Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

Yuu Kamishiro: Basic Instinct

Written by Kouji Mori, Holyland is a manga about trauma and meditation. In the manga, humans act as a desire for power and approval and to find a place where they truly belong in finding a sacred land. Yuu Kamishiro—the protagonist—has a driving force behind the plot events. Most of his thematic elements are so significant in the story. Therefore, the best way to sum up Yuu in one sentence is as a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

He is not a shady character hiding his evil intentions from others. Instead, he is an individual who retains excellent power for a certain period. Such significant periods are hidden not only from the world in general. However, that was without his knowledge either. Simply put, Yuu becomes a fascinating character study not only because of how he develops as an individual throughout the narrative.

However, he is a testament to what disengagement can create in impartial norms. His disengagement is entirely from one’s basic instincts. In addition, Yuu is an ordinary individual in addition to his thin but tall stature. Thus, people constantly bullied him until he had to quit school. So, he went out and became a closed person.

Kouji Mori: Martial Arts Geek

Apart from spending his days intermittently, he is under cover from the brutal realities of the world. His goal is to seek what he refers to as pure existence. In his life, he did not disturb or even hurt anyone. In return, no one bothers to even interact with him. His parents did not dispute his choice. Instead, they supported and comforted him. They always ask him to continue to do his best.

However, Yuu was intuitive in realizing the reality behind such a lie. He said such words as a mask of pity and disappointment at himself who had become it. Several things make Holyland different from other manga, especially fighting manga. Interestingly, the artist is a martial arts geek who works very hard to make his fights as realistic as possible. In the genre, it is at odds with almost any other manga.

Addressing readers directly, Mori often explains the anatomy and physics of what happens in certain fights. He always explains why it differs from most of the bouts of assumptions or common sense fiction we would be led to believe. In addition, such a real breakthrough from the fact that the characters heal too quickly from their injuries.

Victim, Turning Point

However, it even attempts to move away from realism. Yuu sees the same stare at school as his friends and adults he meets. We need to know that Yuu was depressed due to the isolation and subsequent bullying from the world in his life. Repeatedly, he stated that he had reached a certain numbness. Finally, his feelings reached their peak. When an event is a psychological turning point, Yuu often projects their inner reality onto those they meet outside.

So, the pathetic stares that Yuu observed from other people were a combination of his inner voice and an objective reaction. It reflects to him the people he met at the turning point. In the psychology of use, apart from Yuu, there are many characters of how psychology becomes a tug-of-war from achieving an intolerable numbness. It is the thing that sets the manga apart from the manga in general.

Yuu is not an anti-hero or even an everyday hero. However, he is a victim who tries to overcome it. His trauma haunts him throughout the series, always threatening to turn him into something worse than the person who created him. Tsuchiya is one of the most interesting supporting characters, acting like a slick back who can wrestle.

Origins of the Roots

On top of that, Mai Izawa also serves as a buffer and catalyst for Yuu, who always goes far to the end and will only flinch at her excellent presence. The psychological part of the story is Yuu’s twisted maturity. He contrasts many other characters who are made worse off in the violent setting. In addition, he was planning to leap off the roof of a nearby building to kill himself. He found himself unable to jump, much to the shock of his zone.

Yuu thought that he had no reason to live. His life became pointless. However, something more profound that he thought gripped Yuu. At such a point, strength becomes his natural biological instinct. He would not allow himself to continue as his desire for life went deeper into his roots. Than he ever thought, the brush awakened something in Yuu that he did not even realize at that time with his mortality.

His body knows something that Yuu does not know is a fighter. The event is a key to unlocking dormant qualities in his genetic code. Put, psychology and human behavior are complex. The origins of what makes a person who he is and who is his nurture and enduring nature.

Genes

Many philosophers and artists debate such things hotly in the realm of common wisdom. People are not born as blank slates but with particular traits and inclinations from birth. Later, it will determine what and who we are. Thus, what requires all of us to lead predetermined lives is our environment. Everything depends on the things we do, the locations we visit, and the people we meet.

All from the human we transform. Meanwhile, a person may have an inherent internal tendency to become addicted. They can live their entire lives with such a genetic trait in an environment with solid support. Ultimately, it never avoids and activates such struggles. Many studies show that early experience can determine a gene. Is expression in all centers expanding when the gene is on or off?

Despite the misconception that genes are regulated, the environment is the key that opens the doors. It also influences us to stay closed. In such a way, Yuu’s “death” caused a profound change in himself. He gave up the prospect of influencing his own life before the events. He let others create his destiny for him. Moreover, he also bends his existence in any direction they like.

Knocking on Hell’s Door

However, Yuu fought back on the day. His choices will teach them lessons that will significantly impact the rest of his life. Yuu decides to learn how to ease his pain if he returns to school. After he decided on the roof, he took a book about self-defense from the local library; it taught him bare boxing. At this time, Yuu was still convinced of his shy nature. However, the lessons he learned from reading boxing manuals began to seep into his muscles without him realizing it.

Without stopping, he practiced the combos and straight jabs he found in books. According to the narrator, people find their calling when they can lose themselves entirely in the endeavor. In Yuu’s case, he had spent hours working on a task when he thought only a few minutes had passed. He found himself entering the flow state. Unknowingly, he had become a competent striker through perseverance and much practice.

He commits to it, culminating in Yuu’s return to school. Once again, the kids bully Yuu. They intended to humiliate him for his protracted presence. They were used to Yuu being passive and taking whatever punishment they threw at him. So, they feel comfortable doing and saying whatever comes to their impulsive mind.

Recognition and Proudness

One of the boys makes a careless and rude comment about Yuu trying to kill himself. It is because of how terrible his life is after hearing this. Something inside Yuu was enough. He punched one of the boys, making his life bleed. Then, they beat him. At night in his room, he cannot help but think he is hitting the punch for the first time. He resisted while contemplating a shocked expression of horror.

The boy he beat up did not want to acknowledge him at first. It will be very satisfying for Yuu to feel justice for his treatment after having lasted so long. Yuu becomes an MVP after winning a battle against a local thug in an arcade. The thugs trying to harass him trigger an event. Yuu became even more famous as a thug hunter on the local streets. On the other hand, Yuu fears the possibility of revenge from the group he defends against him.

Yuu experienced emotions that had wholly eluded him until that point. He heard a group of boys at school describe thug hunters as good people. Indeed, Yuu felt proud. Pride arises from the admiration and recognition of others for someone who has been looked down upon in society.

Rampage: Total Violence

They see him as valuable and worthy of being a role model. Hearing his nickname evokes ideals that others should strive for. Like little else that society can teach Yuu, Yuu’s exuberance turns to aggression. It was not an emotion he should indulge in. When Yuu experiences life outside of his security, he begins reflecting on his experiences with intimacy. He realized that violence became a reality of the human condition that he could not escape.

However, there is a caveat. Power enables a person to defend the things they care about. When aggression serves as a pretext for committing heinous acts, Yuu’s balancing act becomes very important for the individual. In the narrative section, the narrator explores much more of the long-term trauma’s impact on a person’s mental health. Subconsciously, he has developed a victim complex in almost every scenario.

They begin to see themselves as the oppressed and the victim. Those he fights as evil intruders whose sole purpose is to harm. Such a complex reaches a climax when Yuu’s best friend, Shinichi Kaneda, is targeted by a thug. After Shin is hospitalized, they try to lure Yuu out at night. Yuu goes on a rampage of senseless violence.

Binary Lens

At night, he fights whomever he sees as “bad people.” Such a view is equivalent to a boy observing the world through a black-and-white lens. While nature is strictly binary, it ignores the nuances and subtleties of gray that underline nearly every human action. It becomes a side effect of how personal trauma has affected his worldview. It is easy to develop a self-concept as a living victim where things only happen to Yuu.

Instead of expressing himself by imposing his own will, he becomes the dark side of such a mindset. It is also easy to justify whatever atrocities people want to commit because the outside world always experiences terrible treatment. In Yuu’s case, individuals can be just as bad if not worse than the bullies they feel are destroying their lives. In the end, Yuu is confronted with such facts by his mentor and friend, Masaki Izawa.

With one sentence, he plans to sow the truth, which becomes a significant turning point in Yuu’s maturity. In his mind, Masaki acts as a role model. He is firm and calm in all ways. After all, he is perfect. Yuu felt that a man should be Masaki, immediately understanding each other intimately.

Guidance

They are both individuals who see themselves as having no place in society. Both are also the individuals who feel most alive when conflicts and fights surround them. As Yuu begins to understand Masaki beyond the role model, he notices a self-inflicted scar on Masaki’s wrist. Reluctantly, he came to terms with the fact that even those perfect on the outside were still humans.

Masaki saw Yuu walking the same path of self-destruction he walked in his youth. He called out to Yuu. Effectively, it encapsulates one of the most common problems in many modern cultures. Their community is a community with the most profound problems. They are the most misunderstood and miserable, yet permanently blinded by their neurosis. They fail to see the world and that everyone is at war.

Their actions can contribute to problems. On the other hand, they always claim to want to fix it without knowing it. They have also allowed themselves to be labeled as victims of selfishness. The interaction between forces operating in this way can only lead to destruction. Yuu became out and matured from his slump through the mentor’s guidance. He always contemplated what he wanted and what would make him happy.

Holy Land

Yuu reveals that the power he created in his fist is his God. It lets him protect what is essential and realize his desires in the outside world. Yuu has learned that salvation only comes through self-effort. No people, culture, or society outside of us can get us. Yuu’s experiences with depression and bullying teach him that there is no lasting joy. Although it only causes numbness, Yuu finds that belonging is not about finding a particular place.

Ultimately, he lived it through a dedicated work-life experience to be enough to experience true friendship. By not isolating himself, he chooses to experience what he has to offer. Then, the foundation of a holy land establishes a nirvana without everyone noticing.

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