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The popular opinion seems to be that Nine is more unhinged than Twelve, citing Nine’s lack of charisma. I disagree. Nine and Twelve commit the same crimes, but while Nine looks conflicted about what he’s doing, Twelve seems to be genuinely enjoying himself. Thoughts?

Hola! Thanks for the ask anon!

I love Zankyou no Terror so much, and because it's an older and underrated anime I wasn't sure it even had an active fandom anymore. So I am happy to nerd out about it with more people--especially about questions I had not thought about before, like the one you asked.

The short answer is that, after properly brain rotting about this matter, the only conclusion I could come to was that neither is more unhinged than the other simply because Nine and Twelve exist at opposite ends of the same spectrum.

As such, I personally think both Nine and Twelve are enjoying their acts of terrorism but for different reasons.

The long answer detailing my personal take and train of thought on this is below the cut...

Watanabe and finding harmony in 3's

After I finally managed to suck ma chérie, @justafrenchlondoner, into the Zankyou hell hole, she pointed out something that I had not noticed and that is a recurring theme in Watanabe's work--the MCs are a trio composed of two men and one woman.

This is certainly true for Zankyou no Terror, Cowboy Bebop (until Ed and Ein get thrown into the mix), Samurai Shamploo and Kids on a Slope--these are the Watanabe anime I have seen up until now that confirm this idea. That being said, I cannot say whether this is also true for Space Dandy and Carole & Tuesday.

This is important because the chemistry between characters is always one of the most important aspects of a Watanabe story. And if you've noticed, and if I remember correctly, the stories always start out with two men, and then the woman is introduced into the story (but don't quote me on this, I'd have to go back and re-watch Shamploo and Kids to confirm this is true).

The two males are always opposites of each other

The thing about these two male characters is that they are typically complete opposites of each other:

Spike is charismatic and acts on instinct while Jet is grounded and calculating.

Mugen is charming and acts on instinct while Jin is quiet and calculating.

Twelve is cheerful and acts on instinct while Nine is quiet and calculating.

Even though I don't remember the names or the exact details, the same can be said about the MCs in Kids on a Slope.

This is, of course, over-simplifying their characters and boiling them down to their character trope. What is outstanding about Watanabe’s work is that all of the above-mentioned characters are incredibly well-written, multi-dimensional, and nuanced.

In a nutshell, Watanabe uses that ever popular trope that Shonen manga relies on a lot: the protagonist is the deuteragonist's yang, the same way the deuteragonist is the protagonist's yin.

Why does this matter?

Is Twelve a sociopath and Nine a psychopath?

I don’t usually like to assign DSM (Diagnostic Statistical Manual--the book Psychologists and Psychiatrists use to diagnose mental illness) labels, but I feel like this is one case where the label fits the bill.

First, these two labels are polar opposites of what is known as antisocial personality disorder. In fact, you won’t find psychopath or sociopath as a diagnosis in the DSM.

Technicalities aside, this is what WebMD has to say about the difference between the two labels, sociopath and a psychopath:

Some experts see sociopaths as “hot-headed.” They act without thinking how others will be affected. Psychopaths are more “cold-hearted” and calculating. They carefully plot their moves, and use aggression in a planned-out way to get what they want.

Twelve’s double open heart

This last time I revisited Zankyou I caught onto a small detail about Twelve I had missed before. The t-shirt that Twelve wears to sleep says “double open heart.”

This incredible fan art shows the shirt in better quality.

To me, this was a deliberate choice on Watanabe’s behalf to symbolize Twelve’s character. In a nutshell, Twelve is the heart of the operation and has enough heart for the two of them.

Side note: Sadly, I believe this t-shirt was also foreshadowing for how Twelve dies as he is shot in the heart in episode 11.

Twelve lives his life with an open heart and Watanabe shows this with how deeply Twelve feels called to connect with Lisa even against his own better judgment.

To use a cliché term, you could also say that “Twelve follows his heart” and as such is able to act on instinct. Watanabe shows this through Twelve’s felt sense--he has synesthesia, a very sensitive sense of smell, and has an insane ability to easily maneuver high speed vehicles--this in itself is symbolic of his recklessness.

In Nine’s own words, he could tell Twelve was the one who saved him from being captured because only Twelve would drop a grenade behind him. Only Twelve would do something so reckless.

But I think what I love most about Twelve’s double open heart and cheerful nature, is that he is not all rainbows and butterflies. As you pointed out, the kid seems to be enjoying himself playing this game of terrorism and is quite vicious in how he picks on Lisa. My best guess is that because he acts on instinct, Twelve is not thinking about how his actions affect others.

This is easier for the audience to appreciate precisely because Twelve wears his heart on his sleeve. I also personally think that, because of this, Twelve was designed to show more emotional range in his facial expressions than Nine. Thus we can see that Twelve can indeed be just as cold-hearted as Nine.

TLDR: The way I see it, Twelve is enjoying himself because he is naturally a cheerful character. He is also a bit of a trickster and enjoys teasing Lisa.

But just because he is cheerful, it doesn't mean he can’t also be cold-hearted and reckless. This cold-heartedness is precisely what makes him reckless.

Nine’s game of chess

The thing about Nine is that he is a brainiac. He is known as the head of the operation and his migraines and his death from one are symbolic of this.

If you think about it, Twelve mentioned a couple of times that Nine’s riddles might either be too easy or too hard to figure out, thus implying that the strategy was always all of Nine’s creation.

Watanabe uses chess as a metaphor for Nine’s strategical thinking. I personally do not like chess, but my understanding of it is that chess is all about anticipating your opponent’s moves and adjusting your own strategy accordingly. This requires an ability to read others, their motives and thought processes, and the ability to see several steps ahead.

In other words, Watanabe uses chess to symbolize Nine’s beautiful mind and its ability to manipulate other’s behavior. Above all, I believe Watanabe meant to show that Nine is basically playing a game of chess with Shibazaki throughout the whole series.

A game that would ultimately lead to exposing the truth about what had happened to them.

It is when Nine notices that the Easter eggs that he has dropped along the way are being picked up by the police, that Nine shows us just how excited he is that his manipulative behavior is taking the desired effect. For example, Nine notices the hazmat suits in the news footage and realizes that someone has figured out that Sphinx stole the bomb.

Now, we hardly see any emotion from Nine except for those small moments when he gets excited about his riddle being solved and at the end when he cries out in grief over Twelve’s death.

This also speaks to Nine’s character. Unlike Twelve, Nine is not reckless and goes through great lengths to make sure no one gets caught up in his game. He might be excited to play his game of chess with Shibazaki, but that doesn’t mean he wants to hurt others.

Compared to Twelve, Nine is the complete opposite. He is reserved, cold and calculating. Unlike Twelve’s propensity to live with an open heart, Nine is slow to trust and accept Lisa as “one of them”.

TLDR: Nine is enjoying himself because someone can keep up with him intellectually. To him, Shibazaki solving his riddle means he is coming closer to winning his game of chess and that excites him.

In the end, Nine’s cold and calculating persona does not mean he is not incredibly emotional. He might not show us the range of emotion that Twelve shows because Nine is selective in what he is emotional about.

Nine and Twelve’s massive tantrum

Somewhere in the first few episodes, Shibazaki makes a comment about how he can’t believe that Sphinx would commit acts of terrorism just for the attention.

Looking back, I believe Shibazaki is both right and wrong.

After all, Nine and Twelve wanted to both expose what happened to them and assert their right to live and be remembered--such a human and poignant desire to be honest, and perhaps the reason why the Zankyou ending is so impactful.

I believe that, even if they had different reasons for it, both Nine and Twelve were enjoying how their plan was unfolding before their eyes because in the end it would mean they had asserted their right to live.

In the end, they each went about achieving their goal their own way.

Nine with his superior intellect.

Twelve with his superior felt sense.

As such, they each had different reactions to how the events unfolded.

Nine was excited that his riddles were being solved.

Twelve was excited because he was living true to his open heart.

This is why I started my answer by bringing up that Watanabe’s stories always juxtapose the male characters and their motivations.

Twelve represents the warmth of the Sun while Nine represents coldness.

To take it one step further, I think that Nine is right-handed while Twelve is left-handed. I am only making this assumption from the way they wear their watches. I am left handed and wear my watch in my right arm to avoid scratching it the way a right handed person wears it on their left hand.

In my opinion, assuming that one of them was more unhinged than the other ignores Watanabe’s use of symbolism and use of character tropes. Thus, neither was more unhinged than the other because they were both equally broken to the point of going through such great lengths to reach their goal.

In that sense, their acts of terrorism were a massive tantrum--a cry for help by two teenagers who, having been given numbers as names, had been robbed of their humanity for the sake of someone else’s game of chess.

Anyways.

I hope that answered your question, thank you for reaching out about this wonderful anime! 🤩✨ and happy Thanksgiving.

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