#aono ryuhei

[vixscribs]

[jayeelishere]

overlap

[seasaltmemories]

The Question of Dark Aono's Role

I don't want to make any definitive statements towards Dark Aono's role in the story on either a literal or metaphorical level. It feels like there is still a lot Shiina is holding back about him; however, I feel like for all the terrible horrors he could represent, at this it is pretty clear Dark Aono is not just a simple abuse allegory

Like I get why it might appear that way early in the story, we don't actually know Aono that well, and neither does Yuri, and stories of men turning "into completely different ppl" once locked into a relationship do exist, what Aono does with his limited agency speaks in direct opposition to that. When he feels he crossed a line, he isolates himself from Yuri and tries to stay away from her. In the cannibalism dream sequence he begs Yuri to run away from him even when she is determined to feed herself. Much of his greatest conflict is about being stuck in this monstrous role and trying to self-sabotage himself.

And like perhaps this could be a seen as a messy representation of the honeymoon phase of abuse, where apologies are made and the abuser is extra affectionate to make up for it, but I lean away from that bc we have much better representations of that in the familial stages. Midori and Hitomi both tend to follow up the worst of their wrong-doings with explicit apologies and excess affection, sometimes immediately after the incident. The Aono to Dark Aono cycling doesn't hit nearly the same beats, even when taking into account the supernatural elements.

While I don't want to lock myself into one interpretation before the story is finished, I always come back to the stairwell incident. Where Dark Aono is shocked in Aono when Yuri informs him he sounds like Midori for saying exactly what his Mother used to tell him. I think of how when he regains control, it is usually followed by shame and self-loathing, sometimes simply saying that his behavior was "weird' or outright calling himself a conman.

It is such a tricky situation bc to me Dark Aono has distinctive quirks and differences from our Aono in attitude/speech/everything, even when both characters try and manipulate others, they do it in very different ways. Yet for as drastic as the switch can be, he is never so clearly an alternate personality or entity taking over. Aono has stated outright that the further in the story he goes, the more aware he grows during this shifts, and many take place specifically due to Aono's emotional state rather than any outside taboo breaking. Dark Aono is both something alien, something intrusive, yet also a painfully familiar thing that clearly originates in himself

In the end I am reminded much more of how the aftereffects of abuse haunt even relationships formed years after escaping the situation. Aono was taught love is choosing one ultimate idol and doesn't realize how fucked up that is until he finds himself parroting the same words back to Yuri. Aono reverts to a child-like state and tries to prove both to others and to himself he is worthy of love when he realized he fucked up in some way. He excuses all his self-destructive self isolating coping mechanisms as necessary even while calling out those same traits in others

But as man-painy and gross the premise of "guy keeps hurting his gf even though he doesn;t want to bc mommy issues and that makes him sad" could be, what makes Shiina's writing compelling is she makes it clear that the one suffering the most here in the present is Yuri. Having sympathy for Aono doesn't make her situation any less worse, and from where volume 10 ends off, there are things Aono needs to answer for that can't be explained away by spooky occult shenanigans. I feel like Aono's ultimate role as either ally or antagonist will be determined by his choices in the end, no matter how many or few he has. There haven't been any easy answers in the story and so I don't except to suddenly discover them this late in the game. But regardless of how it plays out I can't help but already praise her for putting such an interesting and unpredictable spin on "dark alter egos" in a genre that can be overstuffed with them.

[iitspiink]

Lyrics from The Hardest of Hearts by Florence + The Machine

Shoutout to @seasaltmemories for altering my brain chemistry with their amazing aono kun MMV. I will be thinking about it for the rest of my life. Full version as one image & link to the MMV itself under cut :3

[cafeleningrad]

The abuse of the Aono brothers is morbidly fascinating. All of it stems from their mother being a unfathomably immature person. She has high demands towards everyone around her, yet is incapable to provide anything herself.

Ryuhei receives affection not because him being a calm, attentive child makes him more easy to love. In fact he was molded to be alert to his mother's emotional distress. Reacting in worry, and taking care of her first got him praise and her affection. Only... the compliment of him being like his father was a double edged sword... as in most recounting about his father was about what he provided to his wife. Therein lay her adoration for him. (Which bordered on parental incest comparing the son to his father in both providing the same services to the mother's needs.) In that sense, her affection is conditional to the comfort and care someone brings to Mrs. Aono first.

Only problem is, her boys still were children. They need to be taken care of first as they're deeply vulnerable. Whereas I see Teppei's behavior as rather normal and typical behavior of a kid his age, expressing comfort physically, having strong reactions to distressing feelings like anger or fear, disliking to get scolded testing his limits with his parent, playing silly games, it is so telling to me that his mother deeply despises him for that behavior. Because Teppei's behavior is typical for his age, all that he does is what she does too. Only... it's a developmental stage for Teppei. For Mrs. Aono it's childish behavior which is not appropriate to a grown woman who has the responsibility of raising two kids. She puts her feelings first, is more scared of getting (eventually) reprimanded by her family in law for her messy life situation, finds fighting back at pushy clients to hard, is easily scared by even small challenges, is rather passive, rarely if never proactive. Even though she screams at Teppei for hating weaklings, she herself never was a strong person. Her dislike of Teppei's childlike behavior is projection of her own childishness. As well as her inability and unwillingness to overcome her severe limits. In so it's fascinating how she takes Teppei's behavior as indicator of a deeply malcious and mal-adjusted personality - of course without an ounce of self-reflection. And yet, despite being the despised child who follows his child-typical instincts more than Ryuhei, Teppei finds the freedom to actually retort at his mother what burdens both of them.

Just the juxtaposition of both boys who're more alert and perceptive than their mother against her mother who's a grown adult but absolutely not capable of adulting.

With a grown body and status as mother she also wields a scaring power over her boys. She's like a tyrannical child in how she exerts her power. She wants to receive comfort first, everyone should obey her when she demands it, and hates getting asked to make an effort first. Her strong emotional reactions to distress are absolutely disproportionate. An obvious sign is her physical abuse of Teppei anytime he plays around like the energetic kid he is, or tries to receive physical contact because she's still his mom. He becomes overwhelming for her? She needs to beat him back proportional to her flaring up anger. But with Ruyhei, she reacts more perfidious. Still childish but with him she exerts emotional control. Ruyhei asks her to be nicer to Teppei whom she depises? She really doesn't like Teppei but Ryuhei asked her to do something she doesn't want to. So she makes Ruyhei pay by playacting favourites.

In that psychological power she holds over him, Ryuhei caves into her demands in order to not loose her affection. In so he learns the he needs to be useful and dependent on. It's the only way he can receive affection. So he follows a script to receive love. So in the logic of a child only experiencing love as conditional, he follows his mother's logic who of the two boys "earn" love or are "rightfully" denied love based on what they provide for the parent.

Tangent: In that sense, Ryuhei can only follow a script of "earning love". Ironically, for personalities who're not capable to do much on their own, they' actually have a script for others. It's to have their desires fulfilled, hard work being made for them, receiving encouragement. it sounds rather harsh because both Mrs. Aono, and Yuri lived through traumatic experiences that drained their energy or imagination to act assertively. And Yuri does begin to build herself up with Ryuhei's help, learning for her music classes, getting over her timidness in order to talk to new people beyond short social scripts. Even though both Yuri and Ryuhei are both deeply traumatized people, they're equal in their social position as teenagers. Yuri at some points stops relying on Ryuhei as only source of comfort and support, and begins to stand her ground against her mother, and Midori, begins to spread the comfort she needed at vulnerable primary school kids, be encouraging where she never was encouraged towards a Horie. Yuri grows from love, support and encouragement into a more independent person.

Here she, who resembled Mrs. Aono in her passivity, deep insecurity, and inability to be assertive when needed, sources strength and become more autonomous.

In contrast, Mrs. Aono demanded things from Ryuhei in a dangerous role reversal that a child should never have to provide for a parent. Ryuhei was a child and could never supply her with the support and reassurance in the dimension an adult needs them for major life decisions. Befitting the theme of consuming life energy by ghosts, Mrs. Aono couldn't actually really live. She drifted through life passively, miserably even. She could only take from those who were supposed to grow, yet all that energy never made her evolve. She remained static, unable to change. Like a ghost who can never move on.

[zoellumine]

i wish there was a aono ryuhei cai bot bro i need to HUG him so bad you cantunderstdnejfj