#wagnan

Wangnan: Yes.

Khun: I was hoola hooping. Bam and I attend a class for fitness and fun.

Wangnan: Oh my god.

Khun: I’ve mastered all the moves. The pizza toss, the scorpion, the oopsie doodle.

Wangnan: Why are you telling me this?

Khun: Because no one will ever believe you.

So many things scared me in this chapter. It's too intense. First off,

My heart dropped when I thought about this for a second. I know everybody else is probably going to show up on another part of the train, but another part of me thought, what if only they made it back. Everyone else is erased in the hidden world (maybe that has to do with the "misfortune" that befalls all of Wagnan's comrades), and Bam and Wagnan are left in isolation, forced to start over at zero.

What kind of person would Bam be if he lost everyone he loved at this point in the game? How would he change? Man, that split second made me sad.

Now... The next thing that made me nervous was the concept of royal orders being delivered by altars, that happening right after this ordeal on the train, and those said orders say to destroy or kill a whole brach(family), everyone on the hell train, and FUG.

Dude, it's happening too fast...!

Oh. But I get it now. Dude, they're gonna kill everyone else on the hell train and only Bam and Wagnan are going to be preserved!

Wagnan & Yeon: Burn the house down

Khun: And what did you do?

Yeon: Cook dinner

Khun: And what else?

Wagnan:

Yeon:

(No it’s not like I fetishize relatively young, soft spoken black haired boys in general or anything, no no no)

Sweet, sweet Baam... Or Bam, I dunno. I’ll use the latter this time.

He’s easily one of my favorite characters in all media that I’ve consumed up to this point.

Why?

LOOK at him. Oh my god.

Anyway, I suppose it’s how gentle he is. His ability* would be Serene Grace if he were a Pokemon. 

*I dunno about this hidden ability stuff. I’ve played gen 5-7 but man I’m not certified to talk about that business.

He isn’t as uncompromising or headstrong like the average shounen character. He doesn’t lecture people about how they should be, because he doesn’t know the answer either. His eyes are open (if not in wonderment and horror), simply absorbing what he sees; he becomes aware of his own faults and isn’t trying to carry himself as some all-righteous being. It’s tempting to become a god but is it what he really wants? Is it even possible? He’s pondering these things as he climbs up the tower. 

Now, that being said, there are still some things he is hiding from us. A lot.

It’s true that in TOG many aspects of a person’s past don’t come to light until it’s necessary to explain. But Bam, hailing from the outside of the tower, has to be putting together certain things that he’s internalizing neither in internal dialogue nor to his teammates. Here’s an example of what I’m trying to say:

In some chapter flashback I recall Bam telling Rachel something to the effect that he’d show her a place in the cave where there are three huge eyes. To me, that sounds like the crest of Jahad. Now we’ve seen that very crest adorning the princesses’ hair pieces for example or on Wagnan’s and Karaka’s rings. Say the first time that Bam noticed them on one of his companions, he could have said something about it then--no but I suppose his priority was to remain as inconspicuous as possible to not be found out as an irregular. Even internal dialogue would have sufficed though; he could have been like “that looks familiar...” or something right? But we don’t get that from him.

What we did get is him as Viole--while giving Wagnan his ring back--saying that it seemed like something important. So he does recognize the significance of these items but he doesn’t raise the issue.

Rachel took this one step further. While the yellow prince and Miseng were being held by her team, she called him the Prince of the Red Light District, so SHE definitely knows a lot of secrets concerning the tower. I don’t know if Bam knows all of that. Probably not. Now may I transition this conversation from Bam’s individual character to an overarching theme?

I don’t necessarily want Bam’s entire life to have been orchestrated from a higher organization in the shadows, but after the deep sea fish/bull arc (established that tests are rigged, Hansung Yu’s significance, etc.) and then again with the Hoaqin arc (Gustang reporting to a hidden person about Rachel being given a power) I am getting that feeling. Here’s what I mean:

Currently Rachel’s motivations don’t make sense. I think Bam is supposed to chase her, and for this reason she doesn’t give him answers as to WHY she has done what she has done. This in turn frustrates Bam to keep seeking answers (think to the confrontation before Rachel boarded the train and the thorn went berserk: face to face, she seemed to have trouble coming up with inflammatory words to say to my boi. All the fist clenching and having to build up resolve against him. When she’s being a little h0 elsewhere it doesn’t take all that to throw insults or act crazy and stab up somebody’s legs. And I think Bam is so persistent because he knew her personally and is calling bullshit on the things she said like “uhh y0u wEre suPposed to be de@D” like she really means that? Bam’s like Hell no get real with me girl what the hell is going on? But she wouldn’t tell ‘im and he got mad mad mario. (watch that if you haven’t)). They were friends on good terms, and they could have gone up the tower together. She doesn’t want Bam around her, and this is why I think that is:

There’s some sort of bet. Or conditions, whatever you want to call it. I believe, especially because of that new information we got from Eduan (Hansung Yu’s data telling him that V’s son would eventually come through the data world), that Rachel is simply the motivation for Bam to go up. He had to have a reason to enter the tower, and whatever organization found out about his existence chose Rachel to be the person who groomed him and became dear to him. She knows about Arlene Grace, the secret of the 13 months and rings, etc, so I think she is personally invested in this process of changing the tower and accepted this role but with bitterness that Bam would be the main character so to speak.

I’m thinking that whatever deal she made with Headon and others, it wasn’t to eliminate Bam. She had many opportunities to do that herself, even with the Hoaqin arc concerning the lava (Khun even mentioned that if she hates him that much she could have raised the level of lava as he was diving down and killed him). And if higher ups wanted him dead they could have easily done that. No, they FABRICATED his death and made a new slayer candidate. So for whatever reason, she’s chosen Hoaqin as her “sword” rather than Bam and wants Bam to lose--I’m thinking that if she fulfills what the organization (FUG or perhaps someone else) wants in her own way before Bam (their choice) does, then her wish, whatever it is, will be granted even though she’s not allowed to be in the tower. Otherwise, the higher ups who are running things will be like “honey you were just fodder for the big guns, you can step aside now~ We told you you couldn’t do sh!t. Wasted our time on you...well at least we still got what we wanted.” And that’s probably why she fights so hard against his success.

Hansung Yu is another dude to look out for; he knows a lot of stuff and he’s with FUG man, like he’s DEEP in the system with his test director ass. He was sitting there waiting for Bam to walk through, wait for the betrayal, and snatch his pretty self to FUG. I’m so sh0ok.

Any true sports car enthusiast out there has heard of the term “Wagnan”. Wagnan refers to a stretch of highway located in Tokyo, Japan. Several legendary icons have street raced on this legendary stretch of pavement. A integral part of the Shuto Expressway, this route is so famous for racing that it has had video games, a television series, and an entire manga based around its existence. Wagnan is simply more than a place or stretch of highway, it also encompasses an entire lifestyle of street racing and high adrenaline. Jdm inspired vehicle from across the globe wear the Wagnan badge of honor proudly and this culture has been around for decades. 

Wagnan Racing is characterized by a high speed race, and usually starts from a rolling start. Racers wont let off till about 200 miles per hour, and it is a general rule of thumb that a racer should bothering entering unless their car is capable of such speed. Some famous runs have been documented online with millions of views and one that comes to mind is of Smokey Nagata in his V12 Toyota Supra. The most famous Wagnan Racing group is known as the Midnight Club. Operating from 1987 to 1999, the Midnight Club was the most notorious and highly respected street racing clubs to ever come forth on the Wagnan highway. The Midnight club greatly encompasses the culture and values behind Wagnan racing and why it was so popular. The club was built on a strong set of ethics and beliefs to prevent any members of the club endangering any members of the public or other racers. Races were usually conducted in the late hours of the night and even though drivers would achieve break neck speeds, there were rarely any accidents or commotion. Once you were accepted into the club, you were considered an apprentice for the first year, and would need to attend every meeting to achieve the status as a Mid Night Racer. The Mid Night Club met an untimely end when a local Bosozoku biker gang decided to interfere with a few members on the night when they were racing. Due to the high speed nature of both organization, a quarrel broke out which led to a chase into a heavily populated part of Tokyo. An unfortunate accident occurred which led to several injured civilians and two deaths of Bosozoku members. Since the event, the Mid Night Club dismantled due to their core system of beliefs and Wagnan racing was limited.