✦ i actually talk about something other than DRDT for once (minor detail analysis)
// spoilers for up to chapter 4 of MDA:RC
you know the drill. (rain code edition)
and yes, i’m actually in other fandoms. i have way too many hyperfixtations. lord help me.
basically, there was a small detail i noticed about a specific character’s mystery phantom in the chapter 4 labyrinth, so i just wanted to point that out and make connections as to what it could possibly mean.
let’s get straight to it! ^^
yes, this is about yomi’s mystery phantom. but likely not in the way that you’d think.
of course, i love the fact that yomi’s mystery phantom form doesn’t have any colorful accents like the others, and i could honestly talk for hours about that aspect—but this post is actually about a separate detail.
just what in hell is going on with yomi’s hair?
yep, that’s what i’m going to talk about. and i’m not flaming him for this wild hairstyle, trust me.
when you look at it, the mystery phantom’s hairstyle is divided into three separate parts:
the left(?) portion of his hair, which is on the messier side and pointing in all directions
the middle portion, which is the most similar to yomi’s actual hairstyle (checked his sprite for reference)
and the rightmost portion, which looks like someone used a straightening iron on it.
in a way, he almost doesn’t look like yomi. all other mystery phantoms have at least partial semblance to their real-life counterparts—especially with their eye-shape and the general flow of their hair—but in the case of this specific mystery phantom, there wasn’t a lot.
though, that isn’t too important, right? it’s just a unique part of his mystery phantom design so i shouldn’t think too hard into it, surely it can’t be anything more than tha—
huh
wait, if this is what i think it is-
…oh.
what’s unique about this moment is that yakou’s apparition(?) appears as if to directly replace yomi’s mystery phantom. which doesn’t happen anywhere else.
which means, there’s a possibility that this cutscene was intentionally created to show that “yomi’s” mystery phantom was a front for the true culprit. (the truth was right in front of yuma all this time, but disguised under a facade. yuma just couldn’t get himself to face it head-on until the very end)
there’s a multitude of theories i can come up with about why they decided to show this, but unfortunately that’s not what i’m here to talk about.
though, if you don’t mind, here’s a side tangent: my main theory is that yakou felt horrible about essentially using the detectives in his crime and couldn’t face the rest of the NDA after what he did; the only way he could directly argue against their deductions was to act as someone else. after his true identity was exposed he had nothing more to say to them, other than a non-verbal expression of the regret he carried behind his back)
okay side tangent over
my point is—if the theory of “yakou hid behind the guise of yomi’s mystery phantom” is true, it provides an explanation for the mystery phantom’s hair style.
after all, the two other “parts” of his hair i described earlier are quite similar to the hairstyles of two other characters.
…yeah. yakou and his wife. it’s not an exact replica of their hairstyles, but the general flow and concept is there.
in a way, this subtle detail is a nod to yakou’s true motive behind murdering huesca—to protect his wife / avenge his wife’s death.
but yakou didn’t want to reveal this and hid it all the way through to the end, even going as far as obscuring his face on the photo with his blood so others couldn’t identify it, and hiding behind the guise of yomi’s mystery phantom in the labyrinth.
despite this “facade,” however—yakou’s true motives behind the crime are still visible. they’re just not up front and center until someone points them out.
god, chapter 4 has reshaped my mental process in ways i can’t describe. there’s so much i still want to talk about with “yomi’s” mystery phantom design (like how the part of the hairstyle that resembles yakou is on the mystery phantom’s “demon(?)-like” half and how the part that resembles his wife is on the “angelic” half), but that will have to wait until later.
I can't help but wonder what relation, if at all, [Zilch] has to do with the Metal Fox Church.
Of course like anyone else, I noticed the obvious similarity between [Zilch] and the Nun's animal ear hats.
Wow Komatsuzaki must've been really feeling the furry design element enough to use for two different characters.
Not to mention, he has a similar black, red, and white color scheme as the church officials.
Now, the animal ears could just be for him to disguise himself as "the animal themed guy", but if so he certainly didn't take into account that an animal advocate probably wouldn't wear real fur and leather, so I'm leaning on the impression that (besides the detective uniform underneath his coat) he's not completely disguising himself as Zilch and this is his regular outfit for the most part. It's not like he needs to try very hard to disguise himself considering no one on that train has ever seen each other before, so a WDO uniform and fake Master Detective deed will do just fine.
Aphex even describes him as a "fox detective". So at the very least, we know that the in-game characters think that the ears on his hat look fox-like rather than just some other critter.
But even beyond that, the Nun with which he shares his animal ear look with makes some interesting comments.
Her dad works as a higher-up at Amaterasu. And she is very liberal with leveraging him as a threat towards people who annoy her.
It's no exception when she, for some reason, acts defensive at Yuma's reaction to her mentioning a hitman, saying that if he has a problem then it should be taken up with her Papa. Perhaps said Papa has some sort of certain opinion or insight about hitmen.
Not only do we know [Zilch] as a hitman hired by Yomi to kill any Master Detective trying to enter Kanai Ward at the beginning of the story, we later find out from [Zilch]'s own mouth that he used to be Yomi's close advisor within the Peacekeepers and handled most of the murder work, which included shooting dissenters on sight.
Now, there are some questionable points of this theory. He doesn't particularly come off as someone who's a dad, or even old enough to be one, but it's not like we can know his age for sure just from looking at him. He doesn't even remotely have any similar physical features as the Nun either, but hey it's possible to more heavily take after one parent.
The people we see associated with the church exclusively have red face markings, while [Zilch]'s are blue.
And lastly, while the logos on their outfits are similarly styled, his is obviously not a fox.
However, the dog could just be his own personal outfit logo that some of the Peacekeepers tend to have, like Seth's wolf and Swank's yen sign.
Regardless, if any of this does happen to connect this way, that would mean that the Nun seems to have no idea that her father is dead during the course of the game. It would be awfully sad, but I wouldn't put it past the Peacekeepers to keep her in the dark.
Or it doesn't connect at all and I'm just having fun pinning red strings to a bunch of coincidences. :^)
Did Yuma parents go out because their from the military or was because they had to go and get something they needed?(to survive)
Were they caught in the crossfire or struggle with the effects during the war?
Mmmmm what I’m saying makes sense?
Idk examples are coming from studio Ghibli movies, you know the famous howl’s moving castle and grave of the fireflies
Or I’m overthinking and the parents are soldiers going to war but didn’t make it and Yuma was informed about it
Something I theorize in Master Detective Archives is that I believe Yuma/Number One may have been a victim of a war from wherever he lived in the world when he was a kid, and that past may have shaped him to be who he is now currently. So I want to incorporate something like that in the AU.
When I mean war, I mean like a war between the Outskirts of Kanai Ward (an outer region around Kanai Ward like the Restricted Area) and another party (I’m not entirely sure, like the Peacekeepers similar to the beginning of that tv show Arcane with the rebellion of the Undercity versus Enforcers). Yuma’s parents are caught in the crossfire and were one of the casualties, and the rest of the survivors of the Outskirts were unable to take him in for a variety of reasons. So that leaves Yuma to be taken in by Amaterasu into their Orphanage, and it is where his life begins to turn more.
