My understanding of Itoshi Sae <3
because I would love this man to the ends of the earth
This Reddit post got me thinking about his character and why I just love him
Analysis:
Itoshi Sae from a very young age was told that he was a prodigy, that he was great, and better than others. I’m sure that boosted his ego, made him feel validated in his skills and inherently himself; like come on he’s a kid. Kids are very vulnerable to validity. Sae very much wanted validation even if he didn’t say it. When Sae went to Spain, reality smacked him in the face so hard. I think in Spain Sae’s belief that he was a good football player was considerably starting to be proven wrong, that Japan had built up this false sense of “ego” in him. He learned that in the real world he isn’t good, that his skills lack, that this world is cutthroat and won’t wait for you to catch up. Which obviously in current time he has the ego the size of a fucking balloon but that’s because I feel he’s earned it. Starting high school is already difficult in of itself, being in a different country by yourself for high school? That’s really really difficult. And knowing how high schoolers suck he definitely faced racism because he was different. Which is why in Night Snow you hear Rin ask if he lost weight and let me just tell you, that said so much about Sae, that underneath that ego he also feels slightly incompetent. The look Sae has when Rin kicks the ball into the goal for the first time Sae gets this look that says, “oh. my. god.” It’s almost like Rin was built to have an ego for a striker but in Spain Sae realized he didn’t. Rin in the manga talks about wanting to destroy or beat someone no matter the cost even if it ends with him losing his life, and that risking it all or that feeling that we now know is a striker ego, was something Sae didn’t have. Sae may have built this really tough skin in order to protect himself but deep down he wants Rin to get better, hence why he’s a little bitch to Rin because he knows that Rin wants to surpass him, he wants Rin to be what Sae is looking for, because in the end they had made a promise even if it shifted slightly it still included them playing football together. He doesn’t want Rin to go through the faux prodigy confidence bullshit that Japan had ingrained in him only for it to break him down and destroy him like it did to Sae. That’s what really sucks about being a “child prodigy” mistakes are considered embarrassing and in Japanese culture you represent your family, hence why your last name goes first instead of your first. I really do think Sae holds the weight of the world and sometimes wants to stop, and rest, but can’t because he believes he’ll fall behind.
