#pretty much just sying how nicely the horror of Plutomons extremism plays off the attitude that isolated the problem children earlier

[digisurvive]

The nail that sticks out gets hammered down

[Image Id: Screenshot of Plutomon’s sprite with its arm open and looking to the front over a forest backdrop. Her dialogue reads: Becoming one helps us understand each other better. No more selfish behavior]

Or Extreme Collectivism as horror.

It’s plain to see that Plutomon’s posture is one that threatens to crush any and all dissent, no matter how small, as well as to erase individuality— with that of its ultimate goal being to merge the enterity of the two worlds together with her, so they can all share her (correct) feelings and values. This is all with the aims to eradicate any selfish behavior, which in short can be any attitude or ideology that disrupts a group. This conduct being horrific is quite obvious, but it's also quite thematically rich coming after everything in the vanilla pre-timeline split.

If Plutomon is someone who values social harmony above all, Ryo existed on the opposite end of the scale: with an unhelpful, uncooperative attitude that went beyond not helping the group—the events leading up to his death are caused by his own imprudent actions, straight up risking everyone when he took off on his own. His bad attitude makes him hard to deal with, and the rest of the group often lets on their exasperation with his doomerism and inaction. Takuma is always tempted with the choice to give up on him and leave him alone.

This attitude is echoed with how the group deals with Shuuji, too; the others often show their (warranted) frustration with his insufferable behavior. Survive’s writing often seems to egg the player to agree with the idea that leaving both Ryo and Shuuji behind would ultimately be for the greater good. It insidiously seems to present the player the idea that isolating troublesome, struggling individuals, the problem children of the group, is for the best. This is an attitude that echoes the status quo of how society deals with individuals suffering with mental health harships: by shunning them out and judging them incorregible. The fact that the option to leave the black sheep behind feels reasonable is no coincidence, and it's the reason the game ends up guilt-tripping the player hardcore over the fact Ryo and Shuuji were never fully integrated into the group.

The fact Aoi ends up going off the deep end of the attitude that prevented Ryo and Shuuji from getting help in the first place, kickstarting the whole tragedy, is one of the nuances that add more value to Plutomon’s absolutism. She views any disruptions to the Harmony of a group as the worst offense anyone can take, and sets out to prevent others from being wrong in the first place. It’s a very Japanese viewpoint: hating to burden others with one’s personal problems and hating the disruption of the communal harmony.

The horror behind Plutomon is an unyielnding, cold perspective over how a group should operate: a social dynamic where you don’t trouble others with your personal failures and problems. Where questioning authority is harshly punished. Where there's no room for anyone's input but the one on top's when it comes to decision making. Where any expression of internal struggle is repressed due being incompliant, uncooperative and selfish. And they can indeed be selfish and disruptive to the workflow of a group, but that’s not necessarily evil or warranting ostratizing. They’re, in fact, symptoms of a deep hurt that needs to be healed in order for a group to operate better.

It's inevitable for individuals to inconvenience a group with their needs, but sharing the burden is the ideal the game presents as an answer to be able to fulfill both the greater good and individual care. Survive proclaims not just that struggling indivuduals deserve care and support but that it’s a communal duty to provide it and a moral failure not to do it.