Swallow and Kagamitsuki are so loving and insane and ... well they're like Really crazy...
Swallow must be BEYOND TERRIFIED of being abandoned and betrayed and is so full of horrific smiling violence, I am reminded of Suzu's threats from "He Who Tied The Bell" but somehow more intense? What sort of fear can create that kind of patience and willingness to deal in (give, receive) violence? (Was she truly born like that...)
to me she feels... hollow/dreamlike/lost (like a horrifying reality, not like the cheap flat crazy-in-love characters people write abt for shock value)...
...and Kagamitsuki seems to think that being on the "giving" side of orders is a kind of freedom (can there be freedom in the imperial court? and what does freedom mean or what is it worth to dogs and kings?) I think emperors too are constrained by political realities and the movements up there ).
But also at the same time she's teasing Swallow I think? And looks up to her IMMENSELY... hatred combined with... envy and love.
Swallow is SO condescending too about the way these mix in Kagamitsuki's heart which is both strangely cute and utterly infuriating (like "need to kill myself or kill you or fuck you right now i'm so angry" levels... ). I think "i will repay your kindness with enmity" is actually itself a form of kindness though. How else do you look out for someone besides warning them?
Kagamitsuki to me seems fundamentally self loathing and in her own eyes is unworthy (the loss when she looks at herself) and afraid, which is why she acts so fucking hostile. But obsession with worth and measuring of gains and losses... love is something beyond this... (Kagamitsuki is caught in bitter reflection...)
And so Kaga taking the throne feels somehow temporary to me. I'm curious what Swallow feels... does losing an arm subdue the "filthy cur"? Does Kagamin truly have the conviction to keep the throne when she seized it out of mistrust and fear? (Or are they working together now? It is possible to run into the arms of someone you distrust...(And why did Swallow call Kagamitsuki a kingmaker? )). Swallow's obscured viciousness and unmoving stubbornness to never be abandoned again is haunting the ending. (Can the mad dog believe that the scheming cat with her own motives won't someday leave her?) To be Polaris, a star in the sky, is to be cold and distant in some sense...
The music is perfect. Swallow's theme is perfectly dazed(?) and SO fucking sad. And Kagamitsuki's is bitter and contradictory and confused and the flute is sharp like a sword, a heavy warbling of a hopeful almost romantic peaceful playful song turned... sour but fitting.
And the art is GORGEOUS and fits their personalities perfectly. Lazy minister and smiling psycho (affectionate).
I'm so happy they embrace at the end! And maybe smth more (hehe).
Such a whirlwind of every human emotion...