analysis of nanami and mahito's dynamic
nanami is the essence of the human condition, who suffers in our modern society. mahito is created from said suffering. both of them have similar opinions about human society and their dislike/hatred for it, albeit in two different ways. nanami chooses to conform to and live with it, while mahito breaks free and lives a life of ultimate freedom.
mahito, in some ways, represents the person who nanami always wished he could be: someone who is carefree, with no responsibilities nor obligations, and with all the time in the world to relax and read books on the beach.
it's very interesting to me that nanami's lifelong dream was to relax and read as many books as he wanted to on the beach, where he had no stress, no norms to conform to, and no responsibilites to tend to.
because what is mahito doing the very first time we ever see him? reading books and relaxing on the beach, exactly what nanami wanted to do.
since nanami is the essence of the human experience, and mahito represents all the suppressed emotions of said experience, he is, therefore a direct manifestation of nanami's desires.
and i also think that it's interesting that the place nanami imagines before he dies is a warm beach, and the place mahito imagines before he dies is a cold forest.
nanami imagines a personal paradise before he dies, because he never got to live out any of his dreams and desires in life.
mahito imagines a personal hell before he dies, because he has never known true fear nor pain before that moment. for his whole life, he has acted out his own dreams and desires.
