[pheiriant]

[lazy-sixteen]

you know if anything this chapter made me think:

Chihiro and Chiaki really do have extremely similar personalities/parallel suffering+response ->

they both start their stories separated from a happy, if slightly unconventional family (primarily represented by Kunishige).

Are pushed by death+disaster towards a duty they really don't want and depersonalize themselves to cope with (Chiaki burning kuni's letters and living as an unfeeling 'Princess'/political tool, Chihiro considering himself a monster who is going to hell), and,

feel an extreme sense of guilt and responsibility to make up for tragedies they aren't responsible for (the war and Irishima talks for Chiaki, the destruction caused by the Enchanted Blades and Hishaku for Chihiro) by sacrificing themselves

Like Chihiro "I am going to use myself as a lightning rod/let myself get impaled by a million pieces of paper/fight people I know are stronger than me/kill people even though I hate violence" is operating on the same selfsacrificial mindset as Chiaki, "I'll cut contact with the person I love /i'll volunteer for essentially torture and death"

basically,

Let's be passively suicidal with mama

Jokes aside,

Even Chiaki's panel of childish admiration for the previous Princess Soga (and reminiscence to how she treated Chiaki nicely 'taught her to make tea') is similar to Chihiro's childish admiration for Samura (who also treated him nicely and served him tea), before they grew up to be pushed into the roles of the people they admired and be forced to acknowledge their harsh reality

[pheiriant]

This also ties into the one line we had about Chiaki before this arc, which was way back in Chapter 14:

I think a lot of us (myself included) took this to mean that Chiaki would be "like" Chihiro - cool, calm, and collected, among other things.

But I was thinking about it ever since we were properly introduced to Chiaki, and I don't think that's really what Hokazono meant to convey.

Kunishige is saying this to Chihiro when he is despondent - getting all up in his head, too focused on driving through the trees to realize he could drive around the forest, and all that.

This is something that's been remarked about Chihiro on other occasions too - notably by Ro during the Kyoto arc:

I think what was intended by that one line was that Chihiro - and Chiaki - can often get too tunnel visioned (as Kunishige sort of pantomimes for us) when it comes to what they feel they "need" or "have" to do. They're too willing to run themselves ragged, to keep struggling without involving others, because they get too caught up in the details, in the necessity of it all, to find a better path.

That's what I figured, anyways.

[pheiriant]

Seeing a fun theory going around that the letter Kunishige got at the end of ch. 123 isn’t actually from Chiaki, but her mother.

Sounds a bit crazy considering her previous attitude towards him, but I actually think it’s got some merit to it. Say what you will about Mama Soga, but she does care about Chiaki - if only because of the privilege her position affords their family.

And if Chiaki is planned to be traded away to the Mikaboshi, especially if said trade had the implicit approval of the rest of the Soga clan, I can see her pulling in Kunishige as a last-ditch measure to find an alternative. She certainly didn’t seem happy to hear about the trade, or Chiaki assenting to it.

Given what we now know about the rest of the clan, it’d explain (not excuse, to be clear) why she was so harsh on Chiaki - any slip up and Chiaki could very well have been shanked by someone seeking to restore the main branch’s authority.

[pheiriant]

Because it’s (obviously) come up a lot, I suspect they weren’t going to actually send a toddler into combat.

More like, by a year, the Flame Bone would be sufficiently tamed under Hiyuki that other members of the Kagari could safely draw out the power themselves (similar to how Yura was able to draw out the Magatsumi’s power safely when Akemura pulled back his mind control).

[pheiriant]

Worth noting that Hiyuki’s birthday, per the author’s notes, is in January.

So either that’s getting retconned (which honestly doesn’t matter), or this baby isn’t making it.

[pheiriant]

She called him Sou-chan…

[pheiriant]

[wandering-mind95]

Kagurbachi 122

Just a reminder that Chiaki is a prisoner no matter the side.

Currently she is thrust into a role she has no choice in, forced to marry someone she does not wish to (to produce potential heirs to inherit the sorcery), sequestered away from all those she was close to before. This is under the Soga Clan

The Mikaboshi plan to do the same thing to her. They want her so they can steal the Soga legacy, the final revenge and humiliation against their enemies. They will isolate her, make her have babies to pass on the Soga sorcery, and she will never see those she loves and cares for again.

In the first one, it is made to seem like she has a choice, that she will be comfortable. And it’s probably true, she will be safe and have some control. But she still will not be free. She will always be under the control of the clan and the government to an extent

In the second, it is obvious what her role will be. There is no pretending. The curtains are pulled back and she is just a pawn with none of the padding that would make it bearable for her.

I’m hoping by the end of the flashback she is able to carve out a third option for herself to reclaim her own agency and finally do what she wants. She is with Kunishige at the end but was this part of the Soga Clan or was it her able to break away?

[pheiriant]

I think it’s also worth noting that, from what little we’ve seen, Kunishige is one of the few people in her life who actually respects her for who she is and not what she is, putting her own needs ahead of his own desires.

Even when they had Chihiro, it seems they told no one but Akemura, which seems to imply the rest of the Soga clan (and the government, of course) weren’t aware.

[pheiriant]

“Every time he put his hand to work, he risked evil coming of it. Every time. The only possible way to avoid this would be to hide in a cave until he emerged with a way to mend the Candles, and even then...

It wasn’t about trust, he finally decided, or rather not about trusting the others. It was about trusting his own hand. About trusting that if he put evil out in the world, he could put out enough good to make up for it. That he would not be taking a hammer to the foundation of the house of steel.”

- Izel, Pale Lights

[pheiriant]

I posted a theory a bit ago talking about how it seemed likely that Itsuo Shirikai’s misogyny/chauvinism was not a one-off thing, and that it was likely women were largely forbidden from holding real authority (aside from the inherited and gilded-cage-like position Chiaki holds) or being able to serve as fighters.

And now we see that there weren’t any women on the council previously; the only one present is a secretary. Same with Chiaki being unable to consort with who she wishes, treated less as a person but instead a literal prize for the Mikaboshi.

Wonder if that means Pink Bearer being chosen was something of a watershed moment for breaking those traditional roles in Kagurabachi-Japan.

Also Kazane AND Hiyuki references?? She was the first tamer to be chosen I take it.

But that does bring up the question of what Flame Bone is. It almost sounds like a living being with wording there.

[faraskyee]

[im-all-out-of-ideas]

hokazono really took all his male and female characters, looked at this, and decided to do basically the opposite

[pheiriant]

Watching the unironic genocide supporters cropping up with Chapter 121 like:

[moi45634]

people making fun of chihiro’s lack of sword skill

[devileffect]

Now that we are forced to acknowledge Chihiro’s lack of sword skills

Wtf was he doing during those 3 years after his father was killed?? Everyone just assumed he used those 3 years to train but apparently not?? Was he just doing pushups in the small studio apartment that Shiba owned in Tokyo while he went out and gathered information??

[pheiriant]

It’s obliquely mentioned - and later implied in Shiba’s talk with Hakuri re: spirit energy manipulation - that wielding an enchanted blade requires intense physical and mental conditioning.

This is also brought up when Chihiro is learning to use IWPS - your power with a blade is directly tied to your skill with manipulating spirit energy and reinforcing your body.

I wouldn’t be surprised if even drawing the blades required a significant baseline development in that regard. It would also explain why Kyora wasn’t as powerful when wielding the Magatsumi compared to Yura - he’s just not as physically developed.

Azami notes in ch. 7 that the fact that Chihiro can even fight with Enten at all is a sign that his body and mind are well-honed, if still developing. So my guess is those three years were him getting to the point where he could even start using Enten without like, collapsing.

[pheiriant]

[kumeyuuri]

something I meant to point out back then after I read the latest chapter: I like the visualization of sumika’s toxicity through the grainy filter.

it’s just yet another subtle detail that tells us the air has quite literally shifted before the characters themselves confirm it later

bc this is how the previous chapter looked like

until ariu enables his ability.

[cookiekat130]

i still dont understand people who say kagurabachi didnt get good/hook them until the second arc like rakuzaichi IS the best arc but vs sojo is Literally good. way better than most shonen first arcs. do not fuck with me