#kaito needs character development imo

[ranray]

The more I rewatch Magic Kaito and see Aoko say that Kaito'll never surpass Kaito Kid, I think how cool it would be if Kaito had to surpass Kaito Kid.

Not being Kaito Kid and having fun. Surpassing Kaito Kid, who would be another person, trying to catch him/be on his level, teaming up with Saguru and Akako.

Or it's just me?

[beananium]

fighting with my demons (wanting to be supportive of all kaito vocaloid portrayals but finding six packs on him so weird, off putting and out of character (at least to how i see him be commonly portrayed and with my own personal vision) on him that i can't wrap my head around it)

[transgender-eichi]

your turn mutual! Top 3 Danganronpa and Enstars characters! :D

big essay type paragraph, so it's under the break:

aahh its been so long since i played danganronpa!!

since i've only played the official games, my faves from eacj game:

Trigger Happy Havoc: Leon Kuwata

rest in pieces. Idk what it was about him but i just really liked him. His design, his personality, his struggles. He defo didnt get enough development (since he got executed first...) but he's my top fave i think. I just really like him.

DR2 Goodbye Despair: Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu

again, i dont really know why i like him, i just love LOVE his character arc in the game. he's just a little guy tbh. He's also my only fave that actually survived in the games lmao

DRV3 Killing Harmony: Kaito Momota

I LOVE HIM. he deserved better :(. although i dislike how they ended the series with the whole meta thing, i have to say i still liked the game alot. Kaito could be a little annoying but i genuinely loved him. He just wanted to be an astronaut man. Love him

I should really replay the games tbh. I have them all on the switch-

ENSEMBLE STARS!!!!

1. Tomoya Mashiro

oh my god i love this boy so much. genuinely. I cant even remember when i started liking him, because he wasn't my original favorite character. It was his RELOADED card that got me into his character though. I'm a big zombie and zombie apocalypse guy, and seeing this little guy in a ZOMBIE APOC THEMED CARD!! made me go a little insane. And it just kinda spiralled from there- I love his design, his personality, his interests, his struggles, his interactions with the other characters- he's just an incredible character to me. He's the "Average" boy, but he's honestly so, so much more than that. He's the leader of Ra*bits, (my favorite unit and imo the best one~), he's an incredible actor, he reads manga, he loves animals (he's got like a disney princess-like power with animals-), he loves his omurice, he loves idols, he loves his unit, he's just so passionate. His insecurities speak to me personally too, and it's like this little guy was made just for me. He may seem cute and plain, but he's such a nuanced character. It's the way that, since he feels boring surrounded by all of the chaos and such from the idol world, he's able to stay right-minded- such as in the RELOADED story. He's so insecure about being forgotten or being uninteresting, and he wants to stand out because he believe that he isn't impressive or special enough to be a good idol, and he works on that every day. He's a leader, and a friend, and can bring a certain bluntness and reason-mindedness when he needs to. He's just, hands down, my favorite character in the entire game.

2. Mao Isara

Mao was my first ever favorite in the game, and has constantly remained a favorite of mine since the beginning. This can be partially accredited to my bsf ( @autisticmao ) lmao, but also i just honestly love him. He's so underrated and such an interesting and deep character, with a beautiful voice, appearance, and personality. I genuinely love him as a character, and always will.

3. Yuzuru Fushimi

It's actually also Ky's fault that i started liking yuzu aswell, even if they somewhat deny it. They introduced yuzumao as a ship to me (which is one of my fave ships still tbh) and i kinda just started loving his character. His backstory is so interesting and the way he interacts with other characters, and his personality, and just. He's such an interesting character. I may not be the biggest finé fan (im defo not an eichiP, despite my username), but yuzuru's just different for me. I love him quite a lot for many reasons.

aaandd that's all! if you wanna know more lmk, im happy to share :D

especially about tomoya. i love him sm.

ofc there's other characters i like quite a lot, but these are my top faves.

[pinkprettycure]

poorly developed love interests in mg stuff honestly... isnt event hat much of a problem imo????? Most magical girl love interests are prominent characters in the plot? Mamoru, Kaito, Yosuke, Syaoran, Masaya, the ugly cat bitch in Shugo Chara, etc... If they're not, like Nathaniel in Lolirock, where he doesn't do much bc he doesnt Need to lmao he just needs to b a nice guy who hangs out w Iris and encourages her to do her best, like exactly what else would he do? what would delving into his backstory really do anyways?

n characters like fukign... fuji-p?? thats barely a character in the first place and frankly the last thing i'd want is More of some random nobody lmao

[vespertin-y]

more liveblogging YIPPEE!! this time it’s the first half of ch1′s daily life.

-”monokuma will never directly commit a murder” bro don’t you threaten to kill all of them like two days from now??

-himiko’s vibrating sprite 😭 she is my spirit animal truly

-oh, shuichi and rantaro’s dynamic is GREAT. shuichi pulls kaede aside to ask if she thinks an ultimate talent is “really something you can forget” and iirc rantaro says he thinks shuichi is the most suspicious person in his FTEs - they both clearly suspect the other of being the ringleader and it’s fantastic. especially since their shared fondness for kaede makes them interact more than they’d probably like.

-we meet again, manhole gonta cg, we meet again. you have not gotten any prettier.

-kokichi’s first instinct when faced with a big hollow place is to yodel, and honestly same. echos r fun okay!!

-rantaro gets so much snarkier upon rewatch - you realize how much of his dialogue is just taking the piss. him saying “oh, how considerate” when they find the exit sign still makes me giggle.

-kaito thinking kaede is the COOLEST WOMAN ON EARTH and kaede thinking he’s sooo lame is such an underrated dynamic. “gimme a hug!” “no 💖” lives in my head rent free.

-kokichi’s speech after the death road of despair is what made me sit up and take interest in him and in kaede as characters and it still holds up so good hpsuhag,,,,i don’t have a ton of bigbrain thoughts about it but please know i am thinking about high empathy/low compassion kokichi and low empathy/high compassion kaede every single day. autistic queens.

-kokichi literally just says they need to find another way out and rantaro’s immediately like “murder?? you want to do a murder, you little gremlin????” then tenko freaks out, kokichi tells her to chill, and she threatens to smash his head into the ground!? it seems to me that the writers had a set dynamic between kokichi and the rest of the group, but forgot that by this point in the story they haven’t written anything to justify it - even with rantaro’s paranoia and tenko’s anger issues, this is excessive. HILARIOUSLY, this makes the scene read as his fucking jonker origin story. tenko, you fool, you should’ve taken the bubblegum...! look what you’ve gotten us all into...!

-the dorm rooms are INSANELY swanky. i’d want to live there, if not for the...everything else......

-them having tons of copies of the same outfit is so funny. tsumugi put her heart and soul into those costumes and you WILL wear them.

-that’s the end of day one! i’ll be keeping track of them, just so you all can understand how RIDICULOUS v3′s timeline is.

-i once saw someone point out that there was zero reason for maki not to take the first blood perk, and now that HAUNTS me. she would only be responsible for one death since there’s no class trial, and we know that ever after five chapters of ✨bonding✨ she’s still willing to murder all her “friends” in a petty revenge plot, and she’s supposed to be willing to do ANYTHING to keep her orphanage from going under. completely irrelevantly, did you know maki being an assassin was actually added later in development than kaede being the first killer?

-despite him definitely knowing that monokuma isn’t really dead, kokichi insists wholeheartedly that the killing game is “cancelled” - it’s one of his more obvious ploys imo. even if it can only delay deaths for a day or so, he’s willing to throw all his acting chops behind it.

-you know that meme that goes “god made me mentally ill to nerf me”? that’s shuichi. he’s a side character that becomes the protagonist. he has a plan to catch the mastermind in CHAPTER ONE. he is breaking the danganronpa formula so bad. tsumugi had to pump him full of depression or else he would have crushed her show like a nut on day one. the detective. he destroyed his narrative. yes. YES. the detective is out.

-KAEDE TOLD MIU TO SHUT THE HELL UP...u know it’s serious when u get *kaede* to curse omg

-”hey,do you think this door is connected to monokuma somehow?” “i think it might.” and here we get our first reminder that v3 was translated by character, not by scene. the translators mostly stuck to their individual character’s dialogue without much communication, and it leaves lots of little blips like this.

-and so day two ends!

-the way they just...take the wind right out of monokuma’s sails is so funny. he’s so excited for this yokai gimmick!! and then miu tells him to get hit by a second car, tsumugi complains that his outfit is bad, and korekiyo starts explaining the difference between ghosts and yokai in excruciating detail. monokuma’s one weakness: pretentious teenage nerds...!

-the additional time-limit motive doesn’t make sense to me when it’s been ONE DAY since he introduced the first one!? it feels like a last resort, something to be used after they refused to take the bait. fits much better with a more stretched-out timeline, where they were in the school for a month or so with no murder before monokuma snapped and told them to kill or else.

-rantaro questions if he can even trust himself because of his missing memories. of course WE know he’s not gonna get hajime’d, but it’s a reasonable fear!

-”that’s why i didn’t want to talk about this in front of everyone...if we told them now, they might all try to find the mastermind, and be led to murder. that’s why...i could only tell you, kaede.” oh, shuichi......(┬┬﹏┬┬) kaede just goes dead silent after this too, before changing the subject. she doesn’t have a murder plan yet - she can’t have one, not before they’ve gone to the warehouse - but she’s certainly Considering Options.

-there’s part one of daily life! like and subscribe, i’ll be posting the second half momentarily :]

[undercooked-spaghetti]

hahaha, me again with more text posts because I have writers block and lots of feelings as i SLOWLY replay judgment.

BUT. the gives me little reason to cheer for hoshino. like, hes kinda sweet at the beginning, but then he narcs on you to Genda for... no reason? even though he was all like "yagami, i wanna help you on the case" and it never gets explained why he felt the need to talk to genda about it.

kaito outright tells the player later "gee hoshino thinks saori is pretty and never stops going on about" despite us never being shown beforehand that hoshino even feels that way (we get the side-case about Saori's cake, but it just doesn't give the impression Hoshino has feelings). and then he acts OTT when he's going with saori for dress-up later, which i guess is the game trying to make us care. but he acts creepy about her RIGHT TO HER FACE.

then of course, she's all "thanks for the compliment, it felt good" which i suppose is supposed to be for us, the player, to be happy saori noticed hoshino (even though honestly, someone being nice shouldn't really be the reason to date them). which i suppose works for basement dwellers who latch onto "underdog" male characters, but i just cant find it in me to care. it doesnt feel earned.

i dont think its helping that i know how much hoshino devolves later on in lost judgment, but going through a second time when i have more knowledge on the BIGGER stuff and can focus on smaller things, it just irks me. RGG does a great job with certain character development, but it's weird who they decide to fall short on.

In this case, it's hoshino and mafuyu imo. Mafuyu just seems awkwardly thrown into situations for Yagami to save her or for us the player to acknowledge her, but most of the time, it seems like she's just there to remind us they had a thing, and it truly doesn't help that Saori just goes on about her 60% of the time to smash us over the head that she wants yagami and mafuyu to be a thing. they should've put her in more courtroom situations against Yagami to have some tension or something (and no, i don't count the aforementioned side-case. That just kinda seemed put there... because) because otherwise, the buildup seems awkward and shoehorned.

[starlitfunkster]

YES... maybe.... sort of, was more looking for concepts or ideas with that one cause i can see me as the emo brooding brother /stupid

ALSO gimme your opinion on THEEEEE junko enoshima :]

I don't really have any ideas atm, but I am glad that I did a screenshot redraw. UB-bom put me in a better mood~ <3

I do have the screenshot of Kurobom if you want that too. I went with the coolest one possible... at least in my opinion.

Also YES FINALLY!! Somebody asked an opinion on a character! Lysm sib!! <33

Opinions on: Junko Enoshima

First Thoughts: Unfortunately, the Junko I first saw (b/c this was before I saw NezumiVA's retrospective) was from Danganronpa V3. I don't remember which Letsplayer I watched, probably NicoB knowing teenage me- She was a riot! I loved seeing her even act that much in the killing-free Talent Development Plan!

Full Thoughts: After watching the retrospective, I LOVED HER!! I became one of her fans. Not as much as Kiibo, Kaito, or Kazuichi... but she one of my favs! Best villain imo. (sorry Shirogane) Sorry if I don't have that much thoughts. I really need to play Danganronpa Trigger Happy Havoc more. I have it on the Switch, and I totally could! I just haven't found the time to do so.

[themischievousmoose]

I’m streaming Lost Judgment on legend difficulty for the achievement, so I’ve got Judgment on the brain. So riddle me this, Mafuyu fans...

Why do so many people get behind the Yagami/Mafuyu “canon?” Like, no issue with shipping itself, but I feel like a lot of people go “yeah, Mafuyu is Yagami’s canon love interest,” but WHY?

They dated in the past when Yagami was a lawyer, okay. Mafuyu insists nothing was really going on when she’s introduced, but then later during flashbacks Yagami mentions them dating but it’s nothing really official. Then the whole Okubo ordeal messed up Yagami and he broke things off with Mafuyu.

Three years pass, Saori DOESN’T LET IT GO, Kaito ALSO DOESN’T LET IT GO, and Mafuyu still seems to have a thing for Yagami. Mafuyu still liking him I get, but why does the game really do such a poor job of making it seem like it’s much of anything, yet Saori just KEEPS. GOING. ON. ABOUT. MAFUYU? Hell, when you go to buy a dress for Saori and Yagami says it feels like a date, she decides to go off about Mafuyu’s past (them being friends is part of it too) and why it was so important she try and get Mafuyu and Yagami together, because of course she does. 

The scene where Yagami saves Mafuyu from getting kidnapped was the most actual chemistry we see between the two, but for the most part, it all just seems more like Mafuyu is more into it? And Yagami is just confused at a later point when Mafuyu says he’s her boyfriend. 

Even in Lost Judgment, three years later, they still feel a need to beat it into your head that Mafuyu has interest and Kaito STILL tries to go off about getting with her. I think it’s more grating because there truly seems to be nothing there, and OTHER CHARACTERS just go on about it. It just seems like a lazy way to get the player into the mindset of it potentially happening, and it really sticks out. 

And Mafuyu is FINE (the whole part of the game where you need to defend her AND THE “WAIFU” CLOSEUP as she cheers you on just felt off because they don’t do much with her for the whole game before it). It kind of bugs me that despite Yagami being in his element as a detective, she insists he just be a lawyer again. Like she cares about him, but still tries to make him be something he has no intention of going back to? And Saori keeps bringing up Mafuyu to Yagami. She wanted Mafuyu to move on from an unavailable man she loved for a long time, but for some reason doesn’t want her to move on from an emotionally unavailable man who doesn’t even seem interested? Seems like a bad move as a friend, tbh.

Mafuyu had a lot of wasted potential imo. She’s being followed by several yakuza in one chapter but doesn’t notice because... she’s on the phone? But then later she gets a bad feeling and calls Yagami and Kaito, and Kaito DARES say she has a nose for danger? HELLO? 

And she also seems so confused when Yagami goes so far for his investigations. She asks if he’ll give up when the AD-9 case gets bad. We’re supposed to believe she’s some tough, smart prosecutor, but... we never see it all that much. Most of the time she’s just kind of there and clumsily thrown into the story BECAUSE, and I just wish they did more with her.

It’s just bad character development the way they don’t do much for Mafuyu and yet bash us over the head that THEY HAD A THING ONCE A LONG TIME AGO AND MAFUYU STILL LIKES YAGAMI. Even if we took out the “girlfriends” part of both games, I just don’t see how Yagami/Mafuyu seems canon in any way.

Had to vent. I just don’t see canonical implications anywhere. And honestly, if there was ever a third Judgment game and the devs decided to put them together, it’d just be so off-putting. 

[foryoumyheroes]

I love the Otaku todoroki and Bakugou hc's! Maybe part 2 where they meet the characters voice actor and they look EXACTLY like the character and the bois are like 😳😳😳 HAVE I BEGGED GOD ENOUGH FOR HIM TO TURN MY ANIME CRUSH REAL and maybe the voice actor asks them out on a date sksksk— lol love your writing! (you don't have to do this btw, just a suggestion! 💕)

My first thought was the webtoon True Beauty 😳😳 I don't know if you guys know it, but it’s a great story (and free to read online!) and the author is kinda infamous for looking exactly like her MC!! Though Iida’s VA, Kaito Ishikawa, 👀 👀 looks exactly like his character IMO!! 

A/N:

The headcanons in question are here, and since the character is already referred to as [Name], I’ll be referring to the voice actor as [V/A] only, but it’s still the reader 😊😊.

“Shitty Half-and-half.” 

“Bakugou,” Todoroki replied, turning fully to face his former classmate. Several years had passed since they both confronted each other over Todoroki’s [Name] acrylic charm, and even now, both Pro-Heroes deep into their careers, their love for the anime character never waned. 

The series had finished up during their last year at U.A., leaving both boys a mess while Aizawa could only wish that he was able to nurse his headache with half a bottle of ibuprofen. Todoroki mourned the fact that they were able to defeat the last arc’s antagonist at the cost of [Name]’s powers leading to their ultimate retirement and Bakugou raged from the ambiguous epilogue where [Name] was seen laying their head on the protagonist’s shoulder while looking out into the sunset.  

“Don’t play dumb with me, you damned trust fund kid,” Bakugou spat, pushing himself off the spot where he leaned against the wall and striding over to the taller male. He had filled out in the past several years, nothing but toned biceps and broad shoulders. “You’re thinking exactly what I’m thinking.” 

“What?” Todoroki asked innocently. His time with Uraraka had paid off, but the cutesy look would only let him get so far. Bakugou was eye-to-eye with his “eternal” rival. Todoroki had only gotten taller recently. Still slender and toned, he was nearly his father’s height and had already surpassed Natsuo. 

“Might Con.” Bakugou really had grown from the way he didn’t rage from Todoroki’s feigned ignorance. “You’re going to be there aren’t you?” 

Todoroki froze. 

The blond smirked at his expression. “I know for a damned fact that your manager scheduled your panel at the exact same time my panel is held —” 

“We’re hosting the panel together with Midoriya, Bakugou —” Todoroki tried to say.   

“At the exact same time as [Name]’s fucking seiyuu’s autograph session, huh?” 

At Bakugou’s words, both boys were at a standstill. 

Due to the popularity of the anime, the voice actors were going to have their schedules jam-packed the entire con with panels, interviews, and meet-and-greets, but due to scheduling conflicts, every voice actor was allowed only one autograph session at a time. Bakugou didn’t care about any of those other shitty extras. He only wanted to meet [Name]’s seiyuu. 

The voice actor was infamous for hiding their face during the anime’s run, only doing radio shows or paper interviews. They cited that since they were still a minor by the time the anime came out, they wanted to preserve their privacy, but now that they were of age, they were going to reveal their face at the con for the first time. 

But they couldn’t make it. Their entire Pro-Hero career was stabbing itself in the back. 

He held a hand out. 

“If one of us can’t see [Name]’s voice actor the other can’t.”

It was otaku solidarity.  

After a pause Todoroki reached out and shook it once. “Fine.” The two boys dropped their hands as fast as it came. 

Yeah. 

Not. 

Todoroki Shoto: 

Tries to go incognito, but he sucks at it. 

He’s wearing shades indoors to hide his heterochromia and his scar, a bucket hat to hide his half-and-half hair, and he’s wearing regular, but not so inconspicuous clothes. 

Once he gets to the front of the line, he nearly drops his gigantic load of [Name] merch. If it weren’t for the fact that he’s a Pro, he would’ve needed a wagon to carry the entire thing. 

His face immediately flushes. 

You’re wearing glasses and a large sweater while smiling and waving happily at the last fan that walked away. His mind is seeing every equation. You look exactly like the High School spin-off your mangaka made after the protagonist wished that everyone was able to live normal lives.   

He stutters out, “C-Cosplay...?” softly the moment he gets to your table. 

This dude is blushing so hard his face is as red as his hair. 

Were you a secret love child, perhaps? 

You brighten up and laugh. “Oh, wow — you have a lot of merch,” you laugh and he nearly swoons. “And oh, no! I just look like this normally.” 

He mentally thanks his mom for giving birth to him. 

You compliment him on his casual Idol!Shoto cosplay and he’s so embarrassed that he nearly lets go of the left side of his Quirk. 

“Yeah! You make such a handsome Shoto!” You use your [Name] voice to say, “I love you, Shoto-kun!” and he nearly dies right there. 

He uncharacteristically even puts his face into his hands ;; and just screams internally. 

You hold up your pen and look at him with such wide eyes and ;;; YOU’RE SO FUCKING CUTE!! 

None of the fanfictions have ever prepared him for this. 

[“So who should I put these out to?” 

He inhales once and quickly goes, “Todoroki, please. Written with the character for ‘a roaring fire.’ I have admired [Name] since their character introduction arc and felt a bond from [Name]’s tragic history and my own. I hated my father for the longest time and wanted to forage my own path similar to [Name] and they gave me strength —”] 

You fight to keep the largest grin off your face, but then the door busts open and in walks Ground Zero. The security are all scrambling to stop him, but he barrels through them like dominoes. 

[”HALF-AND-HALF!!” 

“Oh, Bakugou —” 

“I FUCKING KNEW THAT YOU WOULD BE HERE WHEN YOU DIDN’T SHOW UP TO YOUR OWN DAMNED PANEL!!” 

Bakugou takes him by the collar and his shades and hat falls and everyone’s immediately fangirl shrieking as Bakugou forcefully drags him away. 

“Wait, Bakugou — ! My dakimakura — !“ 

“Fuck that!”] 

After his panel, he’s smugly going through all of the merch you were able to autograph with Bakugou sulking in the corner because he managed to go and Bakugou didn’t and he nearly drops his figurine when he realizes what you wrote in the corner of the box. 

“You seem pretty cute, handsome stranger! ;) XXX-XXXX-XXXX” 

He discharges his Quirk and Bakugou could be heard shouting, “WHAT THE HELL, HALF-AND-HALF!” in the background. 

Bakugou Katsuki: 

He doesn’t even bother hiding the fact that he’s there. Everyone’s so stunned by the fact that the Ground Zero is just storming through the autograph session that the autograph line splits like the Red Sea and he goes right up to you. 

When he sees your face he just stops in his place and he does the face above for like five whole seconds. 

Did he die and go to heaven? 

WAS THAT NOT T H E [SURNAME] [NAME] SITTING IN FRONT OF HIM???

AND YOU LOOK SO SOFT!! Who gave you the motherfucking right to look so cute??? You look exactly like the panel in volume twenty-one, page 105 where [Name] were first seen wearing glasses. (Yes, ofc he remembers the exact page and volume. What was he, a fake fan?)

He didn’t have a thing for megane 😳😳😳 until [Name].

[“You...You fucking look exactly like [Name],” he manages to stutter out. 

You blink out of your stupor at the Ground Zero at your autograph session because your manager just elbows you at your side and you nod quickly like an idiot. 

“Y-Yeah!” You laugh nervously. “Hahaha, I guess that’s why they chose me to be the voice actor, you know because the voice matches the face — or-or is it the face matches the voice??” The two of you have matching red faces. “I-I even have a Quirk like their’s!” You hold up your hand and activate your Quirk slightly and he goes still.] 

H-His wifu/husbando... in the flesh... 

All those years of reading metas and watching analysis videos and calculating the compatibility of your Quirks are coming into fuCKING FRUITION!! 

And he just grabs your hand out of nowhere, running on pure instinct, wrapping his hand around yours in a vice grip like a claw game and the both of you freeze. 

”S-So what would you like me to sign??” you say quickly because he’s holding up the line, but everyone else is watching his go down like a soap opera. 

He asks you to sign the manga. The first volume, the volume where you’re introduced, and the last volume. 

[“They fucking did [Name] dirty in the series finale,” he says while you sign the manga for him. “They don’t belong with the pissy protagonist.” 

“Yeah?” you ask, looking up at him. You gesture for him to lean closer and he does while you whisper in his ear. “Between you and me I don’t ship them either.” You lean back in your chair. “I don’t think the mangaka developed their relationship enough for me to root for them. Personally, I think that that they should just settle down with someone who’s going to make them happy and protect them — “ 

“I can do that.” 

“What,” you blurt out. 

“What,” he replies.] 

He’s in such a daze that when Deku and Shoto barge into the autograph signing and drag him away he doesn’t even fight back. 

HE WANTED SENPAI TO NOTICE HIM BUT NOT LIKE THIS!! 

Even through his panel that he nearly missed btw he’s so confused. Equations are spinning around his head. 

When he finally has free time and looks at the manga you signed, it read, “Ground Zero, you’re my favorite Hero! Glad you liked the anime! Wanna talk about it some more? XXX-XXXX-XXXX” 

[oumakokichi]

for as much as i like kaito, he feels... underwhelming. not character-wise, but in terms of his actual development. there is a lot of things he NEEDS to work on that just goes unaddressed, and they tease by doing things like repeatedly giving characters lines even in bonus modes that are like "wow kaito is sooo confident i wonder where he gets it all from :)" without actually delving into the likelihood that it's all played up. it's so disappointing, since kaito could've been so much more imo.

I honestly couldn’t agree more, anon. Back before the localization came out, I honestly had a very positive impression of Momota despite all his flaws. I really wanted to like him; I even translated his FTEs myself because I was excited to see more about him and if his friendship with Saihara would be expanded on in a way that felt genuinely fulfilling or interesting!

But honestly... as time has gone on, and after replaying the game several times since then, I can’t really say I enjoy him all that much anymore. Obviously, I still like him well-enough, and I would never deny his importance to the plot or to Saihara’s character growth. But as you said, so many issues go completely untouched in the narrative even when they feel like fundamental flaws in his character that should be explored.

And having character flaws isn’t a bad thing in and of itself. Characters should be flawed! It gives them a chance to grow and develop in interesting ways. The problem with Momota though is that his character... doesn’t really do that. The most he develops is insofar that he recognizes that cooperating with Ouma was necessary in chapter 5, that a compromise does need to be made even with people whose beliefs you fundamentally disagree with.

But even that little bit of character development feels like it could have been so much better if it hadn’t just been about the potential for Ouma and Momota to cooperate when literally no one expected them to, but about the recognition that Momota was wrong on some level.

There’s never any real acknowledgment of his flaws that got them into the entire predicament in the first place: his jealousy of Saihara is touched on briefly in chapter 4 and hinted at even earlier, but is ultimately dropped completely. Saihara is treated as being “just as much to blame” for their fight as Momota, and the story tries to push for them to “both apologize to each other,” despite the fact that Momota’s recklessness and refusal to listen to facts very nearly killed everyone in the chapter 4 trial, and despite the fact that Momota is the one avoiding him and even very coldly referring to him by his surname after having called him “Shuuichi” for most of the game since chapter 2.

It’s so frustrating to see the game almost touch on these things and explore a narrative where the character who wants to be a hero more than anything is limited by very human, relatable flaws like jealousy, stubbornness, and even his own physical limitations... and then just not do anything with it. In the end, Momota’s apology is pretty much entirely handwaved by Saihara since Momota is going to die no matter what. Instead of ever getting called out on his flaws or getting a chance to work through them organically, Momota is remembered as the Big Hero that he always wanted to be, and any valid criticism of him or the problems with his way of thinking is just sort of brushed under the rug without being further explored.

It’s also really, deeply uncomfortable to see people make excuses for the homophobia, transphobia, and toxic masculinity that are very much present in his character. The English version may have removed the slurs, but it doesn’t change the original intent of his character, or the fact that those things were said. And people (especially LGBT people) have a right to be uncomfortable with a character who goes around saying slurs and punching characters in the face for being “too weak” or “too feminine.”

It’s an undeniable fact that Momota has a lot of good traits, and I completely understand why he’s very well-liked by most people: Saihara likes him, therefore we want to like him too on some level. We want a “best friend” character who believes in us and uplifts us the way he tries to do for Saihara, who is anxious and unsure of himself. But between the narrative’s refusal to ever really criticize him, and the fandom insisting that some of his worst traits just don’t exist or that people “can’t be uncomfortable” with him... his character just doesn’t really rank as high up for me as he used to.

I would have really liked for his character to be more of a direct subversion of the shounen tropes that he seemed to embody at first, and I definitely think there’s ways to flesh him out or explore those flaws in fan-works, and I have a lot of respect for people who acknowledge that those flaws exist without talking over the people who are made uncomfortable by them. I completely understand your feelings on Momota anon, because in the end, it’s a very complicated topic. Thank you for the interesting ask!

[faemen]

WAIT YOU DONT LIKE MIKAN OR KAITO HOW

thank you for asking! not sorry for the rambles!

tw mikan, kaito, chiaki, kaede, kokichi slander and spoilers for sdr2 and v3 under cut!

first of all, look. im not a terrible person and i know mikans backstory and literally everything but i STILL cannot fucking stand her. but unlike SOME PEOPLE im not gonna MAKE FUN OF HER TRAUMA and things.

i know she has her reasons but honestly her constant apologizing bothered me to no end and i know for a lot of people, once they saw her smile they fell in love or something, but instead i felt gross and wished she would stop. her voice is irritating too. ugh everyone makes me feel bad for hating her since i KNOW she has her reasons but i cannot. stand people like that shes so annoying and clingy and ughhh. also i get way too many requests for her constantly and i never liked her in the first place. too much fan service as well

kaito? fuck that dude legitimately! i dont even like maki all that much but it really irked me when he kept on downplaying her like that. and punching shuichi after he just WATCHED SOMEONE DIE? yes, i do think saimatsu went wayyyy too quickly to actually be meaningful, but she fucking died bc he pointed it out! anyone would cry why would you say he needs to man up tf?????? and also with joe being the exception, best friend bro type characters who cant take a hint fucking. i cannot deal with them at all bc i have too many irl who'll latch onto me and think im lonely when im alone on purpose.

i hate doing pushups and i hate this guys attitude and although i never played his chapter it honestly wouldnt have affected me at all. hes annoying and clingy and you can tell me how hes smart bc of his ultimate and that hes sexist and homophobic bc of who he was raised by but i literally dont care. its the way he acts for me. why is he even so liked i LITERALLY dont get it. he wasted his aesthetic too tf

anyways have some more bonus rants since youve activated me

chiaki. yes, yes i know that anime her and game her are different bc of her being an ai and stuff. guess what? i dont care. you can try and defend your favourites all you want, but seriously. chances are i know more than you. anyways i hated how we were supposed to care about her dying in game when all she did was kinda stand around and be helpful ig. she was way too bland and nice for me. i wont go as far as to call her a mary sue, but shes just. bleh. blehhh i dont care about chiaki at all i cannot connect to this sleepy gamer girl in any form. her execution and aesthetic are cool from a design pov but yeah. in anime form she was actually worse imo! bc in game she didnt really randomly be loved and adored by everyone, while she was way too nice. also once again WAY TOO MANY CHIAKI REQUESTS I SWEAR

kaede! you mightve been able to tell this by now but i do not like people who push friendship onto me and thats literally ALL kaede did. while valid and i dont really care about either of the characters involved, i have a personal vendetta against saimatsu bc it felt like a romance movie with how fucking QUICKLY it developed in a GODDAMN death game. if some blonde girl started talking about how shes gonna end a killing game id boot it out of there SO QUICk not stare lovingly into her eyes as we hold hands. her though, other than that bit, i do think she was killed off way too quick and she had a lot of potential. her story is cool from a writers perspective, as with the thing where she was trying to help by being positive but ended up making things worse. but she really severely overestimated herself. and from a fans pov? i fucking hate positive characters who try to make me positive. let me be a grumpy bastard in peace

KOKICHI mkay i like the other antags bc they have actual reasons but kokichi just exists to be a fucking clown. i do not like him i hate sharing a birthday and a height with him and i DO NOT GET. THE FANS. AT ALL? what is there to like? hes an annoying little bitch who wont stop laughing. OKAY BUT ONCE AGAIN. from a writers pov hes really underdeveloped bc while i appreciate his role in the story, and his morally grey character that is willing to do a lot for the greater good, his motivations do... not make sense? whatsoever? we dont know anything about his backstory PLEASE for the LVOE OF GOD stop calling him your uwu gay pg panta yandere boy. there is nothing to defend at all. yes he has a major impact on the plot but guess what. as a fans pov i literally couldnt care less. and for the final time PLEASE GET YOUR SOFTCORE PINK KOKICHI STUFF ELSEWHERE i am going to EXPLODE

thank you again!!!!!!!! and yeah blablabla youre valid for liking them just dont attack me or try to change my opinion. thanks.

[shidoukanae]

YGO! Questionnaire

Tagged by @cipher-wise​

Favorite series:

My favorite series based on what I watched and enjoyed would have to be Arc-V!!! It's honestly the series that got me to adore YGO when previously I'd seen YGO as, and I chilidishly quote, "uncool". Everything about Arc-V is pretty much wonderful: Yuya's presence as a "everyone MUST be happy" kind of character in a plot that discusses themes of war, revenge, and despair is absolutely refreshing (especially when Yuya's ideals of happiness are stripped from him and made a mockery of by, *coughs* one of my favorite characters in the franchise *coughs*). 

I love how the four Yuu boys are a wonderful combination of "protagonists" (/anatagonists) and how they each play off of each other's weaknesses and strengths, often acting as mirrors to each other in their individual dimensions while having amazing interactions (Yugo and Yuri, anyone? Yuri and Yuya?).

I admire how the endgame plot is a perversion of Yuya's ideals: he gets what he wants, showering happiness upon all, but that "happiness" is corrupted into the notion of entertainment. While Yuya seeks to provide people with smiles and laughter, to give them hope to work together through tough times and to stay strong in the face of adversity, his "counterparts" in the endgame are really good at acting as Yuya's mirror: showing that his style of performing can also be used to appease the bloodthirst of one's own self and that happiness can be corrupted into self-deserving power.

...Hard to put that into exact words without spoiling a lot of things but, gosh, let's just say that Yuri and ____ are the perfect mirrors to Yuya in terms of what his entertainment dueling style is meant to be.

The plot over all is pretty good! I won't lie and say it stands strong all the way throughout the story but the first half is amazing and there are some pretty strong episodes in the second half (Yugo and Rin, the parasite episodes in general, Yuri Yuri YURI). I can definitely say that the humor is there, the characters are amazing (if nothing else, watch for the Yuu Boys, the Bracelet Gals, and Shun versus Sora!!) and having come into the show around episode 104, I was pleasantly surprised by the trip Arc-V brought me and how it played with its protagonist, giving him hope, kicking him down, and toying with his mind - just like the way a warzone might to any idealistic individual.

In terms of other series, I like VRAINS but only up to like episode 19 (or the end of the Data Bank arc). It had potential and I kept hoping it would get better but the plot was constantly floundering, there are plot holes abundant (sewer monsters, ugh), character development is inconsistent not to mention very shallow, VRAINS has some of the best side characters but they're kicked to the curb by a bland protagonist and a villain that could've been so much cooler but they made him a sympathetic mess.

...I have a lot of gripes with VRAINS but, if it were to ever be rewritten with clear goalposts and plot twists in mind (not to mention development on ideas like Charisma Duelists because at the end of the show I still have not a fucking clue what a Charisma Duelists is or was) I would say it has potential to become my favorite series but Arc-V clearly beats it for me in every category lmao.

Zexal’s also really good too!!! I don’t get all the hate behind it because it’s actually really interesting and engaging (also IV’s definition of fanservice is literally the only type of fanservice I will ever accept) and I think I’ve even cried a couple of times during the course of the plot which is like,,, shocking considering it’s not a show I thought I’d cry over (I cried in Arc-V too but goddamn does tiny Yuya just want to make you tear up lmao). This show is really good emotionally and it’s literally so stupid how Kaito carries a lot of the early and middle game of the show yet most of the meat of the plot doesn’t begin to unravel until the second season.

Also, if you ever want to watch a show of 100+ episodes that is so masterfully written that there is foreshadowing for stuff in like episode 130+ on EPISODE ONE, please watch this. Literally there are so many hints of what is going to happen in the future in the early episodes and you won’t really be able to tell what those hints are until you’ve finished the show but goddamn when you go back and rewatch things it does indeed feel amazing how much foreshadowing they threaded into the show without you ever knowing...(please don’t search for spoilers if you intend to watch this. I went into the show knowing some spoilers tho not all and, while I was still pleased by what I watched, I honestly can agree the show is A Lot Better without knowing ANYTHING)

Favorite Protagonist: Yuya. For sure, out of all the series, Yuya. 

He’s a refreshing protagonist, especially considering he shines in a world of war and despair. He’s also someone who you empathize with right at the start and want to hope in, especially since he is the “happiness” in a word of “madness” and “sorrow”. He’s not someone out to save the world (not really, anyways), but his actions touch on the lives of others anyways, giving people in a hope in a world that is otherwise cruel and heartless. Also, it really helps that he’s able to pull you into his world of “egaos”, making you believe in him and root for him despite how cheesy his ideals may or may not sound.

Also love how, despite being the centerpiece of “happiness”, Yuya isn’t allowed to always be happy :> Not spoiling plot related things but if you like protagonists going off the rails insane at times, Yuya’s definitely a fun protagonist for that!!!

Favorite Rival:

Kaito Tenjou!!! Literally the best rival in the series that I’ve seen. Everything about him is literally perfect ngl. From the way he’s chillingly introduced, with the spine-tingling whistles and cruel, almost merciless nature, to the way he slowly becomes sympathetic while also remaining a terrifying presence whenever he appears...I love him????

Favorite BFF:

Does Shoichi count? Because like...he’s Yusaku’s closest friend and ally in the series and I generally don’t pay attention to the other BFF’s in the other series (or at least, the ones I can recall bc I know in Zexal that Yuma has a whole group of friends lmao).

But I like Shoichi!! He cares about Yusaku a lot, is pretty damn cool as a sidekick hacker, his sideplot with his brother was actually honestly endearing and I loved the mystery about him. His early-game jokes w/ Ai to tease Yusaku were also a good laugh.

Favorite GFF: 

Not a girl friend forever for the main protagonist (although she like...lowkey confessed to him...though that plot really never went anywhere so I still don’t know what the fuck THAT was about) but,,, Ema Bessho,,

If y’all knew me back in my peak YGO days when VRAINS was airing,,, this gal was and STILL is my favorite girl of the YGO series. Even though she was pretty much done dirty imo I still love her (even despite considering she’s been made a damsel-in-distress at least three times, she’s only ever won one duel on-screen despite being supposedly good at dueling, ngl they could’ve done so much more with her but tbh she’s mostly just an asset to solve problems at whim and barely gets character development/does nothing but watch and spectate stuff late-game).

Even though she’s like...the unfortunate side character who’s probably meant to be more fanservice than interesting, in the first 19 episodes (and even the Revolver vs. her fight as well as the one time she meets Aoi IRL early-game) made her out to be a lot cooler and complex than she ended up being. I mean,,, a hacker gal who’s self-serving, cynical, and cold-hearted taking on the tasks of her (potentially ex) boyfriend while being really nice to his sister to the point she baffles even herself,,, we could’ve had a really unique and cool character to play around with here but instead we got...cool-ass character with potential to be something more reduced to a spectator with nothing better to do than idolize the main protagonist and have a plot with her brother that honestly detracted from her character more than it added to it imo.

Also Ema could’ve been a female Yuri but,,, nope,,, they decided she was better as a background piece instead TwT

Favorite Villain: Yuri.

Literally Yuri.

I could choose the leather jacket w/ fluff boi in a certain series because hot damn was that guy convincing AF that he wasn’t an evil psychopath (and even while knowing that he was, I still got fooled into thinking he was a good guy somehow omg) however,,, I’ve always held a love for Yuri and the way he’s been portrayed.

Despite ALWAYS being the bad guy, the show has always made this purple fucker into the most entertaining character on-screen. He even beats Yuya sometimes in terms of how entertaining he is - that’s literally how good he is,,

Also his facial expressions are amazing, he’s a VERY VALID threat to the main cast (and his creeper levels are not only off the charts but literally called out by the main female protagonist herself lmao), and he acts as the perfect foil to Yuya, battling not to entertain others but to entertain himself.

Also, he likes killing people.

No this is not a joke.

He literally likes killing people. And is pretty sadistic about it, too.

(^^^^ for those who don’t get the joke, “Fusion” is pronounced “Yuugo” which sounds similar to “Yugo” which is what,,, Yuri is making fun of,,, more context is needed of course but this is a Great Running Gag)

Favorite card:

I don’t know if it actually exists as an actual card but...that crystal dragon from the YGO movie with the glass pyramid. Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon...it’s really pretty...I love it...

Favorite Episode:

I’m...too lazy to search for names of these episodes but I can give brief summaries of them,,, because I can’t choose,,,

Arc-V: Shun vs. Sora (ALL episodes). Hot damn if you have never watched YGO but want to try and see for yourself why people like it: WATCH THESE EPISODES. I can’t explain how amazing these episodes are and, while I admit jumping straight into them might have you missing out on some important context (such as who Shun is or why Sora’s battle tactics lead to revelation) it’s honestly an amazing fight regardless. The battle starts off plain enough - there’s obvious tension, it seems like a typical fight of a battle royale, etc. - my god does the battle ramp up in emotional tension and promptly kick you in the gut with not only how blindsided you’ve been, but it also showcases just how cruel these “entertainment duels” can really get.

Any episode with Yuri. Literally any episode he’s in. 

I think this is like...episode 8 of VRAINS...but whenever it is that Akira hires Ema to find the reason why Aoi just...straight up got knocked into a coma. Literally this is my favorite episode when it comes to Ema. The way she makes fun of Akira even while aware of his situation,,, her cruel selfishness and desire for money bubbling to the surface, the way she confesses how she can’t be trusted willingly and still asks Akira why he’s hiring her,,, god I love this episode in terms of what Ema could’ve always been.

Episode 13 (/14?) of Zexal!!! This is the episode Kaito appears and when the show REALLY picks up. Kaito is a fun bastard of a rival and tbh I don’t think I’ll ever stop getting chills of him walking in, debris frozen in time all around him, as he approaches his victim, whistling an eerie children’s tune as he gets ready to close in for the kill,,,,

Favorite Deck to Use:

I don’t...really play the game itself but...I have used a couple of decks and I guess you can say I really love Raid Raptors??? First of all, those warbirds make really fun sounds I love ‘em in the anime but they’re also just fun to use in general (even tho I used a,,, very basic deck for them,,, I love them still).

Fusion, Ritual, Synchro, XYZ, Pendulum or Link:

XYZ bc it’s really the only summoning method I’m used to lol :P. Also XYZ loyalist I guess???? 

Years in fandom: roughly five to six years iirc? I mean, I was a fan of the early day YGO and watched it as a kid but not active enough to be in the fandom for it lmao. Also not in the fandom atm because Sevens lost my attention (it’s a good show!!! I’m just unfortunately more a fan of things with serious plots and darker themes and it’s hard for me to stomach slice-of-life shows that don’t focus on a mature and engaging plot). However, Arc-V and Zexal holds a special place in my heart (as does VRAINS, begrudgingly) and so I occasionally find myself wandering back to these shows like right now,,, 

[toxicpineapple]

Please give me your amami essay, I'd like to know the TEA! I was also gonna ask for the mastermind essay, but honestly I REALLY wanna hear your thoughts on his characterization (and your thoughts on his shitty fanon characterization)

HOOO BOY OKAY. this is good, it gives me an excuse to procrastinate on reading that new amasai fic on the latest feed. (note that i REALLY WANT TO READ IT, i’m just anticipating commenting and tbh the spoons,,, i lack them. it’s okay though i’ll get over it.)

so!!! let’s start with general attitude, because i think that amami’s is really unique. he’s a subversive character. in general i feel like that was the biggest goal with his character design and personality combination-- he looks like a total playboy, kaede even comments as much moooore than once. but he’s the absolute opposite. i’ll rant about that in a bit. i’ve already gone off on a tangent and i said i was gonna talk about attitude.

amami is laid back, but not to the point of complacency. y’know what i mean? like, he’s relaxed, but he’s on his guard, too. his speaking style is pretty casual (typically he’ll greet people with a “hey,” whenever he’s slightly uncomfortable he’ll probably say “haha”... this isn’t necessarily a canon thing but i like it when people have him talking in sentence fragments. ex. “forgot to grab my jacket” or “wanted to get a snack” sort of thing) and that’s just,,, the type of person he is. he’s casual. it’s remarkable considering how wealthy amami is-- though bear in mind, he still IS wealthy, so there are bound to be things he doesn’t understand about people-- that he can be so normal and like, down to earth, in a way. when people mess around with him he’ll probably just laugh it off.

to cite a fic i read once that had REALLY phenomenal characterisation, imo, ouma ends up dumping a bucket of water on amami’s head (on accident; there are some semantics and i won’t get into it but again the fic is really good and funny and you should totally read it) and amami just squeezes out his shirt and makes a couple cracks before walking away. (sorry this isn’t meant to be a “dumping love on fics” post but GOD that fic is hysterical.) he’s an enabler too, at least i think so-- remember that anthology chapter where kaede, shuichi, and kaito are trying to catch ouma and kaito sets an “amami trap” to stop him? all ouma has to do is flutter his eyelashes and go “pleeeaaase let me go amam~niichan!” and then he just. he does. what a fucking doormat i can’t believe him.

he’s like that though. i feel like big brother stuff is kind of his weakness. (and not in a kinky way alright i will destroy you. he might make a joke about having a sister complex in one of his ftes but he DOESNT that joke was just tasteless COME ON RANTARO WHFKLDSJFK) which brings me to his whole older brother thing, because like,,, YEAH. guy grew up with twelve younger sisters!!! and he remarked in his ftes with shuichi that they’re mostly step sisters, which means he just.... has a nurturing personality. i mean amami is somewhat conservative (if you try to come on to him during salmon mode you will be brutally rebuffed; amami tells u to keep your horny thoughts to yourself, though you shouldn’t be ashamed of having them) so i imagine he’s not the biggest fan of his father’s tendencies-- not that i don’t NECESSARILY interpret his father’s behaviour as him sleeping around.... it’s possible he just likes children and deliberately marries women who already have kids so he can take them... i mean it’s exceedingly decent to keep considering ur step children to be your children after a divorce so i have a hard time reconciling this common image of rantaro’s dad as some kind of player figure with the impression i got of him in my head but that’s just my daddy issues coming into play again so ignore me-- and yet he still considers all his sisters to be his sisters.

not to mention he feels a great deal of like, responsibility, when it comes to taking care of them. i find it impossible to believe that all the losses were his fault. you could ARGUE that the one he tells you about with his younger sister was to be blamed on him? but i mean, amami is a child. he didn’t even know his sister was following him out. sure he blames himself for it but there’s no real good way to blame him just considering that,,, he’s a kid. and he was so young-- he was obviously so young-- when it happened. so like, not to be all Good and Bad on you, but i do feel that amami is fundamentally a good reason. and you SEE that too, in the killing game. i’m certain he was on the fence about trusting that note he woke up with. would you trust it? he had no memory whatsoever of writing it, all he had were the words “ultimate hunt” and a map of the school to guide his way. i imagine he wasn’t even sure if he should do what the note said. but then ryoma started talking about sacrificing himself for everyone else, and rantaro probably thought, “well... if i have a way to get us out of here, even if it doesn’t work, i can’t just let ryoma sacrifice himself without having tried.”

rantaro is self-reliant too, i think. in the talent development plan mukuro remarks that she noticed he was injured a good number of times, but never said anything about it because she felt like he was trying to keep it under wraps. (note: good idea for an amami and mukuro friendship fic. must write. someone remind me.) i think amami kind of feels isolated from his classmates? either because he has these perceived notions of like, independence and whatever, not burdening anybody else with his problems (honestly not to go chabashira on main but wtf men ask for help c’mon i promise if you find a person who’s worth being in ur life they won’t treat you like shit for feeling ur feelings) or just because he’s not around a lot. i think amami is the type of person to invalidate his own problems a lot, or at least downplay them to others. he blames himself for all his sisters going missing, took the responsibility to find them all. you know the blow that’s going to be to his education? traveling around the world looking for twelve different people? and he plans to keep doing that!!! forever!!! ugh ;-; poor babey. but anyway i feel like he doesn’t want to tell anybody about his problems because he feels like it’s his thing to deal with.

i also believe that rantaro is a bit prideful. i mean, anyone can be prideful under the correct circumstances, and in fact there is a great deal of pride that simply isn’t addressed by the fandom in analysing characters and that makes me really sad because pride is such a SEXY character flaw but i’ll leave that alone for now. he hates being told to give up on what he’s doing. i mean everyone in his life has been telling him to stop looking for his sisters. that’s got to suck, but also, DAMN look at what his reaction was. this utter refusal to open up to anybody. shuichi’s ftes with him are spent pretty much just trying to get amami to stop squirreling around and actually TALK to him. amami asks shuichi at one point if he has any siblings and when the response is negative, amami immediately assumes that shuichi wouldn’t understand, would tell him to quit. just like everyone else.

(i mean, even with kiyo and mukuro, whose circumstances mirror his almost painfully at least in willingness to sacrifice stuff for their siblings, he doesn’t tell them what he’s doing, just that he’s doing it for his sister-- singular-- and that he would do anything for her. kiyo and mukuro!! out of ANYBODY, they would understand. in tdp they DO talk about it-- kiyo encourages him to keep searching-- as his friend...... fuck amaguji is such a good ship even if the implications of kiyo saying he wants to meet rantaro’s sister after he finds her bc she must be suuuuch a good person if he’s doing all this for her are uhhh not great-- and mukuro immediately understands when he says it’s to do with his younger sister. like, full stop. she just goes “okay” and goes serious. all at once. damn rantaro, mukuro, and kiyo really do be a power trio huh. i need to write more fic about them i miss them.)

this is more into baseless conjecture so take this as you will, but i also think rantaro is kind of,,, easily distracted lmao. he mentions helping out a village with a disease-- been a while since i’ve seen his ftes, sorry for any inconsistencies-- among other shit and like... bro what are you DOING. you have sisters to find. and he can’t be getting injured all the time, getting wrapped up with gang violence and all that, looking for people who were lost traveling. i mean sure, you could say they went all over the world and got wrapped up in all sorts of mess, but more likely they stayed in roughly the same area, waiting for him to come back. and also? i have a hard time believing his sisters were lost in these remote forest places people always put them. COME ON, who the fuck goes to some village for a vacation? a RICH person no less. i’m on another tangent. sorry. but yeah, i love the people who write rantaro as an absolute airhead. i headcanon that he has no way of judging the passing of time and thus is the absolute worst in the bathroom bc he sits there for twenty minutes thinking about the universe and then walks out like “:) ok ready to go” like wtf are you even doing there stupid akljdf anyway.

i think rantaro is softhearted and thoughtful. in his ftes with kaede he demonstrates an ability to look past what people show at surface level-- you can ask him about miu, kiibo, or kiyo and he’ll give u Good Fucking Insight(tm)-- and analyse their intentions more closely. and i mean this is just from a couple day’s interaction. he’s down to earth for sure, understanding when people are intimidated but also caring and observant. (his “talk about a first impression” line is so fuckaindgf.... good for his characterisation. i love romantic amamatsu but he so clearly takes an older brother role in those ftes, he’s really such a sweetheart,,,, hnadhfkj ;w;) rantaro is just. he’s patient with people. and selfless and kind. idk it’s all the good stuff. warm smiles and indulgence. all the way. probably lets kokichi steal his lunch.

THAT BEING SAID: i think rantaro also has a very serious streak. he doesn’t show it a lot but there are moments. he’s self-sacrificing-- i mean, obviously. he was the ultimate survivor, after all. some people hc that he got there by killing, or maybe everyone else in his game died but one person, but bro that doesn’t make any sense???? no. what happened was there were probably like three people left, and monokuma was like “one has to be sacrificed” and rantaro thought, welp. it’ll be me then. and i wouldn’t say the choice would be immediate because rantaro DOES has self preservation instincts-- he’s only human-- but i don’t think he’d have let anybody else make that decision. i think ultimately he would try to protect other people.

he can be scarily confrontational too. i do believe he’d usually only do it in the defense of others-- like, his base instinct is to protect. i read a fic once (oumami, unfortunately) where ouma was committing crimes and went to hide behind rantaro and rantaro instinctively moved to protect him, and that’s.... that’s good characterisation. point one to the oumami stans, point zero to me. motherfucker. (love u oumami stans, it’s just not my thing.) i really like it in fics when he’s stern, lecturing people for hurting other people, but i also think rantaro is too understanding to be truly unforgiving. like if two people got into an argument and one came out of it more hurt than the other, i don’t believe that amami would be unsympathetic to the less hurt one. i think he’s mature enough to take a look at the situation and go, well, okay.

i think he’d be TERRIFYING when angry. he’s patient, y’know? so it takes a lot to get him to that point. he’s really, ah, accommodating of people. puts up with a lot of bs kind of thing. but i imagine the best way to get him to snap is by hurting someone he cares about. and at that point: ur fucked. i’ve never written it before because i’m terrified of what i’d do with that kind of power but.... imagine the shuichi whump. holy god.

i’m NOT here to talk about shuichi whump (though i’m down to do that any time of day believe me) so i’m gonna like. shhhhiiiiiiffft.

i project on characters a lot so at this point it’s difficult to distinguish if some of my characterisation things are like, actually characterisation things? or just me venting, so like, take nothing i say as canon, but also,,, akdsjf we love a man who bottles up his emotions.

because rantaro just doesn’t have the TIME to be crying all over the place. he was probably a total wreck when he lost his first sister. and his second. and maybe even his third. but then he started to gather his composure, more and more. because if there’s anything that rantaro has in excess, it’s composure. the more losses he suffers the more of a shield he builds up. and the self hatred and the guilt and the blame and the responsibility are piling up and up and up, but god he hates it when other people see him sad, because he needs to be the strong one, he can’t just pile that up on other people. that’s not their weight to carry, and besides, he’s the older brother, he should be able to deal with his own problems. he’d just be burdening the people he cares about by letting them see his demons.

and then he doesn’t have any coping mechanisms because he never lets himself feel enough to cope, and when people get close enough to actually CARE about him, when people notice he’s upset or struggling and offer him help, he doesn’t know how to deal with it-- and god he hates lashing out at people but it’s so much easier to deal with the consequences of being mean than the consequences of breaking down. only conflict is scary when he’s one of the causes so he needs time to recover, and well, what better way to do that than to get on a plane or a boat and go look for his sisters? after all he’s wasting time whenever he’s just sitting around, they’re still out there and he needs to find them, so might as well just keep pushing himself to the limits, because it’s his fault they’re lost anyway...

something mukuro said to rantaro in the talent development plan stuck in my brain. like, initially it’s just a funny and cute interaction (rantaro even blushes and a blushing rantaro is a GOOD FUCKING RANTARO) but when i thought about it more i was like.... huh. hm. angst ideas. mukuro makes a joke about rantaro going over to her stand at the festival to flirt with her-- i think that’s the context, i know it’s play-boy related-- and rantaro assures her (as he always does) that he’s not that kind of guy, and mukuro agrees, saying she was just pulling his leg and that he seems like the kind of person who gets dumped because he doesn’t show his emotions enough. rantaro laughs, blushes, and says “haha, not touching that one,” and akdjfnnnnnn god mukuro you’re so blunt i love you fkdjf but wow. i usually have rantaro as not having dated anyone, just because i feel like he kind of hyperfocuses on finding his sisters? and given that he’s like sixteen (seventeen at the MOST) there’s not much of a timeline for when his sisters got lost. in my fic search i had to cram all the losses into a four-year period and damn that was rough. anyway i just don’t think he’d really prioritise romance. but that reaction implies that that’s EXACTLY his experience with romance, which makes a bit of sense because mukuro is ridiculously sharp, and also it’s,, it’s just sad idk poor rantaro. getting dumped because he’s like the emotional equivalent of a doorknob when it comes to his own feelings.

i do think rantaro is a bit cowardly. not in the sense that he’d shy away from danger-- i think he’d RUSH INTO IT HEAD FIRST because he’s a man or whatever, i know he respects women but he does seem to hold some of those very stereotypically masculine ideals of constantly protecting those around him, which is like.... ok toxic masculinity mcgee can u and kaito stop throwing hands every time u see each other ty-- but more in the sense that he avoids,,, confrontation. emotional confrontation just ain’t his thing. and i think he’d rather run away from it or otherwise find some way of ignoring it than try to address his problems.

he would, with that in mind, probably try to associate with people who don’t push the matter. kiyo and mukuro, for example. they both have a fair amount of baggage themselves so they’d probably be respectful. ryoma is lowkey enough that he just, he wouldn’t bring that shit up, that’s uncool. i also think rantaro would get along REALLY WELL with kaito, and i actually don’t think kaito would pull his sidekick stuff with him? just because in a way they’re kind of kindred spirits, and i think kaito would see an ally in rantaro before seeing someone to try to nurture, so they’d probably have some kind of a truce like, if you don’t force me to be vulnerable, i won’t force you. one of the reasons why i love amamota so much is because it involves the two of them growing to care about each other beyond that sort of unhealthy camaraderie and breaking down each other’s barriers and i just..... hhnnfhhdkfj they could be so good for each other but nobody wants to talk about thatjslfkj

you weren’t asking for my amamota mess lmao sorry anon i get sidetracked SO easily. but yeah, amami gravitates towards people who wouldn’t try to get him to be more honest with himself. and i honestly think the v3 cast would be pretty good about that overall, except for shuichi who is a detective and has a habit of sticking his nose in places it shouldn’t be, but i see no reason to write that out because amami’s ftes already display that beautifully. (well, that’s a lie, i’m absolutely plotting out a slowburn in my head already that involves shuichi stripping down his walls one by one, but forget about all of that rn we don’t need to talk about why amasaimota is my ot3.) also he is softer on childish people like ouma and himiko. ain’t nobody wants to TALK TO ME about how brilliant it would be if rantaro and hiyoko were friends because hiyoko has such problems in that department and he would take one look at her and go hm. i’m adopting her. and he’s so fucking patient and nice and she’d lose the will to make fun of him and i have to do ALL THE GODDAMN WORK AROUND HERE but it’s fine. at least i get to write it.

i’ve described the fundamentals of his characterisation pretty well by now i think. i have some throwaway headcanons, like uhh,,

he’s claustrophobic

plays the guitar and the ukulele

he prefers warm weather and perishes in the cold

high pain tolerance

he’s a Good Cook

doesn’t like sex jokes (they make him uncomfortable)

asexual (i do like a good demisexual hc at all times of day tho)

master of piggyback rides

does his own piercings

impulsive as hell

gets lost easily but can always find his way back

has a lot of scars from travels

hands are rough and calloused (again from travels)

morning person

smells like evergreen (you know i had to, you know i did)

Radiates Heat Like A Fucking Toaster Oven

good hugs

hates tying his shoelaces

likes being the big spoon :)

has a tongue piercing

i said “some throwaway headcanons” but i ended up listing way more than i mean to. i’ll make a separate list of my rantaro headcanons someday and talk about them all in detail but for now, uh, there’s that.

SO AS FOR THE RANTARO CHARACTERISATIONS I ABSOLUTELY DESPISE:

god where to fucking begin. actually i know exactly where to begin. it’s my least favourite one just because, like i said at the very beginning, rantaro is a subversive character. i mean i think he’s kind of a low hanging fruit when it comes to that. there are plenty of other subversive characters in the dr series but rantaro is like that. you expect a flirt and u get,,, a sweetheart. but then some people (usually the ones who ship him with female characters exclusively though i will see it on occasion in an amasai or oumami fic) decide to throw that out the window and make him a total playboy!! and listen, i have no problem with people who are a little flirty. we’re kids!! flirt ur heart out!!! and hey, that’s not what this is about but y’know what? so long as everything is safe, sane, and consensual, then yeah!! exercise your sexual freedom and sleep with whoever you want to!!! i don’t think there’s anything wrong with messing around a little, dating who u wanna and experimenting with ur tastes and preferences. if rantaro WAS a playboy, then there would be nothing wrong with that. i would love him just the same because he’s such a fundamentally GOOD character.

except that.... he’s.......... NOT. you slaughter one of the biggest aspects of his character by throwing away what matters to him and making him some hunky-deep-voice-dreamboat dude meant to sweep kaede/tsumugi/whomsteverthefuck off her feet. rantaro is one of those characters where he’s so blatantly not that kind of person, and it’s like. it’s an affront, almost, to portray him that way? and i do believe you should have the freedom to write what you want, since we’re in that age (aside from romanticised pedophilia and incest; that shit ain’t cute, i say this often but pro-ship DNI) where u should be able to take some liberties, but it’s just. hnnn. it’s so frustrating. rantaro does not know how to smolder! if he DID smolder, he wouldn’t even realise he was doing it. he doesn’t have people lying at his feet, okay? he’s too flaky for that. i wouldn’t say he’s unreliable but he definitely ain’t at school as much as he should be.

another one that i hate: st-stalker? what the fuck? that is not sexy that is creepy and weird?

another another one that i hate: yandere? what the FUCK??? that is not sexy that is glorified ABUSE???? the yandere trope is AWFUL bc you’re taking a controlling relationship and turning it into a fetish. NO. if he limits ur contact with other people, if he follows u everywhere, if he threatens ur loved ones, if he tries to control you, ladies and gents and nonbinaries, he’s not a yandere, he’s an abuser and you need a fucking restraining order. actually, people of ANY gender or sex can perpetuate this behaviour and IT IS NOT CUTE. I DO NOT GIVE A FUCK WHAT BOUNDARIES U SET IN PLACE, IF YOUR FREEDOM IS BEING RESTRICTED THAT IS ABUSE.

hate it when people make rantaro violent. hate it when people make rantaro a murderer. hate it when people make rantaro controlling. hate it when people make rantaro overtly sexual. some kind of sultry deep voice dominant kind of figure. dude, what the fuck? i don’t,, want to make any public comments about sex positions because i think that’s kind of Strange to just talk about on a post, but i do think that the way people portray him for their smuts is,,, idk it’s weird. i’m not gonna kinkshame u but like. :eyes:

i will however accept rantaro as a thrillseeker, or a highstrung rich boy, or a total space cadet, or a himbo, or a cryptid. these are all very good interpretations of the Mans. just, like. be wary of making him two dimensional. a good character is multifaceted. if you can take a trait that clashes with all of these and SELL ME ON IT, i will buy it. if u give me good justifications, or even just good writing?? then i will accept it.

the long and the short of it is, anon, he’s my favourite so i think about him a lot. i love writing rantaro. he’s just, he’s a Guy. y’know? He’s A Good Dude, If You’ll Give Him A Shot. :) we don’t get to see very much of him but i think that there’s plenty of material if you overanalyse everything, which, as you probably all know by now,,,, i absolutely do.

thank you for the ask, this was a delight to spend an hour talking about.

[duelrisen]

YOUR FANDOM: Yu-Gi-Oh! YOUR MUSE(S):  Takeru ( @soulburnings ) and basically someone from every spinoff series on my YGO multimuse ( @duelrisen ) lmao OTHER MUSES YOU HAVE PLAYED FROM THE FANDOM:  None? All the muses I have played from the fandom are currently still active somewhere.

MUSE(S) YOU’D WANT TO PLAY FROM THE FANDOM: Good question tbh. Maybe someone serious to balance out all the protag energy on my muse list?? Like Kaito, Shun, or Reiji. I’d love to give more attention to characters that don’t seem to be getting a lot of love in the fandom rp-wise right now too, like Rua/Ruka, Shingo, Sora, maybe Johan?

FAVORITE CHARACTER(S):   Takeru, Yuya, Yugo! FAVORITE EPISODES/BOOKS: The Soulburner/Revolver duel and the Playmaker/Ai duel from Vrains. Vrains had a lot of good eps later in the series imo FAVORITE PLOTLINE(S): The Arc-V manga honestly had a fun plot line? Jumping through time instead of hopping across dimensions was nice. Either that or basically all of Vrains just because I like more the more serious plots of the ygo series. LEAST FAVORITE CHARACTER(S):  I try to like all of the characters, but?? I never really clicked with a lot of the antagonists from the earlier series honestly SOMEONE YOU FEEL IS UNDERRATED: Johan; I know he was pretty important to Judai, but I’d love to see him get more attention and character development on his own?? Where he’s not basically stuck to Judai’s side for shipping life support. Also Kiku! Just because she’s glanced over a lot instead of recognized for the friend she is to Takeru.

FAVORITE THEORY:  That Yusaku actually sleeps better with people around, like his habit of falling asleep in class or in Kusanagi’s food truck so often. The nightmares from the LI seem to happen less that way LEAST FAVORITE THEORY: omg I can’t even think of one rn A STORYLINE YOU’D CREATE:  Something with a more serious protag probably? YGO needs more of those, even though the smol fiery kids for protags are too much fun too A STORYLINE YOU’D CHANGE:  Omg just let me rewrite the ending of the Arc-V manga to not be so cringe-y and I’ll be completely happy with life. The fact that the Yuu boys are all brothers is cute, but the pairing the story uses to make that canon is so not.

WHAT CROSSOVER DO YOU WANT FOR YOUR FANDOM: Pokemon, Cardfight Vanguard, Bakugan, Beyblade?? Y’know, shows that seem to have the same feel genre-wise I would love to see crossovers for! WHAT CHARACTER FROM ANOTHER FANDOM WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE APPEAR IN YOUR FANDOM?: I’d have no clue?? Maybe someone from a fandom I used to rp in? Like a character from KH or TWEWY?? IN THE WORLD OF MY FANDOM, I’D BE: probably some side character that gets zero screen time.  Tagged by: @linkedvrains; I stole it from Lina lmao Tagging: Anyway who wants to!

[sinfulwonders]

In general, what’s your opinion on the protags, including Kaede (and Komaru if you’ve played UDG)

Komaru: So I've played a tiny tiny bit of Udg (I really need to finish it>_<) but my opinion of Komaru so far is that i like her! She's a sweetie! I'm excited to learn more about her as I play further into the story!

Makoto: I wasn't that fond of him on my first playthrough, but on my second playthrough and watching the anime I really really liked him! He's just a real sweet heart who maintains his morals while also keeping the others going! He's a great leader and beacon of hope!

Hajime: Hajime is wonderful. I enjoy that he's definitely more *not-gonna-take-your-shit* than Naegi or Shuichi were. His self loathing for not having a talent and his desire to get into Hope's peak and be someone is really interesting and relatable I think! (Also idk if any of the other protags would have been able to deal with nagito lol)

Kaede: During chapter one she is great! Her interactions with everyone are interesting and cool and her free time events are good! I appreciate how sassy and openly bi she is imo. I just think she deserved better! Her character is used for Shuichis character development, which is fine I guess, but she was kind of reduced to just that! And shuichis Ftes with her are pretty lackluster imo. I just think she could have been so much better! (Also, I was so so excited to have a female protagonist in a main game, so was kinda disappointed when she died)

Shuichi: Okay even though I said all of that above about Kaede, Shuichi is still my favorite protagonist. I love this precious boy. I think he has the most growth of any of the protags. V3 also added the mechanic where you see the protagonist's sprite along with the character you are talking to's sprite and I think it was extremely helpful in helping the player really bond and see where the protag was coming from. I also think him being shy and then opening up slowly to various characters was extremely relatable! He also gets some more in depth relationships with characters such as Kaito and Maki in the main story, so that makes his character that much more interesting and intertwined with the story. Overall he's my fave protag for sure!

[dead-ghouls]

Hey I love your art~ About the thing about Shuichi. Shuichi's arc honestly didn't end after chapter 1, taking off his hat was only the beginning of his arc imo, he was at his lowest point in chapter 2. Every chapter he gets more assertive and independent. Let's be honest, Shuichi in chapter 4 is different compare himself in chapter 2. I believe he grew as a person thorough the game but his problems never 100% solved. But it's okay if you found him boring though~

Heya! Thank you!Firstly, please take my writing w a grain of salt and please dont take offence to it;; I do not hate, like actually hate Shuichi. He’s nice and funny as fuck when you explore tiny things he does, and im really passionate about expanding his character. I do hate how he was handled, I have v3 writing overall and believe they couldve done better. I also might be wrong about some things, because it takes time for me to analyze stuff and I havent done any research besides playing the game. Now you may proceed uwu Yeah I can get behind that - he’s not completely the same person as he was in the begining, but whatever happened to him wasn’t really remarkable? He was way dependent on Kaito (and I wouldnt mind that if Kaito was good motivation, but all he did was annoy me and yell “believe”) and his problem in ch 1 was that he was afraid to find out the truth because it only filled him with regret. It happened in his past. Then it happened in ch 1 and it was supposed to inspire him as Kaede told him to stop being afraid. Yet ch 2 comes and he has the same dilemma. Then, in ch 4 he finds out the truth, of course it hurts but he’d deal with it, BUT Kaito blames him for finding the truth and wouldnt speak to him, making him regret it again. Then in ch 5 it happens once more, he regrets that he could go past the bluff and wishes he’d follow along with the trap. 

I know that he becomes more confident (though I’d argue he’s become independent, he just switched from relying on Kaede to relying on Kaito; and again, its not a bad thing, some people just need that and its okay) but the whole theme of his character in ch1 was “i am afraid of finding out the truth, it only brings despair” and he havent moved past that. He either regretted to find out the truth or other people blamed him for doing so. The only trial when he wasnt like that was ch3 when pretty much everyone was “welp off you go my friend”.Compared to previous MCs he’s very,very weak despite him being the first MC who has an actual talent.Naegi has his positive attitude and bad luck of being framed for murder twice (plus aside of becoming ultimate hope, most of his growth can be seen in udg, sdr2 and dr3), even without considering Hinata’s ~lore~ he still has a strong personality: he’s cocky and roasts his friends to hell and back and he acts confident (though its not actually true, he does comes off like that at the first glance)Compared to them he doesnt have much. He changed, because well duh, the plot progressed and he had to adapt to changes, but none of his issues that were presented in the begining were solved. Plus I found him boring not only because of his lack of development, his character overall wasnt strong enough for a MC. Like he was just there. His replies or reactions to situations didnt add anything, when Hinata actually participated in convos, they evolved, he delievered the punchlines, other characters acknowledged his personality (calling his attitude spiky or talking abt his skills of communicating w other people, making them open up).Shuichi has underdeveloped angst, his submissive attitude (that could have been explored more, but im glad we at least got a couple gags out of) and fanservice he doesnt know what to do with.