#but!! i've got more reasons. she seems pretty aloof a LOT of the time in the show. but then she's also a grief counsellor

[hecatesbroom]

did I finally manage to write a brand new fic? I sure did!! with many, many thanks to the lovely @eeblouissant for inspiring me with these beautiful drawings of Blanche dipping Dorothy (and the incredibly sweet follow-up with Rose playing the piano, after our chat about this scene!!) I hope I managed to do it justice ;)

Summary

When Dorothy mentions she’s never been dipped before, Blanche and Rose decide to take matters in their own hands.

[noblechaton]

humbly introducing Norette!

my first ever OC/sona! (drawn here by the ever lovely @sidsinning). I've had a lot of fun creating her and even have a lil writeup for her that I'll post down below for anyone that might be curious about her. she's a lotta me but unique in her own ways too

Age: 27 Height: 5'6 Sexuality: Bi/Pan/Omni (she's into anyone and anything) Eyes: Brown

A sleepless creative with more dreams than ability, Norette has a plethora of niche interests, a penchant for short capes and spicy sushi - as long as it doesn't have vegetables in it - and a knack for talking her way out of - or into - almost anything. She loves to cook, she could have been a foodie in another life, and daydreams often, most comfortable beneath a robe two sizes too large and zoned out into her own little world amid online conversations with her various friends.

She loves accessorizing, from rings to necklaces to hats. She can sometimes be found wearing glasses, though it's uncertain as to whether or not they're purely an aesthetic choice or something she actually needs (she definitely needs them, even if she forgets them far more often than she'd like). Her wardrobe is quite plain with graphic tees and sleepwear aplenty for the most part, though she's often found wearing what's effectively her signature jacket - one modeled off one of her favorite games - and a typical pair of dark jeans, themselves one of the few pairs she owns because, as is frequently said by her, "I ain't paying that much for pants"

A collector of figures, toys and knickknacks of all sorts, Norette's hobbies range from pretty common to more niche and lowkey. She loves model kits, plays plenty of video games both new and old, and secretly likes collecting hats - from proper headwear to the novelty sort. She's also something of a TV and movie buff, with filmmaking being something of her first calling - writing just got its hooks in her a little sooner and just a bit deeper. She feels her talent with a digital pen (don't ask about her proper handwriting) varies wildly, but she does truly adore the written word - though it doesn't seem to always love her, despite what some close may say.

Norette's a friendly girl, one that's as genuine as she can be, who loves to help wherever she can and chooses to believe the best in people first and foremost, whenever she can at least, with an ear always open for anyone who needs someone to listen. She'll sit with someone in need as long as they need it, do whatever she can to help - though she's often limited in one way or another, and often frustrated by that fact. She tries to be as good natured as she can be, though, even if sometimes her quietly playful attitude might be a bit much - which something she does try and keep an eye on, too.

Norette herself, by contrast, is slow to truly open up and very much reserved, even if she's got a habit for oversharing when someone shows interest. She's shy and tends to dodge the more personal topics, in regards to herself. You could sit with her for hours and not really learn too much about her. She's more likely to make some quick and quiet joke, with a habit for dry sarcasm and deliberately aloof commentary, than she is to engage with someone outright - at least until she knows the person. Generally slow to trust, Norette's affection is often best earned through a mix of venting and comedy. And though her circle of friends can be considered a good bit expansive, Norette does often find herself lonely due to various factors - the least of which is her horrendous sleep schedule.

Loyal to a fault and fiercely defensive of those she holds most dear, Norette holds those she considers close friends in high regard. Even on the surface, she tries to remain friendly and kind to any who happen to come to her. It may be difficult at times to break through her outer shell or to approach her in general, some have considered her intimidating for some reasons she never understood, but it's hard for someone to truly leave her once they have - even if they're already gone, which leads to its own sort of hang-ups.

She's indecisive, fears being alone, worries of driving those away she'd wish to be close with and is often wracked by overthought and anxiety alike. She doubts herself often, though her confidence has taken an upward turn as of late. Her past is shrouded and what she does know is held close to her chest, but she knows hurt - and that's why she always does her best to do no harm, even in cases where it's futile. Norette is trying, and that's what matters.

Little is known about Norette's home life, less is shared about her family outright - though one can assume that she both has one, and perhaps isn't on the best terms with them. For however close some may get to her, whatever past she has is often left largely as a mystery to them - it's a deliberate choice on her end for various reasons, and something that often gives her pause when it comes to her relationships. Some of it is simply things she'd rather not get into, others are things she genuinely doesn't know.

A hopeless romantic, curious yet shy, Norette lives a quietly active life, always finding something to be busy with between her model kits, writing and friends. Sometimes she's stretched too thin, other times she's got so much time on her hands she often simply wastes it at home in her modest apartment, which she shares with her grey and white farm cat she's named Spidey. She likes going out all the same, preferring more casual places like the malls and shopping centers, even bars - though she doesn't drink - to anywhere too quiet, as she likes the hustle and bustle of public life.

And though she's often timid and wary of the world around her, she's always keen to make a friend

[zombvibes]

Now I know I said multiple times that I wasn't going to talk about teammateswap's weird route until the au account was done but...SCREW IT CAN'T KEEP THIS INFO IN MY BRAIN ANYMORE.

Before I start, I'm not good at explaining myself nor my ideas so if nothing make sense...well that's half the reason. The other half is because the weird route is half baked and not completely thought out yet. (Just like everything else in this god forsaken au!!! YIPPEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!)

Ok I'll start rambling now!

(WARNING THIS IS LONG.....)

SIIIIIIKE I'm giving you some context first so you can understand some things (hopefully...fingers crossed) :

Noelle isn't that trusting of a person and mostly keeps to herself. Despite how personable she seems, she never really had any friends aside from Kris and Berdly. Even then, she wouldn't really consider them friends. More like close acquaintances. (Yes Catti, and Jockington aren't friends with Noelle in this au. She knows them on an acquaintance level however this applies to the other classmates too.) The only people she could (mostly) trust are her family and Kris (and...kind of Berdly but barely). Kris and Noelle weren't close AT ALL when they were kids due to her being even MORE untrusting and aloof than she is currently. She eventually warmed up to Kris and the rest of the Dreemurrs because of Dess and Rudy getting her out of her shell (though not by much). Kris and Noelle have gotten to know each other recently (most likely after Dess disappeared) so they don't know a lot about each other but are currently friendly with each other.

Now unlike Kris, Berdly DID actually knew Noelle from childhood. This is mostly because Berdly just...kinda followed her around everywhere she went. (Which if you couldn't tell is still the case in present day.) He cared about being seen as intelligent but had terrible grades. Sooo why not attach yourself to the smartest girl in class and get help from her? I'll stop here since uh...I mean.....their dynamic is the same. And I don't have anything else to add that's relevant SOOO. ANYWAYS.

When I was referring to tms!Noelle being personable this is about pre-chapter 2 Noelle. She's a dickhead we know this by now c'mon...She used to put on this "goody-two-shoes A+ student Teacher's pet" act to please everyone. Which...I sadly will have to talk about another time. Just keep the "Everyone's expectations for ME are so high now...What am I going to do once I go somewhere without her?" quote from Berdly's monologue in mind for now. It's semi-important.

OK COOL GOT IT? GOT THAT? COOL. I'LL START FOR REAL THIS TIME :

I'd think that tms!weird route will pretty much play out similarly to the original weird route. So I won't be talking about that all too much? Especially since I'm not sure how it'll go currently.

I, however, will talk about Noelle's powers instead! I already talked about her powers a little bit in this post but I'll just say it again. So you know how in the original weird route Noelle freezes the enemies? In teammateswap, Noelle...turns them into, uh, icicle kebabs. Icicles pop up from the ground and stabs the enemy from below. I was thinking about making the enemy TIRED or SLEEPY before doing that but I'm not sure how that would work. I *think* if you're in a fight with an enemy for long enough they become TIRED but I'm not entirely sure rn. When you get the thorn ring equivalent of Noelle's spear (which will be called the thorn spear and the freeze ring equivalent will be called freeze spear for simplicity), icicles with rain from the sky and pierce whoever is below the storm.

So...after hearing that some of you may be thinking "Hey. So. If you said that enemies get stabbed by icicles, does that mean.....Berdly.........." Yes. Berdly becomes swiss cheese. Anyways this is a great time to talk about Berdly's fight since it's the thing I've thought about the most!

Berdly's fight starts as normal (at least normal for weird route) : Kris and Noelle finds Berdly, Berdly gets worried for Noelle, Berdly pulls out weapon to protect Noelle, en garde, fight starts. So for the fight, you have to wait until he gets tired from using his magic and weapon (remember it's large and heavy). When that happens, he'll fall to the ground. And, uh, he then becomes swiss cheese.

OR. Does he?

If you cast the ice spell (which I will call icegrave, again for simplicity) before Berdly gets tired, he'll survive. He'll be scared shitless, but he'll survive. After icegrave wears off, Noelle falls to the ground and Berdly runs to her to see if she's ok. He shields her from Kris to make sure they don't hurt her. Noelle suddenly gets up, grabs Berdly's arm and drags hime to Queen's castle (her room). And Kris just stands there...in silence.

Another idea I had was, Berdly abandoning Noelle and running away (or well...TRYING to run away but then Getting Swiss Cheese'd™). Tbh...I may go with this idea. tms!Berdly being brave and protecting Noelle doesn't...seem right to me. If I do go with the first idea, Berdly would still be visible scared of Kris. Stuttering, shivering, crying and all. Berdly is NOT a brave guy.

Though during the fight, he desperately pleads with Noelle to come with him and desperately begs Kris to leave her alone. Nothing happens no matter how loud he gets...

ANOTHER idea I had is if Berdly survives, he still gets injured by an icicle (most likely stabbed in the eye, the one that's covered by hair, or the leg). But..again...not 100% sure.

OK SO BACK TO NOELLE AND KRIS, so tms!Noelle would resist more then the original and sometimes just does whatever she sees fit. She'd resist to the point where Kris would have to grab her by the arm and drag her everywhere they go. Though over time, grabbing by the arm becomes hand holding because Noelle is just now used to "getting dragged around" (but by this point she is just following Kris willingly). Which is...great. We love that. So great. (I'm being sarcastic. If you couldn't tell.) As for getting the freeze spear, Noelle multiple times was like "Hey, we can't afford that. Let's go. NOW." She doesn't kill the addison but instead steals the spear by trapping the addison in ice and running away laughing like a cartoon villian (originally, Noelle froze his legs and then ran away with the spear but...her weapon can't really do that so she just trapped them instead). This will stop after the 2nd/3rd mouse puzzle.

So. I assume some of you are wondering about the scene where Susie goes to Noelle's room. She still goes in by herself. But...they don't really...have a nice time together. (Not gonna be specific here since you, Kris and Ralsei don't know what happens in there.) I'll just say that she comes out of the room a little dejected. (She eventually goes back after the last Queen interaction.)

If Berdly lives, he'll come out of the room before Susie could go in. She jumps and wonders why he's in Noelle's room. Berdly, acting like his normal self, says that it's none of Susie's concern and brushes her off. She asks him if Noelle is ok. He pauses and enthusiastically says yes. He's only looking at Susie and ignores Kris as he leaves but not after glancing at them for a second. Susie and co then move on.

I think...I think that's all I'm going to say for now....there's more (obviously) but that's most of the weird route stuff I have! Hope that suffices for now.

[choisgirls]

hihi! would it be out of the question to ask for a smart but silly mc? like an mc that people think is dumb because they like to show more than their intelligence? i've been struggling with finding a balance between the two so people will think i'm smart as well as funny. someday i will be both in the eyes of many but for now one of your lovely imagines/headcanons would make me very happy. i really love your blog! keep up the great work and i hope you have an amazing day!!!

A/N: Aaa thank youlove ;u; im really glad you like the writing!!! sorry i end up talking so muchbecause im trash™ but still!! it means a lot~(also i struggle with this alot? Just be whatever you’d like to be love! doesnt matter what others think~ ithink you’re amazing~ ^^)

like there reallyshouldnt be a need to hide your intelligence level, sweetheart. Being smartisn’t something to be ashamed of ^^ and if people cant handle it then well fuckthem they arent worth your time

Masterlist~

*YOOSUNG:

-Honestly you werepretty goofy, but he loved it!

-Always wants someoneto joke and play games with

-But one day he wasstressing over this big test he had and he just… couldn’t… understand themath problem??

-You walked in to himbanging his head against the coffee table- you had to throw your handunderneath him so he couldn’t do it anymore. He was gonna knock himself out ifhe kept doing that!

-When you asked himwhat’s wrong, he’s starting to slowly get harder and harder to understandbecause he’s about to cry- but you’ve got to calm him down and wait until hecan tell you clearly

-You sit him down andlook over the problem. Internally, he’s panicking because? Oh no? He can’tunderstand it, would looking at it upset you?

-When you wrote thesteps and answer down, he looked at the paper and had to blink a few times. Youdid it! You did it correctly, too…. how?

-Didn’t want to berude because you were amazing and smart in your own way! But? You just…answered this seamlessly, how?

-You explained to himthat you’ve actually got a pretty good grip on your math skills- you tend to bethe highest in any of your math classes and you’re always willing to help himfigure it out

-You could easily havea degree in mathematics and he can never look at you the same way again. His carefree,sometimes oblivious s/o is also really smart. How did he not see it before?!

*ZEN:

-He’s smart but to adegree- definitely wouldn’t tell you with confidence that he was book smart

-Knows more streetknowledge, but he can hold his own in the schooling department

-Who is he kidding, hehas a dinosaur for a computer.

-So even if you werealoof, it wouldn’t bother him in the slightest~

-But one day, in thechatroom, Jaehee and Jumin had started to talk about business and profits

-Behind the screen, theboth of you were sitting together as he started to complain to you that he hadno idea what they were saying

-So you took time toexplain it all while he stares at you in disbelief

-When you start to getself-conscious of the fact he’s staring at you and saying nothing, he tries toassure you that it’s not a bad thing, he just didn’t know that side of you!

-Honestly I don’tthink it would change the way he thinks about you, he’s fine with both sides ofyou!

-If anything, he’shappy he has someone to explain a few things he may not get at first

*JAEHEE:

-She likes the sillyside of you because she’s always so serious

-Or she at least justappears that way to people, in reality she’s silly just like you are

-Just…. more privateabout it than you are! You’re more open about being carefree and silly~

-Sometimes you remindher of Saeyoung which is okay but sometimes it gets out of hand and she worriesabout you

-Like… you can holdyour own, right? You aren’t… always oblivious, are you? Please tell heryou’re aware of your surroundings, at least

-She’s watched youwalk away from lunch and have to run right back because you forgot your walletthere. She’s counted- it’s been 13 times now

-But apparently you’rejust.. forgetful?

-Because she’s watchedyou spit out fraction conversions when the two of you are baking together

-You can mess around,get flour all over you, and turn red and giggle while she dusts off yourcheeks, but the second she asks you to double the amount of brown sugar, you’reimmediately throwing out the numbers

-Sometimes she throwsconversions at you when you’re being extremely goofy and she just wants to makesure you’ve still got it

-She likes both sidesof you, she doesn’t see why you tend to hide one but she won’t pressure you toshow one more than the other

*JUMIN:

-Constantly remindingyou to calm down

-There are times thatyou need to be serious and you just aren’t

-It doesn’t bother himor anything but sometimes he’s tired of hearing others get so worked up aboutit

-Because it’s none oftheir business? He loves how carefree and fun you can be

-It’s a nice change ofpace compared to how he’s basically a piece of stale bread most of the time

-He lets himself getsilly around you, though, because you’ve unlocked that privilege~

-When someone came upand had told him that you were practically as dense as concrete, he stood upand was ready to defend you in a heartbeat

-Except you just satback, looked them in the eyes, and with a vast vocabulary of high end and*ahem* choice words, you told them it was none of their business how youdecided to act and maybe they should take a breath and calm down themselves

-Which left both themand Jumin in shock, because you brought up their numbers and stock dropswithout even blinking an eye in their direction

-So you /could/ beserious when you wanted! That was good to know, maybe he should try to provokeyou every now and again, see how serious you really could be?

*SAEYOUNG:

-Everyone thought hewas silly??? They didn’t know the /both/ of you

-Though everyone alsoknew how smart he was, you, on the other hand….

-He knew yourbackground and he knew what you’ve accomplished with your intelligence

-So he knew how smartyou could be, and he wasn’t positive why you decided to hide it

-One day, he’s tellingeveryone about this new program he was adding to the app, but was too excitedto explain it in words everyone could understand

-Taking the liberty totranslate, you not only explained it in simpler terms, you also kept spittingwords no one could understand while you asked for more details from Saeyoung

-And in all honesty,sometimes he has you type up some of his coding so he can take a break and eatmore chips

-When you /told/ himto rest but you know how he works, so he just sits and watches you

-Is always in awebecause you really don’t come off in this light- you just like to have fun andmess around

-But you know what hasto happen now right? Always place bets and play trivia games against everyoneelse, that’s what

*JIHYUN:

-Yes, dear god, becarefree with him

-That’s one of hisfavourite personality traits- being silly and just running through life

-Doesn’t even care ifyou seem naive, he’s sure you’re smart in your own way

-Like maybe in a deep,philosophical way! He can dig it

-Honestly, he isn’tone to judge someone based off of intelligence so you could have the IQ of agoldfish but if you’re rich in personality and love then he’s completelysmitten

-On the other end ofthe rainbow, he’d be completely okay with it if you were smarter than him,again just…. doesn’t mind

-So if you’re thissilly and carefree and are /also/ super smart then just /WOW/ he doesn’t knowhow to really react

-He just wants you tofeel comfortable enough to be yourself, not to hide a whole half of yourself

-If you’re smart thenbe smart! If you’re goofy, be goofy! You’re both? Sweet! Show it! There’s noshame!

-He has questionsabout anything? Immediately asking you so you know that he cares about everyaspect of you, not just one

*SAERAN:

-God just fucking stop

-Honestly he canhandle a little bit

-But if you’re to theextreme of his brother he can’t always handle you and just wants you to hush

-Also really concernedfor you though? Like you aren’t aware of yourself or your surrounding a lot

-I mean come on hetalked you into going into someone’s apartment, you were not the most cautiousperson

-Not to mention youthought it would be a good idea to, oh I don’t know, go poking around in thebusiness of a cult

-Really he thought youwere an idiot but he still for some reason loved you so here you two are now

-Though the first timehe fell asleep at the computer around you and woke up to his code finished, hewas surprised

-Then he was…amixture of angry and surprised because why didn’t he know about your secretintelligence and why didn’t you tell him

-He could’ve used youas an assistant ages ago while he was in Mint Eye if he had known! But nnoooyou had to go and hide it

-Encourages you to letyour intelligence show more often because there isn’t a need to hide it in thefirst place, it doesn’t change who you are inside

[oumakokichi]

I've seen your ranking, and I wonder why you like Juzo so much ? I can't help but think his redemption doesn't outweight his previous actions. He helped stopping the killing game but that was him fixing something he did and saving someone he cared about, which isn't selflessness. He assaulted people for reasons that were petty or unjustified, so it felt really forced when he saved Naegi. Also, he let Junko end the world because he didn't want Munakata to know he was gay ? Please enlighten me.

Personally, I like Juzo becausehe’s not supposed to be a selfless or a sweet or softhearted character. If Juzohad stopped the killing game for any of those kinds of reasons, or if dr3 hadsuddenly tried to play Juzo off as a character who was entirely selfless foreveryone’s sake, I’d have been incredibly disappointed. But as it is, Juzo’scharacter development was one of the few things dr3 managed to do right.

Juzo scores #3 on my personalcharacter ranking because he’s an incredibly well-written and flawed characterwho is given his own autonomy and has a compelling arc of development. He’s alsopretty much the embodiment of the Undying Loyalty trope, something I like in mycharacters—and even better is that dr3 managed to emphasize that that’s hisstrength and his weakness at the same time.

In a lot of ways, Juzo remindsme of a better-done Maki. Like Maki, Juzo is a bit of a throwback to some other“killing machine” characters, like Mukuro and Peko. While SHSL Boxer is a farcry away from SHSL Soldier, Swordswoman, or Assassin, it’s still a fact thatJuzo is thought of first and foremost as hired muscle, by Munakata, Tengan,Kizakura, and pretty much everyone else in the Future Foundation. He’s meant toact as an enforcer, act first and ask questions later—and he’s perfectly finewith that.

Juzo is no strategist or ideasman by any means, but he’s aware of that. His forte is punching problems untilthey go away, so that’s what he does, the same way that Maki’s first instinctis to eliminate a target so they’re out of her life completely.

But Maki’s characterdevelopment is ultimately hampered by having to center around Momota’scharacter, and all the frustratingly misogynistic “life lessons” he gives herabout how “women should take care of children, not use weapons,” “women shouldlook cute, not work as a hired assassin” etc. Juzo, on the other hand, doesn’thave that problem, because the sad fact of the matter is that male characterswho are cold and aloof and think of themselves as weapons will receive bettertreatment from the writers than female characters with the same flaws.

Just as Maki prioritizes Momotaover everything and everyone else in the group, Juzo does exactly the samething with Munakata. But again, unlike Maki, whose coldness and recklessnessalmost never gets called out by the narrative (not even when she tried to killeveryone else in Chapter 5, for which she received a slap on the wrist atmost), dr3 pretty much spends all its time calling Juzo out. And that’s exactlywhat I like. There’s hardly a character in Future Arc who didn’t allude to Juzo’sfeelings for Munakata or lampshade the fact that Juzo would throw everyone elseunder the bus in two seconds if Munakata asked him to. Characters like Kizakurawere smart enough to realize that Juzo will get angrier on behalf of Munakatathan he will on behalf of himself, even. And this is a good way to highlightthe fact that loyalty isn’t always a good character trait necessarily.

Juzo absolutely didn’tsacrifice himself for everyone else’s sake—he only did it for Munakata’s. IfMunakata hadn’t been involved in the killing game, I have no doubt that Juzowouldn’t have given two shits about pretty much anyone else involved, exceptmaybe Chisa or Seiko, who were in their same faction. But he wouldn’t have goneto the lengths he did to stop the game just for their sake. What really madehis sacrifice powerful and memorable is the fact that he was willing to stopthe game, willing to cut off an arm, all for the person he cared most about inthe entire world.

Juzo’s loyalty is tragicbecause it’s his primary character trait, both his strongest advantage and hisgreatest weakness. It’s tragic because he was loyal to someone who ultimatelynever felt the same way about him, who doubted him and suspected him and neveronce really had those same feelings towards him. His sacrifice to end thekilling game isn’t supposed to be taken as some selfless gesture for the group—it’sa gesture meant for Munakata only, and Munakata still arrives too late, unableto really understand or appreciate the lengths Juzo went for him.

I would hesitate to say Juzowas seeking redemption with his actions. Atonement, perhaps, but redemptionimplies receiving recognition and forgiveness from everyone he ever wronged.And there’s none of that with Juzo. Juzo’s hot temper, his excessive violence,and his pettiness are never excused by the narrative or played off as somecutesy character trait. If anything, the reason he saved Naegi is because he’sstill as angry and petty as ever.

He didn’t save Naegi for anygrand, overarching ideal. He didn’t do it because he wound up agreeing withNaegi’s idea of “hope,” or anything like that. No, in the end, Juzo saved Naegionly because he was angry at him—for having defeated Junko where Juzo keptquiet about her, for reminding him constantly of the ways in which he fuckedup, of his own role in the way the world is now.

By dr3, Naegi was essentiallyrevealed as some grand savior who stopped the Big Bad Enoshima Junko and herdespair with his platitudes about hope. For him to just give up and die supereasily from the same despair-brainwashing video that killed everyone else wasthe biggest anticlimax—it was anticlimactic and pathetic enough that it pissedJuzo off, and that’s why he savedNaegi.

This is also perhaps a bitoff-topic to the subject, but I’ve always been curious as to why people actedlike Juzo was more irredeemable for being violent and reckless and punchingpeople early on in dr3 than many characters who have actually committed murderor other atrocities. DR is a series about murder and death and killing—and yetJuzo was immediately deemed a more unforgivable, awful monster than characterswho have killed without any remorse whatsoever. I suspect it has something todo with the fact that many people were mostly angry about who Juzo was punching or kicking, rather than the fact that he wasviolent and reckless in general.

After all, without knowingalmost anything about Mitarai or his character, people were very up in arms about Juzo kicking himin episode 2 of Future Arc, because he seemed cute, innocent, and everyone waspegging him for an “innocent cinnamon roll.” People then said that this wasbecause Juzo got killed Bandai killed by violating his NG code—but it’s not asif Juzo did it intentionally knowing that Bandai couldn’t witness any violence.He was just as surprised as everyone else when Bandai died. But I stilldistinctly remember people bending over backwards to say that this automaticallymeant Juzo was the worst character in the franchise, despite the fact thatthere are many DR characters who have intentionally done much worse.

As for the final part of yourask, about Juzo “letting Junko end the world”… Haha, I guess this is somethingyou could probably only understand if you can relate with Juzo on a personallevel. If you honestly blame him more for Junko’s actions than Junko herself, Idon’t really know what to tell you. What Junko did to him was blackmail. It wasinsidious, horrible, and the absolute worst-case scenario for Juzo. It was “despair.”If you can’t understand the fear of being outed, especially to the person you careabout the most, then you’re probably very lucky, anon.

As someone who is gay andsomeone who has been outed to abusive family, I can say that it goes beyondjust normal fear. Gay people aren’t afraid of being outed to their friends andcrushes and family because “oh no, someone will know that I’m gay.” We’reafraid of being outed because there is always a chance that people we loved andtrusted will immediately turn on us when they know, will look at us and call us“monsters,” “evil,” “sinful”—all of which I actually did have thrown at me whenmy family found out.

Juzo wasn’t afraid of much, buthe was afraid of Munakata finding outand recoiling from him, disowning him as a friend, wanting nothing to do withhim anymore. Not knowing how Munakata felt was preferable because it meant henever had to face the “what-if” possibility of Munakata finding out andtreating him like he was “disgusting” for it. If that had happened, that wouldtruly have been “despair” for him.

He was blackmailed andpressured and manipulated into keeping quiet about Junko the same way thatJunko either manipulated or intimidated or brainwashed everyone into keepingquiet and doing what she said. It makes absolutely no sense, in my opinion, tohold Juzo more accountable for “letting Junko end the world” when Junko is theone who did it. And to be entirely honest, if Junko hadn’t been having so muchfun holding that threat over Juzo’s head and seeing his reactions, she would’vejust killed him. The only reason she let him live was to make him sufferfurther—but if he had seemed like he would’ve told Munakata regardless (andJunko could’ve predicted if he would’ve, I have no doubt), then she wouldn’thave let him leave those school grounds alive.

This has gotten pretty long,but I hope I’ve been able to summarize my thoughts pretty well. Juzo is mythird-favorite character in the franchise for many reasons. He’s well-written,his flaws and mistakes are never downplayed by the narrative or turned into anendearing character trait, and I can relate with him on a very personal level.I was overjoyed when he was confirmed gay, even moreso when it wasn’t played asa joke or retconned in future episodes. Dr3 didn’t contribute much to thefranchise overall, but Juzo was at least one really incredible character tocome out of it. Thanks for asking, anon!

[oumakokichi]

hey i really appreciate your blog and all the things you have to say about v3! so i was just wondering if i could ask you about the ship tenmiko because i've only read the first chapter but i've heard everything that happens in the game and they are my absolute otp!! but now i'm hearing some people saying that tenko is a creepy stalker to himiko and that himiko is really annoyed with her and doesn't like her and i'm just wondering if thats true or not cause it makes me worried

Himitenko is one of my favoritendrv3 ships, anon! It’s got a lot of depth and good potential, it’s healthy,and it’s absolutely adorable. One thing I found myself really liking was thefact that there were certainly problems that needed to be worked on, on both sides. It feels a lot morerealistic to me when a ship addresses the fact that even good ships involvingtwo really good people still can have issues to work through. Nobody’s perfect,after all.

There’s no need to worry: anyonewho says that Tenko is a “creepy stalker” or that Himiko doesn’t like her atall didn’t quite get the point of the game and the developments that happen asa result of Chapter 3, in my opinion. Regardless of whether people ship Himikoand Tenko romantically, their dynamic is extremely plot-relevant and essentialto Himiko’s character development. All three of the ndrv3 survivors becomeclose to a particular individual, and all three survivors are forced to growand develop when the person close to them dies. For Saihara, that person wasKaede. For Maki, it was Momota. And for Himiko, it was Tenko.

Himiko certainly does start offannoyed with Tenko. Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 to some degree involves Tenko beingextremely forward about how much sheadmires and adores Himiko. Her forwardness is off-putting to an introvert likeHimiko, who isn’t very skilled at making friends and finds the whole task ofopening up to people tiresome. Himiko’s biggest flaw is her laziness, first andforemost: the idea of opening up and investing her time in people only to gethurt doesn’t appeal to her, so she’d rather not do it.

Tenko doesn’t mean badly atall, but it is true that she’s perhaps a bit too pushy in these earlierchapters. What she intends as just straightforward admiration and affectionsometimes comes across as a bit patronizing; Himiko is someone who, despite hersmall stature, very much wants to prove herself, especially when it comes to her“magecraft.”

The fact that Tenko constantlyhovers over her, fusses over her, and tries to protect her irritates her inChapters 1 and 2, as does the fact that Tenko often calls her “small and cute.”Himiko wants to be taken seriously as a “mage,” and she really doesn’t likefeeling as if she’s being looked down on. This is something consistent with hercharacter even when she’s at her laziest.

The best thing about all ofthis is that this is something that actually gets addressed within thenarrative. It’s natural that people, even the best people, make mistakes.Sometimes we do hurt people we look up to or care about without meaning to, andI do like the fact that Tenko’s overly forward behavior is something thatHimiko takes such a long time to warm up to. It’s not until she realizes thatTenko’s desire to protect her is genuine, not just her attempt at idealizingher, that she really begins warming up to her a lot more.

Himiko’s opinion of Tenko firststarts to sway right around the Chapter 2 trial, when Angie cuts all ties andpretty much pushes Himiko under the bus by accusing her as the most suspicioussuspect despite the fact that it had seemed like they had a friendshipdeveloping there. Tenko, who previously had only expressed her liking of Himikofor more superficial reasons such as “she’s cute” or “I really admire hertalent,” then steps forward and says she thinks of Himiko as someone who she wantsto trust, no matter what.

She’s aware of the possibleconsequences if it turns out that Himiko is the culprit—and she doesn’t care.She says she should be able to trust who she wants to trust, and that includestrusting that Himiko would never have done such a thing. Tenko is someone wholives honestly, with her heart right on her sleeves. She doesn’t try to hideher emotions, and believes true strength is found by embracing one’s feelingsand instincts to the fullest. Despite her clumsiness, she definitely doesn’thave any patronizing or condescending intentions towards Himiko. Her faith inher is strong, genuine, and unshakable.

And this is something that reallyresonates with Himiko. From the Chapter 2 trial and onward, she stops actingannoyed with Tenko at all, actually seeming to prefer to be friends with bothher and Angie. The closest they get to having a fight is when Tenko asks Himikooutright to stop being part of the Religious Student Council—she asks tooabruptly and phrases it badly, because she’s far too worried at that pointabout both the influence Angie’s religion is having on Himiko and about theconsequences that Angie’s attempt to resurrect Amami might have.

She asks Himiko to “open hereyes” and quit being part of the student council out of concern, but it’s stillnot something Himiko can fathom. She doesn’t understand why Tenko would be soconcerned there’s a problem with it when the Religious Student Council has beenher way of coping with things in the killing game. But it’s also exactlybecause of that method of coping that Himiko’s been able to turn a blind eye toher feelings and continue shutting out the things around her.

After Angie’s death in Chapter3, I believe Tenko realized for the first time that even if Angie wasn’tnecessarily the best person or the best friend to Himiko, the idea of that friendshipwas itself something very important to Himiko. It was a “gentle lie,” so tospeak, and something that Himiko had relied on for a lot of comfort. The entirereason that Tenko dies during the kagonoko ritual is because she volunteersherself to be the “vessel” for the spirit to possess, saying that she wants togive Himiko any opportunity she can to get to say goodbye to Angie.

And, of course, it’s also herway of protecting her. She doesn’t want Himiko to put herself in danger, notbecause she doesn’t think she can handle herself by this point, but because ifthere’s any way she can lessen the danger around Himiko, she wants to do it.She wants to give her the chance to develop and grow into someone strong andbrave, someone who can admit to her feelings more honestly.

This speech was something sheleft Himiko with right before she died, and it’s why, upon discovering Tenko’sbody, Himiko freaks out and begins referring to her by her first name for thevery first time. For the most part, Himiko refers to everyone by last name only(aside from two or three really cheeky instances of “Harumaki” where she’strying to suck up on purpose). The obvious exceptions were people like Gonta,who was largely referred to by his first name in the group, or Angie, who wasusually called by her first name because of its western feeling (even thoughYonaga is about as Japanese a surname as it gets).

But Tenko is the only personwho she deliberately switches from referring to by her last name only to herfirst name. She never again refers to her as “Chabashira,” and a large part ofher character growth from Chapter 3 and onward addresses the fact that whileshe certainly stopped being annoyed with Tenko after Chapter 2, she never quitelet her know how important she was to her or how much she liked her while shewas still alive.

Because Himiko is someone whobottles up her own emotions and takes the easier (lazier) way out wheneverpossible, she never wound up showing Tenko how much she really, genuinely likedher. She had plenty of chances, but she didn’t actually do so, and it’s onlyafter Tenko’s death that she comes to really, truly regret it. And again, Ilove that this is something that gets addressed by the narrative.

In the Chapter 3 post-trial, Oumacalls Himiko out directly on having acted aloof and irritated with Tenko prettyregularly, only to immediately turn around and grieve over her death as soon asshe’s gone. He says pretty much word for word that he believes this is exactlywhy you should always let the people who are important to you know that they’re important while they’restill alive—words which Himiko also seems to take to heart in addition to Tenko’slast speech. It’s only after her breakdown in the Chapter 3 post-trial that shereally does try to face forward and stop bottling things up, living to thefullest and embracing all her emotions the way Tenko would’ve wanted her to.

The fact that both Himiko andTenko had issues in their dynamic and that these things were addressed withinthe narrative is exactly why I feel they’re a ship with so much good potential.Both of them were clearly important to the other one; regardless of whetherpeople interpret it romantically or not, Himiko’s feelings for Tenko are whatdrive her to keep moving forward through the entire rest of the game. Everytime she’s on the verge of wanting to give up completely and die, it’s hermemories of Tenko that inspire her to keep going.

Her memories of and feelingsfor Tenko are always addressed at the same time and in the same way as Saihara’sfeelings for Kaede, and Maki’s feeling for Momota. For example, in Chapter 6,when Tsumugi begins taking credit for every single scenario within the game,claiming that she was the one who gave Maki her romantic feelings for Momota,Himiko immediately brings up Tenko.And Tsumugi, of course, also claims credit for those feelings.

The subject is undeniably codedin a romantic way. Maki quite literally gave Momota a love confession inChapter 5. Her feelings for him are confirmed, just as Saihara’s feelings forKaede are confirmed. Whether or not Himiko came to view her feelings for Tenkoas romantic is something that’s left up to interpretation, but it’s verytelling, in my opinion at least, that her feelings for Tenko are always put onthe same level as Saihara’s and Maki’s very explicitly romantic feelings.

Anyway, this got pretty long! Ireally love himitenko a lot, so I enjoy getting the chance to talk about it.Their dynamic was great, and I’m still sad Tenko didn’t wind up living forlonger. It’s a really great ship, and while they certainly do start out withproblems, those problems are addressed and worked on. There’s no way to look atHimiko in the later chapters of ndrv3 and say that she “hated Tenko” or thoughtof her as a “creepy stalker.” Tenko was someone very important to her, one ofthe people most responsible for helping her to turn her life around and beingmore honest with herself.

I hope this helps, anon! And I’mreally glad you enjoy their dynamic!