ok so i've speculated on what kind of home environment[s] mimuro and mei might have before but like the kind of home environment that produces people who just like lie like that. well. smiles.

putting that old meta from that twitter thread here cuz idk maybe guys would like it idk...... *kicks a rock*................

"i love how all the true names in loveless are like….. ironic to some degree? it’s especially interesting considering how much the series focuses on the power of language, both literally and metaphorically //🧵 (spoilers btw)

like with beloved, seimei is such a loathsome human being that basically any of the people who actually knew him, if they liked him, were being manipulated into doing so. nisei on the other hand, is not beloved at all; he thinks seimei loves him, i believe, but he doesn’t and is in fact being manipulated by him as everyone else was as well. the one person who does love him, mimuro, he pushes away and keeps at a distance; he cannot accept real love. with fearless, both mei and mimuro are very wrapped up in their insecurities; mei about their gender, and mimuro about his sexuality.

mimuro in particular is interesting in that his tragic character flaw is that he can’t quite accept his feelings for nisei, and had he been able to pursue that relationship with nisei, perhaps nisei wouldn’t have fully given himself to seimei’s manipulation in his time of isolation and wouldn’t have done those horrible things in his name.

the zeros are rather obvious and somewhat directly addressed in the text; they are in fact, many and full of feelings and self determination; they are not interchangeable; they are not meaningless.

breathless i think are somewhat vague and esoteric, but the best i can say is that they in fact breathe life into the series; they are the first, the initiation into the world of spell battles, as well as the introduction to seven voices and they are the first to change their tune about soubi’s foray into self determination as ritsuka’s fighter, breathing life into the idea that people can change, and for the better too.

bloodless, with what little we have of them, i would wager something to the effect of hideo’s original fighter having been slaughtered and yurio, as a blank, having had his name literally carved into him; their pasts are obviously quite bloody.

moonless is interesting and abstract in a way similar to breathless imo; “moonless” conjures up the idea of darkness of a light source gone or shrouded, however they are extremely illuminating in one of the main themes of the series, which is sexual violence. mikado turns the series on its head, revealing seimei’s true nature to some degree (the moon shines brightest in the dark, but it can still be difficult to see everything, even during a full moon; it is impossible to know everything about everyone and their true motivations) in a textual sense, but in a meta-textual sense she confronts the reader to examine what they’ve been enjoying about the series. the abuse that many readers found appealing because it’s taboo, or since it’s male on male it allows them to escape into a fantasy where gendered violence seems far away… how far away is that truly? it’s not so fun and fantastical when it happens to a girl, barely older than the boy it was happening to mere volumes ago. suddenly it’s all too real and the language of sexual violence surrounding the series is taken to its logical conclusion. what is the point of this? who is this for? who set you up to think this was okay, to think this enjoyable? how is what happened to ritsuka any less real or horrifying than what happened to mikado? she doesn’t demand anything more than a reason, and the reason is clear: there was no reason. she was abused because her abuser wanted to. nothing more, nothing less. the clarity moonless offers into the way the series examines its core theme of how the things we want to see and the things we say have power is genuinely incredible.

moving on, i have basically nothing to say about sleepless as they are basically non-characters, but i guess if chibizero really did off them well. they are Sleepin with the fishes…… not so sleepless now, eh? (ironic laugh track plays) and finally….. loveless.

i am going to tentatively include soubi here as he has sort of. self identified into the name by acting as fighter to ritsuka, but anyway: soubi’s entire character arc revolves around him acquiring love— that is, self love, learning that he has value and the right to self determination. even in a world that is so very cruel and hurtful to him, learning to value himself and see others as people is a core tenet of his character, it’s the development he is fighting for, tooth and nail despite setback after setback. ritsuka loves him for him and that is where he begins to draw his inner strength from to get better as a person and begin to self actualize; soubi is loved.

ritsuka on the other hand is told how horrid his name is; loveless, one without love, but eventually it is revealed that it has a more specific meaning; one who is not tied down (by relationships etc.). i believe this is because at the end of the day ritsuka will find power in just such a thing, rejecting the abuse that is levied upon him in the name of love; whether this is from seimei (and by proxy soubi) or his mother, his right to self determination and to reject these falsehoods is his and his alone. “loveless”, a name once dreaded and filled with sorrow and isolation, becomes empowering, reinforcing the theme of the power of language and the way we use it. loveless is a story about language and systemic injustice, and the way the words we speak hold up and enforce systems of power, just or unjust. i truly wish for it to be re-examined as the thoughtful piece of artwork that it is, problematic as some aspects may be. that and for yun kouga to fucking finish the goddamn thing we are at four years without a new chapter and i am going to fucking die like this. oh my god."