While the format and release schedule of Enstars make it difficult to see a character’s arc as a continuous whole, when a new Ibara or Yuzuru story comes out, I always make an effort to consider it within the context of the couple stories immediately preceding it. For Ouroboros, those couple of stories were Absolute and Vs. Gladiator. So when they revealed it would be an Ibara centre about Cospro needing a new CEO, I was immediately thinking about how it would expand on Ibara’s issues surrounding coming into visible power from Absolute and his blatant display of visible power in Vs. Gladiator as a direct result of Jun triggering his abandonment issues. Then the MV showed him acting completely in control of every move of Eden with a twist of him readily relinquishing that control but still continuing to proudly stand front and centre.
So was the story at all about any of that? Sort of, for the first half at least. It began with Ibara struggling to find a successor to the chair of Cospro’s CEO. Initially he seemed like he had made up his mind about being the interim CEO, which was super uncharacteristic of him but it illustrated how he was out of options. Continuing with that could have made a straightforward “Ibara tries being the CEO despite hating the idea of having visible power, learns that he enjoys it” story but instead he quickly changed his mind and nominated Anzu as the interim CEO. A stellar blunder but again, continuing with that could have made a straightforward “Ibara hates the idea of having visible power so much that he makes his rival his boss, learns that he hates it” story. And as expected, every chapter following Anzu becoming the interim CEO showed Ibara growing increasingly more frustrated with not being the one in power.
Although the midstory monologue took an odd turn: Ibara trying to make sense of the conflicted feelings he was having about Anzu being the one in control of him and everything he has built, and how she was controlling it so masterfully that it was resulting in considerable financial returns. It was essentially “She is so good at this. Why am I mad that she’s so good at this?”. He even considers the possibility of him feeling inferiority against her prowess but quickly concludes that even if she’s better, she’s not so much better that it would put him at risk. Then just as he’s about to conclude that he’s probably having a hard time accepting that he could grow bigger and faster if he wasn’t multi-track drifting being an idol and a producer, he gets a private phone call.
So, to wrap up, the first half of the story was all about Ibara losing power, being put in situations he didn’t want to be in, even being forced to relive his near-death experience with Nagisa by going skydiving... and it concluded on him feeling conflicted that, he might not be acting optimally efficiently by insisting on being an idol and a producer at the same time? And he considers he might be more successful as just an idol? When his entire justification for being an idol was that he had inherited this producer position and being an idol at the same time would give him an edge through having first hand experience being on stage?
But we’re only halfway through the story. Perhaps he was right the first time, perhaps his issue was actually that he was feeling inferior. Perhaps neither is correct and he was just trying to find excuses for how he hates having put himself in this position for the sake of staying in the shadows...
Except the remainder of the story never addresses this and the new protagonist is that phone call.
Long story short, it turns out Ibara is involved with a secret society called Ouroboros from Godfather’s time. As out of place as this is with the first half and feels like just a diversion, I’m stoked to hear this. You see, Akira couldn’t have guessed this but there’s a guy from halfway across the world who has been obsessed with Ibara since the day he was born and they just so happens to have a personal attachment to not just any secret society but The secret society as far as the western world is concerned.
But what I couldn’t have guessed is that Akira would write this lore through a Japanese lens that conflates secret societies with cults and suddenly he was spitting directly in my family’s face. The story is no longer about Ibara losing power or feeling inferior or anything but how Eden must rescue Ibara from Ouroboros, by going behind him in true Eden fashion.
Honestly, I kept hoping that this wasn’t a commentary on Akira’s part but just him writing Eden sans Ibara as bigots like he has in Absolute (which is one of my fave scenes with Ibara calling them out on their bigotry). But it only got worse from there. Putting aside the whole “Eden conspiring against Ibara to save him against his wishes” thing, the story just kept getting worse in its portrayal of Ouroboros with Eden receiving sus phone calls, going through a minor collective psychosis and then Jun getting injured on-stage. Thankfully that last one was an honest to god accident, because I couldn’t have handled Ibara intentionally injuring his allies.
Then, as if the story hadn’t completely shifted its focus from Ibara’s feelings of oppression to him being in a secret society: Enter Yuzubara flashback.
At this point I had no idea what the flashback would be about because the story itself was all over the place with its theme and message, if it had one. Just like Wonder Game had given me the best Yuzubara scene to date, following the worst Eden (Adam) scene to date, this flashback turned out to be a goldmine of Ibara lore in an otherwise trainwreck of a story: It revealed that Yuzuru was directly responsible for the qualities he now criticises in Ibara. It showed that Yuzuru had literally taught Ibara that if he wishes to be successful in this life he has to always stay on top by stepping on others, that he must use people to drive his success and that he must be so superior that he cannot be messed with. And the worst of all, he says all this in response to finding out that Ibara was secretly doing back breaking labour for pocket change.
So now this story has gone through three separate phases: Ibara coping with losing power, Ibara being involved with a secret society (which is portrayed as something evil) and Ibara learning that being evil is essential for success.
But which one of these themes end up being the final point of the story? Kind of neither. It all converges on that odd midstory monologue.
The final reveal is that Ouroboros used to be a secret society in Godfather’s time but it fell into disarray and Ibara built it back up just as he’s done with everything he inherited from Godfather. And now it is in fact a charity.
I felt like screaming “Newsflash, asshole! Secret societies were charities this whole time!”
But putting Akira’s ignorance aside, the point was that Ibara was secretly doing charity for orphans and he really wanted that to stay a secret. He promises to stop hiding things from Eden for the 2nd time in this story and the 22nd time overall, then gets a stage monologue about how being an idol who is also a producer is what makes Ibara Saegusa brilliant. He sings Enkan no Refraction and the story is over.
So what the fuck did this story even say? Ibara secretly does charity. Even though we have already known Ibara secretly does charity? Even though it has long been established that Ibara financially supports artists, emotionally supports his allies and runs a whole after school class for those with learning differences? Why did this story pretend like it hasn’t long been established that Ibara’s moral indifference goes both ways: He will be evil if he needs to be but he will as easily be benevolent if that’s the path to easier success. Wasn’t this the entire point him doing a full 180 on his public persona in his second SS and even changing his assault based catchphrase to a love based catchphrase, keeping that for months in-universe (and for years irl) then going straight back to his warlike persona the moment charity became disadvantageous in Gladiator.
For the longest time I was afraid that Akira would one day write an OOC Ibara story but this might just be the second worst thing to that: The narrative pretending like Ibara being perfectly in-character is him actually being OOC.
Part of me is excited beyond words to learn that Yuzuru is responsible for Ibara’s evil girlboss personality when he’s perfectly capable of being good and as of Last Mission, with a vocal yearning for being dominated himself. The other part of me is disappointed that this was such a scattered story with a lukewarm conclusion. Meanwhile a whole different part of me is furious that Akira wrote Ibara secret society lore while simultaneously misrepresenting the whole concept.
I have given a lot of thought to how I can squeeze something sensible out of such a scattered story as this. Essentially I have been trying to explain how the first half that was all and only about Ibara gradually losing power connects to the latter half that was mostly about Ibara secretly doing charity and I think the answer is in the Yuzubara flashback (which is arguably the most out-of-place part of the story). Just as the monologues are about Ibara wondering if he should be insistent on being two things that are each other’s counterparts and antitheses as far as the worldbuilding of Enstars is concerned and consequently deciding that he is Ibara Saegusa exactly because he excels in being both at the same time, I think the flashback of Ibara learning to be evil and domineering from Yuzuru can be similarly paired up with him acting charitable without expecting (or even wishing) a return or recognition. As much of a mess as this story was, I will go ahead and say it not only made a point of Ibara thriving as both sides of the producer-idol coin but also the benevolent-malevolent coin. Perhaps it isn’t even a coin in his case but a continuous surface like his stone Mobius strip.
After reconciling with the writing of this story a little, I immediately wrote a new fic connecting lore from SS, Last Mission and this new flashback (unpublished as of writing this). I think learning that Ibara yearns to be dominated by someone who has his safety in mind when he has learned from the only person who has his safety in mind that he must always be the one dominating to be safe... it made the power dynamic of Yuzubara come full circle, not unlike the Mobius strip on the Ouroboros stage.
I think from Wonder Game to SS to Ouroboros, Akira just has a gift for writing Ibara stories that simultaneously frustrate me and deliver the best Yuzubara scenes.
Additionally, I don’t care what Akira thinks of secret societies, my futurefic Ibara now has her apron from an American lodge in addition to her long hair and title as the CEO of Cospro.
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~ Yuzubara Emissary
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