: ̗̀➛ALICE IN BORDERLAND

SHUNTARO CHISHIYA ———————————————————

about Chishiya, since the show watered him down ;p he actually was kind of heartless and never understood the concept of life and wasn't interested in it either. so if you're mad at someone for saying "awful" things he would have do, you're probably the one mischaracterizing him In his backstory (manga-based only), we learn that he was born into a family with no love and affection. his parents never showed interest in him; they only cared about work—actually, that much—that even if they didn't love each other anymore, they pretended to be happy so the hospital where the father worked—his father was the hospital head—wouldn't get into any scandals. chishiya basically grows up in a family with no feelings, and since he never got to know them, he still doesn't know them to this day. he wanted to check if he could feel anything by starting to work in his father's hospital as a student. he wanted to know if he could feel compassion toward any of the patients and if that would help him find an interest in life; guess what, it didn’t help, then he kind of gave up on himself and looking for any sense in life or finding a good in himself

but there was one thing that interested him since he was a child: it was the Mona Lisa painting. we see him looking at it, stating that he couldn't look away and that "everyone wants to be seen for who they are"; it is a reference to his history in various ways. first, the painting, in one of its meanings, is a visual representation of happiness. looking at what he said, it could be interpreted as him referring to his family, who are actually just pretenders and are "painted" happy. the second meaning refers to him, as he always felt different from others and viewed emotional people as stupid. because of that, other people couldn't understand him; he reminded himself of the painting when he tells arisu he just wanted someone to understand him. he said the Mona Lisa, in one theory, has been said to be Da Vinci himself dressed as a woman—which refers to people actually not knowing Da Vinci, just as people do not actually know and understand him.

in Borderland, his first game was 6 of Diamonds - a blackjack. there we could see how intelligent and observant he actually is. he never gambled before and was not only able to pick up the rules through observation but also invented a mathematical card counting method to decide how to bet. other players there couldn’t understand how a young man like him could act so calm and unbothered, but he simply had no concept of living and didn't care if he died or not. from the beginning, he only "helped" others when he saw they might be useful—that's why he helped Karube and gave him information about the beach since he was with Arisu, who he became interested in.

on the beach, he paired with Kuina, but they weren’t friends, as the show depicts; he had from the beginning planned to use her to steal the cards by himself when they were about to steal them together. he needed her to get closer to Arisu—to use him for his plan—he didn't care what was going to happen to them(arisu & usagi). kuina even asked him if he really didn't feel sorry at all, but of course, he doesn’t feel anything. Kuina later in the series even said she hates him just as much as she hates niragi 10 of hearts: after the start of the game, he leaves Kuina behind and is trying to kill Niragi; he says he's pissing him off since Niragi reminds him how awful he also is. both of them don’t care about other lives, killing and betraying them. Chishiya really hated niragi. he knew there was something wrong with him, but he couldn’t change and gave it up already in his backstory. he wants niragi dead so he won’t have to face the thought of how evil he actually is. also, when he learns Arisu is alive, he doesn’t try to solve the game; he knows Arisu will do it and that he doesn’t need to interfere. especially when it’s a heart game, he may be pretty good at them, but he doesn’t really like them since he isn’t good with emotions and never really understood other people's minds.

King of diamonds: there, as usual, Chishiya couldn't care less about his life and gives Kuzuryu the option to kill him. as i said, he never had the concept of life and was only in the borderlands looking for something interesting, like, for example, his beloved Mona Lisa painting. unexpectedly, Kuzuryu decides to sacrifice himself for Chishiya, which actually makes him wonder—how do people decide to sacrifice for others? Why do they do that? He contemplates the concept of empathy. Kuzuryu's sacrifice was like a breaking point for Chishiya because, before, Arisu's will to help others interested him, but what Kuzuryu did for him made him actually think about changing.

Arisu and Niragi: when the shooting started, because of what i wrote above and Arisu's speech before Usagi appears, he decides to take Usagi's bullet. He wants to do something nice in return, something out of character—as he said. he wanted to know how it feels to help others, to do something for someone instead of for himself. he then expressed thoughts about the Mona Lisa, stating he only wanted someone to understand him, and it happened to be Arisu and Niragi. He was glad to meet them and told Arisu his existence was just to show how empty humans can be—“I understand,” he responded. he came to the conclusion that he probably never wanted to learn about others and/or emotions because he was too jealous of them to think of it, viewing them as stupid instead. summarizing all his character: he was selfish, lacking humanity, and disinterested in life. so why, after all, did he decide to go back to the real world and survived the shooting? because of Arisu, Usagi, and Kuzuryu, he finally found a reason to live - to slowly change and try to understand what is humanity - i think that moment - him finding a reason to live - was the most beautiful part of his character. they were his new Mona Lisa, making him interested and causing him to think just like the painting did before; it was what he searched for in the borderland.

: ̗̀➛ ALICE IN BORDERLAND

NIRAGI SUGURU ---------------------------------------------------------

Niragi is a complicated character; he is vindictive (having a strong and/or unreasoning desire for revenge)and vengeful (seeking to harm in return from previous injury), displays sociopathic behaviour and has antisocial personality disorder.

in his backstory, we learn that he was bullied; the bullies threw balls with baseball at him, he had to eat rice mixed with their urine if he moved, and most likely, they did more humiliating things to him for no real reason. this made him wonder later in the show if they hated him because they saw how messed up he was from the start or if he became this way because of them. after the bullying, he drastically changed his appearance because he thought the only way to end the misery of his life was to change. the bullies made him believe that people like him deserved to be bullied, and because of them, he started to become sadistic, just like they were.

in Borderlands, he started as one of the martial sector members of the beach. this put him in a higher position than the usual members and allowed him to use the guns the beach offered. of course, this made him very confident, and he was consumed by the thought that he could now do whatever he wanted to whomever he wanted. most of his actions there were just sadistic and crazy things he did to enjoy his time better. however, when he saw one of the scared guys while aiming at him, niragi reminded himself of the bullying, which shows that he’s still not over it and it really triggered him.

with Usagi: on the beach, he only wanted to sa her because of his god complex at that time. in the manga, she calls him out for being pathetic and alone; in the show, she bites his tongue piercing instead, which specifically comes from the bullies who told him to pierce his own tongue. in both, she reminds him that he’s actually a loser and that he won’t change it, which makes him anxious around her since she reminds him of the bullies. when they met in Osmosis, he initially acted pretty sane, came with the idea of balance (pairing the weaker with the stronger person instead of arisu). it’s not surprising since he is the best at diamonds and is very intelligent, after all. as mentioned, he acted pretty nice for himself because of arisu, whom he felt safe around, and of course, he wanted to win that game. everyone seemed okay with him besides usagi; she was the only one who didn’t want to touch him and was disgusted by him. he couldn’t understand why she was disgusted when he was nice and actually behaved like any other person, which again reminded him of the bullying and put him in a defensive mode. for him, the only way to feel safe was to attack first, so he again tries to sa her. he even asked her, "am I really that disgusting? everyone looks at me that way"—everyone—(bullies).

after Osmosis, when he wandered around in the show, he just saw a guy on the side of the road, but in the manga, he found him in the church. there, the man tried to take his own life but failed. he lay there with a Bible by his side,niragi started reading it, and stated he was the opposite of God, since everybody loves and follows Him, while everybody hates him and hopes to not be him also made fun of the guy for trying to khs. this was, at least in my opinion, the moment when he lost all his sanity; he was comparing himself to the devil, and i think he really believed that, even though the truth is that he’s still the same person—the same “loser.” Arisu and Chishiya - after ,he finds them and begin shooting so they can all be together forever. his sanity was at its lowest, and he wanted them to experience the same madness he did—to bring them to his level. this is also why he laughed when Arisu beat him up in Osmosis; he loved to see Arisu behaving as shitty as he was. but Arisu declares that he will not shoot, bravely exposing himself from cover and talking about change, ruining his mood. then Usagi appears, and Niragi, convinced she is the reason Arisu "wants to leave him," tries to shoot her, crying and screaming that he doesn't want to be alone anymore. they were the only people he had. however, as we know, he shot Chishiya instead because of his sacrifice. then he tells Arisu that they're in a better spot because they were always viewed as normal and didn't suffer like he did - they are the majority - but if there were more "weird" people on Earth, he would be the norm, and then arisu would be seen as the devil (the weirdo) in the eyes of others instead.

with Tatta, Niragi basically hates himself, and Tatta reminds him of the "loser" side he despises. He let his anger out on Tatta and isn't genuinely happy they won because of him. as i mentioned before, he believes people like him should be bullied and are worthless, so the thought of such a loser saving his life gets him mad.

his strong will to live after all the events he went through is evident; Niragi just wanted to stop the suffering. he desired a better life and usually engaged in activities he thought would make him feel better—first being sadistic and trying to forget who he really is to keep Arisu and Chishiya with him forever, as only they could understand him. in the end, aside from the mental suffering, all his body must have been hurting from the shooting and burning, and it was the only moment i truly felt bad for him. even if the world seemed to want him dead, he still wanted to live so badly, no matter how much he was hurting.

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pascalslilpunk

6 months ago