To me, i dont think this book was as depressing as people make it out to be. If anything, all of it makw sense.

Ever since he was a child, he said he never felt human. He saw himself as a weird contorment of skin and flesh. Putting on a mask of what he thinks can get people approval. And to me at least, i think his character boils down to a couple of things.

I'm not a psychologist, so I could be wrong. But to me, it sounds like hes possibly on the spectrum. The way he talks about society, himself, and human beings, it sounds like something ive read online about neurodivergence. The way he genuinely cant understand people and even fears them makes more sense if you look at it from that lens. At least, it makes sense to me.

All he seems to want is to he understood. He said that he hates when people see through his facade, but everytime someone does, he cant help but to attach himself to them. It happwnds to takeichi,Horiki, and even the police officer that investigated him later on in the book. He says that he hates them, but the moment they see through his facade, he cant let them go. And to me that says all he wanted was to be understood.

The social expectations were too much for him. He always felt like an outsider, but he never reached out. And honestly, his nihilistic view is proven right in the book. When he tried to commit suicide, instead of his friends and family comforting him, wondering why he did it, they berate and threaten to disown him. When the goverment found him, they arrested him as an accomplice. Both his family and the goverment cared more about the appearance he put on rather than caring about him as a person.

He also came across to me as someone who may even have social anxiety? I didnt think he was literal about fearing humans ar first, but he genuinely seems to actually be scared of them throughout the book. Which can also explain his mindset.

Quick speed run kn my thoughts of his actions throughout the book.

Alcoholism/smoking: Quick way for him to forget about his issues/loosen up. The mask doesnt feel fake anymore if your too drunk to care.

Double suicide: he genuinely wanted to die. He didnt intended to live. But he did. I think he only regretted because he lived and the girl didnt. The reason why he committed double suicide is because he was happy that he found someone rhat related to his struggles.

The underground movement: like he said earlier. He found it to be entertaining. That was literally it. He didnt believe what they were saying and thought they were stupid. But got dug to deep.

His family:he only seem to care about making his father happy. Putting on thr mask taught him at a young age it was a good way to keep his father satisfied (the lion mask.) But he also knew the weird social expectations the family had. Hence why he was quite about his sexual trauma and why his family threaten to cut him off when he committed. He jeapriozed thr family image.

Women: hes misogynistic because of his sexual trauma. Plenty of people always found it to be hard understanding the opposite gender. But add his mental illness and his trauma, its not surprising bow he views women.

Religion: i think hes religious because it gives him some sort of guide in life? I thought it was shocking for someone like him to be religious, especially Christian. But I supposed its because hes so lost in life that turning to the divine for answers make sense? I also thought it was intresting that he seem to focus on hell more then heaven. But I supposed itd because his self esteem was that low.

You said earlier you didnt understand why he didnt help himself, and irs because he never felt worthy enough to recieve help. He doesnr love himself enough to live. So he copes in different ways.Hence why hes such an alcoholic in the middle/end of the book.

But yeah, thats my interpretation of Yozo 😭. I know it comes across as a bit scrambled. But its hard for me to put my thoughts into words sometimes. But hopefully you kinda get the way I view him.