wings

!! This will be a spoiler-heavy entry !! wings are present in many ways throughout the series but i think every time they show up theyre connected to gilbert somehow. However there are three types of wings (or ig winged creatures) that show up throughout kazeki: birds, angels, and butterflies

Birds i feel are present all throughout kazeki from beginning to end.. the central idea with birds is that gilbert wishes to be one so he can get away from situations where he feels stuck and trapped. mostly in the manga this is at lacombrode being represented as a cage Like that one scene in the ova where he looks longingly out the window bc hes thinking of auguste ok yea and then again when he runs to the gates bc auguste left and He didnt even know... i think this idea connects again to why he brings up to serge in vol 17 on why he wants to be a bird bc now dealing with forced prostitution and relying on drugs + as much as i love him Serge was kinda a dick atp but he didnt rlly know what was going on with gil ig now paris felt like his new cage Which is kinda interesting too bc paris had until gilserge became poor after running away served as a freeing place to him since he could connect to the arts and rlly the outside world, smth he couldnt do with auguste. 

theres also this one illust of auguste with bird wings as well and i think that connects to abuse In terms of like continuing the cycle and how deep down.... As a boy he was kinda maybe sorta like gilbert. Maybe. like that sounds stupid but LISTEN. Like auguste was also just a kid when his brother (right?? im like 99% it was his brother if not it was his father) raped him and. Well i dont rlly like to speak on it bc im not a victim of sexual abuse myself but my understanding is that auguste more or less took this as something normal. Um my last reread was a bit ago so i need to pay more attention for that scene. i think this spread onto gilbert a little bit too Maybe which Could? explain the moment like SUPER early on i think like vol 2 or 3 where he assaults karl or way later in paris arc with camille aka Worst moment in kazeki like i get it but if im reading bl i only wanna see boys suffering and in pain like 🙄🙄 also maybe interesting is that auguste's wings here are black which is like a crow, and crows are scavengers which prey on the weakest alive, literally dead animals. they dont rlly have to fight for food in the same way that maybe like. A bear would idk. unless theres a severe lack of dying animals lol. So the prey is like young gilbert when they met when he was 5. Wait what was i even trying to say help bro just typing shit

BUTTERFLIES!! ft One of my fav kazeki illustrations... gil's wings here look very intricate and the wings being translucent reminds of butterflies. ALso the fact gilserge being in a flower and butterflies being pollinators. i dont have a whole lot to say abt this one but there was a moment in the summer arc where he compares gil to a butterfly. i reference moments in the manga a lot but i never have the screenshots to back it up sorry ill get them on my next reread. My thoughts a butterfly's wings r much more delicate than a bird's and by this point serge i think understands gilbert a lot more that he was Basically never truly loved and isolated and mistreated his whole life bc by this point to is when i think serge took up much more on the 'protector' role Yea ok??

tbh for the angel one i can never rlly tell if theyre supposed to be bird or angel wings in the manga bc of the lack of color i always just kinda assume angel based on size and like Vibe... Ok bai im going to bed this will be finished at a later date 

complexities of victimhood

one of the first things i noticed in kazeki on my first read and rlly wanted to dig into is how differently keiko explores sexual abuse within the cast and how it affects all of them. for this i'll talk about serge, gilbert, auguste, and rosemarine. Actually i wrote a mini essay about this for english but it was really buns lol i don't like formal writing for stuff i like so be prepared for a total mess

basic outline
auguste represents cycle of abuse
rosemarine and gilbert as opposties, rosemarine avoids all kinds of touch because it makes him feel dirty, but gilbert embraces touch and demands it to feel like himself. Along with grooming gilbert kinda being made to feel like hes sexual in nature since auguste blamed him for being raped.
gilbert not fighting off his abusers contributes a lot to how hes viewed as effeminate. For rosemarine and serge they tried to resist abuse, they felt dirty and wrong afterwards. But gilbert it doesnt have such a strong affect on him? he kinda just accepts it ig.

gilbert cocteau

Youre so freaking cute i think i could get used to you oo oo oo got me like aww aww aww

I rlly do adore gilbert BRO WHO NAMES THEIR KID GILBERT thats how u know his mom rlly regretted him she chose that name with pure hatred in her heart... Or actually did she even do that did they just name him at the marseilles house. idk... aww ok sorry i shouldnt joke i do rlly feel bad for gilbert hes like most doomed by the narrative guy ever. Bc even when hes having a good time smth goes on like he starts dating serge auguste wants to take him away he runs away from lacombrode and now hes being drugged and forced into sex work like Man he needs a break.

i self-project a little i wasnt sexually abused but i kinda see myself in gilbert a little bc im also a weird bpd princess who got bullied in middle school and my irl has the same haircut as serge and i also got deeply emotionally attached to and fell in love with him in 8th grade So basically he's like my brother from another mother. Like i think its pretty obvs that gilbert is mentally ill and idk if keiko wrote his character with that in mind but i think that makes how other characters connect him to demons and all thats bad and evil a lot more realistic due to past stigmas. Well ig they mainly see him that way bc hes gay too and on my first reread i noticed he was left-handed, i thought that was a nice detail but aww there was such a sad moment with him and serge after that..

a lot of moments with gilbert demonstrate abuse done by higher power especially on those who are more weak and vulnerable. This is with serge too kinda but serge knows to fight back and gilbert was never raised to really know how to interact with anyone. Most obvs with auguste durrr and the principal ACTUALLY i guess this can go to moral corruption to or how higher powers lie a lot too, bc the principal was like ohhh gilbert and serge's relationship violates christian beliefs Nah hes acting like chapter 1 didnt even happen. Even rosemarine whos supposed to be the guy who keeps the school in control contributes to gilberts bullying and abuse too in a way right? Bc i think hes the reason why the upperclassmen never rlly face consequences for how they treat him? or wtv.

serge battour

AWW SO KYUTE

OH MY GOSH SO HANDSOMEEEEE SO CUTE ok serge is rlly cute i think he is my fav. To me hes like the lead of the series even if gilbert gets more of the art and attention from the fans i mean i think he actually is bc most MOST of the manga is like in his pov. But im not here to argue abt that. i think for what he went through he is so strong and i dont like bringing fandoms into discussions because What random people think does not matter. but unfortunately there are like 3 active tumblr blogs max that still post abt this so they are relevant. I think too many ppl forget (the paris arc kinda contributes to this too) that serge was Also just a kid. like by the time he was 4 or 6 right? he was already taken away from his mom, his dad died, his aunt was terrible... Like i think ppl focus too much on gilberts abuse because its so prevelant to who he is throughout the manga, but serge was also affected a lot. Like his aunt physically and verbally abused him just bc he was romani and who his mom was.. and then she learns he plays piano and takes advantage of him for that and acts like its HIS fault when other ppl are racist to him. Like this was all by the time he was like 8 bruh... 

aww hes so sweet

a lot of this i think made serge grow up faster than he should have, which is why he kinda sees lacombrode as a good place not just bc of meeting gilbert there but also bc he was actually allowed to be a kid. Like everyone else there for the most part that he met when he started they were also just boys ykyk. And also why he kinda feels the need to help gilbert bc unlike for serge lacombrode was just as cruel to gilbert as home was