i remember i once went on a whole ramble about the symbolism of light in mafuyu's focus cards. so lets talk about that (coming from someone who hasn't played the game in a HOT minute + only keeps up with nightcord now.....take what i say with a grain of salt)
// mafu6 spoilers below (ill put it under the cut)
ok so first off
i think yes you could argue she is in a way facing the light seeing as some of it is directed at her, but her face for the most part is almost completely obscured in shadow. not to mention the spotlight is right behind her, which i think can resemble that there is light/hope, but she hasn't directed herself to it quite yet. she's still lost in her mindset/being held up by strings which is portrayed pretty much through the entirety of the event + the strings that hold her up as a marionette in the card. i think this could also be represented by the fact that where she's facing is where the darker shading is.
so now we can see that she is facing the light but with a seemingly lost/confused expression whilst everything else is covered in shadow. not to mention her mom is hovering her hands over mafuyu's face which could resemble how her mother hides away the light that mafuyu should see. it's like she's starting to understand, but is still binded by her mother's expectations. also ill be honest this was probably my favorite mafuyu event but (shrug)
ok so the light is getting closer to her (like you know how the spotlight was right behind mafuyu in her first focus card, now its right behind her) but once again she's looking away. she's struggling with conflicting feelings in her situation and what she should do, should she continue to try and live up to her mothers wants despite it hurting her deeply? or should she stay with nightcord and do what she feels is most fulfilling? i'd also like to mention the reoccurring theme of strings here, because while mafuyu looks so lifeless in her first focus card, she looks to be almost ashamed and distressed in her third card.
the light is directly facing her now (also this is my favorite focus card lol) as she finally cuts off the strings that held her back, she's decided to face her feelings and confront them but it sure as hell doesn't go the way she wants it to. (paraphrasing but didn't her mom say "its not those people on nightcord who care about you, it's me, your mother." like girl stfu) it's painful, it's messy, it's not what she wanted it to be like at all. but at last, she sees the light as it finally faces her without anything covering it.
OK SO NOTICE HOW THIS CARD AND BUG LOOK SIMILAR.... like in terms of coloring. i don't have a lot to say about that other then i think its cool. but anyways mafuyu at this point is pretty much completely covered in light, but she's looking down to where her heart is which is obscured in shadow. she's still struggling to come to terms with/understanding things, but the light around her can help guide her down a better path, something like that. i'll be honest i don't know a lot about this event so i can't say a lot about it, but i think the card represents conflict within oneself and struggling to look up at the light that is there.
and i think in general the main thing with mafuyu is the struggle to accept things. the struggle to accept how wrong her mother is, the struggle to accept what is best for her (which is what she- mafuyu, wants to do. who she wants to be with.) the struggle of just grasping her emotions and coming to terms with her trauma. mafuyu isnt my favorite character but i think her character navigates that topic in a very realistic, symbolic way and that's what i really like about it. i feel while she definitely had a rougher start than other characters in kicking up the character development, what we see later down the line makes up for a lot of it (and with what we know now i think the slower start is actually pretty justified)
she's not a perfect character, she definitely has flaws and i have my personal critiques on her story/how things are executed. but i think overall she is a well rounded, thought out character and the sheer amount of symbolism she gets in her focus cards is kind of insane but like, in a really good way lmao. i love analyzing and interpreting things and i love seeing how others may think of it in a different way! that's just my final thoughts here before i go onto the spoiler.
// mafu6 trained card + story spoilers ahead!