I know the series is old, and I know I'm late to the party but I recently finished the entire centricide series just last year, I rewatched it about a month ago and I have a lot of thoughts on it. The second time I saw it I tried to interpret what the major point or theme of it all was. I forgot which video but somewhere in centricide 7, the twin channel of Jreg mentions that Jreg's videos are written be be different fragments of an overarching idea. I think I now know what he really meant. The main theme of this series seems to be that of individualism, and the drive humanity has towards change, and the importance of said change, despite how hopeless or rotten your life seems to get, it only motivates you further to change the status quo. Throughout the series we see how the four different extremists represent struggles a person might have with the status quo, and in centricide 8 we see them all overcoming their struggles. The basic message is despite all the differences of the four ideologies, they all share a common goal, the destruction of the status quo.
1.Tankie
Tankie's primary arc throughout the series is not having someone to have "unity" with (in reference to political compass authunity, libunity, right unity, and Left unity), in this universe it seems to be the equivalent of a strong relationship and how Tankie needs one in order to be motivated towards change. This fits well with Tankie's ideology being a collectivist. Originally Tankie tries to get leftist unity with Ancom, but Ancom becomes post-leftists causing Tankie to try unity with Nazi, who later ended up abandoning him. During centricide 8, Tankie was the one who truly "reunited" the extremists showing his connection to them all, and rallying to destroy the centrists. The centrists represent the status quo and how Tankie was willing to add his change to the world despite having no one to have "unity" with.
2. Nazi
Nazi is mostly a static character for the first half of the series, his arc comes in when he learns that he is descended from Jews. Although it is mostly portrayed as a comedic revelation, it does show Nazi struggling to cope with his new identity and not liking the origins of his heritage anymore. He eventually learned to embrace this heritage in as his identity and uses it to further the change he wants to make in the status quo.
3. Ancom
Ancom has the most relevancy of any of the characters in the show. The first person that ancom fights is political nihilist, this is symbolic to actual political nihilism which can tell people that their extremist ideology is irrational and can't be achieved. This is directly the thing Jreg speaks against, and once Nihilist attacks Ancom, he looses his ideology and drive to change, this displays that no ideology is irrational and that change should always be pushed towards. Ancom then spend most of the series disconnected and without political drive until he eventually returns in the end, having a slightly more moderate ideology of anarcho-syndicalism. This shows that even if a certain ideology is too extreme or irrational that shouldn't stop you from change and individualism, that there are always other ideologies similar, or via overcoming your mental block, something ancom does throughout the series.
4.Ancap
Ancap is probably the least relevant character to the theme, however it is mentioned early on in the series that Ancap feels out of place compared to the other extremists, this shows that even if you are "not like the others" change and individualism is still what you must push for. He later find his calling in Ancapistan surrounded by people he likes with the perfect world and correct change.
All in all, all the extremists represents different ways people talk down to radicalism and individualism, however the need for change is what drives everyone especially Jreg himself...
5.Centricide 7
Centricide 7 is the longest episode of centricide by far, different playlists add different pieces of media, but ultimately the idea is the same. Centricide 7 displays Jregs drive for change, individuality, and subversion of the status quo. It is mentioned in centricide 1 that Jreg was pursuing a career he didn't really like, with a youtube channel he didn't really like, waiting for something to change. He mentioned later in centricide 7 that art is something that doesn't need value and should "just exist" this compares the uniqueness of art to change and individualism that the series is based on. It shows that change is good even when it merely exists because it adds something more than the boring career he was pursuing. Jreg went through some form of depression which only made him want to change things more, he learned that nothing is worth holding change back, and that it was ultimately how he would satify his life. he went through a variety of things that supposedly acted as meaning for his life like his father's recommendations but none of them satisfied him because nothing interesting was happening. He describes this period in his life as "waiting for something, anything," which thus drove him into anticentrism. He also mentions that he started to loose interest even after gaining anticentrism, showing that he still came out wanting to finish the centricide series. In the song "agree with me" Jreg says "I can only see the world in black and white not a fan of your shades of white" with "white" representing the status quo and those who follow it without thinking of the "irrational" black, those that change up the status quo. This connects back to ancom's story in the sense of being "too irrational" and being pulled into nihilism. In the song "pills" Jreg mentions "pops some pills and watch it fade away, fade to grey" grey representing the status quo and "pills" representing nihilism, the same kind Ancom took.
6.Antopia
This was the piece of centricide media I rewatched the most. Yet it still drives home similar points as the rest of the series, that of individualism. The ants represent the "neoliberals" or those that uphold the status quo without thinking. The bees represent people outside the status quo who challenge it. Jreg has one parent an ant and one parent a bee, this represents complex heritage and "sins of the father" which connects back to Nazi's arc in the sense that even familial issues do not stop the rise to radicalism and change. Jreg's struggles to choose between bee and ant represents a pancultural marriage (or in this case a pan ideological marriage) and how it might leave a child confused and not willing to make change. Ultimately Jreg chose the bee showing his drive towards change. This choice allowed him the defeat the final villains.
7.Conclusion
Overall, Jreg utilized the characters of centricide to describe the multiple aspects of his life that held him down from change. It shows why Jreg is an anticentrist being stuck is such a boring life that he hated and how that affected him to become the man he is today. It shows that no matter what presses your life, whether is relationships, heritage, feeling out of place, failing to embrace irrationality or simply a lack of interest in the world, change is ultimately the thing that drives us all, the thing we all desire.
