The Star Chapter: Together Concept Trailer Analysis
The first thing we see is a reference to the Nap of a Star MV. We see that the star is awake and that there is a paper crown on the desk. It's a continuation from the Tomorrow concept trailer so this makes sense.
The awakened star symbolizes them remembering their promise to meet again (although that word “again” is tricky here) and regaining back their childhood dreams of building a better tomorrow, basically dreams filled with hope. This means that before, they were “shrinking away, fading, soon to be forgotten” because they lived in a hopeless world. They couldn't find any meaning in their lives because they felt alone in a world that is so cruel. They viewed themselves as stars, five of the, what, septillion stars in the universe. It is so easy to feel like a nobody then, to feel like no one will remember you. But when they met, the star awoke. Dreams returned back into the world. And they felt hope rise within them that maybe the future isn't so dark if I have you by my side.
The paper crown symbolizes the shift in how they view themselves. Back in Crown and Nap of a Star, Yeonjun realized horns growing out of his head. He grew ashamed of his horns. He felt that it made him different. He felt that he was a monster who didn't deserve to belong. This urged him to break off his horn, wanting to erase or hide his differences just so he could fit in. That’s when he met the others. Kai with his wings, Taehyun with his eye, Beomgyu with his spikes, and Soobin with his ears. In Crown, they sing “Maybe your wings are the same pain as mine.” This happens in Nap of a Star too. He found people who are going through the same thing he was. And that led to them forming an unbreakable bond. He also realized that his horns, his pain, his scars, are actually his crown. And maybe they resemble the stars too (this one I will explain more on later).
Next, we see a birthday cake with 5 candles. But it's on the floor with a phone with a cracked screen smashed into it. What happened? I think it's the five of them celebrating their friendship and the fact that they met, hence the five candles. But a larger power is suddenly going after people who are gathering, almost like the world is specifically targeting them. This probably stressed them out so much that it led to them arguing, fighting, smashing the cake to the ground, and throwing the phone out of frustration. They, and by they I probably mean Yeonjun, wondered what was the point of going through all that they've gone through to awaken the star and remember their promise if it only led to more trouble. In the Minisode 3: Tomorrow concept trailer, we saw the police come after them after they stole back the fox called Tomorrow. It seems like things didn't get any easier from then, in fact, things got even harder. The world seemed even harsher. They regained back their dreams and they probably expected the world to be kinder and brighter now. But actually the world may seem ever the more against you when you have dreams. And they did not expect this.
So they turned their backs on one another. But after Yeonjun walked a few feet away, he turned around. He saw Soobin packing up all of their things, their memories, into a bag. Then he saw him throw away his crown out of frustration too. But he saw past that. He saw that in reality, Soobin treasured his crown, he cherished their friendship and what it means to him, and he really hated the fact that they were fighting. As Yeonjun was about to go to him, the authorities arrived. They had blue and green eyes, similar to the cat from Nap of a Star, similar to the cat who prompted Yeonjun to break off his horns, to change his true self. And now, the cat has returned to break them apart, to take away their hope and their dreams. Maybe the cat is just a metaphor for society, for the world.
But once the cat, once the world started actually going after them, they woke up from the stupor that they were in. They realized that the pain that they feel from the cruelness of the world is nothing compared to the pain that they feel seeing each other suffer because of it. So they run to each other.
Yeonjun looked around. Then, we see him remember his horns. He remembers the people who loved and accepted him for who he was. He remembers the people who saved his life just as he was a star who was “shrinking away, fading, soon to be forgotten”. So when Yeonjun’s eyes landed on Taehyun, they widened, and he ran to him. He saved him from the clutches of the world trying to break him. He took his place and told Taehyun to flee. And Taehyun started to. But he remembered his eye. He remembered the people who made him feel less alone. And he remembered the people who would do anything for him, even taking his pain for him. So he runs back to Yeonjun. He grabs something, ready to fight the world for his hyung. But Yeonjun already managed to escape. Yeonjun stops Taehyun. He grabs his arm and looks into his eyes. A silent conversation happens in between them. There seems to be an apology within it, as if they're saying sorry for leaving one another earlier. But there's also a reassurance there, where they realize that they will have each other's back no matter what. Just like lyrics from Kitto Zutto, “I promise, no matter what, surely always I will be right by your side”.
Next, we have Beomgyu and Kai. Beomgyu runs to Kai and they hold each other, glad that the other is safe amidst all the chaos. Kai runs off and Beomgyu does too. Beomgyu spots one of the guys in black carrying the bag Soobin was holding, like the world was trying to take away their story, their journey. Beomgyu grabs it back. But he has trouble escaping now. Just then, Kai appears and helps Beomgyu. They hold each other once again but it's a little different now. As Beomgyu got the bag of their memories and as Kai pushed away the odd-eyed guy who was trying to get it back from Beomgyu, they realize just how much they care for one another. And just like Taejun, they realize how stupid they were for ever fighting earlier. Because as they hold each other, they remember too their own pains and the people who helped them come back to life. They then run off in the same direction, united once again.
Taejun meet somewhere in the middle of the room and they see Soobin, floating and being lifted upwards. The four of them were too busy saving one another that they couldn't get to Soobin. Taehyun uses his eye to see what’s truly happening. And as the four of them gather together, they see the cat, the world, taking ahold of Soobin. And even deeper than that, they see Soobin stuck in a burning house in the dark. He feels stuck in an endless darkness. And he chooses to stay in the burning house of their friendship, not willing to just let go of his friends. After all, we saw him packing the bag of their memories and cradling his crown earlier. And now he sits there in the burning house, wearing his crown. He never lost sight of things.
The five of them run to Soobin now. Yeonjun breaks off his horn and uses it to break through the darkness that Soobin was in. Beomgyu uses his healing powers (very TSS lore), giving Kai back his wings. And Kai uses them to fly, so that they could all reach Soobin.
And they do reach him. They realize how stupid they all were for fighting earlier, and Soobin carried the brunt of the fight because of the affection he holds for his friends. He never stopped believing in them and that led them all to unite in the very end. They hug Soobin. And they hug each other. The world is cruel, and it will never stop being cruel. But they have each other and that's all that they need. In the previous album, they sing in Resist that they can endure the world because they have each other. But now in The Star Chapter: Together, it’s a little bit different. Now, they will endure the world for each other. They will persevere for the people who brought them back to life. Before, they believed their differences were awful. But after meeting each other, they learned that they are “peculiar but beautiful” and “beautiful [exactly] because [they] are peculiar”. They allowed each other to “write [their] own fate”, defying the world telling them to change who they are just so they can fit in. They learned how to “[stay] true to their authentic selves” because they found people who loved and appreciated them for who they are. They call this story “together” because they believe that they can live in “the world [they] choose to live in”. They discovered that “the scars inflicted by the world actually resemble the stars”. Because when they put all their scars together, they make a beautiful constellation, incomplete with even one of them missing, much like how they were only able to save Soobin with all of their pains/scars combined. (Which is why there were constellations on the wall, especially of Pisces, where their debut date falls under). Like they were made for each other. It’s a story of fate, that’s why “the star of [their] promise sings [their] names”. It was written in the stars. They were destined to meet each other. They sing about it in Deja Vu, ISYTT, Kitto Zutto, Ito, Dear Sputnik, and many other songs. The promise TXT sings of is that one day, they are destined to meet their people. And the same goes for us too. And as they make a beautiful constellation together, they now believe in their worth. No longer do they think they will soon be forgotten, because they are each so essential to this constellation of their friendship. They realize that their friends mean the world to them and that they mean the world to their friends. They showed one another that “it is possible to be remembered forever, through each other”. “And now, from the edges inward, [their] world begins to glow”.
