#uralis arc

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Is this anything.

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Exclusive interview with Kahaku, Fushi's traveling companion!!!

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Special illustrations done by the second season's director for episodes 1-10. These were posted on Twitter the day before each episode aired.

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Who fucking asked.

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This is a funny bit the anime added, but I think it's slightly out of character. In the manga, Kahaku's motivation is split between doing what the Guardian's want—keeping Fushi under their control—and actually helping people like Fushi wants, with a heavy leaning toward the prior. He starts out by saying that "the Guardians' Fushi" can't be captured, and then segues into his explanation that they can't help anyone if they're stuck. Kahaku doesn't think he has to hide the Guardians' goal from Fushi, like he does in the anime when he edits himself. That would imply that he's on some level aware that what the Guardians want to do with Fushi is wrong, and that Fushi would not approve, which we later see is not at all true.

The manga uses a flashback to show that in this instance, Kahaku is echoing Fushi's logic and making an attempt to follow their wishes. In his mind, what Fushi wants is the same as what the Guardians want, so there's no need to distinguish between the two (this, again, turns out not to be the case). It also clarifies that Kahaku is touched by Fushi's desire to help other people, and does genuinely want to help them in any way possible, beyond his responsibilities as the head of the Guardians.

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Episode 3 preview images!

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So much of Kahaku's love for Fushi is just sheer stubbornness and a refusal to accept that he doesn't "really" love them. His initial reason for liking Fushi romantically was that he thought Parona was cute, and when he proposed to Fushi and they were like "what the hell, no," turned back into the nameless boy's form, and started throwing up, he realized that Fushi was very different from his impression of them. At that point Kahaku could have given up, because he didn't really have a reason to like them anymore, or he could have kept going anyways.

Kahaku, if you remember, is a big fan of the kind of true love he reads about in books, and that frequently informs his treatment of Fushi, especially Fushi-as-Parona. As to how this happened... I'm pretty sure his fondness for this trope comes from the complete absence of affection in his life before he met Fushi. Of course he would dream about meeting someone who loved him immediately, unconditionally, and vice versa. He's so attached to this concept because it got him through his whole life until this moment, so he can't bring himself to throw it out. His only feasible choice is to throw down the gauntlet and announce that he really does love Fushi even if they're a boy.

I've mentioned this before, but Kahaku did actually notice the things he would eventually love about Fushi-Fushi—as opposed to Parona-Fushi—during their first meeting. I do think he probably would have developed feelings for Fushi even if Parona's form had never showed up. It just would have been way slower. So I'm not saying that the only reason Kahaku loved Fushi was because he didn't want to admit that his ideas about true love were wrong, but I'm saying that's why he turned things around so quickly instead of taking several in-universe months to realize that yes, he does like Fushi for real.

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Episode 5 preview images!