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Ushiromiya Battler's Promise Thread: AKA
"I make an overconfident+overly long twitter thread talking about why it's way more than a crush and way more than Tohya's guilt complex + bonus EP8 tie-ins"
"I make an overconfident+overly long twitter thread talking about why it's way more than a crush and way more than Tohya's guilt complex + bonus EP8 tie-ins"
Battler's joking promise to Maria in EP1 that gets 'cancelled.'
Rosa's promise to Kumasawa that she keeps.
Yasu makes it clear through this kind of innocuous repetition that promises are something important to her.
Rosa's promise to Kumasawa that she keeps.
Yasu makes it clear through this kind of innocuous repetition that promises are something important to her.
Through the cousins, Yasu tells us that George is always honest, while Battler's words aren't trustworthy.
Just like with Maria and the seagulls, Battler's promise was a case of him joking and unintentionally speaking in a way that touches on the listener's internal world.
Just like with Maria and the seagulls, Battler's promise was a case of him joking and unintentionally speaking in a way that touches on the listener's internal world.
And with Battler's promise, Yasu is already deeply embedded in a world of fantasy. She's a romantic person and daydreamer. So the fantastical wording of his promise, rather than making her doubt it, makes it fit with her internal world and helps her believe in +cling to it.
Though Yasu doesn't address Battler's promise directly in either of her forgeries, she does make sure to embed it into the story and leave it behind to mark its importance in her life and in causing the tragedy.
Beyond that Battler broke a promise, the promise itself is also key to how it ultimately affects Yasu. Once she solves the epitaph and learns of Lion, she wishes that she had never 'known'. What better way to have never known than to have no longer been on the island?
Beyond this, as well, her promise was Battler was the first time that Yasu had resolved herself to something beyond complete passivity. She actively tried to prepare herself for his return and better herself, as well, and committed to leaving the toxic environment of Rokkenjima.
Battler not returning was more than just a lost love - it was a lost chance for her to be able to leave. She pinned all of her willpower and hope on the promise even beyond him leaving the family register because of this.
Why wasn't Yasu able to leave in those years before she found out about Lion? It wasn't just because she was waiting for Battler. It was because wanting to accept Battler's promise had been her one act of determination, that Battler's departure turned into an act of passivity.
Why is Yasu always so passive, so desperate to keep things the way they always were? Because the one time she wanted to bring about a change in her world by wanting to leave with Battler, all that happened was that he never came back and nothing changed - it only got worse.
The last part of this thread, I'm devoting to a small extension onto EP8, as promised at the start.
Here Battler makes another promise - to help her bear the weight of her sins and the responsibility of causing the tragedy, to take some of it onto his own shoulders.
Here Battler makes another promise - to help her bear the weight of her sins and the responsibility of causing the tragedy, to take some of it onto his own shoulders.
So, considering this promise, let's go back to EP4 - what red truths does Beatrice use?
She first uses the red truth to prove the existence of the sin. But then, she turns her emphasis to what the sin causes - to that the sin is a factor that helps to cause the tragedy.
She first uses the red truth to prove the existence of the sin. But then, she turns her emphasis to what the sin causes - to that the sin is a factor that helps to cause the tragedy.
While the sin that Beatrice is asking Battler to remember is, of course, his 1980 sin - his EP8 promise ties back nicely here into why even meta-Beatrice, who is often able to mask her true feelings even about sensitive topics for Yasu, is so affected.
She can't repeat in red that he caused the tragedy, that if he hadn't come back to Rokkenjima that no tragedy would have occurred. He denies all blame and all responsibility.
