Avvy's Jshk - Blog Posts

Random question if you were to want to make a foil/opposite/the yin or yang, character of Amane/Hanako Yugi what you think they be

Nene-chan and Tsukasa combined; Amane already has foils

Where Amane is filled with secrets and refuses to speak his heart, Tsukasa speaks his heart fearlessly

and where Amane is hopeless, Nene-chan is filled with hope

a good story has its foil baked into the plot! its characters will exemplify the different philosophies!

we don't need to invent anything new!

Because I have a feeling when school is in full swing and Hanako-kun has a moment alone with Tsukasa, I have a feeling he's going to ask, "Why are you doing this?" I hate you, you're not my brother" In this situation I have the impression that Hanako-kun will get angry and it will be at that moment that Tsukasa will unload all her feelings on him saying that he's the one I've always hated him. That's my theory how do you think that will be the moment when Tsukasa really reveals his true feelings

I guess just the once, I will answer one of these, which I typically would delete ....

without any malice directed at you, but with simply opposing ideologies, know I feel this with conviction: you, and everyone who thinks this are as incredibly wrong about the manga as you could possibly be. You'll be confused and disappointed until the very last page.

The Yugi are deeply in love with each other. Everything Tsukasa does is out of boundless love for Amane, and a wish to know him. Everything Amane has done is originating from his love for Tsukasa. Even his love for Nene-chan, derives in some way in the way she reminds him of his naive, childish, gullible, clumsy, playful little brother, who he spent his childhood with.

The core concepts in this manga are love, devotion, attachment, enduring everything and accepting any outcome, because you love somebody. It doesn't matter if they push you away (Aoi), if they could never return it (Hakubo), if they're beyond hope (Sakura), hurt you (Tsukasa), or change (Amane, Mitsuba)-- they are still the person you love. As long as there is something there, it is worth loving, it is worth believing in.

There cannot be a message about hate, or someone lost and corrupted beyond saving, as Iro-sensei is honestly too soft and sentimental for this. A reveal about hate would not be narratively interesting, thematic, or satisfying. The concept of shooting a big gun at Tsukasa at the end of this, or the Yugi hating eachother, is 100% impossible. Really I think that!

You may as well 'theorize' that Mitsuba is a lost cause, or 'theorize' that Hakubo never loved Sumire, or 'theorize' that loving Aoi is wrong of Akane, or 'theorize' that Nene will have to destroy the too-far-gone Hanako with her bare hands, lol.

What senseless things! Silly nonsense. Why do some people think hate is so important?

Tsukasa has no secret.

Here are his true feelings:

but I don't know why I'm saying anything ... you must not listen to a word I say! Ho hum ...

Why does Amane choose his name hanako, I understand yako choosing misaki but why hanako of all things, why the specific spelling in kanji that means flower kid

Ooh, you know, incidentally, I've been dwelling on the name "Hanako" lately...

The kanji (花子) is actually pretty typical, for "Hanako"... Let's say, it's one of the most classic spelling of this name? Building off of that, the myth of "Hanako-san of the bathroom" (トイレの花子さん) is actually one that has existed in Japan for years, and in it, the name is commonly spelled like that. From a writing perspective, Iro-sensei is just maintaining the ah, iconography of the name, I suppose?

I've talked before in a previous ask about how the "Jibaku" in the title is evoking several things at once. Well, I think Iro-sensei is the sort that likes everything to feel multilayered, so even the usage of "Hanako-kun" is conveying something very particular. Hanako is a very feminine name (as flower names commonly are; think of names like Daisy or Rose) — so appending -kun to it is a little bit strange... My wife and I have joked, it's sort of like, if the story was starring Bloody Mary… but the twist is that Mary is a boy, and we call him, Little Lad Mary, or something… Lol. This is one of those things western fandom might be missing out on, due to culture discrepancies. We read Hanako, and it perhaps doesn't stand out next to Natsuhiko as a very girly name. To the point where I don't really blame anyone for not keying into it; it's not so intuitive for us.

I mean, I myself have had to really internalize what the experience of reading the title could be like, for a native speaker. You're looking at Hanako-kun on the title, and then seeing this spooky cursed boy sitting on a toilet. And you're like "-? ? .. ?? Hanako... toilet ghost, but boy-? And, self bondage???" (lol) There's just ah, a different first impression when picking up volume 1, I think.

Now, to get into the in-world reasons for why Amane uses Hanako... Well. The thing is, we haven't actually gotten a very direct explanation on what Amane feels about the name. Feels quite shrouded in mystery still... perhaps, it's not something we'll know the truth of until we are able to learn about what Amane went through that made him become a mystery in the first place. For now, all we can do is infer...

Logically, we can say the name Hanako comes from the rumor of "Hanako-san", which is something that could have existed before Amane even died. The mysteries can be swapped out by other individuals, as we see with Mitsuba, who becomes the new "Hell of Mirrors". It seems the rumor itself doesn't suddenly change, despite Mitsuba being a wholly different person. And, beyond that, perhaps there was a different entity before that tengu that was the Hell of Mirrors... etc. So, a possible explanation is that the name Hanako was one that Amane inherited once he became No. 7.

Though, we do have examples of mysteries with titles that allude to their specific circumstance... such as the Misaki Stairs and Shijima-san of the Art Room. Questions that arise from this are: If a kaii replaced Yako or Shijima, would the rumor stay the same? What were the rumors for No. 2 and No. 4 before theirs existed? Were there any at all...? I suppose, we don't know how long there have been 7 mysteries guarding the school. In any case... I wouldn't totally rule out the possibility that Amane himself is the origin of the Hanako-san rumor. For whatever reason, his actions in the past might have created Hanako-san. Shijima-san's rumor is a product of misinformation about Mei's death, so it might not have been Amane's choice how people perceived certain events.

I try and keep my mind open to the possibility, at least... though, if you want my personal opinion, I'm leaning more towards the former. I assume that Amane just inherited the role of No. 7, and the rumor associated with it was Hanako-san. The reason is... before meeting Nene, I'm not sure who else would even be calling him Hanako-? The mysteries are relatively distant from one another, and typically refer to one another by their numbers. I would say Tscuhigomori is the mystery that knows Amane the most personally, and deep down, I think Tsuchigomori simply sees Amane as... Yugi Amane. To Tsuchigomori, Amane is the same as when he knew him in life; he's been frozen in place here, never moving on. Tsukasa meanwhile knew Amane best, ostensibly, and was close with him through most of his life... and only ever calls him Amane.

I'm of the belief that Amane himself, does not closely identify with the name Hanako, before meeting Nene. I think it was a business name... I think it was even, kinda funny, like, Lol, girl's name... sure. He's amicable to wearing thigh highs and letting Nene dress up his hair, nor does he really fret about being gender-swapped, so it's not like having a "girl's name" would bother him much. It must feel very inconsequential...? He's only being regarded as Hanako-san on the rare occasion a soon-to-be-dead student summons him. Otherwise, he's Nanaban-sama to his co-workers... and internally, I think he's Amane... er, in a compulsive way-? Like, he can't control this remnant of his past life... Tricky, since there is a bit of compartmentalization happening; I do think Amane thinks of "Yugi Amane" as having died and no longer "really" existing beyond that death... What he is now, is something different and unrecognizable (... or, so he thinks.) At that point of dehumanization, he probably doesn't regard his current self with any name. Maybe he is just, a kaii, a mononoke, a murderer... etc.

Upon befriending Nene... I think that Amane wasn't taking their relationship so seriously. Her referring to him as Hanako-kun was kind of cute, funny, novel. He WAS obfuscating his identity, after all, so maybe it was ideal for her to see him this way. (Amane himself wouldn't have even let Nene know he killed someone in the past, let alone his real name...) So, performing as Hanako became something he does specifically for Nene's sake. This comes packaged with representing the mysteries as more close than they are, his job as more heroic than it really is, etc. I would say at this point, Amane starts to imagine a divide between Amane, living boy, and Hanako, the ghost that came after.

However, over time, the identity of Hanako-kun became more sentimental than Amane would ever have chosen. This was never supposed to be... more than, a flimsy front, a mask he wears, your silly bathroom ghost friend. That's why he's confused in Picture Perfect, with Nene's insistence that Amane-kun is the same as Hanako-kun. These should be separate things — Amane shouldn't be the same as Hanako! But... of course, they are, because he's the same as ever...

Haha, it's all kind of convoluted, but I like how much it makes one reflect on identity... Whether you personally identify with something or not, the urge to split yourself up, but also the way that you're always... yourself, even after things change... *wiggles fingers* Pretty cool, right? Often in posts, I'm kind of wrestling with how to refer to Amane, and how to keep things consistent enough to not be suuuper confusing... but it's hard! The names Amane and Hanako can be useful in tandem. It's such a Vibes thing, at times.

I typically default to Amane when referring to him as... the character, the entity of Amane, across many worlds/timelines. The entire history of the character, is "Amane" to me. Whereas I think of Hanako as more specifically encompassing the time he's spent with Nene! It's really Nene that has made Hanako more than just a title... though deep down, ig the real endgame of this would be regarding him as Amane...? [personal blatherings here...] Anyhoo...

We're surely due for more information on this topic someday. My wife has even mused on why the name Hanako is used for him... It's something to really contemplate-!!

Does Hanako have some qualities?

Oh boy does he. I wonder if you meant to type "good qualities"? I tend to give him a hard time out here or cheer on his difficult traits (mostly because I feel people less often observe that head-on), so maybe you want to know what is positive about him? Apologies if you meant something else, but I'll answer for now as if this said "good qualities"...

Hanako's most incredible quality to me, which no other character has, is his deep endless romanticism... his utter commitment, his devotion, his obsession, the manner of which he thinks of things is I feel ... just more poetic and naturally artful than, anyone else. I think it makes sense that being in love with Hanako winds up making you equally obsessive and sick (Nene and Tsukasa dealing with this both)... I think it's just, impossibly captivating. I really think Hanako's heart is the most elegant here... his love is incredible. To get the chance to be loved by Hanako-- you would not ever want anything else.

And if he didn't love you, you'd just die.

Nene is a childish and crude little poet girl, doing her best to write her feelings out (but naturally following a more trope-y, rather ignorant perspective, starting out)

we love it. Tsukasa does his best with his sincere gestures...

...both are very sweet. Kind of ... innocent naive little things, Nene and Tsukasa.

There's something about how Hanako expresses his heart, in the rare moments we glimpse it... its like a peek at the burning sun..

capable of setting up a telescope to face at a star he feels powerfully about, a metaphor for feelings he has.

a natural sense of incredible poetics, speaking in celestial bodies...

unlike Nene.. I don't think Amane really reads romantic poetry and aches to become such a protagonist. He's not copying anything he's seen or read. This is just the magnitude of which he conceptualizes his own feelings for others-- equating them to the incredible wonders of the sky that have bewitched him since he was a child.

when Amane's love comes out, it wants to express itself in incredible extremes. In intoxicating, delusional epiphanies,

with imperative severity

which is also why he acts possessively and dangerously ... it's all fueled by this-- the beautiful center-- the unbearable, indomitable love he cannot help but be consumed by! Right or wrong, it compels him! He can't help it!

I really think ... that Nene and Tsukasa are both trying to chase down the root of Amane, uncover this thing inside of him... while neither can really seem to confirm confidently his love for them (at least, at one point)....

this is really the most romantic manga I have read ?? sounds crazy. But true. and It's only like that because of the center of it, the title character, being absolutely insane with passion...

Amane would do anything for love .... when he acts dangerously in canon, when he risks his soul, he's doing it for love.

It is a kind of love Nene or Tsukasa could never find anywhere else, never in their damn lives ... I honestly don't think you would see this love even in Akane. Not to be all Me about it but .... I think true love does make you insane.

while Amane needs to learn how to COMMUNICATE WITH THE PEOPLE AROUND HIM!!!!! he does not need to work on or fix his heart, which, I believe, is unbelievably pure.