Saturday, December 1, 2012

HakoMari: Inside the Box Part II

Following my overbearingly lackluster post I called an analysis, I'm deciding to take this in a new direction, so bear with me for a moment.
snipped this from BT

I think I'll do a more character oriented analysis from this point as it would serve more useful and practical. I'll start off with the least interesting (or what I might think of as unimportant) character at the moment and work my way down the list as follows:
  1. Haruaki Usui
  2. Kokone Kirino
  3. Kasumi Mogi
  4. Iroha Shindou (only because she's in volume 5)
  5. Daiya Oomine
  6. Kazuki Hoshino
  7. Maria Aya Otanashi
  8. 0
Haruahi, Kokone and Mogi I'll probably end up grouping together here, unless it gets to large of a post. I might group Iroha in with Daiya...not too sure on that though. I might end up switching Kazuki and Maria around, but 0's probably gonna be the last character I look at. Now, keep in mind that I've only read up to a certain point in the 5th volume in order to keep things interesting for myself, so just have that going off in the back of your head.

So, let's get the ball rolling!


Right, so...where to begin? Ah - yes! Haruaki Usui really only makes an appearance in "The Rejecting Classroom" and "Seven Night in Mud" as the classmate of Kazuki. He's in the beginning of the "Game of Idleness" (also the "Game that Staves off Bordedom") but only when they go shopping. From where I stand, he's really only important at the end of "The Rejecting Classroom" where Kazu unveils him as 0. So, unless something else hits my mind, I'll start here.


Chronologically speaking, Haruaki makes his first appearance in the 2601st time where he falls in love at first site with Aya Otonashi. As I've stated, in the 1st vol. Haruaki is pretty much the identity of the box giver 0, but that's only revealed at the end where 0 apparently took on his identity at some point during the story (not necessarily at the beginning, but was there by the 5000th time when Mogi consults him and he tells her to kill him). Other than this, Haruaki's pretty much a flat, easily-identifiable-and-predictable character, but it is this that makes him a very relevent player in this game:



"If you don't, I honestly can't be your ally." Hearing those words, I thought. To me, Haruaki is the last fortress that protects my everyday life.
...
And I won't be able to retain my everyday life when I lose Haruaki, my last fortress.
(from Vol 2, May 1 (Friday) 14:00; emphasis added by me)
As you might remember in Part I, I stated that Kazuki is obsessed with his everyday life. And here he makes a note that (because Haruaki is such a plain and ordinary person) if Haruaki ever changes from this norm Kazu's come to know, then his everyday life will break. Haruaki is the last straw.
Though I'm not quite sure how deep it goes, he appears to have some sort of relation to Kokone that goes beyond freindship. Actually, now thinking about that sentence I just wrote typed, he and Daiya seem to revolve around Kokone (think moons around a planet...okay, bad analogy, but the point I'm making is the same). I have a feeling this rather strange group of 3 is explored more in the 5th volume as I see some sort of history implied with the little bit of installment 5 I've read (I'm restraining myslef from reading it all so I can actually leave open some avenues of thought for my predictive insights). This seems to be almost confirmed when Haruaki (acting as the middleman) introduced Kazu to Daiya, and I've an eerie feeling that Hauaki and Daiya's friendship seemed to stem from baseball, though nothing comes to mind at the moment to confirm this (I think I saw something about this in vol. 5, but remember: I'm refraining from diving into it so I won't bother checking this until later). He'd already known him, and was apparently aquaintances with Kazu, so it made an easy transition for Kazu to join their group, though not with the "elite" status so as to be told of their problems.


And speaking of these "friends" (I've a strange feeling they're like riff-raff thrown together because they've no other choice; bad apples, birds of a feather, you get the idea right?), Kokone seems to be the center, as I said, so let's dive deeper than her "girly-girl barbie doll plastic mask".
Mask, you say?
She says in a forced voice, but…Aah, she might really be a bit angry. Kokone pretends to spit at me and walks off to show off her mascara-covered face to some of our other classmates.
(Vol 1, 10 876th time)
First off, Kokone (or Rino or Kiri) just comes off as the fake type. Don't ask why; it's just a gut feeling. Secondly, although Kazu says she might really be a bit angry, real friends really shouldn't forcefully express their emotions. And then there's being friends with Daiya since childhood and them constantly hurling insults at each other (if you haven't figured out any sterotypical anime character types/roles and you're reading this, Go watch more anime! NOW!!!).

Although she may be fake, I do think her love for Kazu is real. You can debate this with me if you'd like, but I think the whole of the 3087th time is an intimate moment between Kokone and Kazuki. I know Mogi was the one who initially fell in love with Kazu and confessed to him, so it would make perfect sense this scene under the sakuras (don't know if there are any cherry blossoms, but the they are in a park...<_<) is actually between the two. But there are just too many references to it being Kokone to overlook, and there's what happened to her in "Sevennacht in Mud".
Although Kokone thought she regarded Kazu as a friend (wanting all 4 of their friendships to last; talk about a harem - Utah would be proud!), when he (as Yuuhei Ishihara) confessed to her, her feelings about him were brought to the surface and made her seriously rethink their relationship, as noted when she breaks down and starts crying during 4th period music when [Yuuhei Ishihara] demands Kokone to tell him her reply. This made her think Kazu took her feelings lightly, thus reinforcing my theory of her probable love of him. Although I won't go into it wholly here, I'll just mention that Daiya's wish is solely made for Kokone Kirino, which leads me to beleive that he's in love with her. Of course, this has been hinted at for some time and implicitly brought out by 0 close to the end of vol 4:

"You always thought that Kokone Kirino and Kazuki-kun would be a good match. You assumed that it would be the best if love would sprout between them, to bring her happiness. Because Kazuki-kun would not reject her whatever he learned about her. And yet you used violence against Kazuki-kun when it was about to happen because of Riko Asami. And also this time, you tried to make protecting Maria Otonashi his goal. To me, it seems like your actions are not consistent with your goal."
(Vol. 4, “The Game of Idleness”, Chapter 4; emphasis added by me)
As 0's said, when Daiya knew that Kirino would be happiest with Kazu, he tried to pair them up but his own feelings for Kokone got in the way and used the situation in the music room during “Sevennight in Mud” to prevent Kazu's feelings from reaching Kokone because he himself felt the same way (although by this time it's already too late, should my theory about who actually was with Kazu in the park in vol 1).
...Wait a sec, aren't I supposed to be talking about Kokone then Mogi then Iroha then Daiya? It seems I'm talking about Daiya too much in this post...
Ah screw it, Daiya's been bumped up the list due to his friendship with Kokone. Actually, this seems a better fit, putting all the friends together like this...Ah, shit - writing typing that sentence made me completely rethink 0's stance in all of this. I know simply saying that doesn't mean much, but I think there's more to Haruaki than meets the eye. More on this when I look closer at 0.


Daiya's wish, which is at the end of volume 4 and most likely covered extensively in vol 5, involves Kirino's happiness. He apparently wants her to be happy, most likely because he loves her, and thinks she should be with Kazuki as he would not reject her despite her history. I'm still unsure what this history is, but venturing a guess it would have to be a betrayal of some sort which forced her to put on a mask in front of everyone. Daiya wants her to be able to live without needing to restrain herslef, to blockade her heart so she won't get hurt, and to laugh when insulted; he want's Kazuki to heal her. But Kazuki won't - or rather he can't - and so Daiya makes him his enemy because
"Your [Kazuki's] goal is to trample on the 'wishes' of others."
(Vol. 3, "Game of Idleness", Beginning)
and, not surprising to Kokone, disappears from the world after telling telling Kazu he's his enemy.

Daiya's a rather strange person to wrap my head around. Kazu notes he's completely uninterested in others, and yet everything he does is for Kokone - even at the onset of things in "Rejecting Classroom" he's already trying to pair Kazuki Hoshino with Kokone Kirino in order to help her. As I mentioned earlier about Kokone being the center, Daiya's disinterested only in everything outside of Kokone's scope and perspective - those who are within Kirino's realm of interest are of interest to him. From this, you can almost predict (knowing Kirino) what kind of actions he'd take.
Daiya had a childhood friend named Karino Miyuki who was gang-raped, an event instigated by Koudai Kamiuchi (this is seen near the end of Volume 4, “Game of Idleness [Part 2]”) and something that Daiya can't seem to get past letting happen (from the bits and pieces I've seen in Vol 5). Because he's carrying this baggage around, his relationships are affected in a good way, surprisingly.

Take what 0 says to Daiya close to the end in Vol 4:
"He was convinced that you would save him even if your plan failed."
(Vol. 4, “Game of Idleness”, Chapter 4)
What 0 is saying is that because Daiya had let down a friend in the past (he failed), he can no longer allow it to ever happen again. As such, even if what Daiya plans doesn't work, Kazuki Hoshino knows that Daiya will find a way out of this mess.
Despite a shitload of material dropped in vol 4 chapter 4, this is as much as I can extract from what I’ve seen of Daiya without going into what occurs in vol 5 (I still haven't read it). After all, I want to give myself some leeway to hypothesize... <_<


Don't worry, I’ll cover Volume 5 eventually...


Sooooo~ here's my new *tentative* list for how this “analysis” is gonna go down:
  1. Haruaki Usui
  2. Kokone Kirino
  3. Daiya Oomine
  4. Iroha Shindou (only because she's in volume 5)
  5. Kasumi Mogi
  6. Kazuki Hoshino
  7. Maria Aya Otanashi
  8. 0


And here's a *tentative* post-wise list:
  • HakoMari: Inside the First Box
    • General intro
    • Covered Volume 1, “Rejecting Classroom”
    • Touched briefly on Aya Otanashi and Kazuki Hoshino
  • HakoMari: Inside the Box, Part II
    • Analysis” of:
      1. Haruki Usui
      2. Kokone Kirino
      3. Daiya Oomine
  • HakoMari: Inside the Box, Part III
    • Analysis” of:

      1.  Iroha Shindou
      2. Kasumi Mogi
  • HakoMari: Inside the Box, Part IV
    • Analysis” of:
      1. Kazuki Hoshino
      2. Maria Aya Otanashi
  • HakoMari: Inside the Box, Part V
    • Analysis” of 0


And as always,

Thank You. Fuck You.”

(btw, is it just me or did the text go WTF! on this post O.o)

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