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ep 9 s4: emotional trauma & psychological abuse

me:

Today’s lesson learned, by Eiichi:

Eiichi is teaching a VERY valuable lesson, no matter what anyone tells me. No matter how many people think he’s a bad guy. Or hate him over this..

Eiichi may have had good intentions, but the ends do not justify the means (and the ends were not positive in this state either). He tore into Otoya’s life, into his past. None of the information he brings up was something he learned from Otoya, he instead violated his privacy and security to find things out about Otoya that he hasn’t even felt safe enough to share with his closest friends. If Haruka or Tokiya don’t know about what he went through, Eiichi most certainly has no right to know it.

This was not about becoming Otoya’s friend or understanding him, it was about forcibly kicking down his walls in order to bend him to write a song that Eiichi wanted. And honestly, I don’t know why Eiichi didn’t write the song himself, if he was going to be such a jerk about it.

I am aware, however, that maybe Eiichi has his own problems. You can see it pretty clearly with how he reacts towards Raging (what with the sudden weird down on the knee thing idk). At the beginning, Eiichi does look and sound genuinely excited about the song, but it doesn’t stay that way. Raging walks into the picture, and it’s no longer about growing, it’s about being better. Eiichi is supposed to stomp out the competition (which you could say Raging didn’t do when it came to Shining but alas) with little regard to consequences. He’s not trying to produce a good song, or having a meaningful connection with Otoya, he’s trying to be superior to everyone, and Otoya is included in that mix. 

Now, maybe this is all Raging’s influence, but influence doesn’t work quite like that. Eiichi has always had the choice to say no, to do his own thing.  He’s clearly capable of it, clearly talented enough, but he’s choosing not to. Being better than everyone is such an appealing thought to him, that he’s ignoring everything else and the consequences for it. It’s a nature versus nurture argument, and in this instance, I would scream nature. Many children will often fight against that kind of behavior, maybe submit, but it’s never a voluntary or proud thing to do. Eiichi doesn’t follow that. He enjoys what he does. I wouldn’t say that he’s being manipulated by Raging at all, but rather, just like him. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, as they say.

That aside, what he did was unforgivable, especially how he did it. Otoya was clearly not ready for all of that to come crashing down (if that terrifying look in his eye at the end didn’t say that enough). That kind of emotional attack more often than not breaks people, and I’m sure that’s not something any of us want to see Otoya go through.

Another note, one which was specifically mentioned: Eiichi’s touching. I’m not sure if you’ve ever been consoled through touch, but it doesn’t look like what Eiichi did. It doesn’t look like being backed against a wall, it doesn’t look like covering the eyes or touching the face from behind. These are all actions very regularly associated with dominance. His touches were not kind or understanding in anyway. They were uncomfortable and demeaning, and you could tell Otoya didn’t care for them in anyway. It made Eiichi appear like a predator, which he more than definitely was acting like.

And what’s more, Eiichi goes against his own “valuable lesson”, as you say, while he’s doing all of this. He’s telling Otoya to find himself and not hide, but who says Otoya is hiding? We all have a propensity to hide our pain behind smiles and laughter, it’s normal human nature. But, here we have Eiichi attempting (and maybe succeeding) to convince Otoya that he is never happy. That all of his smiles are lies, and his friends don’t like him because of it. That’s literally emotional blackmail. He’s trying to make Otoya believe that he is nothing but the pain in his past, and that he can’t truly be happy ever because he’s faked a smile every now and again.

I mean, look at the dreamscape scene Otoya had. Do we really, realistically, believe that his friends would all turn away from him if they found out about his past? Hardly. In fact, I would bet my left kidney they’d all be just as concerned and worried for him as they are in the episode. Natsuki would probably make him cookies and they’d try to talk it out with him, because they care about Otoya.

Eiichi uses the phrase “the only one who can understand your pain is me.” Which is a telltale sign of emotional abuse and manipulation. It’s more commonly known as “no one will ever love you like me” or any iteration of such. It’s not an understanding, caring thing to say. It’s manipulative and controlling. And, honestly, it’s a lie. Because Eiichi probably doesn’t understand what Otoya feels. However, because he now is the only other person that knows about Otoya’s past, it’s easier to believe that his own friends wouldn’t understand, or try to understand either. Again, it’s not caring or friendly, it’s just manipulative. He has a vision, and he’s going to rip Otoya apart until he can find his vision.

While it’s true that being yourself is valuable, Eiichi continually invalidates the real self that Otoya is everyday. He is not entirely, absolutely, the pain that his past gave him. If you’ll notice, the weather played a big role here. It was dark and stormy, and even Otoya’s go to image is of that bright sunflower field. He’s a happy person, maybe not all the time, but no one is happy all the time. That doesn’t mean he’s still not a happy, positive person. Otoya has been himself through all 4 seasons, and in the games, honestly. He’s got more than one side, that’s normal, and Eiichi is just looking to exploit the sad side so he can come out on top again. It’s not about really trying to teach Otoya a valuable lesson, it’s about getting out of this duet what he wants.

That part is all the more evident, because does Otoya have any say in how the song goes? None, not at all. You’ll compare it to the previous eight episodes in which each song has been a collaboration, the two singers growing together and finding and understanding. Eiichi had no development in this episode, he’s exactly the same as he’s always been. He took control of the song idea, because Otoya wasn’t about to, and used it to his advantage. All the duos we’ve seen together so far have grown as people, and Otoya’s development is negative. He’s always known about these things, and he lives with it, and Eiichi didn’t help him accept it (which would’ve been positive development), but instead, throws it in his face like it’s some sort of dark taboo that Otoya needs to swallow.

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