#ons chapter 154

Hello everyone. I'm sorry for the massive delay 😅 got busy and also had some struggles...

But anyways, let's start ok?

First, the chapter itself was a breeze of fresh air, I liked it. Felt it was slightly weak in few points but overall, it was pretty good.

Now, the question is: Is Tomoe Saotome real or not? The answer is a huge Yes!!

First, the chapter starts as a flashback, but, the speaker isn't Yoichi, but Tomoe. Then we see how the Hyakuya Sect had special spots where they could conduct their experiments without a need of raising suspiciousness, however, to one's surprise, Tomoe had full awareness that everything was wrong.

Once they get back home, Tomoe advices Yoichi how he shouldn't let the scientists keep going. But Yoichi, (yes, Yoichi is a cinammon roll), is too honest with her sister about not hurting despite the endless shots they put on him.

Before they return home, Tomoe tells Yoichi their parents aren't their real ones. Of course, Yoichi dismisses it at first by simply going with the flow, enjoying dinner and everything. However, Tomoe being the keep one, she kept her act to not raise suspiciousness.

And here comes the tricky part. We see the picture of a family. Tomoe's in there just like Yoichi, right? For the time being let's keep up.

After night comes, Yoichi recalls that they lost their parents. This means, the Hyakuya Sect has made it possible to replicate those who are long dead within their ranks to act as parental figures around kids with the seraph trait. Which of course applies to Mikaela, Yuu, Kimizuki and the rest of the kids from the Hyakuya Orphanage.

Sadly, after this, the experiments kept going. Yoichi displayed impressive results to the point he could have surpassed Mahiru & Shinoa.

Key point here: just like the Hiragi family did their own experiments, the Hyakuya sect tried replicating them. The only difference was that the Hiragi family was created by the 1st Progenitor, meaning his traits were imbued within the family's DNA in contrast to the Hyakuya Sect.

However, due to Yoichi being too emotional & displaying inestability, the scientists aimed to create different personalities. BUT, here comes the issue. Tomoe was agaisnt it. She didn't want Yoichi to suffer and being played for eternity.

That's why, in order to protect Yoichi, in order to avoid further toying with his baby brother, Tomoe sacrificed herself.

What do I mean?

Let's answer some douhts here. Tomoe Saotome did die. Otherwise there wouldn't be stored body of her.

However, she didn't die like Yoichi saw & believed at the beginning of the story.

Instead, Tomoe died way before the Apocalypse took place.

When Lacus & Rene found Yoichi, the picture on the table only displayed Yoichi & his "parents". Does this mean she never existed?

The answer's a big no. What the Hyakuya Sect did was alter Yoichi's memories, ensuring he could see his sister Tomoe only in dire situations, but within his daily lifestyle, he carried it on his own with his "parents". Hence why the picture only had 3 members.

Of course, since they only saw evidence of just Yoichi being alive, they found it as strange, and given the level of stress Yoichi was enduring, Tomoe surfaced from her "slumber".

Which is why Tomoe took control of Yoichi's body & ensured to control Lacus & Rene untio humans were able to rescue & pick Yoichi. However, let's set this on stone, the one harboring that special skill "Hack" belongs to Yoichi alone, which is a skill that allows him to invade someone else's mind along manipulating thoughts unless it's truthfully recquired along the level of mental strength of course.

Once Tomoe ensured Yoichi was safe, we saw something rather interesting.

What does this remind you of?

That's correct. An eventual trick Mahiru Hiragi would eventually pull in order to stay by Guren's side & ensure he could keep up with his plan against the monster who wanted thr World's End.

Back when Mahiru pierced her heart with Noya (Guren's cursed gear) back in the Catastrophe, instead of turning to dust as a vampire, she was absorbed into the sword, ensuring her soul & will remain despite no longer having a physical body. That way, whenever Guren manifested her, she appeared just like that:

So you could say, the way Mahiru achieved this was thanks to the spells developed by the Hyakuya Sect.

Therefore, you could say Tomoe was something similar to a demon manifestation. But of course, now that Yoichi is a grown up, he no longer has to hide under the bed.

This is the analysis that literally broke my mind along with bestie's; if anything, trying to understand how Tomoe's existance works was such an ordeal, but I do have an answer to this.

Back in february I updated this analysis:

However, current chapter was like a slap haha, but well, there's a logical answer. Let's begin!

First of all, I had to read carefully in this regard, given that there are several hypothesis, but also, after so long, a real answer to her case, let's enlist first the theories:

Imaginary Friend

She never existed in the 1st place (Contradiction = Catastrophe Ch. 27, Manga Ch. 114)

Yoichi has 3 personalities

Tomoe's soul is fully merged with Yoichi's soul to the point he can't tell where reality blends with illusion

Tomoe as a supervisor

There were in fact, two Tomoe. This one's complemented with bestie & yours truly that fuses option 4 & 5.

Number 1 & 2 sound interesting but sadly, they get debunked way too easily.

The Catastrophe LN & manga debunks automaticaly these two theories considering that Guren read the files Mahiru gave him.

Furthermore, Tomoe's corpse was in a coffin ready for her resurrection, meaning that a girl called Tomoe Saotome did exist in the real world.

Therefore, is number 3 correct? Yes & no. It also gets debunked due to material but its elements are elemental to understand Yoichi's psychology.

3. Yoichi has 3 personalities

Yoichi's very interesting despite him being a cinammon roll, if anything, his mind protects him from harsh ordeals with these 3 personalities.

1st personality = The real him, the one that recalls; the one that knows his family is fake.

2nd personality = The kind one who seeks peace and behaves truthfully sweet.

3rd personality = Tomoe, his strength & safe place

You could say Yoichi has multiple personality. And quotting the author within a LN (Boogiepop series, Kouhei Kadono; ironically the author within the LN is Kirima Seiichi):

Correct, you could say Tomoe is a personality that declared independence, a personality that fought to exist.

But, let's focus on the remaining 3, the ones that are heavily linked with each other.

4. Tomoe's soul is fully merged with Yoichi

This one elaborates that she existed at one point, however, due to the endless experiments he endured, along a specific evidence within the flashbacks, Tomoe ended up merging with him to the point Yoichi views her as a personality, but, is there some evidence?

But what evidence you might ask, right? There's one in specific within the Saotome siblings room. What is it? Correct. There's a single bed all the time, not two. While it's common to share when kids are little, it's more practical to have two, right? In Yoichi's case, whenever he entered his bedroom, there's something heavily pointed there that at first glance is easily dismissed:

That's correct. There's only one bed whenever he entered his bedroom or rather, the bedroom he shared with Tomoe. It's way common when siblings are small, they share a bedroom but not a bed unless one of two have nightmares.

Which of course, this makes us think that Tomoe was just a figment of imagination, then again, proof she lived debunks this.

This leads us to a new clue and answer.

5. Tomoe as a supervisor

This one implies that the Tomoe we see at the beginning, was in fact a proxy from the Hyakuya Sect.

Note: From here, this is heavily linked with 4 & upcoming 6). Remember during the flashback, Tomoe states that their parents are fake, right? Let's take that element and fuse it with the physical Tomoe in the flashback. What do I mean? The Tomoe there is also a fake.

The Tomoe we see is a replacement. It means, in order to have Yoichi some sort of support, the Tomoe we see interacting with him acted as a supervisor, which would answer to certain panel on which she directly speaks with the scientists. In that scene it'd have been impossible for Yoichi to communicate with the scientists of the Hyakuya Sect unless someone was there with them:

What does this mean? The Tomoe acting there was in fact a proxy of the Hyakuya Sect. She worked under them to bring Yoichi's full potential. However, at some point in the story, that proxy started harboring "Love". Meaning that she started seeing Yoichi as a sibling, someone to care for & worry for, hence why; she must have made a deal with the Hyakuya Sect in order to protect Yoichi one way or another. Given that the Hyakuya Sect members pointed they could have killed "both", not "Yoichi" alone had it been a case of multiple personality case.

The sacrifice that Tomoe aka the Supervisor did, was to actually become or boost the "personality" existing within Yoichi's mind, hence why she was able to take over Yoichi just like a demon possession would work as seen in other chapters.

Now, take this and let's focus on the veredict.

6. There are two Tomoe (This is the most logical explanation as crazy as it sounds).

Yoichi in fact, did had a family and a sister, his real sister Tomoe Saotomoe. "However", that real family actually passed away, making him get under the wing of the Hyakuya Sect, what do I mean?

Taking point 4 & 5 into consideration; the physical Tomoe we see in the flashback walking together with Yoichi or rather the Hyakuya proxy or Yoichi's supervisor, let's label her as Tomoe 2. Meanwhile, Tomoe 1, was in fact, the sister Yoichi truthfully had, biologically speaking. The one acting as his supervisor ensured Yoichi had some sort of mental safety; meanwhile Tomoe 1, the real one, was Yoichi's safety net or heaven. What do I mean? There's one interesting element that not only that Tomoe expresses, it's also something Guren mentions way back in Chapter 7. "Hide under the bed"

Whenever those scenes come, specifically when Tomoe appears, at the beginning of the flashback, it can be said that Yoichi's room is actually his heart or his safe zone; the Tomoe there is in fact, Tomoe 1. But once the vampires come, there's a massive time gap. The evidence lies on their ages.

When chapter 154 begins, we see that Tomoe's name card labels her as an 8 year old girl; while Yoichi at that time was 4 years old.

And we know that once the vampires started searching for the children, at that point, the whole squad members were at the age of 7-8 years old. What am I trying to get at? The Tomoe that took possession of Yoichi only strengthened the one that already existed, meaning the deal of the proxy was to let her soul fuel the "personality" or the "Tomoe 1" in order to give her complete materialization within Yoichi's mind in order to make her capable to possess him whenever he was in danger. Even for a proxy, "love" wasn't forbidden. Now, there's just one missing point. Why did Yoichi state he had no sister?

Answer: His family was fake. The ones he interacted weren't his family at all. The real one whom loved him were long dead; even the Tomoe 1, was so fused in his mind & soul to the point he no longer remembered due to the endless experiments but also, the fact that their interactions & degree of Yoichi's consciousness at the age of 4 wasn't as strong as it was when he was 7-8. Hence why, the Tomoe 2, or proxy, while she existed in the world, for Yoichi, she's not the real sister he had once.

For Yoichi, his core family were the parents that truthfully died in an accident as chapter 154 mentions; for him, even if he was technically taken care of, those weren't his parents. Same thing applies to the Tomoe Saotome that walked next to him.

Crazy right?

What do you think?

Let me know!

Hello everyone, this is the 2nd analysis I promised I'd update. Sometimes we might ponder about why Kagami shows us the PoV of the squad and mayhaps some might think that the Squad members are heartless, however, this in fact is a method to reflect what Yuu should have learnt on his life journey.

Thus, let's begin!

Was hearing this ost when my bestie talked with me:

P.S: This analysis fully belongs to my bestie Ange; she doesn't have a tumblr acc but she's on twitter but not so active, we actually talked about this on other social media plataform and she gave me authorization to post this. She's really well versed on OnS

The story so far, at first seems like a journey until it reaches its current destination; however, the tale itself is more of a reflection. What do I mean? Yuu is a character that treasures Mikaela, wants to see him alive and of course, he's focused on achieving that ultimate goal even if it means sacrificing his friends. This of course clashes well with his real goal which is to die if he fails even if he swears he won't.

On the other hand, we finally see the Shinoa squad members resolution, one by one. It's not random writing, there's a purpose to it, it's a way to create a difference and a reflection or a contrast.

Yuu's current self is a character that does not value life. It may sound harsh but, his character ignores the suffering all the vampires carry, dismisses that there's a time limit for living beings... dismisses that even demons have long suffered enough; dismisses the meaning humans have by simply stating he'll bring them back as an easy feat.

Let's start with the 1st reflection on contrast.

Shinoa Hiragi

Shinoa went from a girl who literally did not know of love. If anything, she saw that life held no meaning, however, for some reason, even if she broke her mind with it as a child, she kept living, something drove her to live. When the squad was made, at first she viewed it as duty, however, that warmth, that human interaction started to soften her heart.

When she started to interact with vampires, such as Crowley Eusford, she started to learn that even among vampires, some didn't choose to be turned into one; if anything, they too struggled to cope with other vampires.

With this, she was the only one to actually ask Krul about her past, about Ashera and their ties to the 1st. And it's not simply for digging information, if anything, she really didn't have to, yet she chose to ask, she chose to understand or at least tried to.

When she ambushed Ky Luc, she viewed Ky Luc as a mere killer, as someone who didn't value human life, someone who simply was as distorted as Ferid; however, when she started to gain Ky Luc's memories, she realized the memories of the vampires were more complex than she originally thought. She even saw why Ky Luc was fighting, aka Urd's dream to achieve death for all vampires

This allowed her to understand that vampires were exhausted of living forever, they were done struggling for eternity and the thing they wanted the most was to finally be able to rest. To stop living in cursed bodies that were bound to last for eternity.

2. Shiho Kimizuki

Kimizuki & Yuu have too much in common. Both lost what they held dear, and in the current chapter, we were able to see that Kimizuki's struggle or pain was letting go. He chose to mute Mirai. What the memory of her sister tried to convey was always met with a "shut up".

Kimizuki chose to mute Mirai in order to prevent hearing what her sister truthfully tried to convey.

This same situation reflects with Yuu, ever since he lost Mikaela as a human & as a vampire; Mikaela, before the whole memory recollection, tried to convey one single thing to Yuu, but like any moment, Yuu chose to mute his voice, his wishes.

Even Asuramaru told Yuu what Mikaela truthfully wanted.

3. Yoichi Saotome

With Yoichi, contrast to Yuu who refuses to let go of the past; Yoichi spent so much "hiding beneath the bed", however, thanks to chapter 154 & 155; Yoichi broke free from that. Yoichi reflects bravery, about standing up, about walking even if there seems to be no reason. It changes way more when someone out there is waiting for you, when someone cares & loves you so much that all they want is to see you well & again.

4. Mitsuba Sanguu

With Mitsuba, even if her development through the story hasn't been much... When you love, the least you want is to see your loved ones suffer physical pain; living is painful, but it's entirely different when you're actively hurting others...

What I'm trying to say, the squad itself reflects the path Yuu could have walked through; on the other hand, Yuu reflects a path that chose to remain in the past, chose to crawl down under the bed, refused to let go, refused to acknowledge that life is a path filled with grief, pain, sorrow; but at the same time, it's filled with happiness, love, joy, the value of life and the meaning each person possesses.

Seele & Veli 🤝 Yoichi & Tomoe