THIS THING IS MY BABY!!! PLEASE LOOK AT MY BABY!!!!! UNDER CUT!!!
also u can see it folded up here kind of
tl: the dying man (the song the lyrics of this come from)
the front cover (when you fold it up) is this dartboard. the board shows two darts, kechi's one is a bullseye but joker's is a triple-20. joker will always be better and more liked than akechi no matter how hard they try.
tl: goodbye my wife, i really loved you
okay this was... meant to be leblanc in the bg. i drew it like 2 months ago, there's a better leblanc later on lol. it's akechi and joker chatting, joker behind the counter as he acts as if he serves akechi but really it's because he's always above them. akechi's face is obscured and will continue to be obscured through this as their agency is stripped away.
tl: goodbye my wife, i really loved you, you know
pretty straightforward, jazz jin is a safe space for the two of them to strengthen and spill their hearts, so they'd have important conversations here.
tl: but i'm taking the train to the Good God
this is the eden of maruki's palace, where you fight that dumb tentacle bitch for the first time (really fun fight π₯Ή). i mean the thieves are literally going to 'god' when they're here, so it was an obvious choice. further, in the song this is a metaphor for le moribond going to his death, while in the game akechi basically is marching towards their death (the end of the ideal reality) here.
tl: i'm taking the train before you
the train, as mentioned previously, is akechi's death. he's marching to his death when he goes up these steps, and he's going before joker.
tl: but we take all the trains we can
i take this as kind of grabbing life by the balls regardless of his impending doom. you awaken hereward the day before your last fight, so the only time akechi can really use their true soul is when they fight for their right to die. akechi uses his true soul, his rebellious spirit, to die. i'm normal about this. (but tbh who kept akechi on their team in that boss fight...)
tl: goodbye my wife, i'm going to die
they're in penguin sniper again, this time looking away from each other. tensions are high! the game's nearly over and akechi's placing their life in joker's hands. joker seems aloof but he can't even stand to look at akechi due to the pressure.
tl: it's hard to die in [the winter], you know?
my mooties, remember that poll? yeah that lyric was originally 'au printemps', the spring, but... whatever. it's a lyric about how hard it is to leave when things finally seem a little beautiful to you, shown by akechi stalking observing shusumi in kichijoji. this is my least fav section, somethings just off about it. they aren't even meant to have a face yetπ
tl: but i leave for the flowers with my eyes closed, my wife
akechins gaining facial features! the flowers are meant to be pink forget-me-nots, symbolising bonds transcending time or distance, compassion, etc. this was kind of a filler, but i like it kind ofπ½
tl (rough): because we've had our eyes closed often
this is the better leblanc i was talking about lol... maruki holds the calling card, ren bashfully holds his wrist behind his back, and akechi is truly stripped of all agency and free will, represented by an animal. joker and maruki really are toying with their life during 2/2 and akechi's backed into that dark corner.
tl: i know you'll take care of my soul
and finally, right under the dark corner of crowkechi, is this. i tried making them look as young as possible, vulnerable, and they hold lavenza. she's part of the velvet room after all, the manifestation of their (now hopefully free) heart. crowkechi is beside normalkechi to show their own acceptance of their soul full and whole.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING THIS FAR I LOVE YOU!!!π½
(Hyped up about his birthday announcement so much, i broke my hiatus aijdldjl, finally this guy have his own official birthday and im glad to witness it π₯Ή)
Happy birthday to this apple lover wifeguy ! β¨π
This chara means so incredibly much to me, its so awesome he finally has an official one. ππβΌοΈ
Quick cos test from yesterday to celebrate the goat. Will style the hair a bit more, but thats what cos testing is for aha. Will be cosing him on Sunday for a con !
February 3: the most cruel thing Maruki did to Joker
February 2 is infamous for obvious reasons, but it's only the day Joker finds out the truth about Akechi. February 3 is the day he actually loses him. I wanna talk about the other tragedy of February 3, specifically how it relates to Maruki. TLDR at the end if you don't wanna read.
Based on the journal notes in Maruki's palace, this is Rumi's birthday. It's also the day Maruki loses her.
Maruki is an unreliable narrator. He's not like the other palace rulers where you can take what they say at face value. Remember that he has no shadow, so he consciously omits the specifics of Rumi's story. It's only by finding the video tapes and these hidden journals that the Phantom Thieves piece it together on their own. It makes sense he wouldn't want to discuss it, since it's a painful memory.
The truth is at least 50% of Maruki's motivation is the pain and guilt of what happened to Rumi. That's an exact statistic btw: there are 6 journals total and the first 3 are entirely about Rumi. Even the last journal ends with a dedication to her. When he and Joker have that boxing match on the bridge, he specifically screams HER name.
There's a misconception in the fandom that Maruki is this selfless savior who only cares about helping others. In reality, his motives are complicated. He does care about others (which is why he was researching this topic long before this. Maruki's empathy is a core part of his character, I'm not denying that), but the reason he goes to such LENGTHS is because of personal traumas. Had the 2/3 tragedy not happened, he never would have taken things that far. Love and trauma make people do crazy things.
But it wasn't enough for him to deal with suffering on his own. Just like on the bridge of the final fight, he had to drag Joker down with him. By setting this as the deadline, Maruki guaranteed that this would be a day of heartbreak for Joker too. From now on, Joker has to live with the guilt of letting Akechi die again on February 3, just like Maruki with Rumi.
And Maruki knew what he was doing there. The dialogue below shows that Maruki speaks from personal experience when it comes to losing someone to unjust circumstances. Even Joker calls it out:
What's even more telling is that after discussing Rumi, Maruki immediately segues the convo to Akechi. He knows how traumatizing that experience was for Joker and he exploits the hell out of it, with leading questions and a knowing tone, nudging him to relive those moments.
That's what these black and white flashbacks cutting in between the dialogue are supposed to be. They're not just a refresher for the playerβ Joker himself is recalling those moments in real time.
Maruki spends the entire conversation putting the burden on Joker ("YOU were the guiding light to my research. YOU showed me the way"). Putting the life of a loved one in the hands of a teenager is a morbid and heavy thing. That is the most cruel thing Maruki has ever done because he's fully aware of how this hurts Joker. Because love and trauma make people do crazy things, like doom the entire world just to give their loved one another chance at life. Maruki knew this would work on Joker because it worked on him.
That brings us to Akechi and his role in all this. Maruki never got to ask Rumi what she wanted. She was incapacitated so he made the decision for her. That's not the case with Joker and Akechi, who are actually able to discuss it. Akechi directs the burden onto himself instead ("I will carve MY OWN path", "a betrayal of MY wishes"). Look at the difference in phrasing:
"Joker leads the way" vs "Akechi goes his own way." I don't even know if Akechi realizes he's doing it, but he's countering Maruki's manipulation tactics by taking some of the burden off. This way, Joker isn't chosing to let him die. He's just letting Akechi choose his own fate.
Not that this is much of a consolation though. It's still Akechi's life in the balance. Joker STILL has to lose his deepest wish and live with that decision. And it was Maruki who did that to him.
TLDR: Maruki did everything in his power to guarantee that February 3 will not just be his traumatizing anniversary of heartbreak, but Joker's too. He made use of every manipulation tactic in the book to get Joker to fold, even if it meant inflicting the same pain he went through onto an innocent kid.
