what a strange salvation @mud-sludg - Tumblr Blog

Dorohedoro Chapter 12 - Formal Attire Requested

what if you died and instead of getting revived properly something else came back wearing your face and voice and body and you had to watch. what if none of your coworkers realized what had happened for weeks despite this copy acting so differently from you. what if even when they DID figure out that the thing that replaced you wasn't you their main concern was trying to keep anyone else from finding out. what if they prefered the mimic. what if they befriended the mimic. what if they decided they didn't want you back at all. what then.

#i would be hikaru indou and not know how to feel about it #the summer hikaru died

slef06

#the summer hikaru died

small-karamboll

'doppelganger'

#ahhhhhhhh #the summer hikaru died

lucanidaze

Hits them with the yuri beam 🖤

#cuuuuuute #the summer hikaru died #yoshikaru

togusso

Left on the altar

#dorohedoro

huginsmemory

There's something really interesting in rewatching/rereading TSHD and knowing more about Hikaru being a being that grants wishes (often in exchange of souls) in the earlier chapters in light of knowing what the original Hikaru's wish was; which at the very end was specifically for Yoshiki to not be alone (and more widely originally for people to not mourn him). And what's fascinating I think is to delve into how that potentially influences Hikaru once he comes down from the mountain, since we don't really know what exactly defines the wish being fulfilled; is it Hikaru coming back that simply fufills it (all done and gone)? Or is it a longer thing where he does actually provide that companionship to Yoshiki, like the wish actually asked for?

It's fascinating looking at the times when that wish is being denied, because you see Hikaru get deeply emotionally distressed about it. When Yoshiki in the very beginning of the manga asks him who he is and recognizes that he's not Hikaru, the times when Yoshiki rejects Hikaru after knowing he's not the original Hikaru, and especially when Yoshiki ends up trying to kill Hikaru; it's all instances in which Hikaru has failed to grant or jeopardizes original Hikaru's wish, in essentially being a companion to Yoshiki, he's not being just emotionally rejected but also rejected on a deeper level of his being. You also see this when Asako asks him about it; Hikaru panics at the potential threat of being exposed and goes to kill her... unlike with Yoshiki, which the wish was about, in which Hikaru pleaded with Yoshiki instead of just going straight to kill him. It's especially interesting when you have Yoshiki ask Hikaru to kill him after he tries to kill Hikaru; it's a request, a wish from Yoshiki to Hikaru, and you see Hikaru spiralling about whether or not to grant it... a being that grants wishes, for a wish that goes against the last wish he granted/is granting.

I don't think all of Hikaru's emotional turmoil is just Hikaru's nature as a wish granting being fulfilling a request, as it is clear part of Hikaru's responses is definitely the growth of his own emotions, but I think a part of it, especially perhaps in the beginning, was predicated by the og Hikaru's feelings and wish (ie, the scenes where he says he can't tell which emotions are his or og Hikaru's). Anyways I think it's neat to think about the intersection of Hikaru's nature as a being outside the cycle of reincarnation that grants wishes and how that relates to Hikaru's own emotions, because the story does heavily include Hikaru's 'monstrosity'... so it's interesting when these times come up, especially earlier before Hikaru develops more emotional maturity, and you can see how that changes and adjusts over time as he interacts with the fluidity and complexity of the wish that it is for him to provide companionship to Yoshiki, and essentially for Yoshiki to be happy.

#very interesting #tshd meta #the summer hikaru died