Toshi-related ramble about the subjectivity of morality and how comforting it is to just forget it
There are no “good” or “bad” people in the world. There are people who do bad things and never repent, and there are people who do good things and bad things because they’re flawed humans, and there are people who do so much good for a lot of people who are also still human.
Anyway, Toshi doesn’t believe in human morality as a binary of good and bad, or even as an existing concept. Humans are animals. We eat each other to keep ourselves alive, is what he thinks. Rule of the jungle and all that. Being bullied all his life means he is on the bottom of the human hierarchy, and that is just the natural way of things. He hates those who bully him but does not see what they do as inherently “wrong” or “evil” because to kick those below you further down is all that human society has looked like to him.
If he looked at what Okazaki did to him in the killing game, he wouldn’t even say it was unreasonable, or wrong. Excessive maybe. Something cruel that hurt him and made him feel like a small, tortured animal maybe. But it’s just the way things work for him, right? He’s at the bottom and he’s an easy target, so if he was her he’d take the shot too. Her killing him couldn’t be a “bad” thing to do if it was only the natural consequence of his weakness.
(I don’t condone this. Weakness is also a social construct and society only functions as it should when all people are accommodated and treated as full people for whatever they can and cannot do. It’s also impossible to fault him for thinking of the world in “survival of the fittest” terms when that’s how he’s been treated as a disabled person his entire life.)
His perspective, while predicated on a belief system that slots him in as natural prey, also does provide some good benefits. He has a strong intuitive sense for “bad” people because of his job and past experiences, but doesn’t judge people based on subjective standards of societal morality. For example, he wouldn’t judge Ken for having low empathy even though it is seen as a moral failing by wider society because he…doesn’t care. I can’t stress enough how much I see Toshi as someone who just does not care if you as a person are “good” or not.
Goodness is a social construct formed around what society deems to be acceptable behavior and acceptable modes of thought. Goodness has historically and til today not included people with cognitive and/or physical disabilities, nonwhite people, and queer people to name a few. Looking at morality specifically through a Confucian lens (which influences Japan’s culture heavily), goodness does not include children who are so heavily burdened by cognitive/physical disability that they can’t provide for their families. It doesn’t include those that break the mold like Toshi. He’s always been considered a failed cog in society, so of course he doesn’t expect anyone else to function like they “should.” That’s why characters like Tamba and Ken (who can blend in relatively well with normative society) appreciated his company so much. He’s just a relaxing guy to be around if you spend your whole life trying to contort yourself into the idea of morality an inherently ableist society tries to hand to you. He’s not loved in spite of his lack of moral standards, he’s loved because of it. Tamba can be a problematic person with him and he won’t judge her for not “being moral.” Chiba can rest easy around him knowing he won’t care to push the expectations she’s been pressured with her whole life. Hayashi doesn’t need to explain her trauma in a digestible way around him because he doesn’t treat it like it’s not normal. It’s normal to be someone like him, and so his company makes others feel more normal by proxy. If that makes sense.
So yeah, I think Toshi is fucking awesome. End rant.
Edit: I forgot the end song for rants like these! Dropping it down here. Not super duper related but hey, I like the song.
