#I'm like 99% sure I didn't receive ur other asks | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

scoups4lyfe · 2 years

Note

Ok.. so I was unable to post this ask in the new format. So if those previously reached you.. I'm sorry .. now I really want to see a evil vs live fight. Maybe it's in daijis mind or they get separated. Also daijis the secondary rider right? Shouldn't he get an upgrade already? Ikki got many upgrade. Also why do you think Olteca kidnapped George? Again sorry if u got this ask several times. I am not quite sure the other ones which are the same ask reached you though:(

Revice & Intentional Writing Part 6

(The Daiji Analysis)

(TW: Mentions / talks of drug abuse / Suicidal Ideation)

EVIL vs. LIVE: And Why EVIL's Winning:

......nah, anon. I think this is the first I've gotten this kind of ask lol

Hmmmmmm evil vs live fight,,,,,, damn that would be fireeeeee

I think unless Daiji got a lot more assurance from his siblings, or like more love and confidence in himself tho, Evil would def come out as the winner lol

Kagerou,,, at the base of it all is Daiji's coping mechanism for his low self-esteem and enormous amount of self-hate

That's why Kagerou means 'Mirage'. Because Not only does he hide Daiji's actual feelings from others; but he ALSO hides them from himself (Daiji).

(honestly I keep saying 'oncE i poSt thE Ep 4 aNaLysIS' so because I've been clowning I'll just tldr; some stuff here for rn )

Right, I'll also paste in here the conversation I had with Nacho about the layers behind Daiji/Kagerou.

[LAYERS + our convo:]

me:

Like.... how Kagerou's name being Mirage (unless I got this wrong /mixed with a synonym. lmaoo) not only being representative on how Daiji sees himself as evil, because those traits seem to be the ones that stick out the most (evil/live thing) ---- while ALSO representing the fact that Kagerou is acting as a mirage for Daiji's self-hate; so when Kagerou says or doesn't something what he's doing is deflecting the truth with something justtttt close enough

---aka the idea that Daiji hates Ikki because he sees Ikki as an "attention-whore" when in fact its because Daiji hates himself for not being able to help Ikki / do anything himself and how Kagerou not only acts as a mirage to others on Daiji's actual intentions / feelings

(to some extent at least)

But that to Daiji ---he's being a mirage so that Daiji won't have to believe in the things that'll only lead to more self-loathing, things he doesn't want to believe or just can't in order to survive

Nacho:

All good man, you're right on the money, it's mirage. If this helps at all, it specifically means the mirage you see during severe heat, like a heat haze.

Me (reacting to the more specific meaning of Kagerou's name):

"Ooooooo. Fvcked cause those kind of mirages are made by the mind as something you wish was true...... so Daiji's thing with Ikki and the stuff that Kagerou says (to Ikki, about Ikki, just in general I guess), all being things Daiji WISHES were actually the case.

But y'know these mirages are always fake --- so its not just Daiji seeing the mirage, but also others seeing this mirage --So again, just shows that all the things they were seeing was actually just something fake.

And then, went off on an Ikki sidenote (lol)

"-yo sidenote, tell me if Im whackin in thinking this -- but sometimes the mom will say stuff to Ikki and I'm like 🤪🤪🤪. Like she says stuff about him.... not being empathetic enough, or something about how not everyone is strong and until he understands that he'll "forever be half a man"

Nacho:

LOL that's def a combination of Asian sexism and the classic single mom thing of "you're the man of the house" to their 5-year old son

Me:

"wayyy back when the episode originally aired I was like, "yeahhh mama san is RIGHT Ikki you gotta get ahold of urself" and now I'm like "Mama-san.....stop saying this to Ikki"

Nacho:

I've said before, like ages ago, about the whole thing of Papa-san being the goofball of his family of origin as a coping mechanism, and then it snowballing into his family as an adult not seeing him as reliable.

So it's basically like they have an absentee father in a way. Not completely, but they don't really see him as a parental role. That honor goes to Ikki of course "<33"

I mean Ikki did need a wakeup call...but so do the parents LOL.

Me:

oh exactly man like half the time I feel like the mom just says things

Nacho:

I get her. She says nonsense same reason Daiji does tbh. Gotta stay blind to keep functioning and not have a mental breakdown.

Like you said before. Y'know, you wanna BELIEVE Ikki's problems are easily fixable "hey just grit your teeth and get more empathy kid" and that your advice MEANS something, bc it means you have worth as a mother. Nvm that you never hold the dad accountable and delegated parenting to your eldest (plus sexism for your daughter blah blah blah). Anyways, if you keep believing that Ikki doesn't have issues that are your fault, never have to realize your mess-ups

It's basically Daiji and his heat haze LOL

Mama-san too must feel a lot of societal pressure to be a mother. She can't let herself realize her mistakes 'cuz that would really crush any self-worth she had. What's the use of a woman who can't find a good husband and be the perfect mother?

Me:

I'll never be over ep 9 of Revice. Everyone and their brother (hah) were literally driving Ikki into a mental breakdown. Like they were out there trying to speedrun it, and placing bets. Sakura getting mad at iKKi oooop. That one actually gets me.....mostly because she'd never been mad with him. and the stuff she said was just .....my Gosh---just shoot him man. With a gun. It would be more humane.

LOL...her whole "iKKi wHAT abOUT YOu??? WhERe dID Your NOSY-neSs go? HUh????"

Nacho: Oh Sakura, lights are almost never on in her mind.

Me:

I mean. I get it He's been the fix-er. The man of the house. The overparenting parent. He's not allowed to have mental breakdowns.

She's probably never seen him in that state before. So how dare he be like this when Daiji nEEdS hIM THe mosT

NACHO:

Yeah. It's literally the crumbling moment of becoming an adult. Realizing your parents are flawed and aren't superheroes And we all know Sakura's coping mechanism is to blow up a bit,

Nacho: See, like this is what I mean. Nobody ever apologizes for the right things

Me:

Yeahhhh.....see, originally I had this some problem with Ikki's apology to Daiji in ep 10 but upon retrospection....it was pretty good actually? Like if you have on the lens where Daiji wants to be relied on and trusted, then it makes sense---cause Ikki essentially apologizes for not believing or having faith in Daiji,;;; "You're really strong too, aren't you?" Originally -- when ur out here listening to Kagerou's nonsense You're like "lol Ikki.....it's nice that ur apologizing for not believing in ur brother. But this does not at all address the fact that you stole his dream from him" .......because if you see Daiji's hurt as "ikki became kamen rider, and stole his dream" then.... the apology just seems very lackluster? But if you see Daiji's hurt as him wanting to be relied upon, and trusted / needed thennnnnnnnnnnnnnnn It's an outstanding apology.

[End of the relevant parts of our conversation, so moving back to the Daiji analysis]

[Kagerou, EVIL vs. LIVE as an Allegory]

basically -- Daiji's continual failure to believe in himself / to be helpful or in some way contributing to his family was/is literally killing him.

(Me and Nacho have talked extensively about how...if the Igarashi Sibs hadn't been accidentally conscripted to Kamen Rider Service, their future would have....not ended well. Drug abuse, and possibly even suicide -- and I'm not just talking about Daiji here....:/)

Daiji -- imo -- would be the one more likely to fall into drugs. In fact, more than once his Kagerou story-line has given me actual direct visual flashbacks to drug-related things storylines in other visual media I'd already consumed.

Like the episode 15 Non-con giving me immediate flashes of what an intervention / 'forced therapy' would look like

Then of course there's Kagerou's love for "spicy" things/food/curry, and how Daiji has to deal with the aftereffects (once Kagerou leaves) of eating something hot/something he can't handle that hurts him at least on some physical level.

Blah blah blah. I could write a whole essay on how Kagerou/Daiji is just one big metaphor & allegory for drug abuse. But we're not here for that.

I mentioned the drug allegory/metaphor because Daiji's character was on a downward spiral from the moment Ikki transformed into a kamen rider while he did nothing. Like....Daiji really *REALLY* does not like himself.

My main theory for Daiji is that (as I've already stated <33) he wanted to help Ikki (for and foremost) which is the reason why he originally tries out for a military organization.

He wanted Ikki to rely on him. He wanted to be someone that can protect, not just be protected. He wanted Ikki to see him as an equal.

It's why he doesn't trust, (*can't* trust) Kagerou's (or his own really) words, or decisions. It's because he has no confidence in himself or his ability to make 'good', 'proper', or 'responsible' decisions.

Ikki's smothering forced Daiji into a position of learned helplessness. And when you're always the damsel in distress and no one lets you handle things on your own (even when you want to) it teaches you that your opinions aren't valuable and that you have no autonomy or control over your own life. That you 'need' to be helped or something will go wrong.

This is why he's so quick to shut-down during times of intense stress. (AKA the opening ceremony from ep 1 being one example). After seeing someone who Daiji equates to being of higher authority (Hiromi) fails to use the belt -- he starts to think to himself:

If someone that high up, that power, can't do it....how can I?

And then he's paralyzed by the crushing terror of failure. He's never been in-control of his life, and now with this life-or-death pressure added to his already suffocating terror? Well, that's it. Game over.

He freezes. Shuts down. Error 404 Daiji's checked out for the moment.

Now imagine you're in his position. You choke when you finally had the chance to make your own decisions, and fail to do everything that motivated you into that specific career choice when it was finally *needed* from you.

Already.....already you could never do anything on your own...and maybe you thought 'hey, I can do this.' But now that you've failed so spectacularly and have to be saved.....AGAIN....well? Maybe your brother and sister were right. Maybe you really can't do anything on your own.....

This idea of being trapped forever in a position of having no power or control over his own life, forever playing the role of the helpless, useless (worthless) member of the family. That kind of stress would build, along with the self-hatred.

'Why couldn't you do it? Ikki can. Sakura can. Why can you never do anything? See? Someone got hurt today because of you. You failed and now they got hurt. You HURT them, Daiji. No...you're not useless....you're something even worse.'

(blah blah blah....you get the point.)

Daiji's low self-worth continued to fall, but he held out on the hope that maybe? He could transform too? Maybe Ikki *wouldn't* sign with Fenix and the position would re-open? Maybe-- maybe, maybe, maybe.

Yoinks. We alllll know what actually happened :D....

Falling into 'drugs' wouldn't be all that much of a stretch to see happening to Daiji. He had no outlet for this despair and self-hatred. So it just continued to consume him alive. And of course that stuff (drugs) would affect your personality and etc etc etc. Now, ignoring the drug allegory, no matter which way you spin it --Daiji's self-hatred would've harmed him in some way.

Hence, the split. Kagerou forms.

Now, Daiji doesn't have to worry about Ikki or feel guilty over his brother being put in this position (because of his own failures), cause Kagerou 'changed' or 'hid' these stressors from him. Now, instead of it being guilt it's rage and hatred. Instead of forcing Ikki into this position, Ikki pushed him out of the way and *stole* it.

If you listen reaaaaal closely and watch what Kagerou says, especially knowing that he's a "mirage" of sorts for Daiji, you'll see how Kagerou hides the truth within the lie.

(more on this below)

More 'proof' or I guess fodder for my 'Daiji wants to be needed, he wants to be helpful and useful, and so resents himself when he fails to help, protect, or lift others burdens'.

Would be Ikki's Apology in episode 10.

Now, at first I thought this apology was lackluster asf (lol). 'Well at least he apologized....even though he resolutely ignored that Daiji's angry at him for stealing his 'dream' not for Ikki lacking 'faith' in him.

(#oh.....)

Upon hindsight, I realize that....that was Kagerou's 'mirage'.

It was never about Ikki stealing Daiji's dream.

.........It's Daiji's guilt at not being able to help -- never being able to help. Of having to watch from the sidelines while people get hurt and you aren't able to do anything about it.

Daiji feels like he's responsible for this.

(I'd say its something like Survivor-syndrome....uh that thing where in a traumatic event where you outlive someone else, you feel guilt for living when they died, etc.)

Except here -- Daiji feels guilt for his lack of ability. Now, if Ikki gets hurt -- then it's *HIS* fault. If Ikki hadn't been at Daiji's ceremony, if Daiji hadn't froze....then Ikki never would have been put in the position of Kamen Rider. He wouldn't have to go out and actually risk his life fighting monsters.

So in 2 photos up, when Kagerou says lines like:

"You're the reason I was born, Ikki."

If you consider this being said by a "mirage".....the imaginary 'oasis' hiding the truth of the desert's hellscape....

Well, then it makes more sense to think that Kagerou is pinning the blame on Ikki, when in fact Daiji is the reason. But again, half-truths, because although Kagerou formed because of Daiji....it *was* in part because of his guilt over Ikki's situation, and his continued failure to be anything but helpless.

(ergo having to continue to rely on Ikki, continually burdening Ikki because of Daiji's failures, etc.)

"It was YOU who erased Daiji all along, ONII-SAMA!"

I find Kagerou and Ikki's conversation during their battle to be....really interesting....

I: "Do you resent me THAT much?"

K: "Daiji does, not me!"

Again, Daiji projecting the resentment he has of himself, onto Ikki. Kagerou hiding Daiji's self-hate by blaming Ikki instead (for Daiji). See, if you notice....Kagerou openly admits that *he* doesn't resent Ikki. 'Daiji does.'

Again, half-truths.

Kagerou doesn't resent Ikki...but neither does Daiji. Daiji resents himself, but Kagerou's 'mirage-ing' that from both Daiji AND Ikki.

Ikki's apology for essentially not trusting Daiji -- for not seeing his brother as an equal (because Ikki's the parent, not the brother), and his apology for not seeing or realizing that Daiji wanted to be trusted and relied on are enough to reach Daiji through Kagerou's veil of projected hate.

Of course, Kagerou beat the sh*t out of him (cause Ikki can't hurt his siblings.....not when he raised them......not when they're literally more important than his life) so Ikki isn't able to fight the remaining monster.

At this point he has no choice but to rely on Daiji. (And he's learned that his lack of trust was hurting him, so Ikki won't do that again.) So....he accepts the help. (Tho, he's not doing this for himself --- he's doing this for Daiji) and uh :D......Daiji's face after Ikki says:

"I'm counting on you, Daiji."

Idk. Combine this with episode 15, when Kagerou flips joyfully when Ikki summons him and tells him its because he 'needs his help.' (lol) The picture really paints itself.

So going back to what I said earlier about EVIL vs. LIVE dueling it out:

'I think unless Daiji got a lot more assurance from his siblings, or like more love and confidence in himself tho, Evil would def come out as the winner lol'

Daiji's learned helplessness continually shoots him in the foot. Kagerou then took that injured foot, ran with it ....right off a fking cliff. Since, Daiji doesn't know how to 'live' by himself / on his own (which is why his title is LIVE vs. EVIL) --- the traits that are really magnified during this time of him trying to learn how to ...idk literally 'live' I guess, are his worse-r traits.

His 'EVIL' traits. (His helplessness. And then when Kagerou actually manifested and tried to kill his brother LOL!!!!)

If you watch in episodes 11 and 12 -- right after the Kagerou arc, Daiji is so unsure of himself, that he waits to see what either Ikki or Hiromi will do before doing something himself. That's because he doesn't trust himself to make the right decision.

It's kinda fascinating to watch actually.

Like Daiji literally lets Hiromi tell him his sob story (that came out of no where lol) because he'd rather stop and listen to that, then to run off and start the battle first / on his own.

Or when he waits to see what Ikki will do about Sakura's Karate instructor. When Ikki commits to fighting, Daiji commits immediately afterwards. You can literally see as he dings off in his head 'ah so this is the right choice' lmao.

See, this lack of trust Daiji has in himself hasn't really gotten much better? Like episode 13 helped majorly, when Ikki trusted him to handle it

(though Kagerou showed up, so like 2 steps forward 3 steps back :'oo. )

And then it was also good (for Kagerou at least) in episode 15 when they ask him for help. But the lack of consent from Daiji is....not great to say the least. Really shows Ikki's 'parental override' over any opinion or say Daiji *should* have....esp in a matter concerning himself.

So for Daiji this translates into 1) them not respecting his say -- aka silencing Daiji's voice---and Daiji realizing that on some level.

And

2)"Kagerou" was preferred over "Daiji." Again, doesn't really do much to affirm Daiji's own self worth lol.

So basically Kagerou / EVIL would win in a fight between the two of them because Daiji wouldn't have the confidence in himself (which is why he didn't fight Kagerou back in episode 9, he verbally disagreed, but had no power over Kagerou) and Kagerou? Kagerou's all about his own self-interest.

While Daiji's drowning in doubts Kagerou's already got out the gun (basically.)

ANWAYS

I have NO idea why I decided to write all the above nonsense for this ask I'm so sorry LOL.

Yeah I believe Daiji IS the secondary rider. No idea about upgrades....honestly I'm curious too. I'm hoping for something amazing for Daiji and Sakura,,,,,mostly because I really like how the plots has progressed and so I feel like the writer...y'know....hasn't let me down yet (lol.....)

But I hope they get upgrades soon :O!!!

And for Oltecca kidnapping George.....no idea :D. My first guess would be 1) It's because George is the brains of Fenix's operations 2) to use George,,,,to....idk? Someone mentioned Oltecca perhaps getting George to build him a belt? Idk....lol

Oltecca strikes me as an opportunist. He might have just seen George out stalking for info, and was like 'wow....the golden goose out from its protected base in the sky.... >:)))'

Again,,,, no need to apologize for asks lol. If y'all sent in the same ask like 4 times I'd be like "lol what happened here :DD" and then answer the first one, and save the other asks for either

1) jokes, or

2) spaces to answer the same question in a different way or

3) to clown

LOL!!!

6 notes · View notes