kotono and mana matching cards again? somebody sedate me this hurts
the imagery in the cards reminds me a lot of the first few animated mvs we saw released at the beginning of the game, where mana was riding on a star into the starry sky (after her collapse from overwork, which, in the canon story, is when she dies), so i'm assuming a similar sort of symbolism here with her sister, and how kotono is still on the ground looking up at the sky (mana) whereas mana is in the sky but looking back from where she's pointing (looking over everyone at hoshimi productions, like the manager/makino, haruko, and kotono).
them looking in opposite directions, too? it just makes me remember that mana is always out of kotono's reach, even though she's caught up to her now in terms of progress as an idol and even winning the NEXT VENUS Grand Prix, mana's dream. she's not there to see it with her.
correct me if I'm wrong (mainly a global player, going off memory) but the orientation in which we see the cards is normally mana's card on the left and kotono's on the right, which cements the idea of them being far away from one another.
the repeated imagery of music notes is also insane to me, because it cements the idea of how much being idols has connected them despite kotono's initial reluctance to even attend her sister's performances until after it was too late. also, if you line the cards up with KOTONO on the right, instead of mana, as it is in official material, then the music notes connect with each other and the sisters look/point at one another, which is. so beautiful, especially since it visually depicts how kotono grew to understand mana more after engaging with the idol industry and everyone else that she cared for, such as the manager/makino and haruko.
also. it was evil to have suzu as the third card in this set (on a balcony! in between the sky and the ground!) especially considering how much she used to look up to mana before her passing.
going with our previous theory, suzu being placed on the balcony represents an inability to move on from mana's passing, which makes sense considering how integral she was to her motivation to become an idol in the first place. still, her gaze focusing down indicated that she's thinking more of herself and the rest of Tsuki no Tempest than simply on mana or succeeding mana anymore, which is great character development, especially since we know that, from her intro card (! wow!), she normally looks up at the stars and even sees them as a symbol of herself. looking down at the ground now represents a key change in her motivations.
however, the lack of music notes here shows that suzu still holds a somewhat idealized view of mana, which is furthered by her placement on the balcony. she's not ready to let go of her yet.
tl:dr idoly pride is genius in how they compose their cards and you should play <3
germansingergirl
baratheonpilled
dededos
stormborns
romaincrisis
titsay
yousharknotpass
izzy806
turnnoffyourmind
prguitarman
