GLUTTOMY: A Collection of Background details, Character Insight, and Potential Hints to the Future of the Series
Part 1 - Background details and an analysis of their meaning!
First off, welcome! This is a series of analysis posts I'm going to make for the new webseries Gluttomy by RapiTus! If you haven't watched it yet, go check it out! It's a short, fun, intriguing 6-ish minute pilot from the new animation project Project PRISIMation (who have 2 other really cool pilots too!)! Otherwise, this is going to be part 1 of my analysis series, and when I've released the other ones I'll edit this version to include a link to them right above the cut
I'll be breaking my analysis series into a few different parts, with the first part focusing on background details in the pilot and finding potential symbolisms and/or motifs, the second one focusing on the cast as a whole and details that could hint at future development, and the third part will focus more on the twins, diving into their characters, hints in the pilot and various animations by RapiTus and how it could impact the future of the series, plus some headcanons and theories about the future of the series.
There could be a part four or five, but for now those are the confirmed parts I'm working on. There will be speculation of course and some headcanons thrown in, but I'll be sure to mark those when they happen! I cannot promise perfect accuracy with all this, but I strive to do my best.
This is just shy over 7k+ words, so I'll keep it all tucked away under the cutoff. Thanks for checking this out!
Other parts: shhhhhh there's no links up yet. they're being worked on though :]
Section Intro: A bit of a note before we really get into the section!
This section is all dedicated to different background details I've spotted from rewatching the pilot a number of times. There's a few scenes in the show where written details cannot be read (blurriness, something in the way, angle, etc) but I did my best to catch all I could. I've collected some details I haven't seen anyone mention yet, and some that people most certainly have, but the aim of this is to be a comprehensive collection of all the background details in the pilot. They're in chronological order as they appear in the pilot and paired with photos!
Before I jump in, there's a few stylization choices I've made with presentation of text I'm pulling from images. First, if there's any point where I can't get something, it'll be in this ->[...]. If there's something I think might be something, but not 100% sure, it'll also be in square brackets like this -> [example?]. Of course I'll mention more thoughts when applicable and add notes when there's something I want to discuss in a future part. If I miss anything, please let me know!
And now, let's officially get started!
Section 1: Random Background Details!
The first official background shot that has hidden some details for us to collect! This is the school's news board, implied later by Glyde to be located outside of the Student Council Office (that is, if the room he's in was the Student Council Office haha).
The white chalk on the blackboard reads as "Wyndham news :" and "... and so [on?]". You can't clearly make out the last word here, but considering the lack of space for another word and the curve of the letter there, I think "on" works!
Below is what else we can clearly see on the board
Clubs:
"Members needed [...] Super Duper Ultra Mega Epic Boardgame Club!"
"Baking Club - a place for elegant tea parties every week! Sign up so you won't miss today tea party"
"Anime club members needed! Join us!"
Other Details:
"Welcome to Wyndham High!"
"Counselor info: Rap & Tus"
"Student president info: Glyde Vermillia"
"Vice student president info: Nathan Sinclaire"
"School hotline: XXX XXX XX"
"New year New lunch menu?! - Sponsored by Vermillia Corp"
Now let's break this down a bit. First off, "Counselor info: Rap & Tus" is a reference to the creators of the series, RapiTus! If I'm getting this information correctly, they're a duo that have been working on and off on building Gluttomy until they got the chance to make the pilot after they graduated!
We also get Glyde's full name here, that being Glyde Vermillia, which means we also know Glista's full name too! We also get the name of the Student Council Vice President, Nathan Sinclaire. Considering a few details presented in the pilot, we know that the purple haired kid yelling at Yến is Nathan. Neat!
We also get a very interesting, very fun detail from the announcement from the school lunch menu, that being that it's sponsored by none other than Vermillia Corp! Now, where have we heard that name before...? I'm going to discuss this further in part 3 of my analysis series where I dive further into the twins as a whole, but this is an important detail for us all to remember for the future.
Now a headcanon of sorts; if I were to assign anyone to any clubs, it'd be the following (based entirely on vibes, as we don't have enough details to know the exact personalities of all the characters yet)
Appel: Undecided yet, I believe he'll check out wherever he's prompted to. Maybe an episode dedicated to him learning about the different clubs?
Glista: I think she could be in the baking club! It would give her a very definitely not suspicious at all way to get her hands on a knife :p but also, considering the anime club invitation also has a pink flower on it, I wonder if it ties it to her in some way?
Glyde: Student Council President, I don't think he'd have time for other ones, or if so they aren't on the board
Yến: I could see her in the anime club! Largely undecided here
Eloise: I could see her in the baking club and/or the anime club
Nathan: Similar to Glyde, I don't think he'd have time for clubs?
Simon: I think he'd be in the 'Super Duper Ultra Mega Epic boardgame club" purely because of the doodle on it (green dragon with flames) being stylistically reminiscent of his drawing of Glista.
Next there's what I jokingly refer to as the "Evil Glista" drawing by Simon. I wanted to add it to our collection of background details for a very specific reason. Not only does it do a good job establishing his view of Glista and gives us a big hint that she's not all that she seems to be, but also for the worm/caterpillar motif. This isn't the first time it pops up, and the worms/caterpillars (they seem to interchange between the two) with devil horns is also an important detail.
I'll mention it more later on, but there's a distinct difference between worms/caterpillars in general and the worms/caterpillars with devil horns (as I'll call them, even if they're just antennae). I do think that it's important to some degree to pay attention to the different depictions.
Also, curiously, whether it's for a stylistic reason or another, there's two devil horned worms/caterpillars here despite only Glista being the target of Simon's anger. I have a theory about this I'll discuss later on in the breakdown when we have more information!
But this is officially the first time we're introduced to the worm/caterpillar motif and tying it to Glista symbolically, neat!
Now here's something I missed the first time I watched the pilot, is very, very interesting! See anything on the blackboard here?
The text on the blackboard reads as following:
"REVISION"
"Remember to submit [your?] assignments on time!"
A drawing of a worm/caterpillar with two horns, and stripe-like segments -> The front end is circled with a line pointing to it saying "poisonous" -> The back end is circled with a line pointing to it saying "rotten"
In pink text it reads "NOT SAFE"
Drawing of two snow capped mountain peaks with the text "Only appear in mountains"
A drawing of a close up of the worm/caterpillar's face with two large swirly eyes with the text "stalking preys" -> Pink text just below this reads "likes apples"
You could throw the details specifically about the worm/caterpillar into the following free-form sentence:
"Poisonous, Rotten, NOT SAFE! Only appear in mountain, stalking preys, likes apples".
The other lines and pink lines are all illegible scribbles, so that's all the text on the blackboard.
Pairing this with our establishing motif of Glista with the devil horned worms/caterpillars from just a few seconds earlier, we can easily determine that the details here are all about Glista. Also, curiously, there's visual similarities with Simon's drawing and the devil horned worms/caterpillars here, that being the two antennae, and two main thick stripes near the front and the end of the worm/caterpillar.
Another detail to remember for the future is the top behind the head is encircled, presumably what the "poisonous" is pointing at, and the end is circled too with "rotten". This is a detail to remember for later!
Yet another detail I find interesting here is the language used, that being the worm/caterpillar being referred to as "poisonous" and "rotten". Poisonous is something that unloads toxins when eaten, while venomous is something that unloads toxins when it bites you (an easy way to remember is poison = you bit/ate it, and venomous = it bit you).
Why I think it's strange is that both poisonous and rotten is words more apt to describe a food that's gone bad, like a rotting, poisonous strawberry for instance moreso than an insect. There are caterpillar (and some worm) species that are indeed poisonous due to what they eat, or venomous due to natural defences. So the wording isn't entirely strange and easily could be due to translation, but I also want to raise another point.
The title of the show, Gluttomy, is a single letter away from Gluttony (is it like that because then the title could be gluttony + my, or my gluttony? That's a mini theory for ya!). Gluttony is the act of consumption, whether it be literal with food, or in more metaphorical ways, any example of over consumption can be used here.
With the show directly making parallels to the act of consumption (especially in other animations by RapiTus, which may or may not be canon, which I'll discuss further in part 3) especially when comparing Appel to apple pie, or baked apples and cinnamon (a pairing you'd expect when eating an apple dessert), it makes me think more of this. While Appel is being referred to something sweet, Glista is being compared to something poisonous and rotten. Traits that, under the guise of something sweet, could be easily masked until someone bites into it, or to complete the metaphor, someone reveals who she is beyond the surface.
Am I overthinking that? Maybe! Do I think it's interesting and fits with the themes the show is beginning to introduce? Yep!
Another another detail here that does actually come back as a motif is the mountains ("only appear in mountain"). I've thought and pondered this line a bit, including how it seems to refer to a single being instead of multiple, and I have a few different interpretations to toss into the ring.
Unless Wyndham Highschool ends up literally taking place on a mountain, I believe the mountain here to be metaphorical and representative of something else.
The mountain can be representative of height and elevation, translated to being in a higher position of power. This has some very loose roots in mountain symbolism (although there it often refers to higher powers in a religious or spiritual sense). I think this could be referring to the power imbalance between Glista and Appel, as we know that Appel is at the school on a scholarship while Glista (and Glyde) have some level of influence over the school with ties to the Student Council and their family corporation sponsoring the school's lunch. In the school system alone they have more power than him (a scholarship can be revoked, while sponsoring a school lunch firmly puts keeping the kids of that corporation in the school). Outside of that it's implied, to some degree, that the twin's family is much more well off than Appel's, and therefore their reach of power would be stronger than his. While this all seems to be all about Glista specifically, that could lead to:
Representative of distance. Again, similar to social status, you could argue that Glista is "distant" from other characters due to hiding who she is deep down. There needs to be that distance for her to be able to stalk without being noticed (or caught in a way that leads to any level of consequence), or distance in her social status being above Appel's. This one I'm less convinced about, but I wanted to mention nonetheless.
It could be used without the mountains themselves symbolizing anything beyond being a motif for moments or characters that are stalking their "prey". In this I mean scenes where there are mountains present are scenes where one character is being the stalking worm/caterpillar, and another is the prey (in this case, Glista as the worm/caterpillar and Appel as the prey). Also, adding that after "stalking preys" directly has "likes apples," we know that Appel won't be getting out of this easily. To add to this, it mentions stalking preys in plural rather than singular, so you could say that the prey it stalks is what it views as a threat, while it inherently likes apples, which it wouldn't see as prey per se but a target of sorts. This last mini theory holds the most weight, and I'll talk a bit more about it later!
If you have any other interpretations for this, please share. Whatever it ends up meaning, we know that mountains and mountain imagery are going to be another important motif in Gluttomy!
Compared to the last image, this one has a lot less to analyze but I wanted to get a screenshot of it anyways. It still does have a worm on it, the pink text scribbled on the board, and pink and blue flowers. There's a pink flower on the Anime Club poster in a previous scene, does this mean anything?
I do want to mention here that there's a distinct difference between how worms/caterpillars are presented in the show. Sometimes they're harmless like the above, squiggles without much other details, while other times they have the stripes/additional body details and the antennae/devil horns.
I do wonder, as another theory, if the level of details in the worm is another reference to "things are uglier/rotting under the surface"?
Here's a juicy one, Glista's locker! There's the harmless worms here and other fun trinkets, she sure was fast to decorate! The worms here are the detail-less ones, maybe representative of how she doesn't view what she's doing as wrong? But otherwise, there's stars (adding to the cutesy vibes she has, and matching the stars we later see in her eyes and hair. Another motif?) and some sticky notes and photos of Appel.
The photos have:
The first appears to be Appel looking like he's sleeping without his glasses on, and if it is indeed the sleeves we're seeing he could be wearing a completely different outfit compared to his school uniform. If that's the case, this is the only time we see him outside of the uniform. Weird that Glista has a photo of that!
The second looks like a front facing picture of Appel in his current school uniform. I'd say that this is likely an official school portrait of sorts for Appel, as we later see this same image on Glyde's laptop screen while he's handling his PE exemption paper.
The third is very blurry and crooked akin to the first one. Likely one taken in a hurry, the low angle implies the camera was hidden out of sight?
There's also some written notes in her locker, I couldn't make out all of it because of how blurry it was, but this is what I gathered:
The top note says "His name is Apple! I [...]". His name is spelt as Apple instead of Appel, and both it and a heart is in red ink. There's an even more blurry smaller text part of the note. The blackboard in the back of the classroom also had apple instead of Appel. Coincidence? Maybe!
The lower note says "Brother [...]". Or I think it does? I think that this note could be similar to one we see in the credits, where there's a note that reads "Big brother will always give me the strawberry on top of the cake". It could be a similar sentiment, of Glyde giving her what she wants.
Also, as a side note, when I do my analysis post on the twins, I want to mention the strange imbalance between them despite being twins. Glyde acts like an older brother, while Glista acts like a younger sister, despite the fact they are twins and it's entirely possible that Glista could be the older of the two. I have a few theories here I'm cooking up that I want to dive into later about this, but I wanted to mention it here as well!
The worms/caterpillars are back, and this time they aren't the cutesy ones in Glista's locker! This one has bright colouration on it that reminds me of Aposematism, where poisonous or venomous creatures will have some bright colours to stand out and warn other animals. Curiously there are many types of caterpillars that do this or take advantage of mimicking this!
I did want to call out that this is the first time we see the worms/caterpillars in insect form rather than in doodles or pictures, and these ones have the same devil horns, body segments and circle-patterns in similar(ish) ways as the blackboard warned us about.
Also, if you look carefully you can see on the side of the lockers someone carved/drew "PINK SUCKS" with a doodle of what is presumably Glista. Possibly Simon did this as he mentioned how "the pink hair isn't an aesthetic, it's a warning" (which also could be referencing Aposematism!) unless there's more characters that are aware of Glista's darker side? Or just don't like the colour pink?
A little less exciting, but this on a locker. Looks to be a banana based character with the poster saying the following:
"MEMBER RECUIT" (with recruit spelt as recruit)
"[...] banana lover community!". The gloss hides the first two words, but it could be "join our," so the full line is "Join our banana lover community!"?
"[...] See you there!" is at the very bottom, I couldn't make out what the bit above that was though
Partly I wanted to mention this because we have a main character called Appel, and this is a banana character. We officially have 2 fruit based characters now haha
Here's Yến's official alternate style preservation form she gave Appel to give to Glyde! I've made two versions of what I believe it to be, the first being taken directly from the page and the second filling in some of the gaps with my guesstimations of what I think it says
"FORM FOR ALLOWING HAIR DYEING & PIERCINGS ON CAMPUS IN SUPPORT OF ALTERNATIVE CULTURE PRESERVATION [...] President of Wyndham Student Council, [...] forgot ur name but you probably alr heard mine since [...] 3rd form I have sent yall. The last two forms [...] to your Vice President's hand ig, and he rejected [...] which is not professional and not ethical srly [...] will reach your hand this time (pls!) [...] empathetic n well-served person, especially [...] Our school has been losin' much of [...] hair and accessories :))) [...] -wing piercings n hair dye [...] -represence on campus, [...] [...] deserved n embraced!"
At the very bottom there's a cut off of pink text that looks like it could be the top part of "president". Here's my version below where I fill in some of the gaps in a way I think makes sense! If I don't know what might be somewhere, I'll still use [...].
"FORM FOR ALLOWING HAIR DYEING & PIERCINGS ON CAMPUS IN SUPPORT OF ALTERNATIVE CULTURE PRESERVATION Dear President of Wyndham Student Council, I've forgot ur name but you probably alr heard mine since this is the 3rd form I have sent yall. The last two forms [were given?] to your Vice President's hand ig. and he rejected [both of them? (maybe?)] which is not professional and not ethical srly. I hope this will reach your hand this time (pls!). [You're] empathetic n well-served person, especially [...]. Our school has been losin' much of [...] hair and accessories :))) [My goal is?] preserving piercings n hair dye [...] -represence on campus, [...] [and it be?] preserved n embraced!" [...] President [...] (maybe "to the Student Council President?)"
As we get through the form it gets harder to make out the specifics, but I do wonder if maybe Glista told Yến that her brother is the Student Council President, and that's why some of it seems to be using flattery to get him on her side? We do know that Yến knows Glista, but it's ambiguous whether they know Glyde (and likely don't, given Yến doesn't know who the Student Council President is).
We can more accurately say however that the ending of the form is her mention how the school is either losing or lacks diversity and freedom in hair dye, piercings, and accessories, and how she wants students to have a greater right for self expression! Curiously it does seem like in the Gluttomy world it's quite natural for people to have not-so-natural hair colours, and minor piercings (such as Glyde or Eloise's earrings) aren't all that cared about. If anything, it's possible her submitting the forms made the Student Council Vice President more aware of her rule breaking?
Or the world just really doesn't like alt style.
Remember what I said about one of the pictures in Glista's locker looking like a school photo? Here's my proof! It appears to either very closely or directly match the photo of Appel in his school uniform in what is presumably his school documents/profile that Glyde is looking at. So my guess is that this could be an official school portrait!
The text on the paper and laptop is illegible as far as I can tell.
Another shot from above with the worms/caterpillars! This time they're not facing Appel but it does have the stripes depicted in the one in the blackboard and Simon's drawing. There's an eye sticker (with an umbrella and rain drop?) looking down at Appel, and on the right the bookmark in the book has a very small eye also looking at Appel. The book reads "COUNCIL [...]". Maybe Council Rules?
Part of me wonders if this could be representative of Glista looking quite obviously, and quite obsessively, for/at Appel while Glyde, who is seemingly more into books, is represented by the much smaller eye? I don't think that's the case, this scene is more to build unease and bring attention to the fact Appel is being watched at all, but it's curious!
Now this is a screenshot I want to discuss further when I get to my Gluttomy Twins dedicated analysis post (so part 3)! For now I want to mention that for as much as Glista is being tied to bugs, rot, and being likened to an infestation of sorts (a worm eating a rotting apple from within, the worms/caterpillars already being in the vents and behind the windows of the school building), Glyde seemingly being tied more closely with plants.
I don't think the symbolism is strong enough yet to say much about how this could impact things, but I do want to mention that he does have Venus Flytraps, which while are a plant are also carnivorous. One of the few plant species, and the most well known, that engage in the act of consumption similarly to people. They do so in a very different way than a worm/caterpillar however. It's curious! Again, when I do my twin focused analysis post I want to talk more about that there.
A small detail, but there's a hot-cold water dispenser in the room! The cold side is represented by blue and a snowflake, but the hot side is red with a smiley face. The cold side also has a sticky note partially covering it. Does this mean anything? Who knows! But it's pretty swanky
Here are the books in the Student Council Office (Glyde's office?). Not all of them are legible, but here's what I could get:
"[...] -UTURE". Likely something future
"[...] -CHOLOGY OF WEALTH". I believe this is The Psychology of Wealth, which is indeed a published book (in fact there's multiple with this name)
"The art of f-". I think the last word is finances? So "The Art of Finances"? But it's pretty hard to read
This is a detail absolutely none of us have missed, but this is the scene where Glyde rejects the alternate style preservation form, while we see both his earring and his brightly coloured hair. Why is he rejecting it when HE is the alternative style....?
This, I believe, is more proof that the range of natural hair colours in the Gluttomy world is much more diverse than our own. Especially considering that unlike other twins in media, Glyde and Glista don't appear to put much effort into looking similar (other than the style of their bangs?), so it's much less likely they'd dye their hair to the same colour. Adding to this, while Glista knows Eloise and Yến (most likely friends), they don't know Glyde, or at least don't know that he's the Student Council President. If they were the sort of twins that wanted people to associate them with each other, surely they'd talk more about each other?
For further proof, there's both background characters and other spoken role characters that have more unique hair colours (especially Appel. Why do you have a leaf on your head). So they're less against hair colours and more against raccoon stripes as a hair style. Unless there's exemptions for certain students, which also could fit Glyde and Glista. Certainly there'd be exemptions for the kids of the company sponsoring the school lunches, right?
So the twins don't dye their hair, so Glyde technically isn't going that far against the school's hair dye policy, but he's on thin ice!
Either way, Glyde you did not have to have a big reveal of your dyed hair and pierced ear here and you did.
Now onto the school bus registration form! I'll talk about this more in my Gluttomy twins analysis post, because this thing is a pretty sneaky, interesting, and mildly unassuming (future) plot device!
It reads as following:
"Wyndham Highschool SCHOOL BUS SERVICE Registration Form Images are for illustrative purposes only. Students who intend to utilize the school's official pick-up and drop-off bus service (which is the person reading this) for the upcoming semester are required to complete the registration form in full. [...] and up-to-date information is essential to ensure proper arrangement of transportation routes and schedules. The service is available to students of all grade levels. Official bus routes and designated pick-up points will be announced upon completion of the registration period. For further inquiries, please contact the Student Council Office (SCO)."
Isn't it strange how this form seems almost made for Appel? And that the updated information for the hypothetical bus routes, which may not be in his official school documents/profile, would need to go to the Student Council Office? And hey, isn't it weird the bus routes weren't already made? Why is the proposed bus pink anyways?
... All this and more I want to cover in more detail later, but it'd make this massive post even more massive, so stay tuned for part 3!
We all know this moment, we all seen it, but what's interesting is that despite him being the Student Council President, Glyde seems to have quite a lot of ability to access people's information. This seems more like an administrative level of access to personal documents compared to what a Student Council President should be able to do, no?
Also, I know in this scene he's looking over at Glista in the doorway, but I do think it's funny to consider that he looks away when he knows he's revealing something he shouldn't know, but doesn't really care about the overstep. Did he realize the overstep and decided this was the moment to bring Glista into the conversation? Who knows, but there's opportunity for different interpretations of characterization here!
The second time we get this shot, and the only real difference is that Appel's glasses aren't reflective here (a sign that he's more present as himself, maybe?) and that the worm/caterpillar is on the side wall in this shot rather than on the glass, and this time we see the worm/caterpillar's front horns.
It makes me wonder if the orientation and presentation of the insect version of the worm/caterpillar is reflective of Glista searching for Appel? Before we know she was stalking him, but she didn't have him in eyesight, while in this scene the door is ajar and we know she has her eyes on him.
Similarly, in the hallway where the worm/caterpillar had the bright rings of colour, we saw the antennae of it and we know she had him in sight. Maybe the amount of patterns on it indicates her current emotions? Maybe she was jealous or upset that he was already hanging out/talking with other people, maybe she had originally planned to "accidentally" bump into him before this point? She would have clearly seen where Appel headed after leaving his classroom, so it was easy for her to track him down here.
I can't say too much here since we don't have much solid characterization for Glista yet, but again, curious!
Less of a background detail and moreso something I think is pretty interesting. We already know that Wyndham Highschool is a private school, likely one for more well off students considering the twin's family business. I've mentioned it before, but here's where we learn that Appel is a scholarship student, meaning he had to be officially invited to attend this school rather than ending up there the traditional way.
Considering it's a private school, I'd imagine that the tuition to go to this private school is decently high, also adding to why Appel was so amazed at the school when he first got there. That does mean, as I implied earlier, that it's quite likely his performance at school will impact whether he can keep that scholarship? I also want to mention, which I'll dive into more in part 2 and/or part 3, that if Yến was so surprised to see a new face, it implies the school likely doesn't take many scholarship students?
Makes you wonder why Appel out of all people got the scholarship, doesn't it...?
While we originally got a connection between Glista and the mountains from the blackboard, look at this screenshot right here! During all the other moments so far between Appel and Glyde there hasn't been any mountain symbolism, and yet here, only when Glyde is introducing Appel to Glista, the mountains here here! Are the mountains here representing Glyde as the stalking worm/caterpillar? Or representative of Glista, who is finally there and finally going to meet the apple of her eye?
Another thing I want to mention is that while it appears to be mountains, there's also the sun/moon and what appears to be a lake, pond, or some body of water too. With how Glyde's desk in the Student Council Office is positioned, we get a lot of shots where the golden sunlight is coming out from behind him, meanwhile Glista ends up having none of that or pink lighting coming from behind her (which you can see in the next scene and scene prior)
It's curious!
Now onto Glista! She also gets a shot with the mountain painting, although it's a different side of the painting than what we see with Glyde. Curiously while with his shot with the painting there was the sun and water, and implications of more than just mountains, her shot with it only has the mountain peak with it looking as if it's going above the clouds.
This could be a nothing detail, but I do wonder if it has any implications. If the mountains are when the worm/caterpillar are stalking prey, then this scene definitely changes vibes from Glyde helping Appel out to them both very much making sure Appel is paying attention to Glista. He's the center of both of their attention, if he's the prey then this would be when he's cornered.
Curious that the symbol of "stalking prey" happens when Glista is meeting Appel! Either way, the mountain motif is something used in the pilot, how interesting!
Here we have the famous final scene of the show with the apple and the worms/caterpillars! Now the first few times I watched this I thought that each worm/caterpillar was representing each of the twins, but as I mentioned earlier I'd also like to throw out a second potential interpretation of this scene.
In the drawing of "Evil Glista" as I called it, there were also two worms/caterpillars in the drawing despite Simon only connecting the "pink hair is a warning" concept to Glista. I think it's a fair argument to say that the worms/caterpillar motif is specifically tied to Glista, however it can also be representative of the twins when they are working in tandem with each other/towards Glista's goals.
For instance, the worms/caterpillars we saw in the vents/glass cabinet windows were all alone (or could be interpreted as multiples, but I like to think the size/length of the worm/caterpillar also changes as the details on it does), which could be because Glista was stalking Appel alone at that time. Here takes place directly after Glyde introduced Glista to Appel, directly giving her the opportunity to meet the target of her obsession.
I do think that it was, to a degree, planned on his part too, since he didn't give either of them much option to not meet each other (he could have ignored Glista, or not made such a big deal about introducing her to Appel, and yet he did). Paired with the mountain symbolism only happening when he's doing that, and the apple being showed with both worms/caterpillars in a scene where they're both paying a lot of attention to him, I believe this is the case.
It's just something to consider, especially when we get scenes with Gylde surrounded by plants and Venus Flytraps! That's something I also want to go into more detail in my Gluttomy twins dedicated analysis post (part 3 of our series). If my thoughts change before I reach that post, I'll mention it there.
And now, the credits!
(I made a collage of them because there's apparently a limited number of images a tumblr post can have!)
Now let's do a lightening round of the little details in the credits! They aren't super hidden, but if I'm making a huge post talking about details in the pilot, it'd be silly not to include these!
We can tell that they were written by Glista for a few reasons. Mainly that they match Glista's energy over anyone else in the pilot, but we also see similar post-it notes in her locker with similar handwriting and use of red ink for emphasis, and the photo of Appel by the bushes matches the camera blur/shakiness of the ones in her locker (that wasn't Appel's school portrait).
The notes read as following:
"Big brother will always give me the strawberry on top of the cake," with doodles of a happy face, a strawberry, and a heart.
"is this love at first sight? i rlly hope so..."
"Mine," paired with a bit of what appears to be Appel's hair.
"If I was a worm, would you still love me? Yes Yes". One of the 'yes's is circled with three heart doodles.
There's nothing in these that doesn't already confirm what we know about Glista, although it does provide some additional characterization for her!
And, talking about Glista and her obsession, here's another lightening round of all the moments in the pilot that Glista is watching Appel!
Section 2: Glista's Stalking Moments!
First, right outside of his classroom before classes officially start. This means she knows where to find him later!
Second, right outside of the classroom window when classes officially end, hidden in the bushes. Eloise tells us that Glista left class as soon as it ended, so we know that she immediately went here after class! It's likely she knew which window to check due to her scouting it out earlier, but it's impressive how quick she got there.
Third, outside of the classrooms by her locker. Admittedly this scene does throw me for a bit of a loop only because Eloise directly mentions that Glista ditched her and won't be joining their friend group today, but surely they'd notice her standing there in the hallway? In the next scene of the hallway we don't see Glista clearly, so I'm going to chalk this up to stylized perspective.
Also, Glista isn't smiling here, which while she doesn't always smile, when we do see her she typically is sporting a smile while around other people. I don't think we have enough evidence to say what this truly means quite yet, but again it's an interesting bit of characterization!
Is she not smiling here because she sees Appel with other people? Did she originally want to meet up with him after his class ended (something like accidentally bumping into him)? Did she just want to watch him more and him being around people that she knows means it's harder for her to get away with stalking him? Who knows!
Fourth, when Appel is talking to Glyde in the Student Council Office, notably this is when Glyde pulls out the bus registration form/poster (zoomed in so people can see her peepin better). I do think this implies, at least to some degree, that Glyde wanted Glista to see him giving that form to Appel? Or that he might have taken longer than needed with Appel's documents so he knew Glista would find them and introduce them to each other?
I do think there's more to this scene than what's presented at the surface, which I'll cover in part 3 of my analysis series!
Adding to this, while this doesn't fully count as a new "Glista stalking moment," this is when Glyde calls her out on it. From approximately when he pulls out the bus registration form to now, Glista has been peering in from behind the door well within his line of sight.
It makes me wonder if Glyde got tired of her just staying there watching and wanted to call her in to officially meet Appel, or knew his conversation with Appel was going to end soon and didn't want him to look back and just see Glista in the doorway?
I do want to call out the specifics of his wording when he does officially "invite" Glista in. The way he words it would shake off any suspicion that Appel could hold towards Glista, and is worded in a way that implies that Glista only just showed up. The illusion of this is shattered to a degree when Glista seems just as shocked as Appel is that she's there and noticed.
Additionally, Glyde technically introduces her twice, once when he asks if she can show him around the school, and a second time when she doesn't seem to move from the doorway. He gets up and physically drives the conversation towards Glista, forcing them to directly acknowledge and meet each other in a way that's beyond the first time he does it. It's curious!
Also, when he looks up earlier mentioning asthma is in Appel's profile, he's looking up at Glista. It could be him finally deciding to bring her into the conversation/acknowledging that she's there as I mentioned before, but it also could be him subtly letting her know that Appel has asthma. Who knows if she knew that already?
End of Part 1
Thanks for reading all of part 1, that ended up being quite a lot of details and I ran into tumblr's image limit (which is why part 1 and 2 are two separate parts now). If I missed anything, let me know! This turned into quite the beast and I read over it a few times, but I won't let perfectionism stop me from throwing this into the tumblr wilderness.
The next part I'll be using details collected from this part to build better character profiles and break down what we know about all the individual (named) characters, their name meanings, and how that may impact future characterization! Admittedly it will largely be me rambling about the characters, but there's also an exciting "character who-knows-who" chart at the end!
As I've already mentioned the twins will have their own separate part 3 because I want to dive into how the previous animations by RapiTus (may) impact characterization and some hints from those we can get that give us a better understanding of what's happening behind the surface (although, this is all speculation, so don't treat it as gospel haha)
Thanks for reading, and have a great day!
I've never done this before, but to the folk(s) that wanted to be tagged with this analysis series, I'll tag ya here! Thanks for the hype :D
@failureg1rl
