Headscratchers / Kiznaiver

New Seven Deadly Sins

• Does anyone have any theory about the connection between the original Seven Deadly Sins and the ones Sonozaki points out? So far, I believe that Katsuhira's "The Imbecile" reffers to Sloth, Tenga's "Musclehead Thug" is Wrath, Yuta's "Cunning Normal" is Lust and Honoka's "High and Mighty" is Pride. This troper is confused about which sins Nico and Chidori represent, or if the new Sins have actually no relation at all to the old ones.
  • I guess they are not supposed to match the old ones.
  • Then they wouldn't be adaptations of the originals to modern days, but actually a full set of new sins.
  • I thought your guesses about which sin was which were pretty good but now I think Hisomu (immoral) is lust. Which leaves Greed, Gluttony and Envy for Yuta, Chidori and Nico.
  • Chidori is Greed for wanting Katsuhira, Yuta is Gluttony, formally fat and now he desires girls instead of food, and Nico is Envy, partly because that's all that's left, but it can fit too. She's envious of all the actually weird people, like Hisomu.
• Another more complete interpretation to the Seven Deadly Sins question could be that Katsuhira is Sloth, Tenga is Wrath, Yuta is Gluttony, Maki is Pride, Chidori is Envy, Nico is Greed, and Hisomu is Lust. This interpretation would also line up with their Seven Heavenly Virtue counterparts which go along with the Kiznaivers' character development by the end of the series:
  • Diligence: Katsuhira becomes the embodiment of Diligence rather than Sloth, as he slowly comes to decide that he wants to connect with others and become more concerned with himself. His development is subtle, but by the time we reach the Grand Finale it's clear that Katsuhira is a far cry from the unemotional and unfeeling kid he was at the initiation of the series, due to his own hard work and perseverance.
  • Patience: Patience is a virtue which combats Tenga's Wrath. Instead of resorting to solving every single problem with violence, Tenga learns to temper his volatile emotions with tact and consideration for those beyond himself during the climax of the show's final episode.
  • Temperance: Temperance usurps Yuta's tendency toward Gluttony. Throughout the series, Yuta becomes a rather selfless person who learns to see the depth in people and put their feelings first, rather than simply "collecting" attractive people to surround himself with.
  • Humility: Humility overcomes Maki's Pride. By the end of the arc surrounding Ruru, Maki finally finds the bravery within to let go of the appearances she's held up for years and allow herself to accept and heal from the wound that Ruru's death inadvertently left in her heart. By the end of the series, she also is willing to admit in spite of herself that she and the Kiznaivers have become friends.
  • Kindness: Perhaps one of the most dramatic changes is Chidori's jump from embodying Envy to embodying Kindness. She finally comes to terms with the fact that Katsuhira is falling in love with Sonozaki and that Katsuhira will have a romantic relationship with Sonozaki instead of her. In the final episode, in spite of how painful it is, Chidori decides that instead of torturing herself over her unrequited feelings, she wants to be there for her friend no matter what he decides to do or whether or not it directly involves her, as long as it makes him happy.
  • Charity: On a similar note, Nico comes to embody Charity instead of Greed by the end of the series. Nico could be considered "greedy" for either friends or attention at any given point throughout the series. However, these traits of Greed are showcased in Episode 9, where it is revealed that Nico has fallen in love with Tenga. In the scene where the Kiznaivers have their thoughts shared, Nico begs Chidori to "give Tenga to her if Chidori doesn't want him" in spite of the fact that Nico does wish for all of the romantic drama to end and for everybody to happily continue being friends. In following episodes however, Nico overcomes her selfish desire and takes on a selfless and "mature" outlook, even allowing Tenga and Chidori to continue to grow closer out of the kindness of her heart and a wish to see things become less awkward between Tenga and Chidori, in spite of Nico's own actual feelings towards Tenga.
  • Chastity: From his very entrance, it becomes clear that the word "Immoral" with regards to Hisomu is simply a placeholder for the sin of Lust. However, by the end of the series, Hisomu shows himself capable of actually being quite mature and insightful. During the right times, he learns to place his desire for stimulation on a back-burner in favor of understanding and supporting his friends, namely Katsuhira and at times Nico, which displays enormous growth for him as it shows that he has at least in part embraced the concept of Chastity.
• Another, less common interpretation in Fanon is to exchange Yuta's and Nico's sins/virtues, having Yuta embody the sin of Greed and the virtue of Charity, and having Nico embody the sin of Gluttony and the virtue of Temperance. The character interpretations, however, remain largely the same; the vocabulary is merely switched out.
  • Interestingly, this interpretation, despite being more fitting by definition, is probably less common due to the fact that Yuta stated to Maki that he used to eat a lot of junk food in middle school due to Parental Neglect, causing this along with his weight gain to be closely associated with Gluttony. Meanwhile, Nico's character and design are tightly associated with money and material possessions (according to Nico, her parents are rich), so she is therefore easier for some fans to mentally link with Greed.

Consent of the Kiznaivers

• The chosen participants are all forced into the system, but why not just get people who would volunteer? I get they might want to see people at their most earnest/desperate, but it's more ethical, and less likely to bite them in the ass should Kiznaivers choose to go rogue and try to sabotage the project.
  • I don't know why don't get consent, but I see that it had to be those people, because mostly, they don't even like each other, and making them friends would mean a real win to the Kizna System. Maybe they took it because they were the perfect fit, and the consent was secondary to the project.
  • Considering the nature of the experiment, it's safe to assume that preparations were made for any potential saboteurs.

Sugomori High School Class 2-A

• Why did the Kiznaivers all have to be from Class 2-A? It comes across as a bit too contrived to be a true case of Always in Class One, yet the logic behind the in-universe decision (if it was a decision) is never explained nor demystified. It makes sense that the project wanted to use subjects that were effectively polar opposites of one another, but what were the odds that they would all exist in the same class?
  • Perhaps Tenga's Hand Wave of the situation as a coincidence is valid, if not any less baffling.
  • In all fairness, it was probably because they were all in Yamada's class, a member of the Kizna Committee with easy access to students, although this is definitely glazed-over in the show.
  Urushibara: To think you would sell off your precious students.
  Yamada: They're your students, too.

The Absence of Parents

• All of the underage characters' parents are mysteriously absent or are mentioned but never shown on screen, but the most glaring instance of this is Noriko. She continues the Kizna Experiment with the help of two previous participants, the mayor, and countless others; she dedicates her life to this experiment and attempts suicide multiple times. Throughout all of this, she is shown to only be cared for by Yamada, Urushi, and the mayor; her parents are never even mentioned, let alone around. Which begs the question: Where are they?
  • It kind of makes you wonder, but in the end, it's never even spoken about.