Thoughts On The New Chapter?

Thoughts on the new chapter?

so many!!!! we got so much thematic/character stuff and a lot of lore implications as well!! I’ll try my best to cover all my thoughts!!

mitsuba SHINED this chapter he was GLOWING he was so brave and clumsy and troubled, he absolutely NAILED the final girl role and I love that so much for him!!

he also had some of my favorite thematic moments. I especially loved the yorishiro destruction panel:

LOVE love love love that he TEARS IT APART WITH HIS TEETH !!!! when we’ve learned this mitsuba has supernatural mitsuba’s memories!! the HAT oh my god the symbol of the hat flying off in the moment when he goes full feral to save this girl and himself… when that’s a part of himself supernatural mitsuba tries so hard to hide and suppress… this mitsuba dives into it for the sake of his own life and the life of his underclassman. mitsuba tears something apart with his teeth, leaning into his more monstrous instincts, to be a hero!! the hat is so silly but also I’m choosing to read it as a symbol of hiding the parts of himself he’s scared of, and in this moment we see the beauty and strength in that part of him!! (go, queer monster boy, go!! I love you!!!!)

I also find this mitsuba fascinating for how he flips the script on picture perfect mitsuba

picture perfect mitsuba wants to pretend he’s human mitsuba… he wants his memories, even if it’s fake. 116 mitsuba… wants to remember!! he wants to understand!! he wants the truth!!

it’s hard to really know what to make of this though, because it’s hard to know who this mitsuba is. according to the supposed altered timeline, this should be alive mitsuba. but he has supernatural mitsubas memories… it raises questions mitsuba and tsukasa always have: what is a person? a soul? memories? both? to what extent?

to bring it back to him destroying the paper with his teeth: I would love… if original/human mitsuba had some of the same aggressive/feral tendencies supernatural mitsuba is so ashamed of, that make him feel so nonhuman, so monstrous. he doesn’t have human mitsubas memories; there could be so many similarities between them he can’t see!!

one last mitsuba observation:

his injured hand in 116 is the one always in his sleeve as a ghost and then as a supernatural. probably just a thematic thing rather than a lore one, but a really interesting detail!! are we barreling inevitably back to our original timeline?

kou is also really interesting this chapter, and in this arc in general, for his unwillingness to remember… he’s had multiple opportunities and ignored them all. very baffling, considering picture perfect kou’s and red house kou’s dedication to reality and all the pain that comes with it. not sure what to make of this just yet, but it’s something I’m keeping an eye on!! would love to hear other people’s thoughts on this!!

my favorite kou panel this chapter:

I am FASCINATED by the bandages slipping off his hand… they look!! incredibly familiar!!

I wonder what the parallel is here? could this be a lore hint, implying amane’s wounds were caused by whatever gave kou his injuries? or maybe just a thematic parallel of a boy in too deep trying to protect someone? someone putting himself in harms way willingly… much to think about!!

now some nitty gritty lore thoughts:

happy to report I am still steadfastly team “tsukasa is tsukasa”—I think original supernatural tsukasa definitely is tsukasa, and the white bubble of him calling out to amane suggests to me he’s still in there in this timeline too, just less in control. maybe that’s as good as neutralized to the clock keepers though? or maybe the yorishiro destruction was more tsukasa’s idea than the god’s, and the god is appeased by this ritual enough to not need to destroy any yorishiros?

do mysteries and their yorishiros even exist in this timeline?

on the topic of yorishiros, it’s interesting that the girl from the photography club was saved when the paper was destroyed but kou still got possessed… is it just one spirit traveling between targets, and it left the girls body to possess kou? but the girl and tsukasa seemed to be possessed simultaneously… so maybe destroying the paper did do something to help the girl? if the yorishiro allows connection between the supernatural and human realms, why the flowers? are they a sacrifice? the existence of the ritual itself is also confusing, because the god didn’t need any ritual to contact tsukasa in the red house… does this have something to do with the power of rumors? or is the red house maybe just a more powerful location than the school? why was amane hyping up the ritual? is tsukasa calling for him because he’s used to teacher amane being there and now he’s not?

as usual I find myself with a million questions lol, I absolutely loved this chapter!! would love to hear other thoughts about it!!

and as a closing note: I would die so fast in this timeline there’s no way I’m not playing with him he’s so cute even when supremely possessed

if he’s so evil why does he have a halo??

little angel confirmed <3