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Foreword: this is cross-posted and elaborated on from a thread I made on Twitter about the same topic, and updates some information that’s either outdated or needed expansion.
A koseki (戸籍) refers to one’s family registry, and still carries a lot of legal weight today in Japan as a means of identification and records things such as births, deaths, marriages, adoptions, even changes of gender.
The first national koseki system was adopted in 1872, and up until 1976, it was very easy to get a hold of someone else’s koseki. All someone had to do was pay a fee, and they would be able to gain access to information like unusual deaths, wedlock births, and even criminal records.
The national koseki system thus started as a part-demographic information collection system, part-surveillance apparatus.
— Japan’s discriminatory koseki registry system looks ever more outdated, Colin P.A. Jones
Ease of access and the resulting fear of social consequences not only created a panoptic system where you could snoop through other people’s business (and vice versa), but also reinforced the idea that family is only defined by blood— which is why child adoption so rare in Japan.
Most adoptions today are of mukoyōshi (婿養子), an adult male adopted by his wife’s family so that he’ll inherit the family businesses, typically when a household doesn’t have a proper successor. In contrast, there are significantly less special adoptions today.
Special adoption (特別養子縁組) refers to adopting a child, and until 2019, only qualified for children of and under age 6, which was raised to 14 (ages 15-17 under certain circumstances) that summer. As special adoptions are entered as blood relations, most people would prefer to adopt infants so children would grow up not knowing they were adopted.
Once a child is past the age of special adoption though, the names of their parents will be displayed on the koseki.
Now, how is this related to Kazuma Asougi?
First, we must go over shi ni haji (死に恥じ), aka shame after death.
A while back when the Great Ace Attorney was first released, I made a post on my DGS Twitter on some… Not great localization changes made in the first Escapade in the game’s DLC. Namely, the topic of Asougi’s speech.
In the Dai Gyakuten Saiban subtitles channel’s translation of the DLC, Asougi’s speech excerpt is this:
“Now’s the time to make a stand! All you young and elderly, gentlemen and ladyfolk of the downtrodden classes!”
In Japanese: 「さあ！ 今こそ立ち上がれ！ 低所得者層の老若男女よ!」
While the translation uses the phrase “downtrodden classes”, the original text uses 「低所得者層」 specifically, referring to low-income working class people. This is relevant due to the fact that, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, rapid modernization and changes in Japanese labor relations led to the mistreatment of the working class. The emphasis on social harmony, along with censorship and restricting the right to assembly (which would later become criminalized in 1900), made it difficult to organize labor strikes.
And yes, while this DLC episode was very much a slice-of-life thing compared to the rest of the Great Ace Attorney, the original topics of both Asougi and Naruhodou’s speeches are very informative of their characters and political views; Asougi especially, which makes the changes made in the localization even more confusing.
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I rlly liked your post explaining the koseki system but im a bit confused about why kazumas extended family would disown him? i might be misremembering but wasnt it the case that yujin didnt tell anyone about the whole professor business upon returning to japan? so how would kazumas family know about genshins supposed wrongdoings?
The koseki system post
It’s never explicitly said in the text, mainly because Ryuunosuke is a non-omniscient first-person narrator, but there’s a lot of background hints that point towards it.
TLDR: Yuujin in 2-4 lied about Kazuma not having any living relatives to care for him; they're alive, but don't provide for his financial needs, and Kazuma and the Mikotobas already conceal information due to social stigma re: adoption. Kazuma's mother not being taken care of would unfortunately be nothing new, but to do that to Kazuma is alarming.
So: something happened, and the implication/most likely explanation is disownment.
To begin with, we need to examine Kazuma’s position in the wider Asougi family.
In the DGS2 DLC episode, Asougi states this in his narration:
いよいよ大英帝国へ旅立つ前た。。。亜双義の本家へ挨拶するためだ。
DGS2 translation: (Regarding his trip) It was to say goodbye to the Asougi family home before leaving for England.
Note his use of 本家 (honke). From Jisho:
(Noun) head house (family); birthplace; originator
A honke is the main house hold of a Japanese family where the head resides, while collateral branches live in bunke (分家). And while Asougi says “say goodbye to the Asougi family home,” in the Japanese language, referring to things such as houses as people also addresses the people living there.
This establishes that while Genshin and Kazuma have ownership over Karuma, neither of them are the head nor heir to the patriarch position within the Asougi family and are a branch family instead. Additionally, this also shows that Kazuma does indeed have an extended family, albeit one that he does not live with.
However, this statement contradicts information presented in DGS2. Namely, Yuujin’s exposition on why he’s been caring for Kazuma.
DGS2 translation: Kazuma-kun had no relatives. I began to care for him as if he were my own child.
TGAA localization: As you know, I tried to guide Kazuma growing up, as if he were my own son.
Note: If I recall correctly, the TGAA localization makes no mention of Kazuma supposedly having no living relatives; here nor anywhere else. I don’t know why this is.
I would argue that this isn’t a case of inconsistent writing, but instead lying for the reason that this information is given in public, whereas Kazuma mentioning his family in the DGS2 DLC episode is mentioned in private. This is supported by Kazuma and Susato deliberately never mentioning that they lived together as adoptive siblings until Susato chose to, along with a matter of circumstantial appellation.
For example, in DGS1-1, Yuujin refers to Kazuma in public as Asougi-kun, a title that he also uses for Ryuunosuke. However, while in public but in trusted company (Jigoku, Susato, and Ryuunosuke), Yuujin refers to Kazuma as Kazuma-kun, thus showing a great difference in social distance depending on whether Yuujin is in public or private/trusted company.
Note: Despite TGAA having Ryuunosuke and Kazuma be on a first name basis, Yuujin refers to Kazuma roughly the same way in localization.
So, why does Yuujin trust Ryuunosuke enough to call Kazuma by his first name, but still lies about him having no living relatives? Well, it’s never said explicitly, since Ryuunosuke as our player insert doesn’t pursue it; however, there is a likely explanation for it, and that’s disownment.
Concealed information aside, we know that while Kazuma’s extended family is well and alive, Yuujin not only raised Kazuma, but also paid for his university fees.
DGS2 translation: Since then, Professor Mikotoba did whatever he could to help me. He even helped pay my university fees. I, well and truly, owe my life to him.
TGAA localization: Ever since then, the professor was very good to me. He even helped to fund my university education at Yuumei. I’ll be forever in his debt.
It can be assumed that college education in late 1890s Japan was costly, as while primary education is compulsory, college education was limited to the few imperial universities established, e.g. Yuumei.
What’s alarming, though, is that Yuujin not only houses and cares for Kazuma as a ward, but also pays for something as costly as college tuition, and not, say, his extended family.
Widows such as Kazuma’s mother having little to no financial support is, unfortunately, nothing new in Japan. It wasn’t until 2018 did the Japanese Legislature Council introduce an outline for widows/widowers in a legal marriage to continue living in an inherited residence after their spouse’s death.
In a review for Deborah McDowell Aoki’s study on Japanese widows, Ruth Campbell described Meiji era Japan as the low point in women’s legal status and family role, which saw the institutionalization of the patriarchal family system.
She also provided an anecdote on a friend of hers:
A friend told me about her grandmother who was widowed in her late twenties in rural Shimane prefecture. The oldest child of a “good” family, her parents made her return to her natal home and remarry. It was understood that she would leave her two young children behind in her husband’s family. She never saw them again.
Of course, this anecdote is hardly universal. As Campbell herself writes, Aoki emphasizes that there is no archetypal widow in Japan. However, this should still be kept in mind when considering the Asougis’ family situation, as while Kazuma’s mother not being cared for by his extended family isn’t that surprising, Kazuma not being taken care of is, especially since he lived with the extended Asougi family for a time after Genshin’s death.
Not to mention, him living with Yuujin wasn’t immediate. It’s something that happened at least a while after Yuujin came back.
DGS2 translation: One day, when I finally became accustomed to living with my father… […] He said that, in London, he lost one of his best friends to illness. And he told me that this friend, had a child. That child was a boy, who was older than me by seven years. […] That was how I first met Kazuma-sama…
TGAA localization: It took time to adjust to having Father around. But just when I was starting to get used to it… he called me into his study one day. He told me that a great friend of his had passed away in London. And that friend had left behind a son. A boy, seven years my senior. […] So you see… that’s how he and I met.
Meanwhile, Kazuma in 2-4 specifies that the letter was delivered to his family home as he uses 我だ家 (“my home”, 家 carrying connotations of lineage/blood family). He doesn’t specify on whether it was the honke or bunke, but because he and his mother were bereaved, it could be assumed they lived at the honke prior to the letter.
To reiterate my point from before, Kazuma (and by extension, his mother) being disowned isn’t explicitly stated; but what we do know is this:
Genshin’s branch of the family is not the head of the Asougi family
The letter regarding the Professor case was sent to Asougi’s family home
Kazuma no longer lives with them, and has instead lived with the Mikotobas after Yuujin returned, but not immediately
Yuujin lies to Ryuunosuke about Kazuma having no relatives to care for him (the implication being no living ones, anyway) despite Kazuma visiting them
Yuujin paid for Kazuma’s college education when his extended family did not
Information from the koseki system post in mind—namely, the concept of shi ni haji—an implication is certainly there.
I like to think that whenever Ed wants to flirt with Winry he pulls up his pant leg like 2 inches to show off his automail like some victorian maiden exposing her scandalous ankles and Winry falls for it every time
my personal hc is that ivan’s best dreams are him crawling into till’s veins and ceasing to exist and ivan’s worst nightmares are actually having sex with till. does that make sense
this was brought about by my own meta post abt ivan’s bday art actually, bc the karaoke scene in round 6 strongly implies that they were sexually assaulted, but where till fights back ivan just accepts it. which has SO many interesting implications, but it also got me thinking like… we know ivan has canonically had r18 thoughts about till before, and he was the one who found till after the karaoke scene in round 6, so i can’t help but wonder… given how little they know about human sexuality, i think ivan’s r18 fantasies would actually be his nightmares.
he already thinks of himself and his feelings as twisted and wrong, and while we might extrapolate that to place it in the context of the “predatory gay man” trope and deconstructing that, in and of itself ivan doesn’t think his feelings are wrong because he’s attracted to men. he thinks they’re wrong because they’re intense, obsessive and possessive, nothing like how his peers show their affection. and him having r18 fantasies would only reinforce that.
and so given the karaoke scene and all its disturbing implications, i wonder if, in ivan’s eyes, having those r18 fantasies would make him no better than a segyein. after all, that’s probably their only knowledge/experience of sexual encounters. as far as we know, they seem to understand human sexuality only on a biological level (they don’t know what kissing means, and the true face comic where the guy says men and women can’t be friends bc it leads to mating).
which is why i think that ivan’s worst nightmares would be actually having sex with till. who tops/bottoms is irrelevant here, it’s just the act of touching him in that manner that makes it so disturbing for him.
so then his best dreams are crawling into till’s veins and ceasing to exist/anything along that vein (ha) because well. paratise exists. i don’t think i need to explain further
ANOTHER ADDENDUM BC I CAN'T STOP THINKING ABOUT THEM: it's not canonically confirmed the way ivan's is, but i think till's best dreams are r18 fantasies about ivan.
i've seen this explored in fic sometimes, where till is fantasizing about mizi and it eventually morphs into ivan, and i really really like those kinds of fics bc !!! that is SUCH a good depiction of how i think till's fantasies work.
but ALSO, because ivan is so confusing but also seems to hold all the "power" in their relationship (he's a teacher's pet, he gets privileges nobody else does, he's popular among their classmates, etc), i think a LOT of till's subconscious fantasies would be a reversal of that dynamic of sorts. this is further supported by a patreon-exclusive comic which depicts one of his dreams, actually, and in that one he's the "king" of anakt and ivan is his loyal knight who accidentally (?) kidnaps mizi bc till expressed an interest in her (i am paraphrasing here i also don't remember exactly how it goes sorry).
anyways all that to say is, i think he would be absolutely fucking thrilled to wield that kind of power over ivan. honestly i think if till knew how much effect he had on ivan that would have changed a lot but that's an aside. it's also just like, ivan's so perfectly made up and composed all the time that i think till would want to mess him up and ruin that composure. especially bc ivan only acts that way (bratty and childish) with him. they stopped fighting sometime after getting hit with puberty bc ivan outgrew till and worried about his own strength (so ivan was the one who put a stop to it), but i think till definitely fantasizes about it still. it's a fine line between bloodlust and sexual desire after all.
also, his crush on mizi is a childish idolization of her; she's his muse and goddess, but also someone who's too pure for the messy world they inhabit. so i think this also applies to his fantasies; till wouldn't dare to have many fantasies about her, especially of this nature. it's too "disgusting" to associate with her. but ivan... he's just as messy as till is.
and like till's dragged off for punishment often, a lot of which seems to be solitary confinement, and he's not exactly popular in class either, so i think skinship and physical contact/closeness would be very important for him. he has abandonment issues from his separation from io, but also a loss of physical contact, especially gentler ones. also for all that they never could understand each other in life, both of them always wanted to, and sex and its inherent nature of "revealing" would be appealing to till i think.
AND FINALLY, please just look at scars and remember everything comics. hallucivan shuts up till via kissing him, and shoves his hand up till's shirt, and whispers "weren't you the one who wanted to talk to me?" very provocatively and just behaves very sensually in general. but that's till's imagination of ivan. real ivan didn't do ANYTHING of that sort until he was literally about to DIE. ivan may be a yearner and he may have r18 fantasies but he is also the most passive man ever like he was ready to take that with him to the grave and honestly succeeded at that for the most part.
the top/bottom here is also irrelevant, the important point is that till desires ivan in a much more physical manner than ivan does to till i think. this is also why ivantill are freak4freak. ivan's obsessive, possessive nature of his thoughts are a lot more overtly shown, but till is equally possessive if not more. his just manifest themselves differently, and he himself was also deliberately ignoring them for most of his life (until ivan dies). but subconsciously till always thought of ivan as his, because for all his mixed signals, ivan only acted that way around till.
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