fearful of abandonment
Being overly clingy with parents/caregivers as a child
Being overly clingy in romantic relationships or friendships as an adult
Masking emotions
Coming across as extremely independent
Low self-esteem
Refusing to ask for help, pushing away others instead of allowing them to get close
Hesitant to become intimate with other people
With that out of the way, let's begin.
Hero Complex
Kiruko's entire reason for existing is to be a "Bodyguard" - literally their career for the last 5 years, and what they tried to be when they were Haruki. To be a bodyguard is to be Useful in a transactional, secure way. To Kiruko, being loved is transactional. As an orphan, Haruki was clearly looking for guidance, and seems to have attached himself to Robin psychologically. As a father figure, as a big brother, as a gang leader, as a friend. And he didn't want to start fighting to protect others or his sister, but specifically to impress Robin alone, to get his attention and respect. He idolizes him, and has heavenly delusions about him that will surely be shattered eventually.
As Kiruko, she quotes him routinely over and over in every arc preceding the Robin chapters, imitating how he fights at the arcade, telling Maru all the bits of advice she picked up from him. In a way, she thinks about Robin more than she ever thinks of or even mentions Kiriko. She even copies how he dresses, by asking for his signature jacket. Is this just a simple Aniki Admiration situation? What other older sibling does Haruki have that he has strong feelings for?
However, things rarely turn out the way she hopes as she tries to be cooly independent - when the situation turns dire, Kiruko desperately screams out for help. This destroys her whole reason for existing, her entire identity. Robin never asks for help. If she can't be like Robin, who can she be? If she has to be protected, why should she even exist? What use is a man who can't fight and protect others? What use is a boy who cries so heavily? Where does this complex even come from? What happened during Haruki, Kiriko, and Robin's time growing up together? We only get a brief flashback of their life together, and not even a single scene with all of them in the same room.
After Maru confesses again after the assault, promising to "Protect her", Kiruko throws his words back and says her existence is worthless if she has to be protected. She's "The Bodyguard", after all. This is similar to her previous "rejection" on the boat - where she simply said "I'm a guy", without actually responding to Maru at all or telling him she doesn't like him. Keeping people at arm's length is her specialty as a bodyguard.
Reminder that her flashback on the boat was not a "canon" objective story as told by the "narrator", but a uniquely subjective story told by a character in-plot for a specific purpose - to scare Maru away from loving her ("KEEP OUT", the non-locked locked door says), and also testing his dedication and resolve as insecure people always do (she does the same when asking Maru about Mikura). The fact that she forgot she used to cry heavily as a child should tell the audience that she's likely forgetting other details about her childhood as well, and what we know of what Haruki was "really like" until we meet an objective third party from back when he was a kid. For all intensive porpoises, Kiruko barely seems to even know herself. She insists she only "looked up to Robin" and didn't like him romantically to Maru, however...
The Kiss That Wasn't
The real controversial point here is that Kiruko not only viewed Robin as a masculine idol figure to try and imitate and get the respect of, but also as a romantic figure. It's unknown where these romantic feelings started - were they always there even as Haruki but got confused by gender, or did they only start becoming as such after becoming Kiruko influenced by Kiriko's residual feelings for Robin - but nevertheless, they're there and very apparent. If she loved one older sibling, it's not too much of a stretch to love the other. If Haruki was originally a girl all along, many readers would suspect she was a "bro-con" in a similar way with how she talks about him and reacts.
In a pivotal page in 32, Robin whispers seductively into Kiruko's ear, calling her "Haruki" repeatedly, holding her shoulder softly, instantly switching up his aggressive behavior from before. We then get a rare, once-in-a-series possible shot of Haruki's inner consciousness, still as male Haruki, crying with a look of what looks like relief or happiness. She seems to be lost in though, muttering Robin's name, then turns to him expecting to be kissed and embraced (as matched with the previous Tarao/Tokio attempted and rejected kiss), but he turns away and says "No" as he's covered in menacing shadow, beyond her reach. Love rejected.
Not only is Kirukos behavior here telling, but Robin's is too. He was deliberately baiting Kiruko/Haruki into reacting like this in order to emotionally reject and hurt her, as if he knew she would try to turn towards him expecting a kiss, almost as if he's done something like this before.
Perhaps this is some of Kiriko, a likely former lover of Robin, coming out and taking over Kiruko's identity already and transforming her former platonic admiration feelings into some kind of confused romantic ones instead. Or maybe there's a hidden part of Haruki's past she doesn't remember, where he was sexually abused in similar ways. Regardless, this is the moment Kiruko's spirit truly breaks. Robin forces her again to look in the mirror and dissociate as he says he has "something to take care of" with Kiriko.
A full rejection of her mind and body as Kiruko. Even her new name isn't acknowledged, even though it's the name the receptionists told Robin to set up the meeting, so he knows about it. Robin doesn't want Haruki, or Kiruko - he just wants Kiriko's body.
Escape
Although Kiruko was first bound by metal handcuffs, at some undetermined time over the 2-3 days of the assault, they were replaced with easily removed ropes instead, which she pulls apart the instant she sees Maru arrive. So, why didn't she attempt to escape prior?
From the author Ishiguro's own words,
Never in my wildest dreams could I have believed that I could arrange a Q&A with Ishiguro-sensei, a mangaka that I’ve followed for years now
"As for chapter 33 of Tengoku Daimakyou, I wrote the story wanting readers to think 'Why didn’t Kiruko run when able to?', so I would be happy if readers try think about Kiruko’s feelings."
-Masakazu Ishiguro
One might postulate about various practical concerns for why she might not have escaped - there are armed guards, she's not physically capable, etc., but the author points out that it's primarily about her feelings.
Wanting to just simply obey can at least make Kiruko feel useful to the man she once respected and loved. An abused child may resort to being treated more like a pet, an object, or even an experiment, if they think they can at least get some form of love out of it from their otherwise cold and uncaring parents.
Mercy
Probably the biggest source of criticism over the scene comes from Kiruko begging Maru to not kill Robin as he brutally beats him into the concrete. If a villain does something so evil as raping our hero, something worse than even genocide (The Rumbling...), they should be punished accordingly by being murdered. That's why fictional stories exist! To impart proper moral lessons about crime and punishment when it rarely ever happens in the real world!
Most of these complaints are given by childish readers who want a simple "Rape Revenge" story, where sexual assault only happens to give a masculine hero figure just-cause to freely murder someone in a thrilling fulfilling action scenario, usually rescuing a damsel princess. While a very good series and scene, the Eclipse rape of Casca in Berserk is an infamous example all such seinen scenes inevitably get compared to. Griffith starts assaulting Casca as Guts is pinned down and forced to watch, as he screams out Griffith's name in a bloodthirsty roar.
So, what was Casca feelings during this scene? What was her perspective? She doesn't really matter here, does she, any more than a prop for a revenge story - even if the message may ultimately be that Revenge Is Wrong. Some readers even resent her for possibly "enjoying" it, betraying the reader's - Guts' - own romantic feelings for Casca, the androgynous tomboy.
Tengoku, however, places the "POV" squarely in the mind and eyes of the victim themselves, even seeing inside her consciousness. To force readers into the perspective and body of the "Female MC", even as an androgynous tomboy, they feel a sense of betrayal from the author. They start immediately trying to identify with Maru instead, as he aimlessly wanders outside for days wondering what to do. They want to Beat Up The Villain and Kill Him. But Kiruko says No.
How many abused children or partners of abusive loved ones are able to simply kill their abusers? How many lifetimes does it take for most abuse victims to even admit they were abused in the first place? Even if they hate their abuser with a burning rage, they also feel guilt for hating someone they're "supposed to love", ashamed that they could be "such a bad child/partner", and so on. The emotional manipulation of familial abuse is what sets it apart from strangers abuse.
The Robin Inazaki arc is sandwiched inbetween the Juiichi and Helm revenge stories for a reason. Both side characters get their revenge by murdering their abusers / betrayers in the end, in some glorious fulfillment of a revenge fantasy over people they had no real emotional connection with. But like the rest of the series has shown, from even the Innlady battery scene, Kiruko and Maru are more moral than most, and more sentimental than many (Kiruko cries almost every chapter). Kiruko cannot bring herself to want to murder her abuser or bring her companion to murder him either. This is only natural. Maru having an untapped lust for fighting and being ferociously strong (Arcade fight, Walled City street fight, Michika fight) might come into play as a potential hazard for their relationship later.
Mirrors
Potentially the most shocking and disturbing part of the assault is Robin's deliberate and pointed attempt to psychologically torture Kiruko, as opposed to using physical violence. Robin turns her to a mirror, and in a dazed shock, she can't see herself - she can only see "Sis".
It's the type of scene you don't see in many published manga - or published fiction in general. Probably only in something like Oshimi Shuzo's works, or niche erotica. The gender bending twist as well as the "cheating" angle adds a lot of controversial bait to the mix, as Kiruko dissociates into the mirror as Haruki again, to "watch Kiriko's body" from the reflection. This is a targeted attack on her Hero Complex to protect others but being too weak to do so, and likely also Robin bragging about how he slept with Kiriko while Haruki was in the same room back when they were growing up. It's also targeted sexual emasculation, with clear power plays of an adult masculine muscled male showboating how much more powerful he is over the weaker younger "male".
This isn't of course the first time we see Kiruko with mirrors in a sexual manner - one of her introductory scenes in Volume 1 is all about sexually admiring herself - or Kiriko's self - in the mirror, setting the tone for an undercurrent theme of intimate sexuality, identity, and self-reflection in the midst of a strange sci-fi mystery story. Even in the hospital after the surgery, she discovered her new reality by looking into a mirror. Someone who can't trust or be intimate with others will have to find some outlet for intimacy, even if it's staring at a mirror at themselves and their own past life memories (sister), not to other people or the future (Maru).
She stops referring to herself as Haruki after the assault as well, tearing up her old photo of her old boy self with Robin -0 the two concepts are inextricably linked. There is no "Haruki" without "Robin" in Kiruko's mind. Note also where Robin's hand is held in an usual way in their iconic photograph together, hovering over Haruki's chest where Kiruko's future breasts will be. Haruki's identity was tied together with some kind of deeper sexually-tinged abusive complex relating to Robin, and she's making roads to try and separate from him - but not completely, just yet. She's still wearing his jacket, after all.
But instead of just looking at the surface level of the glass, who is Kiruko actually "mirroring"? Why did she start wearing Robin's jacket and obsessing so much to impress him? How much of her psychological complexes is about trying to mask and imitate others to compensate for what she feels are her own extreme inadequacies? Self-reflection is a one way street, and other people need to interfere every so often to interrupt the feedback loop.
To sum up, Kiruko uses mirrors three pivotal times in the series so far:
After waking up in the hospital, saying "Sis…"
In the innhouse, where she tries to kiss her reflection
When Robin forces her to look in one, and she only sees "Sis…"
Will Kiruko someday be able to look into a mirror, and not be able to see her sister anymore, but finally recognize her own reflection as Kiruko herself? Will it be tragic for her, joyful, or bittersweet? Only time will tell.
Kiriko
Following the assault, Kiruko gets lost in thought and suddenly recollects some of what she assumes is Kiriko's residual memories "from her body". The image she sees is of Haruki sleeping, with the text "Haruki always sleeps really well, so..." leaving most fans to assume Kiriko and Robin were having sex in the same room while Haruki was sleeping. In episode 3, an anime-only scene was dropped of two people holding hands on a bed - suggesting something similar. Robin's taunting using the mirror suitably fits this angle as well.
She seems to consider, and LOVE the idea, that she might actually be becoming Kiriko, as if her sister's memories will eventually overtake Haruki/Kiruko's own identity itself. As she mostly loses Robin as a figure to imitate, she switches to another older sibling figure to mirror - Kiriko herself. It would essentially become a way for her to bring her sister back from the dead, by becoming her idolized big sister entirely. Perhaps this is what Robin's so-called psychological "experiment" was for? Will Kiruko eventually sacrifice "herself" for the sake of bringing her sister back, considering her own extreme low self-worth? What will Maru think about that? Is Kiruko trying to embody her former big sister and be with Maru, to live out Haruki's former fantasy of being with his older sister in a role-reversal?
Another question: Did Haruki subconsciously know of Robin and Kiriko's relationship, and thus attempt to try to become either like Robin to be in his place with Kiriko, or to become Kiriko so she can be in her place together in a relationship with Robin?
Maru
After the assault, her image of Maru becomes slightly distorted, almost idolizing him as some pure angelic figure - just like it was with Robin, and possibly even concerning Kiriko - and hating herself all the more. She also tries passing him off to Helm "for his own good", failing miserably. He's simply too dedicated to her. As he said on the riverside, Maru loves Kiruko completely and unconditionally - not as Haruki, or Kiriko, but her unique new self, whoever that is.
Kiruko can't understand unconditional love, however. She always has to provide a service, or be useful, or have a "mission", to justify being with someone, even Maru ("Finding Heaven" "Being a Bodyguard"). If her abilities are threatened (loses her gun, etc), what will happen to her? So while she rejects Maru's proposal to protect her, she still grows closer and closer to him regardless.
While they've flirted throughout the series, it was more as teasing gestures here and there, while after volume 6, they're more directly affectionate and even physical (which was always from Maru's side before). It's a minor shift, but a shift nonetheless. She's still very insecure and 'testing the waters', and is still too ashamed to say or do anything too directly, or else risk rejection. Even the slightest expression is enough to make her apologize or feel rejected.
For Kiruko, Maru has officially become her new "focus" in life as of recent chapters - hopefully, this will work out for the best for the both of them, as developments always do in Tengoku Daimakyo! I'm sure nothing can possiblie go wrong. What are Shiro and Mimihime up to these days again?
Why did it happen? (or, "what the fuck did I just read")
Why did Ishiguro sensei put in this random extremely disturbing arc in the middle of such a fun-loving adventure story, where everyone has happy endings and nobody ever gets betrayed? Is he just like, some fucked up guy?
The fact that Kiruko is a "boy-turned-girl" gender-changed character, being sexually abused in this specific way by her former male idol that she now has confused romantic feelings towards - being dehumanized, repeatedly called her former male name, humiliated and called weak specifically as a male - is something that could only happen to a character like Kiruko, and not a "conventional female" Main Character. This is why many readers who aren't familiar with these specific experiences simply cannot wrap their heads around it, because they lack perspective. This is a major unacknowledged reason why so many readers criticize the arc, because it's weird and kind of 'gay', or something. Why couldn't the sexual abuse have been a bit more mainstream and, like, normal?
The other criticism is that it wasn't followed up properly in later chapters, but what example of SA are they comparing this with? Something in real life, something from another story? Should she have been Casca'd and been brain wiped for 30 years? Is there a "right" way to recover from being abused? Or, maybe there's no right way in "real life", but in "fiction", it should only be depicted a single way in order to promote a particular safe moral message?
4 chapters after the event, the first time we see our duo again has Kiruko riding a broken bicycle, collapsing under her, while refusing Maru's help or support, stubbornly putting on a brave face, and then secretly calling herself trash. The bike is a metaphor for Robin, by the way. This is also how many people deal with escaping from abuse. Not just with constant tears or histrionics or overdramatic PTSD episodes. But terrible, awful, no good coping mechanisms. She doesn't need help. She doesn't need to be protected. She's not good enough to be protected, since to Kiruko, to be protected is to be loved, and to be loved simply makes no sense at all.
The idea that a former boy, turned into a girl, sharing his beloved sister's body, has some kind of strange homoromantic? feelings towards "another man", or maybe even androphilic feelings towards a man as a woman, makes readers uneasy and causes such extreme reactions against the arc. The idea that a victim could have loving feelings towards their abuser is too abhorrent for most to even question, even though that tends to be what keeps victims in a victimized state for so many years through emotional manipulation - like children who love their abusive parents, or partners that love their abusive partners.
Could anything Robin have done achieved the same effect of shattering her idolization of Robin? A purely violent attack? Maybe revealing his experiments to her? Imprisoning her? No, of course not - she might've rationalized other acts in any number of different ways, because Robin was her idol her entire life. It needed to be targeted, direct, and also play on the gender/sexuality themes already inherent in Kiruko's entire characterization. While critics complain about the Robin arc, and say it was "unnecessary" "gratuitous". they rarely shed the same shade on Juiichi's or Helm's arcs detailing extreme sexual abuse of children. The unique flavor of the Robin arcs what people find distasteful - they would be fine with it if it was more "conventional", maybe if he acted more like a Fist of the North Star or Mad Max goon, or didn't play on specific gender and sex and sexuality themes conventional readers find strange and unusual, weird and bizarre, just as they find Kiruko herself deep down. But Strange is the name of the game in Tengoku Daimakyo, and Robin arc was a wake up call to both Kiruko and readers together.
Dangling Threads
There are still many unanswered mysteries involving Robin Inazaki, so complaints about how "there was no follow-up" make little sense. His Reconstruction ties, his Hiruko + Human combination experiments. Just what was Robin trying to do to Kiruko? Did he really have a relationship with Kiriko? Did he abuse Haruki as well when they were younger? Is Kiruko and Maru's ship going to sail, or crash and burn under her own unhealthy coping mechanisms? Are the owls what they seem? Who shot Mr. Burns? As Kiruko travels over to her old orphanage in Osaka soon and potentially talks with her former Asakusa childhood friends, I'm sure we'll get more answers - and more questions, as well, as always.
See you, bye bye!
