Palome and Kirio
I think we should talk about the similarities between Palome and Kirio. Obviously the story of Palome is a work of fiction within the universe of Iruma-kun created as a group effort between Beem, Iruma, Silvy, and Marnie but the similarities between them are very clear. Palome was a demon who wanted to be accepted by her peers and put herself out only to be ridiculed. From this trauma, she derived pleasure from the experience rather than the typical pain she should have felt. This is not just a sporadic “oh I love the look of despair now!” This came from her deep seated insecurity, previous trauma, and self hatred. Just like Kirio, she has been constantly rejected and to save her from the trauma, her brain derived pleasure from the sensation.
However, we then learn that the only reason she came to this conclusion was because of her sadistic sister. Galna manipulated her their entire relationship and probably contributed to her ostracism. She used Palome’s distress to her benefit to make her loose her mind and spend the rest of her days as a painting. Only to become an even more dangerous painting to one up her sister for the final time.
While Amy came to the conclusion himself to shield himself from the trauma of constant isolation, Baal has also used and twisted his desire from his own gain. A vulnerable young demon who is confused and looking for connection with deep seated issues? That’s the perfect victim to recruit into your budding cult. Kirio may have already been on the track to origins but Baal grew the likelihood and has since been using him. I mean, their relationship is just plain not healthy? A little back and forth teasing is great and all but the abuse he spit at Amy when we first learned about him is just not normal. But for Kirio, he’s the first person he sees as understanding him and when we are talking about evil schemes, this type of relationship is fine right? Idk, it’s just very interesting for Nishi to make a fake character with this type of story when we have a character so similar to Palome. I don’t believe it was an accident. I think we as the audience are supposed to see this, recognize their similarities, and connect all the details.
More evidence pointing towards this is during the Walter Park arch. When Elizabetta is in the shelter, she takes it on herself to take care of the children there. Obviously they are scared out of their minds and confused on what’s going on. From her thoughts we learn that this stressful experience could cause them to have severe issues with their evil cycles or even turn to origins. From this, we know that trauma is one of the root causes for returning to origins. Now I don’t believe it’s the only way, there may just be demons more prone to this line of thinking. Demons who were just born more "primitive." But it’s clear that this is a psychological issue that, if not addressed, can turn to deadly consequences.
The parallels between these two is very curious and it makes me wonder about how Kirio will end up. Will he too be trapped in a "frame," unable to come back to himself and falling too much into the deep end to recover? With this ending, it seems that Baal has won and there's nothing left to do other then to one up him after Kirio has served his purpose. He will fashion himself into a grander painting that will be feared by all that look upon it (or at least, that's his hope). Or will Kirio find a middle ground and escape his fate of being internally trapped in the painting? Will the story have a different end for him? Only our lord and savior Nishi will know the answer.
(Also, I meant to post this a looooong time ago during the haunted house arch but better late than never as they say. Sorry for taking a long time in between posts, college is destroying my brain but I'm surviving.)
