ATTENTION ALL GIRLS AND LADIES: if you walk from home, school, office or anywhere and you are alone and you come across a little boy crying holding a piece of paper with an address on it, DO NOT TAKE HIM THERE! take him straight to the police station for this is the new 'gang' way of rape. The incident is getting worse. Warn your families. Reblog this so this message can get accross to everyone.
I'm kinda obsessed with the implication that Kokichi originally planned to use Shuichi in his plan though—because it makes sense, doesn't it? you want the only other competent guy who's been solving all the murder cases on your side to help with your plan. who the fuck else could help execute your plan?
enter Kaito Momota, Luminary of the Stars, with a bleeding heart worn on his galaxy-patterned sleeve, who's going to die no matter what happens next.
given that Kaito's life is on a clock, he's the second best person for Kokichi to use; if Kokichi's plan goes wrong and Kaito dies, well... no big loss. Kaito was going to die anyway. and in this state, he's generally weak enough for Kokichi to manipulate. additionally, he's massively empathetic; Kokichi can threaten the rest of their classmates, and Kaito will do everything in his power to make sure those threats don't become reality, even if it means doing Kokichi's bidding.
this, of course, leaves Shuichi Saihara, Ultimate Detective, as the only possible way Kokichi's plan fails.
Kokichi was relying on Shuichi's consistency. Shuichi psychoanalyzed their classmates time and time again before; surely he'd be able to figure Kokichi out, and thus Kokichi's plan, and thus Kokichi's goal; to fool the true mastermind and end the killing game. Kokichi trusted that Shuichi would—otherwise, I do quite believe that he literally would've just kidnapped Shuichi anyway, even after he didn't agree to work with Kokichi back in the virtual world.
thus, you could argue that Kokichi overestimated Shuichi's analytic abilities and underestimated just how good of a liar he himself is.
Kokichi spent the entire killing game painting himself as a manic liar and the literal mastermind, and he pulled all the stops to do so. with the occasional cryptic hint here or the genuine bit of empathy and care there, muddled alongside his act, Kokichi hoped that Shuichi might be willing to look into the many layered masks of Kokichi Ouma. he hoped that, despite it all, Shuichi had it in him to believe in Kokichi like Kaito believed in everyone and everything else; to understand that Kokichi was more than the villain he put so much effort into painting himself as.
or, wataru's second solo from the fine trip album lyric analysis as seen through a wataei lens (honestly though this song is so incredibly specific to his and Eichi's story 😭)
Thank you to lucidstars on youtube, whose translation I based this off. Let's begin!
Verse 1:
A wandering clown crosses the sea of stars
while taking light steps, as if kicking beads
'Sea of stars' makes me think of outer space, how Wataru views himself as an alien or monster, something otherworldly.
A few other things come to mind: stars are very Eichi symbolism, like in his first solo Shining Star; and Jingle Bells, when the Angel flies through the sky with Eichi. The beads are immediately reminiscent of Eichi's solo Crystal Pleasure. (There's actually an insane number of parallels between the two solos as we'll see.)
The applause is for you, my whole soul that goes into a whirlpool of emotion
And to be able to lock eyes with you in the garden of joy would be such a wonderful thing (showtime)
This is a stretch but walk with me. The first line is daydream. "A resounding applause (kassai ga hibiki wataru)" is the first line. The applause was for Eichi alone, while Wataru was enmeshed by all his conflicting feelings at the time.
In Wataru's words to Eichi in Blackbird, which directly follows daydream: "It’s as though something I cannot quite comprehend is stirring inside me", "as though he were a child who had just tripped for the very first time in his life."
I tried looking up garden of joy (歓喜の園 kanki no sono) to see if it was a reference but couldn't find anything. But I did think of the garden of Eden and the idea of exfine being holy angels, divination...idk.
Chorus:
Let’s sew countless sparkles into this dream
Sing as the wings of love flap
Tonight at the end of the world, the clown you invited
Will deliver a surprising song you’ve never heard before
This part screams Blackbird, where Eichi and Wataru write the next part of their story. In fact this is pretty much blatantly repeated by Eichi in Crystal Pleasure: "I want to connect all the sparkling moments" and "let me give you happy dreams". (I really have to do a separate analysis for Crystal).
Wings of love --> can be Wataru's bird imagery, callback to Jingle Bells' Angel, or the continued bird imagery in Blackbird
"At the end of the world"- In Neo Sanctuary, fine sings "And that is the Neo Sanctuary, the blooming new world I offer this victory to". In the same sense, they were at the end of the old world, about to embark on a new one, with the clown that Eichi invited... to fine :) [Oh this is ALSO mentioned in Crystal Pleasure's second chorus: "I’ll invite you into the brilliance, towards the tomorrow that you wish for"] This is one of the most blatant Wataei parts of the two solos.
Verse 2:
Tied together with mischief, the melody of the constellations echo
so close to each other every time you resonate your wish
I want to speak to those eyes of yours, on this stage coloured by enthusiasm
The star imagery continues... Suspiciously in alignment with Crystal Pleasure. I will note that the same word for wish 望む is used here as in Crystal's second chorus. Both Wandering and Crystal sing about eyes countless times, I'll let you play with that yourselves.
But maybe I’m the only one who wants that
When the curtain rises, the boundaries fade away
I can almost feel your breath, you beautiful person
This part. Ough. Again, walk with me, this is like a reverse, or parallel of daydream. "Maybe I'm the only one who wants that"--when Wataru, unlike the other Eccentrics, was always fascinated by Eichi and even went to join fine, to the befuddlement of the rest.
In daydream, Wataru catches Eichi as the curtain falls, telling him that the audience is still watching, and commenting that it's unsightly (jury's out on whether he was talking about Eichi or himself, but anyway). Meanwhile, Eichi thinks Wataru "beautiful". They are so close that Eichi coughs up blood on Wataru's face.
These last lines of the second verse aren't daydream, but they're the present. Instead of a falling curtain, it's a rising curtain. And they're close as ever, so close he can feel his breath. And in this implied performance, they're standing on the same stage. In Wataru's words in Diner Live: "I wanted to stand on the same stage as you, Tenshouin Eichi [...] Unlike the confrontation of the past, a “what-if” that shows a past where we are standing shoulder-to-shoulder, or maybe even in the present. That’s the kind of dream I wanted to see."
Yeah. I'm. I'm normal
The second chorus ends with two different lines:
Tonight at the end of the world, the clown you're dancing with
Will deliver an incredible dream just as you wish for
At this point
they're just not hiding anything are they.
Now that I'm done destroying myself here, I have to do Crystal Pleasure god i have to do crystal pleasure. I hope u enjoyed this post! Thank you for listening to me bend my back over for them. Feel free to add on if you noticed anything else.
I'd like to add something regarding the line "Garden of Joy" as I think I might have an idea on what it references about.
One of the first clue is that base on his wiki page, Eichi apparently likes to drink tea among flowers.
Not only that but before Eichi used to be a member and was club president of the Tea Club and its said that the club use to frequently meet up at the school's garden terrace
In Black Tea it was even mentioned how the Tea Club was Eichi's solace, salvation and source of happiness. I think this points towards the line "Garden of Joy" and it makes me further believe that the line is a direct reference to Eichi.
I really like fictional couples that actually enjoy spending time with each other. It seems like such a simple, mundane thing. But, often, I see fictional couples who are completely enamored and dramatic and willing to die for each other, which is fine. But like… do they enjoy hanging out? Do they have private jokes and would they be friends even if they weren’t in love? It feels like such a basic thing, but it’s something that I actually don’t see that often. And it feels so refreshing and honest compared to these over-dramatic romeo and juliet-esque romances. Just two people who become good friends and because they enjoy each other’s presence so much it grows into a strong attraction. It feels more real and tangible than two attractive people meeting and “falling in love at first sight” - like, of course, you fell in love at first sight! You’re both supermodels! Sorry, can’t relate.
ATTENTION ALL GIRLS AND LADIES: if you walk from home, school, office or anywhere and you are alone and you come across a little boy crying holding a piece of paper with an address on it, DO NOT TAKE HIM THERE! take him straight to the police station for this is the new 'gang' way of rape. The incident is getting worse. Warn your families. Reblog this so this message can get accross to everyone.
