for starters ill clarify that i dont believe that DID is a form of plurality. and that this is my take that you will not hear basically anywhere else which is why it might seem confusing.

plurality = generally, the practice of identifying as 'more-than-one' by considering oneself a collection of relatively distinct autonomous personified entities within one body. i reject the idea that you can either 'be' plural or 'not be' in any essential way beyond how you identify, because a) i think essentialist frames upon human identities are both harmful and false and b) plurality fundamentally relates to consciousness and subjective experiences of / narratives around the self, something i do not believe is ethical to police.

DID = a psychiatric disorder-construct most useful, in my opinion, for emphasising if a given individual suffers from complex dissociation (i.e. has developed under stress and thus experiences disruptions between one's personal modes, including traumagenic parts).

while complex dissociation manifests as a lot of things, including subjectively experiencing yourself as multiple seemingly disconnected parts, the thing about these parts is that they are not a) literally autonomous, b) literally separate entities nor c) necessarily personified. moreover, a person with DID may not necessarily identify as 'more-than-one', as it is also popular to conceive of oneself as a fragmented or disintegrated singular whole. therefore, even beyond my political hangups, it is not an accurate claim that '[the experiences that characterise] DID is form of plurality'.

i split hairs in this way because i believe that plurality is best conceived as an idea that people can adopt (or that people carry), because this approach to plural* activism (as a strain of Mad activism) emphasises the importance of having our subjective narratives around ourselves accepted without requiring 'proof' or 'justification'. this mode of activism would seek to promote our agency and avoid reifying classes of people that leads to (amongst other things) 'othering', stigma, and added stressors upon those in grey areas.

so, to answer your question:

The Google Docs version of this translation is the most up-to-date. If using/reuploading/reposting this translation, do not remove the translator's notes, and do not change the translations. Credit and link if using. Check the original post before reblogging as TLs are occasionally revisited and edited.

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2000年 東京都渋谷区に生まれる。 Born in 2000 at Shibuya, Tokyo. 榧野尊は一般的な中流家庭で育った。 Mikoto Kayano was raised in a family part of the most common socioeconomic class: the middle-class. 社交的で人当たりも良く、何をやらせても人並み以上にはできる器用さで、幼い頃から手のかからない子供であった。 He was sociable and easy to get along with, having a natural talent for excelling at anything he tried. From a young age, he had been a low-maintenance child. 友人も多く、尊の周りには常に人が集まっていた。他人との適切な距離感、空気を読み、場を和ます能力。天性の資質といえるようなものだった。 Mikoto had many friends and there were always people gathered around him. He had the ability to maintain a proper level of distance from others, how to read the room, and the ability to soothe the atmosphere. It seemed to be qualities that came naturally to him. そのまま大きな挫折を経験することなく、美大を卒業し、大手広告代理店のデザイナーとして働くことになった。 Without having experienced any major failures, he graduated from an arts university and went on to work as a designer at a major advertising company. 会社は業界最大手で、同世代からは羨望の眼差しで見られる。尊自身も、自分の人生が更に華やかなものになるとじて疑わなかった。 The company was the leader of the industry and peers of his generation looked upon him with envy. Once more, Mikoto himself had no doubt that his life was only going to flourish further. しかし、そこで出会ったのは夢に見た都会的なデザイナーライフではなく、戦場とも表現するべき激しく劣悪な労働環境だった。 However, what awaited him was not the metropolitan designer life he had dreamed of. Instead, it was an appallingly brutal work environment that could only be described as a battlefield. 大抵のことは器用にやってのけてきた尊だったが、キャパシティを超えて積み重なる仕事、日々迫る納期、それを当たり前にこなす周囲の人間の存在、叱責、ため息、失望の眼差し…… Mikoto, who had generally managed to handle most things with ease, found himself buried under loads of work that exceeded far beyond his capacity with deadlines looming every day. The people around him handled it all as if those workloads, reprimandings, sighs, and looks of disappointment were perfectly natural… 職場で交わされている言葉の意味すらわからず、曖味な笑みを浮かべてやり過ごす日々。 His days were spent being unable to understand the meaning behind words exchanged at work and he was only getting by through plastering an ambiguous smile. どれだけ追い詰められても「助けてほしい」の言葉を口にすることはできなかった。 No matter how much he was driven to the edge, his mouth could not utter the words “please help me”. 息子を心配する親からの話にも、すべて順調であると嘘をついた。 Even when his parent called, all he could bring himself to do was lie that everything was okay.

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一認められなかった。常に周囲から抜きん出た存在だったはずの自分が、人の足を引っ張ることになるなど。 He couldn’t accept it. He had always been someone who excelled compared to those around him. How had he become someone who only held others back? 泊まり込みでの労働が当たり前の生活に、導の精神は限界を迎える。連勤が100を超えたあたりだった。起きているのか、寝ているのか、現実なのか、夢なのか。 A life where staying at a company and working throughout the night was the norm had pushed Mikoto’s spirit* to its limit around the time he worked for more than one hundred consecutive days—Was he awake? Was he asleep? Was this reality? Was this a dream? [T/N: One’s spirit (精神, seishin) bears the nuance that it is one’s essence. It encompasses, but is not limited to, one’s soul, mind, heart, etc.] 朦朧とした意識で家に帰り着いた尊は、事切れるようにベッドに倒れ込んだ。 Mikoto, consciousness and awareness all hazy, somehow made it back to his residence and collapsed onto his bed as if his life had finally been snuffed. 自宅で目を覚ました尊は、不思議と晴れやかな気持ちだった。 When Mikoto opened his eyes in his residence, he was inexplicably* feeling better. [T/N: 不思議 (fukashigi), translated as “inexplicably”, means “beyond human comprehension”.] 携帯を確認すると、倒れてから丸二日経過している。納期も破ってしまっているし、きっとクビだろう。大量の着履歴が物語っている。 He checked his phone and saw that two days had elapsed. He also missed a deadline and knew that he was probably going to be fired. Especially if those numerous missed calls meant anything. 「仕事を辞めよう」尊の気持ちは決まっていた。自分の好きなことだけをして、しばらく休もう。 “I’m going to quit,” Mikoto made up his mind. He’ll only do what he actually likes and take the time to rest for a while. 人生のことはそれから考えれば良い。蓄積していたストレスは、すべてなくなっていた。 He’ll think about life later. All the stress that had been accumulating within him had completely disappeared. 空腹に気づいた導が気分良く外出の準備をしている中、家の扉の前には数人の普察が待機していた。12名もの命を奪った無差別殺人犯の家に突入するために。 Mikoto realized he was hungry and cheerfully got ready to head outside. Several police officers were waiting in front to storm the residence of the indiscriminate killer* who had taken the lives of 12 people. [T/N: An indiscriminate killer is defined as a person who has no clear motive and, almost impulsively, kills unspecified individuals, whom the perpetrator has no prior acquaintance with, in places people can freely pass by (NPA 1981). Indiscriminate attacks are known to cause great anxiety and fear as it is seemingly “random”/”indiscriminate”. Indiscriminate attackers are stereotyped to be persons who are unemployed, under financial distress, unstably housed, socially withdrawn, and/or have weak relationships. These prejudices are often associated with and contribute to the stigmatization of people with mental illness as dangerous. It has been noted that many indiscriminate murderers have very low or unstable self-esteem. It is also not uncommon for indiscriminate murder motives have been tied to the concept of “extended suicide” (拡大自殺).] 尊が限界を迎え深い眠りについた日に時間は遡る。 Rewinding to the day Mikoto had reached his breaking point and fell into a deep sleep. むくりと起き上がる尊。深夜の住宅街、家から持ち出した金属バットで次々に人間の命を奪っていく。 Mikoto abruptly rose from his slumber. In the dead of night at a residential neighborhood, he takes a metal baseball bat from his home and goes out, taking life after life. 怒号とも、泣き声とも、産声ともとれる声をあげながら。 As he did, he raised his voice; that could be seen as screams of rage, cries of anguish, or, perhaps, the first cry of a newborn.

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You struggle with your life, with that treasured smile!!

You struggle with your life, with that treasured smile!!

some u were way easer 2 draw then others ,

more heathcest art from yours truly. i cant believe i forgot to post them 😭

Japan's Legal Competency/Ability to Fulfill One’s Responsibilities

A person who lacks the capacity to be responsible cannot be blamed for their actions, thus it is meaningless to impose a penalty. 

The insanity defense is founded upon the idea of legal competency, specifically that insanity is the lack of legal competency. Insanity is defined as a state in which a person lacks the capacity to reason—discerning the right and wrong of a situation; discerning the propriety (conventionally accepted standards of behavior or morals)—and/or the capacity to control behaviour, the ability to act appropriately—or act with propriety—to a situation due to mental illness/disability/or other reasons (pathological reasons).

Penalty is a consequence to a violation of responsibility and those who lack the capacity to be responsible cannot grasp the meaning of penalties. Thus, that is why it is considered “meaningless”.

Under the Penal Code, insanity cannot be held responsible. Under the Code of Criminal Procedure, if a defendant’s insanity is permanent and recovery is highly unlikely, the trial may be terminated. In Mikoto’s case, DID is known to be a chronic condition which can mean that his trial may be terminated from the start, not prosecuted should he have already been diagnosed with DID, or simply Not Guilty.

Victim Participation System (VPS) and Victim Statement of Opinion (VSO) are two types of victim participation in criminal trials but they’re void in the Criminal Code of Procedure if the defendant is deemed insane. It allows victims to have their voices heard and, in legal competency trials, restricts that ability, letting their personal story of lived experience die in silence. 

There’s concern that if a person is found to be legally incompetent, they will not be prosecuted or be completely absolved of guilt and what they’ve done. While crimes may be meaningless through the lens of judicial procedure, the harm that was committed is not, which is why there’s concern and social resistance from the public regarding legally-insane defendants.

Much like US/western law, the bases of the legal competency defence is what allows the insanity defense to exist. Competency is not restricted to criminal law but also extends to civil law, examples of which are aforementioned in section {1}. In JP law, the Civil Code [民法 minpō] goes over 

Property (the ability to own, use, borrow, sell);

Obligations (contracts, gifts, responsibility);

Succession (inheritances);

Family;

General Provisions, (of which General Provisions defines personhood and the capacity to hold rights.)

When a disabled person like Mikoto (mentally ill) or Haruka (disabled) encounters the justice system—even without being deemed innocent or guilty—their very being and personhood and agency is questioned because, legally, they are less competent. And if they are less competent, they are less of a person and have less capacity to hold and have rights. By the mere act of existing, a person with an illness or disability faces penalties that a guilty verdict, a criminal would have in the system of “justice”.

Legally incompetent persons can be subject to psychiatric hold for an indeterminate amount of time under the Medical Treatment and Supervision Act (MTSA).

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Between Two Worlds 🐣

Canto x Mili song [4/?]

“The bird fights its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Who would be born must first destroy a world. The bird flies to God. That God’s name is Abraxas.” ~ ‘Demian’ by Hermann Hesse

I think this piece has the most research I’ve done before starting on it… literally sat through Canto 3, checked the canto wiki, song wiki, sinclair’s wiki while analysing his official arts with the song on repeat… hopefully my research wasn’t in vain, and that my Sinclair fans out there get the references in this one!

Canto 3 is one of those cantos where our sinner remains mostly unresolved (but still changed of course) at the end. I hope our dear Sinclair who’s breaking out of his shell learns to reconcile his two inner worlds, and fly as the best version of himself he chooses. So that is what this piece mostly focuses on.

it's not too late to start over