#magmell

Repost Starts here;

Oh man, I had this epiphany and ranted about it in the magmell disc server in... october, I think? Maybe early November right before you posted this, I'm not sure. Didn't even know anyone else connected the dots as well lol

But yeah, it's very heavily implied from the beginning that Koutarou and Kouyou are assigned to the Coelacanth. From Chapter 1's first ever animal shown being the Coelacanth (right after the first panel being Koutarou's childhood with Kouyou, mind you) all the way over to this absolute beast of a scene in Volume 10. Koutarou's Coelacanth pillow, a bunch of his promo art including Coelacanths, just everything Coelacanth. So odd for a character who is canonically assigned to the giant isopod.

I've said it far too many times in the disc, but the fact that both Kouyou and Koutarou are eluded to the Coelacanth a ton really emphasizes the main, sort of, moral message Magmell wants to send (or what I believe it is trying to send.)

Its a very simple message, one that a lot of people can say without thought, or that it could sound nearly offensive, or useless, or generic. But it's a message that really just, holds true for every person no matter their circumstance.

I feel like the Coelacanth is Magmell's message. The fish that went through everything nature could give it. Mass extinctions, climate change, everything terrible. But it kept persisting. From Miguashaia, to Mawsonia, to Megalocoelacanthus, to Latimeria. It went past the Placoderms, the Acanthodians. No matter what tried to kill them, they always persisted. And that's evident with Kouyou's message to Minato in Chapter 49. "As long as you live, you might encounter miracles. So, Minato, why don't you try to live longer too?"

Magmell's message is to simply keep moving forward. It sounds stupid, yet, it always works, doesn't it? When Koutarou was in grief for all of Volume 9, when Ryou was breaking down trying to hold on to his identity, when Haruno was talking with the co-director after Minato's vacation leave. All of these characters were scarred and lost at their worst moments. (Haruno and Shinya, we haven't seen fully their trauma, however.) But right now, they're still here. "Because people can live with their grief." Because even after everything they've been through, they still kept going, and they're still alive.

Kouyou's message to Minato in Chapter 49 is directly reflected in what Minato often sees as Kouyou's new half, that new soul that reminds Minato of his old friend.

Koutarou is the jellyfish that grew bones, Koutarou is the miracle that Kouyou lived for, Koutarou is the embodiment of Kouyou's will.

From that slightly fragile, sensitive boy who gets seasick near the port and tries all he can to save every fish, to the boy who was able to accept his grief and withstand the pressure of the deep sea, and as a result "grew bones". He's assigned to the Giant Isopod, deep sea creatures that can withstand great differences in pressure, and he's also related with the Hadal Snailfish in Volume 9, the fish that lives in the deepest part of the ocean.

Time and time again, Koutarou keeps on proving Kouyou's message right, even if he doesn't even know it. Koutarou is the embodiment of Kouyou, his message, and the Coelacanth. He keeps moving forward, he always persists, and he always helps others in need. Koutarou's will to keep going even at his lowest points and his choice to save Ryou from another Mizu5 situation was a direct incarnation of Kouyou's will.

Koutarou carries the will of the Coelacanth, the will to always keep moving forward, the will to never back down. The Coelacanth has persisted for 375 million years, and it will persist for another 375 million. Koutarou isn't just Kouyou's shadow, he is an entirely different person, his own self, but he is still the continuation of Kouyou's will. Latimeria is the continuation of Miguashaia's will all those years ago. And Miguashaia was always right.

...And that is precisely why Minato is such a tragic character. He's someone with a soul so similar to Kouyou, with a passion filled with love, and he had rarely been given any of it. Where Koutarou found love, acceptance, and family, Minato is seemingly devoid of it. There's a lot to unravel with Minato's character, and subsequently Haruno and Shinya. Themes of family, themes of abandonment, grief, and acceptance. Minato is a character deeply rooted in the phenomenon known as the Whalefall. When a whale dies, it falls deep into the bottom of the sea, where it gives new life to the ecosystem in the depths, at the cost of whatever is left of its life being eaten away slowly.

Minato has given a lot to the crew of the Magmell. He seemingly helped Shinya with his family troubles, provided Asahi with an escape from his family's iron grip, indirectly saved Ryou with the dysphoria that was breaking him apart, saved Haruno with his undisclosed issues to the point he feels indebted, and gave Koutarou his passion for the deep sea. He was a mentor with everyone, and gave them a new life to live. And yet, he couldn't really live his own.

He is trapped in the past, forever haunted by it. But how could he not be? Both of the people he loved are gone, and he might have hurt the one that saved his life. And even with them all gone, he is surrounded by their mirrors and ghosts. The love of his life, mirrored by the child she left as her parting gift, and his dearest best friend, mirrored by a boy lost in his life, reminding him of his own past, and the person that saved it. And yet, they will never be them. Nagisa and Koutarou are not, and will never be, Nagiko and Kouyou.

Perhaps, sometime soon, Minato will finally understand Kouyou's message. But then again,

Where Miguashaia persisted and left Latimeria for the world,

<3 = a favorite, [] = in progress/on pause

<3 Alice Isn’t Dead - 5/5, delivery trucker goes searching for her believed dead wife, comes across supernatural towns and creatures and a conspiracy that goes way deeper than one missing woman

[paused] Ars Paradoxica - scientist accidentally invents time travel and is thrown back to the 1940s, will need to recap probably

Blackwood - 3.5/5, group of teens investigate the town urban legend and uncover more than they bargained for

The Burned Photo - 4/5, two women try to fight a familial curse haunting their bloodlines

<3 Cascadia (season 2 coming) - 5/5, submarine expedition to uncharted waters, gone wrong, we almost died!?

Gaslight - 3/5, girl goes missing and then reappears to her best friend years later with little explanation

Harley Quinn and the Joker: Sound Mind - 5/5, it’s a Harley Quinn origin story basically

Ice-Cream - 4.5/5, teens suspect the friendly neighborhood ice cream man of abducting little kids and uncover a dark secret

<3 The Left Right Game - 5/5, a journalist investigating an urban legend that gets increasingly more dangerous as they go

Magmell - 4.5/5, two space explorers and their AI delve into the depths of space and get more than they bargained for

The Midnight Symphony - 4/5, mysterious melody haunts girls since childhood and when one goes missing, the sister goes on a journey for answers

[paused] Rabbits - girl goes searching for her friend who disappeared because of this mysterious Rabbits game, will need to recap

<3 [in progress] The SCP Experience - 5/5 overall, scary stories using SCPs as inspo, some are connected but most are self-secured, self-contained, self-protected stories

<3 See You in Your Nightmares - 5/5, insomniac undergoes AI sleep treatment and it gives her dream-hopping powers but there are also nightmare monsters

Video Palace - 2/5, movie buff investigates the secret behind some white VHS tapes

[paused] Wake of Corrosion - apocalypse where characters are trying to find other survivors and also answers, will need to recap

Photo I took of @magmell.folk in the Guincho hills, Cascais (Portugal)

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↠    inyou icons  ~♡

i love her!!

SO MUCH!!!

she totally understands the struggle lmfao

and if you were wondering, her response to my last comment was, "I feel that in the depths of my soul" because we are on the same wavelength and she gets me

WHY