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Analyzing Vivid BAD SQUAD in Relation to the Characters That They Foil: Part 1

Introduction

While the most well-known of cross unit foils to the Project Sekai fandom is that of Tsukasa and Mafuyu, I want to draw attention to other sets of foils in this game that often go overlooked. Of course, since Vivid BAD SQUAD is my favorite unit and I engage with their story the most, I figured they would be the easiest for me to discuss foil-wise.

In this post(s), I will outline what characters, Kohane, An, Akito and Touya are foils to, and explain how these foils work. Furthermore, I will assume that you have read the main stories and event stories mentioned throughout the post, and will not summarize them. The second section of this post explains what narrative foiling and parallels are for those who are unfamiliar with or unsure of the definition, and may be skipped if you are already familiar with these terms. To back up my analysis and clarify certain points, I will use screenshots from Sekaipedia’s story reader (I also used screenshots from the Fandom Wiki when Sekaipedia was not available). Moreover, all translations used for this post will be from the Official English server unless otherwise stated.

What is a Narrative Foil?

Let’s say we have two characters: Character A and Character B. These two characters are almost complete opposites, but have certain parallels that invite us to compare the two. In the process of comparing these two characters, we learn more about one or both of these characters without the writer needing to implement additional context. In other words, Character A and Character B foil one another.

As a side note, foiling is intentionally implemented by writers to enhance narratives. It is expected that readers will engage with that narrative device, and Project Sekai is no exception to this rule.

In order to recognize foiling in any media, we must first understand what a parallel is. While the term “parallel” is often used interchangeably with “similarity”, it should be noted that they are not the same word. While parallels do indicate common traits between two characters, situations, etc., they are generally structured and intentionally placed, rather than being surface-level comparisons. To put this into perspective, I have made an example using two Project Sekai characters:

A similarity Touya and Mafuyu have is that they both have abusive parents. This similarity does not mean anything narratively for Touya and Mafuyu as characters, as the abuse they face individually is wildly different. Furthermore, other characters in Project Sekai have abusive parents, so this similarity is not remarkable. It is too broad and insignificant to be a parallel by itself.

A parallel Touya and Mafuyu have is that they both ran outside during a confrontation with an abusive parent while it was raining. This parallel is meant to draw attention to differences in their respective situations; Mafuyu was able to seek relief from the confrontation through staying at Kanade’s place, while Touya was forced to return home. Moreover, the different responses Harumichi and Mafuyu’s mother have to the realization that they have hurt their respective child following these scenes inform us of why Touya and Mafuyu’s present situations are so different.

In other words, parallels are (intentional) similarities, but not all similarities are parallels (as similarities can sometimes be coincidental).

With this in mind, let's begin discussing our first set of foils.

Kohane Azusawa and Haruka Kiritani: the Normal and the Extraordinary

At the beginning of their stories, Kohane and Haruka couldn’t be any more different.

Kohane was a completely average girl with no dreams or passion of her own, deeply unsatisfied with her uneventful life.

Haruka on the other hand, was a nationally famous idol that quit ASRUN in hopes of having a normal life, all while pushing away the passion she still has for being an idol.

Throughout their respective unit's main stories, the major force that holds Kohane and Haruka back from following their dreams is anxiety, even though they are desperate to change.

While the source of their stress is entirely different, their stress responses are similar. Both Haruka and Kohane physically can't bring themselves to perform in these scenes, despite being fully aware of their surroundings and situation. In addition, we know from these two scenes (as well as Kohane's WL2 chapter) that Kohane would've given up on music in a similar fashion to Haruka quitting idol work if it wasn't for the VBSloids existing, which adds an interesting layer to everything.

Elaborating on the source: Haruka and Kohane are paralyzed by how they've hurt Mai and An respectively; although in Kohane's case she's projecting her own insecurities onto An in contrast to Haruka's case, in which Mai actively resented Haruka for what happened. They're both scared of letting this happen again and consequently spiral because of it.

Both Haruka and Kohane grow past their anxieties in main story through realizing that their dreams are attainable. Kohane learns she has the agency to take control of her life and pave a path forwards for herself and An (and shortly after, Akito and Touya). Haruka learns she still has the right to inspire hope in others as an idol, that her desire to do so won't cause someone else pain, and that she has friends and fans that want to see her make her dreams come true.

Another point of interest for these two is their childhoods.

Kohane's anxiety towards life was always enabled by the people around her and she was never pushed out of her shell, leading to her low self-esteem and lack of drive prior to meeting VBS. Nobody held any expectations for her, to the degree of which Kohane internalized the idea that she couldn't do anything right at all.

Haruka had issues with displaying emotions in the "correct" way as a child, something that visibly bothered her parents and that made Haruka insecure for disappointing them. Meeting an idol is what made Haruka smile like she was "supposed to" for the first time, and you can argue that part of why she started a career as an idol (besides the fact that she loves idols) was to assuage her mother's unease about Haruka essentially being neurodivergent.

Both of these pasts have a common theme— the damage of expectations, both when there aren't any and when there are those that are unnecessary. The anxiety you feel when you're certain you're going to fail, that you're going to hurt someone else.

But what happens when you're the one holding expectations? When you're the one being let down by others? Or when you're the one letting down yourself?

An Shiraishi and Saki Tenma: Resentment and Forgiveness

Everyone knows these two have abandonment issues. However, there's a bit more to it with these two that people don't often consider.

When An and Saki were children, they both considered themselves a burden to their families.

(Translation for Vivid Old Tale from lozy bug)

For An, she believed this because Ken was not following up on his promises to watch her sing, leading to her running away from home in the middle of the event. For Saki, she considers herself a burden because of her chronic illness— so in other words, Saki has internalized ableism.

While these two situations are vastly different, it should be noted that the common ground An and Saki have here is that they were both emotionally neglected by their parents. While this might not be as immediately obvious in An's case like it is for Saki (given that Tsukasa's parentification is very explicitly portrayed), it is definitely shown through some of her card stories. For example:

In An's Touya1 card story, part 1 reveals to us that An doesn't know if Ken would act like Harumichi Aoyagi of all people if she did something he disagreed with. In part 2, An's dialogue with Kohane implies that she doesn't think Ken loves her, which not only emphasizes the emotional distance between An and Ken, but also ties back into An's feelings as a child about "being a burden" that were explored at length in An3.

The importance of An and Saki's shared feeling of being a burden gains further importance when we discuss the time in which they were abandoned. By that I mean, when Nagi died and covered up her death, and when Leo/need broke apart without anyone telling Saki what was going on.

Interestingly enough, Saki never holds resentment towards her childhood friends for being left in the dark about what was going on in middle school. Saki got out of the hospital thinking her life would finally be worth living, that she could go and have the perfect life she'd been dreaming of— only for it to come crashing down in Leo/need's main story because Ichika never told her the truth. She continually places the feelings of her friends above her own, and blames herself for her friend group falling apart because she wasn't there, even though Saki had no control over that situation. Also, here's the evil dialogue about Honami that makes me cry

And then there's Saki7.

(Translated by Kimane)

Saki has never moved on past the feeling of a burden. It's the reason why she disregards her feelings at the end of Saki7 for the sake of not being abandoned again. It's the reason why she thinks something as simple as a difference in dreams will make her friends abandon her.

Saki does not see her value as a human being because of her internalized ableism. Saki does not see her value as a human being because her parents never told her to value herself. Saki does not see her value as a human being because the issues she recognizes in Tsukasa she feels responsible for— failing to realize that it is their parents fault. This ultimately bleeds into her relationship with Leo/need, because she has not unpacked these complex feelings properly.

So how is this relevant to An?

Well, because her response to being let down was the opposite.

An is (rightfully) resentful of Nagi and Vivid Street for having lied to her. Even before she learned the truth, it was hinted that she was upset with Nagi for going to America without updating her on anything.

In fact, An was even mad at the adults in her life for not paying attention to her when she was a child.

(Translation by lozy bug)

And even as a teenager, even while knowing Nagi is dead and isn't really in An's SEKAI, An still says this:

(Translation by lozy bug, again)

The key difference here is that An feels that she is wronged and wants to be compensated, and she has felt that way even before Nagi (from her perspective) abandoned her. She's actively angry with other people rather than herself, unlike Saki. She tells Ken in On Your Feet that she'll never forgive him for lying to her, that she'll never forgive the town for lying to her.

An's upbringing ultimately lands her in a tumultuous codependent relationship with Kohane that doesn't receive significant growth until An5. It's in this situation where Saki's fear of telling Leo/need the truth overlaps with An's fear of telling Kohane the truth, however...

An knows rationally that Kohane won't abandon her, and knows her fear is irrational even though that doesn't stop the feeling. Saki shows no such self-awareness, and genuinely believes that her different dream is a dealbreaker.

An's issue was that she wanted a sense of control in her and Kohane's dynamic. If Kohane continued to idealize An (which was occurring because An was hiding her flaws around Kohane), then it would mean that Kohane would stay with her because she's "cool". An approaches the situation that way because it reflects her own situation with Nagi; Nagi was "cool" and someone An idealized so she was the one with the agency to end that dynamic, so An emulates this to feel secure. On the other hand, Saki relinquishes control to the point of where she renders her own feelings as irrelevant.

An and Saki both hid the truth from the people that needed to hear it so they could prevent abandonment from occurring again. For An, she hid her deeper, "lame" flaws to preserve Kohane's image of her until An5. For Saki, she plans on hiding her dreams so her friends won't have to have a difficult conversation about her, i.e. so Saki is not a source of conflict.

It should also be noted there's a difference in An and Saki when it comes to forgiveness, as well. An ultimately chose to forgive everyone who lied to her, but she did that for herself on her own terms, not because she owed that forgiveness to them.

Saki never held resentment against Leo/need for what happened (and really, they were all like 14 years old when everything happened, which is completely different in context from all those grown adults lying to An), but she does hold resentment against herself. However, Saki still hasn't forgiven herself.

This also brings me to one final point about An and Saki— this scene from An's fifth mixed.

(Translation by DAZO)

We see the stark contrast in An and Saki's development through this one scene, despite their broader similarities. An has moved past her fear of abandonment, and Saki's receptiveness to An's optimism reiterates just how similar they are deep down. All Saki needs is a little bit of a push, and maybe she can become much happier like An did! Thank you for reading Part 1! I planned on making this whole post into one big one, but I unfortunately hit the image cap as I was writing Akito's portion, haha.

In Part 2, I will explain the foils that Akito and Touya have, discuss limitations to this analysis, and conclude the post properly. Please stay tuned.

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