Thread by @mafuyuukis, in defense of yuki yoshida: a very long analysis thread disclaimer: this [...]

in defense of yuki yoshida: a very long analysis thread

disclaimer: this thread is compiled of my thoughts based on analyses of plot points and characters within the series. i am not presenting anything as fact, but merely introducing my way of thinking and, hopefully, dispelling some baseless views on yuki’s character.

(cont.) i will be criticizing mafuyu, but, to clarify, i think they had a hand in their downfall. there were two individuals in the relationship, and they were both responsible for upholding it. this, however, is about yuki, so if it seems as though

i am being harder on mafuyu, consider that. the reason i am making this thread is because i feel that yuki unfairly gets most of the blame regarding their relationship and the event that ended it, so i will be shifting some of that load onto mafuyu. call it tough love.

i. introduction

yuki yoshida is perhaps the character with the least screentime, but he remains one of the most important and one of the most debated. his death was the catalyst for the entirety of given, but at the center of that event that seemingly had an endless amount of

reprecussions is him and his mental health. given the fact that we’re outright handed very, very little information about what went on inside his mind, we’re left to draw our own conclusions and connect some dots ourselves.

ii. before

one of the first glimpses into who yuki was that we get is episode 8/chapter 9 wherein hiiragi meets up with mafuyu and gives the viewers/readers some context into their relationship and how they both ended up where they did.

across the different translations, yuki is generally described as flashy, moody, and dominant, none of which are particularly presented in a negative way and all of which are pretty general. in later chapters, he’s described as extraordinary and fascinating.

one of the descriptions that most catches my eye is dominant. i’ve seen people regard him as possessive of mafuyu, but i believe a more accurate word would be protective. in the scene in episode 9/chapter 11 where mafuyu’s father his areested, he very clearly seems to be

defensive of mafuyu and, judging by his expression (one seeming much less innocent than mafuyu’s), harbors a great amount of resentment towards the man who hurt him. there’s even a theory that mafuyu telling him that his father hit him when he spoke eventually led to this arrest.

zoning in on their difference of expressions and their drastically different descriptions (mafuyu is described by hiiragi to be a quiet, reserved introvert), it’s reasonable to draw the conclusion that yuki took on a responsibility to protect mafuyu very early on. he’s always

seen holding onto him or something of that caliber to keep him close and, presumably, out of any danger after what he went through when he was so young.

and after that, their relationship was smooth sailing. they didn’t fight. it seemed like a perfect match, and they were regarded to be meant to each other. then the band came along.

iii. the band

during their first year of high school, mafuyu and yuki were split up for the first time ever. it was new and utterly revolutionary for them to not be joined at the hip. around this time, yuki, shizu, and hiiragi made a band together. mafuyu wasn’t included for a

reason that’s unknown.

yuki began working to buy a guitar AND spending time in the studio, meaning less time that mafuyu and yuki could spend together and an even bigger difference from the time where wherever one went, the other followed. this resulted in mafuyu

feeling isolated, lonely. but why wasn’t mafuyu included if, as hiiragi mentions after the live in episode 9/chapter 11, yuki knew he liked music?

iii (and a half). identity and the difference between yuki and mafuyu

if we want to speak in terms of character flaws, mafuyu tends to get very co-dependent. we saw it happen with yuki, and we’re seeing it happen with uenoyama (but that’s another thread), this reliance on others

tends to make him struggle with making decisions and coming to terms with himself, especially in the relationship between mafuyu and yuki. while yuki very clearly had dreams and hopes for the future that he was working towards, we don’t have insight onto what mafuyu wanted.

as for hobbies, we know of none. as for passions, we know of one—music. however, he never vocalized this. had yuki not died and that guitar not being forced onto him, it’s possible that he never would have. i said it before—a relationship is composed of two individuals. this one

was composed of one and a half.

given the fact that yuki knew that mafuyu liked music and wouldn’t have done anything to hurt him, it’s logical to infer that he merely wanted mafuyu to make that move towards defining himself as a person without his guidance.

yuki was not responsible for mafuyu’s self-discovery, and while whether he was in the wrong for not inviting mafuyu into his band is debatable, the good intentions behind his actions are not. they have communication issues for sure, but yuki loved him and wanted the best for him.

doing something to purposefully exclude him is out of character for him. mafuyu not voicing his desire to do something together in terms of music only made the situation worse. they are both responsible—yuki having to bear the blame alone is unreasonable.

iv. the argument

the argument is one of the most popular scenes in given. well, actually, the last line is one of the most popular. the anime’s decision to cut out the rest of the argument led to the removal of context.

across three different translations of the manga, the bottom line was that the argument was concerning yuki giving up music, whether he offered to appease mafuyu or mafuyu asked him to. considering that music has been established as yuki’s passion, something that he likely would

have pursued professionally, this request/offer was extreme. very extreme. a few lines later, yuki proclaims that he can’t love without mafuyu, to which mafuyu responds with the famous line “would you die for me then?”

particularly among anime onlys, there’s an assumption that this line from mafuyu was a death blow that solidified yuki’s fate with no prior history of mental health issues or anything of the sort, therefore rendering his death random.

this is not the case.

v. mental health—or the lack of mention of it

consider all of the descriptions of yuki i’ve mentioned. for the most part, they’re all positive. extraordinary, flashy—the only somewhat negative description we get from hiiragi is moody, and that doesn’t exactly paint a

comprehensible picture of his mental state. really, nothing does.

there are about two mentions that give us real insight into mental health concerning yuki. one is his mother. the other is, surprisingly, uenoyama as he listens to his song in mix_3.

the truth is that the argument didn’t directly lead to his death at all, and strawberry swing being a side story leaves that fact to be disregarded. saeko, yuki’s mother, says that he was the type to succumb to a similar situation, and that his father was the same.

she expected mafuyu to be his anchor, or to prevent a situation like what happened. from this, there are two conclusions that can be drawn:

1. yuki and his father both had a sense of pride leading to this inability to negotiate to prevent a tragedy

or

2. there’s a family

history of mental health issues, as this situation seems to extend beyond simple pride, the expectation of a ‘tragic ending’ for him is concerning, and yuki’s father wasn’t around for long enough for him to pick up any of his behaviors.

i place my bets on the second conclusion.

so we now have a very, very narrow insight into the state of his mind. let’s turn to mix_3.

uenoyama can be regarded as the most musically intelligent character in the series behind ugetsu. he’s also the only one with direct connections to yuki depsite not knowing him.

the fact that he was unfamiliar with yuki and still has minimal knowledge on him along with his musical expertise makes me trust his words most. his consensus that we can highlight most is “unpertubed... yet someplace... there’s loneliness.”

unpertubed meaning untroubled, unconcerned, calm, etc. and being juxtaposed with loneliness alongside an image of yuki is an incredibly interesting thing, primarily because loneliness is unlike anything we’ve ever heard in relation to yuki, and unpertubed alongside it indicates a

facade that would explain how it’s possible that mental health or anything close to it has managed to go unmentioned by those who were closest to him. actually, it explains a lot.

vi. pulling things together

if yuki felt an obligation to protect mafuyu, it’s possible that he would conceal his own feelings to do so. they rarely fought or anything like it because, under the assumption that they understood each other perfectly fine, they didn’t need to.

with this facade, the idea of poor mental health seemingly wasn’t even considered in association with him. everyone regards him positively even in hindsight, and shizu himself mentioned that their world revolved around him. even then, no one knew.

from how things look, his music was the only place where what he truly felt even slightly slipped through the cracks. in being asked/offering to give it up to protect his relationship with mafuyu during their fight, he was quite possibly surrendering the one method through which

he could exist authentically.

tw suicide /

with this explanation, that he had actually been struggling for a while though he never really expressed it, his death doesn’t seem as random as some believe it is. of course, it will always be unexpected, because suicide isn’t exactly something that you can expect.

tw suicide /

he didn’t die to prove a point or because mafuyu told him to. alcohol makes suicide ideation more powerful and was (a large amount of it at that) involved in his death. it’s an issue of mental health that generally goes undiscussed because it isn’t explicit.

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