#i hardly ever have this much commentary to say about the first victim... wow

[supahstarrr]

danganronpa blowback chapter 1 victim spoilers

i'm unsure how to start with this except that i really expected the death to feel less satisfying than it does? it was very typical that the chubby token character would be the first victim, despite my small hopes that he wouldn't be the first one to go for the sake of not feeding into tropes and expanding him. however unexpectedly, yosaku fujita was a character who offered so much more to the cast due to his differentiating perspective from the cast on how to cope with the killing game that was radical enough to be impactful. the story humanized him nicely; actively breaking down the "joke" that many characters (and the audience) seen and treated him as by giving him importance you see through how his views impact others dramatically and how he somewhat contributes to the themes as he is our "hope".

i'm glad that he was taken seriously to an extent—although the "jokes" about his fatness and the use of it as an insult to him from the characters are questionable on the writer's end, there were some points during the story that i felt they were said by the characters for them and us to establish him as "the joke" to deconstruct that treatment of him, not always or just for the sake of the entertainment of us or the mockery of him. plus, it is tired that fat characters "have to" take disrespect from characters that is fueled from their fatness.

though apart of him being "the joke" wasn't just because he's fat, but because he constantly appeared as naive and at times awkward when it came to his positivity. even when his positivity appeared to come from naivety and/or it was awkward, there was still some a lot of impact considering the contrast to and affect on how the cast behaved and coped with the situation. his impact strengthened even more once people noticed that his positivity acknowledged the despair of the situation.

it is though, a very interesting choice to kill off a character who was in a way, radical. its a bit of a dramatic choice for the narrative, although i guess the point is for the series to be dramatic when it comes to the despair, hence the characters clashing so much in the prologue, constant negative and extreme tension among the characters, and the part of the title "blowback" generally having negative and/or extreme meanings. though it would've been interesting to see him be the victim of a later chapter, like chapter 4 or chapter 5. based on the danganronpa formula, chapter 4's cases usually revolves around sacrificing yourself for others—which does fit his character as it revolves around giving himself to others for the sake of making them happy (while in the process, risking his safety). chapter 5's cases usually revolves around a murder & death for the purpose to challenge the killing game, which is what his character is about

still though i feel like he could've had more opportunities to be more challenging and impactful if he survived longer. hell, he could even have opportunities to bring impact and challenges even in his death. through the cast interpreting his presence & character during his survival or grappling with the death of him while remembering (or honoring) him, the cast (especially our protagonist) could develop or create their relationship with hope. especially if the story leads towards the reject both hope and despair, the relationship with him and by extension their relationship with hope could get more complex and complicated. he as the symbol of "hope" could have been more expanded. he could have had opportunities to be more subversive as well. unfortunately, because he was partially used as a "joke", i feel like the opportunities of his impact (and writing) are somewhat restricted because the writer felt the need to "stay" within the chubby token tropes. but still, the writer managed to add to him enough to not just be identified by the tropes.

even though he doesn't have *that* much writing to him, he was a deeper character in context to the narrative. he was a very active character when it came to combating despair while acknowledging it, which several others was passive in doing. he definitely wasn't just the chubby token character who died early. but he also wasn't just the nice guy too. in many ways i feel as if his early death is not satisfying (feeding into tropes, but also satisfying enough (its impactful as his character was very important and with his death is the death of "hope" for now). i feel like it could have been wayyy less satisfying, but its a relief that his death was more than an "example" due to his symbol as our "hope" and he was able to be more outside of familiar, repetitive tropes. yosaku fujita, you are amazing to me