Happy valentine's day ! i wanna look at drawings designed to get you to gamble for them, as they art they are, with love. They're overflowing with loveliness, after all !!
"Double Trouble"/"Twin Troubles"
There are a few SayoHina cards in here that i just absolutely adore. Here, the first thing that stuck out to me were their expressions. Hina's sunny disposition reflected in her wide-eyed wonderment sitting at her sister's feet, clutching a pillow to her chest like armor... it would seem to be contradictory. Such a vulnerable, even intimate look, but such a restrained posture. Looking at her, i can't help but to let the phrase "forbidden love" drift to the front of my mind. And Sayo !? Collected in her posture as ever despite her knit brow, her pointed glancing away. Her phone sits in her lap, an ignored distraction; she instead twirls her hair between her fingers as she shyly looks towards the sunlight. And yet, despite the clear tension Sayo feels in this moment, her eyes remain softened. "Why can't we?" Hina seems to ask. "You know it's impossible," Sayo appears to answer, disciplined as ever. i'm striving to avoid mentioning external context from the game here, but it should be noted the flavor text for this card is "You always want to do everything together."
The most important element, though, is the dust in the air, ablaze in what looks to be late afternoon sunlight. All this that's settled under the roof they've shared their whole lives; memories collected on every surface over years and kicked up again on this day. Today they are radiant. There's still daylight in the air, no matter how fleeting. Hope, more than desperation, in Hina's eyes. And therein lies the central conflict of the piece. More than a "will they, won't they," the tension comes from that slowly setting sun already beginning to disappear. They'll never be as close again as they are today without becoming more than just sisters and as distasteful as that idea might be at first blush–its the very same tension the subjects of this piece have to overcome, Sayo in particular. From the lighting of the room to the earnesty and emotionality in their expressions, it's simply heartrending in its sincerity. The very air around these two combusts and burns beautifully because of that same bone-deep openness, raw nerve exposure of a life together or a dying day. It wrenches my heart to think these ships may pass in the night. But for now the sun has yet to set. The dust is set alight and these two sisters can sit in Sayo's bedroom together, one staring at the other, surrounded by incandescent memories. It is a beauty, truly, fleeting.
"Prepared To Take The Thorny Road"/"Carve Out a New Path"
This one feels very much like a follow up to Double Trouble. It's set in the same location, Sayo's bedroom, after night falls; given everything the first card spoke to me of an irretrievable moment under the setting sun, this piece was crushing at first. Hina's reflection in the window looked like a ghost. Sayo was haloed in countless days' worth of memories, this time stained blue. Where she once let her phone fall to her lap face up, she pulls it close and drowns in the glow. i read her expression looking up at her sister as a suppressed scowl at first. The first few times i looked at this piece i felt nothing so much as sick to my stomach for them. i may have been shipping SayoHina since 2021, but whether out of relic shame or the sheer number of interesting Bandori pairings i wouldn't have considered them at the same height of loveliness inhabited by the likes of KaoChisa or the One True Pairing, HatsuSaki. These two cards honestly and completely changed that. The apparent emotional contrast between the two stunned and confused me so much i couldn't help but keep looking, not even for an escape but for an understanding. Crushing such a beautiful tiny moment so exquisitely only serveed to draw me in. If this is how their lovely moment went, i wanted to understand that better, too. It hurt so bad it made me curious.
Both the tension and the entire theme of the previous card were reliant on ephemerality from the very start. That sunset wouldn't last forever, and that's what makes it so beautiful. Neither could Hina's confession; even as it is the start to something wonderful for both of them, it's only beginning. At the same time, it would be wrong to say that the nighttime setting has "no meaning". Sayo and Hina's names contain the kanji for "night" and "day" respectively. While both cards list Hina as a cameo, and Sayo is closer to the viewer's perspective in both, her sister's earnest and open expression drew a lot of my focus. And even as the primary subject here, Sayo would seem to be as contradictory as ever. Gazing softly while seeming to frown. Mouth slightly agape. However, looking a little closer, it's clear that this Sayo has been caught in an unpoised moment, and that's at the root of this piece's loveliness. Sayo's dependable guard didn't even drop for her sister confessing–no, pleading her feelings. At least, not fully. Yes, she's visibly concerned with finding the "correct" response to an emotional declaration. But her hair twirling speaks as loudly as her concerned frown; her expression is nothing if not contradictory. Here, despite her apparent frown, she is all hair-twirling, as adoring as her sister was at sunset. Looking up to Hina in the doorway, her gaze is–at least, as soft as she ever looks at anyone. Having seen her flustered frown just now should make it obvious that this Sayo isn't confused or hiding any of what she's feeling. She looks like this when resting and unguarded, just like Hina did in the last card. It's just Sayo. That understanding is no small part as to why this feels as much her piece as the previous did Hina's. The nighttime setting makes its loveliness harder to read, as Sayo herself often is, even here; but with love, it can be seen.
Notably, the dust is still glowing in the light. But it's no longer the warm, hearth-like embers of the late afternoon; here, the memories in the air are mostly cooler and more focused, like Sayo herself. The light from the hall sneaks in where Hina has cracked the door. Looking closely into the opening of light, she's brought something like that late afternoon warmth back with her to the memories in the air. Where this "series" of cards first caught my eye with Double Trouble's romantic glow, the lighting is notable here for its contrast. It screams its representation of each sister's personality. Even to a non-shipper, this should inspire further contemplation. If i hadn't made it clear, let me state it outright: i love how much this piece discomforted me and rewarded my curiosity in spite of that with greater insight into the pairing, relief for the tension of Twin Troubles.
That sunset would only ever be more beautiful for its impermanence. It might be impossible, forbidden, but they're "Prepared To Take The Thorny Road." Yes, this piece lacks the same kind of dramatic tension as the previous. Of course it does. That was the setup, and this is the payof; fittingly for a picture of a "forbidden" pairing, this piece is secretive about what kind of catharsis it brings.
Thank you for reading my barely-controlled siscon ramble about art that overflows with loveliness. In that spirit, happy Valentine's Day–and a very happy birthday to our lady of tearful dignity, the goddess of getting through it, Togawa Sakiko ^_^~♡
