The Emptiness of Masara
Reddit Post: [reddit]
Author: u/Genprey
Previous: The Self-Reflection of Rika
Related reading: The Fullness of Kokoro
Earlier I stated that I was going to start on the Another Daze girls, but uhh...here's what had happened:
While writing these, I do some sections simultaneously, in that I create drafts/jot down ideas whenever they come to me. Every so often, I delete the drafts of girls I have completed, and while watching Hololive being distracted, I accidentally deleted Umika's section instead of Hanna's. Fortunately, I have a back-up that was saved a bit earlier, but there's still a lot I need to re-do.
Masara and Kokoro's sections have actually been mostly completed since way back after I completed Ui's section, so I decided that, in order to keep some semblance of a consistent schedule, I'll go ahead and do the necessary touch-ups with these 2 before getting back with Umika. I have, of course, reflected upon my actions and vowed to never manage my storage while watching virtual reapers and sharks.
Masara Kagami, 16, Kamihama City...
Masara's trademark quality, as most know already, is her very reserved and cool personality. This makes Masara quite a difficult girl to understand at first, but as you look more into her design and words, a lot becomes very clear. *Clears throat* My pun there may be awful, but there is a purpose to it, in that it best describes Masara's appearance. To be exact, her transformed state consists of different blues, white, but most of all, translucency as we look at Masara's sleeves and skirt. Translucence/clearness is something that is most commonly associated with glass and crystals, things that Masara also sports on her appearance. Starting with glass, there are 2 factors that we will go over: fragility and the ability to reflect.
Masara is an attacker who, much to Kokoro's concern, would be considered a glass cannon. That is, Masara rarely tries to defend herself, as pain is something that is uncomfortable to her, but not always something she believes to be afraid of. In terms of fighting styles, Masara fights indirectly, turning invisible and striking while her enemies are confused or distracted. Gameplay-wise, Masara is also pretty thin-skinned, sporting lower defensive stats in favor of specializing in landing crits. Basically, Masara is a "glass cannon" in an almost literal sense.
Throughout the time Masara spends with Kokoro, we learn of a core weakness: while Masara lacks a degree of self-preservation, she is extra sensitive to any damage that threatens Kokoro. In a way, the damage Kokoro takes is reflected on Masara, much like how her image would reflect itself on a mirror. This is something that Masara does not understand, of course, but we, the audience, recognizes this feeling as altruism towards Kokoro*.* Individuals who are altruistic act selflessly and show concern for others (sometimes at the expense of their own selves), often because it makes them feel good.
Altruism can be considered a bit of a double-edged sword, in that some individuals perform selfless acts without any true feelings or, at worst, maniacally, such as how an individual might want to care for an animal by taking them in and away from an environment they thrive in to survive. Masara is a rather strange case, and while she appears to be a bit distant and cold when thinking of Kokoro (namely after they first met), her feelings are genuine and acts are of selflessness. Unknown to Masara, the ability to feel for others are one of the joys in life that she seeks.
As for why Masara seems to mainly demonstrate this around Kokoro, it's likely due to how forthcoming she is toward Masara, and this is something Masara also mentions liking Mitama for. To add to this, Kokoro is someone who genuinely confused Masara with how concerned of her well-being she is after they first met, making Kokoro a person who adds a bit of excitement and wonder to Masara's otherwise mundane life.
Crystals are a material that you can see right through. which, of course, matches Masara's ability and translucent appearance. Likewise, most crystals are pretty rigid materials, much like how Masara is a very difficult person get through to, with her being aloof to just about everyone, save for Kokoro.
Looking at Masara's design some more, we see a crystalized feather, something that's rather conflicting in meaning. Being extensions of birds, feathers are symbol of freedom, but since this particular feather has been hardened into a crystal, it's no good for flying. These things are very much opposites, but we might be able to interpret this as Masara's desire to break out of her hard casing. To support this, a recurring theme with Masara and Kokoro is the latter getting Masara to try new things. Masara, who tends to be rather formulaic, normally does the same routine things, but as we see in her swimsuit episode, she does end up becoming excited when trying new things--or at least more excited than her usual self. There's a lot more to this, but for now, we're going to hold onto this thought for when we cover Kokoro.
The Weight of Transparency
Moving on to Masara's magical girl ability, the power to turn transparent, something that might immediately come to mind are comparison's to Sana's invisibility. The two are similar, as something that is transparent appears invisible, however, something that is transparent is not always invisible and vice versa. To be specific, Masara's power allows for light to pass through her, although she is not invisible in the same exact sense of Sana, who also removes traces of her presence.
Further, the circumstances of both girls are very different, where Sana directly wished to be invisible, but Masara wished for money. While money does bring quality to our lives, it, alone, is something that is an empty object. We need it to live comfortably and enjoy certain hobbies, however, it is not a standalone source of excitement for us. This is something we see in Masara, who still feels boredom in her life despite the wealth she wished for.
With that in mind, one could consider this wish to be "empty", and as one would see when trying to look at Masara while using her ability, there is, instead, nothingness. As such, Masara's ability is a reference to her feelings of emptiness.
Emptiness is a human condition that is associated with such things as trauma, stress disorders, and depression, but as far as we know about Masara, she doesn't fit any of these all too well. The only thing we know about Masara's family life is that her parents got her into swimming and, based on one scene with her mother, they are supportive of her. For now, the origins of Masara's character (i.e. When she started feeling this way and any causes) are a mystery.
The Search for Something Spectacular
Adorning Masara's clothing are 4-pointed stars, which we can recognize as the Star of Bethlehem, otherwise known as the "Christmas Star". In Christianity, these stars marked a momentous event, the birth of Jesus. Looking at Masara's 4 star art, we can also see another rare and beautiful phenomenon, the "Northern Lights", and for those who have read my analysis on Rika, you might remember me describing this as a mythical event.
Both the Christmas Star and Northern Lights represent something spectacular, and things that Masara seeks. Coincidentally, Masara's base art appears rather bland and plain, with a dull, dark-colored background, but her 4 star art takes a complete 180, showing Masara in a more active pose in front of a scenery that consists of mountains, the Northern Lights, and being surrounded by crystals. Given the card art in Magia Record tend to represent a character's ascension, we can interpret Masara's progression as her finally having found something exciting and important in her life.
Throughout her MGS and home quotes, Masara brings up her hobby, swimming, and there's a few things to take from this. First, it is the act of swimming that Masara likes, rewards, accolades, and praise mean practically nothing to her, rather, she enjoys the tranquility after diving underwater. Being on a swim team, Masara swims in a uniform setting, where she wears the same competition swimsuit as her teammates and follows the same path in the pool.
To add to this, Masara describes the beach as something she isn't quite used to, once again making a reference to her mundane and enclosed life, with a pool being a contained place to swim and the ocean much more broad and unexpected.
Because of how connected Kokoro and Masara are, you can consider Kokoro's section as a continuation of Masara's. As such, we will be continuing where we are leaving off in "The Fullness of Kokoro", where I will be comparing and contrasting the two girls, something that's a lot easier said than done. I'm hoping to get Kokoro's up tonight before the madness from lotto farming fully consumes me.
