eli

part i. the petals, who is rindou haitani?

at first glance, all rindou seems like is a bratty younger brother that barks and bites all it wants and thrives off it. a boy that bathes in the violence he causes, and that hates the people who act much like he does. i mean, his face says it all —serious, annoyed and irritated— even he can’t seem to stand his own brother sometimes. a boy that crosses the line between maturity and childishness whenever and however he wants.

we see nothing but an impulsive ignorance he lives by, wearing all shit-eating grins and frowns that he switches around on the spot. a boy that will always walk a step behind his brother, whose hand will reach out and touch his back without accomplishment. rindou, who has the chance to stand by his brother and willingly refuses it —at least in his mind.

but that’s just not rindou; merely the fighting fanatic that wants nothing but to be respected. and in his world, that is only through fear.

part ii. balance, what makes rindou, rindou?

at the end of the day, and much like it happens with his brother, rindou has a heart. and contrary to what one may think, it’s more out in the open in comparison to ran.

rindou loves, and he does it with respect and roughness all the same. that actually makes him so compelling, especially with the added info from izana’s thoughts. after all, he’s deemed a good boyfriend (in tenjiku’s standards, not many in there to raise the bar hehe) and he isn’t seen as someone vicious despite what we’ve seen from him (someone who acts more irrationally and wilder than ran, who is seen as vicious). this is because, rindou’s a little softie.

a softie who loves his little hobbies and indulges heavily in them, so much so they become his future. someone who enjoys spending time with his friends, who respects and listens to them attentively (as he’s done with shion) and follows their lead towards shenanigans he doesn’t want to get involved with, and does so anyway due to the care he treats his relationships with (as we have seen with kakucho). especially, someone who loves his brother no matter how scary he may get, to the point of following him into a life of violence and learning how to enjoy it, even though it arguably brings the worst out of him. rindou never was part of the gang ran was in, probably because ran himself never allowed it, and yet picked up fighting and helped his brother anyway (this last bit is just my interpretation).

this is what makes him, in my eyes, a good partner. someone who will tease but who will care just as much if not more. someone who will remain by your side, and stay there with you. although he has his flaws, and these all come to shine when his big brother joins the talk.

part iii. a shadow to himself, but a light for the one who casts it

one of tokyo revengers’ biggest themes is the bond between brothers. it is clear there are other characters more highlighted in this story, but the writing is still there for the haitani brothers. little and subtle.

rindou loves ran, and he completes the latter. they are half and half and each complete the puzzle to the other’s heart. however, ran is rindou’s biggest blessing and curse altogether. this all concludes in rindou’s major flaw, how he carries out the insecurity his brother unconsciously causes him. and this is a clash that we see in rindou’s two star moments: his fight with hakkai and his fight with angry(and hakkai).

let’s start with the first one (it is less crucial) rindou sees his brother day after day doing absolutely nothing but being lazy, yet his presence is still so imposing, his name alone scares people off. rindou’s shoved into the ‘haitani brothers’ as, not himself, but just the younger brother. (he was there, he beat a guy up, he can fight sure, but yeah ran’s just way scarier) this is bound to push the guy who learns about fighting for the love of the game to his very limit (mentally) and this probably got even worse when he had to fight hakkai by himself and lost almost immediately (to the kid he deems weak for depending on his older siblings). rindou doesn’t want people to believe he depends on ran, he wants to be seen as his own person.

his insecurity reaches its peak when he comes across angry though. the opposite of who rindou is, a crybaby who needs his brother with him and admits that very same thing to rindou’s face. no wonder it kind of irked him, it’s like seeing the version of himself other people think he is (at least to rindou). he says it himself, he is in his brother’s shadow, despite ran thinking the opposite. it is this way of thinking that sentences the fight for him to lose. he becomes impulsive, he refuses to acknowledge the strength in those that are weak of heart (he doesn’t want to admit that he is included in that group), and he becomes unaware of what goes on around him. angry’s punch must’ve felt #humble.

personal input, but this could also merge well with the fact that rindou never matches with his brother, and instead chooses the opposite of what the latter does. to stand out in his own way, to stand out from the guy always by his side so that his shadow doesn’t consume him.

i also believe this is something that ran is aware of, thus why he chooses to stand by rindous side to see his dreams come to fruition. giving him his very own spotlight.

in spite of all this, rindou stays with ran through all the good and the bad. remaining by his side even if it bruises his ego, yet he still loves his brother more. in a way, it motivates rindou to fight and find an out for the resentment his brother’s reputation causes.

i personally believe this could cause some issues in a possible romantic relationship with him, the insecurity of not being enough or being a nobody in comparison to the much better option that his brother appears to be. while ran’s love is more cozy, rindou’s is strong —the kind that he doesn’t want to let go of.

part iv. bratty, why is rindou so mischaracterized?

rindou gets the double combo in this department. first he’s got a resting bitch face, second thing is he’s in bonten. i do not like the concept of the bonten trio, but they truly are the trifecta of mischaracterization.

just like with ran, i’ve seen it all with rindou. and considering i’ve seen many interpretations of him being nothing but a mean brute, yeah it’s tough out there. he’s a manwhore, an abuser and a massive alcoholic (apparently).

i’ve said this before, but yes bonten is involved in shady stuff (fork found in kitchen, rest of cutlery found alongside it). this doesn’t mean that rindou’s the devil, especially considering mikey’s dark impulses were influencing them in a way. i think rindou got lucky, being able to not be truly alone in that timeline, to still have ran beside him. now they are both equals, and probably miserable too.

this is why i think rindou, out of pure devotion and stubbornness, will carry any relationship he formed before with him to bonten. it’ll be a test for him to show ran he can take care of his partner and has no fear of what might happen. knowing rindou’s impulsivity, unfortunately, this could end up backfiring massively.

people have received someone with a mean looking face, so that’s what the perception of him in bonten gets. someone rude and terrible to talk to, someone who only drinks and doesn’t have an ounce of heart. big shocker, rindou has a heart of his own and isn’t emotionless to the world around him. he does have emotions, that im sure of (gotta blame the lack of more content about him and his brother, the curse of not being the main character in this particular story).

part v. maturity, envy & impulsivity, afterthought

overall, and to finish this off reheating a bit of my own nachos (from my post on ran), i am in no way saying what is right or what is wrong about rindou. this is how i see his character, and how i think he can have a little more depth to him than what was shown to us in the original work.

i like how rindou is potrayed as being vastly different from ran, from personality to the way they dress. how his character is tied to his brothers physically (their tattoos) to something rooted more within his mind (his need to be seen as someone else other than ran’s little brother, perceived as less because of it).

and, no matter how we’ve seen him get pretty brutal and violent, even the characters around him think to themselves that he’s not all that he pretends. actually kinder, even if he’d probably reject that idea. don’t get me wrong tho, rindou is still very strong, and an scary foe to come across.

at the end of the day rindou is still the other half of the charismatic haitani brothers, he just shows that charisma in a different way than ran does, being more extroverted and in my opinion much more friendlier.

rindou’s biggest insecurity is being in his brother’s shadow, not even realizing that he stands beside ran and not behind him like he himself thinks.

and to end my brief thoughts of rindou as a lover, while i do not think he’s the greenest flag around, i also don’t see the reasoning behind some saying he’d just be terrible. he will struggle and battle his own thoughts a lot, but rindou’s love burns bright and strong —the type that never ends for him, having someone in his heart forever. plus he’d be so fun, i mean he makes music, and i genuinely do believe he’s the type to love videogames and manga and just going out a lot and having lots of fun. he’s so unintentionally funny too, i think his company as a whole would just feel so warm, he’d make a friend or a partner feel cherished.