sleevedraw
Revolver Ocelot
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"So damn depressing" pretty well encapsulates the straight-acting-gay-teen-in-small-town experience, so it's on-brand! Ask me how I know!
The angst gets worse before it gets better, but it does eventually get better.
IMO, more than anything else, it's a show about complicated grief and the inability to move on. Given (one of the only 2 other BL or BL-like shows that I'd consider "A-tier") hits similar themes.
Yoshiki's main problem is that he can't properly grieve with "Hikaru" skinwalking around in OG Hikaru's body, and to a lesser extent because he is closeted (while Yoshiki and OG Hikaru were good friends, OG Hikaru was straight, didn't know Yoshiki was gay, and didn't know Yoshiki was crushing on him). Therefore, he spends a lot of time using "Hikaru" as an idealized replacement for OG Hikaru rather than viewing him as a separate person with his own wants/needs/preferences (and dangers).
"Hikaru" isn't malevolent per sec and genuinely does grow to love Yoshiki, but he has a strong self-preservation instinct, has a tendency to lose control of his powers and revert to his primal state if he gets emotional (which is basically a non-sapient, hungry, soul-eating fractal amoeba), and his morality is very fey (he doesn't get how scared humans are of death and just views it as just a transition in states, and he also initially thinks he is helping Yoshiki by skinwalking because OG Hikaru's last wish was for Yoshiki to still have a friend even after OG Hikaru died, and "Hikaru" is trying to honor that wish.) Additionally, while he has a carbon copy of OG Hikaru's memories, he lacks some very important context about Yoshiki and OG Hikaru's relationship because Yoshiki never came out to OG Hikaru. He also doesn't fully grasp the implications of Yoshiki being physically intimate with him, and the manner in which they are may be corrosive for Yoshiki's soul.
"Hikaru" isn't malevolent per sec and genuinely does grow to love Yoshiki, but he has a strong self-preservation instinct, has a tendency to lose control of his powers and revert to his primal state if he gets emotional (which is basically a non-sapient, hungry, soul-eating fractal amoeba), and his morality is very fey (he doesn't get how scared humans are of death and just views it as just a transition in states, and he also initially thinks he is helping Yoshiki by skinwalking because OG Hikaru's last wish was for Yoshiki to still have a friend even after OG Hikaru died, and "Hikaru" is trying to honor that wish.) Additionally, while he has a carbon copy of OG Hikaru's memories, he lacks some very important context about Yoshiki and OG Hikaru's relationship because Yoshiki never came out to OG Hikaru. He also doesn't fully grasp the implications of Yoshiki being physically intimate with him, and the manner in which they are may be corrosive for Yoshiki's soul.
