Enjoyer Of Bread

me: fuck yeah dude

They both starved

Mizu - because she was alone. Fowler – because he was an unwilling victim of a civil war.

The both lost their families

Mizu lost Mikio and Mama. Fowler lost his family to starvation.

Both became brutish for survival purposes

When Mizu made her first attempt to find her maybe fathers, she tried to avoid unnecessary violence. It ended with her being stabbed and almost dying. But after Mikio betrayed her and she had to face a group of assassins, her restraint was gone. She decided that the only way to survive (and to get what she wanted) was through brutality. And the same is truth for Fowler.

When Madame Kaji said “she could tell he tasted human flesh”, she made it sound as if Fowler was a psychopath, incapable of feeling compassion. But that’s not the truth.   

He wasn’t born a beast. He actually cared for his family and was desperate to keep his sister alive. But he failed, he lost all of them and still needed to survive somehow. After everything he went through no wonder he ended up being who he is.

Both experienced discrimination

In Fowler’s case it started in his own country. When he was a child, English already had pretty strong influences in Ireland and often looked down on Irish people. Hell, even Irish looked down on other Irish, depending where one’s loyalty lied.

When Fowler mentions O’Neill and his rebels, it’s actually a reference to the Nine Years’ War happening in Ireland in 1593-1603, when more independent Irish lords fought with those loyal to the English crown. Fowler was just a boy back then and it is unclear which side his family stood for, but it’s easy to guess they experienced discrimination at some point. How am I so sure of it?

Because of Fowler’s attitude towards the Japanese people. He’s perfectly aware they despise him for his ethnicity and he responds to it with a well-practiced playfulness. He’s seen this sort of behavior very early in life, so now he’s like: “yeah, these Japanese folks think they’re sooo special, believing themselves better than me, but it’s nothing new really, I’ve seen English acting the same way”.

Mizu reacts differently – when called “a demon” she usually manages to keep her composure, but you can tell she’s hurt. Occasionally we see her losing her cool, like with Hachi or Taigen.

Fowler is not just the antagonist – he is one of Mizu’s possible endings   

She could have ended up like him. She won’t because of Master Eiji, Ringo and other people around her, but in another universe she might have.

People like Fowler are not born monsters.