#takemikey

That's the question. Technically, Mikey is in a better place than he was when in the original timeline or the timeline after it. Draken is alive, he didn't kill kazutora, black dragon never merged with toman, all the loose ends seemed tied But it is the worst one yet.

He kills everyone, which is something he hasn't done before. Yes, he let himself be corrupted before. Yes, he ran a violent criminal, Toman. It was bad but never "killed all your friends" bad

And for that, I think we have to go back to before Christmas and see exactly where the shift started. because I think we do have the reason why Manila in particular was so brutal compared to the other timelines before it, and it's pretty easy to deduce that it is when takemichi and mikey started getting closer

Where I think it started:

After the Black Dragon fight, Mikey completely lowers his guard. He shares his weaknesses, talks about Shinichiro, gives Takemichi his brother’s twin motorcycle, and teaches him how to ride.Most importantly, the "Invincible Mikey" admits he is weak for the very first time to takemichi. He explicitly asks Takemichi to stay by his side, guide him, and scold him when he goes astray. After watching Takemichi, I endlessly stand up to Taiju.

I think this is fully the moment where mikey decides to start relying on takemichi for his sanity,

And that's exactly why this future goes all wrong

Before the Christmas arc, when they weren't as deeply bonded, Mikey's downfalls were bad, but they were mostly driven by Kisaki’s manipulation. Mikey would get sad, Kisaki would take over Toman, and Mikey would become a puppet leader.

Christmas fundamentally changes Mikey's

dependency. Before Christmas, Mikey relied on a group of people , but after Christmas. he increasingly relies on one person

Takemichi becomes the object onto which Mikey redirects a dependency that already existed.

But then takemichi leaves, and then mikey snaps almost immediately. The first thing he does ask takemichi is why he left?

And every timeline after this arc is just devastating, almost always resulting in mikeys death. It is precisely because Mikey got emotionally attached to Takemichi during and after the Christmas arc that the futures become intimately tied to Mikey's personal mental state and takemichi's ability to keep him sane

Takemichi spent the entire series trying to save Mikey's loved ones (Baji, Emma, Draken), thinking that keeping them alive would keep Mikey sane. But he didn't realize that Mikey’s sanity also violently depended on his presence

Mikeys posessiveness:

And of course, we know that mikey is posessibe to an unhealthy degree, but I especially wanted to address how his posessivenes over takemichi isn't the same as his posseiveness over his friends

And I wanted to bring up the fact that mikey seems like he kinda views friendship and ownership as the same thing, he wants to get baji back from Valhalla because he belongs in toman, disregarding baji's choice of wanting to leave, same with kazutora where he affirms that he is his hense he has the right to kill him, his friends are his and he's allowed to do whatever he wants with them

And it is not different to how he treats takemichi, mikey deeply loves takemichi as a friend, but that love is devoid of respect for Takemichi as an independent human being, he is ESPECIALLY posessive of takemichi in a way that he isn't with the others

And it's shown even during their very first meeting, takemichi has no say in his friendship with mikey, wether he likes it or not from now on he's mikey's friend, even the way he says it is testament of that, its not "from now on we're friends" it's "from now on your my friend.

Mikey consistently showed disregard for Takemichi's own personal choices. Be it in Manila when he really couldn't accept the fact that Takemichi wanted to leave Toman and leave him when everyone accepted his decision. Or be it him being the leader of Black Dragon 11th generation. He genuinely could not care less about what Takemichi wants or desires if it does not involve him or his orbit or what he considers to be a safe distance.

Not only that, but to further get into this, mikey's feellings towards takemichi are described using 可愛がる (kawaigaru)

The root of kawaigaru comes from 可愛い (kawaii - cute/small/helpless). If you look up kawaigaru in a standard bilingual dictionary, it is often translated simply as "to love," "to cherish," and "to be affectionate toward."To dote on" or "to treat tenderly"

​When you use kawaigaru as a verb, it means to dote on, pamper, or cherish someone who is smaller, weaker, or lower in status than you.

You use it for children, pets, or a junior coworker/underclassman who you have taken under your wing.

​It is inherently asymmetrical. You cannot kawaigaru an equal or a superior,

But kawaigaru also has a well-known double meaning, which is to subject a junior to brutal physical training, hazing, or beating them to teach them a lesson.

But both have something in common: it always comes from someone having power over someone else

Mikey deeply cherishes and dotes on Takemichi (kawaigaru as love). ​But Mikey also physically beats him, subjects him to extreme violence, and breaks his bones

There is something so incredibly...patronizing in this.

mikey doesn't mind the power imbalance betwen them be it physically or socially in toman, he's perfectly content keeping takemichi under him wether or not he's in toman

Think about everything Takemichi receives early on:

He gets Mikey's personal protection.

He gets access to executive meetings.

He gets to ride around with Mikey.

He gets invited into spaces nobody else would.

He gets extraordinary leniency.

Those are all privileges But what doesn't he get? A position. Authority. Independence. Responsibility over other members.

Recognition that exists outside of Mikey himself, everything Takemichi has is mediated through Mikey.

If Mikey decided tomorrow, "Nah, you're not hanging around anymore," all of those privileges disappear because none of them belong to Takemichi—they belong to Mikey.

It's only later on that he starts seeing Takemichi as his equal, but more importantly, as his hero during Christmas, and even then, he is still stripping Takemichi of his humanity. Now, instead of controlling him as a possession, he is putting the entire weight of his sanity on Takemichi’s shoulders.

Mikey views other toman members as people. He respects them. They are strong, they have authority, they run their own divisions, and they have lives outside of Mikey. Yes, Mikey is still possessive of them (he will fight a whole gang to get Baji back), but he recognizes their agency. If they make a choice, he might get angry, but he processes them as independent entities.

​Mikey, however, does not view Takemichi as an equal early on until Christmas, He views him as a possession. Because Takemichi is physically weak and socially a nobody at the start, Mikey can completely bypass all boundaries with him. He doesn't respect Takemichi's boundarie's, he disrupts his school, barges into his home, and drags him into gang violence without ever asking if Takemichi wants any of it.

In some way, having this weak, completely loyal, "cute" person who is entirely under his thumb could give Mikey a profound sense of safety. He can control Takemichi in a way that he could never control the harsh reality of death and trauma.

There isn't really any textual evidence on whether or not mikey liked exerting power over takemichi until I went back until the very beginning,

Mikey had this whole thing of saying, "I'm going to kill you." He uses that threat a lot, and he uses it a lot with Takemichi in the first season. But not in an actually threatening context. He uses it to tease Takemichi.... knowing that it genuinely freaks him out

Takemichi isn't Draken or Mitsuya, who know Mikey well enough to brush it off. He's a complete stranger whose body language screams, "I am terrified of you." Mikey notices that almost immediately. Then he keeps making jokes that rely on Takemichi, believing he might be serious. ​It is a subconscious flex. He scares Takemichi because he can, and because watching Takemichi sigh in relief, he makes Mikey feel securely in control of his environment

It is funny banter first, and foremost, I won't deny it it is essentially for comedic purpose and is sweet, but True banter requires equal footing. If one person can have the other beaten to a pulp on a whim it's more so like a hostage situation

That's a subtle form of power. It's less "I'm going to hurt you" and more. "I know I have the ability to scare you, and I'm amused by it." I also think it's important that Mikey never really seems malicious during these moments. He comes across as genuinely entertained. That's what makes it interesting. He's not trying to traumatize Takemichi; he just doesn't really see anything wrong with exploiting that imbalance because, in his mind, Takemichi is someone to dote on, tease, and keep close. It's affectionate, but it's also deeply unequal, and he's perfectly aware of it

​When you view someone as a true equal, you don't find their genuine fear of you entertaining.

TAKEMICHI'S ASS ISNT INNOCENT

I focus a lot on mikey here so now enter takemichi, so I will try to structure it as best as i possibly can so it doesn't get confusing

i NEED to talk about takemichi's character because I find him so complex and interesting once we're able to get past all the action of the story and pin point exactly why he does the things he does

I'd say takemichi suffers from being the mc of a Shonen battle manga, which means that sometimes we don't really bother searching for a character as unfortunately a lot of Shonen mc's are well...bland with not personality or a very basic motivation.

On the surface, takemichi's whole character is pretty simple and self-explanatory: he wants to save everyone , that's what he's known for, he has a savior complex complex

I don't think Takemichi starts with a savior complex, but more so develop one

1. How Takemichi’s initial goal completely takes a detour

In the beginning, his motivation is incredibly personal. He wants to save hina, That's a normal, human response to being given the chance to prevent the death of someone you loved.

takemichi is introduced as having no real ambition in life, incredibly low self-esteem, and just going through the motions without a specific goal or drive, he has spent so much time in this state that he completely forgot about hina until life itself gives him a second chance

This is takemichi's very first goal we see him adopt in the series: save hina, it was always about saving hina, which led him to finally take back  control of his life instead of letting it drag him wherever it's leading him, like joining toman to save hina, then prevent drakens death so that mikey doesn't go rogue and create the toman that kills hina and ect..

But every time he succeeds, his responsibility grows.

At first, it's just save Hina.

Then Draken.

Then Baji.

Then Emma.

Then Mikey.

Then everyone.

To the point where the question isn't if takemichi is capable of saving them, but that he feels morally obligated to save everyone no matter what, even if it breaks him.

he gets so fixated on saving everyone to the point of neglecting his own needs, boundaries, and everything else as long as the person he's trying to save is safe

And it's pretty easy to deduce that his terrible lack of self-worth is the cause

2. Self-Worth issues go brrrrrr

Takemichi doesn't hesitate to put his life on the line multiple times, he takes hit after hit without minding the pain or the injuries he's sustaining, he's extremely careless when it comes to himself, he's prepared to save everyone even at the cost of his own life or body

I don't think Takemichi believes he's 100% worthless, but more so that he believes his worth is conditional, that His value comes from what he can do for other people and not from simply existing

That's why i think every every success immediately becomes another obligation slowly straying from his initial path of only saving hina, Saving Draken doesn't let him rest. Now he has to save Baji. Saving Baji isn't enough. Now Emma. Now Mikey. The finish line keeps moving because Takemichi's sense of worth keeps moving with it.

And it is sadly made oubvious during the multiple scenes we see takemichi...blatantly contemplating the idea of dying, he doesn't seem to care if he lives or dies, all he cares about is that the others are safe even if he has to chip off parts of himself to do so, multiple times he contemplaties the idea of death or outwardly saying he doesn't care wether he lives or dies, it's deeply destructive when you think about it

Everything about himself becomes secondary if someone else is in danger. Yes, it has courage on paper, but it's incredibly unhealthy

3. Enter mikey

Now, how does that play when mikey comes in... because oh boy, mikey might be obsessed and toxic, but takemichi isn't any better about that guy, and trust me when I say this 😭

​We always talk about Mikey’s issues, but Takemichi is operating on a level of psychological self-destruction that is wild when you step back and look at it.

Leaving your own literal wedding; where your childhood sweetheart is alive; your friends are thriving, and everyone finally got a happy ending—to dive back into the trenches for a guy whom you know is running a violent crime syndicate is WILD

Takemichi is just as fixated on mikey as mikey is with him, we just have to read a little deeper into it to see it because it is not spelt outright for us like it is with mikey where we are told and shown multiple times that mikey isn't normal about takemichi

Takemichi's way of seeing mikey and interpretation his actions are so terribly different from how he usually goes about saving others or holding others accountable for what they have done or are doing

Takemichi has this bizarre, hyper-focused moral tunnel vision. As long as Mikey's soul can be "saved," the collateral damage, the body count, and even the stable futures of his other friends kinda seem to take a backseat? He absolves Mikey of almost everything because he views Mikey’s violence not as a choice but almost as a tragic symptom of his pain, he's absolutely dead set on saving mikey no matter what and no matter what it costs him

4. The holy Codependency

And theres the thing, as much as takemichi's and mikey's relationship is needed for the both of them its terribly codependent as they enable each other's worst coping Mechanisms

Mikey’s cop-out: Mikey uses Takemichi as an external hard drive for his morality. He doesn't actually learn how to process his grief or control his impulses; he just relies on Takemichi to be the barrier. It's the ultimate abdication of personal responsibility: "I can't go wrong as long as you're here to stop me." He makes takemichi his absolute anchor in Christmas, and it never changes.

​Takemichi’s Martyrdom: Takemichi thrives on taking the weight of the world on his shoulders. The more Mikey suffers and pushes him away, the more it triggers Takemichi’s need to sacrifice himself. He treats his own life, his own body, and his own happiness as a completely expendable currency to buy Mikey’s salvation.

Like i think, because Mikey has lost almost everyone he ever loved (Shinichiro, Baji, Emma), his brain, latches onto the one person who reminds him of safety and manages to calm him down when he's losing himself: takemichi

Mikey is a very dependent person, he NEEDS something to depend on because he is unable to manage himself by himself, that's why he surrounds himself with toman and everyone else, but the more his issues grow the less effective they are at containing his urges until they're simply just not enough, that is before takemichi.

Imagine you catch a cold, if you take 3 doses of x medicine you feel the symptoms less, but imagine one dose of y medicine is enough to quell your sickness, I think this is what's happening here

Takemichi reminds mikey of shinshiro; the one person who has been able to single handedly handle his dark impulse, which makes him highly effective, and takemichi has the same effect on him

5. Timeline nightmare and what changes depending on it

That's why Manila goes so horribly, shinshiro is gone, baji is dead, Emma is dead too, the only one mikey has left is takemichi, so he holds on extra tight.

but then he leaves, and everyone is telling him he has every right to do so, despite mikey being determined to keep takemichi in toman Of course, he'd snap, the last thread holding his sanity together just snapped.

Toman had become an awful environment that takemichi wanted an out of, yet mikey selfishly clinged onto him, knowing that Takemichi didn't want to stay, he didn't care they theyre were in a miserable environment so long as they were together

Mikey is essentially a drowning person. When you’re drowning, you don't think about whether you’re pulling your rescuer underwater with you—you just thrash around and grab onto whatever is keeping you afloat.

But I also wanted to note that mikey almost always goes wrong the moment takemichi goes back to the future post Christmas, be it in bonten and manila, Mikey's mental state collapses exactly when the timeline shifts

In Manila timeline, mikey doesn't snap immediately after takemichi leaves. Past takemichi is still around, but mikey doesn't know that past takemechi and the takemichi he has attached himself to are different, so he snaps when even past takemichi leaves

However, in the bonten timeline, mikey IS aware of this, Mikey knows Takemichi is a time-leaper by this point. He is explicitly telling the Future Takemichi goodbye. The exact second Takemichi returns to the future, Mikey vanishes into the underworld. Kind of like he knew that without Future Takemichi there to keep him sane, he couldn't trust himself around his friends anymore.

Almost like Mikey is only stable when he is around the future version of Takemichi. The moment Takemichi goes back to the future to enjoy the "happy ending" he just created, he unintentionally leaves Mikey alone in the past with a version of Takemichi who can't save him, like bonten Mikey doesn't even try to handle things on his own he straight up gives up and let's his dark impulse take over, the timeline always starts fucking up THE MOMENT takemichi leaves, the only time where it didn't go to shit was when takemichi stayed with mikey TOGETHER fixing it.

Like he realizes that the Takemichi he depends on doesn't belong in the past. He belongs 12 years in the future, hense he's STILL losing his anchor even if he'll still be physically there

But it also explains why mikey specifically waits 12 years to end it all instead of doing it at literally any point in time

6. Two Sides of the Same Coin

Now let's circle back to takemichi and why mikey's plan would have worked...if takemichi was literally anyone else 😭

Like i said before, the more Mikey suffers and pushes him away, the more it triggers Takemichi’s need to sacrifice himself. He treats his own life, his own body, and his own happiness as a completely expendable currency to buy Mikey’s salvation.

Mikey thinks distancing himself and cutting off everyone will fix everything as his first act of letting go of the thing keeping him grounded instead of clinging to it desperately because now hes self aware Because Takemichi explains the futures to him at the end of the Tenjiku arc, Mikey goes from the angry, confused state of the Manila timeline to the self-sacrificing, intentional isolated leader of Bonten.

, but he fails to realize that Takemichi is just as obsessed with saving Mikey as Mikey is with being saved by Takemichi .Takemichi thrives on taking the weight of the world on his shoulders.

We know Mikey handles his trauma through externalized destruction (violence, syndicates, breaking his possessions).

​Takemichi handles his trauma through internalized destruction (extreme self-sacrifice, lack of self-worth, and martyrdom).

Mikey's instinct is to erase himself from everyone else's lives or to cling so tightly that he smothers them. Takemichi's instinct is to throw himself into danger over and over until there's nothing left to give. Neither approach is sustainable, and neither is healthy.

I have discussed before that mikey shows a complete disregard towards takemichi's agency at first, but I will now add that it is completely reciprocated by takemichi himself

Mikey explicitly tells him, "*Stay away, I will ruin your life," and crashes his own world to give Takemichi a perfect future. But Takemichi’s savior complex is so massive that he basically says, "I don't care what you want, and I don't care if you kill me, I am going to save you anyway." It is a total disregard for Mikey’s explicit choices and a complete erasure of his own self-preservation.

I will give it to him that he did intialy back off when he judged it to be mikeys choice, before remembering mikey telling him to keep him in line- but he takes it so far to the point of an unhealthy degree

Think about the psychological toll this takes. In any normal dynamic, if someone shoots you three times and leaves you for dead, the bond is shattered. But for Takemichi, it’s the ultimate trigger. The more horrific Mikey’s actions become, the more justified Takemichi feels in destroying his own happiness to intervene.

He abandons Hina—the woman he spent the entire series trying to keep alive—on the eve of their wedding. He looks at a timeline where every single one of his friends is safe and breathing and throws it all away for mikey

Conclusion

Takemichi’s savior complex needs someone who is desperately broken so he can feel worthy. Mikey’s obsession needs a savior so he doesn't have to face his dark impulses alone.

It’s a deeply codependent, trauma-bonded relationship. Mikey uses Takemichi as his emotional crutch, and Takemichi uses Mikey to give his otherwise "mediocre" life a grand, tragic purpose. They completely enable each other’s worst, most self-sacrificing tendencies.

By framing his fixation as heroism and friendship, Takemichi tricks sort tricks the audience, and himself, into thinking it’s noble. But when you look at his actual behavior, it's just as terrifyingly unhealthy as Mikey's fixation on him.

He essentially BEGS mikey in bonten to let him save him, we have NEVER seen takemichi act this way, to the point of creating another trigger between them when mikey goes back to depend on takemichi to save him,

Takemichi has got to be a masochist at this point because no matter how much mikey beats him, shoots him, breaks his arm, even kills him, yet he still doesn't give up,