#and natsumi's character development

[uraberika]

“You’re this passionate about soccer... You’re really an idiot.” “What do you mean “idiot”?”

[t-u-i-t-c]

[spatio-rift]

its on my mind cuz theres a post about it in the tag rn but its so wild to me just how many people have an issue w endou marrying natsumi "out of nowhere" like did you guys not see it was set up from the very beginning. from the game that launched the entire franchise

[bmpmp3]

yknow i was initially a little worried about the new liella members, not because I thought I wouldn’t like the characters or their voices or anything (there’s not a single love live character or voice that hasn’t grown on me HDKJSDJFDHJFD) but because I was a little disappointed that we’d be losing the really unique sound of having three active groups with different member amounts (Aqours with 9, Nijigasaki with 12, and Liella with 5) and I loved how often they’d mix it up with different duets but i guess I didn’t really need to worry too much ‘cause every post-9-member liella song so far has been FANTASTIC, they’re keeping a lot of the unique sound of their 5 member formation (lots of different voice combos, relatively down-to-earth vocal timbres, etc) PLUS now theres this fun new pop-rocky emphasis? yuragu wa is UNTOUCHABLE

[hopefulhaunted]

NOT ME TRYING TO CHOOSE ONE OF THE DR GIRLS TO BE MY NUMBER ONE FAVE NEXT TO JUZO...

it's been so long since i've gone through the games that I honestly don't remember them well enough, I feel like, but! I just really want a second primary muse. Unfortunately, no-one has super clicked yet, but I'm determined to get there!

[molsno]

file 10: sannuki-san and karateka-san serves as one of the most important bridges in sorawo's character development in all of otherside picnic. it opens with toriko remarking how sorawo's hair has gotten longer, and suggesting that she should grow it out, and then ends with akari pointing out that if she did, she'd look quite a bit like satsuki. while this comment sparked numerous theories that satsuki was sorawo in the future, it actually serves as a warning to sorawo about what she could become.

there are actually several mentions of satsuki throughout file 10. in one of them, sorawo recounts that in subsequent visits to the otherside following the yamanoke incident, she was unnerved by satsuki's absence, even when she was looking for her. this apparition, which was haunting her while venturing through the otherside with toriko, was suddenly nowhere to be found. later, natsumi shares her impression of satsuki with sorawo, telling her she felt she was creepy, and thought she would take akari away from her. this further reinforced in sorawo's mind that satsuki was an apparent menace to others, not just her.

in being compared to satsuki in appearance, sorawo was forced to contend with the fact that she was capable of becoming someone like satsuki. she had seen satsuki's office, she knew multiple of satsuki's victims and wrongdoings, and she had been harmed by the woman multiple times. she knew for a fact that satsuki was the kind of person who only cared about her own goals, and was more than happy to use people for her own gain.

in file 10, sorawo calls akari by a generic nickname, karateka, which then gets used by sannuki kano. she recalls that she had been purposefully avoiding akari because she didn't want to be bothered, hence why she became worse at responding to her messages. she intentionally uses her eye to control akari to defeat sannuki kano without regard to the effect it has on her. in this chapter, sorawo demonstrates that she is very much capable of being a selfish person who disregards the feelings of others and using them for her own personal gain. when she's compared to satsuki due to the length of her hair, it's a wakeup call. she realizes that she seriously needs to consider her actions and think about the kind of person she wants to be.

ultimately, she makes her decision. in file 11, when satsuki grabs her by the hair and tries to pull her into the otherside, she uses her own knife to chop off her hair, signaling that she rejects satsuki, and that she's chosen to become a better person than her. that's why when we see the kind of person she's become by volume 7, someone who's chosen to take care of the girls satsuki took advantage of and left behind, it's such a satisfying resolution to her character arc. she couldn't have gotten there if she hadn't realized satsuki was the kind of person she was capable of becoming in the first place.

[liquidstar]

i think subaru is interesting as a protagonist because of the way he gets fleshed out over the story. i mean, its fairly common to reveal character backstories to have their actions leading up to this point make more sense, but for an isekai protagonist in particular i just think the way its done is so interesting.

you start the story with pretty much 0 context about who this kid is. and this is typical genre convention, you assume that you dont need context because its an isekai. the story doesnt really have to establish anything beyond that hes just some nerdy kid. thats how it usually goes right? hes not MEANT to have a backstory, hes meant for the viewer to project upon. and that works for a while but

by arc 2 his very specific character quirks start to pop up, and you also start to see that hes trying VERY HARD to play a role in his head. a very specific role that hes chosen out. and this eventually comes to a head in arc 3, especially after the julius fight and falling-out with emilia. and thats when you see him at his lowest with actual deeply rooted FLAWS. ones he was desperately trying to run from to play the isekai hero role. and then you get the "from zero" speech which is such a turning point for his entire character.

but you still haven't even begun to scratch the surface of what makes him tick. the story doesn't give you his actual backstory until arc 4, with the trial's glimpse into his family and school life. and everything about him makes sense. not that it didnt make sense before but holy crap... hes a character. hes not a just self insert. hes got a lot of really specific fucked up shit going on in his head. he has a family, he had friends, he went to school, he was a teenager... he was a guy! a person! and now you really get who that person is and why hes Like This

and it seems like thats it. from here on out its just about development, arc 5 doesnt really dive deep into any more of his backstory, and arc 6 is all about REGRESSION for him. his memories literally go back to the exact point they were when the story started. though this time we have a lot more context.

that's all you need to know right? i mean by this point the story is seven arcs in, what other possible revelations could there be about the protagonist that would put his entire story arc until this point into a whole new context-

NATSUMI SCHWARTZ

[irisviel101]

EnNatsu | The Whole Journey

I see a lot of people saying that EnNatsu came out of nowhere. As one of the biggest shipper of this ship, I decided to compile the standout EnNatsu moments and see exactly how much they developed through out all the three seasons of the OG series.

The first episode introduces both characters and their dynamic effectivey. Natsumi threatens to disband the soccer club if they don't win against Teikoku Gakuen in their first ever match, which obviously makes Endou angry — so much so that he's fuming even when talking to the team.

This scene sets the tone for most of their initial interactions going forward: they bicker and push each other's buttons even as they slowly start to strive for the same goal. Natsumi is condescending at times but she also helps the team in her own way, and Endou is generally a happy person, but no one can annoy him like Natsumi can.

It's subtle but as Natsumi slowly becomes integrated into the team, they start having some more friendlier interactions even aside from Natsumi informing them about the matches and stuff.

Slowly, they become friends.

Their bickering also becomes more friendly instead of being just about Natsumi threatening to disband the club or about Natsumi picking at Endou's passion for soccer.

Like at the end of episode 16 when Endou and Aki visit Natsumi and her father in the hospital.

Natsumi immediately notices Endou's injury and is genuinely happy to hear that the team won their match, two things she never would have done in the start of the season.

The argument that comes after it is about Endou misunderstanding Natsumi's words, and it's more laid-back than their arguments in the start of the season when Natsumi would threaten to disband the club or pick at Endou's overenthusiastic passion for soccer. It's nothing but friendly bickering between friends, showing how far they've come in their friendship since the beginning even if they are very much still the same people.

Then we have this scene in episode 19.

Natsumi, who's visiting her father in the hospital and feeling melancholic because it's a hospital and her father is admitted in it, sees the tower near which Endou always practices and goes there on a whim. And when she gets there, she automatically envisions Endou practicing as usual.

When Endou sees her there, he can tell at first glance that something's btohering her, even if she says that things are getting better. And what does he do? He takes her to his favorite spot and reminds her that she isn't alone.

I believe this is the moment where Natsumi really developed her crush. Before this, their whole dynamic was "enemies to friends" and now they're moving on to the "friends to lovers" bit.

Endou, of course, doesn't see it that way just yet, and I doubt even Natsumi sees her crush as a crush, but this is the moment where it actually starts.

(Reblogging to continue because I can't add more pictures)

[woodenfawn]

Re Zero Highschool AU Concept

very new to tumblr, sorry if i mess anything up!

mey and i just talked about this and threw it together and had a lot of fun with it XD I'm at arc 6 and mey is anime-only so far, so some things may be inaccurate, and some characters are not included!

If there are things you want to suggest please do, but any spoilers should be either really vague or plot-irrelevant (like, outside of main plot developments. Side stories are fine i think!) mey's notes from our conversation, I'll put some of my individual thoughts in at the end (Thank you @tanya-degurechaff for letting me ramble about my blorbos for so long! and watching re zero!!! and everything!!!)

Click on the keep reading to see all the notes, i think???

Shitty Re:Zero Highschool AU

All the king candidates are all part of the Student Body, all running for Student Body President. That's the competition.

Emilia is an awkward transfer student. Her step-dad, Betelgeuse, had to move for work purposes. She looks a lot like the weird girl, Satella, which people isolate her for. Emilia deepest secret: watches 70s TV shows. Her clothes look vintage. She watches Antique Roadshow. When she goes to Anime Club, she finds out the anime she likes are very out of date. (Astroboy). 

Subaru is the leader of the anime club and he instantly falls in love with Emilia and invites her to join. She takes the invite. Besides anime club, he also goes to the QSA, but as a student named Natsumi Schwartz and it's 100% convincing everyone.

Julius hates Subaru guys he swears. Julius is the captain of the fencing team and hangs out with Reinhard very often. He and Reinhard go to the chess club every Wednesday after school. Julius is also a secret LARP-er and goes to Ren fairs as a cool knight. 

Reinhard is a straight-A, valedictorian, star of all of the sports team golden students. He's planned to take the Astrea Company after he graduates. Secretly, Reinhard wants to be a shoujo manga artist. He keeps his shitty Manga in a pink sketchbook at the back of his locker. He goes to the Anime Club with Subaru and that's the only time he can draw.

Otto had a lot of trouble in elementary school and barely talked, rather interested in his anthills instead of people. As he got older, he started making friends and now hangs out at the anime club. He's known as the student janitor, cleaning up after everyone else. He also lays facedown in dirt talking to bugs. He's autistic and has a special interest… in bugs/nature in general. Sensitive hearing, uses noise canceling headphones. Scalper. Theater Tech. Stage manager. 

Garfiel is a freshman who's known to cause a lot of trouble and hates school. He's actually a youtuber who makes shitty rage roblox and minecraft trolling videos in his freetime. He's quite popular with elementary school boys. Calls Subaru Captain in school, follows him around. Great at sports

Rem is a VTuber for LugunicaEN. Her Oni form is her Vtuber model. Very popular for her genuine talks, she does ASMR, gives advice to people. She's very kind. Writes fanfiction. 

Ram is just a girl 👍. Mobility aid user. 

Priscilla is a theater girl, she acts like she is the best actress. Tries for all the lead elegant female roles. She's a good actor, just a little bit annoying. 

Roswaal is the theater teacher.

Wilhelm principal 

Crusch also does Fencing Club. She's very academically intelligent, though struggles socially. A good leader.

Ferris is the TA for the nurse. Also Vtuber for LugunicaEN. Openly part of the QSA, no one realizes she's a girl somehow. Girlfriends lesbians Crusch.

Liliana is an older student who gets held back, joins theater because she's a great singer. Priscilla has a sexuality crisis and becomes a woman lover.

Anastasia is part of the student body beforehand.

Otto is friends with Subaru's mom.

The triplets are all in the DnD club. It's just the three of them. Mimi is a Berserker.

Subaru is good artist, great at sewing. 

Ferris can also draw. They draw together and talk about their girlfriends. 

Emilia CANNOT draw. Worse than Reinhard.

Puck is the cool teacher, knows everything. Wise…

Beatrice is the librarian. Looks like a student, is not. Never leaves the school, no one knows why. 

Echindna is a history/english/science etc. Teacher, teaches everything no one else teaches. How is she doing this.

Satella is a weird girl who has never really talked to anyone. Advises the anime club, no one talks to her. Has a weird shrine in the girl's bathroom. 

Minerva is the school therapist, part of the health and social relationships classes. She's just so sweet… she takes care of the therapy dogs. Aggressively supportive of everyone. She's like a shaking chihuahua. Tries to act threatening, is just not. Really likes Emilia.

Felt is the youngest running for student body. She really wants two lunchtimes. That's her goal. 

Rom is the gym teacher 

Fredrica is the older sister of Garfiel, top student. She and Crusch are friends. Ready to graduate, just a girl. Trying to control her younger brother.

Henkel stands outside of Reinhard's class window shaking his head in disappointment.

Reinhard likes magical girls a lot, he just wants to help. He genuinely loves power of friendship stories. Really likes Tokyo Mew Mew and made Felt watch it. Reinhard likes to cosplay magical girls for cons and drags Felt along. 

Subaru convinces Reinhard to get Tumblr, does not know how to use it. Reinhard: "Dear Diary, I had breakfast today, two eggs and a toast." He also texts using the glitter flowers gifs with shiny text.

Al is a stage crew guy who follows Priscilla around. Otto doesn't know what to think about him. 

Otto disappears for days at a time. He is camping.

Garfiel is secretly a furry. His fursona is based on Garfield. Has commissioned Ferris.

Ferris is a furry artist. The Vtuber and Furry stuff is completely different.

Garfiel almost stopped going to school, Subaru convinced him to stay because he's been there before. Garfiel respects Subaru because of this and that's why he follows him around.

Petra is an elementary schooler who visits the highschool. On friendly terms with all the teachers. Why is this child here. 

Elsa is the science teacher, especially biology. Seems just fine at first, but has some… moments that's a bit terrifying. Everyone ignores that.

Meli is a future scientist, best friends with Elsa.

Gluttony twins are great students and hang out in the cafeteria all the time. Right below Reinhard, Crusch and Julius. Acts like delinquents.. 

Regulus is a horrible teacher. Terrible man. The kind of teacher that's like "your learning depends on how I'm feeling today", hated by everyone. 

Capella is not in the school… she. She is not in this au. Gets booted in this HS au.

Sirius is a very sweet teacher. She's the kind of teacher that's almost childish, really wants everyone to get along. She almost seems condescending, but she's genuine about it. Obsessed with Betelgeuse, every time he visits Emilia, she flirts. 

Pandora is the one who keeps Regulus in line. A faculty member. Philosophy Teacher.

Hector is a sad janitor man. Otto took over his job.

Tonchinkan are the three school delinquents, but strangely friends with Felt and therefore associated with Reinhardt (who's trying to keep them in line).

Daphne is the Lunch lady. 

Typhon is a student who's really into philosophy. Bad at it. Misquotes things often. Probably says a Lord of the Rings quote trying to be smart. Googles "how 2 be smart"

Sekhmet is a no nonsense teacher, she doesn't like being a teacher, but good at her job.

Individual notes:

We initially thought this up because we were joking about a Subaru-Reinhardt-Julius highschool fanfiction, cause honestly the way they're written in-story would fit that so well, and ended up making this whole thing...

I think the witches should all be staff/teachers of some sort, except for typhon maybe?

We set wilhelm as the principal just by vibes, but we have some ideas that would clash with the concept. maybe the dragon is the principal and nobody's seen him XD

Reinhardt's story in more detail: he's a straight A student (the kind with over 100% in all of his classes) who joined all of the sports but skipped it a lot because he was just so good at it and also he prioritized chess club. Julius is in a similar position. Subaru then invited him to the anime club (being the idiot he [she?] is) and Reinhardt accepted because "friend!!!!" he found his love for shoujo anime and now tries drawing his own. he's okay at drawing girls but awful at drawing guys. He picked up crossdressing from Ferris and Subaru and had a full identity crisis when he realized Ferris was transfem and Subaru is an egg (or closeted transfem or bigender or something). he realized he's just a cis man who likes crossdressing but he had to put his shoujo down for a little while... now he forces Felt to cosplay as a magical girl with him. She secretly has fun! Every time Heinkel shows up outside his classroom window he just... slides his sparkly pink sketchbook back into his backpack

Subaru sews the cosplay fits!

We said sirius is sweeter in this AU because i don't think anything would trigger her more extreme views in this story, and mey can't tell me if that's right or wrong cause they haven't met her yet XD i might be but i think a sweeter role fits her!

Rem and Ferris are in the same vtubing group. they refuse to talk about it

Emilia picked up her outdated language from old shows and anime! She joined the anime club because she was excited to talk about the old old anime she loves, and when subaru talks about waifus she just thinks "ah, like that lum girl!"

Julius has either really really good taste in anime or really really bad taste.

Subaru's just picking up friends cause he's too chaotic to follow the atmosphere, and the people he tried to become friends with just so happen to need someone like him!

Subaru WILL try to woo emilia with anime pick up lines

When Rem develops a sleeping disorder that makes her fall asleep while standing up sometimes, she becomes wheelchair buddies with Ram! Ram is determined to push herself (though she'll let Emilia do it sometimes) and Subaru helps Rem out!

Rom is a very sweet teacher. everyone is scared of him at first but they all call him grandpa at the end (teasing, but lovingly). Felt is actually his adopted granddaughter, and when she got to highschool it got a little awkward but made some very funny moments!

Ram is a very good student in some places but very bad in others. They don't know what to do with her. Sometimes she gets an A and it's clear she didn't cheat but sometimes she fails. sometimes in class she knows everything and WILL show off and sometimes she's straight up asleep. Nobody can figure out the pattern.

Otto will sometimes skip class and teachers either don't notice or just say "oh he's probably doing janitor stuff we shouldn't bother him."

can patrasche be the very aggressive therapy dog

i think i should stop here before i write a whole book

we haven't even got a fanfiction planned or anything we just talked about this for a few hours

if anyone does want to write a fanfiction that would be hilarious and send it to us please

[suffarustuffaru]

so @alderamiin said subaru for the ask…. yes your ask was the one i deleted on accident whoops 😭😭 BUT HERE WE GO I MADE SURE TO REMEMBER TO DO YOURS WKDNDN (and i LOVE subaru fr i simply could not skip over him also) (pls expect my usual chaotic rambling im so sorry i really am overusing the caps button 😳😭😭)

Sexuality Headcanon: bisexual 👍 subaru being somewhere on the ace spectrum isnt a super strong headcanon of mine compared to the bisexual hc but i am still fond of it <33 bc i do tend to just hc him as bisexual but i suppose i could kind of see it <33 :DD !!

Gender Headcanon: subaru is literally, as we’ve all discussed, like EVERY letter of lgbtq+ i swear. like natsumi EXPLICITLY being stated to be his ideal self….. what cisgender boy has his ideal version of himself be a woman…. come on….. and hes been like. dressing and trying to pass as a girl for his crossdressing pre-isekai too. like subarus Practiced A Lot at this. subaru clearly enjoys doing this and he was crushed when he couldnt pass bc of his voice pre-isekai :(( AND LIKE subaru and his complex relationship to masculinity and feeling insecure in his own skin like……………… and then natsumi being his ideal self…… natsumi being the Heroine……….. and its like. subaru clearly has a case of “do i want to be them or be With Them” when it comes to men hes attracted to (most notably julius.) so like. it could apply to women too. like. and then the way subaru reacts to felix’s presentation too………. i just think it says a lot. i dont care what tappei says but he wrote all this shit in the text fr!!! and also in general. natsuki subaru being a gender neutral name…. same with natsumi schwartz… so yes genderqueer subaru for the win. i personally hc subaru as genderfluid or bigender!! and also like. subaru being Very LGBTQ+ is so in line with rezero’s themes of self love and self improvement and self discovery and Identity. i think it hits so much harder if subaru Is lgbtq+ versus if he was just insecure straight cis man. like no wonder subaru was struggling Even More. hes so so far in the closet and struggling with like the internal homophobia and shit fr :(((

that and 1. subaru being lgbt is such a great subversion of what you would think when you first meet his character. and also a subversion of ur typical isekai protag which ADDS to rezeros subversion of isekai in general and 2. i love making Certain People mad with these hcs. like its so supported by the text the only thing missing is explicit confirmation. which. i have my doubts with tappei on that but iirc he DID say he nearly wrote a lust if with the guys…. tappei. come on. you already explicitly said that natsumi is subarus ideal self.

A ship I have with said character: im very open to most subaru ships!!! i just love a lot of them—reinsuba, ottosuba, emisuba, remsuba, julisuba… i just like how each kind of dynamic with subaru has so much range like even in just main route alone?? and then you factor in the ifs and it gets So Interesting. theres so much history with each pairing and so much to explore, whether its platonic or romantic. and subaru has a LOT of love in his heart.

i just like each pairing for different reasons hah—like ok ive talked a lot about reinsuba and emisuba already in other asks so. i DO like remsuba okay. not in the sense that i want it to be the endgame ship in main route bc thats very much not happening and i would prefer The Most Detailed emisuba development of all time. which would be more thematically relevant <3 but i DO ADORE remsubas relationship in general. like its so so complicated??? like. yeah theres the conflict in arc 2. theres the conflict in arc 7 with her waking up and being different and being so mean to him about natsumi :((( theres her “youre my hero” versus “youre not a hero” WHICH. URHGHF ITS SO GOOD….. and like yeah remsuba really do be. iffy. in terms of how healthy it is. but its so complicated bc you also have rem being like—she was like the first person, narratively, to be willing to DIE to save subaru the exact way he does for other people (including rem). and then the famous from zero scene in season one which is a MASTERPIECE but i hate how people fixate on “i love emilia” LIKE REM IS HAPPY FOR SUBARU. SHE IS HAPPY AS LONG AS HE IS. EVEN IF HE DOESNT LIKE HER BACK. but also he did like her back romantically for a time. and also of course rem had her fixation on subaru :(( subaru had his own obsession for emilia while rem had hers for subaru pre-being gluttonyed?? :(( yeah like. remsuba being so complicated is so interesting to me. like she and subaru are very passionate people yes. but also they do need to learn to tone it down sometimes you know? REM ESPECIALLY TOO BECAUSE EVEN AFTER SHE STOPS BEING MURDERY TOWARDS HIM… FOR EXAMPLE IN SEASON ONE SHE WOULD CANONICALLY GO TO HIS ROOM IN THE MORNING AND WAIT FOR HIM TO WAKE UP…. like she'd just sit there at his bedside and Stare at him... like girl chill a bit its okay T^T i havent read sloth if. but it seems like they learned to mellow out and have a happy life T^T apart from. a shit ton of people dying in the background and also subaru dying of old age and resetting back to arc 3. i am interested to see if we’ll get further remsuba closure in arc 8 yes. but also im bonking subaru on the head in arc 7 for saying even REM TORTURING HIM was a fond memory. pls let this be addressed again later i swear sodndn.

ok also julisuba and ottosuba. i am no expert on julisuba but on the other hand i have analyzed Too Much Ottosuba so perhaps i am an expert there wodndn. but YEAH i love those ships. they have so much history and moments between them and they are. definitely the more Explicit evidence of subaru being bi (between subarus Interest in julius and reid calling julisuba boyfriends and SUBARUS INTEREST IN JULIUS... vs ottosuba repeatedly being like “omg do you Like Like me?” “NO I DONT SHUT UP” and also their continued divorce arc dynamics yep). but also i will say i really like ottosuba because specifically they are the subaru pairing where theyre like. Very Much Closer To Being Equals. if theyre not already equals in something. like in terms of power levels and intellect and their very loving families and previous inability to fit in or be believed by people and also their status in the narrative as Being Just A Guy in comparison to everyone else. and yet ottosuba are the MOST important members to their camp for their jobs—subaru keeps everyone alive, and otto handles All the politics, which we see over and over again. they are literally THE power duo. otto is so so important too as the second person to die FOR subaru the same way subarus died for others. like the paralleling of otto pushing subaru out of the way when the white whale drove otto insane (and later otto tried to go back for subaru once he regained his senses ;-;;;) versus otto pushing subaru out of the way so he didnt get killed by garf ;-;;;;;. and otto being the second person after rem to also give subaru an EXTREMELY IMPORTANT speech to him (otto-rem parallels...???) <33 except ottosuba also foil a lot bc of their Different Morals. but theyre both stubborn as hell and have a tendency to go off and do shit they think is best without telling anyone bc theyre too deadset (hah) on what THEY think. (OTTO. SPENDING A WHOLE YEAR SECRETLY GETTING THE BOOK OF WISDOM AND HAVING IT RESTORED?? HELLO???) anyway yeah ill stop right here bc i have So Much ottosuba posts on this damn blog wkdndn but i really do think the appeal of ottosuba is that they Are on a more even playing ground. and their morality flipflops sometimes. ottos issues are just more lowkey than subarus widndnd. i am. however. nervous about all the ottosuba and vincent-chisha parallels in arc 8 bc………. possible otto perma death on the horizon??? 😭😭😭😭 itd CRUSH subaru.

also of course the similar flavors of julisuba and ottosuba….. u can have ur tsundere x tsundere ships in TWO DIFFERENT FONTS. anyway ill become a julius lore expert someday i promise.

A BROTP I have with said character: BROTP ottosuba and ramsuba are so so funny and great wofndn but special shoutout to garf and subaru in particular!!! i think its interesting how far their relationship has come bc they had a VERY rough start and its like. 1. im sure garf would immediately regret going into a rage and killing a shit ton of people in that One Failed Loop and 2. we learn garf is a traumatized fourteen year old whos been trying so hard to take care of the demihumans inside sanctuary while his sister and mom left him, one way or another, and hes very afraid of the outside world. and its like YEAH now your behavior makes sense. and its so good to see garfs growth and also his growth in his relationship with subaru (and otto) bc he looks up to subaru sm!!! subaru helped garf so much T^T theyre brothers guys 😭😭 i think its so adorable and so sweet. ill defend garf all day everyday. garf 🤝 subaru with their DAMN hero complexes while otto tries to keep them both on a leash so they dont do stupid shit. subaru IS a good role model for garf though ill say that. subaru tries so hard to be a good role model wkdndn. and yes i always laugh when garf teases subaru for drawing doodles and writing encouraging things for emilia in the temple.

A NOTP I have with said character: okay so. maybe i will spill some tea here. hah so i went over in ram’s ask how i think ramsuba in wrath if is actually super interesting widndns but otherwise ramsuba to me is bland. which. i also just feel like subaru/crusch and subaru/ana and subaru/priscilla are also bland. like. i dont think theyll ever feel interesting to me akdndn. like theres not. as much to work off of imo. like i just dont think theyre a good match romantically at all. like At All. priscilla especially LMAO…. and im tired of people reducing women in the story to just boobs and being fucked by subaru 😭😭😭 like i dont have anything against those subaru ships, my biggest notp is just seeing a bunch of characters be butchered just to have subaru have sex with various women. 😭😭 obviously not everyone in the fandom does that but i see this happens the most with priscilla fr. pls. shes more than just boobs :(((

anyway. my other notp is like. echidna/subaru but like. i feel similarly to ram/roswaal on this where its like. theres a potential there to show a nuanced complex toxic relationship bc THAT IS what echidna/subaru are. even more so in greed if. like theyve spent an UNGODLY amount of time together like their relationship is so fucked. like god the amount of details that were added to their dynamic in the greed if ln makes me go INSANE….. like you know how echidna said that subaru could use her body with this contract?? what she ALSO really meant was HEY SUBARU YOU CAN KILL ME IF YOU WANT. ILL JUST COME BACK BC WE ALWAYS MEET IN A DREAM WORLD AND THERES NO CONSEQUENCES BUT ITLL FEEL REAL TO YOU. LIKE HOLY FUCK FR 😭😭 and like in generally reading through greed if ln is a Trip alright. like “no yeah duh of course it is, suffaru, its GREED IF” but LISTEN……. echidna being subarus weird mother figure and then like. idk there are obvious implications i feel from like the body fluid tea and then echidna being like “you can use my body” and then theres a moment where she puts his hand on her chest and yeah its to feel her heart but LIKE…. SOMETHING ABOUT THAT SCENE FELT LIKE. SOMETHING. TO ME. AND THEN SHES SO OBSESSED WITH HIM AND HES DEPENDENT ON HER LIKE JESUS ITS A MESS. ITS LIKE HOW SHE WAS WITH OG ROSWAAL. GOD. *puts my head in my hands*

anyway my real notp is like. depicting echidna/subaru like it is a Healthy Thing like no it is not 😭😭😭😭 it never was healthy and it literally never will be unless ur changing echidnas character drastically. if ur gonna show off echidna/subaru then they are gonna be SO RANCID in like every way possible there is no other correct way to write them. she is terrible for him. she literally saw him and went “i can make him worse” and then it happened. bc greed if subaru is a Terrible Person. like. its not even a question. the biggest example i can think of rn other than obvious Rbd use is KEEPING MEILI. A CHILD. HOSTAGE AND LOCKED UP IN ORDER TO USE ELSA. HER OLDER SISTER FIGURE. JEEZ. my biggest notp of all time is treating unhealthy relationships as if they Arent unhealthy.

MY OTHER BIGGEST NOTP OF ALL TIME FOR ANYTHING IS SHIPPING A CHILD AND AN OLDER PERSON TOGETHER. subaru/petra SHOULD BE AN OBVIOUS NOTP BUT SURE DOESNT FEEL LIKE IT SOMETIMES….. guys she is a child. come on. hes seventeen and shes TWELVE. GUYS…. and then theres tappei making iirc an ACTUAL petra if????? and idk what the content in petra if is exactly but i worry given tappeis track record with the child characters sometimes 😭😭 AND THEN PETRA BEING IN LUST IF. TAPPEI…… N-NOTHING HAPPENS, RIGHT? *EXPLODES WITH RAGE*. even if petra and subaru get together later when theyre Older Adults in some AU or something its like. subaru knew her when she was a young child. and she had a crush on him then. um. personally idk if im fully comfortable with that hah T^T

A random headcanon: GONNA TALK ABOUT WRATH IF. anyway so the wrath if divergence point is that subaru gets beatrice to teleport him away and ram chases him down, ram tries to strangle him to death but fails, he smashes her head with a rock. yes. BUT OKAY when u watch the anime. beatrice comes for his aid AFTER subaru gets to the cliff and tries to psych himself up to like. jump off to save rem and stuff. THEREFORE wrath if subaru still considered trying to rbd via jumping off that cliff. he just decided not to and agreed to have beatrice teleport him away. this is something not many people seem to mention or maybe even notice (??) but I THINK ABOUT IT A LOT…. :((

General Opinion over said character: i LOVE SUBARU WITH MY WHOLE BEING. he is my absolute favorite anime character of all time. his character arc is so chaotic and complicated and i think the way he Does like still struggle with the same Inner Conflicts is so so much more realistic. recovery and self improvement are NOT linear and he shows that perfectly. and i hate how much people misread subaru T^T the whole chadbaru trend in fandom of how he should get harems or how he should leave everyone or be terrible to emilia for *insert a long list of Terrible reasons here* is so. like did we all read and watch the same damn story or what hah. the whole point of rezero is LOVE ITSELF….. and subaru ultimately has a lot of love for so many people around him. though of course i do worry for how rbd reveal is going to be handled, and im not entirely sure how to feel about subarus arc 7 development atm. rbd reveal is gonna have catastrophic consequences for Everyone. like everyone hes ever been close to finding out hes died a shit ton of times to save him?? that so many of them have like. maimed and killed him or at least Tried To Do That? like HOW are we gonna get a happy ending out of all of this—hows tappei gonna handle this?? 😭😭 i worry sometimes that when rbd reveal happens it wont be nuanced or itll gloss over certain things or it just. wont be so satisfying. bc u have arc 7 subaru out here with SUICIDE PILLS……. ARC 7 SUBARU IN REPEATED INSANE DEATH LOOPS AS A CHILD….. how are we gonna come back from this?? 😭😭 i have my doubts sometimes but tappei loves insane character development for subaru so i suppose i will hope. i just wish for all the trauma to be seen and addressed akdndn and the fact that rbd is so. complicated. it makes subaru and his relationships with everyone else so complicated. and rbd is inherently unfair in a lot of ways to both subaru and everyone hes close to. i cant wait for more subaru development but i also think after arc 8 he NEEDS a break or like otherwise, personally i think subarus gonna snap for good and not be able to return from it 😭😭 or ill just have to suspend my uhh disbelief. i suppose. but yes i do love subaru a lot!!! his hair is a Pain in the ass to draw but ill endure the pain just for him. <33

but regarding all of subarus loved ones maiming and killing him a lot—i think its fascinating how the if routes prove he is JUST as capable of ruining all their lives. like i feel like people forget that sometimes in favor of woaaah cool what if routes where subaru becomes “badass”…. but LIKE…. hes SO SO CAPABLE of so much destruction. he is choice itself. he is capable of changing the entire world and everyone around him. he is capable of causing the deaths and trauma for SO MANY PEOPLE… and like i think rezero itself and subarus relationships are like an extreme version of hedgehog’s dilemma, u know? like u get close to people to love and be loved, but ur also very vulnerable to getting hurt. and rezero is About love. and part of close relationships are that ur so close u Can be hurt. maybe you Will be hurt. but u will also Love….. unless ur one of the ifbarus then fuck u for making the wrong decisions ig wodndndn. im telling u guys that subaru is LITERALLY an eldritch being at this rate. todd is so right.

and. okay one last thing im gonna be real for a second. im a little eh on subaru being a child, honestly. like i DO like the trope of turning characters back into their child selves in order to explore their psychology that way!! but like. idk i feel like the childbaru arc is kinda too similar to the whole amnesiabaru arc in arc 6. it feels Extraneous. it doesnt feel different enough for me personally. (emphasis on personally. this is all my opinion hah.) and then he is STILL A CHILD IN ARC 8 EVEN THOUGH THE OTHER PEOPLE THAT GOT TURNED INTO KIDS ARE NOW BACK TO NORMAL…… LIKE…. im sorry but the childbaru has overstayed its welcome by the time we get to arc 8 imo 😭😭

[soccerpunching]

ig i just want to address this thing i once heard that Toramaru staying by Ishido's side in inago is a derail of his character because I don't think so.

I agree with the sentiment though, it's bad that we are only shown Toramaru here as an afterthought to Gouenji and that he was not shown to do anything else than to follow what Gouenji was doing. They did this with a lot of characters and it's terrible. Sakuma, Natsumi, Haruna even sometimes... it's a problem, really.

But I just don't think this means that this erased the character development he had or that it soiled what was great about his character. Because to me it makes sense that Gouenji would ask the help of the first person who ever called him out on his bullshit. Toramaru was the best person to ask by his side while he's in an enemy territory because he doesn't placate him especially when he's angry. Toramaru is also blunt, assertive, and have a high emotional intelligence. He would be the best right hand man who can fill in where Gouenji lacks (socializing and being reckless).

And it would make sense that Toramaru would feel strongly about saving soccer as much as the other casts do. Toramaru decided at a young age that soccer was what he wanted for himself early on (before meeting the cast) and even more strongly than the others did. Soccer is the life he wants. He would do anything to save it and give the children a chance to love it the way he did.

Toramaru probably even answered with "This is for soccer, isn't it? Then, count me in." because that would be what's important to him here. It's soccer. That being Gouenji's personal request to him is secondary.

And this is more headcanon territory but it makes sense to me that Toramaru was the person he used Fire Tornado DD with. They insisted that FTDD needs a strong trust, compatibility, and rigorous training together to accomplish. And because if they were already teammates that time, Gouenji's troubles after hearing about Fifth Sector wouldnt come unnoticed and Toramaru would assert himself in finding out what's wrong and in joining this fight.

[a-student-out-of-time]

Danganronpa and the Mean Girl Problem

Hello, everyone! I’ve come to once again share my thoughts on something.

With the (as of writing this) recent release of Despair Time Chapter 2, I felt this was an appropriate time to discuss some things. First off, I am very interested to see where this fangan is going from here on out, and even from the first episode, I’m hooked.

I really enjoyed the character moments in the first episode, from Eden to Levi to Teruko to J to one of the subjects of my discussion today: Arei.

Now, I have to admit, Arei’s one of the most interesting characters in DRDT to me. She’s not my favorite- that honor goes to Hu- but she’s the one who I think has the most potential for character development within the narrative of DRDT. And that’s also something that concerns me.

See, that brings us to the point I want to address here is in the title. It’s something I’ve noticed across both the canon games and some fangans, which I’ll call the “Mean Girl Problem.”

(Spoilers for the canon games, DR3, the Another series, Despair Time, DR Antebellum, etc. will follow. You have been warned.)

(Also, this became a long-ass post. You’ve also been warned on that.)

As I’m sure many of us are aware at this point, Danganronpa is a very formulaic series. While we see different stories and character arcs play out, we nevertheless see similar archetypes and story beats across them. Sometimes these are broken in unique ways, but we often have very similar starting points.

Oftentimes, these repeated tropes have been deconstructed and explored in different ways, either in the games themselves or among fan games that seek to go beyond the formulaic writing. Even then, however, there tends to be repetition with a lot of them, mostly in terms of things like my least favorite trope, the double murder in Chapter 3.

What I want to focus on here is an archetype I’ve seen a lot and one that often leaves me thoroughly disappointed every time: the eponymous mean girl.

These tend to be female characters who are presented as bullies, either toward one character in particular or members of their group as a whole. I feel this archetype really got its start with Hiyoko in DR2, and it understandably became a point of contention with a lot of people. And it was later repeated with a lot of characters.

I can’t speak for all fangans, so I’ll stick to the ones I’ve seen. Among them, we’ve got Hiyoko, Ruruka, Natsumi and Miu in canon; Rei, Kizuna and Hibiki in the Another series, Mitsuba in Brave DR, Emilia in Antebellum, and Arei in Despair Time. I’ll leave Mitsuba out of this discussion, since Brave DR hasn’t made it quite as far as other fangans, but we still have a lot we can talk about here.

The Mean Girl Problem is a writing trend I’ve seen where these characters end up not receiving much narrative importance or opportunities for development, particularly in comparison to their male counterparts. And when they do, it’s usually squandered hard.

If you already have objections to this, I understand, but allow me to explain what I mean, character by character.

Now, DR1 didn’t really have a Mean Girl character, which is interesting. There were no female characters who were really openly malicious or antagonistic, unless one wants to include Celeste. However, she isn’t really an example of what I’m talking about. The problem really started in DR2:

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Hiyoko Saionji

As I said, this archetype began with Hiyoko. Her introduction had her crushing ants, making her creepy face and then calling Haime a wuss. From there, she spends most of her time complaining, manipulating and insulting everyone, aside from Mahiru who’s the only one that really puts up with her. Her worst insults are saved for Mikan, which...grr, but I’ll move on.

Now, Hiyoko being a selfish bratty girl is by design. She’s a member of the prestigious Saionji Clan and thus sees herself as superior to everyone else, so it’s at least understandable why she’d feel this way. Even if she plays it off in her Free Time Events that she’d been the subject of “assassination attempts,” which some of my friends have attributed to others getting back at her for her bullying, it’s clear she’s not well-liked in-story.

My point here isn’t that Hiyoko is a bad character. Quite to the contrary. Many people who defend her point out that she does have a lot more going on than just being a bully, and I fully agree. I like how much she loves her nation’s culture, how much she misses her dad and her belief that protecting something is a sign of love. That’s interesting.

The MGP stemmed from me asking a simple question: what purpose does she serve in the story?

It’s a serious question: what does her being a bully contribute to the narrative? What role does she serve, either thematically or in the plot itself other than being a member of Ultimate Despair? How does she actually change as a result of the story?

To all of this, I have to say “Not much.”

Now, I’m not going to say she didn’t have any purpose. Again, there were good moments with her. I like how she tried to make a memorial for Mahiru, but it came off as ominous and creepy to everyone, and she admits she’s not good at anything but dancing.

...Of course, then she turns right around and insults Mikan again.

And this brings me to another point about her: nobody in the story really seems to actually acknowledge Hiyoko’s cruel moments. Sure, they get annoyed with her, but nobody takes her aside and tries to explain why it’s wrong. Hajime makes some snarky comments about in her her behavior FTEs, but all he really seems to do is tolerate her.

Her bullying never really seems to factor that much into the plot, other than it just being something she does. Hell, even her being killed by Mikan had nothing to do with her bullying, but simply because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Her being a bully was basically irrelevant to everything that ultimately happened with her in the story.

But here’s the part that really gets me: this moment in Chapter 3 where Hajime claims she’s changing:

Which, I guess I understand. It’s not the same thing as earlier, when she basically raged that Teruteru deserved to die horribly for committing murder, and that she wished she could’ve spat on his corpse.

Like, I guess that’s progress, going from “He deserved what he got” to “We’re only working together to escape because we don’t have a choice.” Still though, jeez.

And what comes off this? Again, basically nothing. Hiyoko can’t get her kimono on, Sonia suggests she use the full-body mirror at the music venue and that’s where she gets shanked by Mikan. Not because she was mad about the bullying and nobody doing anything to help, not because Hiyoko confronted her or she confronted Hiyoko.

No, she just walked in and Mikan went “No witnesses.”

And later on, DR3 confirmed that Hiyoko more or less acted the exact same during her time in Hope’s Peak. The only real progress we can really say she got was the fact that she acts more like a platonic tsundere toward Mikan in Side Hope.

Overall, it really seems like being a bully was the focus of Hiyoko’s character, when the game clearly wanted to acknowledge there was more going on with her. Yet most of the deeper elements with her were relegated to her FTEs.

And if she was bad, Ruruka was even worse.

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Ruruka Ando

Probably the biggest contender for the most hated DR3 character, Ruruka is, in a word, a self-centered bitch. Now, again, that isn’t to say that’s a problem and that there isn’t anything deeper going on with her character.

It genuinely seems like she has trouble with empathy, something that was shown when she and Seiko first met and she didn’t even really address that Seiko was crying over the dog she couldn’t save.

One could attribute that to her being a child, but throughout Seiko and Ruruka’s friendship, it becomes quite clear Ruruka asks her for more and more favors, going from medicines she needs to basic things she could probably just buy herself. This is acknowledged and addressed by the story.

What the story doesn’t do a great job of addressing is Seiko’s side of things, where it kinda seems to blame her for constantly accepting Ruruka’s requests and acts as if this is a “both sides are wrong” situation. I don’t think the story presented it well, and just made Ruruka look incredibly toxic and manipulative toward someone who has trouble saying no. Not quite the same as bullying, but more than enough to meet the standards of a Mean Girl.

The manga actually did one better and worse at the same time, where it brings up the idea that Seiko can’t eat Ruruka’s candies and addresses why she doesn’t make sugar-free ones: she refuses to acknowledge that Seiko even has an allergy and that she’s making it up to spite her. Sounds shallow and petty, but it’s a real thing that’s happened with some people.

If you don’t believe me, look up the woman whose in-laws fed her mushroom soup because she didn’t believe her when she said she had a mushroom allergy.

But again, the story wants there to be something deeper with these two. In the Future arc, Ruruka internally admits that she always saw Seiko as her hero, as someone with the talent and skill to do anything, and she was jealous because all she could do was make sweets. That’s an interesting motivation.

And the story doesn’t do all that much with it. Once again, the way it’s framed, Ruruka is a toxic and manipulative friend who wanted to use Seiko’s talents to cheat in her practical exam, and it was largely Nagito’s fault that things went south, then they had a falling out and were expelled.

There is a good story buried in this narrative. The problem is that Ruruka is presented in far too much of a negative light to really come off as someone with a valid point, while Seiko didn’t really do anything wrong. Izayoi is also barely a character and just follows her around everywhere, when maybe he could’ve been the mediator between the two of them.

But instead, after Seiko and Izayoi die, Ruruka nearly kills Kyoko and gets Koichi killed thanks to her bullshit. Granted, she was under threat of her Forbidden Action, but it was still framed as her being a villainous character, with her glaring evily.

This is not the face of someone who was forced into committing evil for the sake of her own survival.

And what happens after all this? What role does she have in the story? Nothing.

She wanders off on her own, rambling to herself about how she’ll survive, and then she gets killed by the hypnosis monitor thing- very graphically and excessively, I have to say- and then nobody even acknowledges her existence again.

I’ve heard speculation that the story of Ruruka, Seiko and Izayoi is meant to show why it’s important to trust your friends, but she had so few good qualities to her and so little going on within the narrative beyond just fighting with a roided-up Seiko that I could barely glean something like that.

She really just feels like she’s there to be an antagonistic force for a while, and when she’s not needed anymore, she’s shoved off to die. And if the story wanted us to at least feel for her, why kill her off in such a mean-spirited and graphic manner? Were we supposed to feel bad or feel like it was karmic?

Either way, it’s not a good look.

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Natsumi Kuzuryu

Here’s what turned out to be a retroactive example of the MGP: Natsumi, the girl who was originally only known through flashbacks and Twilight Syndrome Murder Case, in SDR2, who was originally just Fuyuhiko’s unnamed sister

DR3 came along and gave us a better look at her, though in a way I doubt we were expecting. From what Fuyuhiko had told Hajime, it seemed as if Natsumi was an Ultimate. Hell, he was sure she deserved the title of Ultimate Yakuza far more than him:

But what DR3 gave us was a girl who joined the Reserve Course, and just called herself the Ultimate Little Sister.

She certainly lives up to what Fuyuhiko was talking about, at least in how she was self-centered and arrogant. Even so, it’s obvious the two of them were very close, especially with how Natsumi looks up to him and dreams of joining the Main Course so she can stand by him as an equal.

The problem is, though, her intense rivalry with Mahiru and Sato, who she’s been in conflict with since Middle School. Once again, a character who we were lead to believe was an Ultimate turned out to also be in the Reserve Course.

Regardless, the two of them had an absolutely bitter rivalry, which as we’d learn would eventually lead to Sato murdering Natsumi, then Fuyuhiko murdering Sato in retaliation. DR3 had the opportunity to tell us a little bit more about Natsumi’s side of things.

And what we learn is that Natsumi fears being left behind with her brother in the Main Course, and wants to be acknowledge not for her talent but to earn a title so the two of them can be equals.

Now, Natsumi’s inclusion this way, while a weird retcon, isn’t pointless. It’s a pretty decent means of reinforcing the idea that talented and talentless people can’t mix, fueling Hajime’s insecurity. But once again, it really seems like it brushes over a lot of things with her cruelty toward Mahiru and Sato, none of which prove relevant for the larger story.

This is especially odd because the anime seemed more than willing to sympathize with Natsumi, while also neglecting to giving Sato a full name. And given that both of them die shortly afterward, it does feel a bit emotionally manipulative.

But once again, no relevance to the larger story. They’re not even mentioned once afterward.

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Miu Iruma

Now, Miu’s an interesting case because she has a huge fanbase. I understand why: she’s vulgar as hell, but also confident and hilarious. I call her a Mean Girl because, again, she often goes out of her way to insult and antagonize people for no real reason.

She’s different than the others, however, because she actually does contribute a lot of important details to the plot with her inventions.

It’s thanks to Miu that they get an overhead view of the first crime scene, she’s the reason why Chapter 4 happens, and she’s the one to provide the group with the weapons they need to take on the Exisals and learn the truth about their situation, both the manufactured one and the real one. So overall, she makes a massive impact on the story of V3.

My question is this: does this make her a character or a plot device factory?

Miu has basically no character development through the story, and is mostly just there for either making devices to move the plot forward, for comedy or for fanservice.

We do hits of greater identity and motivation for her in her FTEs and in Chapter 4, where we learn she received her talent after she was in a car accident that left her in a coma, waking up and finding she had a ton of ideas for inventions. And in Chapter 4, just before she attempts to kill Kokichi, she says the world needs her and her inventions.

This suggests either Miu knew what had “happened” to the world as part of the flashback light, or she didn’t but believed this idea in general. That, despite her crude behavior, she has genuinely altruistic motivations. That’s a good character quality for her.

And we don’t get much of that after this moment. The only memory of her anyone really has is of her and her inventions, and everyone except Kiibo basically hates her guts as a whole.

But what makes all of this worse in its own way is that this isn’t even Miu’s real personality, but a fabrication from Team Danganronpa. I can only go off of what we see here, so it’s hard to say what the real her was like, but the version we get here definitely falls victim to the MGP.

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Kizuna Tomori

Moving over to the fangan side of things, we have Kizuna Tomori, Class 79′s Ultimate Cheerleader from DRA.

Now, Kizuna is definitely closer to the Mean Girl archetype you might’ve thought of, i.e. a Regina George or Heather Chandler type. She acts all sweet and touchy-feely with Yuki, calling him nicknames and asking if he’ll buy her things when they get out.

And it goes on and on in her FTEs, where Yuki eventually wises up to the fact that she’s incredibly materialistic and she gets mad when he calls her out on it. Then she goes on to reveal that she’s the Queen Bee of her school, having boys do whatever she wants, buying her things and basically pimping out her fellow cheerleaders to them in exchange.

And it really seems like she doesn’t understand that this is a bad thing. Not that she knows and doesn’t care, but that she can’t comprehend that this isn’t supposed to be how things work.

Things get interesting in the last one, where she basically tries to have sex with Yuki, and he demands to know what the hell is going on with her.

She did all of this deliberately. She understands that she’s not a good person, but she’s also scared of guys who are only interested in her for her looks. She basically turned every guy who was interested in her into her servant, but in the process, she ultimately isolated herself from everyone else.

And there’s also the influence of her mother, Minako, who also seems to value her appearance. I can only image what kind of situation Kizuna was in to feel this way, where she was scared of being taken advantage of by guys if she drops this facade. One that’s kept her from even having friends.

In the game itself, Kizuna also isolates herself from everyone thanks to Tsurugi’s tyrannical rule, and also ends up quite lonely. Something Akane goes out of her way to help her with after she and Yuki find her crying.

It’s a really sweet and wholesome moment, where Akane assures her that she does consider Kizuna a friend, never saw her as weak and that they can confide in each other. Something Kizuna never really had before then.

And what happens afterward? Well, turns out she’s a fake bitch.

Which inevitably leads to Kizuna attempting to murder Akane.

The thing is, lying and scheming aside, Kizuna actually kinda has a point here.

The motive in Chapter 2 of DRA is, naturally, secrets. The one she found suggested local normal protag Yuki Maede might actually know the identity of the mastermind, and as we learn in Chapter 6, that turned out to be him.

Not only that, but Akane was actually his colleague and fellow Ultimate Despair. Kizuna unintentionally targeted both masterminds, and had she pulled it off, she may have actually ended the Killing Game early on. True, she was only focused on escaping, but it would’ve been beneficial to a greater number of people.

But what really bothers me is LINUJ’s attitude toward her. He created a pretty sympathetic backstory for her, which doesn’t excuse but explain her behavior, yet he admits in her design document that he made her to be the character everybody would hate and wanted to give her the most painful death possible.

Which he did in the form of a stab would in the stomach that took about thirty minutes to kill her. Like...jeez, dude. It’s also kinda hard for me to hate her not only when she’s actually kinda right on repeat viewings, but she also took the time to try and tell everyone it wasn’t actually Akane who killed her via dying message.

I also don’t want to be that person, but the fact that the character with the most sexualized design, the most overtly flirty and outgoing personality, and a backstory about trying to prevent guys from taking advantage of her weakness, is portrayed as an unrepentant villain?

Maybe it was unintentional, but it doesn’t sit well with me.

Really though, once again, I must ask why? What was gained from all this? What does it actually organically add to the story? Is there a lesson to be gleaned with this?

Not really any that I can see. I understand the points LINUJ raises when he talks about how we shouldn’t ignore the wrongdoings of a character because we sympathize with them, but I must also ask if utterly demonizing them for those wrongdoings is a bigger issue.

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Hibiki Otonokoji

Oh boy.

I’ve already talked at length about my problems with SDRA2 Chapter 3, but that was mostly me rambling about Kanade and the story. Instead, I’ll keep it short and focus strictly on Hibiki. Because out of all the victims of the MGP, Hibiki got robbed the absolute hardest.

I’ll start by saying that Hibiki isn’t so much a general bully as she is big sister bully. Her ire is mostly directed toward Kanade, who she insults, belittles, orders around, and harasses for her own amusement. At least it seems that way.

As we learn throughout the game, the Otonokoji Twins really have a mutually toxic relationship. Hibiki bullying Kanade is, according to the latter, because Hibiki’s actually a try-hard who’s jealous of Kanade for being better at her in everything: academics, athletics, even music. She hates losing more than anything.

That setup is at least an understandable motivation, and it could’ve made for some decent development opportunities, which the game actually did take at first.

See, because of SDRA2′s unique setup- there being five masterminds in the group- she understandably doesn’t feel safe trusting anyone except her sister at first. It takes a lot of work to get her to even leave her room and hang out with everyone.

Thanks to Setsuka’s encouragement, she admits that, yes, she wants to be friends with everyone. Hibiki is naturally a social butterfly, and even if she’s scared of what might happen because of the Voids, nothing will change if things stay the same.

And that’s a lesson she actually takes to heart afterward.

She genuinely tries to change her attitude and be more of a team-player with everyone, hanging out with them and trying to cheer up the group when they’re down because of their situation.

Because she takes responsibility for the things that happened, be it Yuri’s death at the party and Kokoro’s death due to the concert they held. And she’s doesn’t want there to be a third one.

She knows she’s not very smart, but she doesn’t want to be a burden on everyone and wants to contribute however she can. And the start of Chapter 3 actually shows her practicing what she preaches, even cracking jokes with everyone.

The disappointing thing is that everything that was going on with Hibiki was far, far more interesting to me than what actually ended up happening.

But instead of focusing on her trying to change and grow as a person, we got to spend the rest of the chapter glorifying another serial killer, turning Hibiki into a background extra and then revealing that her life had been literal hell, her parents are dead and her real personality probably doesn’t exist anymore, capped off with her dying a meaningless death.

A chapter that also effectively made her and her sister’s presence completely irrelevant to the actual story. While I complain about the MGP, nobody got it worse than Hibiki.

She deserved so much better than that.

_____________________________________________________

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Rei Mekaru

Danganronpa Another’s original bad bitch, Rei is one of the few mean girl characters who actually managed to not only survive, but also receive development as a result. Good for her!

The thing with Rei is that she’s largely more similar to Byakuya than Hiyoko or Miu, although she dabbles in the Mean Girl archetype on occasion, particularly toward Kizuna. I’ll still include her because it’s an interesting example of slow-burn character development.

Rei starts out as cold, dismissive and condescending toward her classmates, and while she’s clearly intelligent, she’s also more than willing to let everyone try and solve the cases themselves while also insulting them at the same time. This continues on for some time, at least until Chapter 4.

It isn’t until she sees Haruhiko and Satsuki willingly sacrifice themselves, allowing the rest of the group to survive, that ultimately rattles her view on things and gets her to reconsider. She almost seemed baffled when Satsuki gave up any chance she had to escape.

Likewise, in what was a pretty hilarious moment, when everyone basically isolates Yuki when it seems like he might be the traitor, she calls them out on their sense of false righteousness when they talk about the power of friendship. It’s not often you see these sorts of characters touch on something like that : P

Really, Rei’s character development really seems to take place in the second half of the game, which is probably how she manages to avoid falling victim to MGP. SDRA2 hits us with what looks like Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome, only for it to be revealed she survived.

Of course, given that DRA already has Kizuna as a victim of the MGP, it was probably a given. Still sad that, by the end of SDRA2, she and Tsurugi are the only survivors of Class 79.

Emilia Carmine

We now come to what’s probably my favorite fangan thus far: Danganronpa Antebellum, which has its own resident Mean Girl, Emilia. Now, I’m gonna be frank with this: Chapter 3 of Antebellum isn’t finished yet, so I can’t really call this an example of MGP, and I hope I don’t have to.

What I will say is that Emilia does fulfill a lot of the Mean Girl tropes: she insults everyone, antagonizes them, and she’s easily the most foul-mouthed out of everyone. However, in contrast to the previous examples, she also has a genuinely sweet relationship with her best friend Mint, who she considers a brother. She teases him a lot, but it comes off more as teasing than actual bullying.

Even toward Shinku, she gradually goes from mocking him to opening up to him, to enjoying his presence. Emilia herself was raised in a very controlling, heavily restrictive manner by her father, who also kicked out her sister Elodie on account of her being trans. Emilia was very close with her, and would do anything to reunite with her. A motivation that nearly drives her to murder Shinku in Chapter 2, which, if it hadn’t been for Mint and the BDA, she very likely would’ve. Something she regrets immensely.

The sad part is, at the end of Chapter 2, her crime is revealed: burning down her father’s hospital, killing and injuring many people. A revelation that drives a wedge between her and Mint that never ends up resolved. While Emilia wants to make up with him, the group is split in half when the ceiling caves in and Emilia is killed in the game’s double murder, never even getting to see Mint again.

It’s too early to say, but this is feeling more like a genuine tragedy than a case of MGP, and I highly doubt she’s going to be forgotten by the end.

____________________________________________________

And that finally brings me to the subject I brought up at the beginning: Arei Nageishi.

Now, I called Arei the most interesting of the Despair Time cast because she has a quality that makes her a bit different from the other Mean Girl characters: she legitimately values friendship.

That might sound bizarre, given that she still openly insults and antagonizes the group. While she does go out of her way to be cruel to Teruko and Xander in her introduction, it seems like she wants to be included in group activities.

And of course, she falls into a self-pitying session of fake crying to get sympathy, which Hu shuts down immediately. Now, one could easily just write this off as attention-seeking behavior, but it’s the small details that interest me.

They shut her down on that.

Xander is, of course, disbelieving that she could be that oblivious to the situation. However, I think her behavior has less to do with her being oblivious and more to do with her having a skewed perspective.

See, when MonoTV shows up to announce the new motive, he specifies that there might be some bad news about their friends and family. Arei’s reponse?

No jokes, genuine concern over the motive.

And another moment that caught my attention was in the wake of the trial and Min’s execution. It was fucked up and horrifying, and everyone is understandably freaking out, but the reactions differ. Most everyone is freaking out about their situation, wanting to leave and being afraid of dying. Others are genuinely sad for Min, and among them?

Yeah, after the girl she’d previously accused of excluding her gets executed, Arei is genuinely upset to see her go. This was also after she’d spent the trial railing against any potential murders, mostly Teruko. She doesn’t make jokes, she doesn’t say she deserved it, she doesn’t shrug it off like it’s nothing.

She’s genuinely sad to lose Min.

Another insightful bit comes from her FTE with J, where she thinks to herself how fun it is to mess with her, and how she finds her cute.

Yeah, Arei has a system for how she bullies people, ranging from just teasing to wanting to utterly destroy their lives if they’re mean to her. A lot of this stems from the fact that she was the Queen Bee of her school, and like Kizuna, she used her looks and status to get guys to do whatever she wanted.

But the most interesting part to me is when J starts ranting about her mother, and Arei has this to share.

We’ll come back to this, but suffice to say, Arei has a very odd idea of what friendship is. She’s under the impression J likes her because she didn’t leave the situation.

Something else worth bringing up are the characters quotes from the tumblr page, both the public one and hidden ones. For Arei, these are as follows:

Public: “If I tell you a secret, will you promise to keep it?”

Hidden: “Because that’s what friends do”

And then there’s a hidden one in relation to the mysterious Mai Akasaki, who seemed to have been a friend to the entire group:

“She doesn’t like when her friends fight.”

For someone who continuously insults and looks down on the group, Arei sure has a lot of quotes in reference to friendship and trust.

Which brings me to the first part of Chapter 2, where MonoTV distributed the group’s deepest, darkest secrets...to the wrong people. And Arei, who’d previously been complaining about the situation, immediately quiets down.

She’s not making jokes, she’s not making fun of whomever’s secret she got. No, she is horrified.

This might’ve been easy to overlook after everyone is confused about not getting their own secrets, but after Arturo reveals J’s true identity to the group, Arei once again drops the jokes and complaints. She makes some pretty good points about their situation.

To me, this feels like a pretty group-oriented approach, subtly hinting she saw something really concerning and thus it’s better that they all start sharing secrets before things escalate in the four days before everything is revealed.

And the comments about having a famous parent like J are compounded here. I’m starting to get the sense Arei might’ve been neglected by her parents. Bullying and attention-seeing behavior like hers often stems from a lack of self-esteem, difficult home lives, and even being subject to bullying themselves. While Arei certainly has a high opinion of herself, what she really seems to want is attention and companionship.

I feel this makes for an interesting potential arc for her, given Despair Time’s themes of trust and betrayal. If her focus is on making and earning trust, it makes for a nice contrast to Teruko, who’s said she won’t trust anyone again and doesn’t want to leave. Like it or not, though, they’re gonna have to work together if they want to survive.

Of course, as interested as I am to see Arei’s development, it’s also a cause for concern. With how many death flags have already been raised just in part 1, both for her and for others, all we can really do is wait and see.

The True Issues With The Mean Girl Problem

Let me just say upfront what this essay isn’t about. This isn’t about how Mean Girls characters should never be made villains, this isn’t suggesting that anyone who engages in the MGP is inherently sexist or misogynistic and this isn’t about how any of the games or fangans I’ve mentioned are bad. DR3 is bad, but for numerous reasons.

No, this essay is me wanting to touch on the existence of a double standard I’ve noticed and how I feel this limits the works in terms of creativity. This isn’t a call-out post of creators in particular, just the acknowledgment of a writing problem.

Broadly, the MGP can be summarized in four points:

Mean Girl characters have sympathetic qualities to them, but they're very understated or left unexplored in the main story. Their defining feature there is being cruel or antagonistic to others.

Despite that, their bullying is often brushed aside and is simply shrugged off as annoying by the other characters. It has no impact on the story, does not catalyze character development and rarely has anything to do with their actual deaths or the death of any other character.

When they do start to undergo any significant character development, especially before Chapter 3, they tend to die more often than not.

Following their deaths, they're rarely mentioned by the narrative again, highlighting their overall unimportance to the story as a whole.

As I’ve said, a lot of these Mean Girls are much deeper than their portrayals within the main stories tend to want to explore, yet they’re often subject to much harsher criticism both in these stories, from creators and from the fandom.

On the other hand, male characters who present these traits are often given the label of The Rival, and I have to be honest in saying that a lot of Rivals end up doing things that are much worse than simply being bullies. Despite that, they all get a chance to develop:

Byakuya: Has a very condescending, classist view on everyone, and is the one who takes the entire concept of a Killing Game completely seriously. Seriously enough that he tampers with Chihiro’s body in the name of making the game more interesting, exposing Genocider Syo’s presence and figuring out who’s his biggest threat. He doesn’t give a damn about anyone but himself, at least until Chapter 4, when Makoto and Kyoko save him from getting everyone killed because he doesn’t even consider that someone might do something altruistically.

Fuyuhiko: Starts off SDR2 as a loud, antisocial asshole, one who wants nothing to do with the rest of the group (sans Peko) and who also contemplates what he has to do in order to win. He also makes threats, however baseless, like selling Mikan to a whorehouse or selling Hajime’s organs on the black market.

Kokichi: The biggest troll in all of V3 at best, and someone who self-identifies as an evil villain. A lot about his character is meant to be ambiguous, but within the confines of the story itself, Kokichi actively antagonizes and even endangers the group, from the Insect Meet-and-Greet to revealing Maki’s identity against her will, to tricking Gonta into killing Miu while believing their situation is a hopeless nightmare in order to save himself, etc.

Tsurugi: Essentially takes a page from Light Yagami in his utter dehumanization of criminals, viewing all those who dissent from his commands as potential criminals as well. His sense of justice is incredibly black and white, where killing for any circumstance whatsoever makes someone human garbage, and he’s happy to say as much. It gets to the point that he’s willing to force the group to commit mass suicide to prevent another murder.

None of this is a complaint about any of them as characters. I happen to enjoy seeing them and the roles they play in the story; Fuyuhiko gets the most development out of them all, Byakuya becomes more of a team player with his fellow survivors, Kokichi dies but is vindicated in that he helped bring an end to the Killing Game, and Tsurugi...well, that’s another matter entirely.

Tsurugi is a prime example of negative character development; not full-on villainization, but progressively becoming worse from his experiences rather than better. He doesn’t become a less violent and morally absolutist figure, but doubles down when he becomes leader of the Kisaragi Foundation, even willing to sacrifice Teruya and work with Syobai to stop Mikado.

The thing is, that’s still a form of development. It still falls in line with the concept of character progression, which the Mean Girls rarely seem to get. For them, their negative qualities aren’t brought on by the circumstances of the game, but are simply part of who they are. They’re rarely even worsened by the game itself, at least not in the same way Tsurugi is. They only seem to exist.

Now, I’ve seen some points raised about this, such as “Some people don’t change” or “They’re meant to serve as a warning about X”, and while I can understand those points, I have to ask why they don’t seem to be applied in the same way to Byakuya, Fuyuhiko or Kokichi, along with what sorts of object lessons rival characters are meant to serve as. Chapter 2 of DR1 has a solid and understandable lesson about the dangers of toxic masculinity, how succumbing to it in different ways ultimately culminated in the tragic deaths of Chihiro and Mondo.

It’s hard to have any sort of object lesson about Hiyoko, given that her death was unrelated to her bullying Mikan. It’s hard to say anything about Kizuna other than “she’s a bitch,” according to LINUJ. The closest you could get to with any sort of object lesson is probably Ruruka, but even then, it was so imbalanced and tried to show there being two sides that it doesn’t work.

Furthermore, if the goal is to show them as awful people, why is it that these characters are given so many sympathetic qualities that get people to like them, only to them cut them down in their prime and tell those audience members they were stupid for getting invested? Are they meant to be characters we hate and whose deaths we should find karmic, or are they meant to be tragic examples of someone not meeting their true potential? You can’t have it both ways, especially when those sympathetic qualities are barely touched on in the actual story.

I can genuinely see both sides of the argument; the ones that don’t like these characters because they’re bullies and the ones who want to see more because they clearly saw potential in them as characters. I completely understand why you might feel one way or the other, and I’m not saying you’re wrong.

If you want to make a character who serves as a foil to another, where both of them have similar flaws and negative qualities but one changes for the better while the other gets worse, you can absolutely do that. You can have characters who are genuinely bad people but who are still engaging. You can have mean girls, you can have rivals, you can have all kinds of wonderful creative characters like we do across this series and its fan entries.

My point with this is to show you why I feel that following the exact same character traits, and then writing them off as bad people simply because they’re bullies, feels not just uncreative, but borders on genuinely toxic and harmful. The idea that people can never change and that only bad people do bad things is not a healthy mindset to hold, especially when we might display these very traits without knowing it.

We can and should always work to be better, both as people and as writers. I love seeing people in stories and the real world learn from their experiences and grow better, hopefully with the benefit of hindsight. That can often come with needing to address the harm that’s done by actions and ideas we regret ever doing or holding, and if we look back and cringe at those moments, we do better for ourselves and others.

So what can we do here? Simple: let the Mean Girls get the same opportunities for development, growth, change and narrative impact as other characters do. As I said, it happens with Rival characters and it also happens with others through the games. Don’t restrict them or yourselves to the archetypical or formulaic writing you’ve experienced. If you don’t want to include a Mean Girl, you absolutely don’t have to.

For those that do, we also need to be willing to acknowledge and accept when mistakes are made by them, realistically approach the problem and see what can be done about it. Do they get better? Are they forgiven? What happens if they’re not? Or only some members of the group forgive them and others are hurt by those that do? Would they change by their own desire or would it be from someone calling them out on their behavior?

I know we love to say things like “X did nothing wrong” as a joke, but sometimes people will jump through mental gymnastics to justify liking a character, inventing stretched-out reasoning for why they’re not really at fault. I’ve never felt that way about any character I like; I fully acknowledge some of my favorite characters of all time have done some horrible things, and I still love them in spite of that.

If we could simply accept the idea that characters we love are and can be fucked-up people, we’d be a lot better off for it. Liking them doesn’t mean you fully support everything they do. Fictional people in fictional settings gives us a chance to explore things we may not be able to in the real world, either as a lesson, out of curiosity or for whatever reason we wish. And doing research for this essay, I can see Mean Girls have that appeal to them too, especially for those who relate to them.

I believe allowing Mean Girls to be more than just bullies is beneficial to both sides: people who want to see them move on from bullying because they don’t like bullies, and those who want to see them grow and have more prominence in the story. The multiverse of DR is rich with story potential for these characters that so rarely gets tapped to its full extent.

After all, in a series with a core theme about the importance of hope, wouldn’t it be best to show that some people do change for the better?

[t-u-i-t-c]

things learned in episode 34:

saruhara and haruka haven’t been able to remove the “nouto” written in their foreheads, so they wear bandages to cover it

momoi is thankful to kaito for his help

kijino is upset about having become a hitotsuki again

momoi notes that even if kijino is lowly, he was the only one to be able to remove the writing from his forehead

saruhara notes that if kijino has turned into a hitotsuki twice, then there will likely be a third time

the nouto say that sonoi is acting like momoi, and the donbrothers say the same- the assertion annoys momoi and sonoi, as they declare they are nothing alike

momoi thinks that it could be possible that the power taken from him could have been used to revive sonoi, but pushes the idea aside due to its relation to the notion that he and sonoi are similar

jiro is greatly injured from the battle with murasame, and reverts from dangerous jiro to jiro by missing rumi

inuzuka asks to have dinner with the kijinos- kjino says he’ll ask miho, but seems a bit off-put by the idea considering how low he feels at the moment

miho says that she’d stand by kijino, even if he turned into a monster

inuzuka has dinner with the kijinos and confirms that miho and natsumi are one in the same- miho cooks meals that inuzuka taught natsumi to make- vongole bianco and pork with applesauce

inuzuka looks at the wedding album and states that that should have been him with natsumi

inuzuka says a phrase that natsumi often said to him- “i bet you tell all the girls that”-this seems to shift “miho” to “natsumi”

kijino witnesses inuzuka and “miho”/”natsumi” hugging and upon noticing, inuzuka runs away with her

inuzuka is staying at the place of the man he helped in episode 17, while he’s on a trip with his girlfriend

“natsumi” has no memories of being taken or of “miho”

inuzuka wanted to try writing a script for a performance before everything went down

sonoi believes that formal attire is appropriate attire to wear to an oden stand

sonoi reverts to his normal self after eating oden, and the flavor reminding him of his home town

sononi and sonoza are delighted at the return of sonoi’s regular demeanor

haruka is a bit iffy about fighting sonoza, given how she view him as her editor, but sonoza believes that a fight’s a fight

sonoi and momotaro compete to defeat the hitotsuki- momotaro wins

kijino demands that inuzuka return miho

inuzuka says that “miho” is natsumi and always has been- “miho” never existed

kijino turns inuzuka into the police with a smile

haruka’s aunt, yuriko, is working on the investigation of inuzuka

kijino is determined to get miho back by any means necessary

kijino doesn’t care what happens to inuzuka, saying it doesn’t even matter if inuzuka were to lose his life

[best-underrated-anime]

Best Underrated Anime Group K Round 3: #K5 vs #K6

#K5: Adopted magical girl learns to love, live, and also fight

#K6: Slice of life in the middle of nowhere

Details and poll under the cut!

#K5: Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha ViVid

Summary:

Vivio Takamachi, a Sankt Kaiser royalty of ancient Belka, was previously subjected to mistreatment. Fortunately, she now lives a peaceful life with family and friends while practicing martial arts with her coach, Nove Nakajima. However, Vivio soon becomes the target of the mysterious fighter Heidi E. S. Ingvalt, who demands Nove to reveal the location of the ancient Belkan royals. Refusing to disclose this information, Nove finds herself in a losing battle, but Heidi soon falls unconscious. In addition, Nove discovers Heidi’s true identity to be a middle school student named Einhald Stratos.

When she regains consciousness, Einhald clarifies that she has no animosity toward ancient Belkan royals. Having inherited the passion to defend and harboring regretful memories of her ancestor, the ancient Belkan ruler Claus Ingvalt, she simply wants to prove that her fighting ability is strong enough to protect others. Intrigued by the girl's situation, Nove arranges for Einhald to meet with Vivio. Although they get off to an unconventional start, Vivio enthusiastically trains with Einhald, assisting her in finding peace of mind while developing a vivid friendship along the way.

Propaganda:

It’s such an interesting setting, like it’s so fucking weird and I love it despite the queerbaiting. But basically these two magical girls retire ro run a dojo and adopt another magical girl who was abused. It focuses on the abused kid (previous series focused on the two magical girls) and that kid learning to be a kid and fight not for survival but like fun, and making friends and having a family they trust. All while in a sci-fi magical world with some fascinating and enjoyable world building. It has flaws, but for me the setting and characters make up for the sometimes misogynistic additions.

Trigger Warnings: Child Abuse, Gender Identity/Sexuality Discrimination

#K6: Non Non Biyori

Summary:

Hotaru Ichijou's lifestyle completely changes when she leaves Tokyo and moves with her family to the isolated Asahigaoka village. Her new school has only five students including herself, all sharing a single classroom regardless of grade level. There are no convenience stores in the area, and it can take up to two hours for a bus to arrive.

Nevertheless, Hotaru finds herself captivated by the countryside's charm thanks to her four unique schoolmates with whom she quickly forms a genuine bond. The most colorful of them is Renge Miyauchi, a first-grader who is often perceptive despite her age. However, no less intriguing are the three Koshigaya siblings: the quiet oldest brother Suguru, the petite older sister Komari, and the prankish youngest sister Natsumi.

Having someone from the city join their cheerful little group enlivens the ordinary days in Asahigaoka. Not only does Hotaru bring firsthand knowledge from the alluring outside world, but her fresh outlook on life welcomes a blossom of change to their usual routine.

Propaganda:

Non Non Biyori is a show that, at first glance, seems to be little more than a standard Iyashikei affair with above average background art and below average character writing. What the show lacks in surface-level complexity, however, it makes up for with its delivery of capital T Themes.

The first season serves as a foundation, where it creates a strong sense of place through gorgeously rendered background art. We’re frequently given long, wide-angle shots of the background as characters walk through going about their business. The characters, though simply written, are given strong interactions with each other in order to grant a better understanding of the sense of community within the town. This serves to establish the town itself as the single most important element of the show, allowing the themes to blossom come season two, where we can better see the underlying melancholy behind the show’s lighthearted tone.

Non Non Biyori is ultimately a show about good times that can never last. The town they live in and the lifestyle it represents is dying, and the kids will grow up someday and will probably leave in search of better opportunities, with the possibility that they will never return to their hometown. Even in the short term, the age gap between the characters means that high school and eventually college will separate them, and though they’ll likely remain friends things will have irreversibly changed. Though the threat of change looms over the narrative, importantly, it’s not something that’s ever lingered on for too long, and when it is, it’s delivered with a “less is more” mentality, where we’re given only enough information to infer how the characters are feeling ourselves without it needing to be explicitly stated. This approach delivers Non Non Biyori’s central message: that even though change is inevitable and all good things come to an end, the single best thing a person can do is enjoy the good while it lasts.

Trigger Warnings: None.

When reblogging and adding your own propaganda, please tag me @best-underrated-anime so that I’ll be sure to see it.

If you want to criticize one of the shows above to give the one you’re rooting for an advantage, then do so constructively. I do not tolerate groundless hate or slander on this blog. If I catch you doing such a thing in the notes, be it in the tags or reblogs, I will block you.

Know one of the shows above and not satisfied with how it’s presented in this tournament? Just fill up this form, where you can submit revisions for taglines, propaganda, trigger warnings, and/or video.

[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

Natsumi sure has a lot of positive influence from bad influence people. Her favorite aunts are a crazy punk rockstar and a sadist nurse. Her parents are a yakuza boss who has anger issues and a scary sword wielding hitwoman. All of above are all former worldwide terrorists who have done it all. And now she bonded with an eccentric sex-crazy inventor with extensive knowledge of all bad words and sex terms. And yet everyone has given super wholesome experiences to Natsumi.

//The truth is Miu isn't as much of a bad, boss bitch that she lets on. Remember, in her origin story, she was a quiet nerdy girl before her car crash.

//My personal headcanon is that Miu has always felt insecure and acts the way she does as a front to keep herself mentally stable. It's a coping mechanism, and as you might have noticed, she doesn't really flaunt about herself as much as she used to.

//The Tower was a shit arc, but it did help to humble her a bit.

//Also, it goes without saying that Fuyuhiko is not nearly as hard and gruff as he idealized himself to be. He's too sweet-hearted to be a real Yakuza, and he knows it, he just never wanted to admit it, which is what his character development in DR2 is all about.

//And yeah, Ibuki's got some fashion statements, but she's a good-spirited and fun person who's living her best life all the time, even in its worse moments. How could she not be a good role model for the kids?

-Mod

[colasarchive]

Going over the wave of original ToHeart girls made for the defunct mobile game [ToHeart Heartful Party]

Rea Hanazawa

CV: Tomoko Kaneda - Born October 23

A girl absolutely attached to her phone even when it’s out of charge. Rea loves new and cute things. She devotes most of her time to the daily updates on her blog and become a bit obsessed with the number of hits she’ll receive.

Sakurako Konno

CV: Mai Fuchigami - Born December 1st

A polite honor student who values spending time relaxing. Sakurako radiates a calm atmosphere and never seems to be in a hurry. She’s a member of the tea ceremony club and likes to wear kimono.

Moemi Tsukifune

CV: Sayuri Yahagi - Born November 26

An otaku girl too shy to join the manga club. Moemi is soft spoken and stutters often, unable to convey her feelings. Though when the conversation comes to her interests she becomes incredibly talkative. She's a big fan of doujinshi.

Hina Mitsuhoshi

CV: Anju Inami - Born June 24

A girl who loves instant yakisoba. So much so that her entire body is nearly made up of yakisoba. She has learned everything important in her life from instant yakisoba and can smell instant yakisoba sauce from a mile away.

Yasuko Tsubaki

CV: Yukiyo Fuji - Born April 7

A member of the health committee who is a regular at the infirmary. Yasuko is shown to be quite sickly and collapses often. Though she has a pessimistic outlook on life and feels like she’s going to die, she looks quite healthy.

Maika Marioka

CV: Rie Murakawa - Born April 30

A quiet girl who’s always alone in the library reading books. Maika’s pessimistic about life and has a very negative view of herself. She often tries to avoid people since large crowds feel suffocating.

Krin

CV: Ikumi Nakagami - Born May 18

A student originally from Africa. An adventurous girl excited to learn more about the new world around her (This character unfortunately seems to have a lot of bad stereotypes so I’m keeping it short)

Miya kurohane

CV: Marie Miyake - Born October 31

A cool and mysterious girl. Miya is a self proclaimed 100,016 year old witch who works for the ruler of darkness. Though it seems like a joke at first, her power might actually be real...

Ranju Ayabuki

CV: Yuko Goto - Born June 4

A math teacher quite popular with students. Ranju has a blunt personality and cool demeanor, except when confronted with cute girls. She’s a night owl whose favorite foods are tomato juice and liver.

Yumi Kinjo

CV: Shiho Nakasumi - Born July 20

A calm and easygoing swimmer from Okinawa. Yumi’s the ace of the swim team and highly respected. She actually prefers scuba diving though, and would much rather be swimming by the coral reefs than in a pool.

Chirin Omiya

CV: Mai Fuchigami - Born June 16

A good natured girl with a big appetite. Chirin loves to eat and is always up to date on the newest restaurants. However, she worries about her weight and tries to exercise often. This doesn’t stop her love for sweets though.

Mizuho Akatsuki

CV: Natsumi Takamori - Born November 4th

A train otaku attending the nearby private school. Mizuho enjoys all things railway, and doesn’t believe anyone could dislike them. She’s bright and friendly but not great at reading the atmosphere.

Kohime Yamashina

CV: Naomi Ozora - Born August 16

The daughter of shrine owners in Kyoto. Kohime’s currently training to be a shrine maiden at one near the school. She’s old fashioned but has a lot of interest in foreign cultures. She also likes to draw fortunes.

XAr-10(E) ARTY

CV: Sarah Emi Bridcutt - Born March 25

A police robot developed by a new company. Initially she outperformed Kurusugawa’s robots, but her functions are still immature. ARTY has now been brought to school to be reconditioned as a maid robot for testing.