This is in response to both averagenightsathome and akatokuro. I didn’t want to drag all the previous quotes along, but I’ll try and respond to everything. I’m glad that we can all have a drawn out discussion on the issues, which I think is one of the things Ryukishi wanted his readers to do.
I do believe that Kyrie harbours a lot of negative emotions towards Battler because of Asumu, but that is never displayed on the outside, so Yasu would have no way of knowing this. Even if the letter never reached Battler, she could have tried. There is an interesting point though, you’ve mentioned the matter of George having possibly hid the letter. Deviating from the topic a little, I raise the possibility of Kyrie having hid the letter, with logic along the lines of: Asumu stole a man away from me, and now Asumu’s son is trying to steal a girl (Yasu) away from someone else (George), so I’ll hide the letter. Then again it could very well be that there was no letter to begin with, Kyrie told Battler to write to the cousins, so he did.
According to Kanon’s dialogue in EP6, Genji is a father figure who Yasu both hates and loves. Kanon also thanks Genji for all that he has done. You can’t just focus on the hate alone. Plus, if we are to believe that Yasu attempted to carry out the twilights, there’s no doubt that Genji is her chief dead body removalist. If she can ask him for help then, why not when she finds the gold? We are shown Genji to be extremely obedient and royal to Yasu.
Yasu is also NOT trapped on the island, she has days off like any other servant. Natsuhi and Krauss think of her as just another servant. This is proven by her date with George in the Aquarium, and her going to Jessica’s concert as Kanon. She can take a train to visit Battler. It is also mentioned multiple times that she had enough wealth accumulated to move away, even before she discovered the gold.
I agree that Yasu’s low self-esteem is the largest problem. That is due to her circumstances and not her fault. However there is a large line between low self-esteem/depression, and being a mass murderer. Hence why I’m always attempting to find out just what kind of mental illness she has, as it is confirmed that there is no Rokkenjima syndrome.
On to Shion, on the subjects of Oyashiro-sama’s curse, she can trust no one. Not Mion, not Kasai. Her distrust and paranoia is what cause her to go on a killing spree. She fully believes that they will kill her for entering the secret shrine storage room. I can understand her perfectly.
For Yasu… what caused her to want to go and kill everyone? Even people like Maria? What good reason did she have for wanting to kill Jessica or George? If it was just the unfulfilled promise why not just kill herself and Battler? I can not see any logical sense in murdering the entire family. Depression is also not a reason, I mentioned in an earlier blog, depression causes a loss of energy so you really can’t carry out murders.
I agree that there are outside influences against Yasu and Battler’s relationship, however that is nothing when compared to the outside influences against Yasu and George’s relationship. Yet Yasu was proactive in getting George’s love. She didn’t give up despite Eva’s taunting and treats, which must have been pretty terrifying. She had a massive amount of determination when it comes to George.
Akatokuro raises a valid point on Shion and Yasu having different goals, I really can’t argue against that. I’ll drop the Shion comparison. Your second paragraph on Yasu also cleared a lot of things up for me. However, by that definition, using a mystery game to try and make Battler remember would also be counted as interfering herself, taking away his chance to prove he remembered his promise on his own. Which she clearly intended to do. For me Yasu still raises a lot of key questions. Maybe you can help answer them.
- Why kill innocent people who had nothing to do with it like Maria, Jessica, Hideyoshi, etc? Is a meek and timid person like Yasu who is afraid to approach others for help or make a phone call capable of murdering in premeditated cold blood?
- Why the murder game if she doesn’t want to interfere? If Battler doesn’t remember then she’ll end up with George. What’s wrong with that? Even if Battler remembers there is no chance they’ll get together since she’ll be arrested. I cannot see any gain or logic for Yasu in doing this.
- If she was determined that everyone was going to die from the start, then why should it matter if Battler remembers or not, or if the epitaph was solved or not?
There’s extreme conflict in her being timid and in her being a murderer. You don’t go from one to the other. The closest explanation I can find to date is bipolar disorder. Although Ryukishi is suggesting DID, which is impossible in Yasu’s case.
