to me, the two scenes that particularly show the difference between the HDs & the PM(particularly in relation to Tachihara, but it can(probably should) relate to the organizations as wholes) are scenes during the Sky Casino arc.
near the end(the last chapter of the sky casino arc i believe), Tachihara mentions how he's getting kind of annoyed with the port mafia, and Teruko kind of laughs at him and goes, "You? You were practically born to be a spy. Your metal manipulation ability's specialities are faking and stealing intel, and even assassinating obstacles, like with those mafia members who covered for the agency."
and then very soon, within a few panels, Tachihara asks Hirotsu if he thinks Tachihara is cut out for the port mafia, and again, he's laughed at. But what's said is different, Hirotsu says, "Wether your cut out for the mafia? No matter how I think of, Tachihara you are a mafia among the mafia. Your recklessness, passion, bravery, everything is but a mafiosos traits."
These scenes parallel each other, both times, he expresses some sort of doubt, and both times, he's laughed at because the people around him see him as the best person for his job.
Teruko mentions his skills and his ability, while Hirotsu mentions his traits and his personality. Which I think highlights the difference between the two, the HDs are abilities and skills, the PM members are people.
Does the PM value Tachihara's skills? Of course they do, but doesn't it say something that in a moment of hesitation(from Tachihara), Hirotsu(literally the most mafia mafioso to ever exist) tells Tachihara that it's his actions/traits that make him a true mafioso instead of his skills?
I do think it's interesting though, that Tachihara was just saying that the Port Mafia was annoying him, not that he was doubting himself. Yet, Teruko seemed to take it like that, but to be fair, she knows Tachihara. I also think that Teruko said that because she knows that Tachihara struggles with seeing his skills as something worthwhile.
I am not of course, saying in any way that Teruko doesn't care about Tachihara, of course she does. Otherwise, I don't think she would've commented on his annoyance.
I think in the end, both people were comforting Tachihara w/things he's insecure about. It was just different types, and one type was kind of more effective.
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do you guys think tachihara ever felt jealous of yosano ?
he obviously only observed her life as an outsider & it likely seemed to him that she was able to move on fully from shunzens death, find herself & place she belongs.
tachihara was never able to fully move on, hes always reminded of the past. the words him family said to him have never left him. the pain of being left alone by the one person who truly loved him. the care shunzen gave him gone in a second. no matter how hard he tries, he will never be good enough, he will never be like shunzen. he does not know who he is outside of his brothers shadow & its something he cannot escape, its always haunting him.
he has nver found a healthy environment that truly supported him & his healing, so he hasnt even begun that process. yosano had the ada. tachihara had no one, hes gone between one abusive environment to another.
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ill go through what wouldve led to tachihara developing it aswell as some of the symptoms he has shown
definition: (Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) is a mental health condition caused by prolonged, repeated, and severe traumatic events where escape feels impossible, most commonly involving childhood abuse, ongoing domestic violence, or captivity. it includes standard PTSD symptoms plus severe emotional numbing, a negative self-view, and trouble with relationships.
the common development of cptsd fits tachiharas life perfectly.
he has never lived in a healthy environment, the place he has felt the most comfortable is the fucking mafia.
not being in a healthy environment, especially at a young age, is traumatic & never getting out leads to the development of cptsd. we know tachihara was never able to leave the unhealthy environments he grew up in.
in his childhood he was emotionally & verbally abused, he was told he was better off dead & he shouldve died instead of his brother (shunzen).
he does escape this unhealthy environment, only to fall into another one. he joined a gang where he wouldve most likely had to fend for himself, this would be yet another unhealthy environment.
then he 'joins' the hunting dogs. this is arguably one of the most traumatic & unhealthy places hes lived in. he is forced into a surgery that forced him into being a slave to the government. he was so young he couldnt consent to this on top of the fact he didnt have a choice as he wouldve been thrown into jail.
then he is assigned to infiltrate the port mafia. its the mafia, its an inherently abusive environment.
prolonged abuse is what leads to the development of cptsd & tachihara has never lived in an environment that isnt abusive. this is also why i think he cptsd instead of ptsd as we see him show cptsd/ptsd symptoms.
hes shown to have flashbacks to his childhood, which is a core symptom of ptsd
one of his canon dislikes is the past. this is an important point as the majority of bsd characters have had traumatic pasts but tachihara is one of the only characters to explicitly say they dislike the past.
he also has a negative view on himself shaped by his trauma. he says that he isnt that smart despite being extremely analytical, he also hacked into the sky casinos computers.
these next few examples are from wan & wan isnt exactly canon but i fell like they can be carried into canon
nightmares are another common symptom of ptsd. tachihara has an entire nightmare around the hd surgeries, although the ep takes a much sillier approach, i feel like the implications are enough.
he also says he has trouble sleeping & yet again its not a stretch to say this carries over to canon as well.
so yeah tachihara has cptsd, his symptoms arent as outwardly shown in comparison to atsushi, but it doesnt mean he doesnt have it. hes also a side character we spend a relatively small time with but with the time we do get to see his character but with the plot there isnt a chance to explicitly show all of his cptsd symptoms.
i did as much research as i could but please do let me know if i got anything wrong !!!
tachihara is an emotionally driven character & bc of that, all of his conflict is caused by his emotions.
his main internal conflict is over his loyalty & care belonging to both the pm & hds
hell he even reveals himself as a spy to yosano to get his greif driven revenge which jeopardizes his mission.
his emotions play such a role into his actions.
so this leads me to believe that tachihara would win in a fight against fukuchi.
i know they fight & tachi loses but that was bc his emotions were involved. throughout the fight tachi is trying to figure out the reason behind this betrayal. he stars the fight not to kill fukuchi but to get information from him. hes so desperate for an answer that he drags the fight on to get fukuchi to talk. we all know how that ended.
now imagine that fight if tachihara wasnt trying to get info & was instead there to kill fukuchi.
tachihara is a trained spy, he would do something much different than just walking in & annoicing himself. even if he did tachihara does knock down fukuchi & tachi is fast so he couldve delt a fatal blow.
tachiharas ability perfectly combats fukuchis & tachi couldve won if his emotions weren't involved (it also wouldnt have been the best story if tachi killed fukuchi there)
sorry if this doesnt make much sense im sore af & still need to practice my choreo & lines-
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tachihara hides his emotions extremely well, i mean hes a spy so its part of the job, it leads to him hiding/surpressing most of his negtive emotions when infront of ppl. once hes alone tho he'll either go numb or completely break down & no one would be non the wiser, except jouno.
the only person to know would be jouno, especially when tachi first joined. i imagine the hds all share a dorm or smt just to keep them close & accessible.
jouno would hear how tachi would be manually regulating his breathing or how fast his heart would beat during a meeting. so jouno would push to end the meeting early or make it go faster so tachihara could get outta there & properly calm down.
if theyre just hanging aroung & tachi would start to freak out jouno would try his hardest to give tachi a way out to calm down.
jouno would never physically be there with tachi to calm him down but jouno would still try his hardest to subtly help him. if tachi has an extremely bad breakdown or cannot calm down by himself jouno would send another hd to help. he would insist it was solely bc the hyperventilating annoys him but everyone knows thats only half the truth.
highkey i would love to hear your thoughts on the hunting dogs as a whole & their relationships with tachihara if you had time !!!
i always have time, so sure!
As a whole...i think they're pretty close. The majority of them don't have anyone else who could understand them. And they're all in kind of the same situation. They get annoyed with each other, there are things that some of them do that causes the others grievances. They're like a family even if none of them see it that way, just without really the love that is supposed to be there. I have no doubt they care about each other im just hesitate to say that they love each other. There is a chance some of them know that this is the closest they will ever get to a family, but you couldn't pry that sentiment off of their cold dead hands. I do like to think that Fukuchi, to some extent, sees the Hunting Dogs as his children. He knows they're not, but he figured if he had kids he'd want them to be like his Hunting Dogs.
Teruko and Tachihara are pretty close, being the youngest members, and Tachihara lets Teruko play with him. There is like a sense of a barrier, since Teruko is the vice commander and does not sympathize with Tachihara's discomfort with the surgeries. I'd argue that Teruko is who Tachihara is the closest to within all of the Hunting Dogs. Also Tachihara actually watched stupid movies with her, Tecchou is also there but he's Tecchou. They have similar opinions of Fukuchi, so Teruko can 'drag' Tachihara to watch Fukuchi do cool stuff while training.
Jouno and Tachihara both joined within like the same year and they're both former criminals, so they're also fairly close. Tachihara could talk to Jouno about his opinion on things that he felt like he couldn't share with Teruko or Fukuchi for one reason or another. Jouno's like his older brother, a sentiment that he probably would never say.
Fukuchi mentored Tachihara, so I assume they spent a lot of time together. Tachihara looked up to Fukuchi in some way because he's a hero. There were similar feelings about Fukuchi like Teruko, just not to her extent. Fukuchi is impressed and proud of Tachihara and tells him that. Fukuchi was, probably, the first adult in Tachihara's personal life to tell him he did good. They're basically father and son but neither would say it.
I don't think Tachihara ever knew how to get close to Tecchou. They don't really work together unless it's a group thing, Tecchou being paired with Jouno and Tachihara going with Fukuchi and/or Teruko most of the time. However there is a sense of respect between both of them, Tachihara cause Tecchou is the strongest, and Tecchou because of Tachihara's ability. They don't talk much, but they have pleasant conversations.
I hate that Jouno's section is the shortest but I just don't know what else to say. Oh well.
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This is going to go to so many places and it might not make sense at parts but I refuse to organize my thoughts because that will take too long and I have other stuff to do. Also this is very long and i never really proof read it or fact checked anything because i was lazy. anyways this spanned over 2k words and was about 3ish pages on docs so...yeah. cut it off after the 3rd paragraph out of 16. i also haven't read this through since i queued it in on like July 7th.
Letās start with talking about him and Yosano. There is of course their relation to Shunzen but letās talk about their other things. Yosano felt like she had lost herself because of the war, she just didnāt know who she was as a person, and she thought she didnāt deserve to live. The Agency gave her a life and let her become someone she actually loved. Tachihara doesnāt know who he is, heās trying to figure himself out. Heās going through the journey Yosano already went through. One of my favorite lines that Yosano says to Tachihara is, āJoining an organization and becoming someone for the first time, hm? Trust me, I get it.ā Another translation of this I really like is her saying, āJoining an organization and becoming someone you liked, hm?ā I just adore those. She clocked him because she got him, that search for an identity. Yosano understood him in a way that not a lot of other people could, because she used to be a very similar way. I especially adore the ābecoming someone you like.ā line, just because I think itās accurate, and I think itās funny that Yosano got that. Tachihara never truly wanted to be the complete opposite of Shunzen, and he didnāt want to be the same as his brother.
Speaking on another Tachihara and Yosano thing, the Shunzen connection. Ooo okay, so Yosano and Tachihara with this connection are so tragic. Yosano is much more affected by the actual death, while Tachihara is more affected by the events after the death. Let me explain what I mean by that.
Yosano is traumatized by the death. She saw the dead body, she tried and tried and tried to bring Shunzen back. The words he left her, what he called her, the fact he killed himself. Who knows how long she just watched him swing there dead before someone got him down, how many times she used her ability on him before someone had to tear her away. She could barely remember anything that happened after his death, and she was in a mental institution because of that. The guilt she felt for his death affected her for years after; that butterfly Shunzen gave her as a gift is her most prized possession. Sheās fine with dying by Tachiharaās hand because itās justified to her, because she blames herself for the death.
To explain what I mean by Tachihara is more affected by the events after the death, let's talk about his family.
Firstly, Shunzen. I think as a person, he was a good person, got good grades, stuff like that. Just the perfect child. Letās say Tachiharaās family were comparing him to Shunzen even before the death, Shunzen wasnāt aware of that. Shunzen, I think, loved his little brother, but he didnāt seem to know that his family didnāt share that same love. Shunzen was probably a good older brother to Tachihara, we think.
Now to his family, oh dear. Okay, so firstly, his family sucks. They have said, canonically, stuff like, āWhy?ā āIf that child were alive, this would be nothing!ā āThis is all you can do?ā āWhy was it him and not you?ā Depending on the translation. None of these are good things to say to your child who is also grieving. Also I want to focus on the āIf that child were alive, this would be nothing!ā That sounds like Tachihara was doing something, like a chore, and for some reason someone in his family decided to say that??? Also the way it refers to Shunzen as just āthat childā, gets on my nerves. Tachihara really canāt escape being lowkey treated like an object huh?
Speaking of being treated like an object, let's talk about the Hunting dogs.
Letās explain something about the Hunting Dogs, you have to be an ability user to join, I think, and the surgeries are mandatory, you have to get one. Itās how they keep them loyal, they put them on a leash they canāt escape from. Now, Tachihara has the surgery, itās not as strong as the others, but he still has it. He is on a leash the same as the others. Now, why does he have the lower surgery? Cause heās a spy, he needs them lesser. What does that mean? It means heās not as strong as the others and he gets hurt easier than the others. Does this mean he gets the surgery at a different time then the rest of them? We donāt know. I think he does have to go every month for a check up, and I think having a day off every month is something the Port Mafia allows/does. Anyways, more with the Hunting Dogs, the dehumanization or the objectification of them. The government views them as tools and weapons and it feels like the Hunting Dogs were taught to view themselves as tools and weapons. Slaves and fangs etc etc. Now I bitch about the Hunting Dogs so much itās not even funny, but in my defence, they fucked up with Tachihara. They threatened him into joining, it was either becoming a medically altered military child spy or death. Tachihara doesnāt want to die, despite his minor self hatred and self worth issues. That is a big part of his character, he is willing to hurt himself, sure, but he doesnāt want to die. For him, the last resort is death. I think part of that is because of the Hunting Dogs, they have to fight until their last breath, so thatās what Tachihara does. They are weapons and tools to themselves and to the government. I doubt the government gives them much time to recover from the surgeries. Theyāre supposed to be unstoppable forces with no end except for the rotting.
Tachihara and his relationships with the Hunting Dogs are kind of interesting. Heās the āStraight Manā of the group, and heās also the youngest and the newest member. Before someone gets mad at me for calling him the youngest, Teruko isnāt 12, sheās like 26. How do I know that? Occamās Razor, the simplest explanation is probably the correct one. Itās most likely that the translators were wrong, good? Good, now back to Tachihara. Tachihara seems to be somewhat close with at least Teruko. Teruko is shown with visible pain when watching Tachiharaās goodbye video, and Tachihara is shown to be worried for her. Theyāre the two youngest members(I think? We donāt know Jouno or Tecchouās ages yet but I think theyāre 28?), and both of them were around the same age when Fukuchi met them, 12 vs 13ish. Theyāre also literally just Fukuchiās children so yeah. Tachihara doesnāt actually seem to have a strong opinion of Tecchou, but we also havenāt seen the two of them interact all that much. Tachihara and Jouno seem kind of close, Jouno compliments him on his recent infiltration, but thatās about it. I assume they joined the Hunting Dogs at around the same time, just because it makes sense for me, and I think that would in a way make them a bit closer. Tachiharaās relationship with Fukuchi is one I wish weād have more of, we know Fukuchi did infiltration missions in the past and probably mentored Tachihara. I believe that Tachihara would have reminded Fukuchi of himself back when he was younger.
Tachiharaās identity is something that is very important to him as a character, but he has two identities that are very different. In the Port Mafia, Tachihara is a rash, impulsive, arrogant, aloof and prideful person who seems to have a temper about him. With the Hunting Dogs, Tachihara is calm, clever, intelligent, friendly, and yet still a little bit rash. Despite these differences, he still is shown to value orders, because theyāre his reason for living. Heāll go against them, sure, when theyāre unjust and he knows it, but theyāre still very important to him. He is also shown caring about both sides of the groups, which I believe is a big part of who he is. So, who is he? Tachihara, I think, is someone who cares about other, who values the orders given to him, who is smart and intelligent but can be rash and impulsive at times, who likes working, who has a strong personal sense of Justice, who knows how to react in most situations, and is someone who is good.
Another part of his identity I think should be talked about is his self worth. He believes himself to be lesser than his brother, and to him, that is simply just a fact. The memories of being told that over and over again hurt, but he truly believes that he cannot be as good as his older brother. This is because his family instilled that into him, they told him all the time how he could never be as good as his brother. This, probably, caused him to put his brother on this pedestal. Tachihara can never truly love himself because his brother will always be put first. He believes his brother would be better at this than himself. Which I disagree with. Shunzen, mentally at least, I donāt think is as strong as Tachihara. Shunzenās ability is cool, but all we know about it is that he can create metal. Tachihara owns metal, all metal is his to control. Despite this, Tachihara fully believes that Shunzen would be better at his job. We know this because itās how we got the flashback to his family telling him he shouldāve died.
Imposter Syndrome is described as a feeling of inadequacy despite success and a feeling of being a fraud/being found out as a fraud, at least at the base. And Tachihara, is a fraud. He is not a Mafioso, he is a Hunting Dog. Heās also not a Hunting Dog, heās a Mafioso. Now, I say this because his loyalties lie with both groups. He cannot be a Hunting Dog because his loyalties lie with the Port Mafia, and he cannot be a Mafioso because his loyalties lie with the Hunting Dogs. He loves both of these groups dearly, and the only reason he picked the Mafia is because Fukuchi betrayed him.
He does feel inadequate, but I do feel like he is aware of what he can do. He knows his strengths and weaknesses, and he knows how good he is in a fight. He just also feels like his brother could do it better, his feelings of inadequacy seemed to be directly and solely connected to his older brother.
Tachiharaās anger in the early seasons before the reveal is a very expressive anger, an anger fueled by annoyance more so than actual anger. Of course this is mostly due to the fact that he is a spy and wasnāt actually all that mad those times but it is interesting to see that and then compare that to the times when he wasnāt really acting and was genuinely mad. His anger towards Yosano is superficial, however the anger he portrays in that moment is a cold type of anger. Thereās not much there besides anger and grief, and then when Yosano apologizes to him for his brother, he looks pissed off. Which has always kind of confused me because why are you mad sheās apologizing for that? Anyways, he gets that same expression when he gets mad at himself for believing in the Mafia Code when heās supposed to be a Hunting Dog. When he yells at Fukuchi, the anger there is desperate. Heās not only angry there, heās desperate for an answer that Fukuchi doesnāt give.
I said before that Tachihara doesnāt want to die, but after some thoughts, maybe he doesnāt care. Heās fine with dying if itās for orders or for a good cause. He is not actively looking for his death, but he also isnāt trying to desperately stay alive like other characters.
Now lets talk Black Lizard and Tachihara, firstly, he probably rose in the ranks pretty quickly. Maybe becoming a Black Lizard commander within a year, however, he never truly became actually close with them until after Atsushi. Before the main timeline, he rarely saw the other commanders. Gin was frequently busy with being an infiltrator and an assassin, Hirotsu was doing work, and Tachihara was stuck with Elise most of the time. And the times he did interact with them? They finished the job, then went their separate ways. They always won the fight, until the Agency and for the first time in years, the three of them were forced to spend more than an hour with each other. Tachihara saw that, while they were criminals, they were human. They gave him an actual perception of what Justice is. The Hunting Dogs told him what justice was, the Black Lizard showed him what justice was. They taught him to see the world in shades of gray, they showed him what loyalty is like when you donāt have a leash. Also theyāre 100% his family, Hirotsu is literally his father, I will take no arguments.
Speaking about family, that I think is what Tachihara desperately wants. His own family didnāt want him, and he didnāt have a choice in joining the Hunting Dog unit. It was his own choice to infiltrate the Port Mafia, and Iām pretty sure theyāre the closest heās ever going to get to a family. As dysfunctional as the Port Mafia is, they are a family. Chuuya says it, and Iām sure Tachihara feels that way about them. Itās why Iāve started to have a hard time shipping pm x pm ships, because I love their platonic family too much.
Okay Iām ending this here because Iām tired. If anyone has something to add or snything please do this is uh yeah. Anyways, Tachihara is one of the few character we see be part of both the Light(the Hunting Dogs) and the Dark(the Port Mafia), the difference is that one group held a knife to his throat and told him what he was and what they needed him to be, and the other group was the Port Mafia. Itās just funny to me, I adore Tachihara and itās why if you look through my page I uh criticize the Hunting Dogs more than I do the Port Mafia. Thatās because the Port Mafia just didnāt do bad things to Tachihara, that weāre aware of. Itās possible, don't get me wrong, but compared to what the Hunting Dogs didā¦I think they treated him better and okay weāre ending this bye.