- Aug 23, 2023
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I agree to an extent, but there is a danger in this sort of story where so much is already unreliable to make your reader view things people straight up reveal as unreliable as well. One might end up falling into a sort of solipsism of meaning where you can only trust what you see, but since Akira isn't realiable either then there's no meaning to be found anywhere.I'm honestly of a mind to say that whenever any given character is speaking about another character's past or motives, to assume the speaker is unreliable. Bias and agendas are abundant here, and just because a character says something (even when well-intentioned) doesn't mean they actually know what they're talking about. Especially where the memory of children is involved.
I'd go with assuming people having an agenda and biases to what they say, rather than straight up lying (unless it's hinted that they are). For instance, I don't think Noriko lied once about what she said about the past/Maya. Whereas I know for sure Maya lied a lot, and might have hid even more information.
There is a final piece to this in that they're not real people. Selebus chose to tell his story through unreliable means, but on the same token, all characters are mediums to one single narrator which is himself - so all of them know what they're talking about when he wishes them to know what they're talking about - in order to convey to the reader another fragment of the lore when it's appropriate. I personally haven't found much misinformation that was conveyed through characters about other characters that I recall (not ones that weren't apparent they're just guesses from the start at least).