The thing that drives me crazy about Taka is that his view of himself as a leader and moral compass of everyone, especially those he cares about, means that he actually does blame himself for the events in chapter 2.
People mention him voting for himself as a desperate defense of Mondo. And it might be. But I think he genuinely saw himself as the person responsible for this happening. I mean his later conversation with Alter Ego, and the "time machine" scene basically confirm this.
If you go further. Kiyondo Ishida might've been a way to cope with the terrible guilt, too. Pushing himself into the role of the person who Taka felt responsible for. Thus alleviating the guilt of failing to keep him from killing.
The shift into Kiyondo, and the abandoning of all the tight rules and morals that Taka dedicated himself ironically is what caused his death. Breaking a rule about going out during "night time".
I ended up watching the original 1961 Parent Trap and LORD but there's a lot going on in that film.
But ignoring the more . . . distressingly unhealthy 60s attitude toward marriage dynamics. . . The actual twin swap is such a good angle (and the effects genuinely hold up really well) I just wanted to capture the stress of trying to assimilate into a life so unlike your own, and that gut punch moment when they get to meet their missing parent for the first time.
And from there I just couldn't help imagine a future parent reconciliation, with a couple of siblings added into the mix . . .
Unlike in the film where they were right to have gotten divorced (and shoulda stayed super divorced)- Takaaki and Kiyoko's seperation was very much a symptom of Toranosuke's scandal and demanded by Kiyoko's father. So when they meet once again as a result of the Twin's shenanigans, the two of them could easily develop a genuine connection, now they're older, more experienced, and freed from the pressure of expectation.
And I'm not immune to making every red eyed Dangan character an Ishimaru sibling
(Truth be told, this has been on my mind ever since @puckishpal 's just marvellous fic Changed, and I really wanted to get this out in time for @mini-mecha-cowboy 's Kiyotaka week prompts AU and Lookalike, but uuuh- I managed to miss that by just a few ;; )
ummm….. so. the mondoblr server made a joke, and i liked it a little too much.
the kiyotaka ishimaru iceberg!!
of course, i wasn’t the only one who worked on this. big thanks to @pompadorbz @chinchillasinunison @mini-mecha-cowboy @cryzono and @ecogirl2759 for all the help, whether it be contributing entries or finding sources!! we had a ton of fun putting this together, and i hope you guys like it!
reblogs are greatly appreciated because all of these lovely people (and i) put a lot of work into this!! they deserve it!!
(under the cut will be a link to the document with all the entries and some links to sources for most of them. HUGE thanks to eco for popping the absolute fuck off and finding all these links for us!!! (and thanks to mark and @panicuriprince for helping us out towards the end!))