- lens of art school / being a creative VS. more broadly, coming of age and growing up
- one of the most heartbreaking things is losing your sense of self or identity
- harrowing, real, relatable
- the hurt the characters experience that might go unspoken because we focus more on yaguchi
- the realities of art school
- talent vs effort vs time vs luck & its intersections
- questions of purpose and belonging
- whether or not we deserve a place
- inferiority and insecurity
- imposter's syndrome
- how these doubts fester in ways you can’t control
- you don’t want to confront the reality of your insufficiency or mediocrity despite all your efforts
- struggles born internally, from self doubt; overcoming
- growth as an artist
- enamored, looking at the world through a new pair of eyes
- excitement akin to childhood wonder
- yearning for a time before understanding
- to enter a world unknown, to experiment
- to live for the first time again, uninhibited by your own fear of being (more)
- an impassioned yaguchi looking more closely at his mother
- normalcy, domesticity, tenderness
- imagery of fish bones
- food as a love language
- the simplicity of "i think i kind of get it now"
- the pressure of promising, of aspiring, of being
- the anguish of yuka's character
- of drowning while afloat
- wanting more for yourself as you live for others
- freedom and agency
- hiding behind what's right, or what's "normal"
- is this right for me?
- what have i been doing this whole time?
- what am i working toward?
- why do i create?
- is this medium right for me?
- is this a mistake
jun 12 2021 ∞
jun 8 2022 +