BOX OF FANDOM SHIT AND STUFF

Senri & Kosei

On an extremely surface level, they're childhood friends, but there's definitely way more to it than that, right? Senri is ofc an echo like we see in the MV, but he's the only one whose profile doesn't state that. And in their illustration he's covering Kosei's eyes... So like. Senri's definitely hiding it from him, right. Especially with that profile quote--"I would rather walk with a friend in the dark than alone in the light," and their little duo tagline, "I only hope you won't uncover this secret."

It makes me extremely curious about Senri's entire deal with being Michitaka's little brother? How is an echo the brother of a human. We know so little about how they come into being that we can only make guesses. rattling the gates LET US IN RELEASE THE DRAMA TRACKS TELL US MORE!!!!!

Also curious about how they were childhood friends when it says Kosei grew up outside miitsu city--did Senri and Michitaka also grow up there? It all makes me genuinely wonder if Senri has used his echo abilities to manipulate Kosei to the point of planting false memories in him? Their titles are about looking towards the past and future, too--Kosei looks towards the past, but is the past he seeks real? Senri looks towards the future--away from the past he's concocted, towards a future with Kosei the way he wants it? You can spin this so many ways

Kosei's voice lines on the site are both like "if you want something ask Senri. If you want to know about me, ask Senri, he can answer better." which, like, dude, with whatever secrets Senri is keeping from Kosei, it's insane for Kosei to trust him to that degree!?!?!? WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!

on the surface they seem like such a normal pair but there is definitely some crazy secrets being kept and manipulation going on. Awesome.

Itsuki & Luka

ok I am calling him by his family name because luka calls him that and it's faster to type than shuichiro

priest x corrupting influence is an inherently awesome dynamic. very funny that the corrupting influence in question is a biblically accurate gyaru. I don't actually know if luka is corrupting itsuki, they might have some other thing going on.

Luka seems to have the least understandable form of all the echoes--he gets no fullbody shot and the shots that do exist of him are just masses of intertwined arms and hands. All the other echoes at least have a body visible amongst the hands! He also keeps his status as an echo from most people--does he keep it a secret because his form is so frightening? I'm kinda spitballing there, I got no idea.

I wonder if Itsuki knows Luka is an echo? The sheer drama of their worshipful pose together in the mv makes me wonder if Itsuki treats Luka very differently whether he's in monster of human form. Or maybe the pose is just for sexiness reasons which is fine

Luka has a voiceline like "I'm Itsuki's partner, best friend, family, and destiny!" which is great. omg the eldritch gyaru is in love with the priest

I'm looking at their duo tagline again--"Oh, god. That's why I love humans." Ohhhhh a flighty monster who travels and does so much and meets and loves so many humans and a priest who stays in one place and meets so many worshipers and listens to and loves all of them and they find each other and love humanity through each other ohh ohhhhh there's something here there's something so good here

Hinata & Oujin

Hinata is a really cute little guy. The sweet, put-upon ingenue taking care of the 1200 year old monster who falls in love with her naive & yet optimistic outlook on life is a classic trope and that's basically what I assume is happening here

Hinata's profile quote "everything exists in limited quantity, especially happiness" is really scary. is that kid okay?

In the MV, Oujin can often be seen with white threads hanging off his fingers. Does that have a particular meaning? I think red thread of fate, ofc, but if it's white, does that mean death instead...? Or something like spider silk--thinking on it, his multi-eyed, multi-armed appearance is kinda spiderlike. A spider silk thread out of hell...?

okay yeah given Oujin's title "the hand full of compassion" the latter interpretation definitely feels more apt, he's supporting Hinata and offering him a way out of his burdensome daily life. Great stuff!

Feiran & Yao

The general vibe in the group chat is that these guys are the sillyzone. their dynamic doesn't seem to have nearly as much codependent drama going on as any of the other guys

sorry I just realized yao is 190cm tall. we have to end the scourge of 6'2" anime boys

I generally enjoy scion x older devoted servant type dynamics well enough. this one of course gets bonus points for the devoted servant being a scary monster, and also him being devoted to said scion because he finds him pretty and for literally no other reason. that's a classic scary monster move.

These two have some voice quotes where Yao is like "Don't hurt the face, please. Other than that, do whatever you like." and Feiran (presumably) responds "I'll do whatever I like without you telling me. Just do your job." I'm not 100% on whether the face being referred to is Yao's ("don't hit my face") or Feiran's ("don't injure your beautiful face"), though I'm leaning towards the latter based on tone. That's great. That's a pretty fun dynamic. bodyguard who does his job entirely because he wants to keep his employer looking pretty.

that said, the dynamic at play does feel relatively one-note. that's different from the others, but it does give them more room to develop and BECOME insane about each other over the course of the story, so that's good. You want variety with these things

That said Yao's thing about taking beautiful things he likes to his room makes me uhhhh. hey you gonna take Feiran to your room too? keep him there? treasure him? in your bed maybe? yeah uhuh

Michitaka & Rin

They're making me a little crazy. I will be brief (1/347)

Their voice lines are. They're kind of. ok so Michitaka has a line like "Anything Rin can't do, I'll do. I'm not a useless child anymore." And then Rin mentions Michitaka in both his lines with one being something like "I don't know what to say... I've lived a long life, but I'm still worthless. But if Michitaka is here, then... it's all okay." and his other one being just "I'll take care of Michitaka's life."

So, like, on top of the basic "Rin lives with and is cared for by Michitaka", Michitaka is also, like, Rin's entire reason for living, right!?!? And Michitaka seems like he might have a history with Rin. And he previously felt useless--saved by Rin's blessing, I wonder? and now devotes himself wholly to caring for others, especially Rin. This is a recipe for delicious delicious codependency

Rin has a fair bit of mermaid imagery going on. His aquatic monster form and their placement in the seaside district, plus his character quote. The "scaly" puff jacket and long sinuous braid also evoke mermaid features.

Michitaka has the id card bit about keeping what he treasures safe (Rin, obviously) and also saving his favorite food for last

hey you know how eating mermaid flesh grants immortality

is michitaka eating rin do you think. and/or has he eaten him in the past. to overcome his own childhood frailness. how much cannibalism can I expect to be happening with these two

I mean it's definitely consensual cannibalism though like Rin is definitely offering up his flesh for Michitaka to eat willingly. if there is any cannibalism I mean

「 ABOUT 」

「 STORY 」 + 「 GLOSSARY 」

「 MIITSU CITY WARDS 」

「 CHARACTERS 」

「 What win I, if I gain the thing I seek? A dream, a breath, a froth of fleeting joy. 」

— Yurano Senri: 「 The eyes searching for a future 」 — Tachibana Kosei: 「 The eyes longing for the past 」

— Itsuki Shuichiro: 「 The virtuous guiding the lost 」 — Luka: 「 The happy, fortunate bluebird 」

— Uzuki Hinata: 「 The overburdened youth 」 — Oujin: 「 The hand full of compassion 」

— Jin Feiran: 「 The emptiness hidden by thorns 」 — Yao: 「 The proud, beauty-devouring snake 」

— Yurano Michitaka: 「 The crack in the perfect man 」 — Rin: 「 The roaring waves monopolised by love 」

— Mayoru: 「 The cat which guides the way to Eden 」