#fanramble

when Usagi first touches the Ki-Stone, he describes it as "like if you had a friend, who was lighting " and seems to be visibly fine after the Ki-stone pushes him away from the connection (or it seems more like; he's so taken aback to see Miyamoto Usagi in the same space as him, he just "wakes himself up from it" but doesn't look worser than usual).

But you'll notice that 1) his pursuers (newfound friends) + Spot are all ALSO lying on the ground, smoking from being zapped by the Ki-stone, and 2) Tetsujin who was touching Usagi on his shoulder to stop him is "not a ghost" - "transmuted into another plane of existence" - so basically we can say that as a kindness, the Ki-stone "transmuted" him instead of just killing him. So we can assume that usually touching the Ki-stone either kills or zaps the person.

But Usagi is basically fine, save for maybe feeling a bit hurt by the push-back onto the temple floor. Most of the next times he connects to the Ki-Stone again, it's by his yo-yo. Did the Ki-Stone, recognizing Usagi as a familiar rabbit, or even recognizing him as Miyamoto Usagi's descendany, know he would need this yoyo? Did she know Usagi could solve the 1000-year old problem delayed by Usagi's ancestor by killing the shogun and trapping all spirit-farers?

We also see in ep 6 "Nobody likes A Ninja", the ninja trying to list the Ki-Stone get zapped back as well. Side-note: we don't know if they just get a bit "burnt" like the main cast in ep 1, or if they're actually dead here after.

Whatever the case, the Ki-stone can't be touched directly without harm to the physical person. The way the fake scroll bait is used by the Neko Ninja also makes me think that Tetsujin, knowing that Fuwa would want to steal it, also made the scroll in a way he could punish the Neko Ninja a little, but without killing them (i know it's maybe not that important since they're technically enemies, but Tetsujin's whole outfit makes me thing that he'd approach it peacefull, or more with mischief that lethal harm in mind.)

In the same ep, Tetsujin also repeats the "Do not Touch the Ki-Stone" rule, also explaining why (magnetic pull of the earth - sidenote: that's why u can also see this magnets idea in how people in Neo Edo carry their weapons - magnets are everywhere in Neo Edo and that's how the cars and some of the appliances work for example)

As the series goes on, we see Usagi get gradually worser reactions after each time he has touched the Ki-stone. In ep 5, trapping Hakai, we see him step back and yell in pain, holding his eyes closed and covering them, staged in a way that makes it seem both the info and physical experience were tougher to experience. Trapping Sakuran in ep 6, he stands in shock and simply rolls down from not being able to stand on his own anymiore, lying down for a while when Tetsujin and Spot approach him. He says "That hurts a little more every time." At the end of the season, once he's seen the final scene with his ancestor, he holds his head again, but in slightly less pain. This could be explained how the whole city saw the scene and is "sharing the brainload", as we see everyone from Gen to the city police rubbing their heads in shock. Ironically, the only person to recover quickly from this is Lord Kogane (for humor, but this scene was genuinely funny with how it's a comment about history changing in a 1000 years)..

Anyway, this all to say that it's an interesting internal consistency within the show world x3 Usagi is the only one who survives touching the Ki-Stone, presumably bc of his connection to Miyamoto Usagi, who was able to also survive connecting to the stone and even cut it thanks to Willow Branch, his own personal weapon. I had a theory going in my head a while back that perhaps, despite him not having a legacy left after the murder of the fake shogun, what if the Ki-Stone decided to "save" Miyamoto Usagi somewhere? I probably forgot to post on it, but that first scene with Usagi and Usagi together in the white space of the Ki-Stone made me think. the older Usagi "wakes up" in a similar way, as if his spirit has been asleep for a 1000 years. We know he wasn't in the Ki-Stone like the Yokai, bc we see at the end of s1 that he survived that interaction + in s2 that he sent his sword away,.. but what if he had to send it for safe-keeping with his family not just because he was sure he would die and be captured, because he knew the sword would be needed later? "Willow Branch is a special sword" as he puts it in the ep 10 flashback. (and more abt this theory another time then)

At the end of the episode, we see that Yuichi connects to the Ki-Stone again, but this time, not to remember and not with his yoyo but to return Omurasaki to the Ki-Stone as it was the piece that his ancestor cut, was passed down instead of a sword, and now sit's on his auntie's Edgewing, at the pommel.

Maybe it was this connection to the Ki-Stone that also saved Usagi the first time? Whether it was the connection itself (having the sword with him, with the stone still spiritual/magical) or the Ki-Stone knowing that the piece was back in the city, and thus choosing Usagi based on it in the first ep. But the stone saw that he needed his own spirit weapong, and so it opened up the vault for Usagi to pick the most suited weapon for him. Again, I wonder how much the Ki-Stone in it's magic/spirit sentience actually foresaw or predicted some of this?

(I also find it interesting that the piece of Ki-Stone attached to Edgewing is named after the national butterfly of Japan, the Sasakia Charonda, or, ō-murasaki " (オオムラサキ - "great purple") - but all that for another time)

Giving the piece back the Ki-Stone throws Usagi back so far that he's actually left unconscious for a longer time, enough for the Ki-Stone to pulse with some sort of energy to close the big energy portal in the sky, go wireless and for his friends to basically finish fighting the rest of the warbotto.

Side-note: Like. he actually looked kinda dead in this scene and while being a longtime cartoon fan I knew it probably wouldn't last long, I was kinda convinced enough just to be like "no way. they're not gonna kill off a main character!" at it haha x3

Now, for the other times that Usagi touches it, he uses the yoyo, which basically seems to act as a conduit between his spirit and the Ki-Stone (which is basically a spirit-energy stone, going by the name), even tho he feels worse each time, he can still endure the memories and connection without bigger harm. Does this mean the other's in his orphan crew also get this ability with their Kaikishi weapons in s2? or is it special to just Usagi's yo-yo? It's also intersting that while both the Ki-Stone and the entire city feature magnet-related features as does the yo-yo (being able to connect to metal, but also spirits), it seems the other weapons do not have this ability. Except maybe Chizu's arrows, which she can change at will. Kitsune's new batlle fans can also disappear at will, matching her personality and skills, but the disappearing "woosh" energy also resembles the Ki-Stone itself, being purple. Gen's new war clubs can change size, but also connect into one big version which he is able to lift with ease, so that could also be a connection to the magnetic theme related to the Ki-Stone. Kinda wish we'd gotten more of the others or to see more of these weapons secondary skills, but alas, 10 eps is what we got.

But would this ability to connect to the Ki-Stone via weapons, mean that the others would also have more backstory and lore to explore if the show went on longer or even just for another season? More of those 2D cutscenes where characters remember or imagine something? What kind of story ideas did the writers and crew have simmering underneath all the stories they had to cut for time?

Also of note: While the rest seem to have standard features + super-natural ones which reflect their users + some hidden ability we don't know about, it might be that the yoyo also has one more secret ability?

Usagi's yoyo can act as a normal yoyo. When lit/glowing, it acts as a magnet and Yuichi can use it creatively in a lot of ways. It's nigh-indestructible, which seems like a feature that would be common to all Kaikishi weapons. It can capture anything magnetic and in episode 3, Possessions, we see it can also capture a yokai in place. Dare Mo, the yokai who takes auntie's appearance to fight Usagi, is surprised to see him sporting a Kaikishi weapon and begs him not to "use [his] weapon's power!"

So that has always made me wonder if there's more to it than what we see later? Because we see with ep 5, capturing Hakai, that if Usagi asks respectfully, the yoyo will "calm" the yokai into not struggling or resisting. It's about Usagi learning to respect and trust his weapon and learn to not jump into a fight all sword-crazy. But also, if it's part of it's spirit we could poetically state that it's about Usagi learning to trust and listen to his own soul as well.

In any case, this "calming" effect of the yoyo seems the most obvious third extra power, but I get the feel like there might more. (again, sorta wish we'd gotten to see more of the rest of the Kaikishi weapon's special powers x3) And then, if the other spirit weapons are not there for capturing yokai + we've already seen their secondary powers, what else could be there?

What's subtly interesting about Usagi's choice in the yo-yo, is that the Ki-Stone seems to have wanted to pick Chizu at first (she's the temple student and in reality an experienced fighter, but also, not being picked is a visual gag here), but then comically turns to Usagi, giving him the spotlight... but also making him react in a way that to me at least speaks that "that stone took his spirit-orb and sent it to the weapon door". We see him pick the yo-yo impulsively, but we also see. So it makes it feel like the Ki-Stone picked him deliberately, as if knowing he'd pick the yo-yo, instead of something sharp that could cut her, since we know that a sword is usually a samurai's spirit (and probably why in this show, Willow Branch was able to cut it at all).

In s2, after saving the city from the Makkine attack with his spirit-samurai form, granted to him by meditating while connected to the Ki-Stone by his yo-yo again, Usagi says that it's probably something he won't be doing again. It almost seems as if this drained all of Usagi's own spirit energy, and then some. The Ki-Stone gave him a boost upwards and he got some heavenly spirit-power to transform into a spirit-suit basically - with Usagi himself in the "heart" of the mech.

Interesting design. (I've made notes about this before). It's really cool! Also cool that it mirrors the end of UY: Senso in this way too. The show's showrunners and other creative staff were such big fans, they put something like this into the story, but it still makes sense internally.

also just because: of COURSE it ends with a bit mech vs kaiju fight!!!

he is much more like his ancestor than he thinks he is haha