hilarious to me how taigen's main insult to mizu is calling her "a dog." literally he's the only one in the show to call her that! everyone else just talks about the blue of her eyes looking like an onryo or demon or monster.
taigen calls her a dog. "round-eyed", an "orphan," with a "whore mother" and "white devil" for a father. talking about she was living on the street eating off gutter scraps. like that's the thing that he pinpoints about her. not about her being a half-breed, but about her living conditions. and i talked about this quite extensively before, about how i feel that everything taigen says about mizu is a projection of his own self-hatred. because everything he says about mizu can also apply to himself.
and necessary disclaimer here before someone misinterprets me on purpose: no this doesn't justify his actions, and yes taigen was an asshole, yes he's not a good guy, etc. i just like the nuances of his character because that's what makes him so interesting to me as a character to pick apart and analyse.
and so WITH THAT BEING SAID, the reason why i find it hilarious that taigen calls mizu a "dog" is because HE IS THE DOG! because literally if you have to assign an animal to each of the characters, taigen would be a dog. growling and barking one second, happy and puppy-eyed the next. taigen as a child loves playing with sticks. he loves getting praises by everyone around him. taigen who is "stupidly loyal." HE IS THE DOG!!
and mizu? would be a cat!!! mizu who stalks and pounces on her prey. mizu who struggles away when people try to grab her or come close. she hides from everyone when she's hurt and licks her wounds while pretending she's fine. she topples vases off of high shelves (read: burns down entire cities and rampages through insanely guarded fortresses) causing chaos all while leaping around gracefully. but then she's still too short-sighted so she gets stuck somewhere with no way to get out of it until her owner has to come pick her up and put her back on the floor again (the owner in this case is ringo).
they are literally both the TYPICAL ARCHETYPES of what a "cat person" and "dog person" would be like and that is SO funny to me.
they even get along as well as cats and dogs do. they fight each time they're around each other. taigen's mere presence makes mizu hiss and her hair stand on end while taigen just keeps barking at her and provoking her even more. he incessantly follows her around while she wants nothing more than to be alone. taigen who won't stop yapping even while everyone else is dead-silent vs mizu who only approaches people to talk when they're nonchalant or even actively avoid her (see: how she's always the first to instigate interactions with mikio during their marriage).
like it's just so funny to me. they're both so stupid and i love them.
TL;DR taigen is a dog and mizu is a cat. ringo is the exasperated but loving caretaker at the shelter in charge of dealing with their antics and keeping them fed and making sure they don't kill each other.
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