There's a conversation to be had about Amane's story in Milgram and the shame of being wrong. I.E how she asks Es in her third voice drama if it's okay to be incorrect. If it's okay to do or believe something that you later realize is wrong. Because that plays into her behavior throughout Milgram and the way she holds onto this faith that has only done harm to her as well as her family.
She holds onto it because it's the only thing in her life that she's been taught that tells her that her behavior, how she responded, the way she was raised and treated by her parents wasn't wrong, that it was reasonable, that it was an act done out of love regardless of how misguided.
So to Amane letting go of that admitting what she already recognized and knew before that what her faith taught was incorrect and harmful is as good as admiting that she is incorrect and harmful. It's admitting that she's nothing more than a murderer, someone who committed matricide, that her mom is dead now because of her for something that she and her parents shouldn't have ever believed. On top of that she would have to say that about the thing that led to her even being alive.
She would have to look at this thing that allowed her father to persist instead of taking his own life allowing for her own conception. (Sidenote unimportant to this damn Ms.Momose you had a baby without a doctor wild commitment there. Like they believed this before she was born so like damn. No wonder Amane was saying shit like being born is the first miracle.) So, not only would she have to accept she herself is wrong but everything that led to her being alive was as well.
The biggest obstacle to change is a persons inability to admit wrongdoing or their fear of being wrong.
People holding the belief that if they admit they're wrong once they'll be wrong forever. I think Amane's case does a very good job of displaying that mindset and the harm it causes to oneself and the people around them. Regardless of how one feels about her actions I feel like interrogating how harmful it is to view being incorrect this way and learning how to accept as well as recognize when we are wrong with grace is an important lesson to be able to take away from her story and contribution in this series.
Oh and of course letting others be wrong and learn from that is important as well. Though whether one forgives them for the wrong that they have caused to them is always up to those impacted.
Picrew tag game!- Create yourself now vs how you looked when you were a kid
Thanks @apatchworkstar for tagging me in this! It was really funny to do!
I've said this before but I was pretty different as a kid. Very combatative and direct. When I showed my dad Magic he said he'd find Amane innocent because she reminded him of me at that age. Which says more than I ever could.
I'd tag Star but she already tagged me so. @siverfanweedo @peccadrome @doctorbunny @not-too-many-eyes @xenonsense @rainbowghostcat @urcaptainvrodani @kikithedeceiver @qrevo @ruby-dear if any of you want to do this please do if you already did it feel free to ignore this though I'd like to see if you did. Also if you want me to untag you feel free to ask!
I take it as showcasing there are very few differences between romantic and platonic love. How a person can love someone in a way that doesn't match how they wanted to be loved by them or how the other person loved them theirselves yet it is still just as true and of equal value. How both apples are connected not over shadowing each other for the first time.
As if to say this is what happiness is loving another person in general and getting to have them in one's life regardless of if it's romantic, platonic, or otherwise.
As the lyrics,
"Honey, I have no regrets. Oh to have the strength to say that."
Are sung out by Kazui. Calling back to the phrase, "'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all." As if to outright disaviw the notion. As if looking to the audience and saying I wish I was strong enough to believe that, to be happy it happened instead of lamenting how it ended. Be happy I was loved and did love but I'll always regret how that love led to me losing you.
To know that Futa was that far from home. Like he was born and raised in Osaka but went to Tokyo for college. Yet, unlike Mikoto's mom who's calling him despite him being a college graduate and working adult. Even Shidou getting a call in Triage but he got nothing is... Man it fucking hits. It hits in a way I didn't expect such a minute detail to hit.
Does that make sense? I don't know if that makes sense but it really highlights the social isolation he was feeling and brings new depth to the emotional isolation Yuno must have felt when she couldn't go to anyone about the feelings she had in regards to her accident before Milgram. It really just showcases what feeling isolated can lead someone to do. Then it wraps so well back to Haruka and everything he did just for a sliver of attention.
It's really too much. This is why Milgram couldn't be Milgram without the prisoners. Each character serves to compliment the others in so many subtle ways. It's ridiculous.
Amane birthday timeline be like. You wanna see how her mom is worse. The heavy implication her mom's illness was a genetic one. Implying that Amane was genetically predisposed to it which made her more likely to contract it and her parents never took her to a doctor once. So guess what she has and probably has had all of milgram. Also implies that if this was a disease one could be genetically predisposed to that her mom knew because other family members of hers probably had it as well and she still decided to do all that then attempt to pull a last second hail mary for herself and only herself.
Mrs.Momose be like is it fine if the only person I save is myself real quick and then couldn't even hit the call button herself. Worse mother on earth. Fucking Yamanaka giving the character related to religion an illness in the last half to showcase how people turn to religion in their darkest moments usually when sick or financially destitute. To go you're going to speedrun a family member having a terminal illness or needing an organ transplant then being told the only thing you can do is pray for them through this voting process i've created.
Is the funniest fuck you a man could ever give to an audience that has consistently chosen to be hsrsher on the youngest character in the narrative. While also just being like well if their was a doctor here Amane. Yeah a doctor that couldn't tell that a child was here with an illness from jump definitely could've helped here. Do you ever wish you weren't born? Yuno asked the person struggling to be alive every year because her religion doesn't allow medicine and she probably has a genetic disease. Bet that's a wild twist fuck her mom on some real shit.
No notes nothing more to say other than that's fucked up. Except for one question was the cat real and aldo her did she get beat for trying to get help for herself too? Cause damn. Would really explain why she didn't fucking call to get help for you then Mrs.Momose.
Futa: They’re divorced so I don’t really remember my mum much.
My dad is pathetic and old-fashioned.
Born in 1999, in Osaka city, Osaka prefecture. Futa Kajiyama is a student at a university in Tokyo, living on his own.
Oh.
Q.05 What jobs do your family members have?
Futa: My dad’s a civil servant. No idea what my mum’s doing. Older sister is a beautician.
Q.19 Are you happy with your gender?
Futa: Well, relatively speaking. There’s a kind of expectation that if you’re a man you have to work though, which is a pain.
Oh; so his dad kicked him out at eighteen to go live on his own because he's a man and he needs to learn how to support and provide for himself. Gotcha. Nice follow through and use of foreshadowing with that one. Kind of leaves it to the audience to piece together by looking at past statements. Though if one's paying attention it's quite easy to grasp given how consistently it's hammered in albeit still remaining subtle.
I really like how Yuno's case and his subtly handle the idea of their home lives and familial relationships. Yuno very consistently advocating in the defense of her family and friends such as with these statements,
Going into detail on everyone within her family with a clear seniority order. Starting with her grandparents then going down. But a slight care and sense of pride she shows towards her younger sibling who she just has to give the name of.
Q.09 What do you think of your family?
Yuno: I like them.
This one is self-explanatory but it went ignored most of the trials to blame all of her circumstances and choices on them to some degree anyway. Leads into the next one well though,
Q.19 Who do you want to see right now?
Yuno: Hmm. My family, I guess.
Admitting to missing her entire family not just a specific member of it showing that they were a source of comfort and support for her.
How she shuts down questions about her father but isn't ashamed to say she's never known him.
Q.05 What is your father like?
Yuno: He’s not been around for as long as I can remember so I don’t know!
If anything she seems more annoyed at the idea that most of society will harp on that aspect of her life and consider it an issue in regards to her upbringing or emotional development.
Q.06 What do you think of your father?
Yuno: Didn’t you ask about my family structure before? I don’t have one, remember.
But honestly looking back it just comes off as her being annoyed at being asked something that doesn't apply to her. So maybe she was just a bit peeved it was so clearly a Haruka centered question. Which might have fueled her annoyance at Haruka and Mu. Something that makes sense given she was the one who stated Milgram was just kind of like a popularity contest.
Then to make it even clearer for those who weren't catching the hints prior this trial with her zero fucks to give she just lays it out there.
Q.02 What do you think about your family?
Yuno: I love them. But having people think that I had familial problems because of my actions is kinda tiring.
Like she just went, "Listening to you slander the people closest to me because of things I choose to do was deeply upsetting to the point of exhaustion." Which honestly mood meanwhile Futa's report is just here like yeah he lived alone by himself as a college student that's what men are supposed to do what is that weird. He's a grown man why would he still be living with his family?
Like putting their "Who do you want to see right now?" questions back to back are so depresssing. Look at this shit-
I'm gonna talk about something that really gets to me when it comes to discussion around Mu. As well as my feelings on it. This started out as me planning to quickly complain about how the term misogyny is flung around in regards to any criticism of Mu's characterization or actions within her story then it like blew up into like a genuine analysis as I calmed down.
This is still critical of Mu and the crime that got her into Milgram and I would appreciate if one took that into comsideration before engaging with this post. Especially if a person is fond of or relates to the character being discussed deeply and may take harsher analysis of them more personally as a result. If you like Mu and deeply relate to her character, don't like discussions around Mu that are more strict or critical, or simply don't like more critical stuff in general this may not be the post for you.
Because even though it's less harsh than it initially was it still is not an analysis that frames her character in a completely positive light.
I dislike the claim that most criticism of Mu Kusunoki in the Milgran fandom is rooted in misogyny for a few reasons the more jokimg ones being,
1. I think they meant to type Yuno Kashiki.
2. I think they meant to type Rei Kuraki.
And the sole serious reason being,
3. I think this explanatiom fails to understand as well as account for the intersections existent within misogyny that allow specific women to benefit from it either due to their class, ethinicity, or other immutable traits such as being lightskin or white passing regardless of one's actual ethnicity.
Something in my experience people only seem to remember when it serves them (<- To weaponize to attack predominantly bipoc women who are lightskin through belittling or attempting to erase their poc lived experiences nowhere else).
Because I see no feminist values or attempts to combat misogyny in supporting someone who stabbed another young girl for having a flat affect and not looking at them with pity when they were having a hard time. There are no attempts at combatting misogyny I can find in propping up some women as more deserving of pity and empathy than others. There is nothing feminist or empowering about watching a young woman who attempted to remain uninvolved with the cliquish bullying culture of the school she just transferred to get ostracized, harrassed, and then stabbed repeatedly after responding to the social violence she was subjected to with physical violence once. Regardless of that one act of violently lashing out leading to others beginning to bully the girl whose feelings of discomfort or wants controlled the atmosphere of every room they were all in together since they were in kindergarten mainly due to her looks.
Rei was getting stabbed for shit she didn't even do to fix an issue she didn't even create. Even so, there are still people out there who will claim it's a misogynistic act to criticize the behavioral pattern presented to us through Mu's characterization and actions within Milgram as a story overall. They will purport with conviction that the only reason Mu receives scrutiny, criticism, or hate is due to unpacked internalized misogyny or unresolved trauma related to bullying culture globally on the part of the viewers.
Something that is incredibly presumptuous and condescending. Especially when it is taken into consideration that people who desired for her to be innocent were far more vocal and invested in securing that outcome than even the most fervent guilty voters. Yet, no one started attempting to arm-chair diagnose them or speculate about what drove their mentality beyond simply liking Mu and feeling sympathetic towards her.
Beyond that in my experience which is of course limited and not reflective of the situation as a whole,
1. I haven't seen this hate.
I do however worry and at times find it difficult to doubt in moments people will claim how I discuss her character and story could be classified as that. Because at times I have been critical of Mu without preempting by saying,
"I don't think this makes this character a bad character by any means and wish no ill will towards them or people who like them. I just believe it's important to engage with the societal ills their narrative serves to highlight to me whether it was the creators intent to draw attention to this or not."
Or,
"Yes. I want this character guilty. However, that does not mean I will not be upset if that verdict leads to them dying. My feelings on them being guilty or unforgivable has more to do with me viewing what they did to wind up here and everything they have done while here as completely fucking out of pocket. These things were not okay."
Both of which are still true but I doubt really matter or are taken into deep consideration when I'm creating analysis that is critical of a character someone enjoys or relates to. I see very little difference between Mu telling Es "I warned you if you voted me Guilty Haruka would die his death is your fault." All trial three and Amane saying "I warned you to stop Shidou, I told him over and over again to stop what he was doing, you could have stopped him, he could have stopped."
Other than the fact Amane had zero opportunity to actually warn Es ahead of time outside of timelines because Shidou's trial is before hers. Unlike Haruka and Mu who warned Es in both of their voice dramas. Haruka being the first guy we saw every trial of Milgram. Both of them being apart of the first four prisoners we see.
Then Beyond that Amane was walking around stating what she was going to do loudly to Shidou over and over to her own admission but literally no one did a damn thing to stop her. Shidou treated it like his hopes being fulfilled and started giving verbal wills by telling Yuno that she can take care of Mahiru if anything happened to him while ignoring her when she said she could not do that-
24/09/02 (Yuno’s Birthday)
Shidou: Thank you for your assistance with Shiina-kun’s treatment. It’s been a big help having you here. Both for her and for me. It’s good to know that even if something happens to me, you’ll still be around.
Yuno: No way. I can’t do anything on my own. All I’m doing is helping with whatever you’re doing. It’s just like playing pretend as a nurse.
Shidou: No, you’ve got a good sense for things like this. You’re quick to notice things, calm, and fearless. If you haven’t decided what you want to be in the future, maybe you should consider becoming a doctor yourself.
Yuno: You think so? ……haha, stop it. I don’t want to be thinking about the future right now. And for someone like me to have other people’s lives in my hands…… that’s no laughing matter.
Which is just an extension and another example of how society fails children while simultaneously using them to fulfill their own wishes. They knew Amane was going to do this, they saw that she was upset by Shidou's actions because she was telling them as much consistently. She was not hiding this. Yuno noted that Shidou and Amane were the exact opposite of Mu and Haruka in her second voice drama. Did anyone care to keep an eye on that? No.
Meanwhile multiple people didn't know about what was going on with Haruka. Yuno says she knew but didn't feel it was right for her of all people to help because he was too pure, Kotoko knew because Haruka told her and she thought it was funny, Futa found out because he barged into his room eventually but did nothing because Haruka was like this is what I want to do and all I can do. Everyone else didn't know.
Which we can surmise through Shidou the acting doctor asking Mu if Haruka was fine and her telling him yes while Haruka was starving,
24/06/22 (Haruka’s Birthday)
Shidou: ……I’m worried about Sakurai-kun. I haven’t seen him around in a while. You’ve been talking with him, right?
Mu: He’s fine. Here, look. I’ve been taking his food to him like this every day. Isn’t that great of me?
Shidou: Yes, very. I’m sorry I’ve been leaving it to you to look after him. Usually, that would be the job of us adults, and yet we’re leaving you with the burden.
Mu: Don’t worry about it. After all, me and Haruka-kun are friends.
Beyond those very overt differences. They simply went, "If you don't vote me innocent then Haruka Sakurai will commit suicide. He told you as much already. That's just how concerned with my wellbeing he is. I can't control or stop him." and "It may be too late to say this but if you don't have Shidou Kirisaki stop what he has been doing I will have no choice but to punish his transgressions myself.", "Shidou if you do not cease what you are doing I will have to take action." Then proceeded to go, "Why didn't you vote me innocent I told you x bad thing would happen if you didn't?" and "I warned you all again and again but you didn't stop." as Shidou did the equivalent of going, "Promise?"
22/10/24 (Shidou’s Birthday)
Amane: ……Kirisaki Shidou. How long do you plan on continuing this foolish behaviour?
Shidou: I wonder what you might be referring to there. I’m just doing what I need to do. If anything, I’d be happy if you would lend me a hand.
Amane: I warned you. I can no longer turn a blind eye to this wickedness taking place right in front of us. You’re bringing ruin unto yourself. Do you understand?
Shidou: No, I don’t understand. It’s my job as an adult to teach you that throwing a temper tantrum isn’t going to make everything go your way. If it’s a test of endurance you want, I’m happy to oblige, Amane.
Instead of bringing this issue up to Kazui who is meant to be looking out for the prisoners' physical wellbeing... Which makes very little sense when you take into consideration that Shidou fully believes Amane has killed someone. Because he himself is in here for killing someone,
20/06/13
Amane: ……what’s wrong, Shidou-san? Your hand has stopped marking. This is mathematics, so there’s no questions about the answers. If I got something wrong, please mark it with an X.
Shidou: I…… I just don’t understand. If everything about MILGRAM is true…… why did a child like you have to become a murderer? Just imagining what sort of circumstances must have led to that, it makes me so sad……
Amane: ……*sigh*. Is that right. I don’t think I’m going to get along with you, Shidou-san. I don’t agree with the fact you refuse to acknowledge that I have my own free will, and that I should be held accountable for my actions, just because I’m a child. I may have only been alive for 12 years, but all the choices I’ve made, even if they weren’t the best ones, were entirely my own. What point is there in you getting sad when I have no regrets myself? ……please give me back my test. It seems you don’t have the concentration levels required to be my teacher. I’m going to get Kotoko-san to teach me instead.
Shidou: Amane…… I don’t think that’s true. However smart you may be…… you’re still just a child.
This is one of the first things established about their dynamic that he fully believes this child has killed someone. So, like why does he continue to goad her and escalate the situation instead of once attempting to deescalate or show concern for this change in behavior like Mahiru,
23/01/17 (Mahiru’s Birthday)
Amane: Happy birthday. Mahiru-san. How is your body feeling?
Mahiru: ……ah, Amane-chan. Thank you. Yeah, I’m fine. Now I can move around if I use a wheelchair…… It’s all thanks to Shidou-san looking after me……
Amane: I’ll give you one warning. The two of you are dabbling in something tabooed. If you continue to go against the way of nature like this, you’ll just bring an early death upon yourself. Think hard about this.
Mahiru: Amane-chan……? Are you really Amane-chan……?
I mean we all know why it's because he wanted to be killed by a child. It was literally his final wish. If he knew she was only five years his junior if she looked it he would not have done this. Things would be different. Shidou would have fully locked in to having Es kill him. He had no interest in Mikoto he was throwing tantrums and crashing out and he ignored that shit-
Q.07 Are there any prisoners you get along with?
Shidou: Kayano-kun has become like that, and I can’t spend my time smoking at the moment, so the smoking trio has disbanded, which is a bit lonely.
I find it difficult to not look at this behavior in hindsight with more details and not go, "Huh that was a weird way to treat a kid."
But, you know what? People are right in a way misogyny is involved in people being critical of Mu's behavior.
I know it plays a large part in why I am so strict when it comes to her case. It is my fundamental understanding of misogyny as well as how a certain class of women are able to weaponize their womanhood to the detriment of more marginalized women and peoples in general that makes it so easy for me to scrutinize her case. I cannot remove my understanding of feminism, misogyny, and the weaponizing of these things and whom it disproportionately benefits as well as disenfranchises from how I interpret Mu.
The same way I cannot remove my understanding of these concepts from any of the prisoners cases or the circumstances/interpretations of their victims. I cannot ignore the fact that Rei Kuraki to many is conveniently labelled as the victim. That she in many discussions of Mu's case has had her gender stripped from her and called into question as many women who are victims of extreme violence do. That she was isolated in a new environment with no friends making her a convenient target for bad actors in any social setting. That she lost her life for literally having a resting bitch face,
For not smiling, for not looking sympathetic, for not showing emotion or concern towards someone she did not know who was complicit in her own mistreatment just a bit ago.
That many choose to interpret Rei's character within Mu's narrative as someone who overreacted to hazing in an educational setting instead of viewing her as a victim of consistent social abuse as they view Mu for receiving the same treatment in the same setting. Scrutinize Rei for not taking the high road once the tables had turned by deciding to help Mu, decry the bullying their peers were inflicting upon Mu as wrong, because as someone who went through the same things she should have known how painful it was and helped. Even though no one helped Rei either. She had to hold in her emotions while suffering the same treatment as well. Up until she snapped one day too.
Not joining in is more than anyone in their class did for Rei. Even Mu jumped in on the bullying walked up to Rei as she was on the ground and looked down at her with a smile. A smile that's become many peoples' cute profile picture on a myriad of social media sites. It was what instigated Mu being hit with that chair to begin with her crouching down and looking at the others mistreatment with mirth and amusement.
Because it was that to Mu, she was amused, she says it in It's Not My Fault,
"Sorry for hurting you, but I didn’t mean it. I am doing this is just because of being bored. We are just the same."
She was just doing this because she was bored it was entertainment for her. Rei wasn't special she was just the newest in a line of classmates this had been done to. Others who went through the same thing then stood to side watching it happen to Rei enjoying the show now that they didn't have to be apart of it.
The entire class saw this it's why they turned on Mu in the report,
She did not treat Mu as special, just as another human being. The girl's actions caused Mu discomfort. Her entourage, as always, sensed this discomfort, and soon, bullying of the girl began.
The girl does not succumb, nor does she cry and apologize, and this causes thee bullying to escalate.
Mu gives no orders. She does not bring up the girl in conversation. Mu understood, however, that anyone that rebels against her must fall, and that she was undoubtedly the center of the universe.
The girl reaches a breaking point, and one day, she rams a chair into Mu's face in front of all their classmates. Mu could not understand; not the pain that she had felt for the first time, nor what was happening. She wailed, hideously, and she vomited from shock.
The beautiful Mu was no longer there, and instead, an unrecognizable version of her was exposed to all her classmates.
The revolution is realized, and their small society turns upside down.
Q.09 Do you want to apologise to the person you killed?
Mu: I think the person who did something wrong first should apologise first.
"So, do you finally understand? Maybe I haven’t educated you enough?"
The girl does not succumb, nor does she cry and apologize, and this causes thee bullying to escalate.
"Well, alright, I guess there’s no helping you. That’s just not gonna fly. I want you to really taste that pain, lick it good."
If you're suffering, you're on the ground covered in water, all your belongings scattered about surrounded by classmates and someone comes and looks at you what expression would you want them to be making-
Rei and Mu were in similar circumstances they lashed out due to being looked at a certain way sure. However, Rei didn't choose to be involved. Rei wasn't walking up to watch Mu get bullied and harassed like Mu and the rest of her classmates did to Rei.
No Rei was just using the restroom and opened the stall to see this,
After Pain (1:54s)
She went into the bathroom first while Mu and the others came in after for cleaning duty seemingly.
Rei could have kept hitting Mu with that chair over and over like Mu stabbed her. Hit her until she was concussed, hit her until her face was caved in, beat her until she died or their other classmates stepped in.
Though considering their reaction when Mu ran to them for help looking like this,
"The beautiful Mu was no longer there, and instead, an unrecognizable version of her was exposed to all her classmates."
Was to do this-
"The revolution is realized, and their small society turns upside down."
I'm not gonna lie I think Rei could've continued to beat Mu like she stole something Kotoko Yuzuriha style,
And none of their classmates would have intervened. They probably would have streamed the ass whooping live on tiktok or instagram before thinking to help. Welcome to worldstar pukegirl, I guess. Then Rei would have been in here and Mu would be nowhere.
Something Mu actively jokes about in her third song lyrics,
"So lame, that the “villain” is the one still alive. So lame, that “justice” is the one that dies."
"If you’re going to make me the villain. It’s ok to ignore me."
The fact of the matter is that wasn't what happened. Rei stopped, she walked away, she didn't take it that far. She could have waited until everyone was gone, followed Mu on her way home, and ended her life for how she looked at her. Yet, again she did not. That is what Mu did.
Mu decided to follow an isolated young woman leaving the restroom out of the building then down the street, grab her, then physically assault her when she yanked away.
She stabbed her over and over until she died.
No one's gender makes it more likely for them or impossible for them to commit misogynistic acts. The way that Mu engaged with Rei, how she treated this other young woman is what many women regardless of age fear happening to them regularly. Many women globally worry that looking at or speaking to someone, usually men, in a way a person may interpret poorly can lead to them being physically or sexually assaulted then beyond that possibly result in their deaths. Rei had what many women fear happening to them happen to her for simply using the restroom then leaving after.
That is why people attempting to state scrutinizing what Mu's character and her case portrays is misogynistic simply because she is a woman as well is wrong to me. It comes off to me as people pretty much saying you cannot scrutinize this misogynistic act because it is misogynistic to scrutinize women at all. Something I simply do not believe. In fact, I believe it's not misogynistic to say what Mu did was wrong because the very act she did is one heavily rooted in misogyny.
At this point I am rather used to feminism and the idea of combatting misogyny being used to defend someone doing the most misogynistic thing they possibly could simply because the person who did it was a woman. If Mu was a young boy and Rei was still a young woman I doubt anyone would have as much difficulty seeing how misogynistic an act this was. How rooted in misogyny it is to find the most vulnerable and socially isolated girl follow them as they head home then physically assault them leading to their death all because they didn't engage with that person in the way they felt entitled to be engaged with.
Furthermore, I think that if Mu was a young man then viewing Rei as simply apart of Mu's narrative, the victim, the escalator of the situation would be the thing being discussed as misogynistic. Because that is as clear cut as it gets. However, since Mu isn't a young man the inherent misogyny in this sort of act goes conveniently understated and overlooked.
In favor of leveling the insult of being misogynistic on anyone who takes issue with her behavior at all regardless of what their issues with her behavior may be. Because to some being a feminist means never considering how women can hurt other women, to some combatting misogyny means fighting men and supporting women always regardless of the circumstances instead of being about making sure all women are treated fairly and all abuse brought onto people due to their gender ends.
In short if ones feminism or attempts to combat misogyny ignores the plights of some women in favor of highlighting others that's not combatting misogyny or feminism to me. That's a person simply believing a certain type of woman is more entitled to autonomy, forgiveness, and consideration than others while using misogyny and feminism as a means to support that belief.
One night, Kazui invites his childhood friend for a drink, and in his drunkenness, he finally reveals his true feelings.
It was complete self-indulgence; he just wanted his feelings to be known. He just wanted to be free from a life of lies.
"Hey, so what if I said I liked-liked you, what would you do?"
"That's disgusting", was the curt reaction of his friend, and it broke Kazui's heart to pieces.
Kazui pretended that it was a joke, to cover up.
"Phew, oh wow I’m drunk." - "Intoxication as my excuse, if only I didn’t get drunk on the booze + myself."
Later that night, as he tried and failed to keep himself from falling apart, Kazui told his wife everything.
About himself, about his past, about his feelings or lack thereof towards her.
All he wanted was a life built on truth, that was all.
The next morning, his wife had thrown herself off of their apartment balcony, and had died.
The happiness that she had felt in her life had all been a lie.
She, most likely, was not able to come to terms with that truth.
Kazui mourned.
He mourned the death of his wife, whom he thought was his closest confidant, and-
He mourned himself, who even at a time like this, was thinking of his childhood friend.
All this from my offhand comment over discord-
The broken ceramic to symbolize his heart, hers, and there relationship shattering. The bitten into apple dropping to cover the destroyed remains of the other love he just lost as he tries to hold onto what little affection he had that felt real to him. Wild.
