The limits, forever expanding. An in-depth interpretation into my understanding of SubaHibi’s events.
This article was originally written on 7/12/2015 on my old blog. I decided to transfer it over to this new site. This post is intended to be read by those who have finished the work, as it contains express spoilers for the whole work. This work is of an investigative nature, and as such, is subject to interpretation.
Back in late March, when I had written my review of SubaHibi, I had held SubaHibi analogous to an equation without a solution. That is to say, like a meticulous proof, SubaHibi had presented its many parts (each development, allusion and reference being among the many parts). These parts were in themselves very intelligible & fairly straightforward — they could be understood (indeed, each allusion’s role in the work is not only fairly obvious based on its context, but is explained in simple language; the plot, while complex, is comparatively ‘straightforward’ and grounded). After reading SubaHibi, my dilemma wasn’t in comprehending what I had just read (as I had understood each part as I read through them). Instead, I wasn’t sure what to make sense of what I did know (I understood the steps of the proof, but knew little in terms of synthesizing them, of ‘figuring out’ what it was all about). In other words, I didn’t know what the purpose of SubaHibi was. I had no idea as to what exactly the work was trying to show.Four months or so after having read the work, I’m still not that confident about my understanding of the work. But, I do believe that my understanding of the work is certainly better than it was before. I credit a great deal of this understanding to my conversations with Zealty/Ayana-san. Consequently, the interpretations found within this entry will closely match that discussed.
This entry will be split into several parts, each focusing on a particular part of SubaHibi. Roughly, we can split this entry up into two main parts:
1. An initial examination of what SubaHibi tries to convey, and how it conveys it. This part of the entry will concern primarily events explicitly shown within Subahibi.
2. A discussion of how SubaHibi facilitates what it does convey (i.e. the mechanics of the world of SubaHibi, or its domain of discourse). This part of the entry will concern greatly events from ‘Tsui no Sora,’ the predecessor to SubaHibi. This part of the entry will not be as straightforward as the first part (as a lot of this is from interpretation & from referencing an external work).
I’ve chosen to discuss each part of SubaHibi in this fashion because in doing so, we’ll be able to ‘understand’ what the work is trying to do from its most basic layer, to its more profound limits.
Due to the nature of the work, this entry will be rather long (negligibly above or below 5600 words). While I don’t anticipate any true conceptual difficulties with grasping the material, I can imagine that it’d be difficult to keep a tab of all that’s been discussed (both in terms of the raw information presented, and both, in the natural ambiguity or difficulty from reading comprehension). Nonetheless, I urge that the reader stay resilient, as SubaHibi is a complex work, whose brilliance as a work of fiction, and as a ‘masterpiece’ becomes all the more evident through it.
Whereas I had opened my review of SubaHibi by holding it analogous to an equation with a solution, through this entry, I hope to ultimately provide a possible solution to the purpose of SubaHibi. While I’m not confident that my interpretations of the work are for-certain correct, I’m confident that my ideas have some sort of reasonable grounding. If you have any objections, or suggestions, then feel free to note them (and I’ll make according edits). In any instance, without further adieu —
