(no subject)
Haru: Right now they're doing a short original arc to wing Kazehana since the anime changed the bridge arc a little to keep the emotional pace when they had to end right after it.
Kazehana is amaziiiing god OK I COULD RAMBLE
FOREVER
ABOUT MINATO'S FEELINGS FOR EACH OF HIS SEKIREI
because they're all similar, sure, but also v. different
but anyway Zazzle and I were basically discussing how minato ended up winging his sekirei from least messed up to most messed up
disturbed or emotionally unstable, I mean
Musubi - > Kuu - > Matsu - > Tsukiumi -> Kazehana -> Kagari
Sera: it's true.
Kazehana is a little special, yes.
Haru: She's so completely messed up idefk I hope canon focuses on her again at some point. SHE'S VERY INTELLIGENT AND STRONG and just like. [DRINKS AWAY EVERYTHING] but at the same time not... compromising herself.
Sera: maybe the ashikabi power that increases with more and more sekirei is the ability to deal with people who are really crazy
Haru: I think she is probably Minato's most disillusioned Sekirei
HAHAHA well Matsu does imply it's like pokemon, you start getting the harder to work with ones reacting once you've got easier ones...
Sera: SHE COMES ACROSS AS MUCH OLDER THAN SHE IS
...man, how did Mikogami get Mutsu right off
HE SKIPPED STRAIGHT TO VICTORY ROAD
Haru: I DUNNO BUT IT IS AT LEAST OUR HEADCANON MUTSU WAS HIS FIRST. I think it makes sense, since he doesn't have any other 'special' ones and Mutsu gave him the powerlevel to like ... do that stuff he does
Gawd I want a Kazehana so badly because like
Minato deeply respects her
the entire arc about winging her is if about if he's able to admit that he's powerless without her and in return he's honestly a little awed by her in some ways
Everything sucked, he was failing, and she showed up and was like :) Hey. So do you need my power?
Sera: "do you dare top me, boy"
Haru: nah it's more like "do you dare bottom"
Sera: HAHA
maybe
she was really insistent on getting him to demand her help, though
Haru: SHE WANTED TO SEE HIS MANLINESS KYAA
oh yeah
...which I'm sure has nothing to do with, you know, her constant feeling of rejection lolol Kazehana ;;
Sera: till finally he was like KAZEHANA, I NEED YOUR STRENGTH, GIMME
yeah :(
Haru: I really think that like -- god, I can't say from her POV, at least, but from his, he's ... he IS very submissive, but he needs to combine assertiveness with his submission instead of passivity
And the bridge arc is about balancing that
It's about how he doesn't have to be the power-user -- he has no power of his own that isn't, at its core, emotional appeal -- but he needs to be willing to use the power that's offered him in a direct and deliberate way.
Musubi, Tsukiumi, helping someone else escape, how Kazehana gets winged, etc.
And it's really all crystallized in Kazehana's refusing to let him be wishy-washy about needing her power but at the same time having to acknowledge that he himself is powerless and was out of options.
and it all results in
like
he's awed by her. SHE IS ALSO KIND OF WEIRD AND TOPPY AND HE NEEDS TO HIDE UNDER THE PORCH
but
Tsukiumi even yells at him for having an awestruck expression after winging her
Sera: Not that it takes much to make Tsukiumi yell.
Haru: Well no.
But his expression is!
He loves all his Sekirei but they all have different overtones
and I definitely think his for Kazehana is sort of ... ... "you're out of my league" haha
Kazehana-san is amazing ._.
This is... it's especially because Minato keeps driving himself to take action in this weird plan and to keep going and doing everything he can because he feels he owes it to his Sekirei who did him the honour of choosing him.
Sera: Some of the Sekirei definitely come across as way older than the others in a way that interests me
Haru: [nods]
Sera: It's mostly the first numbers, too.
Single digits.
Haru: Yeah
Sera: Which I guess makes sense? but it's odd still
Haru: esp the first five -- Tsukiumi's a single digit but she doesn't seem mature in the same way
Sera: /NOD
She's on par with kagari
the first five are very different, though matsu masks it somewhat
Haru: I think Kagari's a little more mature, but only because he's a little more ...aware?
Matsu hides it like 95% of the time but she's stilll... she has her moments.
Come to think of it, I think it's the ones who've had to fight or kill outside the Sekirei Plan.
Uzume also feels that way a lot despite being -- well, ok, in Japanese terms she's a single number too but the youngest of the single numbers.
Sera: /nods
I think the others will learn, too
when the Sekirei Game starts getting even crazier
Haru: Yeah, I agree
Except maybe Musubi.
Musubi 8D?
but the others have even started
Kuu's outburst at Tsukiumi's refusal to help, Tsukiumi's response to seeing Musubi apparently broken
These are like... early steps on that THIS SHIT HURTS path
Sera: You guys have it all to come 8(
Haru: Idly so
you know how the only single number whose identity we don't know is #07?
Sera: /nods
Haru: My theory is that either she's a Sekirei we haven't met yet, which is entirely possible since there's the other stages of the sekirei plan still, orrrr she's the Scrapped Number. Akitsu.
Sera: .....it'd be so cool if it were Akitsu
Haru: Seriously! And there's a good chance Mutsu wouldn't recognize her -- it's implied, I think, that he left before the new 'sleeping' Sekirei were really woken up.
even if he HAD seen her she'd have been one out of 103 and a bb
I REALLY wonder how Akitsu ended up in the situation Mikogami found her in, though
I THINK THAT IS GOING TO BE IMPORTANT and it's been dangling since chapter 1.
Sera: I HOPE YOU ARE RIGHT A LOT.
Haru: I mean, she was only wearing a bloody (iirc) men's shirt, with a lab coat draped over her shoulders
in the middle of a park
Sera: the mangaka has been awesome about bringing loose ends together, too, so I don't doubt that that will be addressed
Haru: Yeah, exactly
Sera: I am still in awe at the fact that I didn't realize all the threads were being tied up at Higa's till Uzume met Shiina there
"HO DAMN I SEE WHAT THEY DID THERE"
Haru: She is pretty damn good at plotting
For a while I theorized Akitsu had like lost her Ashikabi? But then Miya didn't get scrapped when Takehito died, and THEn we found out that if an Ashikabi d-- wait
wait a second
My brain just caught up
how is Miya alive
Sera: yeah, I was thinking about that earlier today
Haru: if an Ashikabi dies all the sekirei deactivate
Sera: yeeep
Haru: and we know Miya was winged and Takehito was her husband (which is... how Sekirei view their Ashikabi)
..........MIYA
YOU ARE AN ENIGMA
Sera: it's a ~mystery~
Haru: WRAPPED IN A MYSTERY
Sera: I ACTUALLY CAME TO THAT EXACT BRAINHALT LIKE FOUR HOURS AGO
Haru: Signs are pointing more and more to 01 actually being 00
Sera: it makes me think someone's lying somewehre here
yeah
Haru: Or ... something
she LOOKS like the "original"
but then the numbering is all wacky
AM Unless ... and this is entirely possible!
Akitsu was scrapped early (and just locked up; Kagari does wonder how a scrap number is 'out') and Minaka, liking the symbolism of 108, just renumbered everyone
but
or, well, renumbered Miya to 1 and bumped the early numbers around to fill the hole
BUT I THINK THIS IS UNLIKELY
If the sort of thing Minaka would do.
man
idefk
Miya
wat is WITH you
Sera: I think something is up with the "Sekirei die if the Ashikabi die" thing anyway
Haru: And we know she had to have been winged at some point because 100% completion is registered with Kagari
Sera: I mean. why would they.
Haru: Well, deactivate, they say.
The bond would break and they'd deactivate
Sera: but WHY.
Haru: well, the same reason they deactivate when the bond breaks any other way?
now
Miya could be a case like Musubi/Yume, where her "Sekirei tama" didn't stay in deactivation mode
which actually makes sense
a 'hannya' is a vengeful ghost
Sera: /nods
Haru: I think deactivation mode isn't 'complete' the way death is
Musubi believes this, at least
in that her goal is to win and make all the deactivated sekirei reactivate to be with their ashikabi again
and MBI does gather the fallen Sekirei and it's 'horrifying' to leave them to die instead of guarantee they'd be taken in to be cared for.
I think this whole thing with the Sekirei Tama is going to be like
big
at some point. And tied to the Jinki.
Sera: yeah, finding out what the Jinki are would be nice
Haru: "Cause strange flashbacks and can DEACTIVATE ALL SEKIREI OMG" sob
Minaka: idk they're like dragonballs so they're cool.
also speaking of not really touched on but mentioned vaguely in passing and causing Sekirei suffering and I totally think this is going to happen...
... so you know how only "one' sekirei can be the winner?
and how Ashikabi can have multiple sekirei?
I totally think Minaka is eventually going to do matchups including Sekirei from the same team
Sera: It's set up that eventually - yeah
Haru: and this is an arc that will basically destroy Mikogami.
Sera: haha yeah
Haru: I'm pretty sure Mutsu could beat any of Mikogami's other Sekirei but how would Mikogami feel about Mutsu after that
Sera: because Mikogami doesn't have the - I mean, in that arc Sahashi and his Sekirei would just be like
FUCK THIS
and leave
Haru: Yeah
Sera: the game, that is
But Mikogami'd still try to play it
and it'd be terrible
Haru: Yeah
and he'd get his pride all tangled up in what he dislikes because like -- it's obvious he's affected when he loses Sekirei!
He throws a fit when Yomi gets deactivated
that ends with WELL SHE WAS USELESS ANYWAY
He has SO MUCH PRIDE!!! just
not
much ... ... emotional smarts
Sera: He wouldn't be able to channel his pride into just giving up on the game
because he wants to win it!
Haru: And it would Not Be Ok
I think if she survives until then Akitsu would be very important in that arc
because she's not in the game.
she can't be in the game! She's disqualified.
of course, there's always the option of Mutsu like
picking up Mikogami
and walking him out of Shinto
haha
Sera: THAT IS PROBABLY THE GOOD END.