pooh's adventures in: where the dead go to die

when mizu7 came out and mizuki dropped the bomb “what if i’ll have to leave niigo”, many started freaking out about an eventual niigo disbandment. i made a few posts already back then (here and here) in which i incidentally discuss why i dont think niigo is at risk of disbanding (like, at all), but to reiterate, mizuki’s fears of having to say goodbye to niigo are founded in 2 main issues, which can be solved and dont mean certain disbandment: 1. her own past as someone who is avoidant and has a tendency for pessimistic thinking and believes nothing ever lasts, and 2. the pace at which niigo produces songs. in one of my posts on the subject, i mentioned how the pace at which kanade is churning out song after song can only be matched by 3 other depressed teenagers who have nothing else in their lives. as ena and mizuki heal and focus on their future, it makes sense that they wouldn’t have much time to stay up basically every night from 1am till early morning working on discord. it’s simply not realistic.

while ena has offered mizuki a “forever” (which she first promised her on the rooftop, and has followed through in her promise until the alley) and mizuki feels more secure in her connections with niigo (now that her “secret” is out and the distance between them has been obliterated), i think it makes sense for a character like mizuki to still struggle in internalizing the belief that her bonds with niigo run deeper than their musical collaboration. kanade is another character who has this tendency to conflate niigo and the love and friendship they share with their endeavors as a music group. in this sense, kanade and mizuki are narratively pitted against mafuyu and ena, who feel the opposite. i think it’s telling that in this event, it’s mafuyu who reaches for one of the jars that the ena in her trained card has been creating — both of them see niigo’s bonds as unshakeable and more closely connected with their shared struggle and experiences, rather than with their activities as a group. mizuki is getting there, but sometimes stumble. on the other hand, kanade is stagnant.

in the beginning of the event, ena is busy with her art assignment, and notices that kanade has delivered two more drafts. the writers are now telling us more directly: the rhythm at which kanade is working does not match mizuki and ena’s schedule now that they are healing. and ena realizes this immediately, unlike mizuki, who in mizu7 spends several sleepless nights alternating between sewing and editing before she realizes she probably won’t be able to do both. something else that ena realizes almost instinctively at the beginning of ena7 and that mizuki entirely misses in mizu7, is that it’s not niigo’s activities as a whole that don’t match with their fuller, it’s kanade’s desperate pace.

as ena and mizuki discuss what they can do to help mafuyu and kanade de-stress, mizuki finally voices to ena (albeit a bit indirectly) her fears about niigo going their separate way. ngl, at first, ena’s reaction to mizuki’s words felt out of character. she seems to immediately accept the idea of their looming disbandment without fighting for it. however, the more i thought about it (and by chatting with @biocrafthero), i realized that her reaction makes perfect sense. ena is more at peace than we have ever seen her: she’s finally eliminated any distance between her and mizuki (something she has been worrying and obsessing over since the very beginning), she’s talked with her dad and found her determination, and she’s finally set a goal for herself when it comes to her art. creating does no longer cause her pain, and she feels grounded and secure in her relationships with all the members in niigo. ena is also a bit dense - she does not always get implied subtext, especially when someone is being as indirect as mizuki. so, i think it makes a lot of sense to interpret ena’s reaction to mizuki’s words as ena simply thinking “oh, yeah, we might make less music and meet up less often to celebrate our songs being released”, but it does not even cross her mind that they might disband, go their separate ways, lose one another. to ena, this trip is not about creating some of their “last” memories ever – it’s about creating More memories to add to future ones.

in the event, mafuyu says something very interesting: she wanted to go to the sea because she liked the way the light was getting reflected in the water of the fountain, but not in real life: in ena’s painting of it. to mafuyu, niigo’s bonds are also unshakeable, as they are for ena. niigo has given her family and belonging when she was ready to disappear. niigo helped her find herself. it’s not about the music. it’s through the music they make together that mafuyu finds herself, and a reason to live. mafuyu canonically struggles with dissociation. her feelings were so strong that she was able to birth a sekai all on her own. the first time she smiled in the story was listening to kanade’s song, and now she claims to like the light in ena’s painting. overall, mafuyu seems to have had a special place in her art for niigo’s creations, especially those that come from the heart: kanade’s songs to save her, mizuki’s matching bracelet, ena’s portrait of her. ena7 shows us once again that mafuyu is healing, she’s starting to feel more, and her dissociation is getting better. in her wl3-3, she even managed to drop her mask in front of others.

ena7 also drives home the point that ena is niigo’s light (which is also the title of the commission song for this event, and what mafuyu liked about her painting), and she shines bright throughout this event. she is the one who first gets worried and makes a plan with mizuki, she keeps the conversation flowing, she paints mizuki’s happy smile when she receives the keychain and other moments she wants to never forget from their outing together. she even includes the virtual singers over and over, constantly. in this event, ena is niigo’s center around which the others revolve.

narratively, this is the perfect build-up for the next event, which is probably going to be an arc that will mirros mizuena5, but with kanamafu. because kanade is stagnant. worse than that, kanade is almost regressing. while ena and mafuyu (and soon, mizuki too, maybe thanks to her wl3-4? one can hope) already see that niigo’s bonds are what matters, kanade is stuck with her father’s curse. if she finally saves mafuyu, what will be of her? i described before the current state of kanade and mafuyu’s relationship as a sort of umbilical cord. so what will happen once it’s severed? kanade is too comfortable living with mafuyu, living for her. she does not need to think about herself, about her future, about niigo’s future. all she has to do is compose, compose, compose. save mafuyu. live by her father’s last words. what would happen, if mafuyu told her “you already saved me”? would she be relieved? or will she fall into despair? and if her only reason to live is mafuyu, how different is she from mafuyu’s mother? if mafuyu were to leave kanade to go back to her mother or to go to university, would kanade react like mafumom? would she also desperately try to make her stay? would she sit in her room with all the lights off and refuse to eat just like mafumom has been shown?

this event is not “simple”. and it’s also not just a set-up for kanamafu7. it positions ena as also aware of the fact that niigo might need to slow down when it comes to music production, and it shows us in a beautiful way how happy ena is making art by having her drawing what she loves the most (niigo) rather than her assignments or illustrations for their music videos. she draws almost constantly throughout this event, without any pain. just like her illustrations are meant to “bottle” memories, in her trained card she seems to be someone who creates jars full of memories. the one closest to her is from wounded hands (because of course it is), and the one mafuyu reaches for is the one from this event. and ena smiles encouragingly at her, proud at her friend for wanting to hold on to something, for moving forward.

in her untrained, mafuyu is holding a shell that in this lighting, is quite clearly meant to recall kanade’s unit color. she gazes at it, a purple watch on her wrist. the clock for niigo (which she holds in her hands in her trained card) is ticking.

kanade does not hear it, ena doesn’t worry about it, and mizuki is scared of when the clock will strike the next hour. the future of niigo is in mafuyu’s hands, right now, rather than kanade’s. which is good, because mafuyu will make sure to prioritize friendship over music, kanade’s well-being over the song kanade promised will finally save her. because mafuyu is already “saved”.

Death of the Author is a term coined by Roland Barthes for his essay of the same name in 1967.

In brief: death of the author is the concept that analysis of a work of art should not be focused on the artist's intent; the artist's intended reading of their own work is just A reading and no more valid than anyone else's.

A good straightforward example of this in practice is the response to Andy Weir and Project Hail Mary. Weir is adamant that his work contains no politics but I would say that PHM is pretty clearly a story about climate change.