赤花 Akabana

[Analysis] 13 Sentinels: Themes and Characters (Spoilers) - Part 2

Exploration of Sekigahara, Shinonome, and Fuyusaka.

I always thought George Kamitani gave Sekigahara Ei too much spotlight in the game in comparison to any other character. Sometimes he looks like nothing more than a plot device, while other times he gets some decent writing. Sekigahara appears in almost every route, often triggering events and pushing the story forward while leaving behind vague hints before disappearing.

You could even say he seems to be working more for Kamitani than for Ida himself, since most of the time what he's doing before amnesia makes no sense, and it's kind of funny to me. I think the writer took advantage of the fact that he can move freely, has a lot of knowledge, and shows only a mild case of DD426. It was an interesting choice, especially considering that Sekigahara in 2188 was only in the colony to watch the world burn. Going from being the most useless in 2188 to one of the most active in the present is a clever choice, whether it was intentional or not..

Sekigahara’s story is one of the hardest to understand, and I enjoyed piecing it together. Felt like I was playing the game as intended, a puzzle narrative. He’s the kind of character whose appeal comes more from how the story and its events impacts him and how he reacts to them. He doesn’t have a very strong personality, but that may be intentional, like he’s just a normal boy caught in a situation that goes beyond his control.

Watching his scenes in chronological order is really helpful. For example, you start to notice that each time he visits Fuyusaka, something important has happened previously, and his psychological state changes, gradually becoming worse.

Sekigahara grew up not being very good at socializing. Since his parents were rarely at home, he became attached to Shinonome, his neighbor, who was probably the one to approach him first. Based on extra material, both of their parents wanted to separate them, worried that he might be in love with her and that he could be a bad influence. In response, he became a troublemaker. While Shinonome, who only saw him as a younger brother, decided to date Gouto to reassure her parents.

She also did this because she wanted Sekigahara to open up to others, which suggests that she had become his entire world. Sekigahara, who secretly admired Shinonome but never had the courage to confess, was heartbroken. Over time, he moved on, came to see her more like a sister, and simply wished for her happiness. I imagine she was his "first family", his first friend...his first everything.

If I’m not mistaken, Kamitani said Shinonome fell in love with Ida because she liked to deal with her problems on her own, and he was the only one who noticed that and supported her, reassuring she could always rely on him. Deep inside, I think she somewhat craved validation. I know Shinonome post-infection is unreliable, but before shooting Ida, she mentioned not minding being used and she shot him for being in love with another girl. She became emotionally dependent on him and lost her sense of self. Without Ida, she probably felt like nothing and his validation was what kept her alive.

I’m bringing this up because I assume Sekigahara, even though he was only a year younger, was much more passive and immature than her. He relied on her a lot and simply followed her blindly, without really giving her the same kind of support she gave him. I’m not saying he caused her situation with Ida, but it does make me think about how she may have been missing that kind of support, which made her vulnerable to Ida.

Shinonome was the one taking action to keep their parents from separating them, while he stayed passive and even threw tantrums. Despite being a cute dynamic, she was too young to take care of a boy just one year younger. I think she eventually grew tired of his dependence on her and wanted him to live more freely, building his own life, making his own choices, forming new friendships, and falling for other people. She wanted him to step out of his comfort zone and have the courage to take action and face things directly... And Fuyusaka is like that, sincere and true to her own feelings, she lives facing reality.

About Fuyusaka… oh, she’s so silly. The way she was intentionally made to know very little is both interesting and a bit funny. And yet, she still manages to move the plot forward just by being herself. Through her ID, Prof. Morimura exists; her and Tomi’s friendship with Miwako softens her and leads her to save the citizens and help them escape the simulation; and Sekigahara, influenced by her, ends up stopping Ida and joining the battle. Without considering some of my theories, such as the idea that she was responsible for Tomi being teleported to Sector 3 by calling her near the gate, which was out of control (it's because I thought that scene so random that I had to find an excuse for it to flow more naturally.)

Kamitani said she represents the “adolescence” phase of Morimura and plays contrasts with the colder nature of her adult versions. As I mentioned in "Part 1", she has already undergone most of her development because the way she was nurtured, and just needed to resist to it by living her life freely. Her story had strong freedom vibes when I played, Which I thought refreshing.

Since Fuyusaka’s personality is so straightforward, pure, and unguarded, her side of the romance and her route ended up being too. It really parallels Sekigahara and his route, as he overcomplicates things, tried to do morally questionable things, leave vague messages, have difficult making choices, is reluctant to embrace love and is stuck in the past. Whether it was intentional or not, it was still interesting seeing considering I somehow find both characters to be "messy" (chaotic) in their on ways.

Personally I was caught by surprise with her boldness and assertiveness, she looked shy, "coward" and passive at first glance. Similarly to Sekigahara, who looked cool and brave, but is more "coward" and shy. Not that it never crossed my mind, I just thought some nuances were unexpected, and I really like these type of contradictions. (gap moe?)

Fuyusaka was created to represent an ordinary girl with some comic touch. She has some quirks, like wanting to put dumplings under her bra (what?), along some other jokes and puns, her romance also have some rom-com elements despite having an earnest and bittersweet tone. Even though she is somewhat a transparent person, her personality is nuanced enough to make her feel internally alive. She’s introverted and introspective, shy yet assertive, diligent yet a bit lazy, dreamy yet grounded, and thoughtful yet a bit airheaded and impulsive. She also seems to have a thing for stealing keys (ˆᗜˆ), and seems capable of lying quite convincingly when she believes it’s for a good reason...

Fuyusaka also have some few moments where she displays discomfort, annoyance or react serious to someone's silliness. I just wished her voice acting were a bit more tough in these moments, to compensate her animations not being as expressive. It becomes more apparent in subsequent playthroughs, but since I liked the characters, I wished Hijiyama, Fuyusaka and Sekigahara had more elaborated animations, as body language really helps these type of personalities. I think is a result of them not having any particular strong character trope.

Anyway, she has average grades and seems to struggle with some subjects, like math (she said it puts her to sleep), but excels in others (which ones? biology? physics?). For someone who sleeps so much to still gets those grades, does she has some kind of genuineness in her genes? Speaking of genes, Izumi mentioned that Morimura said she loved him from the first time they met. I guess Morimuras are romantic by nature, but Nurse grew up in an environment that left her more cold and rational. She delayed confessing, failed to get Juro back, and seemed to have died regretting not being able to be with him.

I noticed that Fuyusaka, despite being very straightforward when it comes to acting on her feelings, seems a bit skeptical when it comes to things like aliens, her dreams being real, memory transfers, and advanced technology. Her sense of identity must also be very strong, since she seems to have received the largest number of memory transplantations and still seems relatively fine. Amiguchi only received one. She received seven (are you really okay?).

I may be stretching this, but Morimuras and Fuyusaka seem a bit crazy when it comes to making decisions. The Morimuras are shaped by rationality, yet they seem to act in this determined, almost reckless way, like they’re driven by irrational logic. And they seem unstoppable. Like becoming obsessed with Project Ark and selling nanomachines on the black market and causing a pandemic despite being a genius, or Nurse deleting "her" logs and everything with it after learning that her original self in 2188 exterminated humanity and later being very persistent with the Aegis Plan.

It feels like Fuyusaka takes that same kind of craziness into her own lifestyle. Anything her heart wants, she goes for it, whether it’s seeing a cat she’s never seen before, confessing to a mysterious boy, or jumping into a mecha battle she knows nothing about, no allies, no plan, and no idea how to pilot it. All of this makes me think she seems drawn to new experiences, especially anything unusual or very mysterious, as she enjoy things like banana with mayonnaise crepes (I'll pass on those).

While Sekigahara continues to go back to her or support her after saving her from Wajima, her first impression still leaves room for interpretation. Like Morimuras, he could simply be the type she’s naturally drawn to, as she describes him as 素敵, which mean charming or lovely (someone with a pleasant aura.) Later, we don’t really get more of her thoughts about him, aside from her cloud link, 気になるの彼, meaning "the boy I'm interested in" or “the boy I’m curious about.” So, following the pattern, I indeed believe she was drawn to his mysterious presence, as he appears in unusual places and even knew her name.

Even though I can only make guesses, there’s something intriguing about not knowing exactly what initially drew her to Sekigahara, and her own uncertainty makes it feel unexpectedly immersive and human.

I do think Sekigahara got inspired and fell in love with this part of her, and is meant to balance out that craziness and help her stay more grounded, as living impulsively like that can be dangerous (is not like she isn't aware though). His presence feels like an anchor that prevents her from being completely consumed by her dreams (Morimura's memories.) In a way or another, both can be very mysterious people.

Fuyusaka was the most immersive character to me. She appears in most of the routes, living her ordinary life while interacting relatively well (for this game’s standards…) with the narrative and the other characters, like searching for Natsuno in Takamiya's story. It felt like she truly belonged to the world, like she actually lived in Ashitaba and didn’t “disappear” when she wasn’t the focus of her own story.

It was her route that properly presented Ashitaba City to us and showed how life there really felt like an actual city. That was very important to me, since I value immersion in stories. Her story shows how AIs are just like real humans, and Miwako represents the 1.2 million inhabitants they were fighting to protect. From the school to the neon-lit city, studying (or sleeping), going out with friends, eating, and living her youth to the fullest. This is what she fought to protect and that feeling was very palpable to me. Anything that happened in that world really felt it would impact her and she was genuinely reacting to the end of the world in the last part of her story.

I also found it pleasant to immerse myself in the eyes of someone living confused between dream and reality; her route has a heartwarming tone mixed with some eerie vibes and a strong nostalgic atmosphere, very 80s. Like the shoujo manga it was mostly based on, it is very sentimental and has strong symbolism for the players to figure out and is very representative of the game's themes. Has a good setup, starting very calmly with a vibe of "something is wrong" and escalating till we feel a good sense of urgency.

Her character, personality, love story, and route felt like some of the most authentic, sincere, and earnest things I’ve seen in a long time. I really admire the author’s bold approach, as ironically, it takes real courage nowadays to fully commit to that kind of emotional honesty. Well, 13 Sentinels itself is already a risky game, so it makes sense that Kamitani and Fuyusaka reflect that same spirit (ˆᗜˆ). They both embody a kind of freedom, choosing to follow their hearts and act on what they believe in, even if it means risking failure or being misunderstood or mocked.

She was the character I connected with the most when she activated her mecha, and in Destruction Mode, I always tried to keep her in my team.

Through Fuyusaka, we can infer that Sekigahara realized what he needed to change after being pushed through extreme failures, wrong decisions, and a lot of misery porn: Ryoko being successfully manipulated and straining their relationship; the destruction of his hometown; Ryoko’s memory issues causing her to try to kill him, and him being unable to reveal it's her fault; her losing memories; working with Ida; the MIB chasing him all the time; betraying his friend; accepting to eliminate anyone in his way; trying to destroy an entire world; his own headaches and future amnesia; the risk of becoming a husk; and finally, learning that he was a clone of an actual hitman.

I would say he was going through his development after the Kaiju attacks and started making his own decisions. Like he told Fuyusaka: he owed Shinonome a lot and wanted her to be happy. He took the role of an older brother after Ida showed up and tried to fix the situation, but he did that in the wrong way. Decisions come with risks, you need to understand their consequences and take responsibility for them.

The park scene with Morimura happens after he finds out his plan was leaked and that Miura AI and everyone else knew what he was working on for Ida. That’s when he starts to become incredibly vulnerable and self-loathing. He leaves the park feeling even worse after realizing he can’t even run away anymore. Later, after Shinonome finally loses her memories and he contacts 426, we see him giving his mecha to Fuyusaka, saying it’s better in her hands. Indirectly praising her determination and courage. Even though he knew the mechas could be used again, he still didn’t want to fight or do anything anymore. Sekigahara regretted his choices and kept running away from them, since he had failed before, he saw no reason to try again.

Following my emotional logic, I never thought that only seeing a video of his past-self being an hitman would be enough for this lonely broken child to find the courage to fight kaiju and face an empty future. Rejecting your past is different from accepting your future, especially when you have nothing. So I think the determined girl he met inspired him to face things directly.

Fuyusaka, based in her lines and cloud links, shows awareness of her impulsive nature and the dangers of acting on it, yet her heart is just… unstoppable...? (◡̀_◡́)ᕤ

I believe that meeting Fuyusaka and seeing her care for her hometown, family, and friends gave him a second chance. I also believe he saw himself in Fuyusaka when he was trying to save his city. When she refused his offer to run away, Sekigahara seemed surprised by her determination to fight. Despite knowing things could go wrong because she carries Morimura’s memories; has seen Sector 3’s ruins; knows her life is a lie; and knows she could die, she still chooses to fight. It’s only when both Morimura and Sekigahara refuse to fight, with Sekigahara leaving the park in distress, that Fuyusaka begins to be affected by their cynicism.

Morimura and Sekigahara are both individuals who, after a series of failures, became more pessimistic and jaded. You could kind of call them "cowards." While Morimura kept like that till death, Sekigahara embraced his second chance and overcame it.

By the way, in Kurabe’s route, there’s a scene after the park scene where Fuyusaka, distressed by the news of the Kaiju attack, tries to ask him for help. She explains that their dreams were actually real events and that an attack is coming. However, Kurabe, being manipulated by 426, doesn’t take her seriously. She leaves him apparently annoyed(ˆᗜˆ).

Based on his story's final conclusion about deciding to fight for a future with Fuyusaka. I see it as him reaching the same decision both before and after losing his memory. He chooses Fuyusaka’s path twice. I think the pre-amnesia Sekigahara wanted his future self to make his own decision. The only clue he left about Fuyusaka was her ID. I do think he hoped his new self would choose her again.

Much like Ryoko with Amiguchi, in his route he mentions having strange feelings when looking at her picture but tries to interpret them as having memorized someone who was very dangerous. Over time, he starts to like her again. When he finally recovers all of his memories, these new feelings add to the old ones, and he ultimately chooses her, leaving his past behind. Later, we can see him praising her sincerity with her own feelings when she fights, before joining the final battle himself. I believe the night Fuyusaka confessed to him was very important. Being one of the reasons he backed up his memories and never fully rejected her. Deep down, hope never completely left him. (( ◡̀_◡́)ᕤ

To me, their romance feels like an inspiring coming-of-age story about being true to yourself. It’s about not letting the past dictate your present but instead continuing to move forward, trying new things with the hope that they’ll work out while also accepting that they might not. The future is unknown. The unknown can feel mysterious, frightening, and captivating, and it takes courage to face what you’re afraid of. His line: "If I had the courage to choose you, it would've been the best thing" seems to represent that.

This scene and the bike logs can suggest that one of the themes in this romance is "choice." Fuyusaka tends to make quick, decisive decisions, while Sekigahara does not. When he discovers that Fuyusaka is Morimura, he is faced with two options: either try to stop the Aegis plan through morally questionable actions, such as killing Morimura and Fuyusaka and then running away, or choose not to interfere, remaining clean, but ultimately cornered by having to face his harsh reality.

I believe that after Fuyusaka’s confession, his failures, and the park scene, Sekigahara comes to see that the second choice has always been the better one. Now it includes accepting his growing feelings for her and a chance to live an unknown romance in an uncertain future. He needed courage to be hopeful and more dreamy, and courage to accept any bad outcome that come with it. So he embraced his amnesia or a possible death, prepared messages to himself, accepted his mistakes and showed them to his future self (curiously he had planned it before the change of heart), who cleaned the mess he made by taking down Ida, reciprocated Fuyusaka, accepted any future and went for the battle.

Ah, I keep forgetting the killer/target theme. They reforced these themes by defying their fates. Fate brought them together, but due to the way they were nurtured, they fell in love instead. The clone of the woman who once reinforced "his" identity as an assassin now helps Sekigahara, who was stuck in a dilemma, to choose a better path. And instead of using his weapons to harm her, Sekigahara chooses to admire, protect, and support her. Sekigahara lacked the courage to fight but had the tools. Fuyusaka lacked the tools but had the courage to fight. In the end, they exchanged what the other was missing.

Sekigahara's personality when he isn’t under stress is hard to grasp. Scenes like Izumi’s death or Natsuno’s disappearance suggest he may be more realistic or cynical, possibly shaped by his past failures. There isn’t much context. From what we can tell, he likely wasn’t always like this, as he seemed more confident that they would succeed during the battle in Sector 2.

To me, he comes across as someone who looks cold on the outside but is actually very sensitive, calm, and kind-hearted. based on his actions and the things he says to Fuyusaka, I’d even like to think he’s the most romantic out of the boys. Throughout the story, we see him helping several characters, and some of them return the favor, like Takamiya and Natsuno. I think he is just bad at wording things and too quick to point his gun. He was so rude to Takamiya when she offered help (going after Ida and the MIB alone wasn’t a very smart move).

He seems to only show a softer or emotional side when things get extreme or when people push him to open up. Romantic feelings seem to be the hardest for him to express. He only calls Fuyusaka by her name in pinch situations during Destruction Mode, and he mainly shows his feelings through actions rather than words. Either Shinonome was clueless or Sekigahara was really good at hiding his crush from her when he was younger.

He also seems to treat gentle people much better than the rude or loud ones, which implies his tastes and his own personality. But I do think sometimes the swings between cold and soft are too "wild," making his character a bit artificial. Nobody changes so much based on the others' kindness (ˆᗜˆ). I personally don't like him very much in Destruction Mode, his appeal came from the Story Mode.

I confess I had some secondhand embarrassment from some of his actions, like invading Kurabe's house, that smug log Ida he showed him, or the excessive cryptographic messages he recorded to himself, as if he were trying hard to look as cool as Schwarzenegger.

We also can see some really silly side of him, like blushing at Fuyusaka and Okino (Kiriko) or pulling out a gun in front of a cop. All of this added a bit of goofiness to him that helps to break his stoic aura. And honestly, I think he's unintentionally funny. There's something really funny about him to me (ˆᗜˆ). Imagine someone who looks so cool and smooth while carrying out a secret mission, only to find out that all the people who shouldn’t know (Morimura, Gouto, 426, and Miura AI) already do, because he’s just that bad at lying. In a way, his inability to lie adds charm to him. It makes him more clumsy and honest. He seems really socially awkward and not that cool at all.

I think he may be much more immature than he looks. Sometimes, he can come across as petty, like in the scene where Shinonome doesn’t share what she discussed with Ida. With Gouto, in Destruction Mode, he was acting like an annoying, overprotective little brother. In Sector 3, we saw him being a bit rude and sarcastic to Shinonome, who is trying to kill him. He even left her alone to take care of his business, which was a bit funny to me (she is not okay alone!(ˆᗜˆ)). Sekigahara's writing is a bit inconsistent, but unfortunately, it is natural to lose patience with Shinonome's situation. They probably had that type of conversation multiple times...it was probably exhausting.

In my opinion, his interactions with Shinonome are when he seems the most natural and relaxed, which makes sense given how familiar they are. The scene in the infirmary shows him speaking in his kindest tone of voice, and together with his words, I think the sadness of this scene comes from both him and the soundtrack. While I felt bad for Shinonome, I think Sekigahara had it worse, since he finished the game remembering everything he lost...

Next is Fuyusaka. Nothing too overly polite, nothing too rude, and not just a “plot dump” either. Even though he tries to keep some distance, I believe he still feels comfortable around her. He’s still struggling to express romantic feelings with words, and he isn’t as open with her as he is with Shinonome, who is (or was…) his childhood friend. But in scenes with Fuyusaka, he is vulnerable and soft, while also being straightforward and honest. During her confession, he even sounded a bit flirty and playful to me.

With other characters, he looked too guarded or just focused on moving the plot forward. With Miura AI, he looked artificially friendly and polite (sorry for the negativity here (つ╥﹏╥)つ). Now with Tomi, Okino, and Hijiyama, I actually feel like there’s potential for him to grow closer to them, especially Okino. I don't know why. Maybe it’s because they’re the type of people who can pull him out of his seriousness.

As for Gouto, I find their relationship particularly interesting, while Sekigahara doesn't like him because of the misunderstanding regarding his envolviment with Shinonome, previous partnership with Morimura and presumably his "pompous", popular and cold person, Gouto seems to know him very well. His commentary to Dr. Morimura about knowing he was just a very brooding guy and not stupid enough to shot someone impulsively was very surprising and reassuring. I don’t know why, but based on this, I could interpret that that Gouto was never worried about Sekigahara and his partnership with Ida, because deep down, he knew Sekigahara would never go through with it. It would be interesting to see what will become of them in the future.

He also shows a kind of awkward, dry humor in that flashback with Miura AI. Regarding them, while this friendship worked on a surface level, but the more I thought about it, the more it felt a bit off, and I started to regret it. I I never really saw what made them so close, so Sekigahara calling him 親友 (close friend / best friend) in his story felt kind of empty. For Sekigahara, I feel like I need to actually see someone break through his walls. Miura is earnest, but his polite, duty-focused nature makes him feel… distant? I had trouble understanding how someone as closed-off as Sekigahara, or even I, would naturally befriend him. Maybe I’m projecting.

To me, it might have been better if he had taken on more of an older brother role and chosen on his own to show the 2188 logs to Sekigahara, wanting to give him a needed reality check rather than waiting until he was begged. As it is, it feels like he just ends up enabling Sekigahara’s flaws. Sekigahara, alongside other struggles, was being chased by MIB just to trick Miura, but Miura's response was just to erase his memories, leaving him lonely and lost. Miura AI has knowledge and agency but doesn’t seem to actively support Sekigahara like how he does Natsuno or Hijiyama. It's like he was really focused on uncovering secrets and saving a world that, logically, doesn’t mean much to him. Felt like their scenes were carried by my pity for Sekigahara and a sense of nurture for Miura AI's vulnerable drone body. Once the vision is not here, I sense a writing disconnection because there is a real person inside it.

I wished we got more real conversations between them and not just those mascot/owner dynamics. Maybe the actual intention was for it to be a fleeting, flawed friendship. Even the logs he wanted to protect so much weren't even useful inside the simulation. I guess he was just afraid Ida would erase them. But Ida thought the logs were with him, so them being on No. 17 was actually safe. Oh, but they needed the mecha to fight, I guess. But why he even erased himself? Just put he logs inside another drone or device, I don't know. Oh, really sorry for the negativity here again (つ╥﹏╥)つ. At this point, I'm just nitpicking.

About Shinonome, even though I liked her, I never really understood her bandages and memory issues. The bandages were probably meant to be symbolic, to emphasize her poor condition, since it doesn’t really make sense for her to be the only one hurt in Sector 2. As for her memory, I’m not sure. She even remembers that 2188 log despite having total amnesia. Kamitani certainly wasn't paying much attention to these details.

Shinonome’s story tries to put the player in the shoes of a confused, amnesic girl. We’re constantly taking pills, and there’s a strong sense of urgency. It feels very different from the other routes. It ends with her being the actual culprit, similar to the movie it was inspired by (I don’t want to spoil it). But while the movie has an ambiguous ending, her story ends with her clearly having no memories and still fighting for Ida. And her journey doesn’t really stop there. Someone told her the truth about Ida, because based on her skills, she apparently was fighting to atone for her sins and not for him anymore. I don't think it was Sekigahara. Maybe it was Gouto? Morimura?

Anyway, in the end Shinonome's actual personality is a bit confusing. In Destruction Mode, she seemed robotic, unnecessarily rude, and full of mechas/deimos dumping exposition dialogues. Before her amnesia, besides the occasional bad temper, we could see a softer side. For example, she acts happy and docile toward Kurabe, thinking he is Izumi. We can also see her tendency to handle things on her own, as she turns down help from everyone. Honestly, it’s kind of cute and even funny how she tries to act tough.

I believe Shinonome was likely a much kinder and gentle person before meeting Ida, since Sekigahara seemed to admire her so much. That seems to fit with my interpretation that he doesn’t like talkative, loud, or rude people. After her amnesia, I think he decided to let her live her new life by herself and decided to watch her from afar. I really wished we got more from Shinonome's opinons on Sekigahara and how she felt about him... Well, I hope they can bond again.

Well, I tried to take in everything I could from the author’s intent and what he presented, while keeping his inspirations in mind too.

I don’t know if my interpretations are away too far-fetched, but these are the conclusions I arrived at. Most of it I just "felt" during my two playthroughs but couldn't put into words, and now, after writing them I’m think I'm satisfied enough.

Trivia + Supplementary Material Info