Like you mentioned it seems the relation with own demon is really complex.. we can see it in kagero-daiji and ikki-vice situation.. makes me wonder is there anything like that with sakura-lovekov?-Hiromi anon
Ahhhhhh, yesssssir.
See, I have a theory about this. I said a fews ASKs ago that I was gonna copy and paste the essay so might as well just go ahead and do that here LOL.
In light of the insanity of episode 31--I truly think that each of the siblings have like a 2 part arc they each need to fulfill.
(Idk maybe more than that 🤷♀️).
Ikki's first arc I'd say is split into two parts:
Arc 1: Trust & Worth.
He had to learn to (1) trust his siblings to be able to handle themselves
and (2) To trust himself (Vice lol). Which came to completion in episode 13.
The worth part he's still working on
but he IS slowly coming around to the fact that y'know there are parts of himself that he DOES love.
His 2nd arc is also split into two parts
(1) Remembering the trauma and acknowledging it -- aka ep 25 to 31 --- and
(2) learning how to cope with said trauma, and learning healthy coping mechanisms instead of choosing self-harming behaviors/coping mechanisms.
Of course there's still plenty of sh*t Ikki hasn't acknowledged or processed.
And that's because he still needs to learn how to cope in a healthy way instead of immediately trying to run away from the problem (mentally) and y'know in reality too I guess.
Because he'll never grow as a person until he actually learns a new way to cope so that he can process everything, instead of repeating the same cycle of toxic behaviors to the point of idk, death? Mental death? Physical death?
Hmmm.
Well there will certainly be a death of some kind with the way the show is going full power nonstop, bullet train 800 mph right ouTTA the gate.
In fact, Ikki's current storyline kinda reminds me of the Kdrama "It's Okay Not to be Okay" -- more specifically, Ko Moonyoung's kid's book:
"The Boy Who Ate Nightmares."
NGL y'all this book fits TOO damn well. It's almost uncanny LMAO. "Why can't I become happy?" just HITS.
……..Since Ikki keeps falling back into these same patterns -- down to the foundation of who he is as a person, I believe he's destined (on this current path) to end up becoming exactly like his father.
(Unfortunately.)
Because when you get down to it, the two of them cope the EXACT same way.
(The father's albeit a LOT more unhealthy, but that's because while Ikki had something positive to fall back on, all the dad had was like....scientists horny for abusing human rights, and actual isolation in the DANKEST fking place on earth. Lmao.)
Of course Ikki's big thing is that
he needs to recognize that he copes in this wildly unhealthy manner because its how he coped with the trauma from his childhood.
Its the only way he currently knows how to cope, he doesn't really know anything else, so he keeps going straight back to this mechanism, even though it at this point it could severely ruin everything in his life that he's come to live for.
....
For Daiji, I think his arc is very similar
(but with obvious differences, as Ikki and Daiji are like direct foils with each other.)
Like (1) he had to learn how to trust himself, (aka confidence) --- and to do this he had to learn how to fight against his own self-hatred.
But this also meant that he had to revisit HIS foundational coping mechanism
(aka how Kagerou works as a "mirage" so that Daiji can keep living, by changing the story to being something caused by OTHERs instead of caused by HIMSELF -- so that he wouldn't idk do something crazy with all that hate.)
I do still think he's working on his confidence and how to fill out the shoes of trusting himself, but he has (unlike Ikki) successfully faced his demons, his unhealthy coping mechanisms, and idk,,, killed them?
Basically he learned that he didn't need to cope like this anymore because he CAN and WILL have to face his own problems and he finally accepted that. (Ep 26)
BUT.
The thing he still hasn't gotten to yet on his narrative arc, would be the changing of his view point. While he one-shotted his coping mechanism and learned how to be more cruel and decisive, he STILL hasn't really changed his way of thinking. He largely follows and operates with this binary of "Black and white" y'know?
"Good versus evil, justice versus injustice" etc etc etc.
Like he might've changed his shoes -- but he still walks the same?
Which is why Kagerou is currently MIA -- not because he's gone for good
(lmao we WISH we could just fight our demons to the death and be demon-free LOL.But, real life isn't like that sooooo)
BUT
because Daiji hasn't yet learned to accept the parts of himself that are bad -- y'know the more negative emotions, the violent thoughts, aggression, (etc. etc. etc.) Because he still views and sees these things are "evil" and puts them in a box buried deep inside him, and since he's punched out his MAIN coping mechanism of needing to protect himself from reality……
what he needs to do now is accept his OWN reality.
Accept that things are not a binary, they are nOT black and white,. and that it is oKAY to be flawed, and that it’s essential to acknowledge that it doesn't make you inherently evil for having a negative emotion.
This change of viewpoint and final acceptance of himself I believe is his main narrative arc.
And that until he learns how to accept himself and this viewpoint, he'll be forever playing side-character because he hasn't yet truly allowed himself to BE a main character. To BE someone flawed. And this is something he is going to have to learn if he wants to actually complete his goals.
Like at this point, he's accepted the wrongs of the past. and that things need to change.
But he still lacks the foresight of things being more complicated than just 'good and bad' to actually SEE how to successfully implement any kind of change.
Etc. etc. :DD
***
So, going back to Sakura I just fullll out BELIEVE that her entire journey is about growing—
(yes -- as a person like everyone else in this show/the igarashi family L O L) but more specifically
growing up
Like the 3 siblings are each trapped by different things. Ikki's trapped by his past so he can't see how to change his present and/or his future until he deals with said past. If he never deals will it, then he's doomed for failure.
***
Daiji's big problem and conflict deals with the present. He's too stuck in the present to fully process his past, and he can't move towards the future unless he recognizes who he IS in this direct moment, and comes to accept it.
(Which he hasn't lol)
And then of course, back to Sakura -- her problem is the future.
She's too stuck on the future, on growing -- maturing -- trying to learn to be more responsible, more..."adult".... trying to figure things out on her own, that she ALSO neglects the past AND the present.
Hence why she just accepts everything that she hears and has yet to think more critically about what is true and what is false and whatever else falls in-between.
All of the Igarashi siblings
(but DEF Sakura and Daiji, as Ikki has had to deal with this directly a lot more, but now his problem is with how he copes with it)
have a problem of viewpoint.
Specifically (from what I can tell) the binary of good and evil, black versus white, yada yada yada.
This is originally WHY Sakura wants to figure things out on her own/become more 'WOKE'. It's because narratively she's inbetween this phase of childhood and adulthood.
Like the first 10 episodes of the series are Sakura seeing just how different "real life" is to the only life she's known prior. AKA that Ikki isn't superman. That Daiji isn't inherently just a "sweet, kind, older brother" and also that society is jacked to hell.
Y'know this is why "LIBERAL UP" is Sakura's henshin phrase, and also why she uses the "Libero" driver.
Because she needs to transition from the past to the modern present.
HOWEVER.
Sakura's too far ahead of herself. She still has the tendency to naively believe what is presented to her. (AKA 'this mUST be the truth. Because he said so. LOL!!!) This is probably also why she joins WEEKEND because y'know she's "At the end of the week" Yet she in the transition period right before the start of the next (week).
Hmmmmm. Sakura' biggest conflict
(Y'know other than with this viewpoint)
Is also the concept of honesty and dishonesty. Which is why her animal motif is a SNAKE, because (and yo this could be symbolic to her joining weekend, idk I guess)
she has to choose between:
"Accepting the honesty of what she already had, or she has to choose and accept the dishonesty of the SNAKE"
-- leading to her "Fall".
(If we're going by religious connotation. But seeing as the show has a literall fking CULT I feel like this connection isn't too far fetched LOL.)
Which YEESH. But its true. She needs to understand that you can't just confront things head on and expect to always be right, or to win. There's more to reality than just beating the opponent in physical combat.
Wayyyy quicker than Ikki and Daiji, Sakura NAILED the first part of her arc (accepting her own vulnerabilities, accepting her own demon)
(Ep 11-12 lol).
Ikki first accepts his demon in episode 13 (when he has to trust Vice), and again in episode 18 (accepting that him and Vice are one); Daiji never accepted his demon (Ep 26)
Which is also why Ikki and Sakura are more proactive in the narrative versus Daiji who has A LOT of self-introspection that he's got to do.
