#kouchan thoughts

[kouchan-lonely-wolf]

Despite being a reikoga shipper there are some issues I have with the ship (I think that’s part of why I ship them so I can make better sense of this thing that frustrates me), but the main issue is how to interpret Koga’s attitude towards Rei during 2nd year—the dreaded “tsundere”-ness. Being upfront and blunt about things: I hate tsunderes and their tropes. Modern tsunderes have no substance usually and act in a way that provides moe I am not capable of understanding so it comes off to me as annoying and infuriating. So why then can I like Koga? Like Reikoga?

of course the answer is that I would tend towards interpreting things that disprove his “tsundere” status. There is a sort of dichotomy towards how fandom talks about Koga’s feelings towards Rei on one hand he’s angry/hateful towards Rei for changing and on the other hand he loves/idolizes Rei. These things are contradictory but not mutually exclusive (although I wish they were). The question isn’t really if Koga has these feelings it’s how he chooses to show them—he emphasizes the anger/hate and downplays the love. The difference between this and typical tsundere types is that Koga is doing it intentionally: it’s calculated. In Resurrection Sunday when Souma and Koga argue and insult each other, Souma jabs at this behavior saying that Koga’s dedication has amounted to nothing. Koga replies that Rei must hate people that fawn over him and that he’ll do the opposite (Paraphrased from Regen. ch8). I think this is rather revealing. In Four Beasts of Fistfighting, Koga lectures Tetora about how his admiration for Kuro is actually destroying who Kuro is; it’s long painful speech that’s clearly projection from Koga’s inner thoughts surrounding Rei (which is explicitly called such by Hinata). Here we see that Koga has immense guilty about Rei’s persona change as though he personally stole parts of Rei a’la Rainbow Fish. Koga choose to deal with these feelings and this revelation with a complete 180 in behavior. since Koga couldn’t see the damage that was being done to Rei’s psyche in 1st year until Rei became like a corpse it must have been difficult to point out the source of his trauma, so he internalized a large part of it as his fault. Since Koga is proactive he corrected the problem behavior to prevent a repeat of the mistake and stop harm; but instead of finding a better more neutral position between admiration and revilement he went to the opposite extreme. I believe this is from how he could not see the change as it was occurring so he had to judge for himself just how harmful everything around Rei was. Where before he saw some things as innocuous or detrimental everything was shifted over a degree, becoming more intense. Innocent was no longer innocent. So whatever fits as “neutral” is still “bad” in Koga’s eyes so it’s not enough of a change. In Repayfes Koga says he’ll pay Rei back for all of his help more than ten times over (a hundred times over? iirc). I think this is why Koga believes his aggressive behavior will work. Koga doesn’t just want to stop the harm but heal it, he must act beyond the expectation. So he’ll be aggressive because Rei doesn’t like when others fawn over him while looking out for him (see every time Koga addresses Rei’s bad sleep and eating habits).

Just look at !!-era; Koga’s attitude and behavior is finally in balance, he’s helpful and supportive while still showing some of his admiration to Rei.

The crux of it for me is that tsunderes hide their feelings to protect themselves which for me is not what Koga is doing: he is trying to help Rei by suppressing those feelings. So tl:dr I would never call Koga a tsundere even though on paper he gets classified as one.

🐺 (I hope this made sense bc i feel like it’s a bit nonsensical and circular. Idk if the reikoga fandom has already discussed this or if there’s some kind of unspoken understanding but i thought id add my thoughts even if this isnt news to anyone. I hope i can hear your thoughts in return whether you disagree or agree!)

[kouchan-lonely-wolf]

Deadmanz

One thing I wanted to discuss was how, during Repayment Festival, Deadmanz is brought up for the first time and how Koga is rather dismissive of it considering his history with the unit.

On a meta level, I believe this is because Crossroad came after Repayfes, so the authors expanded on it and gave it more significance which worked as a soft additive retcon.

In the text, you might explain Koga’s attitude as an example of his Lone Wolf habit. Of course since he wants to be independent and dislikes relying on others he would want to brush off any possible influence others have had on him. In the case of Rei specifically, Koga wants to move on from that past and his desire to be equals means being helped by Rei or admiring Rei isn’t allowed. (A meta for another day)

I believe that there’s another interpretation possible: in the recent Link Click collab story Deadmanz is brought up again, and Koga has an interesting reaction: saying he’s surprised about how happy he was back then. I think this could explain why Koga has such dim memories of Deadmanz--everything that happened in the War and its aftermath reshaped the way Koga remembers his 1st year. Back in the past generally he was happy and following his dream but after everything his memory was warped and now he can only recall events for how they eventually lead to terrible things. It’s all sad memories he’d rather actively forget. (Nightless City touches on this iirc where Koga mentions how he avoided the ramifications of the War and how he was traumatized by its results)    

[kouchan-lonely-wolf]

Lone Wolf

To start: I thought it would be nice to explain why and wherefrom I chose the username “Kouchan Lonely Wolf”. In Card Battlers, we find out that Koga had a childhood nickname about the card game Idobato ‘Kouchan the Wolf Tamer that Howls on the Full Moon’. In Round Game, we find out that Koga’s RoseKnights gamertag is ‘Lonely_wolf’. So I just combined them because it’s nice and cute that Koga loves games. 

I also think that it’s particularly interesting that his gamertag is ‘lonely_wolf’, I can only speculate but ‘lone wolf’ and all of it’s possible variations were already taken so Koga chose something close to it in meaning. Except ‘Lonely’ has a more overt implication than ‘lone’-- A person can be alone without being sad about, but someone who is lonely is alone and sad about it. Of course I doubt that Koga meant to broadcast this kind of meaning (I have no idea how ambiguous the original japanese text is) but it is a cool translation choice! Because Koga calling himself a lone wolf does have roots in his loneliness, I think it was great work!

To end: I was doing research on the origin of the phrase “lone wolf” to see if it could add some interesting details to Koga’s character and I found out that, in nature they’re called Dispersers. I’m sure we’ve all seem the comments about how Koga is a true wolf --social and dedicated to his pack-- and how there’s no such thing as a ‘lone wolf’ as the phrase is known. Dispersers are wolves that leave their original packs in search of another; they are temporarily lone wolves. In ES, finding home/family in your unit is a strong theme, one that is obviously present for all of Undead and here in Koga who was a lone wolf only until he found the new home he was searching for. That’s why Koga doesn’t call himself a lone wolf as much in !!-era (only really when he’s singled out or stressed). I’m sure this was the writers’ intention and I doubt I’m saying anything new, I just thought it was neat there was a real world basis.

🐺 Of course I’d love to hear your thoughts if you have anything to share! Any stories to reference or things that I got wrong, I’m open! Part of me wanting to talk about Koga is to hear others thoughts on him too ;D    

[kouchan-lonely-wolf]

u know that quote like "to love someone longterm is to attend a thousand funerals of the person they used to be [...] but it is not our job to hold anyone accountable to the people they used to be. it is our job to travel with them between each version and to honor what emerges along the way" thats reikoga vibes right there. love ur interpretation of koga's aggression as not just being plain "angry at rei for changing" but "faulting himself rei's change," it fits so well :) seeing the different ways those around rei reacted to his change is so interesting; im especially fond of adonis' tree monologue from res. sunday

Omg thank you for your response! I’m honored that you thought my interpretation was worthwhile!

(Quote from Heidi Preibe “This is Me Letting Go”) Honestly there’s a lot that can be said about people changing—the relation to death is present in rei (becoming a corpse), and even in koga who described himself as being wandering in darkness/lost prior to rei (death adjacent phrasing). The connection here is apparently very apt being part of Undead after all. Since death is equivalent to change it’s interesting to consider it in the context of the meaning of Undead which is “even if you’re dying or have died, live” in essence, Undead itself is the journey and honoring of versions of the self. Something that is personal to reikoga but encompasses kaoru and adonis in their own way.

And Adonis’ explanation is wonderful! It’s exactly the truth for many people, that they switch how they present themselves depending on the situation and people. So I imagine that a lot of fans appreciate Adonis’ empathy and compassion--he’s a sweetheart!

Thanks again, I hope this reply suits!

[kouchan-lonely-wolf]

End of Century Scout Episode 5

I wanted to take a moment to appreciate the friendship that Mao and Koga have built up.

To start with: Koga waited for Mao to be finished with his actually student council work, before he came in with unofficial proposal. It’s polite and considerate, especially when most people assume that Koga is rude.

[photo 1 ID: Koga to Mao “Yeah, Forehead. I need the student council’s approval on this document. That’s why I’ve been waiting outside the door for so long.”] [photo 2 ID: Koga to Mao “Hump! Don’t be so mean, Forehead. It’s not like you’re gonna lose a seal or two, so be a forgiving soul and do it quickly for us.”]

Second: Koga tried the soft approach first, asking for Mao’s approval. It shows how Koga trusts Mao to take his side. Koga explained his side and when Mao still resisted because it was against the rules, that’s when Koga switched to blackmailing Mao.

[Photo 3 ID: Koga to Mao “That’s the picture of Haru on top of you!”]

[Photo 4 ID: Yuuta to Mao “ ‘Scoop! The current president of the student council shares an intimate date with a schoolgirl in his office. Astonished at their unconventional activities!’ We’re gonna write this and send it to everyone on Hold-hands.”]

The blackmail is very interesting on many levels. For one, it’s rather nefarious because idols have such a taboo towards relationships. If Mao got caught in a scandal like the one Koga proposed to fabricate, it could do serious harm to Mao’s career potentially tanking it. At the same time, it’s very strategic. Koga trusts Mao to take his side but he’s also aware that Mao has a specific job as student council president to approve and disapprove Drefes proposals, so Koga came prepared to force Mao’s hand right from the get-go. Koga was hopeful that Mao would approve during the soft part of his approach but he was conscious of why Mao wouldn’t and preemptively countered it. It’s pragmatic. At the same time it’s not necessarily a complex plan either. If you asked anyone how you would blackmail an idol, they would probably first think of this same plan, but it’s an impersonal approach. While it is a plan that would work on idols in general, the closer you are to someone the more likely you are to come up with a plan that targets their specific weaknesses: for example, since Koga was creating this plan against Mao he could have easily chosen something like tormenting his allergies. But he didn’t. A plan that focused more on exploiting Mao’s personal weaknesses wouldn’t have been as high risk as one that targeted a weakness of all idols. This can say much about Koga: He’s a quick thinker and doesn’t personally target his friends.

At first glance, this kind of plan is high risk, although Koga probably thought it was necessary for the high reward of getting approval from Mao who takes his job seriously. This is where the trust between them as friends is vital.

[Photo 5 ID: Mao to Koga “I might then ‘accidently’ leave the student council seal on my desk. I’ve been careless lately.”] [Photo 6 ID: Koga to Mao “We didn’t take any pictures. We were just bluffing.”] [Photo 7 ID: Mao to Koga “Well, I thought so anyway.”]

As Koga comes clean: there were never any pictures taken. Koga recognized the high risk of such a fabrication and only bluffed that those pictures existed. It was only an illusion; one that Mao saw through because he knows Koga. Instead of intentionally damaging Mao’s reputation or even risking damaging it, this illusion creates a convenient excuse to allow Mao to approve the Drefes without repercussions essentially. In response Mao creates a better excuse for Koga with his lie about leaving the seal in plain sight. Consider if this scheme was caught: Koga would get into much more trouble than Mao because he was blackmailing Mao and jeopardizing his career. Mao would be safe. But with Mao’s version they would both be in more equal trouble. Mao for leaving such an important item easily accessible and Koga for forging the student council president’s approval.

Mao knows Koga would never actually hurt him like this, and he knows that Koga is doing this for good reasons, so even though Koga is implicitly saying he’ll take the fall for it if it gets out, Mao doesn’t let him. Koga basically admits it point blank too because he doesn’t want Mao to think he would ever put Mao in such genuine risk. This is their trust, their friendship.

To end this, I want to say that Koga did all of this for Tetora even though they don’t interact with each other much. He did this primarily because of how concerned Yuuta and Sora were. Sure he wanted to help Tetora because they have some connection that means Koga cares about his well-being, but his will to help Yuuta and Sora are also a factor there. It’s a clear sign of his supportiveness for his juniors.

🐺 I hope this was coherent. I know I didn’t really mention Yuuta or Sora’s involvement as helpers and initiators in this story, they are vital to the events that happen especially as key parts of Koga’s plan. But this was about Koga and Mao so it had to stick close to them. I hope to hear your thoughts, agree or dissent I welcome all of it! (if replies disappear I promise it is the pornbots)

[kouchan-lonely-wolf]

Tatsukoga Headcanon

We see in ES that Koga and Tatsumi do many things to understand and accommodate each other, which creates a really harmonious roommate dynamic!

I like to imagine one of the things they did was watch anime with Christian themes; shows like Chrono Crusade and Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne. I just think Koga would find them entertaining and Tatsumi could be free to talk about what they got right or wrong. It would be a fun bonding opportunity!

[kouchan-lonely-wolf]

Christmas Headcanon

I’d like to think that one of Koga’s favorite songs for Christmas is Jingle Bell Rock and then another of his favorite songs is Twelve Days After Christmas. One’s a classic and the other is hilarious so I think he’d have a lot of fun with them!

[kouchan-lonely-wolf]

I don’t think people talk about Koga enough, his tags here are always so dry (or at least the ones I look at) so I’ve decided to be the source of talking about Koga that I wanted to see!

this will mainly take the form of metas or random thoughts that occur to me as I go through his stories. If anyone would like to talk with me or ask my thoughts on things my ask box is open!