Shizune's Mum

[bhtooefr]

I actually had some ideas for why Shizune's mother (Mayoi Hakamichi née Satou, according to dev comments) would be the dying aunt and the Hakamichis WOULDN'T go visit her, while also explaining Hideaki's behavior (especially with Akira), and why Jigoro and Hiroyuki loathe each other so much.

The problem is that they get incredibly dark. As in, Mayoi molested Hideaki, and her brother let her come to Scotland to evade prosecution, and that's why Jigoro detests Hiroyuki so much. And Akira knows about it, too (and Hideaki's been messed up by that, and that's why there's the squick factor with how he interacts with Akira).

[brythain]

I actually had some ideas for why Shizune's mother (Mayoi Hakamichi née Satou, according to dev comments) would be the dying aunt and the Hakamichis WOULDN'T go visit her, while also explaining Hideaki's behavior (especially with Akira), and why Jigoro and Hiroyuki loathe each other so much.

The problem is that they get incredibly dark. As in, Mayoi molested Hideaki, and her brother let her come to Scotland to evade prosecution, and that's why Jigoro detests Hiroyuki so much. And Akira knows about it, too (and Hideaki's been messed up by that, and that's why there's the squick factor with how he interacts with Akira).

Sadly, mine was a lot less dark. Mayoi left Jigoro after he lost his temper and beat her. As a matter of honour, she divorced him and returned to her brother's house. Jigoro blamed Hiroyuki's foreign wife for planting the idea of divorce in Mayoi's head. This didn't help matters at all…

[SpunkySix]

Poor thing.

Exactly. Once you realize that, rereading her route makes her come off not as a bitch but as a saint.

Yeah, even without that, I still cared about Shizune as a kind of a tight-ass-but-still-has-her-heart-in-the-right-place friend, but with that, I have a whole new level of understanding for her.

And I like the theory about Lilly's sick aunt. Can we collectively come to a consensus about how that works and close that case fanonically?

[Oddball]

Exactly. Once you realize that, rereading her route makes her come off not as a bitch but as a saint.

Not really. Shizune is still a bitch, even if she has an explanation as to why she's a bitch.

[Guest Poster]

Can we collectively come to a consensus about how that works and close that case fanonically?

That's not how fanon works.

[Potato]

Poor thing.

Exactly. Once you realize that, rereading her route makes her come off not as a bitch but as a saint.

Sorry but no. A bitch is a bitch, whatever the excuse. That goes for all the other girls too.

[SpunkySix]

Can we collectively come to a consensus about how that works and close that case fanonically?

That's not how fanon works.

PLS?!

[ProfAllister]

Hopefully ProfAllister will show up soon and make what I just wrote, like, coherent.

O.o So many expectations...

Actually, it's all there in the text - you just have to read between the lines.

Jigoro Hakamichi was a very different man from the one we seen in the VN when he first met Mayoi Suu Satou. He was an ordinary salaryman, strongly resembling a slightly older Hideaki. Mayoi was a doctor, moonlighting as an art critic. Shortly before the birth of their first child, Mayoi was struck by a pair of professional misfortunes: publishers suddenly stopped printing her art reviews, which were infamously scathing, due to rumors that she had driven at least one artist to suicide; and her medical license was revoked, after it came to light that she had taken to the sadistic practice of amputations on healthy infants. Reeling from that blow, she moved into the field of real estate development, where she did well for a time. However, it came to light that she had deliberately procured faulty wiring on the houses she built, which, along with the shoddy building materials of the rest of the construction, had a tendency to suddenly burst into towering infernos. She was cruel to her niece, often telling her brother that her genetic inferiority was a stain on the Satou honor, but the logical result of his careless miscegenation. When she learned of her daughter's deafness, and Jigoro's intent to learn sign language, she broke his hands, then, using her medical knowledge, set them to heal improperly, making it extremely difficult and painful for Jigoro to perform sign language. She later died in a car accident while driving drunk.

At least, that's what she wants people to believe. She faked her death to escape crippling gambling debts, as well as the shackles of an unfulfilling marriage. She now drifts through the Japanese underworlds, smuggling drugs, trafficking persons, and the occasional murder - for fun. After a particularly grisly killing spree, she decided to lay low by posing as a high school student, "Never Been Kissed"-style. During this undercover stint, she found herself charmed by one of the students, which led to a whirlwind romance. Finding herself in his bed, she realised that this would just further entangle her, so she injected him with a muscle relaxant before vanishing from the school and his life. It should have killed him, yet somehow the student managed to survive. Jigoro suspected this all along, and, ever since her death, he's trained himself relentlessly, and carries a katana at all times, so he'll be ready if she ever turns up again.

Two details about her stick in his memory like bright beacons - her penchant for group sex using sports paraphanelia; and the fact that she always wore sweatervests, in order to "stick it to the man."

Also, she made Misha a lesbian with the magic of the Satan-Jesus.


Or not, but you know, whatever.

Liminaut really hit the nail on the head - it doesn't necessarily matter how Mayoi was written out of the story; what matters is that she is conspicuously absent from the interlude focusing on Shizune's home/family life. This is the basis of the most popular interpretation of Mayoi. Most people hate Jigoro (a position I disagree with, but not one entirely unjustified). As a result, they tend to rationalise that Mayoi must be the "good parent." Since it doesn't speak well to "the good parent" that she doesn't appear at all during her daughter's Summer Break, they rationalise that she must have been unable to show up - which usually means dead.

So, many people who've addressed the question assume that Mayoi was a saint and simply too pure for this cruel world. No explanation on why someone so beautiful and pure would marry a werewolf asshole who eats Satan and worships babies (and have 2 kids), but that's a minor detail.

In the end, Mayoi could be the source of all that is good in Shizune and the only reason she's survived her father. Or she could be so terrible that Jigoro actually IS the "good parent." Or maybe she's an international spy and is always traveling the globe, but always made a point of making it to Shizune's ballet recitals. Speculation and guesswork of what might and might not be possible is half the fun.

[Atario]

Actually, it's all there in the text - you just have to read between the lines.

Sometimes I really love you, you know.

[Liminaut]

And now onto the rampant and unjustified speculation.

Mayoi has three buttocks.

First off, a bit of pure headcanon I have about Shizune's dad. He's a consultant, right? So what is he a consultant of? Do you remember the Men's Movement, Robert Bly, Iron John and all that? He's that kind of thing, except for Japan. He teaches men about the virtues of bushido and samurai philosophy, founded in relentlessly facing challenges. That's what he's doing with Hisao during their meetings -- intentionally pushing his buttons to see how he reacts. I suspect he admires his son for not giving in to the expectations of the world.

The big thing about Mayoi is that she isn't even mentioned. If she was a business traveler it would be natural for her to come up sometime during the conversation. "Oh hi, Hideaki. How's your mother doing?" "She's in East Saint Louis this week." That kind of thing. So, bringing up her existence must be problematic. I think that rules out still around but traveling. I think it mostly rules out divorce unless her leaving was so traumatic to make her unmentionable. It may have been traumatic enough to set JIgoro on his current path.

Death is the obvious way to have Mayoi not be around but not have her talked about; I wonder if there are other reasonable options.

<takei> Ohhhh Myyyy. <\takei> Between travelling, divorce, and death there is a fourth possibility. Sex change. If Mayoi changed her sex, I think that would be problematic enough to make her (him, now?) a rather delicate subject.

Especially if .... Maybe we are asking the wrong question. Maybe the right question isn't "where is Shizune's mom?" but "where is Shizune's dad?"

[Munchenhausen]

This topic is blowing my mind, one post at a time :O

[Potato]

due to rumors that she had driven at least one artist to suicide

Sae and Nomiya's old pal, perhaps?

[Liminaut]

One last thought on this.

Mayoi's name may be a substantial clue. It doesn't seem to be a standard Japanese name, and as near as I can tell translates as "stray" (anybody who actually knows Japanese is more than welcome to step in, of course). This indicates that she's still around, but has 'strayed' -- i.e., left the marriage. If that's the story, then her leaving must have been egregious enough that she doesn't even get mentioned.

[Mirage_GSM]

A quick search turned up only one reading of the name Mayoi: 真宵
This roughly translates as "true evening"

There is an anime named "Mayoi neko overrun" (迷い猫オーバーラン) where 迷 is used. In this context it really means (a)stray, but please note that this use is as an adjective and not as a name. All uses as a name I could find have the kanji 真宵

迷 can also have other meanings like ambivalence or, apparently, Guidepost.

That said, I don't think A22 put that much thought into the name he assigned Shizune's mother either way. To my knowledge he doesn't speak Japanese at all.

[Comrade]

Shizune's mother is Hitler's secret identity