#goodbye saeru

[shadow-laviko]

Ok, so, about games, mangas and animes I like- I'll join animes and mangas together And add my favourite character(s) for each, because I think it helps see my type I guess, lol? I'll try to only give one chara, but might give two if I really can't decide) Animes/Mangas :

Ajin (no one really)

Balance Unlimited (Kanbe Daisuke)

One Piece (Trafalgar Law)

The Promised Neverland (never finished, but I liked Ray)

Anohana (no one really)

Assassination Classroom (Karma Akabane)

Black Butler (Ronald or, Grell too, since we know less about Ronald... Okay, maybe Undertaker too. But Ronald first I think)

Blue Exorcist (I'm not up to date, but Amaimon and Mephisto were cool, Rin too)

D.Gray-man (do I really need to say? Just look at my name. Do I really need to say it? Fine, It's Lavi. But uh... Tyki too... and Debit... And Wisely... Too many ikemen... But Lavi really first. My boy... Go watch/read D.Gray-man, it's great!!)

Death Note (... Matt... listen, I know we saw him like 3 seconds, but darn it, I love this man)

Death Parade (long time no watched, but I liked Clavis, the elevator guy (I think?))

Dororor (no one really)

Dr. Stone (Senkuu Ishigami)

Durarara (I'm sure you can tell now, but of course it's Izaya Orihara (and Erika and Celty for women))

Fairy Tail (... Sting- ok, and Levy)

Food Wars (I don't know, I keep forgetting)

Free! (Rin Matsuoka)

Haikyuu!! (Kuroo

Horimiya (Miyamura)

Jigoku Shojo (Ren)

Jujutsu Kaisen (no one really)

Kuroko no Basuke (of course it's fucking Akashi Seijuro (and Aomine... And Hanamiya Makoto for some fucking reason because he appeared in one of my dreams and took my brain hostage ever since))

SnK (of course it's Levi... I swear, Kamiya Hiroshi dubs so many characters I like, I can recognise his voice in just a few seconds, it's crazy)

Ouran Highschool Host Club (Hikaru and Kaoru, but mostly Kaoru, because HAVE YOU SEEN MY BOY IN THE MANGA???)

Osomatsu-san (no one really)

Servamp (oof, I'm not up to date and it's been a while, so I kinda forgot)

Saiki Kusuo (Saiki)

Games :

Professor Layton ((all of them) do NOT test me on the games, I'm a Layton nerd, you will lose. That being said, Clive my beloved)

The Lengend of Zelda ((all of them) Link and Dark Link)

Stardew Valley (Elliott and Sebastian)

Pokemon ((all of them) N)

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc (Toko and Mukuro)

Danganronpa: Goodbye Despair (Nagito. Of course it's Nagito. And Ibuki for girls I think)

Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony (Kokichi and Rantaro both on 1st place... And honestly maybe Korekiyo in second- LISTEN TO ME- my boy was weird but fine until his chapter. If you forget how dirty they did him in his chapter, he's fine!!)

Master Detective Archives: Rain Code (of course It's Yomi... I'm not okay with this man)

Genshin Impact (Kaeya since day one. Call me a simp, the luck goddess blessed me with the luck of winning him three times on the standard banner) (I have him C6 fully leveled up- I SIMP FOR THIS MAN)

Slime Rancher

The Sims 4

Among Us

Minecraft

Rune Factory Frontier (I will play the other Rune Factory at some point, I promise)

Others :

Kagerou Project (and all other derivated works) (Saeru/Kuroha and Kano and Ayano for the girls I think... Although most of them are really cool... Kido is cool too... And Ene... darn it)

Homestuck (it's been a while but I used to really like Gamzee (is anyone surprised at this point?))

Danganronpa Ghost Despair (a french fanganronpa available on YouTube with subtitles) (Jacques who is my comfort character, and Maxime, because of course I like Maxime, I mean, have you seen this man?? But Jacques has no right to be so high in my tierlist, but for some reason he is comfy...)

I know I'm forgetting something

Almost but not quite exhaustive list

[badlydrawndedkidz]

alternate manga route where kido didnt get killed by a 12yo

[shinayashipper]

Kageproktober / Kageproctober 2021

Day 2: Fairytale

CW // Flashing images // eye-strain

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“I hate saying ‘goodbye.’I want to live with you again tomorrow,So that’s why I’ll repeat it, over and over.”

- Mary’s Fictional World -

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The Saeru snake background is actual screenshot from the anime, just edited.

The stills:

[fandomsalty]

this got long sorry and it might just be me connecting lines where they’re not supposed to be...

I think Kagerou Project does have weak writing with girl characters. But it isn’t necessarily because Jin is misogynistic.

The ones who drive the plot are ultimately Saeru and Shintaro. Saeru goes and kills people and the Dan kinda just have to react bc they have no clue wtf is happening. Shintaro is in charge of remembering what happened in the timeline and that was made possible via Ayano’s sacrifice.

Ayano doesn’t have much agency since she just the snake Shintaro uses to remember so she can’t fix it on her own. I can probably make a case for why it was shitty to have a male character fix mistakes that female characters made instead of having them do it. But Shintaro wouldn’t have been able save anything if it wasn’t for Ayano and Mary giving him the tools to do so.

But as for the characters in themselves and their relationships to each other... Most of the Dan’s interactions are about the kids helping each other and not just the girls helping their love interests. For example, Kido helps Momo, Seto helps Mary, Ayano helping the trio but especially Kano.

A lot of the girls may seem to only interact with their love interest, but that might be a lie. Takane would then only be concerned with Haruka but both she and Shintaro create a deadly duo that’s basically “depressed assholes union”. Momo and Kido are obvious foils but good friends since their abilities are direct opposites. Mary puts hella faith in Shintaro to fix the situation. While Ene and Konoha barely interact and they’re basically love interests (Until you figure out the fact that Konoha is a snake and not amnesiac Haruka).

Momo is there to support Hibiya in Otsukimi Recital, but only after Dan reach out to help her in Kisaragi Attention. And they were only able to support Momo after Ayano did her whole “red is a hero” thing. Similarly with her helping Seto to help Mary. All in all, it may seem like they are shallow characters who only exist for the male characters to angst over, but that’s because they fill a similar role.

Basically Ayano is to Shintaro as Haruka is to Takane. Ayano is to Seto as Seto is to Mary. It doesn’t have to be just romantic attraction. Instead it’s more of being someone else’s light and inspiring them to help others.

Some of the boys also are fixated on a girl. Both of Hibiya’s songs are strongly about his feelings and regret for Hiyori. Shintaro’s songs are about Ayano. Kenjiro messes up every thing because he just wants his wife back.

Ayano is basically the heart that connected many of the Dan. Her life and subsequent suicide were key factors in the development of the other characters. However, in the manga, she wasn’t even a huge part of Shintaro’s life and it was Haruka’s death that caused Shintaro’s spiral and Neet behavior. Ayano isn’t just an object of Shintaro’s grief and Ayano still sacrifices herself in this timeline to create a better future, showing that love is ingrained into her character.

Azami and Mary are two almost immortal people who will outlive everyone they love but they don’t ever want to let go. Azami does it for They want to cheat death and suffer for it. Azami being stuck in the daze and Mary having to watch everyone she lives die on loop. But they don’t do it just for their love interest. Azami does it for both Shion and Tsukihiko while Mary does it for the whole Dan. The only reason any of this gets solved is because of the combined effort of her, Ayano, Shintaro, and Konoha. Because of the bonds Mary grew that Azami was never able to.

Summertime record is where they say goodbye because nothing can last forever and it shows that even Mary is ready to move on. But it’s a reminder that the bonds they made don’t mean any less in the end.

Tl:dr the reason why the females are underwritten isn’t misogyny but because they fill roles instead of characters. The same can be said for the male characters.

Honestly, if KagePro had made an effort not to leave the majority of its female characters horrifically underwritten, it could’ve been remembered as a genuinely great series, instead of an (admittedly, deeply personal) depressioncore internet poisoned Bro, We Are Teens media.

KagePro continually puts female characters at the center of its plotlines- in fact, practically every major event in the series was set off by a female character, including the plot itself. Kagerou Project is a story about a young girl’s continual attempts to gain friendship (Marry), or if not that, a story about a woman’s desire to gain a place in the world she herself created (Azami), or if not that, a story about a girl who committed suicide (Ayano). What male characters there are are supplements to overarching plotlines created by female characters.

And yet… of the characters I listed, none of them really have much writing beyond their fixation on a boy. Believe me, I want to be able to love Marry, and Azami, and Ayano… but aside from their feelings for their male counterpart, they’re given very little consistent characterization. Despite being a story undoubtedly built on the suffering of women and girls, this suffering is constantly framed around their male counterparts, while the women in question sort of fade into the background.

Imagine, how great would it be if KagePro had actually remembered that the world is a literal manifestation of Marry’s psyche, and been written as such? If it had committed to how the continual expectation placed upon girls to be emotionally supportive of their male counterparts (as in Ayano/Shintarou’s case) is directly damaging to those girls? If it had actually decided not to make the social isolation of women and girls something for men to angst over, while the girls themselves are left behind?

I love KagePro deeply and probably always will as a series that has genuinely connected with me in its portrayal of mental illness and youth, and when it does actually write characters, it’s great. But I can’t help but mourn the potential lost to Jin’s misogyny.