Father has an unhealthy obsession with cat shaped Souls.
He may have discussed at great lengths the wondrous marvels of CAT’s work to Shibuya’s own Composer. He may have had juuust aslight influence on the development of the Mild and Wild Mews. He may have, once given a Mr. Mew cushion, happily carried it around and taken great delight in converting helping formless Angel Souls settle on a satisfactory form.
He may be likely to try out mannerisms of cat adjacent Souls, for better or for worse. But he never seems to want to appear like one and may be in denial about their influence.
Post NEO AU: Coco and Minamimoto run into Rhyme and Kaie, who happen to be developing a very handy Angel detection app that could be quite useful to them. And it looks like with a very small sample size, it might actually work.
Hanekoma wanted to visit Kaie to get advice on how his art will be perceived when shared digitally (NEO SR 11). Combine that with wanting Coco and Minamimoto to talk more with Kaie and Rhyme… what if all of that happened at once? It provides an opportunity for Rhyme and Kaie to get further involved with Higher Plane plot in the AU. The current plan is they won’t be leaving their normal planes, they will still be help Coco and Minamimoto out.
I tried not to make it eye-straining or dizzying, but a warning just in case!
Playing with Composer effects, based on an old panel from here. (Contains NEO/TWEWY spoilers!) I was messing with layer blending modes and shifting them around and decided to try to make an animation about it. The second animation has an additional “offset” effect which is a second image of the Composer’s face that slides in from the lower left and aligns with the center.
TWEWY OCs: A pair of Angels assigned to Joshua as his Mother & Father. They’ve been working together for a long time, overseeing the lower planes of Shibuya & nearby regions from the Higher Plane. They read over all the reports from Their regions to aid the Higher Plane’s research into the cycle of life & death, the Soul, & more recently, the rise in impurities in the lower planes. They’re both high ranking Angels that will not hesitate to take proper action towards any disobedient Angels to maintain the safety and order of the Higher Plane.
It’s merely a coincidence that Mother’s hair has a striking colour and style resemblance to Joshua’s - it’s a very popular style in the Higher Plane, truly! Her suit jacket looks harmless, but it’s well known by the Higher Plane entities to not come into contact with it, for it will feel like it’s searing into your Soul. She cares a lot about the state of the Higher Plane and those who reside there, sometimes going a bit beyond what is deemed necessary to keep it in order and running smoothly.
There’s great debate whether Father understands fashion since he’s greatly amused by the reactions he gets, or if it’s another example of him not grasping certain “human traits”. No one stops him from dressing the way he does, provided that he doesn’t shift the patterns on his clothing in front of lower plane entities as he’s a fan of doing. While he appears more approachable than his partner, there’s something unsettling about his expressions, as if he’s trying them out and swapping them to see how it affects those around him.
Some of them who know what I am occasionally try to contact me, but I cannot respond.
My old café on Cat Streetーthe one that served as my base three years agoーis always open to them. I hear that some drop by on occasion.
Inspired by the above NEO Secret Report with an appearance of the everchanging library and scenes from the fic Signal, Noise and Distortion as a bonus.
In the fic, Hanekoma has a backroom called “the everchanging library”. The books always seem to have what is required. So to further show that since Hanekoma isn’t around, his library only contains blank books.
While it’s ambiguous about what sort of relationship Minamimoto and Hanekoma had, I have a feeling Minamimoto would have at some point sought out Hanekoma since he wanted to save Shibuya before.
So,where the factor are you now?
Bonus: Books!
“Fractals: Form, Chance and Dimension” by Benoit B. Mandelbrot
“The Consistency of the Continuum Synthesis” by Kurt Godel
“Liber AL vel Legis” (“The Book of the Law”) by Aleister Crowley
Another book by Mandelbrot. Was intended to be “Multifractals and 1/f Noise: Wild Self Affinity” but it the title got covered up
“Pythagorean Triangles” by Waclaw Sierpinski
“Theatrum Chemicum Brittanicum” by Elias Ashmole
“Transcendental Magic” by Eliphas Levi
“Cardinal and Ordinal Numbers” by Waclaw Sierpinski
There’s been a ton of Higher Plane and Composer Neku arts for many months before NEO’s release.
September was the only month where I had one piece of art posted. Otherwise every month had a picture and comic options to pick from.
If I had to pick a single favourite, it would be January’s followed very closely by April’s. Very pleased with how art has gone this year but did hit a bit of a snag around NEO’s release. NEO gave me a break and so did TWEWYtober. I let myself do whatever for TWEWYtober and it helped me iron out more of a style that I want when not drawing Composers. Was very freeing even though I did burn out a bit from that but pulled out before it actually was an issue.
Thank you all for the support and comments! I learned even more to draw for myself first this year but I always love seeing other people enjoy my art too!
OG SR 18 - The unification of minds is the natural state of the Higher Plane.
NTWEWY Spoilers!
Since Joshua is an Angel and from a higher plane, that means he qualifies for the hivemind! Congrats, buddy!!
With his Angel summons, I’m thinking that they could be lower ranked Angels that he can call upon. But then also, if his summons had some agency, (say they aren’t like…artificial, mindless, etc.,) that if they didn’t agree with their purpose, it’s likely that the summoner could override their will. Whether this is a conscious choice or just something natural for a higher plane being is fascinating horrifying to think about.
For the diamond iris notation here: the diamond outline in the iris means you’re part of the unification. The filled in whites, sclera, with diamond pupils means you’re 100% under control of someone above you in rank. I used purple to help show that it’s Joshua who is the one in control, since it matches his eye colour.
I haven’t quite decided on the… stages of the diamond marking in their eyes but I think the outline is for us readers to be aware of that a certain somethingcan be present, not that anyone can necessarily detect it. But if it’s filled in that does mean something else is present and at that point it would be clearly visible.
If I don’t around to it, what Coco is referencing is one of the conditions Hanekoma has for working with Minamimoto and Coco is that Minamimoto should not try and take down Joshua on sight. Especially if Minamimoto is still after the Composer’s seat.
the thing that’s so good about the ending of twewy is just like. there’s that duality between neku hating joshua for what he put him through vs loving him for everything he did for him.
that duality between ‘you murdered me in cold blood and the reapers game was a three week traumatic nightmare of fighting for my life every day in literal hell’ and ‘it was because of this experience that i met people who became my friends and they taught this cold and broken heart how to love again and see the beauty in life.’
it’s the ‘do the ends justify the means’ thing. it’s the ‘can you ever consider pain a good thing, even if it makes you stronger’ thing. it’s the ‘if you had the ability to turn back time and undo that pain you suffered, to un-traumatize yourself, even though you learned so much from the experience, would you’ thing.
and the game leaves the question open ended. because you can’t turn back time and undo everything whether you want to or not. this is your life now, for better or for worse. it’s up to you how to feel about it. and they handle that nuance so well.
neku acknowledges how much he really has grown as a person. and how glad he is that he met everyone and expanded his world. he cares about the others. he even cares about joshua, despite everything. it’s what the game’s narrative has been pushing along. so we should be happy, right? it’s all cool for neku now, isn’t it? but then he also acknowledges how difficult those three weeks were for him, and how badly he’s been hurt by everything that joshua is responsible for. he didn’t deserve any of it.
certain wounds won’t heal. joshua was wrong for having done what he did, regardless of what good things later came out of it. it can’t be justified. and yet we can still celebrate and enjoy those good things and live beautifully in the present moment. neku himself says it well. ‘i can’t forgive you, but i trust you.’
give up on yourself, and you give up on the world.’
YOOOOOOUUUU. YOU get it. i was about to say this in another post. this quote is two related things and that’s why it drives me wild
firstly it’s a reconstruction of the title, ‘the world ends with you’, in that it equates “yourself” with “the world.” the world’s shape is in your hands. as is the world’s very fate.
secondly it’s like joshua telling neku not to make his same mistakes, not to give up on his life, because there’s a lot of stuff that implies that joshua committed suicide. he was dissatisfied with his existence in the rg and thought the ug was more suited for him. but now that he’s here (and in charge of the place, even) he’s still alone and miserable. but it’s irreversible. and seeing neku, someone who used to be just like him, finally growing and thriving and making connections with other people is making him jealous. but joshua is encouraging him to live that life and do what he can’t.
joshua can’t expand his world anymore. he made a choice and now he’s stuck here eternally in purgatory until someone else erases him for good. his world ends with him. he gave up on himself and thus he gave up on the world. but maybe he can prevent the same thing from happening to neku. and that’s why he spares him at the end.
