"Cat" by Mukuhara Kazui (MILGRAM)

"Cat" Album Cover

The second trial of Kazui, titled "Cat". The music is actually a pretty harsh change from the first trial. It went from more opera type singing to almost a jazz song. I really like it. This is also the trial where we get a lot more information on Kazui and his wife.

The video shows a young Kazui meeting his wife (unnamed), and how they meet through work before eventually getting married and living together. It shifts near the end of the song where we see his perspective of him talking to his wife, and she has a face of pure horror. We then see him use his teeth to rip the heart out of a dove, with the blood spurting onto his wife; then we see her fall back, and then a red apple falls into screen, then splatters as it reaches the ground.

The lyrics follow this idea of Kazui being "the king of the masquerade" like it was mentioned in the first video. It also follows Kazui talking about his emotions and how he just wants to "be normal" and how following his emotions is stupid.

This entire song makes me so sad because of the way he talks about himself. He's constantly blaming himself for what happened. I think this gives us a much clearer view on what actually happened, but I might have a biased view since I have this idea that he's a closeted gay man already.

What I think happened based on both of these videos, is that he married this woman because he felt like he needed to in order to appear "normal" and when he finally gathered enough courage to come out to her, she was so shocked she ended up jumping from their balcony. It's also worth to take into account the social pressure she had on her, she most likely uprooted her entire life, quit her job and such in order to become his wife and stay at home. A single, divorced, jobless, middle-aged woman in Japan can be severely marginalized and shamed for their status, so his wife might not have seen any other way out.

Kazui blames himself for his wife's actions, and even after being voted innocent in the first trial, he comments on it: "Innocent, isn't that right?" and then goes on to question it.

He can't even talk about sex with her, "That sticky-sweet sequence: Dinner + Camouflage + You-Know-What" and he even talks more about faking the affection or relationship with "camouflage". I really struggle to view this as anything but him being a closeted gay man.

Going back to the apple imagery, Kazui has always been represented by a green apple while everyone else is a red apple, and this still holds true in this trial. There is even a man figure with a green apple for a head when he puts his glass of champagne over his wife, she turns into this figure. A lot of people do think it's very telling that it's just him wanting his wife to be a man, but considering Kazui has been represented by the green apple, and this figure wore the same outfit we've seen Kazui in as well, I think it's more than that.

I feel like it's him wishing he could be true to himself, and that the alcohol is giving him the courage to finally do it.

The title "cat", at least I've been told, is Japanese slang for a submissive gay man, but I'm not sure if that has any reference in this trial. I think it's more of an allusion to how he feels like a predatory animal because of how he feels about what he did to his wife. I think his wife represented the dove and he ripped it's heart out with his fangs.

Kazui is so special to me, and I'm so ready to get the final trial of his and to have closure about what happened to him.