I can't stop thinking about how when Ikki enters the bathhouse of horrors from the last episode, he sees a Shinto torii at the entrance. It is a symbol that represents the departure from the mundane to the sacred, it establishes the bathroom as a sacred place in Ikki's mind. And then inside we have that whole environment of chaos and literal demons hanging out in the most important part of the bathroom. Keeping the bathtubs clean is one of Ikki's greatest devotions, that's the boy's sanctum santorium.
Correct me if I'm wrong but, inside Ikki's head, is the bathhouse (and by extension, his house), the setting that represents his family, a desecrated temple?
It’s been a few weeks now so I might as well go ahead and answer this (lmao)
I was putting it off cause I was waiting for my homie Nacho’s take of it.
(They’ve walked in Ikki’s parentifaction shoes so they know Ikki’s character and psychology better than a fish knows water.)
Not to worry tho bro unless you object, I’ll just tag you in that post whenever I drop it (because Nacho decided my blogging wasn’t enough and started watching Revice from the very beginning LOL!)
And damn bro, a desecrated temple?
That’s some FIRE analysis. I don’t think I’m well-researched enough on the shrines and meanings and whatever but the idea or concept that it’s a departing from mundane to sacred?
Only to then enter some fcked carnival-music filled fun house made out of children’s nightmares 💀 (hoo boi)
One thing I will say here tho (analysis-wise)
Is that similar to the Japanese language being it’s own vague art form for abstract interpretation — where multiple interpretations can be drawn from a single sentence.
Likewise the monsters being in the bath house probably represent a bunch of different things all at once:
- Ikki’s guilt for failing to save the people sacrificed
- how he people pleases at the loss to himself/his own identity ( that weird hypnotic state he was in when the monsters were calling for him)
- How the customers are both weak innocents (who got sacrificed cause he couldn’t save them), as well as monsters consuming the time and attention of the people who own/work in the bath house.
- And these “customers” being monsters can also represent how Ikki sees the sacrifices as people that could have been customers of/at the bath house or/and how the customers very easily could have been sacrificed themselves.
Ikki’s sacred sanctorium are the baths. He’s supposed to take care of them, make sure it’s clean, keep things “afloat” I guess you could say.
So the monsters being in the bath are the perfect representation at how Ikki sees and feels himself a failure. He failed to keep the baths clean/demon free.
I remember one of the anons (was it OOPArts? 🤷♂️ lmao) analyzed / theorized that perhaps the reason why Ikki was hypnotized was because these monsters in the bath represented an enticement where those sacrificed weren’t just dust in the dirt.
“Stay here with us because this dream is better than reality.”
But? I think that kind of enticement is….. very interesting. Because it’s not like he can turn these monsters back into humans.
🧐 If Ikki finds that enticing then that means he’d rather live with demons inside his most sacred space, rather than acknowledge the harsh truths of reality — which?
Damn. A good way to show how easily Ikki represses things (until he can’t anymore).
Anyways, those are my thoughts. <33.
