Understanding Miyo

I wrote this right after finishing and thought I'd share now, this is my first review so please go easy on me lol. I hope it makes sense, this is basically just me rambling. Remember !! this is just my interpretation of Miyo's character and nothing is technially "right" or "wrong." ALSO MAJOR SPOILERS (I know this came out a while ago, I'm pretty late on the prime-review time train but there are probably still a bunch who hasn't seen it)

DISCLAIMER: I'm aware that geisha's are entertainers and not prostitutes, but if I remember correctly, Miyo says somewhere about having sexual relations with some of her clients, she has a pretty creepy relationship with master yakumo, and she never looked happy going to her job or anything but please !! correct me if I'm wrong or didn't say something right :))

Anyways.. ENJOY !! (I probably put too much exposition, sorry)

All of the characters in rakugo have an incredible amount of depth and do things realistic to their stories and personalities, which I think is especially interesting in the case of Miyokichi. Though I hated her at the end because she basically caused Sukeroku's death, her actions were maybe not justified, but they were understandable. She had probably not been treated to well and was often mistreated as a geisha (as we can see through her relationship with the 7th gen master yakumo.. creepy), so she sought love and commitment in kiku. She had been wrapped up in what felt like a fairy tale because he treated her like a real person (probably stemming from his childhood of being around geisha's and being raised in a house of only women). When she reunites with him at the end, she says that she can only act like herself when she's with him, however when she is first with Sukeroku after she and Kiku broke up, he comments on how different she is with Kiku than with him and she says that Kiku prefers a much more classy girl, implying that she's not acting like her real self when she's with Kiku. She seems more at home with Sukeroku than with Kiku, even though she says the opposite.she puts on an act so that Kiku would like her, and convinces herself that it's real. I think this is because Kiku saved her from her life always being discarded, so she idolizes him and sees him as her savior and subconsciously changes herself so he would like her. However, she can only truly be herself with Sukeroku, but when she moves to the countryside with him and the fairy tale vanishes and she realizes that a real relationship that's not built on lies has to take work and that Sukeroku isn't the savior she was trying to replace Kiku with, she becomes depressed and starts to yearn for Kiku again, thinking that she had wanted him the whole time and had just gotten bored of Sukeroku, so she leaves him and their daughter. When Kiku shows up and performs with Sukeroku and she sees how happy Sukeroku is when he does rakugo, she asks Kiku to commit a lovers suicide because she realizes how much Sukeroku loves rakugo and she thinks that he will just abandon her for performing just as Kiku did. She then seeks Kiku again, her savior, and wants to die while still being in the lie that she has told herself, even though she knows it;s not true because she doesn't want to be hurt again. However, she finally realizes the full truth and that Kiku is just temporary happiness and she truly loves Sukeroku. When he shows up in the hotel room and pledges to quit rakugo and straighten up for her and Komatsu, she is conflicted because her apparent savior, Kiku, never offered her this, so she's confused that there's someone who would be willing to save her and love her other than kKku. Kiku himself also realizes this when he hears Sukeroku shout her real name, because their had never shared their real names with each other, representing how they maintain their lies to each other by only being false names to each other. When they're hanging from the balcony, Sukeroku says that she can't go to hell alone, showing that he recognizes they both have committed sins and they realized the truth too late, but Sukeroku is still willing to die with her, fulfilling his promise to be with her properly, even at the end.

Thanks a bunch for reading !! I'd love to hear your thoughts if you got this far lol