Yes Siirrr

yes siirrr

I don't know if this is a controversial thought, but. I often think about how the SDR2 cast has... unlikable traits. Such as being a bully, or being a coward, or being a crybaby - and how a lot of lets players, they dislike them on the basis of these traits, and can even refuse to see their status of "victimhood" as real and valid because they find them unlikable.

And I just... I think the fact that they are "annoying" is the point.

The message, in my opinion, is that even if a victim shows undesirable traits as a response to their trauma, they are still a victim worthy of sympathy and help. And I think them being "unlikable" is something of the point - people brush off their issues as something "annoying", and because of that, they never get help. That's how society fails victims, fails to help them: they view them as the problem.

Even if it's a response to trauma, it's a crime to be cringe. The world will break you and then get mad at you for being broken. Just look at SDR2's characters - it's their story over and over again.

Mikan Tsumiki, for example, is constantly called annoying by people who hate her, before she even murders anyone in chapter 3. The reasons are simple: they don't like her stutter, they don't like her people pleasing, they don't like her crying. All of these are responses to her trauma. They don't like her, dismiss her, because she's traumatized in a way that isn't "perfect," isn't "pretty." And I'm sure this is intentional- Mikan is intentionally what one would call "annoying" because the point of her character is to illustrate how people ignore people in need, and how those vulnable people can be taken advantage of and recruited into a cult. No one helped Mikan Tsumiki—not in the way she needed. Even the less malicious people, they brush off her quirks as her "just being Mikan," instead of resulting from her trauma. She isn't quiet in her cries for forgiveness - and that makes her hateable to some people.

Mikan was always mentally unstable - that was obvious if you just talked to her. If you spent enough free time events with her, it was downright predictable that she'd be a murderer. And yet, when she does murder, none of the characters saw it coming - because none of them (except Hajime if he did her FTEs) really got to know her. None of them put effort into knowing her. When she was meek, her flaws were, while annoying, unintrusive. But now that she's mad, now that she's angry about the way she was treated - she's crazy. Thats what they say: she's crazy. They disregard the factors that led up to this, and act like it came from nowhere - but these types of things never come from nowhere. Breakdowns build up overtime, a death of a thousand cuts, and when you finally snap, you finally breakdown, the world will look at you like you're crazy and say: it was just a paper cut. Ignoring how you have thousands of other paper cuts on your body.

Everyone always, always have reasons. You may not see them, you may not understand them, but there is always an answer to "why?"

Mikan isn't the only character that illustrates this message- characters like Kazuichi, or Hiyoko, also do so.

People don't like Kazuichi for a number of reasons, ranging from very valid to not so much. One complaint I've seen is that he's a crybaby and a coward, that he's always whining.

And this is true - he is something of a coward, terrified of being betrayed. But if you, again, take the time to get to know him and understand his reasoning behind this, it's clear that these fears are a result of his trauma. He comes from an abusive house, and he's been betrayed by friends before - he has plenty of reason to be scared of it happening again. He doesn't fear being betrayed, not really, but the pain of being thrown out. Even his harassment of Sonia is an extention of his trauma - an unhealthy coping mechanism, a fixation on someone too polite to throw him away...

And even Sonia is apart of this message (to a lesser extent). Everyone ignores Kazuichi's harassment of her because they think it's "harmless" - which is a disservice to both of them. It's not fair to Sonia to expect her to deal with Kazuichi, and I understand why people would dislike Kazuichi from his treatment of Sonia - it's really not fun to be in Sonia's position, especially when no one else sees anything wrong with the situation because Kazuichi is "harmless." Even if Kazuichi doesn't mean to hurt Sonia, he is - and everyone is just ignoring it. Because that's a big theme in SDR2, isn't it? These kids were vulnerable to Junko because everyone ignored their issues. Even each other.

Hiyoko, too, illustrates this perfectly - I'd argue that every character in the game illustrates this to some degree, but I feel like it would be excessive to talk about all of them. Hiyoko's bullying is ignored - dismissed as a "quirk," and it's not fair to either her or the people she targets. It's not a quirk - it's a response to her trauma, and she needs help! She needs to be stopped. Because she's hurting herself and she's hurting others, and brushing it off, dismissing it as harmless teasing... it just creates even more hurt all around.

Or, like, take Akane - no one even addresses the many concerning comments she makes during the game, and when you play her free time events, it can really catch you off guard how fucking awful her life has been. But no one even thinks to ask her about her troubles most times - because she's "strong". Because she's "stupid." How can she be anything but a blissful meat headed idiot? There's just - this assumption of lack of depth. That so many of the characters regard each other with - that so many let's players regard the cast with. They see their annoying traits, unlikable traits, and don't even think to wonder "where is this coming from?"

And it fucking - boggles my mind! It illustrates exactly what this game is warning about - this level of apathy, this lack of concern, this assumption of lack of depth, this lack of curiosity and care for your fellow human beings. And like - yeah, these are characters, but I think the way you approach characters can be very telling for how you approach people, too. Everyone has reasons for why they're like this - people are a domino train of complex reasoning, and... I don't know. It just - when you dismiss a SDR2 character as "annoying", I think you're doing almost exactly what the game is warning against. The SDR2 cast were vulnerable to Junko Enoshima because people didn't care. People didn't help them, or didn't even realize they needed help. And I think how you treat these fictional abuse victims... can be very, very telling on how you think of real abuse victims.

Ask yourself - does someone need to be the "perfect" abuse victim for you to sympathize with them? Do they have to be likable to you to be worthy of your kindness, to be worthy of help? Do you think that?

I don't want to say you have to like the SDR2 cast, of course - but trying to understand and sympathize with where they're coming from... I think that's important. And I think it's important to exercise that skill in real life, too.

Protective - Platonic Warriors of Hope x Ultimate Dragon Reader Part Two

By this point, you basically adopted the Warriors of Hope as your own.

They all liked you, and you would do anything for them. Given their past traumas, you would make sure no demons would cause them harm ever again.

Being part dragon, and being able to change into a dragon, people rarely give you or your adopted children any trouble.

And of course, being in a very lowly populated city in the first place, there weren't many people around.

But the few unfortunate moments where any of those horrible demons dared mess with your children?

You were not having it.

Masaru Daimon

Given Masaru's aggressive nature, you had to keep an eye on him to make sure he didn't wander into trouble

You had to keep him away from any adults roaming around, otherwise he would get violent and try to harm them

You were with him every minute, every day

But one day, Monaca needed you for something

And Masaru couldn't come with you

You hated to leave him, but he promised to be responsible and to not harm any demons

You decided to trust him and left him alone

When you came back, you found him engaged in battle with two teenage girls

He was doing pretty well, so you just hovered above the "Killesseum" while he did his thing

Until he lost, and his robot was destroyed

You swooped in and grabbed him before the kids dragged him away

As you were flying away, he curled into your chest and started crying

He was terrified, and now that he was away from the crowd, he could finally show it

You landed on the ground and changed back, holding him while he let it all out

After a moment, he fell asleep

You carried him back to the base and laid him down on a bed

You swore that you would get revenge on the teenage demons that brought him harm

Jataro Kemuri

After being put down and degraded by his parents, Jataro was very self conscious about his appearance

He had a tendency to make self deprecating comments and put himself down

You always did your best to comfort him, telling him that he was beautiful, and that he wasn't ugly at all, though he never took off his mask

He wasn't ready, and you respected that

You did do a good job in helping him love himself and he's grateful to you

He didn't like that you had to leave him to help Monaca

But he understood, and went to find something to do

You came back and found him fighting a couple of demons

When he lost, and the Monokuma Kids prepared to drag him away, you were ready to go

You grabbed him, but not before the kids yanked off his mask

When you landed back on ground, you were distracted

He was absolutely beautiful

You didn't know what kind of monster would tell their own child that they were ugly, but you did know that they were wrong

When Jataro realized that his mask was gone, he started to panic

But you hugged him close and told him how beautiful he was

You offered to go back and get his mask, in case he still wanted to wear it, but he declined

As you carried him back to the base, you swore that you would spend the rest of your life telling him how beautiful he was, until one day, he believed it

And that you would get back at the teenage demons for what they did

Kotoko Utsugi

Due to her past, you were careful to not use her trigger word around her, and you made sure nobody else would

She often hid her feelings and used her acting skills to pretend nothing was wrong, which worried you

But she trusted you, and told you anything that was on her mind

You promised her that you wouldn't let anyone hurt or exploit her ever again, and she believed you

You didn't like how devoted she was to Monaca, or how Monaca treated her, so you tried to keep Kotoko away from her

But she didn't like Monaca, and told you that she wouldn't let Monaca manipulate her

Eventually, Monaca needed you for a favor and you needed to leave Kotoko

She gave you a smile and told you not to worry

You left and came back to find her in the middle of a fight

When the fight was over, you came to the battlefield and scared away the Monokuma Kids, as well as give the two teenage demons a good talking-to

Then you picked her up and carried her away before Nagisa could come

When you landed back on ground, she told you how afraid she was, and how her trigger word was used

Your heart was aching and your blood was boiling

How could someone use that word so ignorantly?

You comforted her and brought her back to the base

Nagisa checked on her, and you told him she was fine

You vowed to rain down hell upon those teenage demons when you saw them again

Nagisa Shingetsu

As a result of his traumatic childhood, Nagisa suffered from a fear of abandonment

He didn't trust you immediately, but when he did, you were the one he trusted most

He was terrified of you leaving him, and you promised him you wouldn't

You were by his side all the time, and it made him feel better

You knew about his crush on Monaca, and it worried you

Despite the way she talked down to him and manipulated him, Nagisa truly believed she was sweet and kind at heart

You warned him, but he remained in denial

Monaca convinced you to take care of something in a nearby part of the city, so she could talk to Nagisa

You despised Monaca, and you hated the idea of leaving him alone

But he trusted Monaca, and assured you that he would be fine

Despite your reluctance, you left him and took care of the job Monaca assigned you

You came back to find Nagisa, distressed and in despair

You were horrified, knowing that Monaca was behind it

After the fight, you were quick to save Nagisa before the robot crushed him

When you landed back on ground, he started crying, telling you what happened with Monaca and how he was feeling

You held him as he cried, wanting to burn Monaca alive for what she did

When he started to calm down, you convinced him once and for all to stay away from Monaca

He was hesitant, but he knew you were right, and agreed to stay away from her

You didn't want him to go back after what happened, so you carried him to your hideout

You placed him on your bed to let him rest, and stood outside the door

You wanted so badly to get revenge on Monaca, but you knew Nagisa wouldn't want that

You weren't sure what to do, but just walked away to let Nagisa sleep

Monaca Towa

Monaca knew how protective you were of her, and used it to her advantage whenever she got the chance

She would have you take care of a demon she claimed was bothering her, gather supplies for her, do any jobs she asked you to do, etc.

You were just so easy to manipulate

All because you wanted to keep her safe and protected after her traumatic childhood

But you were just a servant to her, a tool she wanted to use to continue Junko's legacy

She pretended to be your friend to gain your trust, and it worked

She would make up sob stories or guilt-trip you with her past to make you do what she said

Or use her wheelchair as an excuse to make you do her dirty work

She knew exactly how to make you do what you're told

Of course, you did doubt her motives and knew that what she was doing was wrong

But every time you expressed it, she would just manipulate you all over again, and you would go back to agreeing with her

And you stayed protective of her all the while

You were like Nagisa, minus the crush

You watched as she manipulated and mistreated the other Warriors of Hope, wondering how you ended up here

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mononaq

7 months ago

Agree

To the whole drdt fandom: I need you all to know that this is what weeby news had to say about ace and levi 😭

129 notes View Post

mononaq

3 months ago

oh don't worry I do

I didn't draw this ( obviously ), and as much as I don't ship this, this made me laugh for 2 reasons.

Leon's face

....Why does bro have so much cake-

I Didn't Draw This ( Obviously ), And As Much As I Don't Ship This, This Made Me Laugh For 2 Reasons.

Yes Siirrr

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Protective - Platonic Warriors of Hope x Ultimate Dragon Reader Part Two