Also, Following This Up But Way Darker— I Was Talking W My Bf And We Realized Somehow All 3 Of Them

also, following this up but way darker— i was talking w my bf and we realized somehow all 3 of them got groomed in some way. lord, help this mess of a family.

spoilers under the cut: trigger warnings for subjects like abuse, and grooming (the action of attempting to form a relationship with a child or young person, with the intention of sexually assaulting them or inducing them to commit an illegal act such as selling drugs or joining a terrorist organization.)

kanna reveals that kugie was being romanced by a “mature/adult” woman in the original japanese version of your time to shine. sara is still called “underage” by mishima when keiji thinks about drinking with her, so i assume the simulation takes place with everyone at their same ages as in the death game.

shin was groomed by sou, whether you see their relationship as romantic or not. i personally see it with slight “romantic” undertones due to the excess of photos of shin being placed around sou’s house (possibly one sided as shin, at his most affectionate points with sou, states he viewed him as a sibling or an anti-hero) but either way… it was definitely abusive. shin’s ai reveals that sou was not even a student at his school, just a random grown ass man attending.

(side tangent and personal head cannon : i wonder how much coke sou was snorting to be able to balance high school, being a “psychologist”, “prison guard”, cashier at the ice cream shop, shin’s “friend”, a “nurse”, meeting with the yabusames, working for asunaro… like, half of their funding probably goes to his booger sugar because no way you’re doing all that without speed.)

but back to the main point, he specifically picked an emotionally vulnerable teenage boy with no friends, making it easy to groom him with the intention of forcing him into the death game. shin was very uncomfortable throughout the time they shared. during the lantern scene he says they spoke between computer monitors when at his house due to how uncomfortable he felt with him, and became even more disturbed upon seeing sou peek from between them.

when clicking photos of him he claims sara is “making him remember the bad parts”. he shows the most disdain in the chapter when upon inserting the fake id card into the control room several smiling photos of him appear.

i believe one of the most heartbreaking things shin has said is when confesses relief at the sou’s death despite the loneliness of losing his only friend.

i really hate the romanticization of their relationship. it’s sad seeing a complex character have clear grooming overlooked by gooner-fans (chainsaw man fandom is rlly bad with this as well) and the “i love toxic yaoi” crowd. shin is a victim who deserved much better. he was, at best, a kid who was groomed into joining a death game due to the trust he put into his first “friend”. at worst, there’s a possibility he was groomed romantically or sexually as well.

i do like their relationship. i find it incredibly interesting from a psychological perspective— but the romanticization of it genuinely takes away from a well-written character.

upon taking sou’s name, shin also took upon himself the man’s personality. believing that a psychotic, sadistic, and morally dubious demeanor would save him. but upon doing so— he continued the cycle of violence (fortunately ending it out of genuine love for his victim in chapter 2.) he latched onto the weakest of the group, manipulating kanna to his will with the sacrifice card.

i frequently wonder if he did this because he saw some of himself in kanna. that same timid highschool boy that was manipulated by sou hiyori, the man he has “become”.

regardless of his later intentions and affection, he originally sought to groom her into becoming someone he could use, bend to his will, make part of his plans.

but in chapter two, he broke the cycle. he found himself becoming affectionate towards kanna— and her self-sacrifice distressed him to the point that he was willing to die for her.

that’s one of the reasons i find his name reveal so perfect— we learn of shin tsukimi when we first see that true side of himself that he tried to “kill”. sou hiyori would never care for another human being the way shin tsukimi does. sou hioyri would never feel empathy for his playthings and feared death until the end, while shin tsukimi died at peace giving himself up for kanna.

tragically — even if kanna had been the sacrifice, he was prepared to die. he knew she would choose sara to live alongside her as her surrogate sister.

shin tsukimi broke the cycle, and i find it so tragically beautiful.

favorite thing about kugie + greenblings is somehow— despite the biological siblings being separated and kugie not even being related to them… all three of them ended up gay.

shin and kugie are pretty self explanatory, but kanna gives me gay vibes as well. (this is NOT shipping in any way, just general observation) her blushing sprite is only used when sara says she smells nice in 2-2, if i remember correctly. and i don’t even know what to say about the hot springs scene… she’s visually checking her out and nobody knows wtf happens when the screen goes black. kanna in the hot tub cutscene photo always reminds me so much of the feeling of changing in locker rooms in middle school when you first start to question your sexuality— poor girl. also, either intentionally or unintentionally grabbing reko’s ass in the emotion route 😭

like, its not due to influence between them as kanna only recently found out about kugie’s girlfriend pre-death game and neither of them knew shin. it’s not genetics, since kanna and shin aren’t directly related to kugie.

just genuinely blows my mind how ALL OF THEM ended up gay.

…honestly, that could be said for most of the cast though