application.

[machiavel]

APPLICATION

▶ CHARACTER
NAME: Seimei Aoyagi
CANON: Loveless
CANON POINT: The fight with Moonless, around Chapters 105 ~ 110. He’s taken back Soubi and Nisei but they haven’t fought yet.
AGE: Recently 18, though his birthday goes unacknowledged in the manga. (There’s a lot going on!!)
BACKGROUND: There’s an okay overview here, but if you need anything else, let me know!

PERSONALITY: In the Loveless universe, some (but not all) people are born with a “true” name that appears on their body, that allegedly reflects something within their nature. Seimei’s name is Beloved, and for the first half of the manga—where he’s presumed to be dead—he seems to live up to that name. The “Seimei” we’re introduced to is kind, handsome, and well-liked by all. He’s noble and intelligent, and his death devastates his mother and especially his younger brother, Ritsuka. When Ritsuka’s friend logs onto Seimei’s old MMORPG account, he’s immediately bombarded with messages by all sorts of people on Seimei’s friends list. He played a high level Paladin, and was well-known for showing charity to new players and helping others whenever and wherever he could.

Ritsuka especially speaks highly of his brother, even when the mysteries surrounding Seimei—and his death—seem to pile up without end. In the scenes we see of their childhood together, Seimei is playful and physically affectionate toward his younger brother, and after an incident two years prior to the start of the manga, from which their mother became abusive toward Ritsuka, he protected Ritsuka and calmed their mother down whenever he could. For Ritsuka, Seimei was the perfect brother, and for the normal world they inhabited, Seimei had every reason to hold the title of “Beloved.”

Unfortunately, this is all Seimei’s mask. While he does sincerely care about Ritsuka, his concept of “love” is twisted and seems to have always been. From the moment Ritsuka was born when Seimei was only 5 years old, Seimei thought that the only reason their mother existed was to give Ritsuka to him, and this possessive, callous frame of mind only gets worse with age. Seimei’s warmth and affection towards Ritsuka in the flashbacks take on a distinctly different—even incestuous—tone, and even Ritsuka admits that Seimei was sometimes “weird.” This is enhanced further by knowing that with everyone else, Seimei is obsessive about not being touched, and would even rarely eat in front of others. He considers almost all other people in the world unclean and impure, and as far as anyone currently knows, his goal is to create a world where he and Ritsuka can live together, untainted and untouched.

His darkness doesn’t end with Ritsuka, however. With everyone who knows Seimei outside of his “normal” façade, he’s shameless about his nature. He seems to intentionally make himself the center of people’s worlds so that he can break them down later, most evidenced by his relationships with Soubi (given as a “gift” to Ritsuka) and his counterpart in battle, Nisei. While Soubi had suffered from manipulative relationships since childhood and thus was made a vulnerable target for Seimei’s worst, Nisei, despite being the more well-adjusted, details his isolation and descent into cruelty as all being a result of Seimei’s inherent ability to make people listen to him. He turns both Soubi and Nisei into people who will follow him without a moment’s hesitation, even if they disagree, or even if they hate what he’s doing. Soubi even seems incapable of disobeying Seimei thanks to how deep Seimei has sunk his claws in, and Seimei claims this kind of servitude is boring.

CW: MENTION OF RAPE He thinks of everyone except Ritsuka as toys, but even his love for Ritsuka does not spare Ritsuka his limitless cruelty. The only person who could ever be called his friend, Mikado, even suffers at his hands. While she explains that she and Seimei are both people that have no emotions, and were thus able to exist comfortably in each other’s spaces—notably, he’s seen brushing hands with her as they both eat chips from the same bag—he betrays her by forcing Nisei to cut off her long hair and rape her. She claims that the act in itself was not a betrayal of their friendship, however. What bothers her, and what made it unforgivable, was that when she asked him why he ordered it, he said that there was “no reason.” She claims that for people like her and Seimei, reason is all there is in the world.

In another scene with Mikado, he claims that boredom is his greatest weakness. He often watches horror movies to feel even a twinge of fear to help him feel alive, because without it, he might “sink to the depths of despair.”

As it is, the bloody path Seimei has taken has no explanation, and many mysteries still surround his involvement with Ritsuka’s past and his plans for his future. But whatever the outcome, it’s clear that Seimei is a master manipulator, and holds little regard for the life of anyone who isn’t Ritsuka.

POWERS/ABILITIES: The world of Loveless operates on “spell battles,” which are basically rap battles with poetry.

In a usual 2v2 setup, the participants called Fighters craft original lines that range from simple commands (cut, slice, etc) to long, flowery, specific verses that target their opponent’s weaknesses. The Fighters, of course, fight, while the second half of the pair is called the “Sacrifice.” The Sacrifice takes any damage that the opposing Fighter inflicts, and is generally considered incapable of fighting for themselves. The battle ends when the Sacrifice dies, is incapacitated, or can no longer move. Fighters can fight solo, but it’s disrespectful and their power is greatly weakened. Without a Sacrifice, Fighters are physically injured as well.

Seimei is unique in the sense that, despite being a Sacrifice, he rarely enters battle with his Fighter. Even when he’s present, he often instructs his Fighters (unusually, he has two) to battle solo, and guides them from the sidelines so that he never takes damage. What’s more interesting, however, is his unique ability to craft verses of his own. This isn’t seen in battles, usually, but several characters who aren’t under his thumb remark on a desire to listen to what he tells them to do, and his overpoweringly dark aura. This isn’t always on, obviously, but he does have a very real power of suggestion even against strangers. This, in practice, would require player permission!

Like many things about Seimei, however, we haven’t yet seen the full range of what he’s capable of, since he almost never enters fights and keeps his cards close to his chest. We only know for certain that he is very powerful.

Also in the world of Loveless, virgins have cat ears and a cat tail, and Seimei still has his. This is not a power but it is… notable.