💬 - Any fan theories you've had or currently have?
🎤 - Any hot takes?
Hello anon! Thank you for sending in an ask. I'm going to answer 🔪🎤 first as they will be shorter answers and then dive into the fan theory part that will have a read-more break because it'll be pretty long (with screenshots).
There are a few character in ITGR that I don't like, but one of my least favorites, if not my least favorite, is Chase. Who, I do notice, is quite the fan favorite, possibly second to Brook. SORRY for the slander if you like Chase by the way uhmm I definitely understand the appeal of his character, in season one, he's a self-righteous idealistic man who takes it in his own hands to do anything he can to improve the state of the world regardless of whether people see it as morally correct. Hell, I like Light Yagami (not Shiro mentioning something from another fandom on his ITGR blog? Breaking his own rules, eh?) even, so of course I can see the appeal of a character like this, but after season three starts, that whole image collapses. He loses his plot involvement and direction as a character, in the end no longer caring enough about the world to take the steps he did before to improve it. While this is a fair development of a character like him, in ITGR, it just renders him near useless. After the arc where they attempt to uncover Scarlet's backstory, he turns into an accessory purely as a motive (taking care of him) for Scarlet, and to an extent holding her back. Going from whip-smart detective with unrealistic ideals to A Guy. A nerd who kinda bums around as the ITGR discord would describe it. It's all a realistic turn of events but nonetheless that doesn't make him a likeable character to me. Not saying that a good character has to necessarily be plot relevant and etc. at all it's just my personal preference that they are.
Sorry. Going to yap a bit more about Chase regarding the hot take I'll be talking about. I personally do NOT think Chase should return and that Zero is Chase, and I don't think he should be from a storytelling perspective. Many have talked about how much they'd like Chase's return and have been hoping for Zero to be Chase, not taking into account how Chase, if he returns, because there is just no way for him to be plot relevant at all as of season four's current plot. All he'd do is be an accessory to Scarlet and hold the plot back. It also feels disrespectful for him to be brought back after that very heartfelt send-off in season three, just taking away all its merit and significance. If Zero turns out to be Chase—I think that takes away the whole merit of his character. His largest appeal to, at least me, is the unsteadiness of his sense of identity, careening between the feelings of a dead man and his own role as an archreaper. I don't know about you, but I think it'd feel very invasive to feel the emotions of someone else that you wouldn't have otherwise, and then being forced to put those emotions (and memories) into conflict with the current identity you have (for Zero, as the most powerful archreaper, directly in opposition to Scarlet). Grave has set up such potential with Zero already, and a reveal that he was actually Chase all this time would be so disappointing IMO.
Fan theory time. Discussing archreaper Three and Five's identities... this is a theory shared by the ITGR discord as I'm actually not great at making theories aha.
FIVE'S IDENTITY
I haven't seen a lot of theories about Five's identity actually. Out of what I know, I can infer that it'd probably be pretty likely in some readers minds that Five could be Ana, considering that she was sentenced to the fifth circle (Episode 11).
However, I propose a different idea: that Five is not Ana, but Natasha (Brook's sister).
Natasha has a very similar sin as Ana, who was sentenced to the fifth circle for killing her own son. If qualifications for the fifth circle is killing a family member, whether indirectly or directly, then Natasha fits the bill (with killing Brook by ordering a subordinate to do so).
In the first archreaper appearance, Episode 155, Five's first words are "...Cease your squabbling, fools," and, "It's unsightly. We should behave with the same status as our stations imply." While we never heard Natasha directly talk to Brook within his backstory, this sounds quite, pretentious? Comes off high and lofty, as if coming from a "woman of high nobility," as Jordan notes. This falls in line with Natasha, the head of her clan and company, who can be assumed to be, if not nobility, then at least rich enough to seem so.
Five's sihlouette, at higher brightness, has hair very similar to Natasha in Brook's backstory.
Comparing that, to:
It's not a perfect match, though it isn't out of the realm for Natasha's hairstyle to have been altered a bit, as Everette definitely underwent a more pretty drastic hairstyle change as well. Now, if we look closer at that image of Five at a higher brightness, if you can, look closely at her pupils: the shape of a crosshair.
Natasha, in Brook's backstory, has been seen with guns:
It would make sense for the archreaper with crosshair pupils to have used firearms in their life, and use them in the afterlife as their main weapon.
Now, examining the silhouettes revealed on Episode 194, here is Five's:
[Image ID: Everette as a snail explaining Five's temperament with her silhouette; a woman with large horns and hair in a braid that falls down to her knees. She appears to be wearing a dress. Everette says: "Five is really scary! She's got a sharp temper! She also thinks she's better than everyone else, which... I dunno, she is pretty smart, but if I talked to her for too long, I think I'd cry...!" The background is bright pink.]
Five's hair has changed, from Episode 155, it being down, to 194, it being braided. That's fine, Vincent's eye color changed from brown to light orange to match his little sister better, Grave has done this before. Also, the background, bright pink, is probably her demon, which is a very similar color to Brook's accent color, yeah?
As for the personality description, we don't know that much about Natasha's temperament, but it fits well for a businesswoman who ran a company. Whip smart and with a sharp temper. Probably makes subordinates cry, or at least fearful.
I think... I've solidified my case of Five's identity pretty well with what we have released at the time of writing this. It also makes sense plot-wise as a way to reinvolve Brook into season four's plot, by exploring parts of his past once again. Their (likely) confrontation will be very interesting to see in the future.
THREE'S IDENTITY
I think Three's identity has been most popularly theorized to be Natasha, but with all that I've said to convince you of Natasha being Five, then who do I think Three is?
I've already disproved Natasha as Three pretty clearly, as her sentence would likely be greater than the third circle for murder (Liam was sentenced to fourth for murdering someone random, while Ana was sentenced to fifth for murdering her own family).
This will be mostly based off my own conclusions and inferences rather than concrete text evidence, so take it with a grain of salt if you will, I believe Three's identity to be Ashe's daughter.
It would make sense plot-wise, if Natasha is a way to bring back Brook and make him plot relevant, than if Three is Ashe's daughter, it could be a big arc of character development for him. At the moment, Ashe's role in season's four plot is kind of... boring? He's kind of just there to fight, not super useful, but if he encounters someone in his past he'd be made plot relevant. Both a backstory reveal and a way to explore Ashe's character.
The only concrete evidence we have of Three being Ashe's daughter is from Everette's description of her in Episode 194.
[Image ID: Everette as a snail explaining Three's temperament. Three's silhouette is displayed as a woman with hair let down reaching her lower back and wearing some sort of dress, probably a kimono. Everette says: "Three is a very put-together lady, and she doesn't speak much. Despite that, I can tell she isn't from the modern day!" The background is a red with a slight pink tint.]
The personality doesn't give much, Ashe's daughter could be anyone with any kind of temperament. However, Everette notes that she notably isn't from the modern day, and she is the only archreaper to which Everette says this. In addition, her silhouette seems to be fitting for someone wearing a kimono, which would make sense considering the time period the Ashe was from in Japan.
I don't have much more to say about Three, but, Jesus christ, this was a huge fucking post. Sorry for spilling this huge yap onto you, anon, and if you did read it all the way, thank you for sending in the ask! The amount of times I've said plot in this post is ridiculous
