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on the topic of saiki kusuke - a character analysis & lovemail thread
in case you hadn’t noticed, i really, *really* love kusuke. i’m frequently asked why, so i finally decided to put together this thread analyzing his character and why he’s so interesting and relatable. honestly, i hated him at first and i couldn’t understand why kusuo needed a
brother at all, but when i came to understand him, my opinion changed, and i hope to do the same thing for you guys, too. because of the nature of his character, here’s a preemptive tw for themes of severe depression, unhealthy coping mechanisms, suicidal tendencies, implied
self-harm, bullying, etc. i’m going to address various aspects of his personality, his inferiority complex, his mental health, his relationship with his family, and lots more. i’ll go through a lot of direct quotes and instances we see in the manga, as well as probable
theories and headcanons. alright, let’s get started!
let’s begin with his first appearance. it’s very easy to miss the subtlety of this panel, but read his dialogue carefully. he’s literally flying on a jetpack next to a ferris wheel, and his parents are *still* not impressed, which it’s clear he wanted to do -- but because of
kusuo, nothing he does can ever be impressive to them, no matter how hard he tries. he *knew* that, but he still wanted to try anyways, and even though his prediction came true, he’s still disappointed.
i think it’s fairly obvious, but his cheerful demeanor and constant laughter is all just an act, something he uses as a defense mechanism to try and lie to both himself and others about how much everything truly bothers him.
even as he’s saying emotional things (which i’ll talk about more below) he still tries to laugh them off in an effort to downplay their effects. in all his interactions, he flips through his emotions very quickly. he'll seem surprised or angry one moment, but then he brushes it
off and starts laughing again to pretend to be emotionless. he’s not emotionless at all, though - he’s used to seeing *kusuo* emotionless, and now he just does the same, but in a slightly different way.
while on the outside, his ego seems massive since he’s constantly talking down at humanity, his ego has a very strong duality. he frequently claims that humans are only monkeys to him, but also states that he’s only average. so which is it? kinda both.
himself and humanity is far smaller than the gap between himself and kusuo will ever be - so in the end, he’s still nothing in comparison.
okay, time to dig into his backstory. his very first memory is of losing to kusuo, and of his parents running away from his own side to rush to his brother. despite the kind of person he is now, it’s important to note that when kusuke was younger, he was actually a very
well-behaved child. kusuo mentions that kusuke never really cried, even as a baby, and if their parents ever did something wrong or he needed them, he’d tell them very politely. and unfortunately, it was because of this behavior that he ended up neglected by his parents. kusuo
was always just way more work, so kusuke would end up sidelined almost all of the time. it’s likely because of this that he began to act out, as some sort of feeble attempt to get the attention he so desperately craves.
kusuke is treated as the villain, but kusuo is *far* from innocent in this. as they grew up, kusuo often beat him both physically and mentally, even when he had no reason to do so. the first loss he describes is particularly gut-wrenching - kusuo used his powers to torment kusuke
even when kusuke tried to stop him by not paying attention. this obviously had a profoundly negative effect on him, destroying his pride, and yet still he’s laughing and smiling as he’s saying it. to kusuo, it wasn’t enough to defeat kusuke. he had to totally destroy him, and
refused to stop until he’d done so. in this panel, we see kusuke proudly showing his parents something he spent the summer building. then a few moments later, kusuo shows up and destroys it without provocation. this, again, took away their parents’ attention, and something he was
genuinely excited about got taken away from him by kusuo, *again.* even though kusuke tried to hide how he felt for the convenience of his family, kusuo saw how sad he truly was - and instead of reaching out, kusuo’s reaction was to hate and blame him for it. i don’t mean any of
this as an attack on kusuo - i love him, too - but these are harsh facts about them. they’re *both* awful to each other.
i think these are some of the most raw moments we get of him -- that when he moves, he “gave in to despair, almost as if running away.” he admits his own weakness, and hates himself even more for it, but the reality of staying at home any longer is more than he can take. he's
ashamed to have run away from his problems, and i think it’s one of the things that makes him the most human; finding an imperfect solution to a problem, like slapping a bandaid on it, because you don’t have the capacity to fully heal it yourself.
but even after running away, he still can’t escape the demons that remain inside his own head, calling himself an “empty husk,” and “spending each day in depravity” - this is some seriously depressed shit to say, guys.
i love kuniharu & kurumi, but they’re completely fucking oblivious to what their son is going through. his mental health is a literal dumpster fire, he moved away from home before he even went to high school, and they still brush it off as friendly competition between their sons.
and what’s worse, is that once he’s gone, it’s almost like he never even existed. he’s only ever mentioned or contacted when they need something from him, or when he gives them gifts. they focus all their love and attention on kusuo until they have a reason to give any to kusuke.
because of this, kusuke seems to equate material things to affection. i mean, he bought them a fucking *house.* he sends them all multiple presents throughout the series. he built a device to block kusuo's powers forever, even though it's not what he wanted, just because kusuo
wanted it. he paid for round-trip tickets for kusuo’s best friends to england - which was never acknowledged or thanked - only kaido's mom seemed grateful, and it was only because he went to cambridge and her goal of kaido making smart friends that he was worth something.
aside from that, nobody cared. he clearly needs help, and the only person who notices - kusuo - doesn’t do a thing.
this is more of a theory, but i also think it’s highly probable: that his desire to keep their grandparents from finding out about kusuo was actually an attempt to have at least *someone* in his family still believe that *he* was the special one, and not kusuo. they knew about
his genius, but without knowing about kusuo’s powers, kusuo was still a normal kid to them; something kusuke wishes were really true.
even when he challenges kusuo while kusuo is with friends, he reassures kusuo that he’d never use violence against them (as kusuo has used against him) and during their final fight, all his claims about threatening toritsuka prove to be fake.
we even see instances where kusuke talks about the possibility of himself having psychic powers, and that he wants them. when we first meet him, he off-hand mentions his powers could be “awakening” - he knows that they’re not, but it’s something he’s obviously given a lot of
thought to: the chance that someday, he might awaken and all his dreams will come true. this wasn’t put in the anime, but before his fight with kusuo, he even lures in toritsuka by pretending to be an esper himself, something that even if only pretend, must have moved him deeply.
since it would be impossible to have a kusuke thread without addressing his masochism, i’ll say here that it’s a very, very unhealthy coping mechanism. this is very subtle, and i appreciate how aso-sensei did this, but right before kusuke starts getting excited about pain, he
he grits his teeth in frustration. moments later, this goes away, and he likely adapted this as some sort of way to tell himself that the pain of his failures is somehow okay if he’s actively seeking it out. while it’s never explicitly stated that he does this, there isn’t a soul
on earth that can convince me that he hasn’t hurt himself on purpose before. from a certain angle, his constant challenges to kusuo might even be viewed that way, since he’s expecting to get hurt; he’s just imposing that role on another person.
he obsesses over his losses to the point of a hyperfixation that rules his entire life, and telling himself that he enjoys it is the only way he can continue to live at all.
look at what he’s saying here: that his fights with kusuo would be “one-sided bullying” without his powers. so, essentially...what kusuo’s been doing to *him* for his entire life. he has no powers, and he recognizes that that the matchup without them is very poor. this is
probably the closest he gets to admitting to kusuo just how much kusuo hurt him, but he never quite gets there.
and last, this absolutely breaks my heart. he’s admitting that he’d literally be willing to die to beat kusuo just *once*, showing the complete lack of value he holds for his own life. almost all his memories throughout his life are tainted by inferiority and defeat, and to
finally break free of that, even if it’s truly the last thing he does, is still worth it to him.
anyways, there’s a lot i’m leaving out, but this is already way too long. kusuke is one of my biggest comfort characters, and someone i can relate to on a deeply personal level - i attended a very elite university and hold several degrees, but i still have feelings of
worthlessness every single day. i’ve struggled a lot with things like self-harm, depression, and pretending to be okay for the sake of others, which i think a lot of people here might struggle with too. i hope that now, you can see how well he reflects those qualities.
this thread isn’t intended to be a debate, so please don’t treat it as such. if you wanna talk about this more with me, i’ll ramble about him literally any time, so please talk to me about him (and saiki k in general) whenever you want. thank you SO much for reading this, and i
hope you enjoyed it!! thanks again, and stan kusuke!!!
