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saturnia pyri

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corpse paint zenya ^_^

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Fraise’s Slow Damage analysis!! PART 2. (TW FOR SENSITIVE TOPICS!!!)

    

       Asakura Kazuki - POCD.

      (Credits To Crowaes slow damage video on Youtube!!)

       

During my first playthrough of slow damage, I was put onto Taku's route first, and so therefore the next character I will be going over is Asakura Kazuki. Chapter 2, or Doctor, was an interesting one to say the least. I remember being worried about the way things were headed and was completely surprised by the end of it. I had never thought about it in this way until I had seen Crowaes's video on slow damage, where he mentions the possibility of Asakura having PCOD. As someone who has OCD, I found this take to be very interesting, and I wanted to build upon it. In chapter 2 of Slow damage, we are introduced to Asakura. He is a doctor, who has rather dark rumors surrounding him. While Towa takes an interest in him, Taku can only view Asakura in a negative light after there was rumors of him being a pedophile. During Fujieda's route, we find out that Asakura and Towa share some history. Due to the fact that while Asakura was still in medical school, he accompanied a professor for some drinks in an attempt to make connections. He ended up being led to Euphoria, where he was given a scalpel by the professor and was told to cut a young and blindfolded Towa. In his intoxicated state he complied, this exact moment explains the strange behavior he exhibits whenever children and angels are involved. Due to Asakura's demeanor around children, people even begin to suspect that he may like children too much. The suspicions reach a point that leads Asakura himself to be unsure whether he's fond of children in a normal way, or in a much more unhealthy way. Asakura is self-aware enough to admit that he has a desire that is related to children, but he's unsure of the exact nature of said desire. We come to find out that even the possibility of it being of sexual nature disturbs him greatly. While later in the chapter it is revealed that his desire is truly to find an angel who can give him "salvation". He still suffers with these intrusive thoughts regarding children. There is a quote from Asakura that really put things in perspective.  "Am I really attracted to children? Or am I just paranoid because other people think I am?" It could be believed that Asakura suffers from POCD. POCD, also known as pedophile obsessive-compulsive disorder, is having obsessions—or intrusive thoughts—that are focused on fears about being or becoming a pedophile. It causes the person to feel the urge to perform compulsions, or safety behaviors, to alleviate anxiety, prevent something bad from happening, seek certainty that they are not a pedophile. We see this happen quite often with Asakura in the duration of chapter 2. As someone with OCD and who suffers with intrusive thoughts, they can be so debilitating. It can make one question if they are a horrible person for thinking these horrific thoughts, despite the fact they are not voluntary. . Asakura makes it clear that these thoughts of his are not ones of pedophilic nature after his Euphoria episode with Towa. While I do not think that Asakura is the best representation of PCOD, he still is one that I recognize. We rarely see characters in media that have OCD, and I truly believe that this is the case with Asakura. While Asakura's chapter may not have been my favorite, I still think he is a very interesting character. 

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Fraise’s Slow Damage analysis!! PART 1. (TW FOR SENSITIVE TOPICS!!!)

I first played Slow Damage in October 2024, and ever since it has become one of my favorite games. In this post, I will be going over the characters and my own personal thoughts revolving around them. There will be lots of spoilers so if you have not played the game yet, feel free to skip this post!

TAKASHI IKUINA: How can traumatic childhood events create unconventional preferences?

Chapter one of Slow damage is an amazing opening to the game in my opinion. The chapter primarily revolves around Towa and Takashi Ikuina. Ikuina has got to be my favorite character from Slow Damage, which is why I will be starting with him first. In chapter one, Towa finds himself taking an interest in an artist named “Fraise.” Fraise’s piece that catches Towa’s eye appears to be a photograph of a wound. Later in this chapter, during a night out of drinking, Towa awakens to find himself in an unfamiliar apartment. The apartment is covered in plants from head to toe, and he finds that he has a bandage on his arm. When uncovering the bandage, Towa finds a wound. Throughout this chapter, there are multiple instances where flowers are being sent to the clinic. The flowers have no card stating who it's from, and it appears that someone has a secret admirer. This leads Towa to visit the flower shop listed on the receipt, and here we first meet Ikuina. The conversation is very brief, however there seems to be something deeper going on with the timid flower shop clerk. Later, Towa returns back to the clinic and finds more flowers being delivered. However this time Ikuina is the one delivering them. He questions him some more, but none are fully answered. Later that night, He runs into Ikuina again at Roost. Here it is revealed that Ikuina is actually “Fraise”. Ikuina seems almost entranced by the scars that adorn Towa's hand. The two speak for some time and exchange numbers, and that is the end of their conversation. This is not the last we see of Ikuina though. Towa is able to put together that the person who had been delivering these flowers and the person who is sending them are in fact the same. With this information he decides to confront Ikuina. Upon confrontation we can see that Ikuina is looking rather down. The once happy looking man, now has bags underneath his eyes and is sporting bandages of his own. It is clear that Ikuina’s mental state had come to a fast decline, and Towa decides to paint him after all. In the final parts of this chapter we discover that Ikuina's deepest darkest desire is seeing what lies beneath human flesh. Ikuina is one of the most interesting characters to me, despite his short amount of screen time. In Fujieda's route, it gets revealed that Ikuina and Towa are far more connected than we originally believed. While he only mentions it briefly in chapter one, we later find out that his father shared the same grotesque passion as him, and actually took him to Euphoria as a child. This is where Ikuina's father forced Ikuina to enact his desires on a younger Towa. This event is what later caused Ikuina to form that same passion for lacerations and seeing what lies beneath human flesh. Many researchers have theories that these often strange desires and interests may be linked to childhood trauma. As many already know, childhood trauma can have long-lasting effects on various aspects in a person's life. This can be seen with not only Towa, but Ikuina as well. Childhood trauma can also influence one's sexual preferences, this can include the development of specific kinks or fetishes. With Ikuina we can see a direct link between what happened with his father during his childhood and his obsession with scars. Due to cutting someone multiple times, and the amount of blood he saw gush from the wounds he inflicted, it later helped give way to his obsession with cutting up people as an adult. While Ikuina knows what he is doing is wrong, he feels no guilt for harming others. If it weren't for Towa, Ikuina would have eventually snapped and killed someone. I personally wish we got an entire route dedicated to Ikuina because there are many common themes between him and Towa. It would have been interesting to see them either work through these metaphorical scars and overcome what happened to them in their childhood. Or to see them fall into a deeper pit of depravity.

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Currently working on a slow damage review!! Should be done in a couple of days

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Starting Lamento :3