who even knows

13th December 2018

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Yusaku analysis part…4.5?

@pipedreamprayer: “i more meant that in your character analysis of Yusaku you said that the outcome of the Tower validated the idea that he should be doing this alone, and Takeru’s introduction was the foil to that mentality by working within its parameters. I thought that meant that it was positive progress that the team was expanding, a sign of character development, and if that was the case wouldn’t the way he reached out to GO not match up to his mindset at the start of season 2?actions”

That’s an excellent point, so let’s take a look at it! This post is sadly lacking in screen caps right now because…laziness…

This episode is coming immediately after the defeat of Blood Shepherd, who like the victims of the tower, got digitized before Yusaku’s eyes. What makes it worse, Ai then points out that Blood Shepherd got KO’d because he was trying to help, in his own way. It very much is reminiscent of what happened with Ema, Akira, and Go in season 1, and each of those events reflected distinct shifts in Yusaku’s attitude towards the involvement of other people. After Akira’s sacrifice, Yusaku is forced to come to terms with the necessity of such actions, and acknowledges such as he resolutely watches Go vanish.

I point outed in my analysis that following the events of the Tower, Yusaku is once more wary about involving other people, but for different reasons: he knows now that he can and will accept the sacrifice of others to progress towards the goal. I feel these two past episodes are representative of that attitude, and him getting over that same hesitance.

Now, Yusaku is once more seeing that in action in Kengo’s “death” and he has no reaction at all. Neither he nor Takeru care, and there was no change in Yusaku’s demeanor at all. Kengo certainly isn’t the same as Ema, Akira, and Go in his connection to Playmaker, but Yusaku used to have an almost vicious respect for human life, and such scenes would enrage him, more so than any other character. Now they don’t even seem to shake him; the most Kengo’s disappearance got was a slight scowl, and after that nothing.

Yusaku asking Go to help out again, even referencing the Tower while knowing that Go’s help back then specifically necessitated his near-death, immediately after that same event just occurred with Blood Shepherd…

Well, there are some questionable implications there. The Yusaku that was so concerned about the safety of strangers seems…diminished. He has become quite comfortable with the idea of letting people wander into danger; what started as disapproval and eventually became reluctant acceptance now has become apathy. He may actually cares less, I think, than he did in S1, about the lives of these allies. He’s over it, I dare to say. Now he’s prepared to let others put themselves in danger to get closer to the end goal; we’ve seen this in his interactions with Takeru often enough. Even if he’s worried about Go’s obvious not okayness, that doesn’t prioritize over the threat of the rogue Ignis in the slightest. He barely even acknowledges it, and instead is completely focused on preparing to take on Lightning. Not to say he’s completely apathetic, because he was very much concerned about Takeru when he got caught by BS, and he’s still very much invested in Jin and Ryoken’s safety, but he’s a lot more accepting of the fact that winning a game of chess means losing a couple of pieces.  Before, he wanted to be the only piece on the board, because he wasn’t prepared for that.

I think this resignation is also reflected in his demeanor; the turbulent emotions that formed his core underneath his cold veneer in S1 are a lot less prominent. More and more with each duel, Ai is the one talking to their opponents. In the past, Ai always had a side commentary going on, but that conversation was almost always with Yusaku, not their opponent, and even when it was, their opponents only occasionally acknowledged it. Now, Ai is the one interacting with and reacting to their adversaries. Yusaku’s just as mission-orientated, but that single-mindedness is far less passionate. Though at first glance Yusaku seems to be softening, I’d argue that in actuality he’s hardened a bit. He’s willing to bring these people on board because he’s prepared to lose them along the way more than he was before.

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