#bunnibabbles

I feel like this recent episode really tied a lot of previous Totty scenes/skits together and shows why he acts the way he does at times. For starters, Todomatsu wants to seem “normal” or be seen as socially acceptable. He wants to fit in, to be liked. Which is why he gets so frustrated with his brothers, who he sees as socially unfit.

He shows his frustrations with his brothers a lot throughout S1, and the way he treats them at times isn’t the best and can be a bit harsh, I won’t sugarcoat it. Whether you see his actions as being completely justified or not is up to personal debate. But a lot of it probably has to do with him being the youngest, and that he “can’t win” against his older brothers and they constantly drag him down. I think the way he treats his brothers at times may also have to do with another reason, but I’ll get to that in a bit.

Despite this, he still cares and wants to help his brothers! 

There’s several moments throughout the show that shows Todomatsu really does love them but I’m just going to focus on this scene from Star of Hope.

Which brings me back to that other reason why Todomatsu probably treats his brothers the way he does. Todomatsu wants to be independent. He’s part of a set of six (”I am them, and they are me”) and he’s the youngest, so he’s the bottom of the barrel basically. He doesn’t want to be seen as just a “sextuplet” or the “youngest”, he wants to be seen as Todomatsu Mastuno. But he’s still attached to his bros. He had 5 big brothers he could depend on while growing up (and he still depends on them for things i.e. taking him to the bathroom at night).

So the way he treats them is also in order to try to be seen as his own person instead of the last of six and probably to try to reject his attachment/dependency of them.

Todomatsu tries to handle situations in the way he thinks is best, however it’s not always right. A big part of that is because his feelings/views are often conflicted. And that’s one of the reasons why The God of Mixers tells him he needs to be more honest with himself!

And now to S2 episode 7 and Benimatsu. Yet again, we see Totty just wants to help his brother and gets frustrated when he doesn’t listen to him or does something inappropriate.

And yet...even though the mixer turned out to be a mess, Osomatsu is able to get the girls to open up to him. He’s able to do something that Todomatsu has been constantly striving for, and he did it without following Todomatsu’s advice. The appropriate behavior Todomatsu believed in was pretty much thrown out the window. And then we see him ignored, not only by the girls, but by his own big brother too.

Which I find sad, because it has been shown several times that Todomatsu admires Osomatsu.

And Todo has been confused for Oso several times throughout the series, such as in the previous episode (it’s even happened a few times in 80s kun!). Todomatsu has worked hard to make himself the "charming socially fit” brother and it was like Oso had swiped that from him in that moment. Which leaves Todomatsu as...Nothingo, once again.

All he wants is to be liked and receive attention to feel validated. He doesn’t like to be alone, his character book had mentioned that he slept between Oso and Kara (when it was still the S1 order) because of this reason (maybe that’s also why he’s afraid of the dark? perhaps he associates the dark with loneliness?). As the youngest, he’s the one who’s last when following birth order, and he’s probably felt like he’s been in the shadows the most while growing up. But despite his efforts, he fails and becomes the forgettable youngest. The brother who “shouldn’t exist”.

He tries so hard to be loved and succeed but to also please everyone (i.e. Star of Hope- wants to take all his bros but also doesn’t want to disappoint anyone at the mixer) that his conflicting feelings partially become his downfall. He works even harder to fight factors that are against him, even though it often results in failure.

And so, at the end of the day Todomatsu is alone. No support from friends. No support from his brothers. He only has himself to give him the attention and support he craves.