TBHK Flower Symbolism Analysis - Mitsuba + Kou
In Japan the school year starts in April which coincides with the peak cherry blossom season, this is when Mitsuba and Kou meet for the first time.
I think that Mitsuba in a lot of ways is basically the embodiment of cherry blossoms and there’s official art where he literally is a bunch of cherry blossom petals.
The life span of cherry blossoms is very short, only about two weeks because of this they symbolize the fleeting nature of life and a reminder to appreciate what we have because you never know what might happen. Maybe Mitsuba and Kou could have become friends while Mitsuba was alive if only they had more time, if only Mitsuba’s life wasn’t cut so short but things just didn’t happen that way.
I’d also like to mention that cherry blossoms are also associated with a legend where a samurai sacrificed his life to save a dying cherry blossom tree. I just think it seems kind of similar to Kou trying to sacrifice himself for Mitsuba.
Morning glories bloom each morning and when the sun sets the flower curls up and takes its rest, similarly in the Mitsuba Arc Mitsuba meets his end on the same day that he befreinds Kou.
Morning glories can symbolize “brief love” or “bond of love” in Japan and its leaves even resemble hearts. I think both these meanings can both fit with Mitsuba and Kou’s relationship. “Brief love” fits well with the Mitsuba Arc and their short amount of time that they got to spend together. While I think that “bond of love” fits their relationship as a whole because no matter how many times they are separated they always seem to find each other again and the bond is still there even if one doesn’t remember the other.
The presence of morning glories also tells us that it’s summer, meaning that the second time Mitsuba and Kou meet is during the summer. I point this out because I feel like Mitsuba and Kou have been associated with seasons a lot. Their first meeting was in the spring, Mitsuba died in the winter, and then they met again in the summer and became friends so now I have to wonder if something will happen in the fall.
The flowers that appear here in Kou’s dream appear to be kalmia flowers. The most common meaning of this flower is perseverance/persistence so my best guess is that these flowers are meant to represent that this is a recurring dream that won’t go away?
I think that it’s interesting that flowers are even surrounding this panel in the first place considering that this is supposed to be a bad dream.
When Kou first meets Mitsuba in the fake world Mitsuba is holding roses. Roses are known for being the universal flower for love. Out of context from the rest of the chapter this scene seems very romantic with the roses, Kou dropping his books at the sight of Mitsuba and saying that he “felt like time has stopped”.
In Japan it’s common to give red carnations to your family or specifically give them to your mother on Mother’s Day so we can assume that the flower is for his mother.
In Kou’s HOTO AU art we see him holding a red rose. As most people know, red roses are used to mean romantic love and can also mean passion, desire and longing. The rose doesn’t have any purpose in the actual plot of the AU but I do think the meaning of flowers fits well with his character and his relationship with Mitsuba. Most things regarding Kou and Mitsuba’s relationship in the HOTO AU is left up to interpretation so you can draw your own conclusions if you want.
In this AU Kou is shown holding what seems to be a branch off of a cherry blossom tree. There’s another drawing for this AU that shows Kou attempting to give the flowers to Nene and when that fails he ends up giving them to Mitsuba. We already know that Mitsuba is pretty heavily associated with cherry blossoms and his colour scheme in this AU is even very similar to the colour scheme of the cherry blossoms so maybe they were meant for him all along.
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