[Meta/OOC] Apologia Pro Navitas Vampirii Sua
Posted a somewhat lengthy bit of meta, in response to a somewhat pearl-clutching Muraki basher, and in which I elaborated on Muraki's twisted psyche.
Post can be read here
Thing that freaks me out to no end
Notshunnaorelated:
Just how big Muraki’s fandom is and how people tend to ship him with Tsuzuki.
Muraki is a PSYCHO RAPIST THAT TORTURE AND KILLS FOR FUNSIES and he INTENDS TO STICK HIS BROTHER’S HEAD ON TSUZUKI’S BODY
HOW IN THE NAME OF FUCK SOMEONE CAN LIKE HIM OR DISLIKE TSUZUKI AS MUCH AS TO SHIP THEM
[My Reply]For starters, Muraki isn’t exactly human: he appears to be some kind of energy vampire (moreso in the manga, but there’s enough vampire-related imagery in the Nagasaki arc of the anime to hint at his vampiric nature), so human psychology may not apply, thus calling him “psycho” falls a bit short of the mark.
Also related to the energy vampirism: there is a glamour about this guy, which is tricky to resist: yes, he does horrible things; yes, he’s a monster, even still… he’s a beautiful monster and that does tend to draw one in (which is just what energy vampires and incubi and other creatures of that ilk *do*).
The reason why Muraki is a monster? Not easy to explain, but from his backstory in the manga (where he was, it seems, virtually ignored by his father, emotionally abused by his over-protective mother, then bullied by his half-brother Saki [I mean, Saki tried to kill him with a sword: that alone would likely mess up anyone, human or otherwise]), it seems he got sick of being the victim of the monsters in his life and decided, at some point, *he* would be the one victimizing people, *he* would be the monster in the shadows terrifying people. As a person who’s been bullied and had their life threatened (once by playground bully who tried to cave my head in with a chunk of asphalt the size of my head, the other by a pervert who tried to assault me), I get that: I’ve been tempted to give in to my own inner demons, but I haven’t and I won’t. So in looking at Muraki, I’m seeing what I could have become, but for the grace of God and my own conviction to be true to my self.
Even still, Muraki has his gentle moments: there’s a part in that scene in the sub-basement lab where Muraki reaches in and gently, even tenderly, wipes away Tsuzuki’s tears, a moment that visually echoes that bit in the opening credits where a seven-year-old Muraki strokes the damaged face of a porcelain doll. It’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, but it made me realize, this character may be a monster, but he’s not completely irredeemable. He still has a corner, somewhere in his twisted, perverted pysche, where that scared little kid who just wanted someone to love him, is still hiding.
I won’t deny that pairing him with Tsuzuki is royally messed up, but there are nuances to this pairing. Bear in mind, Tsuzuki’s sense of sacrificing himself for others borders on the masochistic, and he also can rapidly heal from almost anything short of being burned to ashes in a divine fire: Even if Muraki did succeed in his crazy experiment, Tsu would probably reconstitute and still stab Muraki in the back. It’s a pairing made in hell if there ever was one! Some people are into that sort of thing in fiction: doesn’t make them bad people, just people that are into something that isn’t exactly everyone else’s cuppa tea, and that’s okay. Not everyone can like everything.
Post can be read here
Thing that freaks me out to no end
Notshunnaorelated:
Just how big Muraki’s fandom is and how people tend to ship him with Tsuzuki.
Muraki is a PSYCHO RAPIST THAT TORTURE AND KILLS FOR FUNSIES and he INTENDS TO STICK HIS BROTHER’S HEAD ON TSUZUKI’S BODY
HOW IN THE NAME OF FUCK SOMEONE CAN LIKE HIM OR DISLIKE TSUZUKI AS MUCH AS TO SHIP THEM
[My Reply]For starters, Muraki isn’t exactly human: he appears to be some kind of energy vampire (moreso in the manga, but there’s enough vampire-related imagery in the Nagasaki arc of the anime to hint at his vampiric nature), so human psychology may not apply, thus calling him “psycho” falls a bit short of the mark.
Also related to the energy vampirism: there is a glamour about this guy, which is tricky to resist: yes, he does horrible things; yes, he’s a monster, even still… he’s a beautiful monster and that does tend to draw one in (which is just what energy vampires and incubi and other creatures of that ilk *do*).
The reason why Muraki is a monster? Not easy to explain, but from his backstory in the manga (where he was, it seems, virtually ignored by his father, emotionally abused by his over-protective mother, then bullied by his half-brother Saki [I mean, Saki tried to kill him with a sword: that alone would likely mess up anyone, human or otherwise]), it seems he got sick of being the victim of the monsters in his life and decided, at some point, *he* would be the one victimizing people, *he* would be the monster in the shadows terrifying people. As a person who’s been bullied and had their life threatened (once by playground bully who tried to cave my head in with a chunk of asphalt the size of my head, the other by a pervert who tried to assault me), I get that: I’ve been tempted to give in to my own inner demons, but I haven’t and I won’t. So in looking at Muraki, I’m seeing what I could have become, but for the grace of God and my own conviction to be true to my self.
Even still, Muraki has his gentle moments: there’s a part in that scene in the sub-basement lab where Muraki reaches in and gently, even tenderly, wipes away Tsuzuki’s tears, a moment that visually echoes that bit in the opening credits where a seven-year-old Muraki strokes the damaged face of a porcelain doll. It’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, but it made me realize, this character may be a monster, but he’s not completely irredeemable. He still has a corner, somewhere in his twisted, perverted pysche, where that scared little kid who just wanted someone to love him, is still hiding.
I won’t deny that pairing him with Tsuzuki is royally messed up, but there are nuances to this pairing. Bear in mind, Tsuzuki’s sense of sacrificing himself for others borders on the masochistic, and he also can rapidly heal from almost anything short of being burned to ashes in a divine fire: Even if Muraki did succeed in his crazy experiment, Tsu would probably reconstitute and still stab Muraki in the back. It’s a pairing made in hell if there ever was one! Some people are into that sort of thing in fiction: doesn’t make them bad people, just people that are into something that isn’t exactly everyone else’s cuppa tea, and that’s okay. Not everyone can like everything.