Maybe In A Softer Time...

Maybe in a softer time...

I am putting forth a theory about Akaza's Compass Needle and Inosuke's Spacial Awareness.

If these abilities were combined, a detailed, possibly three dimensional, map of an area could be made, including the locations and threat level of all living things within the area of their combined influence.

Plant Mode would have no effect because of Inosuke's ability. He senses physical objects instead of intent so he could pick up the slack where Akaza's abilities fail.

Things that ran through my head while watching this episode:

--Yes, still watching with somebody who is vaguely familiar but doesn't follow. She now understands why the whole island nation of Japan is in love with the 40 Billion Yen Man.

--For as many times as I've seen this fight, it was really nice watching with someone seeing it for the first time, it gave me some of that feeling too. It's still just such a passionately well-thought out fight. I wanted to joke in the last post that this is Rengoku and Akaza's dance. Like, especially in that part where they slow everything down and show details like how Akaza's block changes the direction of Rengoku's strike.

--I feel like I got to feel those raw emotional details again, like Akaza's terror at the sun rising and Tanjiro's gut-wrenching scr... well... it's not even a scream. He's not capable of anything expect that sound he made when the dust settled, and he sure wasn't capable of stopping himself from making that sound either.

--and just... Inosuke is so dumbstruck, he is so out of his league. And then when all is said and down, Inosuke really just has no idea what to do with all those feelings. And he sure isn't crying, ok???

--My favorite part of this fight is when it's down to raw grit, strength, and willpower, with Akaza trying to get away and Rengoku holding him there, with everything from his feet to his gut to his hands, all the while pushing his sword through an Upper Moon's neck. My gosh.

--What really drives that moment home for me is how Akaza still has the leeway to SSSSCCCCCRRRREEEEEEEEAAAAAMMMM in panic, but Rengoku can only mentally yell at Akaza; he just doesn't have the physical power left to lend anything to his voice.

--And then the soft and gentle voice he uses with Tanjiro when all is said and done... I am dead, Hino Satoshi has killed me.

--And Hanae-san's beautifully tearful voice has revived me.

--Man, just... wow. It's no wonder this death scene set the whole worlds' hearts ablaze.

"Rengoku-san, what is the matter with you!?"

So it seems that in the Hinokami Kagura Kepputan game, there's different bits of dialogue for after you win a battle.. A lot of them seem either taken straight from the anime or like they could easily fit in, so you get a lot of nice sappiness like Tanjiro being filled with confidence in his bond with Nezuko, or looking up to Giyuu and being inspired to get stronger. But for the Rengoku & Tanjiro bits, we get the "where are you even looking!?" and "(what the hell, that's not my name at all,) it's Kamado!!" I like that they went in this direction, because when making Rengoku and Tanjiro content, it's easy to dive off the sappy side of things, the wistful, the inspired, etc. It's nice to remember that they started awkward, and if they did have a Hashira-Tsuguko relationship, we'd probably get even more of Rengoku just doing his thing and Tanjiro playing the straight man like in a comedy duo. Just picture it, Rengoku ordering as many bentou for Tanjiro as for himself, and Tanjiro yelling, "how many stomachs do you think I have!?"

Rengoku showing up in Tokitoya in Yoshiwara to check on his Tsuguko he's agreed to loan out, just strutting in the front like a customer and asking to see 'Kamado-shonen' and 'Sumiko' yelling back, "Rengoku-san! What are you doing, I'm undercover!!" and Rengoku laughing that he forgot, he needs to pay to have someone's company at these establishments. "That's not the issue!" 'Sumiko' yells back.

Rengoku going on a whirlwind explanation about the history of Flame Breathing, including all sorts of superfluous details like how Mist Breathing is an offshoot of Wind Breathing, and Tanjiro, who has been doing his best to follow along, finally yelling, "What does that even have to do with it!?" On a mission, Rengoku confirming that Tanjiro can maintain constant total concentration breathing, Tanjiro affirming he can, Rengoku replying, "Good! Keep up, then," and zooming down train tracks, and Tanjiro just, "...how... how in the world am I supposed to do that!??"

Tanjiro gets wiped out trying to keep up with Rengoku, it's no wonder all his other Tsuguko have quit. What's more, Rengoku-san hardly ever seems like he's listening to other people, he's always cutting them off and heading straight into something else. Besides that he may miss some important detail to his Pillar work, it's just rude! One day Tanjiro calls him out, "Rengoku-san, are you deaf!?"

And Rengoku replies, "Yes! Mostly deaf in my right ear, the left isn't great either!"

Tanjiro is shook; Rengoku goes about his day as though nothing happened. And they go on to be a happy and close Hashira-Tsuguko pair and nothing bad happens to them, ever.

if Akaza doesn't attack women, does that apply to trans women? I understand that trans people were accepted before the arrival of the USA in Japan. Would Akaza fight trans men? trans right?

It wound up making a lot of sense to explain the general historical awareness and acceptance of trans people in Japan in this post, including how the way this was understood wouldn't translate exactly into modern day language, and vis versa. The modern LGBT community in Japan uses largely the same terminology as you hear in the worldwide community (including トランズジェンダー, which is the word "transgender" exactly, just pronounced in Japanese phonetics). However, this a recent shift in vocabulary; most studies of historical figures use the terms "men in women's clothing" or "women in men's clothing." Even if these people were accepted for living how they chose (or how their parents chose, in some cases), it's not the preferred definition by modern standards.

That means if we try to keep KnY grounded in historical context, this would likely be Akaza's understanding.

Since the historical background is described more in slightly more detail on the previous post (again, please read that first!), I'd like to focus this more on the question of Akaza himself. This gets more to the meat of why he doesn't fight women, and while I don't think it's expressly stated anywhere, my sense is that Koyuki became his primary reference point of what femininity is, and Koyuki's influence on him was so strong that he didn't have it in him do anything to harm what reminded him of Koyuki. (For the sake of simplicity, we're going to assume Koyuki is cisgender, and that Hakuji might have only had limited exposure to trans people, i.e., an average level of awareness of them for his times.)

We don't actually know what became of Hakuji's mother, whether she died or left. In either case, it doesn't seem he has enough recollection of her to have left any impact on him. In his childhood, his life was centered around his father, and with all the trouble he was always in, parents probably told their daughters to stay away from him. Even though he'd have had female acquaintances, it doesn't seem he particularly cared about them or had any nice aunties in the neighborhood showing concern for that demon baby born with teeth.

This makes Koyuki the first person of the feminine persuasion whom he's ever spent much time with. That's already weird enough in the first place for Hakuji to have a close and caring relationship with anyone, but unlike the vast majority of people he's had any physical closeness with (people who he has beaten or who have beaten him up), Koyuki is frail. It's not as if he's inexperienced with frailty what with having taken care of his father, but she's already an anomaly in so many ways in his experience, which makes her traditionally feminine traits stick out a lot. Given a lack of other familiar examples and close experience (as I'm guessing he has never had encounters with tough women, given his lack of social ties in the first place), it's not surprising that the impression he got from Koyuki would color his impression of what women are.

As Akaza he may not remember Koyuki, but he remembers the impression she left him with. Similar to how the impression her snowflake motif left on him became a symbol of his Blood Technique, the impression her feminine qualities left on him probably gave him the overall impression that...

...whatever this feeling is, this is precious, no harm must come to it...

or to justify the weirdness to himself, '...this is delicate, not worth a fight.'

The wording in the second fanbook implies that his isn't a rule he's ever declared (he's not Zenitsu), he just... can't bring himself to kill women. (Note the wording was "kill" as opposed to "fight" though in Akaza's case fighting someone besides a demon typically means killing them.) Encountering them gives him discomfort that he can't face, and he just leaves that discomfort alone.

To be clear, we're looking at the supposed delicacy as a feminine trait which is neutral--not an aspiration, and on the flip side, not a pathetic loser trait. Tanjiro, for example, that's a weakling loser we use as a measure. Tanjiro is very much so a boy, and can't really make a convincing display of femininity even when he's doing his best impression; Akaza wouldn't look at him and think (n his gut, not his head), "this is delicate and worthy of respect and protection." This is just some guy who would probably do better poisoning his neighbors than facing them head-on, you know, like weaklings do.

But, if Akaza were to encounter someone who identifies with feminine traits in a way more core to their being, whether or not they've got the parts associated, this may give him pause. It might confuse him and make him question his discomfort even if he recognizes the person has male parts, but I don't think he'd be inclined to fight her/them. However, on the flip side, if Akaza were to be engaged in battle with a trans man and part way through realize something was physically different than he thought, I think this would also give him enough discomfort to choose to leave the fight, perhaps to the consternation of his opponent. After all, Akaza has lived when the general understanding of this as "women in men's clothing."

That said, if demons lived to modern day and Akaza had more awareness of the LGBT community and other vocabulary at his disposal, then he might very well say, "alright, so the dude's got a boob, bet he won't mind if I punch this clear off, let's keep going." At least with Muzan as their leader in his many forms, I think you'd be hard-pressed to find transphobia among the demons. Douma might be kind of disappointed part-way through a meal, but hey, it's not as if he's got a rule about only eating food with wombs.

Ya~y! Shared hate, shared bloodlust!