now that episode eight is out... here's an analysis of mutsumi, mortis, and DID in ave mujica episodes seven and eight written by a DID system:

if you haven't already read it, check out this initial thread. it contains my analysis of episode 3 and links to the ep 4 and 5&6 threads: https://t.co/qkyIobZ09q

starting off episode seven, we find mortis fronting in her and mutsumi's bedroom. she is angry that sakiko is there and lashing out at everyone there. she asks if sakiko is even human before starting to imitate minami and the role she played in the film we saw in episode two.

mortis has already been very clearly proven to be an introject, and this is only more evidence. anon and sakiko both call attention to mortis imitating minami too. this is the first time mortis has started acting like minami, so she has now copied minami, sakiko, and soyo.

sakiko says that she was the one who made this happen to mutsumi. we as the audience obviously know this isn't true since episode three gave us a very clear image of how the system formed and why. sakiko is projecting her own insecurities onto mortis here.

right down to saying that mortis is just a doll that only knows how to copy others. sakiko struggles with her own sense of self and is projecting her fear of not being human onto mortis. this doesn't reflect on how mortis actually is since sakiko is a biased viewer here.

in the mirror scene, mortis is continuing to double down on doing what she thinks is best for mutsumi: keeping her away from sakiko. mutsumi wants to see sakiko since she is waiting outside the manor, but mortis believes that will only hurt mutsumi more and says no.

this leads to the book throwing scene where mortis shatters the mirror mutsumi is reflected in. i think it's an interesting note that mutsumi's voice is somewhat distorted and thick until she begins to reach through the mirror for mortis to take control of front.

but mortis obviously doesn't want mutsumi to front since she'll talk to sakiko, so she shatters the mirror. mutsumi and mortis continue to struggle for control after this though with mutsumi going out to speak with sakiko even as mortis wants to keep her away.

the two switch back and forth until sakiko hugs them. mutsumi wants to be with sakiko, and sakiko promises to look after her, but this scares mortis away, and she runs back into the mansion. mortis wonders if she's doing something wrong once she's inside.

mortis has always been the protector, and she clearly holds that role very close to her heart. the idea that she could be protecting mutsumi in the wrong way or not looking after her scares mortis greatly since in her mind, protecting mutsumi is all she has ever known.

mortis is listening in on sakiko, soyo, and taki's conversation later in the episode. she finally agrees to let sakiko see mutsumi after realizing that sakiko has reflected on her actions and changed. this was what was holding her back from accepting sakiko previously.

mutsumi is in control for the rest of the episode, making up with sakiko and the rest of crychic for them to do one last live performance. interestingly, mutsumi is one of only two characters alongside tomori who does not have a monologue during the reunited haruhikage...

and that reason is revealed in episode eight! there's a lot to talk about here. starting with the opening, we see mortis falling through an empty void of water, begging to not disappear as mutsumi and sakiko turn down umiri's offer to reform ave mujica.

this water imagery is really interesting to me personally because i have described dissociation as feeling like you're pushing through a thick layer of water. you're blocked off from the world by water, and it's not impenetrable, but it takes a lot of effort to break through.

so mortis is pushed away from front as mutsumi turns umiri down. if mortis had been in charge though, she would have said yes as she proves later in the episode. mortis is still aware of what is going on in front though, making her co-conscious even when not in full control.

co-consciousness is when another alter is aware of what the body is doing even when they are not fronting fully for themself. mutsumi and mortis seem to be co-conscious a lot of the time, and it makes a lot of their switches instant and seamless with very little dissociation.

when mortis shows up later on in the episode, she proves that even after she and mutsumi came to an agreement regarding sakiko, there's still tension between them. mortis no longer thinks sakiko is evil and horrible, but she and mutsumi still disagree on a lot of things.

sakiko has clearly come a long way though. she is able to recognize it instantly when mortis comes to front and calls her by name instead of wrongly calling her mutsumi. sakiko is accepting mortis as part of her and mutsumi's lives at last. her ableism arc is over! /j

mutsumi and mortis have conflicting desires on what band they want to be in. mutsumi has chosen crychic after the reunion performance (showing why she didn't have a monologue during episode seven) while mortis wants ave mujica to be their band instead.

the next sequence is spliced between mortis and minami both talking about the story of mutsumi and mortis' system. mortis begins by saying that the mutsumi sakiko thought she knew does not exist and never has, and this is a very common experience for systems.

the outside world thinks it knows what the system is like, but the facts are a lot messier. the mutsumi the world knows is not mutsumi as an individual alter but instead as a collection of the many alters (called "roles" here) that have made her up over the years.

so even though mutsumi exists as an alter, the world does not know mutsumi the alter. it knows mutsumi as the amalgamation of many alters who have both tried to mask as her and those who have given up on masking entirely. this is a clear sign of depersonalization.

and it's something we struggle with a lot too. we've written a lot of poetry talking about how we feel like nobody truly knows us because of how much masking and acting we have to do in daily life. it's a bit of a mind fuck to be so many people at once--

and have no one notice it. sense of self in systems is already unstable, and feeling like no one truly sees you for who you are is really hard. it feels in a way like you don't exist because nobody sees you as an individual but instead your ability to mask as an acceptable ideal.

minami gives her take on the situation to nyamu, and she has a very negative take on the situation. we saw from episode three that it was the trauma of being in the public eye essentially from birth and having no privacy or childhood that created mutsumi's system.

and minami was a large part of that. she is clearly neglectful given that she did nothing when mutsumi was spending her nights in the basement unable to sleep or when mortis was hiding away in her room having a psychotic episode for weeks if not a month.

minami is a huge part of the reason mutsumi has DID. DID often forms as a response to childhood trauma, and minami is neglectful on top of being stated to view her daughter as competition rather than as a child by yuzuki watase, mutsumi's voice actress.

minami believes her daughter is outclassing her as a better actor and projects this insecurity onto mutsumi when she was as young as three years old. minami claims this is when she saw that something was "off" about mutsumi beyond simple childhood mood swings.

but this isn't accurate at all. yes, mutsumi's "mood swings" have a lot to do with her DID, but symptoms of DID usually don't show up until later on. for example, we've had DID since forever, but our first big sign of symptoms came when we were eleven bodily. three is too young.

minami thinks of her own child as a monster even though she is quite literally the reason mutsumi is like this. mutsumi had to mask to survive the media circus she was put into from birth. maybe it was acting, but it was more importantly a survival mechanism.