Okay enjoy the doodles time to ramble about Ichiro because I love him lots:

Ichiro’s character quote is “you’ll never find a rainbow if you’re looking down” (he makes it abundantly clear he stands by this message, I mean look at his jacket, what a dork) and this quote is attributed to Charlie Chaplin

The meaning of this quote is pretty simple, it’s a hopeful forward-thinking message of not focusing on hardships and looking to the future and finding the bright side of things. It’s cute, and it suits Ichiro’s character nicely, especially considering who he is in the current timeline

Before Ichiro became who he is now, though, he was a pretty angry teenager (which makes sense). And I think that part of his character is really important when looking at his quote since Ichiro has always been trying to secure a good future for his brothers even when his brothers disliked him

In the past, Ichiro was “looking down.” As a delinquent, Ichiro was someone who acted on his frustrations. He would get into fights and was literally a loan shark what the hell is happening guys. Considering everything (losing his mother, abandoned by his father or like he ran away from his father?? Hypmic isn’t very clear about that, and feeling the need to take on the responsibility of raising his siblings) it makes sense he would be rather estranged

But even during these hard times, Ichiro still maintained empathy and compassion for other people, refusing help in return unless it’s insisted. He always prioritized his brothers and he never wanted to share that responsibility with anyone else least of all any sort of authority figure

Ichiro constantly had to keep moving forward so he could continue to be dependable and so that he wouldn’t be left behind. Samatoki says something sorta like that in TDD at some point when he and Ichiro are offered to join up with Jakurai and Ramuda I think idk don’t beat me guys

This is why I believe Rei becomes a problem for Ichiro. Rei is directly tied to the part of Ichiro’s life that he’s trying to move past

With Kuko and Samatoki, Ichiro allows himself to grieve. He’s able to mourn the loss of his friends and eventually moves forward. That’s why those relationships are shown to eventually be fixed in some ways

In a way, Ichiro’s own philosophy becomes a double-edged sword. Continuing to look up and not “looking down” helps him survive, but it also prevents him from finding closure

Not gonna lie I had too much free time on my hands and I was looking into Charlie Chaplin a little more so that I could make the biggest reaches of all time for Ichiro when I found a different quote by Charlie Chaplin that I could relate to Ichiro too perfectly the stars aligned for me

“The saddest thing I can imagine is to get used to luxury.”

This immediately made me think of Rei. A character who is literally represented with gold and has shown to have many luxuries as he lives comfortably in a giant stolen mansion

To get used to luxury is to grow accustomed to comfort and that can turn into something truly isolating (Rei be like)

Now- to relate this back to Ichiro’s whole thing- I think this quote helps visualize the core of how he views his father. Ichiro sees Rei as someone who hurt him deeply: a father who left him behind, who is going against what Nayuta would’ve wanted, and shaking up the dynamics between the Buster Bros

Ichiro is fairly civil with Rei for the most part, but he refuses to truly connect with him. He refuses to get used to “luxury.” Because to get used to Rei would mean accepting someone who hurt him back into his life

Okay, home stretch– one last thing that I think is worth mentioning: In the manga (specifically looking at TDD and DoD), Ichiro is the one character clearly shown to grieve the loss of his friends (Kuko and Samatoki– ps I know Ichiro is mostly crying over his brothers not actually being dead, but I feel like he was also devastated at Samatoki’s apparent betrayal, but if you disagree with me my bad chief)

Anyways. Ichiro is allowed to grieve the people he lost– even when they hurt him, as I said before: He grieved Kuko, and now in the present their relationship is able to mend. He grieved Samatoki, and now they’re on somewhat decent terms

Ichiro hasn’t grieved Rei and I think that matters a lot because Rei isn’t just someone who left, he’s someone Ichiro never got closure with. There was no proper loss, just a lingering presence that complicates everything

I’m just saying, I think that if Ichiro were given the chance to truly grieve the loss of Rei Yamada– the father he will never get back– then maybe he could begin to reconcile with the person Rei Amayado is now

It’s clear that Rei wants to reconnect with his kids again (albeit in strange “riddle me this” ways)

Ichiro doesn’t mind that Jiro and Saburo want to talk to Rei, he fully accepts that it’s their choice if they want to trust him

But the key difference is that Jiro and Saburo don’t remember Rei as Rei Yamada. (Hypmic fix your timeline, the math for this makes no freaking sense unless I’m missing something)

Ichiro does

And because Ichiro remembers, he’s the only one who can’t move forward without first looking back