Bad Things Happening to Amane since 2023

First, child abuse resides under this umbrella. The lack of rights for children + teens is something ingrained into society. When people discuss the overt traits (child abuse), they're talking about something related to youth laws and how youth lack the rights necessary to defend themselves in harmful situations.

However, there's evidence in the text that discuss the implied traits (laws that prevent youth from defending themselves from possible abuse) as well as those overt topics.

Es has had moments of clarity about Amane's lack of freedom, but most of my argument comes from Es upholding biases against Amane for being a child. They call Amane's coping mechanism a stupid game of pretend, tell Amane she'll be a child no matter how grown-up she behaves (in which 'child' is used in the sense of a synonym for 'inferior'), and often routes the conversation back to her age as a means of belittling.

Trial 1 and Trial 2 Es seems to fluctuate between looking down on Amane for her age and being defensive around her because they think she's more dangerous than Mahiru or Kazui, the oldest prisoners - before Es even had a clue of what Amane's murder would have been. For that matter, before they knew what any prisoner's murder had been.

Kazui himself had tried restraining Es. Es may have retaliated with a slap, but the conversation between the two was oddly less accusatory than the ones between Es and Amane.

T1!Amane: Hm. But if you’re the warden, as you say, shouldn’t you take the prisoners’ opinions into consideration? T1!Es: Don’t make me laugh. I’m not your teacher at school; it isn’t my goal to teach you things or guide you on the right path. [...] I have no intention of letting myself be fooled by the impression that you’re a little child.

T1!Es: What’s wrong? I’m just restraining you. Can’t you move? You’re ‘not a child’, right? T1!Es: Sorry about that. Guess I wasn’t determined enough. As you said, I’ll look at you on eye level. I will not treat you like a child either. I will strictly watch over you. T1!Es: Don’t try to talk your way out of this under the pretense of being a child because you’re in over your head.

It's true that Amane starts off trying to attack Es with scissors in T2. However, at that moment, Es had been the first one to verbally/physically attack Amane in T1.

And, of course, there's this: "I'm 15 so I'm a legal adult in Puerto Rico and Hawaii." It can be funny that they mentioned their age while being only 3 years older, and it's partially meant to emphasize Es being bratty (hence Es & Amane having the 'did not / did too' back-and-forth).

But Japan laws are notoriously bad at children's rights. This statement can be funny out-of-context while having a malicious sting within the context: "While there are places in this world that would help me at my age, virtually none of them would take you seriously."

-

With T3, Es and Amane are finally on good terms. Looking back at how badly Es handled her interrogations, they'd changed extremely.

Es was placed into Milgram with no memories and nothing to do other than their assigned task of keeping the prisoners in check. In terms of age, they're 15. In terms of memories, they're a toddler.

These two find common ground in being individuals who'd refused to question their beliefs. For a long time, they'd been plugging away at their (God/Milgram)-given tasks like ants. Amane's identity was enmeshed with the cult lessons she'd been given. Es' drastic change—who had also enmeshed their identity with that of Milgram's tasks—sparked the desire to change in Amane.