#kenya sawada
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Street Fighter
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When the first Street Fighter film hit in 1994 (trailer) my hype level for it was through the roof! Fighting games were on fire in the arcade and 16-bit systems at the time, and Street Fighter II was still a hot commodity. The trailer had then 11-year-old Dale craving to be there opening weekend because the costumes for most of the characters looked spot on. That preview included a montage of the “World Warriors” showcasing their vintage special attacks and poses. Guile’s Flash Kick and M. Bison enthusiastically proclaiming “GAME OVER!!!” in that trailer guaranteed I would be in the cinema for it. I was such a dork for this movie in my old journal at the time that I would keep a tally of the number of times I would see the trailer during commercial breaks on television leading up to the film……seriously.
There were only a couple of video game movies out by this point. The genre did not have the disastrous reputation that it does today, so suffice it to say, I was amped up going into the film…..and pretty peeved coming out of it because of how it treated a few characters compared to the game and because there was not an actual fighting tournament in it. In 2009, I revisited it when an “Extreme Edition” hit home video with extra features, and my opinion on it softened a bit seeing it with a fresh set of eyes. I re-watched it last week with the new “Steel Book” Ultimate Edition released on BluRay last year. All these years later, and now I seriously love the film!
Well known Belgian, Jean-Claude Van Damme is leading this film as the American fighter, Guile, fresh off Van Damme’s slate of action hits like Hard Target and Double Team. Director Steven de Souza stated in interviews that they had a throwaway line of dialog explaining how Guile covered up his Belgian accent by saying it was actually a southern accent and he is actually from the United States, but it wound up on the cutting room floor. His adversary is the dastardly lead Street Fighter II boss, M. Bison, played by Raul Julia in what would be his final performance.
As I alluded above, 11-year-old Dale was furious there was no fighting tournament. Instead, the film is all about M. Bison holding numerous “Allied Nations” employees as hostages in the fictitious world of Shadaloo, with various other Street Fighter combatants serving under him like Dee Jay (Miguel A. Núñez Jr.), Zangief (Andrew Bryniarski), Sagat (Wes Studi), and captured scientist Dhalsim (Roshan Seth). An awkward scientist’s attire is Dhalsim’s costume here, and Bison is forcing him to perform mutation experiments on Guile’s captured comrade, Charlie, and transform him mid-movie into the green-beast we know from the games as Blanka. I can go into the nerd gaming lore on how all kinds of wrong this is relating to Blanka, and Dhalsim’s character’s in the game, but I will actually give the filmmakers credit all these years later because it kind of actually plays well with an adult set of eyes because it would be pretty damn odd diving into Blanka’s actual video game origin story on the silver screen while trying to give equal time for the huge cast.
Speaking of this stacked cast, for the protagonists, aside from Guile, serving under him in the Allied Nations is Thunder Hawk (Gregg Rainwater), Cammy (Kylie Minogue), and Captain Sawada (Kenya Sawada)-who is a character created just for this movie. Sawada was later inserted as a playable character in the video game based on the film…that is based on the game and deliberately titled, Street Fighter: The Movie--just watch this video, it can explain it much better than I can. Two fighters more popular among fans of the video game, Ken (Damian Chapa) and Ryu (Byron Mann), have lesser supporting roles here as they are con-artist weapon dealers who later get teamed up against their will with Sagat and Vega (Jay Tavare).
The last squadron of good guys is the trio of Chun-Li (Ming-Na Wen), Balrog (Grand L. Bush – who gave a random viral speech about his memories on the film in 2015), and E. Honda (Peter Tiasosopo). This motley trio is an innocuous TV news crew, but all three coincidentally have their own martial arts background that lines up with the game canon, and Chun-Li wants to avenge her father’s death when M. Bison steamrolled through her village. When Chun-Li confronts Bison with this, Julia absolutely nails it with his delivery of the meme-worthy “It Was Tuesday” line….if you have no recollection of this, well then click or press here to see this iconic moment in cinema history!
Speaking of, Raul Julia is sublime in his performance as M. Bison. He cheeses up his performance just right in his delivery as the master crime lord. Bonus feature interviews detail how he went method for studying for the role going so far as to research Mussolini speeches to mimic body language cadence. Other actors interviewed stated how Julia was visibly sick and downtrodden off-camera with cancer but wanted to do this film for his kids who loved the game. When the cameras were on, his colleagues stated how he was a total pro and how he went out with an aces performance that still lives on to this day! I love the costume he adorns that is incredibly faithful to the game, outrageous cape and all!!!
Most other fighters either have game-appropriate costumes or receive their appropriate gear at some point in the movie. Honda is the perfect case where after an amusing Kong/Godzilla duel homage with Zangief, Honda’s gear is battered so much that he dons it like his traditional sumo gear in the game! Some cast members like Dee Jay and Dhalsim don’t don their proper gear, but the filmmakers and costume department get it right for the most part! For better or worse, the fight choreographers work in plenty of the roster’s iconic moves like Guile’s aforementioned Flash Kick, Bison & Honda’s torpedo dive, and regrettably meek renditions of Ryu’s Hadoken and Ken’s Shoryuken.
The film has a rather convoluted plot, but it essentially stumbles its way into a cohesive mess by the end. The Allied Nations crew teams up with Chun-Li’s TV squad and eventually Ryu & Ken to invade M. Bison’s fortress. Van Damme does an admirable “so-bad-it’s-good” portrayal of Guile, and he has a main event-worthy clash with Bison in the final act to close the film. All the fights inside Bison’s fortress with all the cast members are an admitted dumpster fire to keep up with, but an enjoyable one nonetheless! I tip my hat to the crew for the monumental task of trying to grant adequate screen time for this ensemble cast. At the time of the film’s release, Super Street Fighter II was a fairly new entry in the series at home release, so I was surprised to see Dee Jay, Cammy, and Thunder Hawk all featured, but Fei Long is mysteriously absent. However, it may make sense in recent years after finding out how litigious the estate of the Bruce Lee family is.
This Ultimate Edition Steel Book has a ton of bonus materials. I would be remiss not to mention how awesome the steel book case is, and the gorgeous art that adorns it. Another cheeky bonus is an actual, physical “Bison Dollar” that plays a small-yet-vital part in the film!!! The folks behind this steel book BluRay went all-out with new bonus materials. There are roughly 75 minutes of new video interviews and features. A couple of the highlights are a 20-minute interview with writer/director Steven. E. de Souza, titled, Making Street Fighter. There is roughly an E. Honda’s 100-hand Slap’s worth of new production anecdotes from Souza. Some quick highlights are how $10 million of the $32 million budget went to Jean Claude Van Damme & Raul Julia alone. Additionally, here we find out JCVD was his backup option after Sylvester Stallone and how he originally wanted Stephen Wang as Bison, but was surprised Julia jumped at the role and could not turn him down.
Also amusing was how Souza stated how they kept toning down the violence and blood in the fights to get to a PG-13 rating but eventually overdid it and the MPAA rated the movie G. Hence, they went back and had JCVD whisper in a curse word to get a PG-13 rating. Lastly, it was fascinating to see in this interview how Souza was pretty introspective all these years later, being appreciative of fans coming around and telling him how much they love the movie in recent years after all the initial negative press.
Other notable new extras are interviews with the composer, Graene Revell, and how he was competing to get his soundtrack done and released before the Mortal Kombat movie soundtrack, which went on to much bigger success and still resonates today. They tracked down Ken Masters actor, Damian Chapa for a new interview with fond reflections of his kids loving that he did this movie all these years later. The actress who played Chun-Li, Ming-Na Wen, also had a new interview, with the standout moment being how she was in the scene with Raul Julia for the iconic “It was Tuesday” line. While they could not track JCVD for a new interview, they did have a historian interviewed detailing his humble Hollywood beginnings to his breakout success, and eventually how Street Fighter was the beginning of a downward spiral for him.
There is also roughly a half hour of archived extra features from the aforementioned “Extreme Edition” DVD, but the archived commentary track with de Souza also is carried over and worth your time and has a lot of takeaways from how the production shifted from Thailand into Australia due to filming conditions. This “Ultimate Edition” is a stacked BluRay, and well worth tracking down If you have any nostalgia for the 1994 classic!!! The intricately detailed steel book and physical “Bison Dollar” are just the icing on this delicious cake of camp theater fan service!! I think it is a safe bet the reboot follow-up Street Fighter: Legend of Chun-Li will not receive this treatment as it is as awful today as it was in 2009. By the way, the pic above this paragraph is the ultimate fan service to end the movie with each fighter’s appropriate victory pose!!!! Many, many thanks, Steven E. de Souza, for this iconic closing shot!!!
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Here I am reflecting back on Street Fighter in a clip on the podcast “Big Screens & TV Streams.”
Other Random Backlog Movie Blogs
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12 Angry Men (1957)
12 Rounds 3: Lockdown
21 Jump Street
1917
The Accountant
Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie
Atari: Game Over
The Avengers: Age of Ultron
The Avengers: Endgame
The Avengers: Infinity War
Batman: The Dark Knight Rises
Batman: The Killing Joke
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice
Bounty Hunters
Cabin in the Woods
Captain America: Civil War
Captain America: The First Avenger
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Christmas Eve
The Clapper
Clash of the Titans (1981)
Clint Eastwood 11-pack Special
The Condemned 2
Countdown
Creed I & II
Deck the Halls
Detroit Rock City
Die Hard
Dirty Work
Dredd
The Eliminators
The Equalizer
Faster
Fast and Furious I-VIII
Field of Dreams
Fight Club
The Fighter
For Love of the Game
Good Will Hunting
Gravity
Grunt: The Wrestling Movie
Guardians of the Galaxy
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2
Hell Comes to Frogtown
Hercules: Reborn
Hitman
I Like to Hurt People
Indiana Jones 1-4
Inglourious Basterds
Ink
The Interrogation
Interstellar
Jay and Silent Bob Reboot
Jobs
Joy Ride 1-3
Justice League (2017 Whedon Cut)
Last Action Hero
Major League
Mallrats
Man of Steel
Man on the Moon
Man vs Snake
Marine 3-6
Merry Friggin Christmas
Metallica: Some Kind of Monster
Mortal Kombat
Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpions Revenge
National Treasure
National Treasure: Book of Secrets
Nintendo Quest
Not for Resale
Old Joy
Payback (Director’s Cut)
Pulp Fiction
The Punisher (1989)
The Ref
The Replacements
Reservoir Dogs
Rocky I-VIII
Running Films Part 1
Running Films Part 2
San Andreas
ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery
Serenity (2005)
Scott Pilgrim vs the World
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Shoot em Up
Slacker
Skyscraper
Small Town Santa
Speed
Steve Jobs
Source Code
Star Trek I-XIII
Sully
Take Me Home Tonight
TMNT
Trauma Center
The Tooth Fairy 1 & 2
UHF
Veronica Mars
Vision Quest
The War
Wild
The Wizard
Wonder Woman
The Wrestler (2008)
X-Men: Apocalypse
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Youngblood
#random movie#street fighter#capcom#street fighter II#raul julia#jean claude van damme#guile#m. bison#steven e. de souza#gregg rainwater#kylie minogue#kenya sawada#ming-na wen#grand l bush#Peter Tiasosopo#wes studi#miguel a. núñez jr.#roshan seth#byron mann#damian chapa
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part 3 of 5 of the self-love self promotion ask!
3. In The Town That Keeps Us
Fandom: ERASED/Boku Dake ga Inai Machi
Rating: Teen
Relationships: Kenya Kobayashi & Miyuki Kobayashi, Kenya Kobayashi & Satoru Fujinuma, Kenya Kobayashi & Kayo Hinazuki (there's more but these are like, the central ones)
Characters: Kenya Kobayashi, Miyuki Kobayashi, Satoru Fujinuma, Makoto Sawada, Kayo Hinazuki, Gaku Yashiro
Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence, Major Character Death (he gets better though. Sometimes)
Status: Ongoing (sort of on hiatus though? worms are slow)
Official Summary:
The Cutter feigns innocence. The Hero remains silent. The Cutter despairs. The Hero slips away. The Cutter cuts no longer. The Hero fixes no longer. The butterfly flies away. The Thread is no more. A new Thread must be woven. The butterfly flaps its wings. The Knight awakens.
My summary: hey wouldn't it be fucked up if kenya got weird time travel powers *almost* like Revival, but not quite? yeah. that's this fic
#msperfectsheep's works#ERASED#ERASED fanfiction#boku dake ga inai machi#boku dake ga inai machi fanfiction
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Top 5 favorite fanfics
Put “Top 5” anything in my ask and I will answer ok go
Fidelis (194806 words) by Munchkin47
Chapters: 56/56
Fandom: Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020), Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence, Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Sephiroth/Cloud Strife, Rufus Shinra/Tseng
Characters: Cloud Strife, Sephiroth, Genesis Rhapsodos, Angeal Hewley, Rufus Shinra, Tseng, Zack Fair, Aerith Gainsborough, PResident Shinra, Vincent Valentine, Kadaj, Loz, Yazoo, Reno, Rude
Summary:
Cloud Strife is an indentured prostitute serving his second year at the Butterfly House, a famous omega-only establishment in the heart of Sector Four. He keeps his head down, wanting only to survive while working off his debt. But it all changes one evening when the silver-haired consigliere of the city's most powerful syndicate walks into the establishment and sets off a chain of events that turns their lives upside down.
Something Borrowed, Something Blue (28931 words) by Funkspiel
Chapters: 4/5
Fandom: Dracula and Related Fandoms
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Relationships: Dracula/Jonathan Harker
Characters: Dracula, Jonathan Harker
Summary:
One by one, his carefully cultivated legacy comes crumbling down. First one stock investment. Then another. This liquid asset. That property. This business relationship. That share. One after another, the threads of the count's plush modern life are pulled apart like a knit sweater, someone intent on leaving him bare and helpless.
But who is throwing stones so foolishly at a predator's den?
Reconciliation (163824 words) by Creamycomet
Chapters: 39/??
Fandom: 僕だけがいない街 | ERASED
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Relationships: Fujinuma Satoru/Kobayashi Kenya, Fujinuma Satoru/Yashiro Gaku
Characters: Fujinuma Satoru, Kobayashi Kenya, Yashiro Gaku, Sawada (ERASED), Fujinuma Sachiko, Hinazuki Kayo, Suigita Hiromi
Summary:
When Satoru is called to the stand at Yashiro's trial, he realizes that moving on might be impossible—whether he wants it or not.
Strange Geometry (19502 words) by Tsukiori
Chapters: 36/36
Fandom: Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Rating: Teens And Up Audience
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Alexander of Brennenburg/Daniel
Characters: Alexander of Brennenburg, Daniel (Amnesia)
Summary:
During the final confrontation with Alexander, Daniel accidentally falls through the rabbit hole.
The Heavy Weight of Duty (227705 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 28/??
Fandom: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Jack Frost/Pitch Black
Characters: Jack Frost (Rise of the Guardians), Pitch Black (Rise of the Guardians), Toothiana, E. Aster Bunnymund, Nicholas St. North
Summary:
Jack is the youngest prince of the moon kingdom, and it's a good life. All the important roles are filled by his older brothers and sister so he spends his days having fun with his friends.
And then one day his father tells him that it is time to do his duty as a prince. A peace treaty has been drawn up with the land of shadows, and Jack is to be an integral part of that.
He is to be given to the Nightmare King as a courtesan.
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Shinjuku Incident 2009
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Satoru: I'm pretty sure you've worn that suit for four days in a row.
Yashiro: Or I own four identical versions of the same suit.
Satoru: No, you don't. There's an old lollipop that's been stuck there since Tuesday.
#Satoru Fujinuma#Airi Katagiri#Kayo Hinazuki#Sachiko Fujinuma#Kenya Kobayashi#Hiromi Sugita#Osamu#Kazu#Aya Nakanishi#Jun Shiratori#Gaku Yashiro#Sawada#submission
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The prince and his Royal Captain
Inspired by the wonderful Erased Magical girl!AU by @creamycomet
I had so much fun drawing the details on their clothes, especially the matching butterfly brooches~
Queen Sachiko is also done and I’m currently working on Sawada and Yashiro I will be drawing this AU till my death
#erased#boku dake ga inai machi#Kensato#satoru fujinuma#kenya kobayashi#bokumachi#This is what happens when I am let wothout supervision#also fixed Kayo a bit since I drew her a bit fast#i dont know how to draw middle age man im so sorry Sawada
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does Airi play a part in the nishizono!AU and does Kenya get help from other people, like Sawada, maybe, to help piece together Satoru/Satoshi's story?
Kenya will absolutely get help! To be honest I hadn’t really considered Airi -- mostly because in this AU things start happening once Kenya goes to college in Tokyo, which means they’re late teens/early 20s, meaning Airi would still be pretty young... but I could always fudge the ages a little bit! (´• ω •`)
But I was imagining that Kenya would mostly get help from the Ishikari gang! For example, if Aya’s parents worked in politics -- maybe she’d take Kenya as a plus-one to an event that Satoshi would be at as well. And if Hiromi is interning under a doctor, maybe he’d be able to look up Satoshi’s medical history. Once Kenya was more sure that Satoshi was Satoru, he’d probably enlist Kayo -- if anyone was going to make him admit the truth, then it would be her.
But I imagine that Sawada (and Sachiko) are back in Ishikari. So for a big chunk of the story, Kenya/the kids would be on their own.
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After a brief scene where Kenya and Sawada visit him (and then the two say to each other that they truly do need to take things slowly), we see Satoru actually go up and visit with the little girl. Dear, sweet, sweet, precious Kumi is scheduled for a bone marrow transplant in two weeks. Her donor is her big brother.
Well... I guess now’s a good time for Satoru to channel some Courage and cheer her up, eh?
Damn straight!
I love it when I get in-tune with the way shows are written. Where I can easily predict what characters will do next. It’s a mark of a well written story, I’d say.
If I am right about this whole Gaku/Nishizono/rooftop shooting theory, I wouldn’t be mad in the slightest. The best stories are ones that leave clues that allow you to predict twists in advance!
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Erased / Bokudake ga inai machi (2017)
Yuki Furukawa as Satoru Fujinuma
Mio Yuki as Airi Katagiri
Rinka Kakihara as Kayo Hinazuki
Noriko Eguchi as Akemi Hinazuki
Shigeyuki Totsugi as Gaku Yashiro
Jin Shirasu as Kenya Kobayashi
Hidekazu Mashima as Makoto Sawada
Tomoka Kurotani as Sachiko Fujinuma
Reo Uchikawa as Satoru Fujinuma (young)
Satoru Fujinuma (Yuki Furukawa) has the special ability of "revival." His special power allows him to travel back in time before terrible incidents occur and right whichever wrong occurred. He travels back in time continually until the incidents are stopped.
Satoru Fujinuma goes back 18 years ago to find out the person who killed his mother. Satoru Fujinuma is sure that his mother’s death is related with a serial murder case that involved victims being children and occurring 18 years ago.
Trailer :
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[Forum] Erased en série Live sur Netflix - le 15 décembre 2017 Erased # Bloc TechniqueTitre original : 僕だけがいない街, Boku Dake ga Inai MachiGenre : Suspense, FantastiqueCréateur : Sanbe KeiScénario : Tomomi ÔkuboRéalisation : Ten ShimoyamaPays d’origine : JaponSociétés de production : Sociétés de distribution : NetflixNombre d’épisodes : ?Durée : ?Date de diffusion : 15 décembreSite Web officiel : http://ift.tt/2r35JrpCasting : Reo Uchikawa en tant que Satoru Fujinuma (enfant) Mio Yuki (Death Note, Assassination Classroom, As the Gods Will) en tant qu’Airi Katagiri Rinka Kakihara en tant que Kayo Hinazuki (enfant) Shigeyuki Totsugi en tant que Gaku Yashiro Yūki Furukawa (Itazura na Kiss) en tant que Satoru Fujinuma (adulte) Tomoka Kurotani en tant que Sachiko Fujinuma Noriko Eguchi en tant qu’Akemi Hinazuki Jin Shirasu (Happy Marriage!?) en tant que Kenya Kobayashi (adulte) Hidekazu Mishima en tant que Sawada # Synopsis Editeur 2006. Aspirant mangaka dont la carrière peine à décoller, Satoru Fujinuma travaille comme livreur de pizzas pour joindre les deux bouts. Effacé et peu enclin à s’ouvrir aux autres, il observe le monde qui l’entoure sans vraiment y prendre part. Pourtant, Satoru possède un don exceptionnel : à chaque fois qu’un incident ou une tragédie se déroule près de lui, il est projeté quelques minutes dans le passé pour empêcher l’inévitable avant qu’il se produise… Cette anomalie de l’espace-temps lui vaut un séjour à l’hôpital le jour où, pour rattraper le conducteur d’un camion fou, il est percuté par un autre véhicule de plein fouet. Après l’accident, petit à petit, les souvenirs effacés de l’enfance traumatisante de Satoru resurgissent… # Infos La série devrait être diffusée dans 190 pays sur Netflix cet hiver Tags : #serie-tv #Erased #Suspense #Fantastique #Sanbe-Kei #Tomomi-Ôkubo #Ten-Shimoyama #Netflix Lien vers la fiche : http://ift.tt/2hJIBPg http://ift.tt/2hM5x02
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yashiro dissection
This is gonna be long so it’s also gonna be under the cut
Hi. I read very deeply into things. The nice thing, though, is the author of BokuMachi seems to write very, very much to read into.
I want to start with a disclaimer: while I draw heavily from canon, many topics I will discuss will also have a heavy basis in headcanon and personal interpretation. Since peoples’ interpretations can vary, you may not agree with everything I put down. Still, my main goal is to give food for thought; Yashiro is a fascinating character no matter how you decide to interpret him.
I will be sticking to the manga’s canon strictly, and I also want to make a note that I’m going to be more or less regarding Another Record as non-canon, as some of its claims simply don’t line up with the canon of BokuMachi and BokuMachi Gaiden (namely, that Yashiro in Another Record claimed he targeted girls who “knew that life was hell,” when it was made clear in the manga that Nakanishi Aya actually had a fine home life, and Hiromi was killed out of convenience. The first girl he targeted, Atko-chan, he targeted because he became interested since she also had a hamster).
So, without further ado: Mikohara Gaku, aka Yashiro Gaku, aka Nishizono Manabu.
The Canon:
It’s important to have a starting point, and so, let’s start from all the things we concretely know about Yashiro Gaku.
He is roughly 18 years older than Satoru biologically, as Satoru is 29 when he travels back in time, and in 1988, Yashiro is 28 years old. This makes him born in roughly 1960, and puts his fifth year - ages 10-11 - at 1970. His brother’s death occurred in the year 1972, during Yashiro’s seventh year, and presumably, he moved out shortly after with his mother, when his parents divorced. He left for college at age 18 in the year 1978; in his third year, he returned to Mikoto Elementary for a two-week teaching practice. His third year would be about 1980. It’s at this time that he attempts his first serial murder, though it’s thwarted by Satoru (who is, at most, three years old at the time). Three years later - 1983 - he becomes engaged to an unnamed child psychologist, whom he later kills. It is at that point he begins to see the spider’s thread on his own head. And finally, in 1987, he becomes the teacher for Satoru’s fifth-year class, setting the scene for the events in 1988.
In the final timeline, the serial murders of children end after Satoru’s “accident,” though the way Kenya phrases it, Yashiro did not stop murdering altogether (as he did in the anime). During the 18 years of Satoru’s coma, Yashiro marries into the Nishizono family, changes his last name and his first name’s reading (same kanji, but apparently “Manabu” is the more common pronunciation), and inherits his father-in-law’s position on the city council. He becomes the budget planner. His wife is never seen, so it is most often presumed that he killed her, as well.
Using an event planned for the hospital, Nishizono intends to reawaken Satoru’s memories and kill Satoru (and, less importantly, Kumi). However, Satoru catches him while he’s in the middle of his preparations, confronts him, and tackles him off the bridge he set alight to try to kill them both, where law enforcement is waiting. At this point, Yashiro’s own spider’s thread snaps, and he gives a full confession to law enforcement with “a smile on his face,” and is practically set to earn the death penalty for his crimes.
Yashiro’s murders have a very clear modus operandi - at least, the ones before Satoru’s “accident.” Yashiro will kill a target - most often a young girl, ages 8-12, sometimes multiple, and pin the blame on an unwitting patsy. This MO is so particular that the lack of a scapegoat in Satoru’s case is evidence enough for Sawada and Kenya to believe that Satoru somehow managed to throw the killer off his game - however, because of the patsy’s existence, official police never look further than a convicted suspect, thus allowing Yashiro to get away cleanly after each “murderer” is caught and start again somewhere new. It can be thus assumed that any murders he commits without a patsy are significant in some way. The murders have no sign of sexual violence, though Yashiro will definitely use sexual attraction to cast suspicion on his scapegoats, and the murders themselves are often dispassionate. Of our known murder methods, only one was outright violent - smashing Hiromi’s head open (more on this later) - while the other three are very tame - smothering a drugged girl with CO2 fumes, freezing someone to death quickly, setting a drugged girl afloat on a lake with a leaky boat. He also authored two “suicides,” which are only appropriately violent.
Yashiro also mentions that he targets people on whose heads he can see a spider’s thread - though the exact nature of these threads - supernatural, like Revival, or a product of Yashiro’s own delusions - is unknown. I am inclined to believe they are a product of Yashiro’s own delusions, for reasons I will elaborate on further; this essay as a whole will assume they are merely the result of Yashiro’s mind, and not some supernatural external force.
Satoru has never had a thread.
The entire conceit of Yashiro’s spider threads stems from a short story of particular interest to him, “The Spider’s Thread” by Akutagawa Ryuunosuke. The story itself is interesting, but not as important as Yashiro’s interpretation - and he helpfully provides a summary for us in his backstory chapter. There will be more on this later.
Finally, Yashiro once owned a pet hamster named Spice. He owned Spice some time after his brother’s rapes began and Spice died about two years later, some time after Yashiro’s brother died. Spice was the only hamster of a litter Yashiro attempted to drown that survived, and the sight was “so thrilling” that Yashiro decided to raise Spice.
That about does it for the hard canon that we are using as our framework. All sections after this will feature a heavy dose of theorizing.
Analysis: Childhood (1960-1973)
Yashiro Gaku was born Mikohara Gaku to a wealthy father in Ishikari. He attended Mikoto Elementary School, same as Satoru.
Now, the main problem we encounter when analyzing Yashiro’s backstory is that he is something of an unreliable narrator, but not in the traditional sense. I have no doubt that he is truthful about his account of the backstory - I would even call him candid - but Yashiro fundamentally lacks the emotional lens necessary for the reader to fully grasp the situations he describes without reading between the lines. That is what I hope to provide.
Now, the way Yashiro describes his life before his brother’s rapes begin is this: he is showered with blind love for his outstanding grades, he is adored by his classmates despite not being very close to them, his brother has always been violent and foul-tempered, and, upon becoming the unfavorite of their parents, began to take out his frustration about it on Yashiro through physical violence.
Yashiro’s tone remains dispassionate and practically apathetic throughout, even going so far as to say he was “indifferent” to his brother’s “daily” beatings.
Yashiro is a ten-year-old or younger when the beatings begin. There is no possible way for a child - human being, even - to actually be indifferent about receiving daily beatings so severe that they leave you bruised and bleeding.
Just ask Kayo.
The people who WERE indifferent were his parents. Yashiro’s beatings - an everyday occurrence that left him with bruises and bloody noses - happened in their own home (in Yashiro’s own room, even)! His mother is depicted as a housewife, who has the leisure time to hang out with friends after school, so it’s very easy to assume that at least one of the parents are present in the house while this violence is happening. And yet, for all the “blind love” they rain down on Yashiro, not a single mention is made of any attempt to stop his brother from committing brutal violence on him every single day.
There is also the specific language Yashiro uses to depict his parents’ relationship with his brother - that they “gave up” on him, that they “didn’t know how to cope” with him, and - most damning of all - that his brother became “useless” to them.
The point at which one child would describe his brother as being “useless” to his parents is the point at which those parents are, beyond a shadow of a doubt, failing in their duties as parents.
So when you extract from his indifferent tone the actual circumstances of Yashiro’s “oppressive” childhood, you get a horrific picture of daily violence, parents who refuse to do so much as chastise the one doing the beatings, teachers that don’t do anything despite how well-known the older brother’s problems are (it can be easily explained away as that the father is using his wealth to keep the school quiet to avoid scandal), classmates he can’t sympathize with, and pressure to continue to succeed to receive what little scraps of parental affection are actually up for offer.
Yashiro is not “indifferent” to his situation out of choice, but out of necessity. He understands that there is no one who will come to his aid, that there is no way to escape or relieve his suffering. His parents will not help him, the teachers will not help him, his classmates cannot help him, and furthermore, cannot even understand his position.
Here we can draw another parallel to Kayo - where Kayo reached out for help, sent an SOS in the form of her essay for the class anthology, Yashiro instead turned inwards, blunting his own emotions to the point that he could say that he was “indifferent” to the senseless violence that had become merely a fact of life. In order to rationalize his situation, he sympathized with his brother. No one would say “it’s fine that he beats me, it’s necessary for him” while in their right minds, but that’s exactly what Yashiro does: “He needed a target, now that he was useless to our parents.” Yashiro’s parents have taught him that his suffering - his very identity - are practically non-entities. All his parents can see is his apparent success at school; they intentionally turn a blind eye to his pain.
By the time his brother begins to force Yashiro to help him rape girls, Yashiro is already emotionally blunted and in a heavy state of learned helplessness.
In this section of his backstory, it is once again important to remember that Yashiro’s recollections may be factually accurate, but lack an emotional lens to process the information with, as a result of the emotional blunting he carried with him all through his life. He describes himself as participating “earnestly” as his brother’s assistant, but more often than that, he actually mentions how much of an unwilling accomplice he is.
Because of his apathetic tone, it’s easy to assume it wasn’t a big deal to him, but we have to remember his emotional state by this point, even if Yashiro himself fails to acknowledge it. Yashiro has been taught through what has likely been years of experience by this point that there is no one on his side. That he doesn’t have any avenues to go to for help: his parents obviously don’t care, the school likely has its hands tied with regards to the wealthy Mikoharas, and obviously, Yashiro’s 11-year-old classmates aren’t of any use.
For Yashiro, he only has two options available: either he refuses to help his brother (and this is assuming that the first time his brother asked for help, 11-year-old Mikohara Gaku even knew what sex and rape were) and gets “severely punished,” or he gets his brother what he wants and doesn’t get beaten like he has every day for the past few years of his life.
His brother would rape a girl “every month or so,” and in exchange, Yashiro stopped being beaten. Now, I won’t say Yashiro was born an angel - I think, even in the most idyllic of childhoods, he still would have grown up somewhat cold and aloof - but let’s be honest: this is a practically impossible choice to make for anyone. Daily, painful beatings, knowing no one will ever come to your aid, or tricking a girl every month or so into getting raped?
Yashiro is the type of idiot that goes all-or-nothing in whatever he chooses to do, so once he made his choice, he went whole-hog on it.
Again, Yashiro is incredibly candid and forthcoming with his backstory in this chapter, and it never at any point seems like he’s trying to excuse his actions - only give a factual account of the events that occurred. Therefore, as much as we should trust that he performed his job “earnestly,” we should also trust just as much that he was an “unwilling accomplice.”
Since, again, Yashiro was only 10 or 11 at the time, it’s also easy to interpret this as his first try being not only unwilling but unwitting, that he didn’t actually know what his brother was going to do, and, once he DID know, that it was already too late to back out.
In any case, there’s a line he says in this part that’s very interesting:
“I was not convinced of the ‘me who was forced by my big brother.’“
Now, it’s important to note that around this age is where children start to really develop their own identities. Yashiro is beginning to wonder exactly who he is, and he isn’t “convinced” of the “accomplice” role he’s being forced into - and, by extension, the “golden child” roles his parents and teachers expect of him. The Spider’s Thread comes into play at this point of his life. The exact way that Yashiro interprets it, too, is also rather interesting.
In the original tale, after the thread snaps, the Buddha watches with sadness; though in his eyes, a corrupt heart wishing only for his own salvation falling back into hell is just. Then he continues on.
Yashiro’s version makes the Buddha seem much colder in comparison, having the Buddha simply wander away while quipping “what a merciless man.”
Even more interesting are the questions Yashiro asks about the story. “What if the thread had broken under Kandata’s legs? ...Didn’t the Buddha predict what Kandata would do? Then, was it just his whim to send the spider’s thread down?”
These questions are easy to gloss over, but I think they’re vital to understanding the self-identity Yashiro begins to build during this critical point in his development. He is incriminating the Buddha for being frivolous.
If the Buddha had already predicted that Kandata would do as he did - if he already knew what the outcome would be before he sent the thread down - then, walking away while shaking his head, it’s as if all of Kandata’s suffering was merely entertainment for the Buddha to prove himself right.
This lends more meaning to Yashiro’s follow-up questions: “I wonder if Kandata kept staring up at the ceiling with longing every day? Or if he became nicer to the other sinners even though he’s stuck in Hell?”
There’s an obvious answer to the second question, and it’s no - why would Kandata become nicer, knowing there’s no second chance? What could Buddha have been trying to achieve, by basically proving to Kandata that Kandata deserved everything he had coming to him?
“What would Buddha do?”
The Buddha in Yashiro’s story is not a nice one at all.
It’s also important to notice his act of “vicarious gratification” with a younger Shiratori Jun here: he gives him a pair of shoes (because Yashiro has another pair at home, it’s not a loss to him at all) and then spouts some “mature-sounding lines” about courage. He later muses that those words were meant for himself. What are those words, exactly?
“No matter how strong a man is, he has his fair share of problems. Courage is all about your determination not to give up in times of trouble.”
These are words meant not for Jun, but for Yashiro himself. Obviously, Yashiro’s “times of trouble” are his current predicament of continuing to be his brother’s unwilling accomplice, or being severely beaten. So what does giving up mean?
For Yashiro, “giving up” already means “dying.” He has no other options available to him, after all - his brother is already strong enough to simply smother a girl to death; the next beating Yashiro takes from him could be his last. (Again, obvious solutions of reaching out to CPS and the like are nonexistent in Yashiro’s mind.)
It is also directly after this that Yashiro meets Spice.
Now, Yashiro’s drowning of the hamsters is about as far from the standard “sociopath tortures animals for fun” bit as you can get. Yashiro just needs to “take care” of them. Easiest, most efficient way to do that is just to kill them (death is already on his mind, after all). He doesn’t even stick around to watch them struggle; he leaves for dinner and the comes back to find the hamster that will become Spice standing on the corpses of his siblings.
Why the name “Spice”?
This is a manga in which names are meaningful - and, in most cases, almost painfully on-the-nose. “Satoru” means “to understand” (and, according to jisho, “to achieve enlightement”). Sawada’s first name, Makoto, means “truth.” “Kenya” means “to be wise,” Kayo means “addition,” Airi means “love,” Hiromi means “beautiful,” and Mirai, of course, means “future.” It just sort of continues on like that.
So what’s the meaning behind the name “Spice”?
Well, here’s where things really get interesting, since I think my theory diverges a bit from popular conceptions on this point.
“Spice” is named after the “spider” in the story of the Spider’s Thread.
First of all, phrases like “spice of my life” don’t really exist in Japanese, and while we can argue that the author knows a fair bit of English, it still seems out of place in a story with so many names so laser-guided to be on-the-nose. The theory becomes more plausible when we look at the katakana for both the words -
スパイス vs. スパイダー
Now, the more common way to say spider in Japan is “kumo,” but if we’re willing to assume the author decided on the name “Spice” because they knew some English, then why not assume as well that they knew enough English to know how “spider” sounds in it?
As we’ve seen with Yashiro’s interaction with Shiratori Jun, he’s desperately trying to convince himself to stay alive despite his suffering. And then, coincidentally, here comes a hamster who is succeeding in doing just that: fighting for his life and his right to live, Spice is practically a miracle.
What does “vicarious gratification” mean? It means gratification through the feelings or actions of another. Spice is the “spider” that Yashiro is saving, and the “spider” that will save Yashiro - because Yashiro can live vicariously through Spice. Spice, who has so much fire to live that he’s willing to step over the corpses of his siblings. Spice, who - if Spice can continue on, then Yashiro can, to.
Yashiro is not a sociopath. For his own safety, he’s simply blunted his emotions to the point where he’s unable to directly experience them. His emotional life consists only of the “void” left behind when he obliterates his own negative emotions, and the “thrill” that comes of things that make him feel as though he has worth in being alive, through “vicarious gratification.”
So - then Yashiro’s brother accidentally kills a girl.
Now, let’s remember that Yashiro actually sympathizes with his brother to an extent. He understands why his brother is lashing out, and even feels a little responsibility for it. So for Yashiro, when his brother attempts to frame Yashiro for the crime, is betrayed.
The spider’s threads are Yashiro’s own delusions, born of his own intentions. The moment he sees the spider’s thread on his brother is the moment, unconsciously, that he has decided to kill him.
If Spice can live standing atop the corpses of his siblings, well - so can Yashiro.
It is at the moment Yashiro kills his brother that Yashiro asserts himself as his own entity. The murder of his brother is Yashiro’s defining moment as his own identity. It is when Yashiro stops being the “me forced by my big brother.”
Too bad he can’t let anyone know about it.
In any case, to add more proof to the unhappy household fire, the parents divorce over a scandal, when a loving family should be banding together even tighter. For all Yashiro’s posturing, this was not a happy family by any measure of the word.
Analysis: Teenage and College Years (1973-1987)
“You often hear that someone is ‘as good as dead.’ What does that mean? It means they’re not fulfilled, either mentally or physically. Right, in other words...
“...I’m dead, at this very moment, as I’m living a peaceful life without risk.”
Of all the few scenes we have of Yashiro as a high schooler, one of them was a pointed shot of him on the outside of the fence on a building’s roof, in the exact panels we have where he talks about how little attachment he has to life - his, or anyone else’s.
Now, Yashiro never explicitly mentions a wish to die. It’s likely he’s not even aware of it himself, considering how blunted his emotions have become by this point. However, he DOES mention that what kept him alive was Spice, and, well...he’s gone now.
There’s some other stuff in this chapter that I will be covering later when I get to analyzing his murder methods, so let’s just move on to the juicier topic:
His fiancee.
Now, Yashiro’s opinion of her is rather high. She’s smart, she’s pretty, and having her fail to recognize him was enough of a disappointment that Yashiro began to see the spider’s thread on himself.
This, again, has the same problem of being told in a completely apathetic tone, so let’s review the actual situation, and try to find the emotional lens that Yashiro was experiencing the events with, even if he’s not consciously aware of it.
The fiancee is a child psychologist Yashiro met when she did a talk at one of the schools he was teaching at. This being three years after his third year of college (read: he’s only had maybe two years of teaching under his belt, period), it probably means they were dating for perhaps a year prior to the engagement.
Because of Yashiro’s apathetic tone, it’s easy to write her off. However, there are four reasons why she’s actually a very pivotal character in Yashiro’s backstory:
1. She’s brought up in his backstory at all. In fact, several pages are dedicated to her, where a one-off text-bubble about once having a fiancee who got too close to the truth and then having to dispose of her would do. In fact, she’s more important than Spice’s death and all of Yashiro’s high school years combined, just going by page count.
2. Yashiro actually references her earlier in the story, when Satoru asks him out of the blue why he isn’t married yet. She’s the “painful mistake.” Now, this may just be her use to him as a “factor to project my normalcy,” but the wording is rather specific (and I checked the japanese raws to make sure) - he calls her a painful mistake. (”So I’ve been too careful, I guess...”) That’s an odd word to use when the official ruling was a suicide - if your former fiancee committed suicide before the wedding, wouldn’t you call it more of a painful “experience”?
Yashiro is, in that panel, telling the full truth - which he actually likes to do quite often. He views her as a “mistake,” not an experience. There was something that went wrong there that was significant enough to warrant referencing her as early as chapter 27.
3. Her murder is one without a false culprit. Again, there not being a false culprit for Satoru’s accident is enough for Sawada and Kenya to assume that Satoru managed to throw the killer off his game. The same can be said of the fiancee’s death.
4. It’s after her murder that Yashiro sees the spider’s thread on himself. This is a fact that can’t really be ignored: why her? Why then? The spider’s thread, after all, has a single meaning given to us: Yashiro kills people that has the spider’s thread on them (or, rather, once he has decided who to kill, he sees the spider’s thread on them). And yet, he’s unwilling to kill himself. And yet, the spider’s thread becomes present after he murders his fiancee and gets away with it. Why?
Well...Yashiro wants to get caught.
Someone as brilliant as he is can easily cook up lies that don’t rely so heavily on the truth. If he really never wanted to get caught, he could do it easily - he evaded Sawada and Kenya for eighteen years, after all. And yet, when he interacts with Satoru in 1988, he’s constantly dropping hints and half-jokes as to his true identity - “so only kidnappers like you visit a place like that,” “Kayo is now safe,” the entirety of his speech on how to get close to a girl and, as mentioned above, his calling his fiancee a “mistake.”
Remember all that discussion on the building of his identity? Here’s the culmination of it: Yashiro’s identity has been cemented as that of a murderer, and he can’t tell anyone about it.
He is completely alone, just like he was when he was a child. Not a single thing has changed. And Yashiro’s emotions are so deadened and disconnected from his conscious processing that he’s unable to realize that not being alone is what he truly wants, but on some level, it’s all he wants.
This woman, his fiancee, was brilliant. And she was a psychologist. AND she was his fiancee. If ANYONE would be able to piece it together and figure it out, it would be her.
Now, here’s the thing about suicides - the jumping-from-a-building kind is relatively hard to fake. If there’s signs of a struggle, it points to foul play; if there’s drugs in their system, it points to foul play; if the person in question obviously has lots of plans and an active social life, it points to foul play. The margin for error for making sure that it looks like a suicide is very low. And, what’s more...
...Her death probably took place quite a while after she asked the “forbidden question” as a result. Meaning that Yashiro was able to whip out an alibi he probably had prepared in advance, and assuaged his fiancee’s fears enough that he was able to maneuver her into a position where he could kill her and make it look like she jumped due to stress from her job.
The “mistake” Yashiro made was the hope that she would see him for what he truly was, because, by all accounts, she should have. When she died, so, too, did Yashiro’s hope that someone would be able to see him. That he would no longer be alone.
(In other words, that was when Yashiro realized he was in hell.)
But who would be the one to cut his thread, then, if no one could even prove he existed at all?
Analysis: Murder MO
Yashiro kills a young girl or girls and then frames someone. Then he skips towns, rinse and repeat.
Why?
We know he’s not sexually attracted to young girls - the lack of sexual violence and the dispassionate murder methods are proof enough of that. We know he doesn’t have grudges against young girls. So...why?
I’ve seen lots of interpretations, and I think mine is...quite a bit different.
Yashiro is recreating his brother’s murder.
“My big brother was living inside of me.”
Yashiro kills a young girl, just like his brother did. Then, like his brother tried to frame him, Yashiro frames an innocent person. And then he sticks around to watch them be apprehended. (Why else would he stick around to watch Satoru get apprehended by police, and risk Airi or Satoru recognizing him?)
“I needed ‘something else’ that could take Spice’s role. I was quick to find the answer. Someone's death on my behalf. And the sight of someone else who resists death, or their tragic fate...they made ‘life’ feel real to me.”
We’ve already established that Spice’s “role” to Yashiro was basically that of a surrogate life. If Spice could live, then Yashiro could live. And with Spice gone, Yashiro was faced with his loneliness, emptiness, and death once more.
The most crucial aspect to his crime is not the murder itself, but the false culprit that he sets up. The murder itself is just an aspect of the “scenario” he keeps repeating: the moment that he asserted his own identity, his own right to live. What he really gets out of murdering is that same feeling - the feeling of being alive - by watching his scapegoats struggle for their own lives.
What’s up with the spider’s thread imagery, then?
Well, let’s go back to one of Yashiro’s more pressing questions about that story: “What would Buddha do?”
Buddha, as Yashiro sees him, is not a benevolent figure. Yashiro’s Buddha is frivolous, toying with Kandata on a whim for “vicarious gratification.” In a way, Yashiro is emulating him, but let me be clear - Yashiro’s role in the story is not that of the Buddha. Yashiro sees himself as the sinner, which is why Spice - the “spider” - is so important to him.
If the Buddha sends down a spider’s thread of salvation on a whim, then on that same whim, Yashiro will cut it. What would Buddha do? Yashiro is only following by example.
Yashiro is interesting to me because of his tragic self-destructing nature. What he really wants is, in a sense, to be validated. For someone to see him as he truly is, for someone to acknowledge his true identity and existence. However, he’s too smart and too clever to get caught, and he’s too dissociated from his own emotions to realize what he actually wants.
He’s someone who’s been alone for all his life that desperately craves some nature of interaction with another person on a level deeper than superficial, but because of what he’s decided to do (that is, serial kill), he’s unable to share that with anyone. On one hand, he felt like he had no choice - he had to keep living, he’d do whatever it took to keep living - but on the other hand, he’s practically destroyed his own hope with his own hands, and on some level, he recognizes that, hence why he has a spider’s thread on his own head.
Analysis: Post-Satoru (1988- )
“You’re the man that is supposed to bring life’s happiness to me.”
Yashiro’s fixation on Satoru is also very interesting, since it’s basically the culmination of all his repressed feelings focused on a single point.
When Satoru was able to predict Yashiro’s movements and circumvent them, to Yashiro, it was like everything his fiancee was supposed to be.
Again, Yashiro’s only capability of experiencing emotions has become a “void” of blunted emotions and the “thrill” of anything even remotely resembling a positive emotion. (Yashiro’s life is full of misery, self-imposed or not, so his “void” is rather large). So Satoru represents to Yashiro a great many things:
Satoru is, first of all, an equal. Someone who sees Yashiro’s presence, someone who can validate Yashiro’s existence. On that count alone, Satoru fills Yashiro with thrill - because Yashiro is not alone anymore. However, after miraculously surviving the murder attempt, Satoru also takes the place of Spice in Yashiro’s mind - the “spider” that is to save him.
What is the decision Yashiro ultimately makes?
“I choose...to move towards the ‘end’ using my own hands. And so, Satoru, the things you risked your life for...take the form of ‘death,’ and be my ‘end’...”
In other words,
“The spider’s thread is mine alone!”
And, just like Kandata, the thread snaps, and Yashiro is sent back to hell - Satoru wants nothing to do with him, everyone glares at him with contempt in their eyes, and he has nothing left but the memories of the spider’s threads and all of his regrets.
Well, this scene can also be interpreted as Yashiro making it to “Paradise,” since, after all, he’s fished out of a lotus-filled pond - and make no mistake, BokuMachi is a work without coincidences. I’m still puzzling this one out, in any case. Thoughts are welcome, haha.
Though, since Yashiro is poised to get the death sentence...maybe it’s Paradise after all?
(In the end, Yashiro isn’t someone who holds grudges or hard feelings. I think the reason he admits to all of his crimes at court, rather than just accept the rulings on the few that Kenya and Sawada managed to actually nail him with, is just his final act of “vicarious gratification” - when the hero wins, they should win absolutely, don’t you think, Satoru?)
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I find the initial shipping discourse surrounding the Erased fandom amusing on so many levels because the age gaps are all over the place and no side has the moral high ground.
Fans were outraged that Kayo did not wait for Satoru to wake up from his 15-year coma, despite having an entire chapter dedicated to telling us, the reader, why it was important for Kayo to move on and not stay stagnant waiting for Satoru. Kayo refusing to move on would have meant disrespecting the sacrifice Satoru made for her, and Sachiko could not stand by and watch her throw her future away.
It’s not a coincidence that the person Kayo ends up marrying and having a child with just so happens to be one of the other murder victims. Satoru was just as upset by Hiromi’s death (even more so in the manga) as Kayo’s, and the fact they even name their son Mirai, meaning future, makes him the living embodiment of everything Satoru has been fighting for this whole time and ultimately gave back to them. A future.
Also, there are several moments in the manga where Satoru reminds the reader/viewer constantly that he is a 29yo stuck in a child’s body. He has immature moments and passes off as a kid almost effortlessly, but he is clearly not on the same wavelength as the rest of his classmates. He has an adult way of thinking and can keep up with heavy conversations with Sawada over the murderer’s motives. Even his inner monologue is always voiced by the adult voice actor. There are enough hints to keep on reminding the audience, Satoru is not a child.
Furthermore, Satoru has no feelings for Kayo. The use of blushing in the anime/manga is used for many emotions; ranging from embarrassment to happiness. Satoru blushing around Kayo is not an indicator that he likes her romantically, any more than when he blushes around his teacher for giving him praise or his mother teasing him over dinner.
Even Kenya and Sachiko come to their own separate conclusions that Satoru has no romantic feelings for Kayo and is working under a different motive, even if neither of them can seem to pinpoint what that motive is.
I can’t take this discourse seriously because no matter how you dice it, it is more inappropriate for Satoru, a grown man in a child’s body, to fall in love with his classmate who he only ever knew as a child. Kayo never existed for him as a grown woman, so how could he fall in love with her over the course of the story without it being uncomfortable? Especially from Kayo’s point of view, who has every reason to believe Satoru is an 11yo trapped in a grown man’s body when he finally wakes up from his coma (Ah, the irony).
Also, there were fans that accused YashiSato shippers of being pedos and I can’t take this discourse seriously because of Satoru’s real age. I’m not denying, Yashiro being obsessed with his student after a 15yo coma is not equally problematic (and that’s not even diving into the whole attempted murder thing). That ship has its own set of problems, regardless of how many times Yashiro remarks that Satoru is very mature for a boy his age and understands him better than anyone (we as the audience know why Satoru is able to keep up with Yashiro’s thought process, but he still firmly believes Satoru is just a very insightful young boy).
And that’s probably the main takeaway from this entire discourse, Erased has some of the most complex relationships surrounding age gaps, romantic or otherwise.
Even Airi, a 17yo high schooler that knew Satoru when he was a 29yo struggling mangaka has a very unique relationship with him. Sachiko encourages her son to pursue a romantic relationship with Airi, despite the obvious age gap (probably because the year the story takes place in, the legal age to marry in Japan was 16, and even then Airi would still need her parent’s consent as she’s under 20). It’s ambiguous at best if Satoru has any romantic feelings for Airi, but even he makes it a point to say “It’s not like I’m interesting in high schoolers anyway” after their initial conversation when he’s trying to figure out her motive for striking up a conversation with him. It’s only after he gets to know her better that he starts showing her more respect, which depending on your point of view, could indicate that he might be considering a potential relationship with her because she’s mentally more mature than he is, or just a strong friendship.
And for fans of that particular ship, the epilogue removes any awkwardness between the two by resetting the timeline so Satoru does not run into Airi again until she’s 21. There’s still a 12 year age gap between the two, but its no longer being scrutinized and the two can now get to know each other all over again as adults.
I’m not judging anyone who ships Satoru/Kayo, Satoru/Airi, Satoru/Kenya, Satoru/Yashiro, etc. I’m just saying if you’re gonna get political about it, then the least problematic ship in the entire series is Kayo/Hiromi.
So stop bashing on Kayo for living a good life.
#writing#fandom: erased#personal#it's a fictional story#and satoru's age is always gonna be an issue of debate for anti-shippers#all your ships are problematic#so get over it already and ship whatever the hell you want#boku dake ga inai machi#bokumachi#Erased#but in all seriousness I still the love the meme#Yashiro is best girl 2k16 XD
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Erased: Season 1 Episode 8 Satoru pursues the alleged kidnapper with the aid of his teacher. Years later, former classmate Kenya agrees to help Sawada find the true culprit.
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Golden Horse Awards - Best Action Choreography
A goalkeeper from Chinese Football Minor League, Wang Duoyu (played by Shen Teng) refused to play dirty in the opposition team’s favor. His integrity in sportsmanship spirit has earned him a chance to inherit of a 30 billion heritage. By the secret billionaire’s last will, Wang now has to complete the challenge to “spend 1 billion in ONE month” to become the rightful heir to the inheritance without any of his friends knowing. This is the first time in his life he has to worry about not losing enough pennies from his pocket…..
Director: Jiang WenCast: Jiang Wen, Eddie Peng, Liao Fan, Zhou Yun, Xu Qing, Sawada Kenya, Ding Jia Li, Liu Xiao Zhu, Chen Xi, Li Meng, An Di, Shi Hang Language: Putonghua, English (in parts) & Japanese (in parts)Subtitles: English, Traditional Chinese, Simplified ChineseRegion Code: ARelease Date: 12 Apr 2019
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Fun fact about Street Fighter The Movie - Captain Sawada is a character in the film & game, but never in the original Street Fighter games. Portrayed by Kenya Sawada, whom Capcom wanted to use as their own “action star”.
[The Video Game Art Archive]
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