!! Spoilers for Season 2 Episode 1 of Tokyo Debunker !!
I made a post a little while ago where I touched on the CSC's song hinting at the time loop theory and I saw someone (I have no clue where) mention that the Bray Men's song "Thief" hints even more at the time loop theory so I took the liberty of transcribing the lyrics and running them through google translate
schwarze wellen steigen hoch schatten tanzen / Black waves rise high, shadows dance
flimmernde lichter zucken durch die nacht / Flickering lights twitch through the night
ein kreisen, ein flüstern, ein leeres verlangen / A circling, a whispering, an empty longing
die zeit verschwimmt in endloser macht / Time blurs in endless power
ein herzschlag pocht / A heartbeat pounds
ein dumpfer schrei / A muffled scream
kaleidoskop aus farben bricht entzwei / A kaleidoscope of colors breaks apart
wir gleiten / We glide
wir fallen / We fall
kein boden zu sehen / No ground to be seen
ein flüstern das sagt / A whisper that says
lass dich gehen / "Let yourself go"
verloren im traum die welt verschwommen / Lost in the dream, the world blurred
jeder schritt im kreis wohin gekommen / Every step in a circle, where have we come from?
die sterne singen seltsame lieder / The stars sing strange songs
alles dreht sich schneller immer wieder / Everything spins faster and faster
ein letzter hauch ein atemzug vergeht / A last breath, a final sigh
die grenzen verwischen kein weg der steht / The boundaries blur, no path remains
die dunkelheit umarmt mich wie ein freund / The darkness embraces me like a friend
ein letzter tanz im chaos das nie vergeht / A last dance in the chaos that never ends
*Again, this is google translate, so the translation might not be super accurate, so if you know german and there's anything you see that's wrong, let me know! I also seperated the lines by how it sounded in the song, so I apologize in advance if the line breaks feel off
These are very intersting lyrics, not just because several of these lines can seemingly foreshadow there being a time loop at play, but also some other lines possibly allude to the apocalypse we saw at the end of Season 1 as well.
Let's break it down line by line:
Black waves rise high, shadows dance / Flickering lights twitch through the night
Could be referring to the demons/various anomalies we saw wreaking havoc at Darkwick, the lights could be the fire that was engulfing the entire island.
A circling, a whispering, an empty longing / Time blurs in endless power
Here we have our first of two mentions of circles and our sole mention of time. Circle + Time = Time Loop, yeah? Second line could be referring to the time loop not being natural (I mean, obviously, time loops aren't natural, but) and it's instead the result of someone's tampering, be it the result of a stigma or something else we haven't seen yet.
A heartbeat pounds / A muffled scream
I'm not really sure if these lines are referring to anything specific? Could be the Kyklos transformation? Or possibly MC chasing after the ghoul on the balcony in the opening scene and witnessing them jump? This is strengthened by later lines.
A kaleidoscope of colors breaks apart
This line could be referencing the clash and how even months after the event, inter-house relations are extremely strained, the colors referring to the fact that each house is represented by different colors
We glide / We fall / No ground to be seen / A whisper that says / "Let yourself go"
These lines are the reason I suggested the heartbeat/scream lines could be referencing the chosen ghoul's jump. I believe, and this is purely speculative, that the reason the ghouls jump is that they are jumping into the pits of Hell after it was opened by the Rinfone to close it from the other side and stop the apocalypse. This would explain why someone like Zenji, who is a ghost and should not be hurt from things like fire and heights, is jumping off a balcony into the fire below. Because that fire is Hell and he's going to seal it.
I don't think it's a stretch; we know demons exist and that if the Rinfone is opened, "Hell will be visited upon the earth," as said by Cornelius in Episode 20 Chapter 8. The way he says it almost makes it seem more metaphorical in a sense, but taken literally, a gate to Hell will open like in the urban legend the Rinfone originates from (because it is a real urban legend in Japan, just like Kisaragi Station from the Prologue though that legend is originally in Shizuoka rather than Tokyo.) Cornelius also mentions that the Rinfone has opened before, but he doesn't say how the Rinfone was closed, so it is possible that it needs to be sealed from the inside or that we will eventually be led to believe that.
Lost in the dream, the world blurred / Every step in a circle, where have we come from?
We have our second and final mention of circles. If we really are in a time loop, then it seems as though no matter what it always ends with the Rinfone being opened and the world ending. And anyone who remembers previous loops might get them confused with the events of the current timeline, or even see them as dreams. MC's nightmare at the beginning of Episode 23 may have actually been a memory of a previous loop.
The stars sing strange songs
This stars here might mean fate, or destiny, and them singing strange songs might mean that MC's and the ghouls' fates are unusual, which if we're stuck in a time loop and need to save the world, that would certainly constitute as an unusual destiny in my book
A last breath, a final sigh
Possibly the last breath of someone dying (bad ending) vs the final sigh of someone in relief (good ending.)
The boundaries blur, no path remains
I take this to mean that if the gates of Hell have opened and demons have caused so much destruction that there's no difference between Earth and Hell, there won't be anything anyone can do at that point
The darkness embraces me like a friend / A last dance in the chaos that never ends
Sort of a somber end to the song. The first line could be taken to mean that someone has died so many times throughout the time loops that death is now all too familiar and the second could mean that the chaos at the end of the world is also too familiar, that this song and dance (no pun intended) of fighting off the apocalypse has happened too many times to count
Some more thoughts:
What do the Bray Men know about the events of the story as a whole, if anything? Did they write this song because they know or is it just meta? And if they did, did Shion tell them? His cell was close to theirs, he could have told them about the time loop, given he knows about it, and the concert as well.
If anyone has anything to add, any other perspectives I didn't think about, let me know, I'd love to hear your guys' opinions and interpretations of the song!!!!!!
This is written a bit biased towards the timeloop theory, just as a heads-up! ^^
Okay, so I don't know if it's just confirmation bias but the song of the Bray Man (Bremer Stadtmusikanten) lyric wise is throwing me for a loop.
It is an edgy song so all the lyrics make sense and don't seem too out of place. (I would've worded some stuff differently but that's just me not being used to that kind of music.) Still they're talking about 'a last dance in chaos that never ends' and 'circling' (later on 'every step in the circle' as well) right before mentioning whispers.
The thing that made me think it might have something to do with the Season One finale is that they say the time is blurring which connected to the previously mentioned line about circling and never ending chaos sounds a bit like a timeloop. (Especially connected with 'everything spins faster over and over'.) It would make sense since as many people in the Fandom have already pointed out, the timeline makes no sense anymore. The episode doesn't seem to be a normal flashback because it wouldn't line up with Season One (Dionysias Ghouls being back this early; Elias (being suspicious) introducing himself now already but also him cutting Taiga's talk in the last Episode of Season One short and also stopping Mio and MC from talking more).
Another thing about the time blurring lyric is that it's blurring 'in endless power'. Maybe one of the Ghouls or staff have such power? Maybe I'm just guessing too much? Still, there's a lyric near the end of 'no path standing' which could point to desperation associated woth repeating events in hope of getting a better result? It would also show conflict in Darkwick if they're responsible for all of this or maybe it's just the musicians being desperate because they know Darkwick doesn't like them despite them having shown to be quite harmless...
What gives me chills now that I'm relistening it are the lyrics 'a thumping heart, a muffled scream' it reminds me of Kaito's death last episode. I won't reread it for my own peace of mind but there probably were enough other screams and beating hearts there as well that it could tie back to it. What killed me was 'a last waft, a breath goes'. It's the kind of goes where it sounds like it's not coming back. They put Kaito in this episode and are giving us such lyrics. It makes me want to scream!!! (/pos)
Also the last dance in the chaos lyric I mentioned feels like a call back to when Kaito actually worked up the courage to ask MC to dance. Would've been his last dance...
There's lyrics about being lost in a dream? I'm hoping that doesn't mean anything connected to the lines about the world being blurred. Not a fan of dreams in media. Still, something for other theories to strife off as well. ^^
It turned into more of a ramble than I was wanting it to but I also randomly found more bits I wanted to add so that's the best I can do. I hope there's already an english translation of the song for people that don't know german. ^^
Headcanon: Lust demons can better control their fertility than any other demon. They have full control over if someone gets pregnant or not and are immune to things such as AIDS (because they're demons and their immunsystem is simply better). This makes it a conscious choice for lust demons to have a child which rarely happens.
Cheating amongst lust demons often means having children outside the relationship since it's not an accident and will have to be talked about before hand. Demons are possessive and want the best for their children, making them want a present partner to help raise them. (Especially for lust demons raising a child with one (or more) primary other caretaker is very common. Other partners when close may slip in the role of 'uncle/ aunt' or something similar. They help raise the child but are not mayorly present or have to interact with the child if they don't want to.)
Asmo doesn't have any children that are known of, denizens of the Devildome speculate who his primary partner or partners may be if he even has some.
A/N: Another angsty piece I dug up and edited a bit. Just a very short character interaction to sort of explore the situation before MC lands in the Devildom. I might come back and revisit this concept later.
Word Count: 307
"I thought I was clear that you're not supposed to smoke inside the house."
"Mmm, this is outside," Mammon's voice is unusually quiet and dull. He takes another drag on the cigarette that was resting between his fingers. He hears Lucifer close the balcony door behind him, the warmth and light from the house disappearing almost instantly. He's a little surprised to see Lucifer join him, resting his arms on the railings, but Mammon's too tired to show it. Lucifer stares distantly at the garden below, the low light of the Devildom night barely hiding the dark circles under his eyes.
"...he's still mad huh?"
"Yes," Lucifer sighs, brushing a hand through his hair, an uncharacteristic display of messiness from the Avatar of Pride, "I didn't think he'd be so...upset."
"No, you knew. Ya just hoped that he wouldn't say nothin'," Mammon takes another, longer drag, "Sometimes I worry that Diavolo got somethin' against you - holdin' over ya head."
"...he doesn't. Peace between the Realms is a good idea."
"I didn't say it wasn't," Mammon flickers the butt of his cigarette off the side of the balcony, watching it fall into a dead flower pot. He pulls out a pack from his jacket pocket, and grabs another. He pauses for a second before tilting the pack towards Lucifer.
Lucifer barely hesitates before taking one and sighing, "I don't know what to do. Nothing I say will calm him down." He makes a small gesture with his fingers and magically lights the cigarette before taking a drag on it.
"I dunno either," Mammon shrugs. Silence hangs between them for several moments before Mammon breaks the silence, "If Diavolo does go through with this whole...exchange program...just promise me that ya won't be too hard on Belphie."
Lucifer takes a drag on his cigarette, but says nothing.
origamiaround
andulkaphoto
pixelskylines
snowghoul
blakekathryn
