#izuru and junko are my favorite characters to analyze

[shslpookiebear]

im always weirded out by people who see izuru as an abuser who is driven soley by his ID. i see it as a severe misinterpretation of his character. everything about canon makes it seem like izuru is an extremely calculated individual who turns to junko as the only way to satiate his boredom and curiosity on the concepts of hope and despair

izuru is a complicit observer, occasionally getting involved but mostly on the outskirts watching alongside junko. the crux of junko and izurus relationship rest on junko attempting to fully sink izuru fully into despair, something he does not do. he walks the boundary between the two which keeps junko entertained as he may be fiscally on her side but despite that still manages to escape her grasp. he puts junko into the nwp not to cause more despair but to finally see who was right all along, despair or hope, junko or chiaki. its fueled by curiosity not a genuine desire for despair.

also izuru is like the ultimate neurologist, therapist, psychologist, ect, he knows how the brain works. hes not trying to figure out emotions hes trying to feel something because its so easy to sink into the whole “nothing matters” philosophy when youre in the middle of the apocalypse and humanity’s depravity continues to disappoint you

dont get me wrong hes still a horrible person but hes a lot more gray than people give him credit for hes less an active agent of despair and more a pawn, complicit rather than a genuine believer.

i said this once in an earlier post but junko lit the match and izuru was the match.

dont get me started how people write the servant/nagito x izuru stuff because it makes me want to rip my hair out (especially when people make it explicitly non-con like why ????)

but thats a topic for another rant

anyways i might get roasted for this but have a nice night 💋💋

[princeasimdiya12]

That anon is an asshole. Why do you hate Shuichi? I think he fits the theme of truth and lies, but his character development is a complete joke as he has zero struggles after his waifu dead. He never once second guess his actions in class trials and doesn’t even think of major consequences (killing the de facto prime minister and not noticing a serial killer is amoung them). His stans over analyze his actions and try to justify everything he does.

They were quite a jerkhole. I can imagine that most stans would be protective of their favorite characters if anyone were to express disapproval.

And thank you for giving me the opportunity to express my personal feelings on the matter anon. And those are some interesting reasons to dislike him but I have some other reasons.

My answers will be hidden under the “Read More” because they’re long answers. But these are my thoughts and reasons for why I hate Shuichi Saihara.

Reason 1: The Protagonist Switch was Lackluster

Right off the bat, I personally dislike that we were promised a unique and compelling protagonist like Kaede only to switch her with a generic insecure protagonist like Saihara. The use of the protag switch isn’t a bad plot twist and it can be clever, it’s just that the result of switching Kaede for someone like Saihara left a bad taste in my mouth.

I loved Kaede because she was unique as a DR protagonist. Along with having a colorful design and talent, she was assertive, confident and willing to take charge. She was actively involved in the story by stepping up as the group’s de facto leader and trying to motivate them. She was also flawed in the sense that she was quick to butt heads with others and she didn’t completely trust others or practice her own beliefs of trusting in friends. And personally, I’m not even upset that she tried to kill someone. It’s still considered something different for a DR protagonist to do, especially if it was for the greater good. 

But when we get Saihara, he continues the trend of being a generic sad boy who feels insecure about his talents and wants to be stronger. Most of his screentime is spent moping about his problems and how he doesn’t feel good enough. He doesn’t have the same presence as Kaede and just stays in the background while the rest of the cast move the story as much as they can.

In all honesty, if they had introduced Saihara as the new protagonist, or at least make it so that his predecessor wasn’t as compelling as Kaede, then I wouldn’t have been too upset. At the very least I wouldn’t have gotten my hopes up for a protagonist who was actually different compared to the past protags.

Reason 2: Waifus In Refrigerators 

For those that don’t know, fridging is the concept of (brutally) killing off a fictional female character in order to create an emotional impact for her male love interest and his character development.

Kaede’s death and how it impacted Saihara is textbook fridging.

I strongly detest fridging since it robs a female character of her agency and role in the story. It treats her as a tool meant to motivate her male love interest to either avenge her death or grow as a person. Kaede’s death along with her final wish is what pushes Saihara to try and beat the killing game. And from then on, Saihara will take the moment to reflect on Kaede’s tragic end and how he inspired him with her kindness. Kaede loses her identity as a complex leader who was willing to commit murder for a greater good. Everyone just remembers her as Saihara’s innocent dead love interest who inspired him to keep on fighting. It’s also worse in the 6th case when it’s revealed that Tsumugi took advantage of Kaede’s trap to kill Amami which further pushes Kaede into the image of an innocent angel that did no wrong.

And it’s also frustrating since this isn’t the only time that the Danganronpa series has killed off its female characters in order to develop their male love interests.

In SDR2, Peko dies trying to save Fuyuhiko which in turn motivates him to stop acting like a jerkhole and be more cooperative with the group.

In DR3 Future Side, Chisa is the first victim of the killing game which pushes her boyfriend Munakata to become a more direct antagonist towards Naegi for protecting the Remnants.

In the same series, Kyoko allows herself to be poisoned in order to protect Naegi. It’s through her death that Naegi decides to confront Munakata in a final showdown. And while Kyoko does get brought back to life at the end of the show, it should be noted that she was only brought back just to be part of Naegi’s happy ending package. She loses her agency and is brought back just to be his newly revived girlfriend.

In DR3 Despair Side, Chiaki is brutally killed in order for her classmates to become Remnants of Despair. But it’s her final heartwrenching moments with Izuru that inspire emotion inside of him aswell as deciding to turn against Junko.

So Kaede being killed for Saihara’s development is the fifth fridging example in this series and it sucks that Kodaka and his crew rely on this trope throughout Danganronpa.

Reason 3: The Narrative Forces You To Like Him

Another issue that I found irritating about Saihara is how everyone began praising him.

Just after the first case, everyone constantly praises and coddles Saihara for being such a great detective and for growing so much. For me, that praise feels undeserving since he barely did anything to earn it. Thinking back to each of the past protagonists, they didn’t have everyone’s respect in the beginning. They each had to work had and face adversity throughout their stories in order to earn their praise and respect. Even Kaede, who despite being a confident leader, had to deal with people frequently judging her leadership and actions. So I find it questionable that Saihara already earned everyone’s respect after solving only one case. 

By having all the characters praise Saihara, the narrative pushes you to accept him as the new protagonist and recognize how awesome it is to have him. But for me, it just makes me dislike him even more. I refuse to like something just because everyone else does and it won’t take away my admiration/love for Kaede.

It’s also jarring since anytime a character has the spotlight, it somehow has to involve Saihara.

“Wow Himiko! You’re much more expressive now than before. Just like you Saihara!”

“Man, it sounds like you had a harsh life growing up Harumaki. Just like you and your detective work, eh Shuichi?”

The narrative can’t help but force Saihara to be around and praised by the people around him despite the spotlight not being on him in that given moment. 

Reason 4: He’s Not a Good Detective

While Saihara’s role as a detective may fit the theme of Truth and Lies, that doesn’t mean he was good at the job. My issue being that he was unproductive and biased for the role.

While he did set up that trap in Chapter 1 to catch the mastermind, he doesn’t do anything as proactive in the later chapters. He spent most if not all of his time going to training with Kaito and moping about his problems. It goes on like this for 4 chapters and it takes Kiibo threatening to blow up the school before he actually gets to work on solving the mystery of the killing game. As a detective, you’d think he would put more effort into actually solving the mysteries of the killing game or try to put some thought on who the mastermind could be.

The biased part comes with how he interacts with others and how he’s more critical of people based on how they treat him. Saihar has a tendency to be very judgmental towards the students and doesn’t look at the entire picture. 

He writes off Ouma as the embodiment of lies and doesn’t bother trying to learn more about him or his true motivations. 

And on the opposite side, he openly praises his friends while blatantly ignoring the problematic things they’d done throughout the story. 

He considers Kaede to be an inspirational role model despite how she betrayed him and wanted to commit murder behind his back.

He worships Kaito and treats him as a perfect hero despite never noticing his ongoing illness or the fact that Kaito didn’t trust his friends enough to reveal his own insecurities.

He deems Maki a reliable friend despite the fact that she went behind his and everyone’s back in order to kill Ouma and was willing to gamble everyone else’s lives if it meant taking revenge on the supreme leader.

Shouldn’t a detective be more persistent when presented with a mystery while also acknowledging all the sides (both good and bad) of a given person? If his personal bias was treated as a flaw by the narrative, then that would actually give his character significant depth. Especially if he worked on managing his biases and learning to acknowledge all the sides. But it isn’t treated as a bad problem.

For me, the fact that he’s supposed to be a detective who “grows stronger” and is so good at his job despite all of this really rubs me the wrong way. If anything, it shows me that he’s really bad at the job.

Also, I would like to bring up that I don’t count him investigating the murder cases as being a good detective. Why? Because Hajime and his class in SDR2 were able to solve their class trials without a detective figure. Being a detective, or having one, doesn’t make solving the class trials any easier.

Reason 5: An Unnecessary Cliche

Personally, I really see no reason for why Saihara’s character needed to be the generic insecure protagonist for this particular installment of Danganronpa. It’s the same cliche storyline featured in a grand majority of anime and light novels. It’s repetitive and irritating knowing that so many stories focus primarily on a sad generic boy who doesn’t feel good enough and wants to be stronger. 

It’s also worth mentioning that in comparison, the past protagonists at least had narrative reasons for why they were generic and insecure in the first place.

For Naegi, he was the first protagonist of the installment and his normalcy was meant to contrast the extremely talented and radically different students he’d be involved with. As the game progresses, he uses his normalness to bond with the students and rally them together in the name of hope.

For Hajime, he’s treated as a deconstruction of the generic insecure protagonist. It’s because his feelings of inferiority and longing to be special that he decides to accept Hope’s Peak’s experimentation and become Izuru Kamakura: an incredibly talented super-being who lost his humanity.

For Komaru, she was regarded as an ordinary girl that had the potential to lead others which is recognized by the adult resistance and Monaca. So throughout the game, both sides were pushing her into becoming either the next symbol of Hope like Naegi or next symbol of despair like Junko. But she ultimately decides to be neither of them and wants to be her own person.

There were reasons for why each of these protagonists were considered generic and insecure as it contributed to the narratives. But for Saihara, there’s really no solid reason for why he’s the only normal one of the V3 cast. And everyone is more than happy to praise him as the best one out of the cast despite doing so little to earn it. At most, Tsumugi reveals that Saihara being an insecure boy who grew stronger thanks to his friends was for the sake of a fictional storyline. Obviously it was meant to mentally break him but it honestly feels like a weak reason to keep the trend of a generic insecure sad boy. Not to mention there are other reasons for why I believe this doesn’t work.

The setup for the “Danganronpa is a fictional TV show” twist didn’t have enough buildup so it doesn’t make the cliche that strong.

Saihara still continues the role of the insecure boy who grows strong and saves the day. While Tsumugi states that his role was written for him, Saihara still continues the tropes of his archetype by saving the day. It’s ultimately because of him that he’s able to convince his friends and the viewing audience to give up on Danganronpa. It was the writer’s way of having their cake and eating it.

If the reveal was meant to be a shot at how it’s become a cliche, then why not live up to it? If they wanted to show how Danganronpa was running for too long or how it’s cliches were getting old, then why not commit to those ideas? Instead of having everyone praise and worship Saihara, make them question if they’re really going to depend on a generic guy to save them. Instead  of being just a cute quirk, actually show the negative sides of Saihara’s anxiety and depression and how they would hinder him from participating in trial discussions. Maybe even have Kaito lose his temper at Saihara because of how much he mopes around.

There’s so many ways they could have gone with deconstructing Saihara’s stereotype or showcasing how it’s become old and stale. So it feels disappointing that they never went that far.

And another reason for why I dislike his characterization is because it brings to mind Ryota Mitarai from the DR3 anime. Just like Saihara, Mitarai is a main character who’s described as generic, insecure and spends most of his time whining about how useless he is. Despite this, he manages to survive the killing game since the other more unique characters are killed or move the events of the story. I personally found Mitarai to be a frustrating character. I detest characters who constantly whine about how useless or miserable they are as a means of getting sympathy from the audience. So having to deal with Saihara who more or less shares multiple characteristics with Mitarai felt very exhausting.

Conclusion

So those would be my reasons for why I hate/strongly dislike Saihara. I can admit that alot of these reasons weren’t so much because of Saihara or his actions but how he was written throughout the story. He still did alot of things I didn’t like don’t get me wrong, but alot of fault can be traced to the writers and how they decided to write him and Kaede’s characters. I still find his archetype as a generic insecure boy who mopes around to be an unappealing archetype but I’m sure most of his fans would suggest otherwise.

If you’ve managed to read everything here, I’d like to thank you for taking the time to do so. I can’t imagine many people would want to read a critical post targeted towards one of the most beloved characters in Danganronpa. So thank you for doing so.

And as always, if you agree or disagree with anything I’ve written, you’re more than welcome to reblog this with your comments. I’m always up for friendly discussions. 

[luxexhomines]

10,12, and 16 for the Danganronpa meme ^^

Thank you for the ask and your support! I see you in my notes, and it always makes me so happy. Here we are; it took me some time to think about and answer them! It’s under the cut for discourse and major NDRV3 spoilers!

10: How do you feel about the love hotel scenes? Why do you feel this way?

Frankly, they didn’t leave too deep of an impression on me. But I think they fulfilled their purpose, which was to get to know the characters in a more intimate setting than you would have otherwise in a normal school day or in the context of the killing game, where sharing information about yourself could be potentially extremely dangerous. It’s in the love hotel scene that we hear about Kiibo’s wish to experience love and warmth and through one of the seemingly most mundane of actions: a handshake. Although Kiibo’s character as a generally pure, innocent and well-meaning robot is established in the main story, there’s something that gives a different flair to this aspect of his personality when romance is brought into the equation. The love hotel scenes also show the true nature of the character because it’s supposed to represent the character’s deepest wish and fantasy, and ultimately, the message that is sent is that each and every character is fundamentally good at their core. There’s always going to be debate about the morality of each character and whether their actions were justified, and there will always be people who find interacting with or the mention of certain characters extremely uncomfortable, which is all valid. Humans are varying and complex creatures, so I won’t claim that any character is perfect or ultimate good. But I think that the Danganronpa series continues to send the same message throughout each game: humans are fundamentally good, or at least they aren’t twisted and bad deep down. It’s the situations they’re forced into that divert their personalities into acting the way they do, whether honorable or vile. 

We could analyze each and every of the love hotel scenes, but I don’t think anyone has time to read that even if I do write about it, so I’ll leave it at that. 

12: Who is the most underrated character? What makes them stand out to you?

This is a hard one because each character gets their own share of love, albeit, yes, some less than others. In answering this question, I feel like I probably have to automatically exclude Shuichi, Kokichi, Kaito, Maki, Kaede, and Rantaro. They’re pretty popular, and two of them are survivors. I could name a couple of characters of which I think aren’t as popular and don’t get enough content (I’m very guilty of this), such as Angie, Korekiyo, Ryoma, and Himiko. I digress.  

But out of all of the characters, I’d definitely choose Tsumugi. I rarely see content of her in comparison to all the other characters, which could just be availability heuristic, but I do think there’s some truth in it. I find her underrated because she’s the only character of the three main games to actively be the mastermind and take part in the game while maintaining her cover (of course, until it was revealed at the very end). She keeps telling everyone how plain she is, and I think that in a sense, we believed her and that made her blend in with the rest of the cast all too easily. The only thing I’d fault her on is acting too plain among a cast of outstanding Ultimates, personality-wise; her Ultimate talent is definitely remarkable, and all that relates to her talent likewise. But apart from perhaps Shuichi, who stands out because of his character development with Kaede and as the protagonist, she’s probably the plainest character in terms of personality and actions up until she’s revealed as the mastermind and shows her true self- a mad, despair-crazed creator who has poured herself into being an active part of the show she loves, so much so that she’s actually a participant of the killing game. 

But what about Junko in DR1? She doesn’t count because Mukuro was standing in for her and got killed almost immediately. There was no mastermind really monitoring the game from within. Each character of NDRV3 is recognized on their own merits, however. There’s always fans of each character. 

16: What is your favorite post-game mode? Why?

Definitely the Ultimate Test Development Plan. It nicely wraps up the three games, and it combines the three worlds in the ultimate AU. It’s every fan’s dream when there are three related groups of characters that could potentially exist in the same realm/timeline. The dynamics between characters were fascinating to see; they struck a good balance between class-to-class interaction and classmate-to-classmate interaction. 

I remember watching Kokichi’s events a second time, and they had all the right characters interacting with him: all the significant figures, so to speak, such as Junko, Izuru, and Nagito, as well as those whose nature would clash or meld with his well, like Celestia and Yasuhiro, not to mention his event with Fuyuhiko as parallel characters of a sort, although Kokichi definitely took a much more active role in the game from the very start.

[supportive-rat]

I DIDN'T REALIZE U WERE INTO DANGAN RONPA IM GUNNA SEND YOU SO MANY QUESTIONS. HERES MY LIST. 1, 4-10, 14-16, 18 FROM THE FIRST GAME, 22 OUT OF ALL (DON'T KNOW MUCH ABT 3RD GAME NGL AAA), 26, 27, 34, 36, 46, 77, 90, AND 95 HIT ME THE FUCK UP

SQUEALS IM ANSWERING THIS LIKE FIVE MONTHS LATE DUDE IM SO SORRY SMHJWDSHGJWDSJGH THANK YOU SM THO YES I NEED TO RAMBLE INDECISIVELY ABOUT DANGLY ROPES!!! HEARTS

1. Favorite game: sdr2!! its the first one I played through and finished and I just love the cast and their dynamics a ton but the other ones are completely precious to me for different reasons

4. Favourite character: I love all of them pls. I’ll just pick three CC’s from each—

DR1: junko, chihiro, CELES

SDR2: hiyoko, souda, fuyuhiko

NDRV3: angie, kokichi, tenko

also I haven’t watched the anime or finished drae but I love juzou and komaru

5. Best girl: sakura is blessed and deserved better

6. Best boy: hajime/izuru is blessed and deserved better

7. Favourite class trial from all the games: hmm… I’m gonna cheat and name multiple!! I remember really liking chapter 2 from sdr2 because I liked all the characters involved and twilight syndrome murder case was cool, and basically chaps 4 and 5 from all of them because what the fuck

8. Least favourite character: teruteru makes me so uncomfortable, sorry if you like him but like, stop harassing women gremlin fgjhgfhnnbh his execution was satisfying (also haji who he doesn’t exist pls)

9. Least favourite class trial: I don’t love the chapter 6/final trials from any of the games that much? I ended up getting into them eventually!! but my attention span kinda didn’t care about reading all the exposition worldbuilding stuff at the end, esp for ndrv3

10. What would be your Ultimate Title: shsl lesbian. shsl dumbass. shsl gender confusion. shsl what the fuck. shsl croc wearer. HFJHGFN NO FOR REAL I’d probably like to be the contortionist or actor? idk I’m untalented 

14. What do you think about Danganonpa 1 anime: I TRIED TO WATCH IT BUT HAD NO ATTENTION SPAN but the dub voices are hysterical 

15. Your absolute OTP: INHALES I HAVE SO MANY. I literally can’t pick one, lmk if you want a giant list ajhdhjbf

16. Your absolute BROTP: kokichi/angie besties!!!!!!! also, the main character trio from each game (kiri/nae/gami, koma/hina/nanami, ouma/sai/matsu) soft

18. Favourite rare ship: from the first game?? chihiro x sakura or really any character is underrated! 

22. Favourite talent: hmm! I really like shsl nurse! (fashionista/idol and crime leader/yakuza/gangster types are always fun for talentswaps as well)

26. Favourite execution: I LOVE ALL THE IRONIC ONES I’m a sucker for angst and violence ahjndjghd so I loved the ultimate punishment, der flohwalzer and burning of the versailles witch, among many others

27. Least favourite execution: wild west insecticide was… weird? I didn’t feel like it was fitting for our boy gonta!! and in ndrv3 the monokubs being included in the executions was always distracting, I just didn’t like it much

34. Best character design: this is tough because character designs are like my favorite part of all the games and I think they nail almost all of them!!! the first one I thought of was chiaki, because I think it suits her personality and purpose for being created really well. it looks like someone chihiro would design, the colors are soothing and I feel like I can hug her 

36. Character who looks amazing but you don’t like: himiko and kirumi you’re gorgeous but kinda boring and undeveloped I’m sorry-

46. Unpopular headcanon: all of my gender/sexuality hcs arent as popular as I’d wish— also a lot of weird sibling hcs—

77. What do you think of the fandom: I joined it recently compared to most people and I know there’s uhh. cough cough sides of it that aReNt gReAT BUT all of the people I’ve personally met and talked to it about are very sweet and wonderful!!!!

90. Do you like Junko: YES okay not because I think she’s redeemable but I’m SUCH A SLUT FOR A GOOD ANTAGONIST. the way she’s supposed to be a villain with no reason to do what she does and no way to reason with her is so fun, and psycho-analyzing her like. YES. SO INTERESTING. also fucbfkin hot

95. What do you think of Gundham Tanaka: WONDERFUL CHILD I have lots of hcs for him and I think he deserves all the good things in life. his trial was heartbreaking. boyfriends with kazuichi