hopefull-mindset

[hopefull-mindset]

fictional character discourse would be more fun if we all internalized the fact that characters are narrative tools, not people. once we have that basic fact down, we can start talking about what story the author is trying to tell using these characters, whether they’re successful, whether the story itself is successful and by what means we are measuring success—which are all really fun and interesting things to discuss! but we simply cannot get to that point unless we first accept that fictional characters simply do not have thoughts, feelings, opinions, or any agency on their own. a fictional character has more in common with the fictional chair theyre sitting on than with a real person

[hopefull-mindset]

I don't know if you pay attention to any DR collabs, but I thought you'd appreciate this one! Particularly the amount of detail to Komaeda: the corrupted halo with the symbol on his shirt in it, the single horn, the chain....I'm so obsessed with this collab and its implications are making my head spin in a good way

I don’t particularly look into collabs often (my attention is everywhere), but this does have a lot of interesting choices! It plays well into Komahina’s similarities and differences. They’re already have religious-like undertones inside sdr2 anyway because of what Hope’s Peak Academy was to them. Izuru Kamukura’s name could be read as “exiled from the throne of gods” if I remember correctly, like a god thats unbelonging to the realm of mortals.

Though, I think the wiki decided to read his name divided. So instead they see it like his individual characteristics. Out of place compared to normal people and the vessel for a “god” or power that’s godlike.

My heart burns seeing that Hinata is not an angel like the other protagonists. Akamatsu is not an angel here because she had been forced into becoming a traitor in her narrative and the first killer, but for Hinata, this is about his position as the unchosen by god (HPA). However, he worships its image no matter how its ideals view “scum” like him. So he has a priest stole on his design as a demon trying to redeem himself.

Komaeda…. I’ve always had trouble with that symbol on his shirt as it’s meant to be shifty looking but that’s about it. But now that I’m looking at it here, I guess it would make sense to see it as a bastardized reticle as I compare it to the other protagonists halos. Like how his views are focused but in the wrong aspects. Or I’m just looking too much into it haha! It doesn’t matter, the point of him being a corrupt angel is because of his close following to a fundamentally corrupt outlook that’s impassive to an extreme.

Or hmm… I guess the collab planners were more so thinking along the lines of his soft demeanor Vs his harsh views that are unforgiving, even against himself. His death is obviously one of a “selfless martyr”, even if it’s purpose was not for anyone but his own sake (I have too much to say about the way he died). It’s his one foot in, one foot out attitude that caused him to have only one horn in this design. I couldn’t actually tell if that was a horn.

His chain reminds me of how I view its place on this design in UDG. The chain is paradoxical, just as he is. The chain to his collar binds him to the whims of hope and despair as its willing slave to the bigger picture, but is that really the case if the chain is not attached to anything? He has too much of his own will and beliefs guiding him contrary to how he believes them to be the truest fact of life that lives through him. Like Peko, how can you be a tool if the “tool” is a human being?

I think that’s all I got right now. I know I have a pattern of saying that I’m tired at the end of my posts, but I am!! I can’t help it.

[hopefull-mindset]

In fact, that disturbing feeling of "having left something behind" had been bothering him of late. The oppression of not being able to fulfill his obligation weighed heavily on his mind. Yet he did not want to trace the source of his torment. It was terrifying to know. It terrified him to have to wake himself up, to have to rouse his consciousness.

Yet why was it terrifying? Why?

Nakajima Atsushi, Landscape with an Officer: A Sketch in 1923

[hopefull-mindset]

Hi!! How are you?

What are your thoughts on the komaeda OVA?

Oh my god! I never saw this, my bad. I’ve been doing fine, but the essay is kicking my ass everytime I write at least 4 paragraphs. Komaeda in the OVA…

I love the idea of the OVA, I think it makes a lot of sense that instead of completely going braindead, the Neo World Program (as a therapeutic device) would end up triggering a version of their ideal world to hide away the traumatic experiences they had gone through to support their fragile minds after death. The ambiguity of the ethics to doing so fits the nature of the simulation very well. However, I do wish this topic could be explored outside of just an episode long OVA. It’d be nice if it were a movie or light novel instead. Sad.

(This was getting longer than I thought, more thoughts bellow. Very extensive thoughts on what I didn’t like and what I did.)

I have my problems with the OVA, like what happens after he leaves the pod. It’s very meaningful to me that Komaeda took Hinata’s hand as that’s a first step towards a hopeful future for the both of them, but I’m also a bit iffy on Hinata calling himself both Izuru Kamukura and Hajime Hinata. I understand why he had introduced himself like that as technically “Izuru Kamukura” (the state) is still himself and that’s not going to suddenly go away. It’s said in the ending of sdr2 that he’d choose to live on as Hinata, which is an ambiguous statement on how he currently is mentally, but still somewhat hopeful.

It really would’ve been better if there was no dr3 anime as the point of the ending is that you don’t know if things will truly change for the main cast, but there was still and effort to see it through. Anyway, my main problem with him introducing himself with “Izuru Kamukura” (the identity) is that the point of rejecting it in the first place was the fact this identity is not his own. This identity is the representation of ideals gone bad, HPA’s worst problems bundled up into one person, and Hinata’s own insecurities killing him.

This is why you’re thrown into a trial grounds to shoot down the thoughts and insecurities of a “Izuru Kamukura” who’s just Hinata’s with long hair and red eyes. This had always been himself, but he doesn’t have to be like this. So when he rejected this identity, he had not been rejecting what he had become outside of the simulation (that’s counterproductive), he’s rejecting a future where he still had thoughts like that. He is reclaiming who he was on his own accord. So it’s a little nitpicky of me to say anything since it’s not that big of an issue, but hmm.

Besides the very obvious complaint of the fact that everything is going too fast to actually see proper development, I have two issues with post-simulation Komaeda. The first one is just a problem I have with how they wrote Komaeda in the anime in general. He’s too… open? It’s hard to explain. This isn’t about his honesty. I do love that they made sure to keep Komaeda’s smiling, soft faced character. The dissonance between that and his actions is the point and very important. However, there’s still a problem when he’s a little too expressive with certain emotions.

They get his archetype wrong. I won’t get too into it here because it’s not that important to the OVA, but the point is that you’re always supposed to feel that distance in Komaeda’s emotions and actions. His views are divorced from reality because the material world is not livable for him. He’s stuck in his head and always scared that he’ll just hurt someone when he genuinely starts caring about them. So Komaeda would not at all hug Fuyuhiko and Kazuichi!! It’s honestly questionable why he even did that.

It doesn’t matter that, for whatever reason, he was friends with them in the fake world. Even if he still felt like he had a connection with them (don’t really understand why though, this entire choice was odd because neither of them like him and his emotional attachment to literally any of them is nonexistent compared to how he feels about Hinata), he would never do such a thing so easily. It takes him rationalizing that everything in Island Mode was bad luck just so he could convince himself to ask to be Hinata’s friend.

Even UTDP and DR S gets it more correct with how his relationships with Hinata was formed, but still a bit distant with everyone else. Like he’s more present with class activities, but Kazuichi still comments on how Komaeda talks to them like they aren’t people, but instead just some other version that doesn’t exist. That’s just how Komaeda is. He doesn’t hate his classmates, but he’s always hung up on his ideals first. The whole reason he can make a proper bond with Hinata is because he’s not talented.

This brings me to my second point, and I’ve brought this up before when talking about post-game Komahina. Komaeda would NOT at all act the same as he did in the simulation. Where’s his lost feelings on his ideals slowly crumbling from the inside after seeing the Ultimate Despair still trying their best for their future? Where’s his even harsher emotional distance to everyone else? Komaeda would never praise them for their talents, having used them for despair.

Like maybe Servant would, the car crash version of Komaeda. Komaeda in despair is a total mess, visibly confusing himself in his conversation with Izuru Kamukura. That guy would totally say that symbols of hope using their abilities to cause despair will only lead to the brightest hope of all. He’s probably so funny when he interacts with other Ultimate Despair, I wish we got to see more of him. Insulting them and praising them in the same breath.

But usually when people depict post-game content, the simulation events get put to forefront first in how they act instead of completely resembling who they were pre-game. A reading that Komaeda is acting the same he usually would because he refuses to pick apart his world view is fine because that is how Komaeda can be. He wouldn’t just let go of them entirely, it’s his lifeline. He can only accommodate it.

But, here’s my problem with the OVA. If he’s getting on that boat, then it must mean that he’s accepting a path similar to Hinata. To want and expect a future for himself is a huge jump for Komaeda’s development. Again, this is a bit nitpicky, but Komaeda should be showing more resistance. This keeps coming back to my problems with who’s writing this story and the time limit on what they could do with this story. I should stop talking about this minimal stuff.

Onto actual content from the fake world hahah. I don’t have much to criticize with this because it’s just a rendition of what Komaeda thinks would be an ideal world. One where everyone is happy while he still gets punished by bad luck for just being Komaeda. His self hatred runs deep as someone who considers himself a source of despair just by existing. Other people make a good point about how his luck in the fake world doesn’t affect other people, but it makes you wonder if Komaeda unconsciously still thinks his parents are dead in this world.

Komaeda’s “ideal world”… how ideal is it? He’s friends with his classmates, but he still thinks of himself as a background character. Again, it goes back to Komaeda’s psychology and his worldview being on the bigger picture rather than the individual. Komaeda is still Komaeda after all, even when he shows a side of himself that hates talent. It’s an unconscious thought he thinks is nothing like himself, but deep down under Komaeda false ideal that even he believes in, I’m sure that he has resentments against what he believes in being absolute truth.

Out of everything the anime has done with Komaeda, this is the most correct one and plausible path to explore when it comes to Komaeda’s psyche that he shoves deep down. I think of it as a play on Hinata’s question about what he would do if he lived in a world with no despair and hope in FTE. Komaeda’s reaction to it fascinates me so much?? I don’t think he’s ever entertain the idea because he can’t imagine a world where his luck doesn’t exist and doesn’t have to experience total extremes at all times.

His reaction is so…. neutral. There’s nothing positive or negative he expresses against this question. Like he’s responding to a hypothetical that has nothing to do with him. But, I’m sure somewhere inside of him, this question would tear him apart. Is he jealous of normal people? Is he jealous their supposed ignorance and false confidence that they can be someone? Does he hate them because of envy, deep down? Or like this OVA is saying, does Komaeda hate talent as a source of a horrible issue that makes it so the individual can never be happy no matter which one they are?

Of course, his unconscious feelings in talent have to do with his feelings on his own talent causing him as much distress as it does others. I don’t think Komaeda genuinely hates normal people or ever has. The way he talks about them has to do with viewing their collective worthlessness to society as fact. It is interesting though to pick at some of those thoughts Komaeda might be having if he hadn’t brainwashed himself so thoroughly. Him reacting horribly to the flashing thoughts of the game was so scrumptious.

The only other part to comment on is World Ender, the coolest concept ever that existed for so little time. I’m exaggerating, but analysis-wise he’s sooo good. A break in Komaeda’s ideal world thats destroying his illusion being a Hajime similar to how he looked when he chose a future Komaeda never did, just to get him to come with him on their path? kyaaa!!! So cool!!

Like I do think the way World Ender does it is a bit too abrupt and I still think his character could be perfected to be even more with how he destroys the illusion for Komaeda (it could even be called too cruel), but then I might as well just rewrite the OVA hahah. For what he’s worth as is, the abruptness is just like how Hinata feels to Komaeda. Imagine meeting a guy that cuts through everything you believe in, makes using your ideal system on him hard, and even after finding out the worst news in the world, you’re confused as to why you still care for him…

Alright, no more talking. I have nothing else to say right now about the OVA. So all in all, I like the idea of the OVA, but I can get nitpicky about things that don’t line up with Komaeda’s initial characterization. I don’t think the fake world needs much criticism because it’s just a conceptualization, but… I would’ve loved to do more with the whole idea.

[hopefull-mindset]

I’ve seen the Komaeda matrix. I’m so Komaeda-pilled that nobody else knows Komaeda like I do.

Where’s my Komaeda essay you ask? Well… I’ll check back on you in a week and see where I’ve went with it.

[hopefull-mindset]

Just popping in to say that something I really love abt your analyses is how concise + articulate you are. Like. You still give an in-depth analysis, but there's no fluff. Sometimes I'll read analyses (this is particularly from back in my time in the DSMP but I do see it in Danganronpa from time to time) and I can't help but think the author is waxing poetry more than analyzing the canon text. Ofc people can do that if they want more power to them but I always appreciate when people are able to state their ideas clearly and understandably. Your analyses may be long but to me they're perfectly understandable and I think that takes a lot of skill...smiles

Ah I’m blushing, thank you!!! That’s very nice of you to say. It’s one of the things people comment on about my writing, which I’m very glad! The point of me posting is to be understood without too much of it being lost.

I know what you mean. They add too much jargon and tangent on about things that don’t have any clear connection to their thesis, it’s very annoying. You have no idea how many times I’ve read an essay or analysis and begged them to stay on topic. At least get to the point. It feels rude of me to say, but it’s not a very good way of getting a point across. It’s even more nauseating to feel like you’re reading a summary rather than an analysis. You do need to write overview to write a larger scale essay, but if you never come back to your initial statement, then what are we doing??

To write analysis, you need to have a clearer target on what you want to tackle. Like a theme they align with, a character trait you think needs to be looked at with more depth, a perspective you think would create interesting conversation, etc. but you still need to have a thesis you always come back to. It really is annoying when they want to have little conversation with the text itself when that’s the entire point.

For example, my thesis for the Komaeda essay is to approach Nagito Komaeda as a character within the danganronpa setting from all aspects (bc I do think Komaeda is very interesting as a metanarrative character and I don’t think it’s an aspect explored enough with the fandom) and where he falls into the narrative of Sdr2, which is why Hajime Hinata is being went over after the section about his death and flaws to his ideology. Komaeda is an important narrative foil, a very tragic story about a man who left his life to fate instead of choosing his future.

So do trust that this essay will very extensive about everything Komaeda!

Anyway, I get worried that my words become too concise sometimes and wonder if it effects the quality of my work to others, but so far that doesn’t seem to be the case! I don’t mind when people do get more artful and show their character in their writing because it’s their own work, but err… I can tell when they’re just trying to add to their word count.

Thank you again! I really hope you’ll like it when it’s done.

[hopefull-mindset]

Where’s my Komaeda essay you ask? Well… I’ll check back on you in a week and see where I’ve went with it.

[hopefull-mindset]

What I’m surprised about is how much people pick up on the irony of The Narrator guiding the story of the freedom ending to his image, but don’t pick up on how Stanley is technically supposed to be a game character suddenly recognizing that he’s within a construct that has been controlling him all this time. The irony is that both you the player and the narrator are controlling the narrative of Stanley, so him crossing that wall to the outside world doesn’t really mean anything.

It’s what happens when you try to make a meaningful story hahah.

Don’t feel bad for Stanley, you are Stanley. Stanley is the player insert, just as the narrator is the game developer insert. They are just roles you’re playing into depending on the path you go through.

[hopefull-mindset]

Happy birthday Nagito! Hope is on the other side!

[hopefull-mindset]

Komaeda’s Symbolic Death

:@kelperings

… I feel bad that it’s still not done, so I’ll give you a piece of what I had concerning his death itself. I have more about his death when it came to his intentions, but my shit post was about the symbolic meaning.

The song “Let Us Sing of a Hollow Victory”, also translated as “Sing the Empty Happiness”, plays three times during the second game. The first time had been in the warehouse where Komaeda’s corpse was found, presumably as a way to cover the sounds being made from the inside. A haunting choir of voices come together to sing to a tune befitting the day of judgment. His body is splayed out onto the floor and his mouth is taped over. Odin’s spear, Gungnir, fell into his chest prompted by his left hand. The right hand was stabbed by the support of Monokuma’s plush toy after cutting up his limbs.

The right hand is righteous and holds authority. The left hand is lesser in power and holds judgment. It’s why Lady Justice is usually depicted with a sword in her right and scales in her left. However, the left hand has associations with sinister means and, at times, luck due to its rarity of being someone’s dominant hand. By stabbing his right hand and tying his limbs, he’s forsaken his own human authority to his belief in fate guiding his path. On the other hand, Gungnir had been used in the previous game to punish the rule breaker, Mukuro Ikusaba, who had been in disguise as her sister, Junko Enoshima.

Komaeda’s use of it, regardless if it was to heighten the mystery of his death or a narrative reference to Ikusaba’s death, emphasizes the core of his purpose by dying. To punish both himself and the others for their grievous, irredeemable sins. Nagito Komaeda’s perception of ultimate hope is similar to his perception of the students of Hope’s Peak Academy. They are symbols without their humanity in consideration, made to bring about an idea before a person. In other words, something closer to death than death itself as no person can truly be such a thing with an intact ego.

The state his dead body is left in is reminiscent of crucifixion. The spear could be said to be an allusion to the Spear of Longinus, piercing the body of Jesus to confirm his death. Unfortunately, this is a false allusion as it is Odin’s spear piercing him. Jesus Christ, as a christian symbol born from sacrifice, is generally depicted as an advocate of salvation through redemption rather than condemnation. It is not punishment handed to those who have done wrong, it is forgiveness. And on the contrary, stabbing the good to get rid of the dirt with the support of Monokuma’s plush parallels the irony to Komaeda’s methods of achieving hope through the killing game.

Thank you for the positive response to my post… I appreciate it! There’s more about the lose of humanity and becoming a tool to an ideal in the Hajime section (what it truly means to lose your humanity and ego, no longer being able to accord yourself to bias in passivity) and briefly touched upon with Peko (the act of assimilating the bias of your ego into your “objective belief” as a tool to your beliefs, as it’s the only way to truly die for them).

Man, wait till what I have to say about Chiaki (actual tool) and Makoto (narrative idealistic tool)

Original Post

[hopefull-mindset]

Not “Only my reading of canon is correct” or “Interpretations are subjective and all valid” but a secret third thing, “More than one interpretation can be valid but there’s a reason your English teacher had you cite quotes and examples in your papers, you have to have a strong argument that your interpretation is actually supported by the text or it is just wrong and I’m fine with telling you it’s wrong, actually.”

[hopefull-mindset]

Gorgus dangerous woman ♡

|COMMISSIONS OPEN!!|

[hopefull-mindset]

Once upon a time I called Fyodor Metaphysical Jesus and Odasaku Metanarrative Jesus. Don’t ask me what this means.

[hopefull-mindset]

#hard agree. It’s not a song about banging izuru it’s a song about waiting for love and salvation for a very long time […] #though komaeda has also used ‘absolute hope’ to refer to a more general thing he wants to find and bring about #But ultimately that does turn out to be hajime

Right! This song has nothing to do with Izuru on all accounts (both literally and metaphorically) and I don’t understand how this became a thing. Just because it’s a song that appears in dr3 doesn’t mean it genuinely had anything to do with their scene together. That’s like thinking Poison (another one of his songs) had anything to do with Servant because it was in a UDG track when it’s so obviously about sdr2 Komaeda.

And yeah, the point about Komaeda and absolute hope was that he didn’t truly know where it would come from or where he would get it. All he could say was that it’s was an absolute good. Something that could save him, which was his last and only hope before getting crushed by the information he was subjected to. Which then convinced him that absolute could not be brought about on his island. Deciding to become a figure like “Ultimate Hope” has different connotations than Absolute Hope does.

You’ll hear more about it on my essay, but Komaeda has a very flawed idea of how absolute Hope would come into fruition. The base concept isn’t wrong, but instead where and how it would come forth had been incorrect. On top of that, what Komaeda needed was self love and supporting himself instead of an abstract concept that won’t truly do anything for him. To have absolute hope come from and be embodied by the person who he had considered similar to himself… sigh.

Reminder: Absolute Hope has always been in reference to Hajime Hinata and is a completely different concept from the “Ultimate Hope” Komaeda had strived for in his last moments, Izuru Kamukura had been falsely made to embody, and Naegi’s own honorary title. When you see stuff like “Absolute Hope’s Birthday” and such, it’s about Hajime on all technicalities even if the lyrics aren’t really about himself.

[hopefull-mindset]

Reminder: Absolute Hope has always been in reference to Hajime Hinata and is a completely different concept from the “Ultimate Hope” Komaeda had strived for in his last moments, Izuru Kamukura had been falsely made to embody, and Naegi’s own honorary title. When you see stuff like “Absolute Hope’s Birthday” and such, it’s about Hajime on all technicalities even if the lyrics aren’t really about himself.

[hopefull-mindset]

Half baked shitpost to cope with the fact my Komaeda essay was put on pause and way past my initial deadline. I’m too lazy to give them fake titles.

His lack of left hand is symbolic of a lack of judgment left within him, but the fact Junko’s hand hadn’t rotted off is because he has become a corpse of himself— *GUNSHOT*

[hopefull-mindset]

I was a total liar, but I realized I had way more to say about Komaeda’s corpse than I initially thought I did.

Komaeda megapost coming out this week (NOT CLICKBAIT!!!)