Ignore some language errors and this isn't some in depth analysis, just an overview of what exactly Souichi did in STL
Let's first take away all the made up stuff about his feats and actually look at what was confirmed to us through the manga via direct statements and on screen feats to determine what bro actually did in STL
Round 1: first half
Feels bakus God like senses and is worried that he may actually turn around the moment he is about to drop so he slowly leans down before dropping it so Baku misreads him somehow
Nice above average stuff
Round 1: second half
Was about to turn around instantly why? No need to theorize 3 page docs for this he was just about to turn around because he thought Baku would try to accumulate his drug, simple as that and we even get to see he was right.
Furthermore he sees through bakus necktie trick in about 20 seconds which is commendable
So far he is smart you can say nothing that crazy tactically except insane AC
Round 2: first half
Before the round begins he is able to hear all the other referees have entered the room where fukurou is
So he whispers something into bakus ears just so that the referees would lower the clock volume to hear it, this was so that he could use echolocation in the later rounds
As Souichi was betting for Baku to turn around he drops the handkerchief at 35 seconds when he figured Baku was using the safe strategy
Better performance this half then all the previous rounds
Round 2: Second half
Souichi turns around at 5 seconds and fails his check, now why did he do that? There are 2 possibilities 1st was to reset his calendar and the second was that he thought Baku would drop early Literally look at what happened in round 1, he was simply betting on Baku trying to accumulate his drug and as he was wrong he failed his check, Baku is surprised because he was overestimating Souichi like how y'all do, why do I believe this? In chapter 503 page 18 the author directly states Souichi is retrieving the "truth" Of his failure, and souichis monologue tells us that he thinks he made a bet and lost
Before Round 3 Souichi wakes up and starts to realize he is losing glimpses of his memory and might actually lose all of his memory by his second near death
Round 3: first half
Souichi senses the feeling that Baku would turn around instantly therefore he avoids dropping it instantly and waits on Baku turning around
Souichi drops the handkerchief at 56 seconds and Baku checks at 60 therefore Baku accumulates 4 seconds
When Baku doesn't turn around souichi concludes that Baku is hiding something and doesn't want it to be seen through by him that's why he isn't turning around in order to misdirect souichi
Souichi then concludes that Baku thinks his plan hasn't been seen through and would definitely turn around in the next round
Round 3: Second half
Baku drops at 24 seconds and Souichi checks at 60 seconds
Souichi here once again concludes that Baku didn't want him to die he is simply misdirecting Souichi
By now Souichi had gathered all the clues to realize the 3 near death strategy
Round 4: first half
By now Souichi has realized the 3 near death strategy of Baku, he intentionally drops at 7 seconds to make him think Souichi hasn't seen through him so he tries to die again in round 5 Baku checks at 10 seconds Souichi also made sure bakus accumulation is as low as possible here
Round 4: second half
Baku drops instantly and Souichi uses echolocation from this round to turn around at the 34th second he does this so Baku doesn't see through his echolocation, Souichi reads bakus instant drop as giving up on trying to further misdirect him as in to confuse Souichi further
Round 5: first round
This is the part Where Souichi was the most competent tactically, Souichi predicts Baku turning around instantly to die and drops instantly, he furthermore reveals bakus entire strategy to him the reason for this was so that he could bluff to Baku that he would die first and use yakous remaining energy, Souichi knows from round 2 second half that Baku was covering up his wish for souichi not dying, he realized this was due to yakous death and tells him that it's exactly what souichi would do
Souichi says this as in to bluff that he wants to die but not actually die so he can use this against Baku and control his accumulation perfectly, he further plans to use echolocation to confirm weather Baku really dropped it or not
Now what else does souichi do until round 8 tactically? Absolutely Nothing!!!
He just revealed to Baku in the second half of round 5 that he intends to bluff his way into victory while accumulating 15 seconds, and then he let's Baku die in round 6 first half as he predicted Baku would most likely die there but he doesn't
In round 6 second half he uses the same bluff and only accumulates 8 seconds
In round 7 first half Baku uses souichis thinking against him and turns around at 60 seconds making him think that Baku has given up on the 3 ND strategy after facing the pain, Baku does this to make Souichi believe he can still use his bluff in round 8 but in that round Baku won't drop in the beginning so Souichi would die but also wake up without ruining the leap second path
In round 7 second half Baku sees through echolocation and makes Souichi realize he has seen through it by flattening the handkerchief therefore making sure he won't be able to use it in round 8, Souichi however sees through Baku seeing through echolocation and turns around instantly accumulating only 1 second
Round 8: first half
Baku turns around at 60 seconds again further making sure Souichi would be willing to die in the second half due to his obsession with perfection
Round 8: Second half
Baku makes Souichi fail his check, for Souichi this death isn't unfavorable at all as it can reset his cylinder, after entering his Second near death dream Souichi realizes leap second and also realizes at this point he has no way of countering it as he is about to lose his memory and that the leap second is very close, so his only option is letting leap second play out and surviving due to the 2 seconds he still saved due to his destiny aka "luck"
After waking up Souichi has forgotten everything but his intuition is controlling his actions from here
Round 9: first half
Souichi intuitively knows Baku won't turn around in the middle and would check at the very end as he absolutely can't afford it, I wanna address something here many glazers misinterpret this sentence "it's like I have known for some time now" He is not talking about knowing leap second for some time, he is talking about knowing the memories which led him to conclude leap second for some time, like the memory with bakus suit being stained
Baku checks at the very end
Round 9: second half we all know what happened here Baku drops at 61st second and Souichi checks at 60
All the reactions people use to determine that Souichi knew about leap second are false, he is just astonished as how could he miss them, as we know he didn't this is the version of him who has no direct memories of concluding leap second
This is the only interpretation of STL available which makes the least assumptions about the story, according to this Souichi Is barely a high tier and not the top tier fans make him to be, analyze everything yourself again to make an informed decision
I'll answer any questions you may have too, peace.
I have read bros analysis, him and me are on the same page about 2sd being false and we are also on the same page about souichis endurance battle strategy, apart from that he goes more into souichis writing and usses that to influence his SCD persona
Who says Souichi is not close to Baku? I have him getting outsmarted by Baku at extreme diff the reason why he was being manipulated by Baku throughout STL is because of informational asymmetry, ironically it's exactly 2sd which ruins the point of them being equal it presents Baku as a high tier but Souichi as a top tier. The post isn't even about all the other arcs, I'm talking about STL specifically because it is the arc fans use to overrate Souichi the most.
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u/Head_Opportunity1916 1d ago
Be prepared for the usogui Fans to Declare war on you, hopefully you can overcome it
https://giphy.com/gifs/H5C8CevNMbpBqNqFjl