Mitsukou Analysis: Nightlife Arc, Part 2
Hello! I’m back, and I’m really sorry that I couldn’t finish this arc up last time. I was getting over a bitch of a cold, and literally couldn’t move without severe motion sickness haha.
Here’s the link for P. 1:
Mitsukou Analysis: Nightlife Arc I have to be honest, I didn’t think I would get this far. I thought I would give up in the middle of these
With that said, here! We! Go!
Yeah, Kou, why are you crying? My best guess would simply be because he’s been through a lot in the past 24 hours. The emotional toll was too great, between the possibility he would have to lose another Mitsuba, this time by his own hand, so he broke down crying which is quite understandable.
I doubt it truly is as he claims, that Mitsuba was so stupid he cried out of frustration.
Also, I guess this means Mitsuba is relatively sentimental, or that he has some semblance of a soft spot for Kou, since he now complied with eating the supernatural heart after Kou cried.
(The end of Kou’s sentence is: “would it really be all that bad…? The source of all my angst would be gone, honestly.” I know it’s right there in the next panel, but last time I did something like this on another platform and failed to include this, you wouldn’t believe how nitpicky some of these people can become.)
Pushing that aside, the statements Kou makes here is quite interesting.
“…if you stopped being around… I don’t know what I would do.”
This implies Kou has a reliance on Mitsuba, which I don’t believe was previously established. We’ve always seen how Kou wants Mitsuba to need him, and not how Kou needs Mitsuba.
Anyways, I might be making unreasonable assumptions, but doesn’t this statement feel romantically tinted, at the very least?
The way Kou says he doesn’t know what he would do without Mitsuba… it’s bordering something lovers would say to each other.
Ah yes, confirmation, something lazy theorists such as myself thrive on. Now I don’t have to do any work!
However, there are still a few points of interest.
The way in which Kou looks up at Mitsuba after he asks if Kou would be sad and lonely without him, it almost seems like a yes, or some sort of affirmation.
And then, when Mitsuba stares back at Kou with that surprised expression, that tells us he really didn’t expect him to be serious. Mitsuba doesn’t truly believe Kou cares about him in the same way Mitsuba does.
But then in his very next breath, Kou says something completely contradictory!
If you ask me, Kou’s prior reaction, the one Mitsuba was so surprised by, that seems genuine.
Mitsuba’s expression is a bit double sided, as he looks a bit confused at the way Kou did one thing, but said another.
On the other hand, Mitsuba additionally appears as though he’s reeling from some sort of realization, like the words Kou’s saying don’t really count and his true answer lies in his teary eyed glance.
We gain three pieces of knowledge here-
One: Mitsuba desires closure.
Two: Kou is maybe kinda sorta horrified by Mitsuba at this moment.
Three: Mitsuba wants somebody to be sad to see him go.
The way Kou has acted for the last few moments- shocked, and a bit like a deer caught in headlights- indicates that he really doesn’t want Mitsuba to be sent off to the far shore.
Why though? Mitsuba is certainly not Kou’s solitary friend or anything close to that. He isn’t the one person Kou can vent to, in fact, ever since Picture Perfect, Kou seems to be avoiding that.
At its core, it isn’t because of Mitsuba’s value as a friend to Kou, it’s because Kou already lost Mitsuba once, and he does not want to lose him again.
If Kou had a second reason, it’s most likely something to do with his savior complex, and all that “Mitsuba’s the only one who needs me!” type of thing.
This is a bit of a big skip, and there are a few things I don’t have images (at least in high quality) for that I need to cover.
First of all, doesn’t it strike you as odd that Kou set up a contest with Mitsuba based on his performance as an exorcist?
Kou does not think highly of himself in terms of his spiritual capabilities, so to choose a contest in which Mitsuba’s afterlife is on the line doesn’t make logical sense.
Moving onwards to the point I do have a panel for, Mitsuba’s sadness to lose the keychain.
It’s a keychain. Mitsuba should not care that much about it, and yet he almost gets himself killed attempting to grab it.
Although I should take into account how Mitsuba barely had nor has any friends, and so this sort of thing is quite precious to him, so within the context of the story, this makes a halfway sort of sense.
No reason… huh, Mitsuba? What do you mean?! Is he implying he doesn’t consider Kou a friend?
Why wouldn’t he? Kou Minamoto is the definition of a friend to Mitsuba, somebody close to his age whom he chooses to hang out with on a regular basis!
I don’t… *sigh*. I don’t, and will never understand these children. My head hurts.
Onwards to the arc of false hope we go! (Also known as the Omen Arc).