It's almost Tsukasa's birthday! Since we've gotten TONS of new Tsukasa development and characterization since the beginning of 2018, this year I wanted to make an analysis thread about him. He is such a beautifully layered and inspiring character worthy of your love.

To start, some basic facts about Tsukasa:
- First year in Knights
- In Class 1-B
- Likes old books, dislikes bugs
- Hobby is chess
- Part of the archery club, specialty is mounted archery

I want to talk about themes that are important to Tsukasa’s character and how they drive his arc, but first I'll do a lil overview of his role in the story!

Tsukasa is the youngest member of Knights. As heir to a military family, he’s serious and sophisticated but a bit naive.

Tsukasa joined Knights long after Leo disappeared, when Izumi+Arashi+Ritsu were barely holding the unit together. For reasons that they didn’t understand, he REALLY respected and wanted to join them, and they admit that it gave them new purpose and direction.

Though he gets frustrated with his eccentric seniors, Tsukasa really loves Knights and desperately wants to feel like an equal member of the unit. He also enlists Anzu to help him search for Leo, because he fears that the unit will eventually disintegrate without its King.

When Leo returns in Judgement, Tsukasa leads Knights against him and convinces Leo to stay, despite being frustrated and bewildered by him. Over the course of the year, all of Knights learns to trust, confide in, and rely on one another, Tsukasa included.

Tsukasa is childhood friends/rivals with Tori and looks up to Eichi. He’s a bit standoffish with his classmates but spends time with them in a few stories and eventually befriends Sora! He calls Anzu “Oneesama,” and his explanation for it melts my lil heart.

TSUKASA + FAITH

There are a few themes I see as central to Tsukasa’s arc! His requiem card was called “Crown and Faith,” and faith is def a majorly important idea to his character. In Requiem, we’re finally given details about Tsukasa’s backstory.

Tsukasa talks about the stress and confusion he experienced growing up, feeling burdened by the way adults scrutinized him and put heavy expectations on him. It’s no wonder that so many early Tsukasa stories/substories portray him as pretty lonely and/or repressed.

It’s clear that Tsukasa has always had a strong sense of duty and cares deeply about his family, but he seemed lost and confused, his earnest motivations probably a bit buried in all of his conflicted feelings. That’s why Knights becomes so important to him!!

It’s long been known that Tsukasa breathed new life into Knights by having faith in the proud and noble image he saw in them. But Requiem reveals he didn’t believe that out of naivety—he knew from the very beginning that Knights was a bit broken. Even so, he wanted to join them.

It’s clear that Knights saved Tsukasa just as much as he saved them. If these broken and flawed idols could still be noble and proud, then couldn’t he? If they could change their circumstances, then couldn’t he take his own life into his hands, too? He NEEDED to have faith.

When Leo returns, Tsukasa has plenty of reasons not to trust him. The King that Tsukasa thought would hold them all together actually threatens to take them apart. (In Judgement, Knights puts their faith in Tsukasa by putting him against Leo, and it’s VERY touching.)

But in the end, Tsukasa still has no intention of letting Leo leave. He doesn’t know what Leo did or what happened to Knights, but he knows that their King is important and has plenty to teach him. He puts aside his doubts to trust in the Leader he hasn’t seen.

And that faith is what allows Knights to be whole again!! As evidenced by possibly my favorite exchange in all of Ensemble Stars—

In Enstars, the 1st years often represent new hope that drives the seniors forward in spite of their trauma from the war. I think people assume that the 1st years, therefore, are less complex or have little baggage. But some of them, Tsukasa included, have been through a lot.

I think the 1st years actually demonstrate the way baggage can be processed in an environment like post-war Yumenosaki, that wants to foster healing. The 1st years learn how to heal by observing their seniors without the burden of resentment. They gather wisdom and they share it.

That’s basically what Tsukasa does. Like the rest of Knights, he was lost and deeply overwhelmed. He was more isolated than them, but at the same time, far less jaded or wounded. That gives him a more idealistic standpoint, though it still comes from a place of desperate need.

He had faith in who they could be, because he needed to have faith in his own potential too, and to believe that there existed a place where he could thrive and self-actualize. That’s what he finds in Knights!!

TSUKASA + REBELLION

Tsukasa was raised in a strict household, holds himself to ridiculous standards, and (generally) puts the concept of seniority in high regard. He’s ALSO a cheeky stubborn brat, and that quality builds up to a whole character arc based on rebellion!!

Stories about Tsukasa early in the year like to reinforce this dichotomy in his character.... On one hand, he’s super obedient and tries to behave properly. Yuuki writes a very exaggerated Tsukasa, but still this substory still illustrates it well—

On the other hand, he tends to act out when there’s something that he wants! Like in Card Battler, when his parents had to take his trading cards away because he got so invested in them that... he “forgot” to eat and sleep... and skipped his lessons.... Honey....

Also, while he certainly respects seniority, he also mouths off to his senpai and occasionally steps out of line. Duel only happens because Tsukasa goes behind their backs to challenge Trickstar. (And even after being scolded, he’s not sorry for it AT ALL.)

There’s a tension right away between the things Tsukasa wants and the person he’s “supposed” to be. Really, it seems like nothing can hold him back from going for what he really wants, even rules or limitations. He says as much himself in StarFes:

That doesn’t even cover the way that he challenges Leo in Judgement and AGAIN in Requiem, standing up to their King when he feels it’s the necessary thing to do. (In one substory he said he’d overthrow Leo if he kept being such a troublesome ousama. I don’t think he was kidding.)

But it’s worth clarifying, he doesn’t stop trying to act as the perfect son either. Fortune Live is all about his efforts to protect his family, willingly taking on duties that would NEVER be expected of a 16-year-old, like basically running an entire theatre business.

This arc comes to a head in Requiem, when he’s faced with the possibility of choosing between being the Suou heir and being an idol. It’s not a choice between old and new priorities, nor between his and his parents’ wants. Both of these things matter to him an incredible amount.

So who did Tsukasa become over the course of the year? Requiem shows how much he’s grown into himself. He’s still stubborn and bold—he gets Leo to write songs just for his performance, and he throws money at it because he knows it gives him an advantage.

He’s still rebellious. Leo points out that his performance was the most innovative to a fault, to the point that it completely broke away from Knights’ image. Suou Tsukasa, son of a traditional old military family, is perhaps the LEAST traditional member of Knights.

But in the end, he’s still exactly who he always strived to be. Rather than choosing between his family and Knights, he decides to do both, knowing that he can now that he has people supporting him. When given two choices, he takes the third option.

That’s one of the loveliest things about Tsukasa’s arc, in my eyes! He’s portrayed as a defiant and rebellious character, but that doesn’t mean he’s resentful toward authority. His parents probably weren’t perfect, but he stands up for them and deeply wants to do right by them.

He’s probably not exactly who his parents expected he’d be, but he loves them, and while he never compromises on himself, he never compromises on his most important duties either. Tsukasa’s rebellion comes from a place of following his heart, no matter what!!

TSUKASA + LOVE

On the subject of following his heart! You maybe wouldn’t expect it, but Tsukasa talks a whole lot about love?? And he has some very big ideas on the subject.

When Tsukasa talks about love, he speaks in bold terms, as though he’s drawing from very deeply-held convictions. There are a couple instances of this over the course of the school year. There’s this memorable exchange from Phantom Thieves:

And just this past year, HoraHaro gave us this very lovely dialogue between Tsukasa and Arashi.... Out of left field, Tsukasa says something really beautiful and inspiring?? It also reminded me a bit of an earlier exchange they had in Starmine.

I’m pretty sure the HoraHaro line was meant to foreshadow the direction Tsukasa takes in Requiem. Because oh boy... Requiem Tsukasa has a whole lot to say on this subject. (Worth noting, in Phantom Thieves, HoraHaro, and Requiem, most of the quotes I’m taking use 愛.)

I already touched a bit on Tsukasa’s Requiem monologue, but I saved talking about the most important part. Tsukasa reflects on a song he heard after wandering into a bar during a very distressing moment of his youth:

He buys a copy of this man’s CD and listens to it when he feels conflicted about the harsher, more repressive circumstances of his upbringing. He thinks of himself as the “king” in the song, the object of so much self-directed hate and love.

Akira leaves this motif pretty open-ended, but it’s easy to imagine why the proud, fortunate, respected, suppressed, constantly-scrutinized, heavily-burdened heir of the Suou family would internalize both a deep love and deep hatred for himself and his circumstances.

But as Requiem continues, you can see him answer to this intense internal conflict by following what he’s learned over the course of the year. In past events (HoraHaro especially), Tsukasa talks about love as something powerful, healing, and inherently valuable.

Before Yumenosaki, Tsukasa felt that he hadn’t “taken his life into his own hands.” But in Knights, he’s given a motivation and agency that’s all his own. From the very start, he holds onto this found family with all his strength. All of his decisions reflect this.

To Tsukasa, it all comes back to love. When Leo admits that he might be speaking from his own ego in giving advice, Tsukasa straightforwardly tells him, “No, I think that’s probably love.” He recognizes the power of their bonds and the sincerity of their feelings.

There’s a chapter where he talks about how Arashi is able to love and be loved from the heart, and expresses that he wishes he could do the same. (It’s really touching how much he looks up to Arashi in this respect! They seem to have a lot of conversations on the subject.)

And in the end, when forced to make a decision, he chooses to pursue everything that he loves. He resolves to be the heir to his family while also leading Knights, and declares that he’ll “never betray his own heart.” And to Leo, he says this: