Poodle Watches Stuff

It’s 2016 and I’m drawing Steven Universe fanart

Drawing The Spot every day until Beyond The Spider-Verse releases - Day 988

Yeah, it could probably be best assumed thatthe mouse died with Isshin.

But okay, I just have a lot of questions aboutthat mouse.

The mouse is basically synonymous with Isshin. Justabout every time Isshin is on-screen,the mouse is there, too. The screenshot above, from Ryuko’s flashback in episode 8, isparticularly noteworthy, because the anime really… rather goes out of itsway to keep the mouse in-frame in other shots from that sequence:

It’s like the show is telling viewers, “Don’t youforget that Isshin has a mouse!”

And this is really a recurring idea. When Ragyoreveals how Soichiro became Isshin in episode 19, there’s a deliberate bit ofanimation of Isshin’s mouse jumping to their proper place on Isshin’s shoulder.

Isshin, it seems, just isn’t Isshin without the mouse. After all, Senketsugoes out of his way, in his description of his creator in episode 2, to note thathe had a mouse on his shoulder.

Perhaps such a sentiment is most prominent inthe finale of episode 24, though, where Ryuko’s big, rousing, winning speechagainst her mom features images of her father behind her—both as Soichiro andIsshin—and the Isshin image very purposely keeps the mouse on his shoulder.

So, the series gives us all this about Isshin andhis mouse… yet, viewers don’t even know the mouse’s name. Where didIsshin find the mouse? How long has he been with the mouse?

And when there’s a very poignant sequence—in mymind, anyway—where Isshin abandons his daughterbut keeps this mouse on his shoulder, something feels extremely sad here. Isshinwon’t keep his daughter close to him, but he’ll keep a mouse.

I think, though, it’s safe to say that themouse was incredibly loyal to Isshin (even if I might argue that Mouse didn’tseem to agree with Isshin’s abandoning of Ryuko, and looked behind at her asthough sad, but I’m probably anthropomorphizing). The mouse could have run offwith Ryuko as Isshin was dying, but seems to decide to stay by his side and perish with him.

But I’m kinda attracted to the idea of Isshintelling the mouse to go after his daughter, and then Ryuko finding them later.

Think of the angst. Ryuko being upset that herfather seemed to love that mouse more than her. The mouse assuring her thatthat was never the case in typical cartoon-magical-animal fashion. That mousebeing acknowledged as the one creature in the universe who knew Isshin best, and,through that mouse, Ryuko being able to know her father better.

Heck, maybe the mouse, being a super-sciencemouse, is like one of the rats of NIMH and has human-like intelligence.

I find it both really funny and really sweet that for the whole month Ryuko’s in a coma they make sure her Scissor Blade is right in bed beside her.

Like, they coulda just leaned that sucker against the wall, or put it on the floor, or shrunk it down and placed it on the little table, but nope, they just stick it in the bed. They literally put a weapon in a “hospital” bed right next to their comatose patient.

And yet… I can’t help but find it sweet, too. That Scissor Blade means a lot to Ryuko. It’s a memory of her father, and the only thing she had to hold close for months after his death.

Of course, it doesn’t mean nearly as much to her as the Mankanshokus or Senketsu do, but given Senketsu’s history of just about losing his mind every time Ryuko says he’s her friend or that she, you know, actually cares about him as a person, it’s not hard to imagine that he thinks of himself as being on the same level of importance to her as the Scissor is. And considering how much Ryuko freaked out when she thought he was gone upon waking up after losing a fight (episode 14), he’d want to be sure that the Scissor is right there next to her when she wakes up from her coma so she wouldn’t rile herself up wondering where it is and hurt herself for no reason.

I bet he insisted that they put the Scissor Blade in the bed. You know, the best way he can when no one can actually hear his voice.