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Shion's childhood/life

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Ahiku:
The random No. 6 talks thread inspired me to think a bit about Shion's childhood... or his life in general. o.o
And I'd like to discuss it with you guys. :3

The question is... do you think that Shion is happy? That he was happy?
I think he was kinda happy when he lived in the West Block and discovered a completely new life... a free life.

Nezumi is imprisoned by his hatred and his wish for revenge... that's why he can't be free. But he's at least free in the end and he was free when he was a small child.

In contrast to Nezumi, Shion was always in a cage. Like a lab rat. The city didn’t protect him; it kept him as a specimen. Giving him everything he would need was just a part of their experiment and finding gifted children and people was an important point... they just wanted his brain and it was important that he kept healthy and safe until they needed him.
(Of course they also needed other specimen, but yeah, it's nevertheless important to separate the wheat from the chaff in order to collect different data and analyses etc.)

The city brainwashes their people; everyone has to be happy and satisfied, since they live in such a great environment. But it's a very empty, "fake" environment. Just look at Shion's room in Chronos (especially in the anime, since the novel doesn't tell us that much about it.) It looks like a bureau; it’s not snug at all. A desk, awards, high-tech stuff for learning, nonfiction. He’s just 12, so he can’t have a coffee maker yet, huh? But at least he can make a cup of cocoa. He has no toys, there’s nothing left from his early childhood... (apart from the crib Shion's father made for him...the crib Karan brought secretly to Lost Town...) But apart from that they just don't have much stuff which really belongs to them.
He doesn't seem to have a stuffed animal or another toy that’s nostalgic to him. What is he even doing in his free time? Learning? Watching videos about how to suture bullet injuries?  Are there playgrounds in the city? They are not mentioned, but also not shown in the visual media, apart from the old playground in the West Block. I dare to say that Chronos is not suitable for children at all. XD Most of the elite children are snobbish and won’t make good playmates. I think that Lili, who was born and raised in Lost Town, is a happier child than those kids who live in Chronos. Even if they are poor, I could imagine that she has toys at home. I could imagine that Renka made a sock puppet for her, or that Getsuyaku carved some wooden toys when he had one of his rare days off. And Nezumi – well, I think you can’t compare Nezumi and Shion’s childhood at all, but I think the first four years of Nezumi’s childhood were very happy. He had a lot of time to play outside, he sang and danced with his mother and enjoyed the forest and its gifts, whereas Shion already had his part in that achievement-oriented society in which he became an elite of the elite... and in which he was the one who provided the family...kind of. But Shion's studies are the cause why his family receives welfare. Kids there could survive without parents as long as they are smart enough to go to school. I bet the city would provide them a maid robot or something like that. ^^° And they would live alone in a huge villa.

Shion is just lucky that he has found a true friend in such a fake city like Chronos... And that he has a mother who loves him more than anything else. Otherwise, Shion lived like a little adult with a lot of responsibilities. Too many for such a young boy.  (Okay, Nezumi's life is not much better... but...it's different. Yeah, you can't really compare it. He had books, robots, a piano... but he was starving, was confronted with a lot of violence...in the end he really lived his life and it's exciting, whereas Shion's life is monotonous and maybe even kinda pointless. ^^°)

Well, and when he lived in Lost Town and Karan started to work, Shion also started to work in the Park Administration so that he could pay his tuition fees. ^^° Even though it's not really hard work, it's actually not much fun at all... Just school and work and it's not even something he's interested in, it's just something he has to do.
He didn’t have time for being a child and he didn’t have time for being a teenager. I think that’s also why he enjoyed living in the West Block so much. :D He could finally do whatever he wanted to do… Read fiction, enjoy plays, play with the mice and dogs, hang out with friends, sleepovers and in the anime they even had a snowball fight and they were on the playground. He enjoyed washing the dogs and reading to the children.
He had finally time to be easy-going, despite all the dangers… ^^° He had time to discover emotions and so many things he should have already known and experienced...
He never had enough time for a free development of his personality. He could not do what he really wants to do. And when Nezumi is gone, it's not better at all. Nezumi is free and is doing whatever he wants to do, but Shion has to stay... and again, he has too many responsibilities. He's just 16 and is supposed to change the entire city, because Nezumi, Safu and the doctor want it like that. I mean, I understand their wishes, but neither of them thought about Shion or his well-being. ^^° Or about his wishes. It's not his goddamn city and it was not his fault that it turned out like that. He has nothing to do with it.

When he told Nezumi that he would like to come with him, I thought it was the first time he really knew what he wanted to do. Stationary, my ass. XD I bet he doesn't care... I mean when he talked to Fura, he said that he doesn't care about the city and that he doesn't want to go back there... he just misses some people there.
I don't know why Nezumi tells him something like that. ^^° Shion is so curious, I bet he really would like to see more of the world, but again, he's imprisoned... this time by vows and his own guilt. Nezumi freed himself from his bonds, but he shackled Shion instead. (.__.)

What do you think about this topic?

Weisel:
I realize now in the other topic when I said Shion was a "pampered prince" that it could be taken as "he was spoiled with everything he wanted." But I consider exactly what you described as being a "pampered prince." He has everything provided to him, but he has no freedom. And I agree with everything you said about his childhood. He has a lot of responsibility and is basically a tiny adult. Heck, even his bed is adult-sized.

He likes breaking the rules, like in the novels when he speeds on his bike. How much you wanna bet that moment he zoomed down the hill in the anime was one of the rare moments he felt any form of exhilaration? And then a storm and Nezumi and sewing up wounds... All very exciting when he's had the same dull schedule of learning his specialty subject. It's no wonder he had that "scary look" on his face when he gets to stitch up Nezumi. Maybe part of helping Nezumi was for the sake of breaking the rules.

I'd say one thing I disagree with is that he had no part in the downfall of No.6. He did aid Nezumi in destroying stuff... Even if his personal mission was just to save Safu. But I do think that was part of his guilt that made him stay. And then he falls back into the pattern of doing work he doesn't want to do all day instead of living life, though this time it's driven by guilt instead of simply having nothing else to do.

Ahiku:
Ah, yes, I thought you mean "pampered prince" in that way... in a more "positive" way, that he got everything he wanted. But that's right, you can also use this term in another sense. o.o
I always think Nezumi uses the first version when he calls Shion like that, because Shion had "everything" while Nezumi had nothing, but he never thought about Shion's situation at all. Apart from telling him ****... like that he's ignorant and that he doesn't believe him, because he half-heatedly pledged allegiance towards the city. He doesn't think at all...otherwise he'd probably know that the city would kill Shion rather sooner than later. ^^° Or...I bet he knew and yet...he dares to use it against him. God, Nezumi's behavior makes me so angry.

(His bed is huge! So huge that six little Nezumi and Shion's could sleep in it. >,<)

Oh, yeah, of course he had his part in regard to No. 6's downfall. I didn't mean it like that. :3 I meant that it was not Shion's fault that No. 6 became like that in the first place. It's not his personal city, and even though he was at fault that the government fell, it's not his task to eliminate the mistakes of the adults who leaded No. 6... or the adults who didn't do anything against it and just lived their boring, monotonous life without asking questions, without thinking... They were the ones who really were ignorant.
I think he did more than enough for the city. He risked his life and he damaged his mental health forever. He has to life with a guilt that will last for the rest of his life.
He doesn't owe that city at all... ^^°

kare_reiko:
Yes, I think that calling Shion "stationary" was one of those stupid moments of Nezumi's thinking about Shion. I bet Shion would be happy to travel over world just as Nezumi as long as Nezumi would be beside him, and maybe there was a possibility to contact Karan from time to time. From that point of view it's stupid.
If not Safu's and Doctor wishes, if not his mother, I bet that Shion wouldn't stay in NO.6 after ending.

And what you have pointed Ahiku, Nezumi didn't had normal childhood since his family was killed, but Shion wasn't nether. We hear that Karan read to little Shion some books, but those wasn't legal. All Shion have ever read was educational books.
And what I myself think. both Nezumi and Shion were pushed into roles of adults too soon.
I always was wonder how Nezumi handle living in West Block before he got his role at theater. But Shion? He always only learned for sake of city, he was raised to be perfect civilian for city's sake. When he was lost his privileges, he had to work to even learn for city's sake.
I think time with Nezumi in west block was only time he was truly happy and could figure out who he is and how he reacts to things around him.
Shion's mixed emotions from being emotionless to acting in anger after seeing what city has done was after effect of the way he was raised.
His personality just started to shape in time of those six months of freedom. City raised him to not feel, not looking at others else than through biology and science books, he was tough to react that way by the city's system so he reacts like this in time when he can't handle things he saw in CF.

And good thing that was pointed. Shion again is pushed into role of adult at 16 years old. Who push kid into ruling a city, no matter how much IQ he has? It's worst that Nezumi and Safu could done for Shion. He's just damn 16 year old, if city wasn't destroyed then he should go on dates with Nezumi, they should watch TV, take walks, read books, listen to music and watch TV or go to theater, go to school, met with other people... Just normal things not fixing a mass murdering city... :/
I know that it's japan/anime story where teenagers usually  save the world, but in reality this is too much for kids like them to handle.
   
                   

lawlya:
I don't have much to add (instead saying Amen to, like, every paragraph) but I think what Nezumi might have mistaken as "stationary" in his really twisted opinion of Shion is: Shion isn't bound to No.6 because everything he missed were the people dear to him (minus those moments under extreme stress when he wished for the "easier" life in No.6 - that doesn't count).
So instead of calling him "stationary" meaning a place you could rather say Shion needs a person. Shion seeks his home in people he loves (and frankly, he chose Nezumi and Nezumi left, ha ha).

But yeah, Shion had to grow up far too fast with far too much responsibility on too thin shoulders. It's not like Nezumi had much of a childhood either but ... he was only responsible for himself.


--- Quote from: Ahiku on December 07, 2015, 06:57:53 am ---Apart from telling him ****... like that he's ignorant and that he doesn't believe him, because he half-heatedly pledged allegiance towards the city. He doesn't think at all...otherwise he'd probably know that the city would kill Shion rather sooner than later. ^^° Or...I bet he knew and yet...he dares to use it against him. God, Nezumi's behavior makes me so angry.

--- End quote ---

God, yes. Like, what should he have done? Not pledge allegiance? Did Nezumi really want him to be an outcast even earlier? I think the one thing he blamed Shion for was closing his eyes and not doing anything - not even trying. But ... Nezumi didn't know about Yoming. Was Shion - poor little child!Shion - meant to start a revolution?

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