MizuEna And The Love They Share

 What does it mean to love someone? There's many types of love. Platonic, romantic, familial etc. But when you take two characters who very clearly love each other very deeply and can't completely place what type of love they share, how do you quantify that? Mizuki and Ena share a love with each other which is unique to them. Their love goes above anything that I've mentioned because the way they love each other can't just be simply quantified with words. I've wanted to write about these two and their relationship for a while. Also note this isn't a shipping essay, I'm not about to argue that "MizuEna is canon" or anything but what I want to do is show everyone why these two characters and their relationship with each other means a lot to me. And one more note, I will be using they/them pronouns for elementary and middle school Mizuki and she/her pronouns for high school Mizuki. So, without further ado, let's begin.

To understand their relationship we first need to understand the characters. Ena is this strong willed person who speaks her mind and tries her best to care for the others around her. And Mizuki is this outgoing person who presents herself as if nothing is wrong. But deep down she's keeping something a secret. Let's wire it back a little. Mizuki with the support of her family, mainly her sister, is shown to like feminine things. In elementary school they decide to wear feminine clothes to school but they get called weird by their classmates. Mizuki is upset by this but the support from their sister gives them the strength to keep expressing themselves the way they want to. Fast forward to middle school and we see Mizuki wearing the male uniform. Unfortunately Mizuki would continue to get bullied for their interest in feminine things therefore they reverted back to wearing the male uniform. You can tell that Mizuki isn't happy with their current circumstances. A good word to describe Mizuki at this time in their life is apathetic. They seem to be aimless and without any direction. They had the comfort of watching their favourite anime and editing videos but even then their favourite anime finished airing and they questioned how long they could continue having fun editing videos. Mizuki's sister will also be leaving to go to France so the two won't be able to talk as much as before. It just seems that at this point, Mizuki is continuing to lose things that are dear to them, the one friend they had from middle school graduated too so they're all alone at school and the comments that people make about them continue too. Everything at this point was super overwhelming for them to handle which leads them to thinking that it might be easier to disappear. Ena at this point is also struggling. She had her Dad say she has no talent and no resolve to become an artist, she had her art teacher heavily criticise her and she ran away from her art classes and she wasn't able to get into art school because she failed the entrance exam. This leads her to spiral with her art and she continues to question whether or not she is good enough. She really struggles with her art and feels hopeless that anything will ever get better. This also leads her to thinking that it'd be better if she disappears. So, basically at this point, we have two characters who are in very vulnerable states. But it's due to their struggles and their vulnerable states that they end up meeting each other. They both listen to Kanade's song and they both have an emotional reaction to it. They manage to form an emotional connection to this song that Kanade made, so much so that Ena draws something based on it and Mizuki took Ena's illustration and made a video with it. The two managed to meet through their shared pain because they both felt an emotional connection to this song. Mizuki ends up using Ena's art without asking so before they uploaded it, they asked Ena if it was okay to use. Ena is fine with it and she even felt glad that Mizuki used it, it showed Ena that someone out there does care about her art and that made her happy. Kanade asks the two to make another song with her, this is also where they meet Mafuyu. The two agree and work together on another song with the other two. It was the first time these two worked together on a song as before they only worked separately and there were a lot of growing pains. Ena interpreted the new song differently to Mizuki therefore the illustration that Ena drew wasn't what Mizuki imagined. Ena drew someone who was screaming because to Ena a lot of the way she personally gets her emotions out is through yelling and venting her frustrations. Mizuki's interpretation was someone who didn't have the energy to scream anymore because at this point Mizuki was fed up with all the comments they got, losing things dear to them so as a result became apathetic. You can see here that the interpretations they had reflect them as people at their current moment. Mizuki acknowledges this when they say that neither interpretation is right or wrong, it's just that they both lived separate lives up until this point so it would make sense for them to come to a different conclusion. Mizuki has the idea to combine both of their interpretations into one idea which also leads to them working as a unit. You can see here that they're both learning to be more comfortable around each other which makes it easier for them to work together. After finishing their work, Kanade offers them to join but Mizuki isn't sure so decides to think about it. Mizuki is scared of committing to working with them because if they do, they might lose them too. Mizuki has already lost so much and they've already tried to put themselves onto the path that they really wanted to walk. But walking that path lead to pain and suffering so they decided to stray from it. But as their sister says, Mizuki does care about something again. You can tell they want to continue working with the others and they're only hesitating because they're scared of being hurt again. But their sister gives them the push they needed so as a result, Mizuki decides to walk this path one more time.

When Mizuki enters high school her appearance is completely different. She's decided to express herself the way she wants to. But she's still afraid of telling the others about herself and decides to keep her identity a secret from the others. Mizuki acknowledges that everyone still doesn't know much about each other so she decides to invite everyone for a day out. She takes them to haunted spots and mainly it is just niigo on a day out. They do go to these spots to try and help Kanade with her composition but really Mizuki just wanted to spend some time with the others. And I think that says a lot about Mizuki as a character. She's met these new people and she wants to hold them as close to her heart as possible but deep down she knows that at any moment she could lose them. The girls see this beautiful cherry blossom tree and Mizuki was about to say she'd like to see it again next year but she couldn't bring herself to say it. She thinks that if the others learn her secret then everything will fall apart. She loves spending time with these people as evidenced by the fact that the year previous, she didn't care about seeing some cherry blossom trees but now that she's together with everyone, seeing the cherry blossoms feels so much more meaningful for her. On the train ride home Mizuki is the only one awake as everyone falls asleep. And she continues to think about the fact that at some point she may need to tell the others her secret. And that fear creeps back onto her, what she didn't know is that Ena was like half awake but even then she noticed something about Mizuki in that moment. Ena has a sharp eye for these types of things and even something like that made her begin to worry about Mizuki. Ena does ask if Mizuki is okay but she's able to brush Ena off because everyone was tired and wanting to go home. But this didn't sway Ena.

Ena would continue to worry about Mizuki. And this leads her to talking to Airi and Shizuku about her. Airi and Shizuku have the idea that maybe Mizuki would open up if it wasn't Ena who was asking so they decide to go on a picnic. Airi and Mizuki end up being alone together and it's here where she tells Mizuki that if something is bothering her, she could talk to Ena about it. This is because Ena is someone who truly does care about the people around her. In middle school people were talking about Airi behind her back and Ena stood up for her. Ena isn't trying to get Mizuki to talk because she's only curious or anything, she wants her to talk because she's truly worried about her. Mizuki catches on that this is what Ena wanted but she acknowledges that Ena is worried about her and as a result Mizuki can tell that Ena cares a lot about her. And Ena still won't let this go. Mizuki invited niigo to go out again but none of them are able to go but Ena is so worried about her that she decides to cancel the plans she had with her mother so go out with Mizuki. They do their usual shopping spree and spend time with each other. And to Ena whatever was bothering Mizuki seemed to be gone now. Ena goes to the restroom but on her way back to her she again notices that something is bothering Mizuki. Ena immediately confronts her but she gets brushed and Mizuki runs off. Ena at this point doesn't know what to do, she's worried sick about her but she can't get anything out of her. When she was in the sekai, she noticed that Luka and Meiko were talking about Mizuki so she decided to ask Meiko for help. But what Meiko tells her catches her off guard. In this instance, talking could make things worse and watching over her may be a better solution. Ena realises that Mizuki isn't going to tell her now. So, she tells Mizuki that she'll wait as long as she needs to. She will wait until Mizuki is ready to talk because she understands that forcing her into talking or continuing to try and make her talk isn't going to help. Ena is willing to put aside all of her worry for Mizuki, Ena even says she's not a patient person so waiting isn't something she usually does but she understands that giving Mizuki the time and space to eventually feel comfortable with talking is what's best for her at this moment in time. Mizuki on the other hand feels as though she won't ever be ready to tell Ena. She thinks to herself "I lied to her" after saying that she'd tell her when she felt ready. And it's not like Mizuki is saying "I will never tell ever no matter what" but more of a feeling that she has. She thinks there will never be a point in her life where she'll be able to tell Ena because again she is scared of losing her and the others.

At some point in the story Mafuyu runs away from her home and lives with Kanade. But at some point Mafuyu makes the decision to try and move forward. Mizuki sees this and decides maybe it's time for her to move forward too. Maybe it was time to tell Ena about her secret. And that's the conclusion that she ends up coming to. At this point the Kamiyama High School festival is happening so it's been about a year since Ena said she'd wait. But Mizuki is still finding it difficult to even tell Ena she wants to talk about it. She's still scared of being rejected by her. But what she's also scared of is Ena's and the others' kindness. Although being treated with kindness is good, it'd mean she'd still be being treated differently. The others may interact with her differently and their relationship changing is something else that also scares her. Mizuki finds the courage to tell Ena she wants to talk about it, she wants to do it during the cultural festival because in her mind, this could be the last time she can spend time with the others like usual. Which is why seeing niigo spend time together this time is especially impactful. We watch them have fun with each other as they usually would but we also have this thing hanging over us where we know we might not see these 4 together like this ever again. When the cultural festival ends an intense feeling of worry and anxiety overcomes us. It's over now, everything could change and niigo may never be the same again. The two head to the roof but suddenly Mizuki needs to help another student, so Ena heads to the roof alone. When she's there she admires the sunset but suddenly a group of students come onto the roof. Ena gets a bad vibe and wants to leave but one of the students begins talking to her. They say things like "we saw you hanging around with Akiyama" "are you also like a guy or something" "I was thinking you were an ordinary girl." Ena is caught off guard, she questions what they meant by "ordinary" but as her mind spins she eventually realises. Mizuki was going to talk to her about this. Mizuki sees this happen, she sees Ena's face and she runs off. Mizuki knows that Ena isn't disgusted by her, she's just surprised but even then, Mizuki can't bring herself to face Ena. That kindness that would be shown to her, she feels it'd be too overwhelming. So, she runs away again. This whole sequence of events really hurt to watch. Mizuki apologises to Ena about not telling her sooner and it's so sad she feels the need to apologise. Because this shouldn't have happened, she deserved to tell Ena herself. It's not her fault that at the point she felt ready some assholes decided to out her. But it hurts knowing that Mizuki feels as though she wronged Ena in some way. Ena in this scenario was of course surprised at what she learnt. Ena just would've preferred if she heard it from Mizuki's own mouth, she's caught off guard because she isn't expecting to learn Mizuki's secret in this way, the face she makes isn't a disgusted face as some people may try and argue because if Ena was actually disgusted with Mizuki she wouldn't have even chased her to begin with. But Ena cares a lot, she cares so much about Mizuki. To her it doesn't matter, she loves Mizuki so much and something like this would never bring Ena into pushing her away.

Ena will always care about Mizuki no matter what. Ena finds it difficult to even draw because all she's thinking about is Mizuki and what happened that day. She's thinking about if she could've done anything different or something else and in that way maybe Mizuki would still be with everyone now. Ena feels regret about what happened and doesn't want to leave the way things are. She asks around to see if Mizuki has come to school but she of course hasn't been. She asks one Mizuki's friend An if she's been contacting her and An has been but Ena doesn't want An to contact her on her behalf because what if Mizuki starts avoiding An? She runs into Rui and he tells her that the Mizuki from before may have fully shut herself off but it's acknowledged that the outcome that has happened isn't something she'd have wanted. Even Meiko is saying that Ena should talk to her which shows how dire the situation is. Meiko always has stood on the sidelines so for her to want to take action is important. Ena eventually can't hide what's going on from the others in niigo. She tells them what's going on but doesn't tell them about Mizuki's secret. This shows that Ena really does care about Mizuki. Any doubt in our minds on whether or not at the time she was surprised or disgusted at what she learnt about her have vanished. Because Ena knows that telling other people about something someone wants to keep hidden would be cruel, so as a result it really shows how much Ena cares about Mizuki. Ena gets the help from everyone at niigo in order to see Mizuki again and Mafuyu learns from Toya that Mizuki may need to take supplementary classes due to her poor attendance. So, the others act on this information and wait to see if Mizuki shows up. Ena gets the feeling that she won't show up and remembers a store Mizuki likes so if she doesn't go to school she might end up going there. And...she was right. She finds her. But Mizuki tries running again but Meiko snaps her out of it, she tells her that if she runs, it could be the last chance she'll see Ena again. Mizuki stops running and her hearing that it could be her last chance to see Ena was the reason why. Mizuki deep down doesn't want to run, she doesn't want to lose Ena or even the others. But the agonising feelings that she has are hurting her badly so she thinks the best solution is to run. It's just the fact that there is a part of her still holding on to the others that allows her to face Ena properly. Ena tells her everything she's been feeling, the regret she's felt over what happened but to Ena, Mizuki is Mizuki and nothing will change that. She's her precious friend and despite learning something new about her, it doesn't matter because Mizuki will always be Mizuki. Mizuki finds it difficult to accept Ena's words. The thoughts spiralling in her head, she keeps thinking that it's difficult to accept everyone's kindness, she keeps thinking that if Ena hangs around with her people will start gossiping about Ena too. But Ena, she doesn't care about being shit talked. For Ena, the pain of losing Mizuki would be far worse than anything. Mizuki questions if it's okay to stay friends but Ena says that there isn't such a thing about it being okay or deserving to be friends because Ena's feelings haven't changed. Ena doesn't want to lose Mizuki under any circumstance and Mizuki finds it hard to be friends because she doesn't want to be in pain anymore or feel anything unbearable. Mizuki stays friends with Ena despite those feelings because she's the same as Ena, she doesn't want to lose her. So, they stay together, holding hands as they reconcile and cry together due to the overwhelming emotions that have impacted them.

So, again, what does it mean to love someone? Love is that overwhelming feeling of not wanting to let go, it's that pain you feel when you feel when you're losing grasp and it's the overwhelming emotions when you finally get to stay together. Ena and Mizuki love each other. Maybe it's just platonic, maybe it's romantic but to me, their love transcends those meanings. Their love is unique to them. Ena and Mizuki are in love with each other no doubt, it's pretty clear from the way they've acted towards each other. Ena waited long to hear Mizuki's secret and chased her so she could bring her back to her. Mizuki is so desperate to not lose Ena and after trying to run she returns to her because she knows that deep down she can't imagine being separated from her. Whether this is platonic or romantic or something completely different, it doesn't matter. Love can be so many different things and what these two share is special. And that love they share, can never be taken away from them.