#i impulsively wrote the first part of this at 1am sorry for any errors

[project-sekai-facts]

helloo

if you want too could you do a relationship analysis for Mafuyu and Kanade? you’re very good at turning thoughts into words and i feel they’ve got a really interesting dynamic.

Kanade and Mafuyu’s relationship is complicated, to say the least. I often see people write their dynamic off as toxic and the thing is, that’s not necessarily untrue. Less so where we are now, but it’s not wrong if you’re reading events pre-Carnation Recollection.

Here’s how it works. Mafuyu and Kanade are both severely depressed, both have been suicidal at points. They are not healthy. They found each other, both of them being people that life hadn’t been kind to. They don’t talk about it, though. When they do, they become dependent on each other to live. It’s not healthy.

Kanade’s talent caused her father to overwork himself into a coma, leaving her with a saviour complex. She hurt her father with her music, she’s never going to let it hurt anyone again. She forms Niigo in hopes that she’ll save someone, and she does. She saves Ena, she saves Mizuki, but it’s not enough. When Mafuyu is on the brink of giving it all up, Kanade promises to keep composing until she can save Mafuyu. She projects her complex onto Mafuyu.

Mafuyu wants to die during the main story, but Kanade’s song is able to get through to her. It doesn’t save her by any means, but it left enough of a mark on her to manifest into the SEKAI. Kanade promises to save her. Someone cares, someone is willing to help. But how can anyone help Mafuyu when she can’t help herself, when she can’t help them help her. She doesn’t know what she feels, she doesn’t even know she can feel anything. But Kanade believes there’s more below the surface, more to keep searching for.

Kanade needs to save someone, Mafuyu needs saving.

None of the songs save Mafuyu, they barely have an effect on her, so Kanade keeps going, and going, and going. She needs to save Mafuyu because she wants her music to save people. It doesn't have to be Mafuyu that she saves, Mafuyu just happens to be there.

However, Carnation Recollection brings some changes. Here, we have the arrival of Luka. Luka who’s honest, not afraid to push the N25 members when they need to be pushed. She tells Kanade that her song will not save Mafuyu. Why is she doing this? What does she want this song to achieve? What does she want Mafuyu to see and realise with this song?

She realises later on that the difference between her music and her father's music is that his had warmth. Warmth because he wanted his music to make Kanade and her mother smile.

So what does she want? Well she doesn't want Mafuyu to disappear, but that's because she's projecting her personal losses and complex onto Mafuyu. She wants Mafuyu to stay alive so she doesn't get hurt.

The better question is how does she want Mafuyu to feel? What does she want Mafuyu to do with this song? She wants Mafuyu to find herself, but Kanade doesn't know who Mafuyu is. She remembers Luka's words, and thinks about what she wants Mafuyu to feel. She wants Mafuyu to feel the same way her mother did when listening to her father's music. She wants Mafuyu to smile. It's still personally driven, but it's an improvement, she's growing. This isn't just for her anymore. And it works, Mafuyu feels something, she feels warm. It's different from the coldness she's felt her whole life.

Mafuyu's life lacks any warmth, Mirage of Lights makes this clear. Her mother is cold, she doesn't care about Mafuyu, she just cares about what Mafuyu is. Talented, smart, overachieving; that's what she cares about. Mafuyu is just a vessel for her to project the perfect child onto.

Kanade's song made her feel something new. She's not sure how or why but she wants to find out. After looking at a photo album from when she was a child, she realises that she was able to feel emotions differently back then. Kanade's song managed to chip at the person she once was.

When Mafuyu falls ill, Kanade looks after her. Not for her own needs but because she cares. Mafuyu feels something again, the same warmth and love her mother used to give her before everything went bitter. It's something she hasn't felt in a long time.

It's here where holding hands becomes something of a recurring thing for the two of them. While the Gunjou Sanka MV illustrates this, this is the first time it's actually in the original text. Kanade holds Mafuyu's hand until she falls asleep because she cares, she wants to make Mafuyu feel better, she wants her to smile. All the things her mother used to do for her. All the things she doesn't have anymore.

What was once dependence becomes something else. Trust, solace, refuge.

Don't worry. I'll stay right here. Here, hold my hand. I won't let you be all alone. I won't go anywhere…

I want you to feel what I did. I want you to smile the way I did back then.

I think I can keep moving forward. Right, Kanade…?

At one point during Intersecting Melodies, Glowing Warmth, Honami calls Mafuyu Kanade's friend. Kanade seems surprised, maybe a little confused by that. But at this point I think that's what they are. They aren't just acquaintances or groupmates anymore, it's not just Kanade trying to save Mafuyu. It's Kanade genuinely caring for Mafuyu, trying to make her smile and feel. It's Mafuyu who's grateful for Kanade's care and determination. Later on in that event, Mafuyu seems to realise the same thing. Seeing Kanade happy makes her feel warm, helping Kanade makes her feel warm.

The next time they hold hands is in Guiding a Lost Child to What Lies Beyond. It's warm again. Kanade helps her, the rest of N25 are kind to her and help her. It's nothing like she feels at home. She's not afraid of them. It's home.

By immiscible discord it becomes truly apparent that Mafuyu's mother doesn't care about her. Everything she does makes her daughter hurt, more and more, it's cold and painful. But Kanade is the warmth to fight back against that cold. She remembers her own parents, her family. They wanted the best for each other, they wanted each other to smile. It was happy, comforting. Warm. Mafuyu doesn't have that, but Kanade is determined to let her have it, even if her actual family isn't involved. Kanade promises to stay by Mafuyu's side, because she cares her. She loves her more than her mother ever could.

And then by Saying Goodbye to My Masked Self, Mrs Asahina views Kanade as an enemy. She outright says to Mafuyu at one point that she loves her, not Kanade. She only wants what's best for her. But she doesn't. The person who truly cares, understands, wants to help her, and loves her...

is Kanade

When Mafuyu runs away, she goes to Kanade. She knows where Ena lives, Ena had even said that she would probably be able to take Mafuyu. But Mafuyu goes to Kanade. Kanade is home, her real one, more than her family.

Where we are in the game now, it's clear that they are very important to each other. In fact, they're probably the most important people to each other. Kanade's family cannot take care of her, but they love her. Mafuyu's family doesn't truly love her, but they can take care of her.

Neither of them are really in a good state to do it, but they can take care of each other.

---

Kanade and Mafuyu's relationship isn't an entirely healthy one. It's comes from a foundation that makes their relationship a potentially toxic one, but they learn to heal. Healing is what their dynamic is about. Kanade projects her complex onto Mafuyu, Mafuyu is dependent on Kanade to live. It's not healthy, but they heal together.

Kanade realises her selfish goals, she reworks them. She doesn't just want Mafuyu to survive, she wants her to live. She wants to see her smile, she wants to see her be happy. Mafuyu experiences a sense of comfort with Kanade for the first time in years. They grow to be friends rather than just acquaintances, the complete dependency wears away into something closer to trust, comfort. A mutual bond that's hard to pin down but is built from a developing love.

Kanade and Mafuyu are opposites. Everything about their lives is opposite, though it all links back to warmth vs coldness. A happy family who loves each other vs a "happy family" who loves the concept of what their child is. A warm person who makes music vs an icy person who takes it away. Asahina vs Yoisaki.

Despite all of that, they both hurt. Their pain is different but they can relate to how it feels. Neither of them want to hurt anymore, and it becomes neither of them wanting the other to hurt anymore.

Kanade and Mafuyu's relationship is complex. It was started by a complex. But I think looking at it now, it's much more than it started out as.

#i impulsively wrote the first part of this at 1am sorry for any errors #asks #mod talks #love is used platonically because that's the canon way but interpret how you like i guess #kanade yoisaki #mafuyu asahina #i did not proofread this at all #project sekai