シオリ

SPOILERS AHEAD!!

When I started reading this manga, I couldn’t help but notice some kind of parallel between both couples– Sasaki and Miyano & Hirano to Kagiura. Although they both have their fair share of differences, I want to start with both their similarities. Even though both couples have the same year gap difference (Sasaki and Hirano being older and almost approaching their last year in highschool, while Miyano and Kagiura are both a year younger to Sasaki and Hirano, with only just a year grade difference). What stood out to me was that both Miyano and Hirano were/are unsure of their feelings when they got confessed to. They’re both not the type to jump into a relationship without understanding their emotions first.

Both are unequivocally aware– subconsciously and consciously– of how their words and actions might impact Sasaki and Kaigura. They know that acting on feelings they’re not sure of, or saying something that they don’t fully mean or understand– could end up hurting Sasaki and Kagiura. And that’s something they both want to avoid at all cost. This is shown in Hirano to Kagiura, where Hirano is aware and careful with his actions towards Kaigura, because he knows about this fact. 

That’s why they take their time. The confession isn’t something that someone could easily brush off, let alone to both Hirano and Miyano, where they both do genuinely respect and care about Sasaki and Kaigura. 

This is shown through Miyano letting Sasaki borrow BL mangas to him and Hirano doing things such as throwing a surprise party for Kaigura and going as far as to spend time with him, even adjusting his own schedule so that he could have time to spend them with Kagiura. Hell, even his own classmates, even Sasaki, point out that this isn’t typical of Hirano to do those type of things, let alone to his roommate (even though Hirano just brushes it off as him making sure that Kagiura is taken care of cough). 

Because of this, they take their time to process and try to understand it. They need to be absolutely sure of how they feel because once they are sure, and if those feelings turn out to be wrong or unreciprocated, they could end up hurting Sasaki and Kagiura. And they both know that.

Now we’ve got the similarities out of the way (the once that are prevalent) let’s move on to the difference and the sole focus now being Hirano and Kagiura— firstly, when I said that Hirano is not sure of his feelings, I meant his current feelings right now, not when Kagiura confesses. 

Because before, Kagiura got rejected because Hirano doesn’t feel the same way (yet) which is absolutely valid. However, what got my attention was that Hirano is still willing to spend time with him, even treating the whole confession as something that wasn’t odd. 

And what captured me even more was that Hirano agreed to touch Kagiura to see if Hirano would ever feel the same way. Because if you truly do know that you don’t like the other person, why still agree to a test to see if you could see the person that confessed to you as a romantic interest. You rejected them for a reason, right? If so, why? You could argue that it’s Hirano still showing that he still cares for Kagiura. Well yes, you aren’t wrong. I do agree with it to some degree. However, if you look at it deeper, the reason why Hirano agreed with the deal in the first place is because he wants to understand Kaigura’s feelings. 

While reading the manga, you could clearly read Hirano’s thoughts and his perspectives. He truly does want to understand Kagiura’s feelings because he cares about him. I mean– he even told Kagiura that he does like him– as a person. He’s willing to go out of his way to spend more time with him in order to grow closer and overall, to understand not only his feelings, but also him as a person. 

We can clearly see that outside of feelings and just their friendship as a whole. Example of this is Hirano figuring out what to get Kagiura for his birthday that is outside of Christmas and also planning a surprise birthday party for him. Like I mentioned (and even people who know him such as his classmates and club members in the disciplinary committee) again, Hirano is not the type of person to do these types of things, let alone his roommate. So seeing him going out of his way to do all of these just to show Kagiura that he does care about him and is always there for him.

Since this is already long enough as it is, the last point I want to touch on is Hirano’s growing feelings for Kagiura. I mean– let’s face it, we already know it’s developing– I’ll go even further to say that Hirano has already developed them and is falling deeper for Kagiura. It’s literally shown in the manga and while Hirano claims that he doesn’t feel the same way but his actions prove otherwise. Example of this is Hirano recently initiating the 10 seconds rule, by allowing himself to hug or even just touch Kagiura.

Now you might be thinking, if Hirano does feel the same way, why didn’t he just confess to Kaigura during the time he confessed? Simple, he doesn’t understand his own feelings. Think about it: Hirano has never had any romantic attraction towards anyone, let alone guys. So what makes you think that he’ll immediately know it and suddenly get it into his brain? Feelings and emotions are more complicated than it seems. You aren’t just gonna know it, in fact, you could probably still be indenial of those feelings even if the person you like reciprocates them. 

But let me just say, if Hirano does finally realize his feelings (which it will happen), I have a feeling that it’s going to hit him like a train all in one. No matter how he realizes his feelings, it would still be fulfilling and satisfying to me as a reader because every chapter and moments they have had has been building up to this point. Won’t it be rewarding?

Also another thing I noticed is that in TGCF, it shows that everyone and every place there is neither good or bad, even ghost city isn’t even portrayed as a good place. It’s been said over and over again that it’s where ghosts, people, and even heavenly officials do their shady deals and even going as far as to explore the place. Isn’t that what we’re experiencing today?

Because for our definition of “heaven”, it’s the upper class. The celebrities, influencers, and the CEOs of brands, anyone who is of high social class or well known. But we can’t exactly call it a good place. Why? Because of all that has been exposed about each figures, not to mention on how they address accusations are very telling. Full of lies, guilt tripping, victim blaming, excuses, etc. They would do anything to hide the truth just for their own public appearances, to be viewed as superior compared to everyone else. It’s like a competition to see who gets the most attraction and attention. Not to mention that in TGCF, MXTX highlights the privilege and favouritism (i.e. Jun Wu’s ‘favouritism’ towards Xie Lian) of heavenly officials. If anything gets out about that official, they’ll do anything to sweep it under the rug. Like how Pei Ming tried to cover up for Pei Xiu during the Banyue arc.

Next, as for “ghost city”, it’s a similar way to describe us. Pretty similar to how I’d compare heaven and upper class so I’ll try to be as short as possible. Anyways— In my interpretation, I see “ghost city” as a representation of many marginalized communities (LGBTQ+, PIDWs, Indigenous people, religious minorities, etc.). Ghost city is shown to have many outcasts, even criminals, and those rejected by the heaven. Similar to how our society rejects people who are different from ‘standard.’ Another thing is the strong moral ambiguity for many ghosts, especially Hua Cheng. While yes, they aren’t good people. They aren’t bad people either. Which brings me to my last point: I’d also like to highlight the fact that every character in TGCF has motives.

Everyone did what they do for a reason. Although we can’t exactly agree with them, we understand it. Similar to our world today. Humans do what we do to survive. It’s how we live everyday. Like how many characters in TGCF form connections, even “friends”, we could say the same for us. We live in a world where not everything is black and white. We form connections and relationships because humans cannot live alone. Like a famous person ones said: “no man is an island”

Anyways, that’s all for my tedtalk! Sorry for not posting in such a long time… I’ve been going through a lot of emotions and personally self reflecting on myself and my past and healing from my trauma (this very personal so pls don’t ask about it) that I recently just discovered. But all you need to know is that I’m in a much better place right now! Anywho— thanks so much for reading and hope everyone of you guys have an awesome day!! 💖

First of, let me just start by saying... HOLY SHIT THE MOVIE WAS SUCH AN EMOTIONAL ROLLER COASTER THAT I HAD TO PAUSE TO PROCESS THE SCENE.... and not to mention the details? god I loved that so much!! I love how they depicted the mockingjays and also the plant name being katniss?? LIKE OMG? THE FORESHADOWING OF THE FUTURE?? That's honestly peak imo.

But anyways, I really loved the fact that the protagonist of the prequel was Snow. It makes us, the audience, really know his character and what made him the way he is in the hunger games we know of. Not only that but I also really loved the parallel of Lucy Gray Baird with Katniss Everdeen... honestly, these two might not be related but they're also really similar in a lot of ways as well.

Honestly, before I watched the movie, I was expecting something happened to Lucy and that she died or something and that's how Snow became the person he is today. But as I thought about it further, I began to question as to why he became the way he is? Because if he truly did love Lucy, wouldn't he want to fulfill her wish and end the Hunger Games? Because normally, when someone the MC loves died, wouldn't you try and fulfill the one thing they truly want or become the person they want you to become? By that process, I figured that there was more to them than just life and death situations.

While watching the movie, I was wondering how this guy, who had aspirations and dreams of his own and actually sympathized with people from districts and even became friends with one who came from there, became such a ruthless and narcissistic person, who cares only for himself and power.

And finally, after a lot of thinking and having watched the entire movie, I finally got the answer.... because that's who Snow really is. Yes, he had expectations and passions that he wanted to achieve but think about it thoroughly, why did he have them? It was because he wanted control and authority, but most of all, he wanted power, and that was highlighted at the very end.

Of course knowing him, he got rid of every loose ends he had. He knew he couldn't survive out in the wilderness with Lucy, he wanted to go back to the capital. Even though he did love Lucy, that part of him was much stronger than his love and trust for her, and because of that, he tried to kill her. Trying to get rid of the his last string that was holding him back. Snow hates loose ends and in the movie, the qoute summed it up perfectly as to why he despises it. "It's the things we love most, that destroy us"