so, having watched some of Gachiakuta recently, I find myself heavily reminded of the story: The Velveteen Rabbit.
in The Velveteen Rabbit, a young boy is given a toy rabbit for christmas... and at first the boy is dazzled by his other, more modern toys, while the rabbit is cast aside and forgotten. during this time, the rabbit is comforted by another, much older toy; a skin horse that belonged to the boy's uncle. the skin horse tells the rabbit that, with time, he may one day be able to become real:
"real isn't how you are made... it's a thing that happens to you. when a child loves you for a long, long time- not just to play with, but REALLY loves you- then you become real."
and sure enough, at some point the young boy is reintroduced to the rabbit, and the velveteen rabbit becomes his favorite toy for an entire summer. during their time playing on the lawn, other rabbits see the toy, but reject him because he can't hop around like they can... he is not real.
later on, the boy comes down with an illness, and he is sent away to the seaside to get better while the entire contents of his room is ordered to be burned, velveteen rabbit included. all the "trash" from the boy's room is left out on the lawn for the night, to be destroyed in the morning, and the veleveteen rabbit manages to shed a single real tear.
from that tear, a flower blooms, and a fairy appears from the center of it. she takes him into the forest, and with a kiss, turns him into a real rabbit. after this, he is accepted by the other rabbits, and is able to run around with them. and he visits the boy who loved him later on, and is recognized for looking just like that old velveteen rabbit.
so... what of the rabbit in Gachiakuta?
well, we start with a young girl, lamenting that her rabbit has a tear in it, and immediately her mother throws it away. she'll get her daughter a new toy... the flaw in this one makes it worthless immediately.
I would say that, for upper class Sphereites, this is a cultural norm. they're always wearing white, a color that shows flaws, stains, and dirt the most easily, and their mode of dress doesn't even really seem to differ from that of low class Sphereites, aside from the cleanliness and lack of damage. aka... they emphasize their status by keeping themselves in a condition that is hard for the lower class to maintain.
this also probably means that upper class Sphereites would find it difficult or impossible to develop a connection with an object so strong that it would become a vital instrument. that scene at the beginning of the first episode showed a parent taking that opportunity away from her child. but this isn't the end of the road for that rabbit, in this episode.
when Rudo picks up the rabbit and fixes it, he is essentially taking up the task that the rabbit's original child couldn't fulfill. he fixes it, gives it renewed dignity, and then presents it as a gift to Chiwa... someone who doesn't reject him. and this is really important. Rudo sees her as someone who is willing to associate with him, despite his rejected status within the community. she doesn't treat him like trash, and his hope is that maybe someday she could love him.
when Rudo is accused of Reguto's murder, Chiwa forsakes him, and discards the rabbit for a different reason than the first girl. for Chiwa, this makes sense... and it highlights what being a lower class Sphereite does to people.
in a world like this, anything can be taken from you at any time. it's better to protect yourself by not getting attached to anything with much dedication in the first place. Rudo is being dropped off the edge of the sphere, and Chiwa knows she'll never see him again. for her, it makes sense to cut ties so she won't be next. lower class Sphereites probably don't develop connections with vital instruments either, to avoid the grief that comes with the insecurity of their living situation.
in this story, no one can love the velveteen rabbit. not in time... not in these conditions. and Rudo carries the grief and anger that goes hand-in-hand with this type of rejection and abandonment, unsure what to do with it.
the world below is one where people are allowed to be impassioned. sometimes the moral compass is broken, but everyone with a vital instrument has at least enough passion to give life to their chosen object. but in an entire world made up of discarded items, this is also where the pain of abandonment turns into full grudges. grief and anger collect here, and it's difficult to find a proper way to cleanse it all.
but fittingly for the protagonist of a story like this, Rudo has the power to value anything enough to make it real.
