#and none of the attempts actually look like eiji . sad

[theyaoiconnoisseur]

I swear I cannot draw eiji for my life

[fission-mailure]

You know, the most damning thing about Kirito’s utter lack of a personality in SAO is what it says about the audience Kawahara is writing for -- an audience which he clearly knows inside and out, tbh, so you can’t say his assessment isn’t accurate.

Because Kawahara can write characters with personalities. Asuna, Klein, Sinon, even Eiji, hell even Eugeo -- sure, none of them are exactly three-dimensional characters, they’re about as deep as a hot tub, but you can reliably describe the kind of people they are based on their actions, at least at first, although invariably anyone who’s dragged into Kirito’s orbit for very long finds their personality bleeding away.

But Kirito is meant to be the wish-fulfilment character for Kawahara’s readers, that’s why he so rarely loses, why he’s nearly indisputably the best and most skilled character in any situation, and why Kirito is constantly accruing young women who are romantically and/or sexually interested in him for the most vague reasons. And Kawahara has, quite brutally but also quite shrewdly, concluded that most of his readers would be put off by Kirito having a personality -- give him negative traits, and you risk those readers recognising their own negative traits; give him positive traits, and you doom yourself to those readers recognising that they lack those positive traits.

So everyone has to be sketched out in the safest possible terms. Kirito can’t really be a good person without alienating his readers, so everyone around him who’s not his girlfriend, one of his many semi-girlfriends, or Klein and Agil (whose prominence diminish more and more as the series goes on, and who are consistently framed as being less smart, accomplished, and attractive as Kirito) has to Literally Actually Be A Rapist, because then Kirito looks good by comparison, and then whichever girl is falling for him this time around can reflect on how he’s such a good guy for not attempting sexual assault upon them, and all the readers can go “Well, hey. My peers may all be vastly better than me in nearly every conceivable fashion, but I’ve not raped anyone to date, and I’m good at video games! And that makes me ṭ̶͛̆h̴̨̘́̆̃e̵͉̱̼̣͊ ̵͉͇̰̅̕͜͝m̷̝̔̆̋̕ͅő̴͕́͠s̷̻̰̈́͑̃ͅt̸͇̬̠̣͐̾̅ ̶̺̑i̷̛̦͉̿̽m̴̭̉͝p̶̗̒̀ǒ̴͍̠͈̓̄̇r̴̢̭̭̈́́̌̈t̵̰̀̿a̷̗͑̊̈n̷̖̉̅͆̆t̴͈͉͝ͅ ̴̛̬̕ͅṗ̶̪͎̔̔e̴̝͐ŗ̴̱̭̠̑̔͋š̸̘̹̞͈̓̇ō̸̬͛̿͜ͅń̵̡̻͌͜͜ ̵̣̥͎̓̀̉̈́ḯ̴̮̬͔̒̊͜͝n̵̻̝̳̐̾̒ ̴̜̬̱͖̌̎t̵͚̺́͒͋͐h̷͕̱̾̈́́e̴̗͔͘͘ ̵͍̀̈u̶̦̣̥͔͌͗ñ̸͖̗̯́̿͘ĭ̷̡͙̬͇̑̅v̷̩̿̌̀̎ę̶̭̲͉̊͌̔r̵̬̙͛͌̉͝s̴̟̥͙͌̑e̸̼̹͛̔̾̚, and, more importantly and ironically, it means that g̸̤̗̪̘̏̌̍̚i̴̭̭̬͍̖͗̌̈̊̆́͝r̵̥͖̲̟͍̾̊̑̈́̀͘͜l̷̫̊͝ş̸̧͈͉̖͇͍̓̌̇́̄͝ ̷̲̿͒̾͒̋ǫ̵̞͌̒ͅw̶̪̎͛e̷̙̰͉̐̎̈́͑̒̎ ̷͖̭̲̩̪̀̉̔̀͘m̸̧̩͋̓̾̚e̷̛̘̦̓͆̈̿̈́ ̴̨̨̨̡̼̮́̂͜s̵̤̲͎̾͗̈͗́͆e̷̮̩̺͗x̵̡̢̭̔͛́̀̈́.”

And, like, you can see how defensive these readers get whenever Kirito’s value as a character is impugned. It’s a much more spirited and angry defense than you will see for nearly any character in anything, because he’s designed to make sad, lonely young men project themselves onto him. He is essentially the patron saint of incels, which is pretty ironic given that Kawahara has literally written porn about him, so, for our sins, we know the damn kid has had sex and have to suffer with that knowledge every day.

Ugh. ‘Glooped.’