while I am very much a firm believer of the idea that Kanade’s dad getting better would make Kanade worse (at least as she is now) it’s very interesting to think about them having to readjust their lives due to the amount of time that’s passed.
Kanade’s a third year now. Kanade’s dad has been in the hospital for years, leaving his daughter in a house that’s losing the warmth of a home. She’s had to become an adult, has been becoming an adult since even before his hospitalization really but has had this process expedited due to her being left alone for so long.
Not only that but Kanade’s rebuilt her entire life- her habits, her mindset, everything- around what would allow her to work more without spending time on other things. She stocks up on so much instant and canned food she once was thought to be storing up for an earthquake. Her hair is to the floor and yet she won’t cut it cause she thinks it’s a hassle. She’s so focused on making music that we have at least two accounts of her collapsing due to overwork. I would not be surprised if there were more
Her current room is her dad’s old work room, which now doubles as her own work room. Her bed is shown to be covered in composition sheets, we have several accounts of it being messy due to her being so absorbed in her work she neglected to clean up, there’s so much grief and so many memories within this room and yet she barely leaves it. Has barely left it for years. We’ve seen her leave it more recently with help of Nightcord and Honami but without them I doubt she’d step an inch outside of that room outside of getting groceries (which. while she needs food and sustenance to survive there is an early area conversation where she’s working in the sekai in the hopes that maybe she won’t have to stop working to eat or sleep. Do with that what you will) or visiting her dad. Which brings me to my next point
Kanade’s dad getting better wouldn’t erase all of this. This is years worth of self conditioning Kanade engrained into her bones that you’d be trying to undo. Kanade’s dad simply being there wouldn’t immediately fix that. Especially considering the fact that she’s following his footsteps. Kanade’s been shown having to go to her dad to make sure he eats, not unlike the way Mafuyu and Honami currently have to remind her to eat. There’s also the obvious collapsing parallel.
All this being said the idea of Kanade and her dad having to navigate all these changes and developments that have been made in her father’s absence is an interesting thought path. A lot of time has passed since Kanade’s dad collapsed, and Kanade’s gone through a lot of different changes during that time. There is a lot of baggage that needs to be unpacked that I don’t think either of them have the emotional capacity for. Kanade would just repress and self blame and I don’t really have an idea on what Kanade’s dad would do, but either way I feel like the situation would become a train wreck: devastating and destructive yet I wouldn’t be able to tear my eyes away from it
