𓆉｡°✩ teo ｡°✩𓆉

i just posted my first fic on AO3!! it's ishimondo and i'm real proud of it!

please go check it out!! it's called "I Hate Everything About You" <3

Alternatively, Taka is nothing except 100% genuine in everything he says and does. He does a rigid belief in being the ‘traditional Japanese man’ and upholding specific ideals. But those are his ideals. He fully understands that no one likes him. He isn’t playing to a crowd or get anyone to like him, he just does what he thinks is right with a fervent intensity.

Both Mondo and Taka live their lives according to unbending rules and codes they were raised with. Mondo’s entire character is based around bosozoku, a counter-culture that focuses on embracing tradition and following conduct. Bosozoku have always followed a strict set of rules.

Despite the outward skin of someone who rebels against society and doesn’t do what he’s told, Mondo is a man who is scared of substantial change. He doesn’t want to go against his gangs pre-written rules of what is expected of him. He doesn’t want to question his memory of his brother, or his death too deeply. He doesn’t want to change any of the strict gendered rules he knows; boys are strong and meant to protect girls, who are incapable of fighting for themselves. There are hints of his personality not quite fitting right in his design; his soft, calm voice, occasional shy and self-conscious moments and colour palette including soft lilac and gold create the general sense of ‘royalty’ that suggests him being a leader don’t reflect his supposed ‘loose cannon, macho rebel’ mask.

Taka, however, fully embraces his traditionally Japanese style of living and views (boys and girls spending the night together is ‘unwholesome’, he practises calligraphy and kendo as his only hobbies outside of studying, I read a post about how his attitude towards nudity actually reflects older generations of Japanese men, not youth culture. I can’t speak on how accurate that is though).

Despite this, Taka’s characters motivation is based entirely around him demanding change. He wants to change literally everything he can about his peers; from their informal appearance, to their opinions on studying and school, to their morals itself. He wants to change society’s opinion on him and his family name, he wants to go into politics and change the way the very country is run. His character design perfectly matches who he is; the colour palette is literally black-and-white, the harsh red and royal gold play perfectly into his intense ‘holier-than-thou’ personality, he is 1-to-1 with a military soldier including the impractical boots and buzzcut, and he is the only one in the Dangan cast with double rings in his eye, creating a ‘bullseye’ effect. It is simple and to the point, just like him.

kinda insane how both mondo and kiyotaka’s bond is what gets both of them to finally be in the moment and enjoy the present. mondo is constantly haunted by the past and kiyotaka is laser-focused on the future. but the two finally focus on what’s in front of them when they make that genuine connection. i also think it’s fun that, in the manga that covers what happened in the sauna AND their final fte’s, the two switch their focuses, with taka mostly sharing things about his past and mondo quietly confessing his plans for the future. they’re funny like that. still, them never being present-oriented (the orientation that actually values relationships over traditions or ambitions), is what keeps both of them relatively isolated. being constantly surrounded by people, but never truly making connections outside of maybe one person each. but they each get broken out of that isolation when they finally decide to reach out for each other and trust another human being for the first time in what feels like ages.

i can also say something about mondo and taka being past and future oriented respectively for the sake of someone else’s image. mondo to honor his brother’s image and kiyotaka to tear down his grandfather’s. neither of those guys are living for themselves sigh. (there’s actually more i can elaborate on that for mondo specifically, but that’s another topic for another post).