Trauma - Milo and Surya
Let's get things clear. I'm not a profession, and Dragon Striker is a cartoon. Those characters aren't real people who can be diagnosed. All we can do is watch and guess. Here are some basics.
Trauma is an emotional or physical response to a deeply distressing, shocking, or life-threatening event that overwhelms your capacity to cope. It shatters your sense of safety, leaving lasting impacts on your mental, physical, and emotional well-being.
Psychological Trauma: Emotional distress or an abnormal behavioral state resulting from severe mental or emotional stress. It occurs when an event challenges your fundamental view of the world as a safe and predictable place. (Surya) Physical Trauma: A serious bodily injury or wound caused by an external force or accident, such as a severe burn or a blow to the head. (Surya)
Acute Trauma: Results from a single, short-term, highly distressing event like a car crash, a natural disaster, or a sudden loss. (Surya)
Chronic Trauma: Arises from repeated or prolonged exposure to distressing events, such as ongoing abuse, persistent bullying, or domestic violence. (Milo)
Complex Trauma: Stems from experiencing multiple traumatic events (often interpersonal in nature and starting in childhood) where there was little to no chance of escape.
Hyper Arousal: Feeling constantly "on guard," jumpy, or reactive to sudden sights and sounds. (Milo)
Intrusive Thoughts: Unwanted memories, flashbacks, or nightmares regarding the event. (Surya)
Avoidance: Steering clear of people, places, or situations that remind you of the trauma. (Milo)
Physical Symptoms: Unexplained fatigue, headaches, nausea, or sleep disruptions.
I repeat, this is a cartoon, and animation is a medium of exaggeration. That's why Gorotama's matches play out the way they do, but in reality everyone would be dead or injured.
Milo in real life would show clear signs of trauma from being bullied by his brother, Odward. (And most likely other people)
Let's list all the ways Odward bullied his brother. And to people saying: ''Odward isn't a bully!''
He undermines his brother and doesn't want him to even try to play Gorotam. Key even assumes Odward is just a bully.
He left the Bards and made Milo feel guilty, as if it wasn't his own choice. If he quit because Casper was making fun of Milo, that's a weird line to say afterwards.
Later, he doesn't want to play with his brother. There's no brother solidarity.
He uses his mirror Tama to scare his brother. Whether he did it on purpose or accidentally, Odward should have known better, he should have known it would scare Milo.
He then creates multiple copies of himself and begins to intimidate him by circling him.
Let us not forget the numerous occasions when Odward criticized the Knight, and therefore Milo. ''He's just honest!'' He is, but it doesn't change the fact that he says hurtful stuff that they already know, without trying to help. They didn't delude themselves into thinking they're the best of the best, and Odward needs to bring them down to earth.
Odward is a layered character. He's not just a bully. It's a part of his personality that he's starting to grow out of. As the show goes on it evolves into playful sarcasm.
Milo also goes through a character development, but it happens a bit quickly because it's a cartoon, and we don't have time to watch months or years of him going to therapy.
Some may say that Milo has phasmophobia (fear of ghost)
Phobia: A phobia is an intense, irrational, and persistent fear of a specific object, animal, activity, or situation. Classified as a type of anxiety disorder, it compels individuals to go to extreme lengths to avoid the trigger, causing significant distress that disrupts daily life.
Just because Milo is afraid doesn't mean it's a phobia. In the show's world, ghosts are real beings that can interact with people and cause them harm. If your friend takes you to the forest, knowing there's a hungry bear, and you get chased by it, it's not irrational fear!
The reason we, the audience, think this is silly is because there are no ghosts in our world (at least as far as we know).
Milo gets over his fear because, conveniently, his Tama is ghost kryptonite. Not saying he didn't have to work and face his fear. Just because you have a gun, it doesn't make a bear less scary.
Key and Milo's relationship is repaired and strengthened, and it's important to understand why Milo isn't angry with Key later on.
Why isn't Milo traumatized after Key blew him up? From a meta-perspective, it's a joke; you expect drama, but no. Milo is fine, he even likes being pampered!
It's a joke that doesn't break character or tension, because Key still feels awful and the incident is taken seriously, even if Milo isn't angry at Key.
Besides, we already had a story where Milo gets angry at Key, we don't need a repeat this early on.
If Key had blown up Milo before their match against the Shadows, Milo would probably have been more upset, but because of the deeper bond, Milo knows Key would never do that on purpose.
Milo lost consciousness, it is very likely that he does not remember the pain he experienced at that time.
No long-term injuries. The worst thing we saw was a broken arm that the nurse healed in a day!
Now, let's compare it to Surya.
He already had a bad relationship with Edina because he lost an important match because of her.
Surya was set on fire alive! He was conscious for who knows how long (Which doesn't even matter, because every second must have been a nightmare.) before he either lost consciousness or someone extinguished the fire.
This incident left him with a scar on his face for life. It must also hurt someone who attaches so much importance to their appearance. Every time he sees it, he is reminded of that day, of that pain.
P.S. Don't make diagnoses based on the information you found on the Internet.