#ghost analysis

I already made a post about "cod men when they're stressed" which is similar here.

So here it the answer.

How Ghost would realistically argue with his wife

1. Wife isn't mature at the moment

If the wife isn't capable of holding a discussion calmly and she gets emotional, Ghost would shut down and immediately tell her "I'm not having this discussion until you calm down". And will outright just leave.

Recently, I’ve been focusing a lot (…again 😅) on the cultural movements that inspired the entire Meliora era, especially Futurism.

Knowing from Bishop Necropolitus Cracoviensis II that Terzo studied the Futurist manifestos during his formative years in Krakow (most likely Marinetti’s), I like to believe that the main inspiration for Meliora’s aesthetic came from the architectural drawings of Antonio Sant’Elia. The parallels between Filippo Tommaso Marinetti and Antonio Sant’Elia with Terzo and Necropolitus are quite evident:

(...) We would sit down to studying exciting Futurist manifestos, sketched the blueprints of utopian metropoles, spiked with shiny skyscrapers stabbing at the heavens belly... Wantonly swollen zeppelins would to carry our gospel of indulgence to the farthest corners of the globe to summon and enslave.

BP Necropolitus

We had stayed up all night, my friends and I, under hanging mosque lamps with domes of filigreed brass, domes starred like our spirits, shining like them with the prisoned radiance of electric hearts. (…) Alone with stokers feeding the hellish fires of great ships, alone with the black spectres who grope in the red-hot bellies of locomotives launched on their crazy courses, alone with drunkards reeling like wounded birds along the city walls.

F.T. Marinetti - Manifesto of Futurism

Easy to imagine Terzo and Necropolitus—half stoned, half dazed, and inexorably intoxicated by a party that had been going on for hours—retracing, for the hundredth time, the highlights of the Futurist Manifestos they had read over and over, fervently discussing the future and the modernity they dreamed of bringing with his papacy.

Sant’Elia was a contemporary of Marinetti, fathers of the Futurist movement, and his Manifesto for Futurist architecture shares much of Terzo’s vision for Meliora, the city he created.

Each generation will have to build its own cities. Sant’Elia said.

that, just as the ancients drew their inspiration from natural elements, we – materially and spiritually artificial – must find our inspiration in the new mechanical world we have created, and our architecture must be its most beautiful expression, its most complete synthesis, its most effective integration; (…) by architecture, I mean the effort to freely and audaciously harmonise man with his environment, that is, to make the material world a direct projection of the spiritual world; 

A. Sant’Elia - Manifesto of Futurist architecture

(...) Forged in nostalgia of steam and fire, this brave new world of ambition, vice, lust and greed - all so inherent to the enlightened modernity, was always with him through all these years.

BP Necropolitus

The Futurist movement embraced all forms of art, from painting and sculpture to architecture, music, and literature. It was characterized by a burning hatred for the past, which they wished to destroy, and a glorification of machinery, new technologies (we’re talking about first 20 years of 900), dynamism, speed, modernity, and rebellion. Nothing was meant to stay still, everything had to move, transform, evolve… very much in line with what Terzo seemed to believe.

But there was a downside. The original Italian Futurism became closely tied to fascism. It also celebrated violence and war, seen as tools to “clean up” and make space for the new. Most of the founding artists died in a war (World War I) that they had glorified and willingly taken part in. And when the dictator fell, so did the Futurist movement.

The lives of these artists were brief, but they remained true to their ideals, for better or worse, from beginning to end.

Erect on the summit of the world, once again we hurl defiance to the stars!

F.T. Marinetti - Manifesto of Futurism

I've been watching him for my entire life

I hate the air he breathes, his foolish decrees

His words so contrived

And I hate the way the townspeople gather outside

They hang on every breath, cling to his chest

Home to his heart full of pride

Perpetua at Copia, if the trans man Perpetua theories hold any weight, he probably watched Sister choose Copia as the successor and was tossed aside as the spare. We all know Copia has pride, and spades of it.

The oracle told him to beware the Ides

And I'd be lying if I said I wasn't wishing

For untimely death or demise

Or am I just wishing I could be like you?

That the people would see me too as a poet

And not just the muse

This could go either way. There is murder and backstabbing in their familial line, their paternal line. Perpetua might have felt envious as a kid, and as a personal headcanon, probably felt alone in the catholic church. But it could also go for their grown up selves, Copia loathing Perpetua to the point of wanting to commit fratricide. The downfall of their once relationship, the potential of it being squandered due to greed, envy, and pride.

Oh, it's not true, I don't wish harm upon you

From birth we've been like brothers of different mothers

Within the spirit of the same womb

May the gods strike me down if I forsake you

Frater meus, you're beautifully made

And to you I'm forever grateful

They're not half siblings, but twins. But they were raised separately so it's possible Perpetua knew Copia was his twin, but thought they'd never meet because he was in the church and well, Copia wasn't. Perpetua probably wanted to meet him, anyway. Forsake his religion, go to sin, all for the chance to meet his twin. His blood. But blood is not thicker than water.

I'll never forget that you showed me to make art

And I know the love you showed me came

From a pure and noble heart

I love you, and if you want, I'll call you King

But why do I lie awake each night thinking

"Instead of you, it should be me"?

Perpetua may have wanted to meet Copia, and badly, and maybe Copia wants that too, but his pride and envy get in the way of seeing the bigger picture. "I love you, and if you want, I'll call you King" this could be either man addressing each other. Copia is the most powerful in the ministry, but Perpetua has the fans and is frontman, their adoration, something we all know comes with its own sort of power. Something Copia wants back. Maybe Copia DOES love Perpetua in his own twisted way. "Instead of you, it should be me." Pre transition Perpetua wanting Copia's shining light, the role he was raised for? Copia wanting his position back, even if it means giving up all the power?

Something wicked this way comes

And as I set to face it, I'm unsure

Should I embrace it, should I run?

What motivates me? Hatred? Is it love?

What's more wrong, that I too wish to be great

Or my mother wished she'd had a son?

And even if I can't be the one

Maybe I could at least help make way for him

Until the day that he comes

Maybe my name could also be known

That I helped return good to the people

And restored greatness to Rome

Something wicked this way comes, yeah, it's Copia being seemingly replaced for the shiner, "better" version. Hatred and love are two sides of the same coin, a very thin line. Back on the trans Perpetua headcanon, he probably laid awake numerous nights as a Sister wishing he was born correctly, born a boy so he could be more than a spare. So he could be great, too. A father, even. If Perpetua knew about Copia, even if it was just rumors from higher ups, half whispered secrets he caught while lurking in shadows. Maybe he looked him up and saw his reflection staring back. "That I helped return good to the people And restored greatness to [the] Ministry"

Brutus, Brutus, Brutus, Brutus

Brutus, Brutus, Brutus, Brutus

Brutus, Brutus, Brutus, Brutus

Brutus, Brutus, Brutus, Brutus

Copia, Copia, Copi, Cardi

V, V, Perpetua, Perpetua

My name is Brutus and my name means heavy

So with a heavy heart

I'll guide this dagger into the heart of my enemy

My whole life, you were a teacher and friend to me

Please know my actions are not motivated only by envy

I, too, have a destiny

This death will be art

The people will speak of this day from near and afar

This event will be history, and I'll be great too

I don't want what you have, I want to be you

"My name is Copia and my name means heavy". The end of Copia's reign, probably. He might be talking to Mr Psaltarian as the teacher and friend. His perceived enemy is Perpetua, not realizing the greater rot lies within the Ministry, itself. Envy, but self pride, is what motivates current Copia, as canonically he hasn't met Perpetua yet. "I want to be YOU"

I always knew I could be the one

Though I feel the endless pain of being

And I am scorched by the Sun

Of humble origins and born of the cursed sex

My name is Brutus, but the people will call me Rex

Another day, another cover

Links under the cut

Zen’s mother

The first recurring antagonistic ghost of the series. The first “big bad”. One of the most repulsive ghosts of Mieruko-chan. And the first monstrous ghost we learn the background of. 

At first this ghost is just presented as an ominous and evil entity lurking around Zen, telling all the girls that dare lay eyes on him to “NOT LOOK”. One might think she is similar to the obsessed girlfriend ghost Miko had to face in the early chapters but the truth is much more sinister... As it turns out this ghost is the one of Zen’s own mother. An emotionally abusive, hyper-controlling, smothering and possessive woman who was so obsessed with keeping her son as her own and not have him be “anyone else’s” that she could not leave him even in death. She stayed as a monstrous ghost, corrupted by her own evilness and obsession, constantly attached to her son and aggressively telling all females who dared look at him to “LOOK AWAY”. 

This basically confirms what we already knew before: most of the monstrous ghosts we see in the manga are the earthbound spirits of people that refuse to move on (and presumably tended to be evil or shitty people in life), ghosts that let themselves be corrupted by their own obsessions and desires, until they can only repeat a few words over and over again. We also understand that the ghosts’ monstrous shapes are actually related to what they are in essence. The human part of this ghost’s design is just the appearance of Zen’s mother as she was when she was alive, just a bit exaggerated and with the typical “ghost features” (bad teeth, bloodshot eyes...). But the rest of her body is the one of a giant spider. Which is actually a reflection of who she was in life and what she still is in death: a manipulative and controlling person obsessed with isolating and constantly watching her son, like a spider on her web, a predatory creature that tries to keep her son in a “cocoon” of suffering, while attacking anything that gets close to her web. 

You can also note more references to the traditional onryo archetype, such as the long dark hair: Zen’s mother already had long dark hair, but as a ghost she also ends up wrapped up in long hair that floats off her limbs (which does fit the whole spider web aesthetic). 

Zen’s cats: the true form

The creepiest and most disturbing part of the ghost of Zen’s mother is not however the ghost in itself. We have seen designs just as disturbing, it isn’t the first time we see a possessive “parasite-spirit” and Miko already had to escape very aggressive monsters (the little boy ghost that disguised itself as a living human?). 

No, what is very disturbing (but also quite revealing about the ghost world of Mieruko-chan) is what Zen’s mother’s ghost actually does around her. As it turns out, all of the creepy, dark, horrifying and mutilated cat-ghosts surrounding Zen are not the ghosts of his “victims” surrounding him... but the ghosts of his mother’s victim. Already in life Zen’s mother was a pet-killer who couldn’t stand having any kind of animal in her house despite her son’s great love for cats, and in death her evil spirit kept her murderous habits. Not that the ghost could directly kill the cats - rather we learn that all the cats Zen tried to save or rescue from shelters or the streets ended up dying in his home. He himself believes that he is just a bad caretaker... but Miko understands that it was clearly the ghost of his mother that snuffed out the life-force of the pets. She is so obsessed with keeping her son as her own that she literaly killed the pets he loved - because she can’t stand him showing love to anyone that is not her. (Plus we know that animals can see ghosts, so maybe this had to do with it?)  . 

We also get to learn that the reason these ghost-cats are so creepy and corrupted in appearance, as well as the reason they are tied to this earth, is because of the ghost of Zen’s mother: it is her own presence and corruption that makes them “creepy earthbound spirits”. After Zen’s mother disappears for good, the cat ghosts are “uncorrupted” (they become white and take back normal cat shapes) and then fade away like smoke, passing on to the afterlife. Miko interprets that as them leaving because “Mother”’s very presence trapped them as tormented spirits - but she also wonders if it isn’t Hana’s incredibly strong life aura that managed to “heal” or “cure” the cat spirits. 

The kami spirits

And this third volume ends up on a reappearance of the “kami” entities, the spirits of the mysterious shrine: the many-tailed fox-god and the shrine maidens. The deal Miko made with these entities is seemingly completed, as after she brought the cannibal ghost to the temple the fox-god offered her three protections. She used all three : one for the tunnel spirit, one for the little boy ghost, and her final one to get rid of Zen’s mother for good. It then seems the deal is over...

Been forever since I posted these but hopefully not the last! Here’s my analysis on the lovably wolf man, Wulf!