tbh i know it's known akira has a habit of recycling old character traits/backstory/themes that he couldn't execute the way he envisioned and putting them into new characters and while i normally think it's cool i do think it's

a little tragic in some ways when it happens bc it feels like a sign akira isn't going to explore those traits as much in past characters... which, tbf, makes sense - if he's developed a character into something different than he first set up, then no need to revisit things that

no longer fit... but rip to akira never figuring out how to elegantly integrate eichi's angelic/cultish revolutionary aesthetic after the fact (outside of eichi just saying they were playing at being god's emissaries) and instead handing it off to tatsumi instead (i like tatsumi

tho so ig it's ok)
it's understandable because a) characters change as you write them in ways you can't predict, and b) i get the sense akira doesn't have the time to plan ahead by dozens of stories/arcs at a time bc he Busy, so i notice sometimes he'll establish one thing

and then about a year later he gets a better idea and lowkey swerves character arcs/themes/etc into something a little different... so i get it... if he writes something and doesn't know how to integrate a new, better idea into pre-established canon, he'll just swerve...

akira juggling the 16 different metaphors and arcs he came up for eichi and exfine and just chucking the metaphors that didn't make the final cut into new characters: parkour

wait i can't believe i wrote this thread and didn't talk abt how my boy mao's backstory of being neglected was chucked into tsumugi and amped up to ten thousand