Mizu, Femininity, And Fallen Sparrows

Mizu, femininity, and fallen sparrows

In my last post about Mizu and Akemi, I feel like I came across as overly critical of Mizu given that Mizu is a woman who - in her own words - has to live as a man in order to go down the path of revenge.

If she is ever discovered to be female by the wrong person, she will not only be unable to complete her quest, but there's a good chance that she'll be arrested or killed.

So it makes complete sense for Mizu to distance herself as much as possible from any behavior that she feels like would make someone question her sex.

I felt so indignant toward Mizu on my first couple watchthroughs for this moment. Why couldn't Mizu bribe the woman and her child's way into the city too? If Mizu is presenting as a man, couldn't she claim to be the woman's escort?

However, this moment makes things pretty clear. Mizu knows all too well the plight of women in her society. She knows it so well that she cannot risk ever finding herself back in their position again. She helps in what little way she can - without drawing attention to herself.

Mizu is not a hero and she is not one to make of herself a martyr - she will not set herself on fire to keep others warm. There's room to argue that Mizu shouldn't prioritize her quest over people's lives, but given the collateral damage Mizu can live with in almost every episode of season 1, Mizu is simply not operating under that kind of morality at this point. ("You don't know what I've done to reach you," Mizu tells Fowler.)

And while I still feel like Mizu has an obvious and established blind spot when it comes to Akemi because of their differences in station, such that Mizu's judgment of Akemi and actions in episode 5 are the result of prejudice rather than the result of Mizu's caution, I also want to establish that Mizu is just as caged as Akemi is, despite her technically having more freedom while living as a man.

Mizu can hide her mixed race identity some of the time, and she can hide her sex almost all of the time, but being able to operate outside of her society's strict rules for women does not mean she cannot see their plight.

It does not mean she doesn't hurt for them.

Back to Mizu and collateral damage, remember that sparrow?

While Mizu is breaking into Boss Hamata's manse, she gets startled by a bird and kills it on reflex. She then cradles it in her hands - much more tenderly than we've seen Mizu treat almost anything up to this point in the season:

She then puts it in its nest, with its unhatched eggs. Almost like she's trying to make the death look natural. Or like an accident.

You see where I'm going with this.

When Mizu kills Kinuyo, Mizu lingers in the moment, holding the body tenderly:

And btw a lot of stuff about this show hit me hard, but this remains the biggest gut punch of them all for me, Mizu holding that poor girl's body close, GOD

When Mizu arranges the "scene of the crime," Kinuyo's body is delicate, birdlike. And Mizu is so shaken afterward that she gets sloppy. She's horrified at this kill to the point that she can't bring herself to take another innocent life - the boy who rats her out.

MIZU'S ONE MOMENT OF SOFTNESS AND MERCY, COMING ON THE HEELS OF HER NEEDING TO KILL A GIRL TO SPARE HER THE WORST FATE THAT THIS RIGID SOCIETY HAS TO OFFER WOMEN, AND TO SPARE A BROTHEL FULL OF INNOCENT WOMEN WHO ARE THE CASTOFFS OF SOCIETY, NEARLY RESULTS IN ALL OF THEIR DEATHS

No wonder Mizu is as stoic and cold as she is.

And no wonder Mizu has no patience for Akemi whatsoever right before the terrible reveal and the fight breaks out:

Speaking of Akemi - guess who else is compared to a bird!

The plumage is more colorful, a bit flashier. But a bird is a bird.

And, uh

Yeah.

I like to think that Mizu killing the sparrow is not only foreshadowing for what she must do to Kinuyo, but is also a representation of the choice she makes on Akemi's behalf. She decides to cage the bird because she believes the bird is "better off." Better off caged than... dead.

But because Mizu doesn't know Akemi or her situation, she of course doesn't realize that the bird is fated to die if it is caged and sent back home.

Mizu is clearly not happy, or pleased, or satisfied by allowing Akemi to be dragged back to her father:

But softness and mercy haven't gotten Mizu anywhere good, recently.

There is so much tragedy layered into Mizu's character, and it includes the things she has to witness and the choices she makes - or believes she has to make - involving women, when she herself can skirt around a lot of what her society throws at women. Although, I do believe that it comes at the cost of a part of Mizu's soul.

After all, I'm gonna be haunted for the rest of this show by Mizu's very first prayer in episode 1:

"LET" her die. Because as Ringo points out, she doesn't "know how" to die.

Kind of like another bird in this show:

Not so Foolproof pt. 2

I am so sorry in advance for my inconsistent art ;-;

Red Son came up with a second plan. He was going to use this "date" as an opportunity to gain some valuable information on his enemies. He was absolutely NOT going to enjoy this.

He enjoyed it.

Red Son walked into the Pigsy's Noodles at exactly 5 pm.

What? It's not like he was gonna let himself be late. The highly esteemed son of the Bull Demon King was NOT going to let himself be late to his first date- ER- his very important spy mission- yeah.

Almost immediately after he walked through the entrance, Noodle Boy ran up to him. "OHMYGOSH YOU'RE ACTUALLY HERE!!"

"I didn't think you'd actually show up! Hold on, lemme get our food!" MK ran into the kitchen and walked back out with two hot fresh bowls of noodles.

"Here- I saved this table for us!" MK brought the noodles over to a table in the corner of the room closest to the door. Red Son sat down in his chair as MK placed the noodles in front of them and sat across from him. As much as Red Son tried to sit straight, it took as much as 3 seconds for him to start slouching.

They sat in very awkward silence for about 15 excruciating seconds before MK spoke up, "So, why'd you ask me out?"

"A- DHSJDJWJDJJEJFJWJD-" Both Red Son's face and hair flared red, a reaction that MK thought was absolutely adorable. And charming. And cute. And-

"I- ugh, It was supposed to distract you, I didn't expect you to actually say yes to it." Red Son said before he began eating.

Ah. He expected that, but it still hurt.

"Oh- so do you like...wanna leave, then?" MK looked down at his own food in disappointment. The red head didn't like it, which was weird considering that before this, he felt satisfaction whenever that expression came to his face.

"I- NO ITS NOT THAT, I-" Red Son didn't know what to say. He still needed to gather that intel on Noodle Boy, but he didn't exactly want to leave him for any other reason either. "I...I do. I do want to go on this...date with you. I just don't know-"

"You just don't know what to do for a first date, right?"

"Well I was going to say that I don't know anywhere that reaches my standards but sure let's go with that."

"Okay, then howabout Iiiiiiiiii…" MK seemed to think it over for a moment before he made a face that meant he had an idea. "I could show you my favorite places in the city!! There's a lot of fun things to do around here, right? So how's that sound?"

Red Son barely got the words "I don't see anything flawed with that-" out of his mouth before MK was leading him to the arcade, leaving their noodles alone on the table. Thinking about it, maybe he wouldn't be able to get MK to spill any intel, but instead gain his trust?

They stopped outside the arcade as MK began to dig around in his pockets before pulling out a few tokens that were presumably meant for the arcade games. "Oh uh- heh- sorry, I guess I underestimated how many tokens I actually had left. Mannn I really wanted to show you this place!!"

"The arcade? Why?"

"Well I know that since you're pretty competitive and all, you might've actually had fun here."

Again, that disappointed expression found itself crawling onto MK's face. Red Son very much disliked it.

"...stay here."

"?Where are you going?"

"I'm getting us more tokens."

Red Son walked into the arcade, sulking his way over to the counter where he determined sold the tokens. When he reached the front of the counter, he slammed his fist on the top of the counter.

"Arcade lady!! I DEMAND you give me as many of your- er- tokens as you have at once!!" The girl working at the counter looked at him before scoffing at him, rolling her eyes and resuming her discussion with another patron. Red Son was getting impatient. MK was waiting for him outside.

"Arcade Lady, give me all the tokens that you have, or I'll burn you and this booth TO ASHES!!"

Red Son's flames blazed high as his temper took over, the hands gripping the counter setting it on fire. Now terrified, the employee rushed to get a fire extinguisher and put out the flames on the counter before reaching under the counter and pulling out a giant bucket full of tokens.

Red Son smirked as he gripped onto the bucket (which was a lot heavier than what you'd expect) and walked outside to where MK was waiting for him. The Prince's smirk widened into a smile as he saw MK's face light up upon seeing how many tokens he had gotten.

"OH MY GOSH RED SON, HOW DID YOU GET SO MANY?!?" MK rushed over to the red head, excitement making his eyes shine. Red Son thought the emotion looked good on him.

"I have my ways." Red Son chuckled to himself as they walked into the arcade, seeing the Arcade Lady's terrified expression as they passed by.

"Uhhh okay! Get ready to have the full fun arcade experience!!" Red Son definitely thought MK's energy was annoying. Not amazing. He definitely wasn't amazing. Nope.

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that was fun i love them so muchhhhh btw i had a roleplay about them being at the arcade too

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swokeeon

5 years ago

i'm like. in love.