#but the abuse backstory fits so much better with mikan

[aparticularbandit]

me staring at satoko

me staring at mikan

🤔

[hopeymchope]

i agree with your opinions about mikan and hyoko, but would you also agree with me about mikan being kinda poorly written? in my opinion it wasn't written with the victims in mind and they just tried to fit it into a trope (kinda like yandere) instead of showing a person victim of abuse and bullying and how that can affect our view of everything, the fanservice scenes reinforce my point of view. Anyway, I would like to know your opinion about it! :)

I don't really think she's that badly written, but then I'm a HUGE mark for Kodaka's writing (or the collaborative result of the DR Team's writing, if you prefer) in general. Just... a total goddamn sucker. And I own that. :P In fact, I've written before about how she's more complex a character than people often give her credit for being. Which is something DR generally excels at; Ibuki is another great example of being more than what she first comes off as.

But I concede the point that you're likely correct about Mikan not being written with the victims of such bullying in mind. She's just another in the genre of "weird, quirky, layered" characters without really considering how such a person would come off in similar, real-life circumstances. That's not how I myself would've handled such a character, but... I also know that bullying is a much bigger issue to me than it is for many people. And I ALSO-also know I couldn't have written any of these Danganronpa games. Not even a single goddamn chapter. So I kinda feel like I don't have much right to complain when I love what they do so much AND know I couldn't do better? :)

The biggest issue I have with Mikan's overall writing/narrative is one that's come up from other Asks on this blog: It's that when she blames the others for not ever giving a shit about her suffering in the third trial... she's right? And nobody really reacts to that or seems to feel guilty, either? It comes off to me as though maybe we're NOT supposed to think she's correct (although I can't really be sure, ofc). Which seems... pretty off-base.

And although I admit that it's a little insensitive to make a recurring gag out of how Mikan is the anti-fanservice, I gotta respect the hustle. I'm not really a fan of fanservice images/scenes, so the fact that Mikan is just... constantly falling into fanservice-with-no-fanservice feels like a playful 🖕 to how commonplace panty-shots-and-whatnot are in Japanese media, frankly. I've never seen another anime or manga or visual novel or game do ANYTHING like Mikan, which to me makes it very much The Point (TM).

....which in turn makes the sexualized portrayal of her execution feel tone-deaf. That's probably my second and final major complaint with Mikan's portrayal. YES, I know the backstory: The team at Spike Chunsoft infamously "outsourced" the execution concepts and animations for DR2 and were not totally satisfied with the results, yet also felt they couldn't justify the time/expense of having them redone. With that knowledge in mind, maybe I can't/shouldn't pin the blame for that scene (and DR2's executions as a whole) entirely on the DR Team. But... Kodaka and Company still ultimately chose to sign off on it and run with it, so I kinda-sorta CAN still blame them for it, too. You feel?

(P.S. Furthermore, I sadly can't say the series as a whole is consistently anti-fanservice. Because that's... clearly not the case. But at least they chose to playfully avert making the character who is heavily implied victim to be of sexual abuse be the target of any such scenes, because..... that'd be fucked up.)

I definitely never blame Kazuichi for not standing up on Mikan's behalf. That's just not in his character. We know well how his own experience led him to do everything he could to avoid being targeted by bullies. He's not someone who'd put himself directly in the path of more bullying/abuse if he could help it. He'll keep his head down and only speak up if it's to defend someone he either A) deeply cares about or B) is unhealthily fixated upon for other reasons. And he never really gets to know/bonds with Mikan during before she's executed, so... yeah.

[serahne-is-here]

Female characters and sexist tropes in Danganronpa

Because why not, I’m bored. This is... some data ? Do of that what you will, haha. It’s another set of data I collected for a larger analysis, but since I will never publish it ( probably ), here we go.

List of tropes :

- Manipulate men with her womanly ways : pretty self-explainatory, some character will manipulate men’s emotions through seduction, or emotions at least. Honestly there are a lot of great characters out there that fall into this trope, but these characters are often seen as ireedemably evil, or - at best - femme fatale, with a cold, cold heart.

- Victim of sexual abuse/harassment : Whether it’s played for drama or for laugh. Can range from verbal abuse to straight-up rape. Of course there is nothing inherently bad about having female characters that are victims of sexual abuse in your story, but this topic needs to be treated with respect.

- Revolve Around Male Character(s) : Pretty self-explainatory, again. Can lead to fridging, especially in Danganronpa. Usually used to prop-up a male character’s developement.

- 'Waifu’ material :  I decided to use it for any female character that will fit these criteria : a) is of course incredibly attractive b) is completely unaware of that or of the way that her body is perceived by others c) is incredibly naive when it comes to dating/sex d) had actually very little contact with men through her life, because of specific circumstances e) will fall for a completely average guy, despite the fact that he is... well, completely average and does nothing specific on his end, just because he is the first guy that she spends time with.

- Sexist language or behaviour : Toward men, or women. Obviously we notice it toward men - some people on tumblr approve... to each their own, I guess - but it’s a lot less noticed toward women.

Danganronpa : Trigger Happy Havoc

Observations

- If you’re in Danganronpa and you’re manipulating men with your womanly ways, you are evil. Celes, Sayaka and Junko are probably the most hated female characters in the first game ( when, I remind you, a serial-murdered in included in the casting ).

- I absolutely despise the ‘pass’ given to women to be sexist in DR. I don’t mean just sexist toward men, but sexist toward women as well. The comments made by Toko toward Asahina are despicable, unfunny, and frankly uncomfortable as far as I’m concerned. Way more than, let’s say, Hifumi’s. You could justify Kyoko’s comments by her daddy issues, and Junko/Monokuma’s comments by... well, being herself.

- Asahina is the only one I qualified for the Waifu trope. I don’t know if I’m being unfair, but her ‘sudden’ crush on Makoto, her gratuitious fanservice scenes and her childish behaviour made me think that it made sense to put her here.

- Toko was such headscratcher, because while, yes, her entire goal is to please her ‘Master’, Byakuya, I’m re-reading the definition of this trope that I just wrote and... she doesn’t qualify. She isn’t fridged, she doesn’t prop up Byakuya’s developement, and she, de facto, does have her own shit to deal with beside her obsession with Byakuya. So just... take it as it is.

Danganronpa 2 : Goodbye Despair !

Observations :

- A lot less of evil manipulative women in this game. Mikan only qualify when hit by the Despair Discease, as for Hiyoko, it’s a complicated grey zone. She doesn’t exactly manipulate the others with her womanly ways but more her very-young looking girl ways which is... better or worse, you decide.

- Half of the female cast was sexually harassed/abused. Sonia is sexually harassed during the first scene we see her. That seems a lot. Sure, this game relies on the characters having heavy backstory, but I wish they were a bit more creative with theit backstory. Also, this is really played for laugh multiple times which, I don’t know about, but create a cognitive dissonance.

( I didn’t include Mahiru in the list, even if technically, we can watch her naked without her giving her consent because a) I didn’t drink that much bleach back so that I still remembered this scene, thank you very much b) this is a ‘bonus’ scene that I don’t consider as canon, fight me )

- On my first draft, the ‘Waifu’ trope was the ‘Born Sexy Yesterday’ trope, but it could only be really applicable to Chiaki, as she is literally created as a naive child that doesn’t know what holidays are in the body of a over-sexualized teenager. As it is, though, for the Waifu trope, Sonia qualifies big time. Akane and Mikan barely don’t.

- Also Chiaki is lucky I’m not taking into account Dr3.

- Ibuki was almost the unproblematic fav of the list, and then I remembered her behaviour whenever Mikan was humiliating herself, and so she will never be at Sakura’s level, sorry Ibuki.

Danganronpa : Another Episode and Danganronpa 3 : The anime

Observations :

- The difference of treatment between Kotoko’s sexual abuse and Komaru’s sexual abuse is baffling. I don’t know how this happened.

- Ruruka, being, you know a woman with womanly ways, is evil, and I love her.

- Chisa’s character is a trainwreck, but I genuinely have no idea if his character revolve around Munakata. It has to, right ? What would it revolve around, if not ? She does prop up his development, so I was like ‘good enough’.

- I will not subject myself to the anime once again, so it’s totally possible that one of these character had sexist language and behaviour. If it’s Chisa, tell me, because she would almost hit a bingo with that.

Danganronpa V3 : Killing Harmony

Observations :

- Are all the FTEs in NDRV3 really, really stupid ? Yes. But at least, that means no sexual abuse in half of the female cast’s past, and I will say it’s a win.

- That said, I’m not taking in account the Love Hotel’s events. Once again a) bleach ain’t cheap, you guys b) it would create such ridiculous bias when compared to other games... like, arguably the entire cast would have been sexually assaulted by Shuichi, and the ‘Waifu’ trope would also rack up a lot of points. That doesn’t make a lot of sense. These events are still... a thing. Unfortunately.

- Angie is perfect, and blessed by Atua. Obviously.

- While Tenko’s behaviour is making Himiko’s uncomfortable and could be considered sexual harrassment, I still didn’t put Himiko in the ‘victim’ category, though I suppose I could have. Double standards also get me, sometimes.

- Do Maki and Kaede revolve around a guy ? I personally would say no for Maki. Kaito is the one that props up her character development. Hell, he is the one getting fridged. I knew I had to mention it anyway, but to me she doesn’t qualify. Kaede is a bit more difficult. No, until her death, would be the most correct answer. Then it’s damn Shuichi, we get it, you have a dead girlfriend, shut the heck up about it, thanks. Same thing for the Waifu trope for Kaede. She is fine when we are playing her, but during her FTE... damn.

- If you were wondering, Kaede threatens - and actually start - to rise Tsumugi’s skirt until Shuichi can see her panties. Tsumugi might be an evil mastermind, it’s still sexual harrasment in my book, though obviously not at the level of what we have in earlier games.