ES21 Total Speculation

[branchandroot]

I think Hiruma might be a bastard.

And illegitimate, too. (Sorry, couldn't resist.) In fact, I think he's the child of someone high up in whatever his walk of life is, possibly even someone known colloquialy as God ("Devils don't ask favors of God.").

It would explain why, in a story that takes some trouble to include parents and homelives, we see /nothing/ of his; the way his father seems to be pleased with him but knows Hiruma won't want to hear it; Hiruma's choice to engage, not just in deliquency, but actual criminal activity; the way he's parallelled with Kid; the amount of ready cash and capital he always has; and possibly even his taste for blackmail--maybe he learned that tactic first with dear old dad.

If this is the case, I expect his mother is either dead or very embittered.

I have hopes we will find out one way or another, eventually.

Comments

[written-in-blue.livejournal.com]

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Oh. Oh my. That would make... absolutely crazy amounts of sense.

[branchandroot]

It's the only thing I can think of that really explains everything we've been given so far. We've got a fair number of clues, and there's clearly /something/ very wrong with his family life.

[written-in-blue.livejournal.com]

I totally buy that as a theory, especially given how even the omake stuff at the ends of the issues makes a point about how secretive he is.

*headshake* No wonder he's so fucked up.

[written-in-blue.livejournal.com]

...if he is, what does that say about him and Mamori? *dodges bullets*

[branchandroot]

*grins* That he likes the motherly, protective type just as much as Mamori likes having someone she can mother and protect? And, of course, also likes the type that can stand up for herself, rather than sink into bitterness and alcohol (or whatever; I'm going with the bitter-mother option just to top out the angst meter).

... that would also definitely support him having a thing for the totally honest/pure/straightforward types.

[written-in-blue.livejournal.com]

Shin: *conversational, to Sanada, inspecting a sword* So how do you use one of these things?

Sanada: *dry* The sharp end goes in the other guy.

[soloproject.livejournal.com]

Oh....I'd never wondered about Hiruma's bg until now. That DOES make a lot of sense!

[branchandroot]

I was trying to figure out what Hiruma's deal is and /why/ he's so secretive about his background, and this popped into my head. Possibly I've watched too much Weiss Kreuz in my fandom youth.

[fromastudio]

(you have no idea how excited I am to see you meta-ing ES21)

ES21 does tend to deliver on its foreshadowing, so I hold out great hopes of seeing Hiruma's family someday. It should be a lot of fun!

(where are you up to atm? I think I last stopped reading somewhere around 180 because I couldn't bear the suspense of seeing Shinryuuji lose.)

[branchandroot]

*hearts* I'm really loving this series. It's what a shounen sports series should be.

I'm up to 225, the latest issue. Of course, I devoured all of that in a marathon, and now am fretting because I have to wait for it week by week. Argh! We're in the middle of the Oujou v Deimon match. In the Semifinals! Presumably, Seibu will be the finalist match. The suspense is pretty fierce. The mangaka is really good at that.

[forochel.livejournal.com]

ES21!!!


...I need to catch up on that. But HIRUMA IS SO WIN!

[branchandroot]

Hiruma is made of win. *loves him so much*

[qem_chibati]

Shinryuuji... Agon... I think is also the child of someone high up.

When they had that interview (I think it's somewhere around chapter 170), do you remember the look on Hiruma's face when Agon made a comment about commoners efforts being useless? It's later on made out to be something about talent Vs Hardwork vs teamwork, but I always wondered if it wasn't a reference to something else as well.

Shinryuuji looks like it's a top school, I always vaguely wondered how it was that Agon got the power to kick Kurata out... How he was that influential when everyone was just taking the exams... Where as Deimon seems to be a really uh cheap, dodgy, easy to get into place. (I assumed it was an elavator for Shinryuuji)

But there's also the really personal antagonism between Hiruma and Agon... And I think that it extended from before... With Agon's obsession with commonality I think he came from better than average parents... I think it might be possible that he and his twin take after different parents... Which is why he doesn't extend it so to his brother. (parent a is better because of xyz and they will always be better.)

[branchandroot]

Given that we hear Unsui, Agon's twin, also referring to himself as a "commoner", I took that as an aristocracy-of-talent reference rather than a class thing. I wouldn't be surprised if their family was upper class, though, and that was part of Agon's general psychosis.

If I'm reading all the bits right, then the way Agon prevented Kurita's acceptance was by going after the sports-scholarship himself, so that he was chosen for it and Kurita got bumped. Hiruma points out that Agon doesn't /need/ the scholarship, whereas Kurita does, and going for it seems to be something Agon thinks up after he sees how Hiruma plans to get his friend into Shinryuuji. *contemplative* Agon really is an unredeemable asshole.