Myself; Yourself Thematic Reflection

Recently, I watched Myself;Yourself, which is an interesting show. Yes, that is quite vague, so let me be more specific.  (Looking at you, Justin.) Myself; Yourself (henceforth abbreviated as M;Y) features very bland art, bad character design, and often mediocre characterization though the plot never descends into utter madness and the music is rather nice. The story at least never achieves the illogical abysses conjured in H₂O: Footprints in the Sand_, which somehow manages to take advantage of the viewer’s inability to see the most preposterous ending occurring.

 If you have seen my previous two writings on this show, you can tell that I am conflicted with the show. After all, how does one weight interesting themes with inconsistent character quality and bad writing? I’m biased towards interesting themes, so I must concede that I liked the show. But rather than detail how I felt about every aspect of the show, this piece will be a focused thematic reflection.

Though comparatively tame, M;Y erupts into multiple intertwining stories occurring simultaneously in the last quarter of the show. Asami, it transpires, feels unrequited love for Shuri, a fact that does not arise until Asami shields Shuri from a seemingly normal old lady seeking a sacrifice to bring back her dead granddaughter. Asami’s emotions are contrasted by Shuri and Shuu’s escape from their abusive father, an act that seems entrenched in the siblings’ mutual love. Shuu extends beyond the normal role of brother to offer his hand (symbolically and literally), which adds to this effect. Their act of holding hands when beyond the control of their father further betrays this romantic affection, for no matter how close siblings are, handholding in such a manner is unnatural.

Asami’s “forbidden love” is then defeated by incest, which also constitutes forbidden love. Asami’s feelings are made bittersweet as a result of feeling unrequited non-heterosexual love, which arguably constitutes some of the lowest love in society. Both aspects (unrequited, non-heterosexual) are individually  reviled but the combination is then considered far more pathetic, as evidenced by Shuri’s complete rejection of Asami’s emotions. Despite that, Asami manages to save Shuri from being killed, which makes the situation even more difficult by indicating Asami’s true feelings. In the end, Asami is offered the least solace, though she does gain conclusion by confronting Shuri – this encounter causes Shuri to run away crying, reflecting a strong exchange.

Nanaka and Sana, despite their rocky relationship in Episode 1 (no I won’t show the picture again), are able to share their love after Sana helps Nanaka overcome her PTSD that prevented her from accepting Sana or resuming playing violin. The image of Nanaka playing the first song she wrote on violin – shown in flashback in episode 1 – creates an empowering representation because it indicates her ability to overcome her bad memories. Sana’s marriage proposal goes over well following the concert, thus they become engaged, reflecting the idyllic form of love favored in society. Though Shuu and Shuri share forbidden love, their mutual emotions are elevated over Asami’s unrequited feelings as a result of their acting upon the desire to run away together.

The last quarter of the show reflects love from the most prized (Nanaka and Sana) to that which is not prized but not cast aside (Shuu and Shuri) to the least valuable (Asami) from society’s perspective. These intertwining stories manage to place Asami’s desires in the background – they are invisible unless intentionally found. A hierarchy of love is then established clearly. Perhaps Asami moved on but that feeling of having to move on is quite painful and scarcely better than feeling unable to love.

In terms of her character, Myself;Yourself is left broadly open because she only appears briefly for Nanaka’s concert at the end of the finale. Of course, Aoi-chan is completely forgotten in the scheme of love but she played more of comic relief anyways. Hinako is also cast aside as another object unworthy of romantic affection. Thus we are presented with major candidates and minor ones (Asami, Hinako, Aoi), which presents major assumptions about how love operates. Certain characteristics are valued when presented in a particular way.  The show’s most interesting themes are centered around love because around these are drawn the major dilemma. In this regard, Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun (also by Dogakobo but orders of magnitude better) pairs well with Myself;Yourself. The former concerns itself with themes surrounding gender and the ridiculousness of gendered conventions, while the latter prioritizes love, especially dramatic love, and looking at the many forms of love.