The Call of Logos: A Brief Word on the Iconography of Ave Mujica

So because I'm me, I've been rewatching Ave Mujica lately, and I noticed something about the logo at the end of Episode 10.

The last image we see in the episode is this: the moon, occupied by a vast, empty gear, betraying a star behind. The moon represents the Saki in Hatsune's mind, the Loft Moon which gives her, the broken doll, life; and as for the gear, we need only look to the last song we saw the girls perform. Here are the lyrics of Crucifix X:

The Hatsune/Uika symbolism here is as layered as one would expect from that character. The "Uika" that Hatsune plays is represented, both in lyric and in the image, by a gear, turning again and again to break free from an endless void of purpose and worth that is Saki's absence. (The more I watch Ave Mujica, the more it lands as a deeply religious allegory.) As I mentioned in my previous post on Ave Mujica, stars are an important symbol of Hatsune being lovable, and noticable to Saki. In this first logo, Hatsune is projecting a vast emptiness forth towards the moon, behind which betrays that same thing which makes her loved and able to be seen: her distinct love for the stars.

In the episode prior, Hatsune is at her most desperate, and it's brilliantly conveyed in her body language. Look at these screenshots. The way she leans forward to be directly in Saki's field of vision, the way she follows Saki like she's trying not to physically cling to her to prevent her from leaving... It's painfully, viscerally relatable to my experiences with Borderline Personality Disorder.

With full acknowledgement that this may be a misread of Japanese cultural norms this still reads as a fawn response, bless her beautiful princess heart.

So that said: Ave Mujica has a new logo.

Via @_satsuyan on Twitter:
"So the new Ave Mujica logo is a moon with a star.
So it's a moon with a star on the left side, whereas the left side has the heart.
So it's the moon, with the star in her heart. 😌
*overthinks*"
I think it's worth noting that the star is now on the left side from the perspective of the moon, whereas before it was in the "empty function" of Uika, and not touching the moon itself. In fact, the crescent cutout is bigger with the gear missing, to account for the teeth, so one could argue this is literally showing the shadow of Uika driving Hatsune's true and loveable self farther away from the one she loves. Crucially once the truth comes out, Hatsune and Saki are able to love each other, and the Moon can see the Star in its heart.

In other words: Saki's acceptance brought Hatsune from desperately performing a role to keep them close, to someone whose human idiosyncracies occupy the seat of love within her.

I meant it about a brief word. But WOW was it ever meaningful to figure out.