#mental analysis

[fluteoflotus]

The "Player 2" Paradox: An Autopsy of Kai Hiwatari’s Betrayal in G-Revolution World Championships

In Bakuten Shoot Beyblade G-Revolution. Specifically, we need to strip away the nostalgia and the "Power of Friendship" filter to look at the cold, hard logic behind Kai Hiwatari’s defection to Neo Borg.

Looking at the situation unbiasedly—ignoring the hurt feelings and focusing on competitive psychology—Kai’s "betrayal" wasn't just a plot twist. It was a structural necessity.

I. The Structural Paradox: Why He Had to Leave

The catalyst for Kai’s departure was a simple, ego-destroying realization: You cannot dethrone the King while guarding his castle.

In BBA Revolution, Takao Kinomiya is the center of gravity. He is the World Champion. He is the protagonist. As long as Kai stood next to him as a teammate, Kai was destined to be "Player 2." The headlines would always read "Takao leads team to victory."

Kinomiya Hitoshi suspected Kai would leave because he understood the "All-Star Trap." A team with too many alphas collapses. For Kai to evolve, he needed isolation, not integration. And Kai did.

If Kai stayed, he would be fighting different players. He didn't want them. He wanted Takao. The only way to guarantee a 1v1 match against Takao in the finals was to stand on the opposite side of the tournament bracket.

II. Decoding the "False Sense of Friendship" (The Brutality in America)

When Takao confronted Kai in America , Kai brutally and coldly told Takao " he didn't beybattle for some fake sense of Friendship ".

Which is very clearly a a deliberate lie.

He was very harsh. It seemed purposeful. He was purposefully gaslighting Takao.

Kai has been observing Takao for a long time and realized that Takao is a fights best when he’s emotional. A sad, confused Takao is weak. An enraged Takao is dangerous. By brutally crushing Takao’s feelings, Kai was trying to force Takao into "War Mode."

* The "Stronger Partner"

Kai told Takao he chose a "stronger partner" (Neo Borg). This wasn't about Yuri being stronger than Takao; it was about the environment. BBA Revolution was a "safe space." Neo Borg was a war zone. Kai operates on the logic that Comfort = Stagnation.

He didn't join Yuri to be coddled; he joined him to be pushed and Kai did he pushed himself to harsh environments mentally, physically just to battle Takao at world championships.

III. The Moral Failure

Let’s be objective. Kai lacked basic human decency.

Takao had sacrificed immensely for Kai.

The Debt: Takao was the one who reached out on the ice in Lake Baikal. Takao was the one who raged against Zeo when Kai’s bit-beast was stolen.

The Courtesy Deficit: Rei and Max left face-to-face. They informed Takao they will be leaving.Kai just upped and left without even informing the team he was suppose to play with and his partner.

He views Takao’s kindness as "pity." We see many instances of this in Season 1 expecially when they were against the euro team and Takao's advice helped Kai defeat Jhonny.He got mad grabbing Takao by his shirt asking him whether he wanted him to be indebted.

His rejection of Takao's offer to catch the saint shields together.

IV. The Uncomfortable Truth: Who was actually stronger?

If we look at the Kai vs. Takao showdown through analytical lens:

Kai was the superior Blader.

Kai generated 100% of his power from his own skill, discipline, and physical endurance. Takao, despite being strong he had another thing.

Takao however, acted as a battery—he absorbed the "spirit" of the crowd, the cheers of his friends, and the narrative weight of the moment.Takao’s victory came from a spiritual "burst" that defied physics and stats.

As Hitoshi said Takao barely surpassed Kai because he had of everybody else's desires and spirits with him.

I personally don't agree with Kai's way of doing things but I admire his ability to be completely rational.

[maxwellhauskaffee]

Why Stella Deserves Complexity

I still find it amusing that Viv mentioned she was inspired by Beatrice Horseman when it comes to writing Stella, because Stella's void of anything but the surface-level attributes of Beatrice, without understanding why Beatrice works as a good foil to both her husband and her son.

The thing is, that despite Stella having a tragic backstory (she does) just like Stolas, the writers don't even have to woobie her like Stolas to keep her the antagonist to him. You just have to write the world from her pov, which the show fails to do.

Aside from this dogshit lore to make Stolas oh so the victim - I don't mind viewing her as someone who aspd. In fact, that would be a compelling character to write despite the writing limitations people tend to put on characters coded with that disorder.

Despite their stunted or asbent empathy, people with aspd are still complex with needs and wants. Not all are violent. Most are complex individuals with varying symptoms. And because Stella comes off coded as aspd, I feel as though Viv still did a poor job of portraying the condition (if it was her intent).

(The person below is an example of someone who likely had aspd and npd. She is not the standard for those with the condition,s and she is mentioned to later build Stella.)

There was a woman in my family who very likely had aspd (and I suspect npd) who abused and then murdered her very loving and doting husband (we'll call him 🐶). Parallels indeed. That said, despite my hatred of her, I learned of her complexity as I aged.

Like Stella, this person (we'll call them 🐱) was a local socialite. She was respected by the community, won many awards, had many papers written about her, and even has streets and buildings named after her. Behind closed doors, however, she was very secretive and abusive to her entire family.

But there were implications that 🐱, like Stella, endured some form of sexual trauma outside of her nuclear family, which, by all accounts of her siblings, was a normal family. The siblings were kind and normal, too, according to the accounts of those 🐱 abused.

🐱 did not want to be a mother, but did so because of societal expectations. She came from a position that, like Stella, women could only gain security through marriage.

If Viv wrote Stella with any complexity, she would understand that Stella values her public image. In fact, it could be presumed from her plot with Andrealphus and non-canon Instagram posts that Stella only endures remaining with Stolas because [1] she's societally and financially worthless without him and [2] his pedigree gives her social and financial comfort.

Stolas cheating on Stella would upset her, not because she cares for their relationship (she doesn't) but because she would view the sacrifice of her body, interests, and time as worthless. His adultery would remind her that he gets to gallivant and fuck around with no consequence (unless revealed, but the show fucks that up), whereas she can't.

What's crazy is that the show could've done something amazing. It should've shown the contrast of Stolas spending time with Octavia out of sincere love, whereas Stella only does so because of societal expectations.

That is, have Stella publicly spend time with her because it affirms her role, whereas Stolas, who should be buried in books, actually spends time teaching her and engaging her interests at home. Have Stella pressure Stolas to teach her magic, referring to the book on the floor, after walking in on them putting glowing stars on her ceiling instead or some shit. That would be a good foil.

And this foil is inspired by what 🐶 would do with his children in my family... A man who, despite how horrible his wife was, still made the time to try to make the lives of his children good. To elevate them beyond that house and to survive on their own because of the hell 🐱 put them through physically and mentally.

But we don't get any of this contrast.

There's nothing showing that Stella is just as much of a victim as Stolas, but unlike him, she's cold and distant. Nothing is showing how she could exploit Octavia's need for emotional connection with a parent by Stella pretending to care, something people with aspd often do to get what they want.

And worse still, there's a lost potential in the foils of Stella and Octavia.

Both, like Stolas, are bred for societal roles. Octavia, like Stella, is a female who will likely be bred off because of her pedigree, and like Stolas, will be forced into a job she had no choice in.

I imagine in this moment Stella being upset for her daughter. Perhaps a singular budding moment of true empathy she cannot fully recognize or refuses to. There's so much that could be explored here if only this weren't the yaoi slop show...

Making Stella an explored and layered character only bolsters the complexity of Octavia and Stolas. But yea. Fuck it, I guess.

Also, you don't have to have Stella beating the shit out of Stolas to make him a victim of abuse. Especially if you're going to do a horrible job at it. And I say this because of how 🐱 treated 🐶 like - the execution really bothers me. In fact, with clever writing, I think you could really do some interesting things with emotional abuse.

Have Stolas be a man with maladaptive daydreaming, unaware of how conniving and subtle Steall really is. Or if Stella does beat him, it's absolutely with the reassurance of them being in isolation like 🐶 was with 🐱.

Just - DEVELOP STELLA BEYOND BEING A HUSBAND BEATER.

[maxwellhauskaffee]

Wrote a post on Stella which reminded me of a video about Jimmy potentially having aspd and, with my understanding of the condition, I totally see that.

[maxwellhauskaffee]

I've not been diagnosed with bpd, but it's interesting how much of my emotional disregulation from adhd, ocd, literally just being female* lmao, and autism mimics it.

This isn't self-diagnosis. I'm skeptical of doing that for reasons.

*(Almost anyone with female hormone functions will tell you that emotionally it's all downhill after puberty, and mental illness / development issues exacerbate it.)

[1] This used to be extremely bad when I was a teen and young adult, but I still have bouts of this. I'll either reach out and try to talk about it when I perceive or realize a shift in someone I value, or straight up ghost - likely forever.

[2] If someone who's consistently been good to me starts to shift, I have a higher chance of giving the benefit of the doubt (I used to not). But it depends on the level and consistency of the shift. If it feels or is notable or severe, I internally freak out and ruminate. Again, mostly towards people of moderate to high interest. This can apply to people of low interest if I'm really going through shit. A mutual I'm not close to unfollows me? I'm muting and or blocking them everywhere. 8')

[3] This used to be very bad in my late teens to mid-20s. Then I started making progress in my personal and career goals, and my self-esteem and sense of self began to solidify. Then I lost most of that progress in 2023 and have been spiraling ever since.

[4] I've only ever recklessly drove 3-4x in my life. I used to have periods of little to no eating (I miss those). I can't think of any criteria here that are consistent.

[5] Lol. Lmao even...

[6] I've learned not to trust my emotions near my period or during certain periods in the day. If things in life are going well, I tend to have an easier time controlling my frame of mind and emotional state. If not, almost every little thing freaks me out.

[7] When my life and career were on track, this was rare. But now this feeling is near constant.

[8] I don't physically fight anyone. But I can become very angry, more internally than externally. My coping mechanism is to catch it before it gets to that point, let the person know I'm getting agitated, and to walk it off for a half hour, then come back to the issue to resolve it.

[9] Even when things are good, I sometimes get a paranoid fear that it's not really me experiencing those things or that it's kind of a dream? When things are perceived as really bad? Yea. All the fucking time.

In general, it's easy for my brain to jump to extremes concerning people's actions or inactions. And it's why I talk to an outside source for advice or put myself in their shoes to be empathic and not jump to conclusions. But it can be really hard.

[maxwellhauskaffee]

When people think folks with adhd get hyper-loud and visibly angry when we're crashing out, only to be horrified that there's a subset of us (me) who become extremely quiet, curt, with a monotone voice, and unwavering eye contact.

[davidamerland]

(via Think Like a Ninja)