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florencetheflowerfairy · 7 years

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When Koushiro leaves the group

Part 1: When Sora leaves the group

What do you do when your best friend is missing? How do you react when your other friend walks out? Shouldn’t you, of all people, be used to this feeling of loss by now?

Why did she leave you? Did she really think that you wouldn't be useful? Aren't you useful? What more can you possibly do to prove yourself?

What’s the possibility that he could be dead? What’s the possibility that he fell into another parallel dimension?

What do you say when there's no one left who will listen to your ideas?

Do you even bother to say good bye?

These are questions I want to ask about Koushiro, my other favorite character, when he decides to leave the group.

Koushiro brings a unique perspective to this time period. He is inquisitive, and he still wants to explore. He is an orphan, and he strives to be helpful without being a bother. He is extremely loyal, but he has a difficult time expressing his emotions. Koushiro does not open up his heart easily, especially to people who don’t act interested in his ideas.

What drives Koushiro to leave?

Losing Taichi, and Koushiro’s guilt

Koushiro would be profoundly affected by losing Taichi. Like Sora, he considers Taichi his best friend. I think that Koushiro feels extremely grateful to Taichi for becoming his friend, since Koushiro is painfully shy. This makes Koushiro a little blind to Taichi’s faults early on, but even as time passes, Koushiro always sees the good in Taichi and remains loyal to him. So naturally, Koushiro would be devastated at losing him.

However, there’s another layer to his feelings. Like Sora, I think that Koushiro feels guilty. After all, Koushiro was the person who solved the secret of the pyramids and drafted the plan to rescue Sora. He knew it was a risky plan. He surely told everyone that. Especially Taichi. Koushiro knew full well that he, Taichi, or any of the others could die in the attempt. But Taichi still agreed with his plan, and readily accepted the most dangerous role along Koushiro’s side.

Taichi fully understood the risks. That was what made his actions brave, and allowed him to activate his crest. And Taichi was mature enough to feel responsible for his earlier reckless behavior; he would never want Sora and Koushiro to blame themselves for his own choices.

However, it’s in Sora and Koushiro’s nature to blame themselves.

Like Sora, a mixture of love and shame motivates Koushiro as well.

And something else.

Curiosity

Koushiro’s crest is called Knowledge, but we can tell that the true meaning of his crest is more like Curiosity. He doesn’t grow as a person because he happens to know a lot of facts; he grows because he wants to learn about how beautiful the universe is. He grows because he maintains an open mind and an inquisitive heart even when the world around him is ugly and cruel.

For example, when Taichi disappears, Koushiro does not give into hopelessness. He maintains an open mind, because he knows that there are many possibilities to explain what happened to his friend. In spite of the bleakness of the situation, Koushiro maintains his confidence that he can solve this mystery; it is a problem, but there has to be a solution.

At best, Koushiro’s abstract priorities make him wise. At worst, they make him naïve. He’s one of the most trusting characters. The best example of this is his relationship with Gennai.

Gennai, the Man with the Answers

Gennai is a fascinating character to me in season 1 of Adventure because he’s morally gray. He brought in elementary-school aged children from another world to risk their lives and fight monsters. He guides them on their journey, and he even gives them shelter at one point, but he is not apologetic and he is often judgmental. He doesn’t seem to have any moral qualms about letting the children fend for themselves.

What I love about this is that the writers seem aware of Gennai’s flaws and they don’t excuse him. Gennai is a flawed mentor figure who is allowed to be ambiguous and even unlikeable. The writers want us to feel ambiguous about him because they write the relatable children characters as having different responses to him. Taichi and Yamato are liable to insult him as “Old Man,” while Jou is nervously respectful to him.

But Koushiro latches onto him in a way that nobody else does. He views Gennai in a positive light because Gennai can deliver real answers to his questions. While all of the children eventually come to respect Gennai out of necessity, since he does give them practical advice, Koushiro is the only one who is eager to become close to Gennai. Most of the children find it at least a little difficult to trust him. Koushiro trusts him implicitly, eventually giving him easy access to his laptop.

I think that Koushiro is so trusting of Gennai because he realizes that a connection to Gennai boosts his own usefulness to the group. Koushiro is self-aware of his role as the “Brain,” the person who solves mysteries and proposes solutions. It’s a vital, useful role. Koushiro does not view himself as brave or caring (though he actually has those virtues in abundance), but he does view himself as intelligent. A naturally gifted child who shouldn’t bring shame to his adopted parents. Koushiro doesn’t realize that his adopted parents would still love him even if he wasn’t gifted. Instead, he connects his entire value as a person to how useful he can be to them, and to his peers. He doesn’t expect to be loved, since he believes it is likely that his biological parents did not want him, and he believes that his adopted parents care for him out of duty instead of love. He has a desperate desire to feel wanted, to belong, and so he strives to be helpful without being a bother.

Gennai is a mysterious figure who can help Koushiro to be helpful. So it’s easier for Koushiro to overlook Gennai’s flaws. Gennai is an obvious route to finding real answers.

Beyond that, Koushiro genuinely is curious about Gennai, and he wants to know more about him for the sake of knowledge on its own.

Is Taichi alive?

I wrote about this question in my last essay. I think that Sora believes that Taichi is alive, while Yamato believes that Taichi is dead. Even though they don’t objectively know, it’s what they have to believe to keep their sanity. Sora and Yamato are stubborn people. But how does Koushiro, the most open-minded character, answer this question?

Actually, the premise of this question is uniquely terrifying for Koushiro when you consider that he has been asking himself “Are my parents alive?” for years and he doesn’t know. How does he cope with that? He shuts himself off. It’s a forbidden topic, a question he can’t allow himself to ask out loud. It’s an excruciatingly painful topic to even think about.

But now his best friend Taichi has disappeared, and suddenly Koushiro has to think about these things again. He has to find the strength to maintain an open mind and an inquisitive heart, even if the answer hurts.

But once Koushiro starts to think about it, I think that he finds a lot of reasons to be hopeful.

Koushiro saw Taichi and Metalgreymon vanish with his own eyes. He didn’t see them die. Therefore, it is entirely possible that they are alive.

Taichi activated his crest before disappearing. He was the first to do it. The full extent of the crests’ magic is unknown, but it is possible that Taichi’s crest and digivice protected him.

Finally—and most importantly—Koushiro now knows that parallel dimensions exist. He did not objectively know this before coming to the Digital World, but now it is a verifiable fact. This means that Taichi could have merely been transported to another world.

This is speculative of me, but that last observation is especially enticing because…if Koushiro follows this logic, then he can apply it to his biological parents too. Now Koushiro can logically consider the possibility that people move to another dimension when they die. It’s a tempting train of thought. After watching Patamon resurrect; after watching Taichi just vanish, then life after death in other dimensions starts to feel like a real possibility. He knows it’s possible that his biological parents could have wanted him, but died. And if it’s possible to travel between dimensions, then…

But Koushiro still has to think about Taichi first. It’s still much easier to think about Taichi than his parents. It’s even hopeful to think about Taichi, because Koushiro has logical reasons to see it is plausible that Taichi is alive. He doesn’t have to rely on faith when he can comfortably rely on logic.

It takes courage to ask those questions to himself. Now Koushiro wants to ask Gennai, the Man with the Answers.

But does anybody else want to talk to Gennai?

The Confrontation

Sora: Let’s look for them! Let’s keep looking for Taichi and Agumon until we find them!

Yamato: It’s impossible. We’ve already been searching for a month and a half. There’s no trace of them anywhere.

Koushiro: Gennai-san… he should know something! Let’s go look for Gennai-san!

Jou: We don’t even know where he is. How would we begin to find him?

Mimi: I just want to go home.

Takeru: *yawns*

In this situation, Sora and Koushiro find themselves on the opposite side to Yamato and Jou. Sora and Koushiro want to keep searching. Yamato wants to stop, and Jou seems to agree with him.

I think that Yamato and Jou’s combined voices are formidable. They are the two oldest boys. They are the tallest children with the deepest voices. I realize that I’m describing shallow characteristics, but I think they’re subtle advantages. Yamato and Jou are both likely to assume “I know what’s best for the younger kids.” I still view Yamato and Sora as having the most authoritative voices, but being a boy does help Jou’s standing. After all, Sora felt like she had to inspire him to be her leader earlier, in order to give him confidence.

Sora and Koushiro have subtle disadvantages because Sora is a girl and Koushiro is one of the “younger kids.” Sora and Koushiro were surely both oddballs on the boys’ soccer team back home, but Taichi still considered them his best friends, and he even respected them more than Yamato and Jou—the two squarest team members. But now Taichi is gone.

Sora eagerly speaks up first: let’s keep looking for Taichi and Agumon. Yamato tells her it’s impossible.

Koushiro knows that it’s not impossible. He is always polite and hesitant, but he speaks up now, eager to prove himself, especially to his friend Sora. Koushiro tries to explain that they need more answers before they give up on the search. So after Yamato says that they can’t find Taichi, Koushiro suggests that they focus on Gennai. He isn’t forgetting Taichi; he’s looking at the big picture, and he sees Gennai as a source of answers who can tell them both where Taichi is and how they can go home. Koushiro even knows it’s possible that Taichi isn’t in this dimension, but they’ve seen holograms of Gennai in this dimension, so it must be possible to communicate with him, somehow.

But Jou immediately shoots Koushiro down: we don’t know where Gennai is either. You don’t know what you’re doing.

In his haste to suggest a solution, Koushiro forgot that everyone would view his plan “Look for Gennai” as too similar to what they’re already currently doing: looking for anything that would help. Koushiro lacks the confidence to argue, so he shuts up.

Mimi and Takeru don’t offer solutions. Unlike Koushiro, they don’t feel intense pressure to prove themselves. They know their own worth.

Losing Sora, and feeling inadequate

When Taichi disappears, I think it’s a natural reminder to Koushiro that his biological parents could have died, but they could have still wanted him. Before Taichi disappeared, he still wanted Koushiro by his side in the pyramid.

When Sora leaves the group, it’s a reminder that his parents could have lived and abandoned him.

Koushiro clearly wanted to keep exploring, and he felt closer to Sora than anybody else on the team. Besides Taichi, Sora is his other old friend who frequently asks for his opinion. Koushiro is most loyal to Taichi and Sora.

Koushiro would quickly understand why Sora left everyone else. He has a practical mind. But he doesn’t understand why she didn’t bring him with her. That’s what makes his heart ache.

Koushiro tries so hard to be useful. When Sora leaves the group, then Koushiro feels inadequate. He could have helped her!

Sora was too independent and ashamed to think of asking her younger friend to abandon the group with her. But Koushiro doesn’t know that.

What Koushiro does know is that he doesn’t fit in the group with Yamato as the default leader. Yamato has become close-minded to the idea that Taichi is alive. And while Yamato is concerned for Koushiro’s well-being, he’s not interested in Koushiro’s theories. Nobody else is particularly interested in Koushiro’s ideas. Not after weeks of useless searching. In other words, Koushiro can’t fulfill his role as the “Brain” in Yamato’s team. In other words, he sees himself as a useless burden to them.

On top of everything else, Koushiro simply doesn’t feel as loyal to Yamato and the others. They weren’t his friends before summer camp. Unlike Sora, Koushiro doesn’t worry about being missed.

Does he say goodbye?

There are two ways to interpret Koushiro’s departure: he leaves without telling anyone, or he says goodbye. In the show, I believe that it is implied that he sneaks off. In the PSP game of Digimon Adventure, then Koushiro explains himself to the group before leaving.

To be clear, I adore the writing in the PSP game, from everything that I’ve seen. I think that the game treats the characters excellently. But in this case, it personally works for my interpretation better if Koushiro leaves without telling anyone.

Sora and Koushiro have similar personalities in that they hide their feelings, while Jou and Mimi are more straightforward people. So I like the ideas that Sora and Koushiro don’t say goodbye; Jou would have said goodbye if he had meant to leave permanently; and Mimi loudly announces her departure.

This is how Koushiro leaves in the show:

*We see the silhouettes of Sora and Piyomon leaving at nighttime. They exit stage left.*

*We see the others walking through a sandstorm in daytime. Yamato leads the way. Jou and Takeru are right behind him. Mimi is in the back.*

Tokomon the narrator: “After that, everyone left after the other.”

*We see the silhouettes of Koushiro and Tentomon walking left in the sandstorm.*

I think that the implication is that Koushiro and Tentomon snuck away during the sandstorm. Yamato probably told everyone to stick close to him, and Koushiro disobeyed. It was a perfect opportunity and he couldn’t pass it up.

Koushiro is motivated to leave by his feelings of love, shame, inadequacy, and curiosity. He is determined to solve the mysteries of Gennai, the crests, and Taichi’s whereabouts. No matter how long it takes.

And he’s blind to the fact that, when the sandstorm lifts and everyone can see again, his other friends will miss him.

#Koushiro Izumi #Koushirou Izumi #my analysis #Digimon meta #This essay is heavier than 'When Sora leaves the group'#It's also more speculative and I would imagine that plenty of people feel differently about Gennai or Koushiro's parents #If you read this whole thing #then give yourself a cookie #You're awesome #And thank you <3 #This is my early contribution for Odaiba Day

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