Watchman Series Theory
I was thinking about the watchman series and one question that came to me was ‘what do all the items have in common?’
An obvious answer would be that they’re clothing items. As such, a fully assembled watchman series might make a full outfit.
But other than the nature of what the items are, their power and ability also come into question. The jinki in the story are all varied in what they are and what they can do, and are highly dependent on the user. And despite the fact that we have yet to see all the watchman series in the story, I came up with an idea of the potential theme/basis of their powers.
My theory is that the watchman series abilities are based on the 5 senses.
***Also note that for the purpose of this theory, I believe the journal that Regto had on him was not a jinki, only a regular journal that had information on the watchman series***
Touch
Rudo’s gloves give him the ability to turn any broken item he touches into a weapon/tool he can fight with
Smell
Amo’s boots release a smell that alters a person’s perception based on memories making them easy to manipulate
Hearing
We don’t know what the corresponding watchman jinki is, but we do know that it is likely to be responsible for creating chokers that allow people to hear each other and communicate over long distance
Sight
CURRENTLY UNCONFIRMED
This one is only a theory but I believe Zodyl’s coat has a sight related ability based on the clues so far:
- The ‘vision’ scene. Unsure if this was meant to be taken literally or just as visual metaphor, but it does give an implication that Zodyl was able to make Rudo see something that he wasn’t able to see himself simply based on a verbal suggestion
- The comment from the information broker about Zodyl using the coat rarely, even in front of other vandals suggests that he might not want them to SEE the coat in action. It could be because seeing it would result in them being affected by whatever ability it generates
- During his fight with Rudo there was some visual transformation happening. Hasn’t been explained so far, so unsure if it was incomplete, or if it was once again skewed/unreliable perception
Taste
This one has not been mentioned or implied in the story yet and is the odd one out, but once again we haven’t seen all the watchman jinki and all the other ones do fit the theme of 5 senses.
And since we know the watchman series can only be safely used by people who have something 'missing' in them, the jinki related to the senses could correspond with what the person symbolically lacks.
That being said, it is only a theory and I'm not feeling too strongly about whether it turns out true or not, but I do feel it would be a missed opportunity if the watchman abilities did not carry some thematic consistency between them.
Thanks for coming to my TED talk.
UPDATE: I WAS WRONG, BUT MY THEORY STILL HASN'T BEEN DISPROVEN
SO ZODYL'S COAT MANIFESTS THINGS BASED ON WHAT HE TASTES! YOU CRAZY BASTARD, SO YOU WEREN'T EATING COCKROACHES JUST CAUSE YOU'RE DERANGED (I believe he would probably still eat a cockroach even if he didn't have to for his jinki to work, that man is a freak)