After reading Karino's past, I can totally understand his obsession with Azusa and, from m...

SangtaeHappiness February 7, 2020 8:23 pm

After reading Karino's past, I can totally understand his obsession with Azusa and, from my perspective, the whole base of the story. It's pretty obvious how Karino's character and his true-self are radically different from each other, being the first one the most fluid since it changes according to the surroundings around him. His family and the classmates he met before the caste game saw him as this introvert and silent child who needed a little punch to invest himself into society. Nonetheless, it's pretty much a mask that Karino made since, at the time, he didn't even know what he wanted because nothing excited him.
Now that he is the king, Karino is indifferent towards the power he has over his "subordinates". What can an unpassionate and insensitive guy do if he has no goals in his life? Nothing... If Azusa wasn't there. Azusa is the most normal and rational person in this story. Why? Outside of the fact that he is a jerk with zero intentions of making true bonds with people, he has never abandoned his true-self for the "expectations" of people or the sake of the game. Something that even Karino didn't do when he was the "wannabe".
Azusa is a jerk but he is a jerk with passion and desire of accomplishment, he wants his mother to have a better life. He has dreams, he has goals and he is smart enough to do it.
Azusa excited Karino, who can easily see through his "evil" king. Karino couldn't understand why Azusa wanted to make his character a dramatic version of himself nor the constant desire to make clear who is in charge. He wanted to see Azusa's true-self, not his vilify persona. What would be the point of confronting a made-up person when you are not interested in it anymore? Karino could only achieve it if he removed all the environment that uplifted Azusa's confidence, something that indirectly put Azusa in the same situation he has outside school: He is weak, he has nobody, he most get out of there and he needs to make sure that his mother doesn't get hurt.
Now, I think the plot is envolving in the "environment" that makes Karino discover what he really is and probably, how he loses it... All for the sake of the Caste Game. And chapter 29 proves me right apparently. Geez.

Responses
    BeepBopp February 7, 2020 9:46 pm

    Oh so when karino said that he wants to see Azusa when his facade breaks, he meant the facade Azusa got through being king?

    But now that Azusa is a target, it felt like he is just like that towards everyone. Theres no facade anymore. So i dont really understand what Karino was trying to uncover after making Azusa a target.

    SangtaeHappiness February 7, 2020 11:09 pm
    Oh so when karino said that he wants to see Azusa when his facade breaks, he meant the facade Azusa got through being king?But now that Azusa is a target, it felt like he is just like that towards everyone. The... BeepBopp

    Mmmm... It could be the case if we only take into account the caste game and not the ""romantic"" relationship between them, at least for me. As the king, it was expected for him to be in charge but he is the one who decided to be a tyrant because Azusa is not ashamed of the person he is. When he is the target, people expected him to follow his role and submit to them and as you said, he never did it.

    It's very different for Karino's case. He even said he enjoyed Azusa's face-crack after his betrayal, to point of the expressing how much he wanted to see that expression. http://www.mangago.zone/read-manga/caste_heaven/bt/243426/Ch1/34/


    Karino makes him suffer from the radical change of their power-dynamic and in many moments we see Azusa being submissive of it. Still, Azusa never breaks into dispair and he continues being himself, which the part that Karino liked even more than torture him (which is pretty sick lol). It's just a theory but that likeness he has for Azusa might be more important than his initial intentions, who knows

    BeepBopp February 8, 2020 5:01 am
    Mmmm... It could be the case if we only take into account the caste game and not the ""romantic"" relationship between them, at least for me. As the king, it was expected for him to be in charge but he is the o... SangtaeHappiness

    Some stuff are a bit unclear to me, but after talking with you, i think i understand more :

    I think that when Karino said he wants to see how Azusa is when his facade is broken. I think he meant how Azusa would be if he wasn’t a Tyrant. Maybe Azusa is naturally a better person but he somehow puts up an act (??) and this is what Karino wants to see(Azusa’s true self)?? Some characters (the ghost-card girl and i think Atsumu) said that Azusa is being softer than before so that might be Azusa’s facade slowly disappearing.
    Lol i’m not sure but this chapter made it clear that Karino is trying to achieve something right from the start about uncovering Azusa’s mask. And it’s more than just seeing the face he made in your link, because otherwise Karino would be done already.

    And of course the whole power play between Azusa and Karino is purely about sex. Karino pretend he is only interested in using Azusa, and Azusa needs needs to be *forced* to accept it. But they slowly starts to realise they like each other.