#racism mention cw

[umbreerie]

𝒜𝔩𝔞𝔰𝔱𝔬𝔯 ; General headcanon dump

I  mentioned  a  bunch  of  these  things  on  Al's  blog  and  in  the  past  across  my  various  other  blogs  but  !!!  Theres  some  new  things  I  wanted  to  add  /  mention  / rehash so  heres  a  new  post  /  and  a  repost  of  some  things  I've  already  mentioned.  These  are  things  I  established  before  the  show  released  and  frankly  while  Alastor  in  the  show  pretty  much  looks  exactly  like  how  I  imagined  him  characterization  wise,  there  are  some  things  in  my  personal  canon  that  are  either  not  canon  to  the  show  /  not  intended  to  be  or  that  might  never  be  in  the  show  so  yeah  ;

💀  Alastor  grew  up  in  the  1910s.  His  mother  owned  her  own  home  and  a  salon,  she  came  into  these  things  passed down  from  his  grandmother  who  was  the  mistress  of  was  a  wealthy  white  man.  When  he  passed  away,  he  left  a  substantial  chunk  of  his  wealth  and  properties  to  Alastor's  grandmother.  He  may  not  be  Alastor's  biological  grandfather,  however,  Alastor  doesn't  know  the  details  of  this  and  frankly  he's  never  really  asked  because  he  IS  aware  his  family  history  is  fraught  with  the  usual  complications  to  be  found  in  families  who  were  outside  of  the  times  idea  of  normal  and  legal.  If  you  mixed,  you  know.

💀  He  doesn't  really  remember  his  father  and  his  mother  doesn't  speak  of  him  often.  As  far  as  Alastor  understands  his  father  was  a  bit  of  a  loser  and  seemed  to  feel  threatened  by  his  mother's  independence  as  both  a  woman  and  a  black  woman  at  that.  He  thinks  nothing  of  the  man  honestly.  He  has  the  distinct  impression  it  was  probably  his  birth  that  caused  the  proper  separation  of  his  mother  and  father  which  really  doesn't  get  his  father  any  points  for  anything.  Side  note  :  this  is  somewhat  a  source  of  Alastor's  disapproval  of  Lucifer's  absence  as  a  father  for  Charlie.

💀  He  is  a  voodoo  practitioner,  just  like  his  mother  and  grandmother  before  hand.  More  than  that  though,  in  life  Alastor  was  /  would  be  considered  a  Bokor,  albeit  a  young  one  /  one  who  was  still  coming  into  and  learning  their  craft.  Without  writing  up  a  huge  ass  explanation  about  everything  and  to  heavily  simplify  this  :  Alastor  would  be  equivalent  of  what  most  people  would  recognize  more  as  a  "witch"  or  even  a  "medium".  In  fact  combining  both  of  those  things  is  probably  the  best  way  to  explain  and  give  you  an  idea  of  what  this  resembled  for  Alastor  in  life.  💀  Alastor's  mother  more  saw  Alastor  as  having  the  potential  to  become  a  houngan,  however,  due  to  the  "loose"  definitions  of  good  and  evil,  personal  discretion  and  duality  being  a  big  thing  in  voodoo  Alastor's  darker  nature  wasn't  necessarily  discouraged  or  really  thought  about.  Alastor  on  the  other  hand  was  never  particularly  interested  in  being  an  actual  houngan.

[  I'm  gonna  say  I  think  the  show  *MAY*  be  kind  of  "erasing"  or  perhaps  "obscuring"  a  lot  of  Alastor's  ties  to  Voodoo  and  the  Lwa  which  I  personally  have  mixed  feelings  about.  I  know  why  they  might  be  aiming  for  this  but,  imo,  I  think  that  approach  "white  washes"  him  a  little  and  I  don't  think  it  was/would  be  necessarily  disrespectful  to  portray  Alastor  as  a  Voodoo  practitioner,  so  I  kinda  hope  this  does  stick  as  part  of  him  in  canon,  personally,  but  we'll  have  to  see, like I said, idk, very mixed feelings here for me because I get it but also. Yeah.  ] 💀  The�� 20s  were  massive  on  occultism  so  Alastor  was  real  riot  to  have  at  parties,  where  he'd  get  drunk  and  treat  the  ritzy  white  people  to  some  'magic'  /  "read  the  fortunes"  of  the  party  goers.  Despite  incredibly  racist  and  dangerous  ideals  toward  the  religion  of  Voodoo  and  anything  not  white  at  this  time, Alastor  managed  to  skirt  most  of  this  negativity  by  being  dark,  charming,  handsome  and  having  the  wits  to  basically  not  tell  anyone  much  about  himself  or  what  he  was  really  doing.  Most  people  thought  of  him  as  a  bit  of  an  eccentric  and  if  they  did  believe  he  had  any  actual  magical  powers  they  usually  tended  to  think  of  him  as  more  of  a  funky  magician.  Nearly  synonymous  with  his  racial  identity,  Alastor's  always  been  careful  to  hide  a  lot  about  himself  behind  a  wall  of  ambiguity.  But  also  keeping  in  mind,  people  that  got  to  witness  his  "party  tricks"  tended  to  be  as  drunk  as  he  was  if  not  more  so.

💀  He's  always  had  a  strange/toxic  relationship  with  Mimzy.  They're  the  "match  made  in  hell"  type  where  they  tended  to  emphasize  each  other's  darkest  selves.  For  example,  Mimzy  would  feel  emboldened  by  Alastor's  presence  and  protection  as  for  a  while  they  were  an  actual  couple  and  Alastor  would  take  pleasure  in  the  violence  he  could  enact  on  others  in  the  name  of  looking  after  her.  Mimzy  would  start  fights.  Alastor  would  gladly  finish  them,  so  to  speak.

💀  In  fact,  Alastor's  first  murder  came  very  much  because  of  this  messed  up  relationship  with  Mimzy. He  was  of  course  protecting  her  after  one  of  her  misadventures  and  things  got  out  of  hand.  He'd  do  it  again.  And  in  fact,  he  did,  but  the  following  murders  weren't really  for  Mimzys  benefit.  Once  he  started  putting  shitty,  women  bashing  men  out  of  their  misery,  he  didn't  have  any  intention  of  stopping.  Its  been  stated  before  Alastor's  killings  were  done  with  a  strange  moral  code  in  mind  similar  to  Dexter.  For  Alastor  this  was  him  taking  out  pos  men  in  the  community.

💀  I  think  Mimzy  is  very aware  Alastor  killed  for  her  in  their  human  lives.  It  pretty  much  solidified  their  twisted  bond  and  a  secret  they  kept  together  even  in  spite  of  their  "break  up".  I  don't  know,  however,  if  she  was  aware  of  Alastor  going  on  to  kill  others,  though  its  likely  she  suspected  it.  Not  that  she  would  have  really  cared,  Alastor  has  always  been  her  version  of  scary  dog  privileges  and  knowing  he  was  capable  of  and  willing  to  murder  was  just  icing  on  a  twisted  cake  they  shared.

💀  Alastor  was  generally  considered  a  bit  of  a  con-man  and  a  jack  of  all  trades  when  he  was  alive.  His  first  "serious"  job  was  when  he  became  a  radio  host.  Before  this,  Alastor  dabbled  in  a  little  bit  of  everything  but  mainly  he  had  a  shady  surgeon  position,  as  at  one  point  he'd  wanted  to  become  a  doctor.  This  was  considered  a  noble  aspiration  but  the  reality  is  Alastor's  interest  in  the  medical  field  was  very  much  due  to  his  morbid  fascination  with  death  and  dismemberment  and  the  close  proximity  doctors  have  to  these  things.  He  liked  cutting  things  up  and  stitching  them  back  together,  basically.  He  never  actually  had  a  medical  degree,  however,  he  often  preformed  usually  minor  surgeries  on  people  who  couldn't  afford  them  or  simply  weren't  able  to  go  to  an  actual  licensed  professional  for  whatever  reason.  Abortions  were  also  very  popular.  He  had  a  very  good  reputation  for  this,  actually.  Generally  if  you  needed  help  with  something  like  this  but  but  didn't  want  the  "proper"  people  to  know,  Alastor  was  your  guy.

💀  He  pretty  much  got  his  radio  job  by  accident.  He  picked  this  up  due  to  a  performance  he  did  in  a  club.  Song  and  dance  had  always  been  among  Alastor's  talents  but  he  ended  up  really  enjoying  the  radio  gig  and  stuck  to  it.  Racism  of  the  time  meant  it  was  hard  for  POC  to  get  good,  stable  positions  in  the  community  but  radio  worked  perfectly  for  Alastor  as  no  one  could  actually  see  him  to  realize  he  was  anything  but  the  normal  assumption  of  well  bred  white  man.

💀  Alastor's  death  wasn't  as  "simple"  as  a  hunter  mistook  him  for  a  deer.  Yes,  the  reason  Alastor  was  out  on  the  swamp  that  day  was  because  he  was  discarding  remains,  but  he  wasn't  "mistaken"  for  a  deer.  He  wasn't  even  "caught".  But  this  action  ironically  put  him  in  the  wrong  place  at  the  wrong  time.  Alastor  was,  essentially,  the  victim  of  a  hate  crime  perpetrated  by  a  hunting  party  and  their  dogs.  This  is  the  wilds  of  Louisiana  in  1933.  Alastor  was  confronted  by  a  group  of  men  who  instantly  took  a  disliking  to  him.  Yes,  this  was  because  Alastor  is  not  actually  white  but  he  was  also  wearing  very  nice  clothing  (  especially  not  the  sort  you  would  expect  for  someone  walking  around  the  swamp  )  and  he  was  also  very  articulate  and  spoke  very  well.  This  rubbed  the  racist  hunting  party  who  stumbled  upon  him  the  wrong  way,  resulting  in  Alastor  being  chased  around  the  swamp  a  short  way,  mauled  by  the  dogs  and  then  when  letting  the  dogs  chase  and  maul  him  got  boring  they  finally  put  him  out  of  his  misery  with  a  shot  to  the  head.  This  is  why  Alastor  dislikes  dogs  so  much  and  feels  deeply  bitter  about  his  death. Alastor was no stranger to racism, and again he was very good at using his education and racial ambiguity to his advantage, so having the things he'd learned and projected so carefully to protect himself fail him entirely was a deeply scarring and humiliating experience to say the least.

💀 Alastor  was  engaged  in  cannibalism  while  he  was  alive  but  no  where  near  to  the  extent  of  his  unlife,  in  fact  it  was  pretty  new  to  him  at  the  time  and  would  have  been  defined  as  a  form  of  exocannibalism.  As  a  demon  Alastor's  cannibalism  is  still  obviously  exocannibalism,  but  his  animalistic/inhuman  aspects  are  also  heavily,  heavily  emphasized  meaning  he's  literally  just  eating  and  taring  whole  mfs  apart  like  a  wild  animal  more  often  than  not.  He  also  has  very  disturbing  scavenger-like  qualities  as  he'll  happily  eat  things  that  were  not  killed  by  him  and  he  doesn't  care  if  they've  been  dead  a  while,  which  is  horrifying  and  hilarious  given  he's  also  known  to  be  a  massive  food  snob  and  will  judge  others  for  eating  things  like  take  out  because  ew  and  lazy

💀  Alastor's  'true'  demon  form according to me  is  more  monstrous/animalistic  than  we've  seen  in  canon.  He  can  call  on  his  true  size  and  mass  outright  or  focus  it  on  certain  parts  of  himself.  (  For  example  lengthening  his  arms  and neck or  opening  his  jaws  in  an  unnaturally  wide  way ).  No  one  has  ever  seen  Alastor's  true  unleashed  form,  only  hints  of  it  here  and  there.  I  personally  view  it  was  a  horrifying  love  child  between  the  Xenomorph  Queen  from  Alien  and  the  creature  in  Antlers.  It  has  reptile  traits  along  with  stag  traits,  because,  as  mentioned  before a  kind  of  "unique"  and  duel  motif  for  my  Alastor  is  crocodiles/alligators  and  thats  the  creature  he  can  be  related  to  more  than  any  deer/stag,  despite  his  disarming  buck-like  appearance.  Alastor's 'true form' isn't something he really shows anyone, but his shadow gives clues. 💀  Speaking  of  Alastor's  shadow  it  very  much  acts  independently  of  him  and  is  both  a  manifestation  of  his  true  soul  as  well  as  its  own  entity.  It  was  born  from  Alastor's  arcane  bond  with  the  lwa  and  his  death.  Its  technically  the  "source"  of  his  power.  He's  able  to  use  it  as  a  weapon,  a  shield,  and  transportation  both  for  himself  and  other  objects  and  even  places  he  wants  to  manifest.  Alastor's  eldritch  abilities  are  pretty  vast  and  defiantly  unique.  Its  actually  really  interesting  that  Alastor  literally  resembles  one  of  the  Lwa  himself  as  an  "enigmatic  young  man  depicted  in  red  who  works  with  his  shadow".  This  is  a  description  often  related  to  the  Lwa  Kalfu.  Essentially  an  African  god  associated  with  destruction,  crossroads  and  black  magic.  In  demonology,  Alastor  is  a  possessing  spirit  of  vengeance  similar  to  the  goddess  Nemesis  and  she  is  typically  considered  a  force  who  brings  retribution,  specifically  on  the  other  gods  /  deities.  Very  interesting  given  Alastor's  role  in  the  show  and  the  fact  he  very  much  acts  as  punisher  of  other  demons  and  potentially  deities  if  he  is  indeed  strong  enough  to  rival  them.

💀  Due  to  Alastor  literally  consuming  souls  as  I  believe  the  canon  has  heavily  hinted,  he  has  immense  power.  Its  been  shown  in  canon  that  Alastor's  powers  are  very  different  to  those  of  a  normal  human  soul  and  that  he  typically  outclasses  other  overlords  easily.  I  actually  have  the  word  of  a  pretty  reliable  source  saying  that  yes,  Alastor's  powers  are  pretty  much  on  par  with  Lucifer's  but  his  mysterious  deal  with  an  "unknown"  force  is  restricting  him  somehow.  I  believe  this  given  what  we've  seen  Alastor  do  in  canon,  the  fact  we've  been  aware  from  the  jump  that  Alastor's  powers  shook  the  foundation  of  hell  when  he  first  arrived  and  the  fact  that  the  season  1  final  seemed  to  very  much  suggest  something  of  this  nature  as  well.  Ultimately  I'm  not  gonna  force  OP  Alastor  on  anyone  but  A)  don't  be  surprised  if  this  is  canon  and  B)  regardless  to  my  personal  take  it  is  canon  that  Alastor  is  restricted  somehow.  Man  was  going  to  fight/kill  Adam  without  an  angelic  weapon  and  challenged  Lucifer  without  any  fear,  I  don't  think  this  was  a  dumb  ego  thing  on  Alastor's  behalf  because  we  have  seen  Alastor  takes  no  shame  in  things  like  retreat,  so  I  don't  think  he'd  act  like  that  because  of  something  stupid  like  being  too  full  of  himself.  I  think  his  shit  is  legit,  he's  just  struggling  against  his  restrictions  from  this  mysterious  deal  and  I'll  be  playing  it  that  way  until  we  see  otherwise  basically.

💀  My  Alastor  cant  actually  lose  his  radio  filter.  It  never  turns  off  and  its  not  something�� in  his  control  like  that.  In  fact,  my  Alastor's  voice  is  a  "separate  entity"  from  him  just  like  his  shadow.  As  a  result  he  can  speak  without  "speaking"  and  sometimes  his  mouth  movements  don't  completely  match  with  his  words  because  technically  he's  "lip-syncing"  what  he's  saying.  His  radio  staff  is  also  part  of  him  but  even  if  its  damaged,  it  doesn't  change  the  way  he  talks.Its  really  just  there  for  the  aesthetic,  however,  it  can  be  used  as  an  actual  microphone  if  need  be.

💀  Spent  a  lot  of  time  exploring  the  swamp  /  wet  lands  around  New  Orleans,  especially  as  a  kid.  Was  pretty  good  at  catching  rabbits,  squirrels,  and  some  egrets.  Would  bring  them  home  to  his  mother  to  cook  because  he  was  always  felt  an  urge  to  eat  the  things  he  killed.  Given  these  were  animals  and  Alastor  was  a  young  boy  in  the  1900s  this  wasn't  looked  at  strangely  in  any  way.

💀  Often  reported  strange  visions  and  encounters  with  spirits  even  as  a  child.  Given  Alastor's  family  religion  and  their  beliefs,  this  wasn't  considered  unusual  either  and  was  actually  considered  something  very  positive  and  normal.

💀  While  Alastor  was  new  to  cannibalization  in  his  human  life  it  really  did  just  seem  like  the  natural  progression  of  disturbed  bullshit  for  him,  a  guy  who  had  always  been  a  bit  obsessed  with  death  and  gore.  💀  He  tried  to  get  a  job  at  a  morgue  at  one  point  but  didn't  end  up  getting  hired.  Probably  a  good  thing  he  didn't.  Then  again,  it  might  have  kept  him  away  from  Mimzy,  but  given  Alastor's  Issues  ™  its  likely  he  would  have  always  started  killing  whether  he  became  involved  with  Mimzy  or  not.

💀  Alastor's  mother  hated  Mimzy.  She  lived  a  long  but  tragic  life  because  she  never  knew  what  happened  to  Alastor  and  always  grieved  for  him.  He  vanished  one  day,  never  to  be  seen  or  heard  from  again.  The  talk  on  the  town  was  he  found  a  girl  and  they  took  off  to  California  together.  Alastor's  mother  never  believed  this  for  a  second  because  he  would  have  told  her  or  she  would  have  received  letters  from  him  at  least,  so  she  always  suspected  that  something  bad  happened  to  him  and  and  her  eyes  it  was  because  of  Mimzy.

💀  Alastor  considers  himself  a  feminist,  however,  funny  thing  is  none  of  Alastor's  victims  in  life  were  women.  You  might  imagine  this  supports  his  pro-woman  image,  however,  in  a  way  more  twisted  way  a  you  could  say  Alastor's  target  on  men  had  an  element  of  the  fact  that,  ultimately,  as  prey  men  were  more  of  a  challenge.  Yes,  he  possesses  a  strange  sense  of  moral  reasoning  behind  the  killings  and  is  kind  of  a  misandrist,  thats  all  true,  but  there  is  an  idea  floating  around  of  women  being  weaker  and  easier  to  kill  and  therefore  really  unpalatable  targets  to  him. 

💀  This  said  two  of  Alastor's  victims  in  hell  were  women.  However,  this  also  has  some  twisted  reasoning  behind  it  so  as  not  to  conflict  with  Alastor's  pre-established  morals  and  sensibilities  in  his  own  mind.  A)  these  women  weren't  "easy"  kills  as  they  were  both  overlords  and  B)  he  didn't  kill  them  in  his  eyes  -  they  were  already  dead,  he  just  snatched  their  souls.  Sure  thing,  Alastor.

💀  Killed  about  7-8  men  in  total  while  he  was  alive.  Cannibalized  around  3-4  and  a  half.  When  bodies  started  getting  pulled  out  of  the  swamp  and  the  local  police  started  to  suspect  something  was  up,  the  idea  was  beginning  to  be  dubbed  "The  Bayou   Beast"  given  they  were  still  not  100%  certain  the  killings  were  being  done  by  another  human  and  not  an  alligator  or  a  bear.  These  murders  took  place  over  a  roughly  4  year  period  up  until  Alastor's  death  in  1933.

💀  The  first  two  of  Alastor's  murders  were  more  violent  and  rage  fueled  and  then  turned  ritualistic  and  torturous  as  he  became  more  focused  and  calculated  in  what  he  was  doing.  Either  way,  he  tended  to  leave  his  victims  in  a  mess,  which  is  precisely  why  local  police  still  weren't  sure  if  the  killings  were  done  by  a  man  and  not  just  accidental  run-ins  with  hungry  wildlife.  The  clues  for  them  to  begin  to  suspect  a  serial  killer  was  a  lot  of  the  men  Alastor  killed  weren't  really  the  type  to  be  out  in  nature  long  enough  to  fall  victim  to  an  alligator  or  a  bear  as  well  as  the  spike  in  bodies  found  in  the  swamp.  Ironically,  when  Alastor  went  missing  there  had  been  whispers  that  he  might  have  been  a  victim  to  The  Bayou  Beast.

[angorwhosebabyisthis]

usually when i write up posts about the talking animal stuff in sdmi, i try to tag the ones that are more coherent than venty.

sometimes though i am struck by just, oh my god the asylum thing is so so so awful, whose fucking idea was that. pretty much everything to do with the talking animal worldbuilding manages to combine some incredible nastiness re: both racism and ableism, and the asylum (which is made specifically to incarcerate them indefinitely--in practice, for the rest of their lives--instead of the set sentence they'd get in prison) is already horrifying both in-narrative and out.

then you realize that the deal with the talking animals is just recreating the historical dynamic of physically disabled people being kept as literal pets, but dressed up in the veneer of Cutesy Hanna-Barbera Animal Mascots, and it uh. jesus fucking christ. what the fuck lmao

[dumblemonchickenwing]

rant, political topic mention

I have faced xenophobia quite a lot of times throughout my life and my life included a lot of dancing around the danger of being cast aside . Since childhood I had to dress top notch and achieve more than average in order to just be treated as an equal, at least that's what my mother always told me. That means having to spend more on more expensive and uncomfortable clothing (that even physically harms your skin) than an average person in order to be seen on the same level as said average person. And being trained to get maximum score to be accepted by peers as "their person" instead of being made fun of . The reason I'm still okayish and havent gotten all the bad stuff yet that being ..of a certain [haver of physical features that belong to a certain group] entails, is because I am still sheltered by my parents who do most of the outside stuff themselves.

To name a few things, I had been pressed against the wall for my [ethnic look], I had been questioned by police when I strolled few meters outside my home bc of my [ethnic look] just because I dressed casually that time, I had been indirectly told that my kind is like a mob

And ironically, I d be okay with keeping this all to myself and minding my own business, but I had faced some political people who'd hop to me with assumptions about what I am and tried to lecture me on "how hard poc people have it", so I feel bitter. I also feel bitter that I had to disclose some parts of myself that i'd rather keep secret, but for some people I guess you don't deserve decency unless you reveal personal information to them. I realize I often feel the need to draw my oc specifically to look [a certain way] bc im afraid people are going to assume things about me again.

Overall my bitter experience and some people ive heard of caused me to not believe overzealous political people on here, because they often attack the ones they claim to "support" and say a lot of stuff that is very unfair to those they deem "oppressive"

[the-moogle-of-your-nightmares]

important caveat: is the reason for which they changed their views and started doing better something that started them on the path to doing better, or is it something they only care about insofar as the specific thing that appealed to them is a factor, and once that's removed from the equation are they fine with continuing to do harm?

are they fine with fatshaming and misgendering people they don't like? do they treat being a knowledgeable, inclusive, generally decent ally--not just re: representation, but irl--as a novelty expansion pack for their blorbos, then lose interest when they move on to something else? do they do so for approval and to feel good about themselves, only to throw fits and backpedal when they realize that involves discomfort, work, or self-accountability? do they Learn About an Issue because their partner/close friend/etc falls into that group, only to go straight back to being a bigot after they break up (or whiplash harder into the bigotry out of spite, even)?

or do they take it as a wakeup call to be a better, more compassionate person? do they take the opportunity to make use of what they have, however it ended up in front of them? do they still use this kind of thing as a cue to examine whether there are other avenues of growth that they would do well to open themselves up to, instead of relying solely on that one?

i have an ex-friend who was deeply emotionally abusive, and whose abuse this dynamic featured prominently in. she gaslit me so thoroughly that it was frightening to read what i was saying in response to her--what i was accepting as truth--when i was looking back over things to unpack them after the fact. and as soon as i left her life, she swan dived straight into the queerphobia, racism,* radfem bullshit, and general nastiness she'd been just barely pretending to care about while she was friends with me.

and being friends with her saved me from what could easily have been a spiral into radfeminism, because she was aroace on the tail of ace discourse. it shook me right to my core when i realized one day that i'd hurt someone close to me, at a moment when she needed support, because of a radfem talking point i'd picked up. it turned my shit right around, and surprise surprise i continued to give a shit about being an ally to aspecs after we split ways and i realized how awful she was.

*(i am white, to clarify, but being a racist shithead was very much on her list of ~things you need to be patient with me about so i can become a better ally~ because i kept calling her on it lmao)

taking opportunities to grow regardless of what that gift horse's mouth looks like is so, so important, and it will take you far. just make sure you're actually growing instead of becoming a missing stair.

i do not care if someone learned compassion from a cartoon or a comic or an anime im just glad they're here with us now a better person fighting the good fight. should it have taken something so trivial? maybe not- but it's in the past! and this is the now! and if they're objectively better for it who cares

[professorcalculusstanaccount]

Introducing the Rajaijah plant, along with everyone's complicated feelings surrounding it. From my story The House of Glass. Follows on directly from this part here!

I always wondered what the source of Rajaijah juice, or madness poison, was. @aboardthescheherazade and @lady-of-lyon both helped out a lot with research on a discord server!

For such a key plot device in two books there wasn't much background to it; all we are told is the effects of the poison are permanent (terrifying) and it came from India (very mundane, a lot of plants come from India.). The original French name suggests it's a plant extract.

I decided to base the design of the plant off of datura. I've read some pretty horrifying recollections of datura trips, and these trips can last for days. I absolutely do not recommend trying datura, the dosage is difficult to get consistent and it's very likely to kill or cause permanent injury - but it's a perfect candidate to base the Rajaijah plant off of!

I decided to make it smaller for that whimsical fairy like appearance. Datura flowers are beautiful, but I simplified the flowers to make it easier to draw in a comic or for animation!

[anendtopursuit]

certain corners of the jayvik shipping community erasing jayce's love for mel and insisting it was never real is frustrating for various reasons

the first (and imo most concerning) is the casual disregarding of mel's character and relationship (a black woman as a primary love interest! something that is unfortunately not as common as it should be!), falling not only into the incredibly common misogynistic fandom tendency to dismiss/demonise women who "get in the way" of mlm ships, but also into the misogynoir of the "disposable black girl" trope - something i implore you to research and consider not only when interacting in fandom spaces but also when critiquing the show itself and its treatment of mel/sky. similar sort of issues come with people dismissing mel's affection for him as manipulation when she's arguably far less manipulative than viktor (gestures @ the whole "he was the person who set jayce on this path the entire time" bombshell), their relationship was always mutually beneficial, and we're shown her perspective multiple times without their relationship ever being portrayed as insincere. how is it not manipulative for jayce to use mel's influence to become a councillor and push heimerdinger out etc, but it's manipulative for mel to make suggestions about the usage of hextech? would you think the same way about these actions if it were viktor doing them?

second of all: insisting that jayce's love for his literal girlfriend must be fake because he's in love with a man feels so oddly strict and binary for such a queer fandom/ship. if paralleling viktor and mel's scenes leads you to interpret his relationship with viktor as romantic, then surely his relationship with mel must still be romantic too for that comparison to make sense? bisexual erasure is especially prevalent when it comes to men and male characters (due to biphobic and misogynistic beliefs about bisexuality being "a women's sexuality" caused by "female promiscuity" or some archaic bullshit like that). insisting that he can only love one and not the other, and then dismissing his affections for mel if you decide he loves viktor, also just reeks to me of the "pick a side" mentality and, again, is weirdly monogamous for such a queer fandom. i realise this may sound like a reach to some people since jayce isn't explicitly canonically bi, but i still think it's a good idea to be cautious about how you have these discussions and any implications they may have, especially if it impacts a real life community that already regularly faces erasure

tl;dr you can be a jayvik liker and also be normal about mel medarda and meljay. please for the love of god be normal about mel medarda and meljay.

[alertarchitect]

It's always annoying when I talk to someone who isn't from the US, and they make a decent joke about the US, so I make a joke about their country in return as a fun little back-and-forth, and their immediate response is the whole "WeLl At LeAsT oUr ScHoOlS aReN't ShOoTiNg GaLlErIeS!!!" Like yes that is a horrific problem the US has but it's not a goddamn joke. If your response to us telling you "hey don't joke about these 2 horrible things because it isn't funny" is to either act like we're overly sensitive about it and/or to make jokes about them anyway, maybe you should go have some introspection about why you find horrific, institutionalized racism and/or the horrifying, preventable mass murder of children "funny," as well as why you're borrowing lines from our literal fascist right-wingers when you try to justify your disgusting "jokes."

This isn't to say you can't make jokes abiut the US! Make fun of our shitty transit systems, our "just add another highway lane" mentality, our grease-filled diets, our healthcare system, or our accent! Just leave the horrible shit out of it because not only is it just shitty, it's also just not a joke. School shootings are not props for jokes. Racism is not a prop for jokes. Stop using them like they are.

making fun of americans is pretty much always ok if youre not doing it in an edgelord “you guys have so many school shootings” way or acting like we’re the only country that has racism. but like posts about americans and hamburger get me every time

[angorwhosebabyisthis]

i've said it before, but the more i think about it the more i pin down exactly what the biggest fundamental issue is with lorien legacies, and that is that it tries to mix its metaphors while also pretending to be an explicit recreation of Certain Real World Dynamics where you really need to know what the fuck you are saying.

like, fantasy metaphors don't always have to be a 1:1 for real world historical events. you need to very carefully examine the real-world components of what you're portraying--what you're saying--with said metaphors, respectively and in the context of each other, that's true. they can even shed some interesting light on each other--the situation with the cêpans on lorien before the war is an interesting inversion of ableism as a structure on earth, and it's interesting to examine how non-fantasy, non-inverted ableism nests into that. and setrákus' whole thing could be a good commentary on Certain Parts of the transhumanist movement that need addressing, and on cultural appropriation, and on how scratch an ableist and you'll find a racist and vice versa, because Fascists is the Same. and the care involved in this process, of course, goes many times over when the thing you're tackling is a heavy subject like genocide.

but if you're drawing a straight, explicit-or-borderline-explicit line directly between your fantasy metaphor and real-world history? hooooly fuck you need to be SO on top of recreating that history as accurately as you can. you do NOT want to fuck up your commentary on What Happened Irl by erasing the contributing factors, putting blame in the wrong places, or perpetuating lies about what was happening in order to justify or perpetuate it or cover it up. if your villains are a ham-handed metaphor for manifest destiny YOU NEED TO KNOW WHAT MANIFEST DESTINY IS, HOW IT HAPPENED, ITS AFTERMATH, AND ITS GOALS.

LL doesn't just drop the ball here, it spikes the ball so hard it noclips into the backrooms. even if they had had an ounce of self-awareness about the fantasy dynamic they were creating with lorien, mogadore, and by extension earth, they absolutely should not have brought real-world history into it to make their goofy evil cartoon aliens Deep. it's fascinating to pick apart as a trainwreck but jeeeeeeesus, man.

[troythecatfish]

The fact that she sums up being Black as cornrows and Motown offers great insight into why in Harry Potter she gave her only Irish character the name Seamus Finnegan, the most notable Black character Kingsley Shacklebolt and the only East Asian character Cho Chang. Part of me wants to engage with this line of thinking and explain why race and gender are structurally very different despite both being social constructs and then I remember that none of these people actually care about that shit.

[angorwhosebabyisthis]

FSJDJDJSMSJDJFJ I KNEW PARTS OF A FEW OF THESE THINGS BUT OTHER STUFF I HAD NO IDEA ABOUT HOLY SHIT. THIS IS INCREDIBLE THANK YOU I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE FUNNIEST PART IS HERE

also,

oh my fucking GOD. i had never noticed that beyond some of the overarching antisemitic tropes like the Global Alien Diaspora Conspiracy thing--i'd always read adam's novellas as a really ham-handed metaphor for Queerphobic Right-Wing Evangelical Community--but now that you point it out i am starting to See It and WOW THAT MAKES SO MANY THINGS SO VERY VERY MUCH WORSE

mr. frey's wild ride never ends i am obsessed. i am Obsessed

Cannot stress enough how much of just. An asshole character James Frey is as a person it's incomprehensible how he exists as an entity

- He originally had a writing partner for Lorien Legacies who he shared the pen name "pittacus lore" with until two books in, when he pulled the rug out from under Jobie Hughes copyright wise and did it so thoroughly that Hughes can't even discuss the books on social media anymore

- All of his books come out of this intern ghost writer factory called "Factor Five" and there's no official record of who wrote what and who authored what side story and who edited which thing and I don't think they know. I think everything just gets passed around in giant paper stacks

- He's a racist idiot who doesn't know any of the four countries along the Himalayas exist. Especially not Nepal

- He blocked people on twitter for discussing ships back in the day which is hysterical

- HOW COULD I ALMOST FORGET THE MOST BONKERS THING. He wrote an autobiography called "A Million Little Pieces" about his battle with addiction and impulse control and his health...that was entirely made up. None of it is true NOT A SINGLE WORD. THIS BOOK MADE IT ONTO OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB. HE LIED TO OPRAH'S FACE!! I forget why he admitted it but subsequent printing have a label on the front marking it as fiction. Imagine bullshitting a sob story that hard

- He almost won a "Worst Erotica Award" in 2017 for his book "Katerina." There is a character that's killed early on in LL named "Katarina." And yes I read parts of "Katerina" and YES it's the same character. You can unpack that I'm not doing it

- Did I mention this dude makes most of his money off of copyright schemes? Because he does. That's what his writing company is

I know there's stuff I'm forgetting and there's things in LL I don't wanna unpack I just need you guys to know that this man makes no sense

[laura1633]

Oh wow i have a serious problem i just went over what i wrote to you and i probably should have stopped at the first two sentences but it gets me upset the abuse lando faces i dont even like the guy i perfer oscar, max, charles and carlos but even i know that sending death threats to someone is not okay, and it upsets me that people almost always take his words out of context like when did lando say he actually had a chance at winning the wdc this year? I've seen people bash on him for the latest race where max raced incredibly, but what they dont seem to understand is that the race's terrible race conditions could have actually seriously injured him, we all seem to forget that the guy is younger then max, less experienced, and has huge problems with self-worth that actively seem to affect the way he race's. the fact that max won in the rust bucket that barely seemed to work in favor of the guy is incredable, but bashing on another driver for seemingly not wanting to take a chance with the awfull race conditions (*please note that this is what it looked like to me on what lando was doing that race where he did make mistakes but the weather wasnt helping ether* also note that that franco, oliver and others commented ether on the weather being dangerous, their cars 'Presumably the cars not agreeing with the weather ether', or the fact they couldnt see for shit and out right stated that someone should have a talk with the fia *i couldnt watch the whole race but ive seen snippets of driver radio's and the like, so i cant say with 100% certainty that this is correct*)

So yeah i think that, if i as someone who doesnt like lando, its really concerning what some people say about the guy and as a side note none of the other drivers seem to notice the hate from what ive seen but this last part might just be me. What are your thoughts on the hate lando's been getting seeming to increase anytime he seems to actually want to enjoy racing with the other more popular (equally popular?) Drivers?

🍑anon

Hi anon, 

That’s okay, I will respond to this ask rather than the previous one (but just for context for anyone else the previous ask was about fan fiction so wan’t anything mean). This ended up being a really lengthy answer because I have lots of thoughts!!! 

I’ll put the answer under the cut and tag as anti Lando despite this really just being my opinion and I personally don’t think I am being particularly harsh here but maybe people will disagree.

Firstly hopefully to most people it goes without saying that sending death threats is not okay, that goes for any of the drivers (and various other individuals that I have seen targeted over the past few years). I also have never understood people specifically going to an individual’s social media page just to spout negativity or abuse at them, if you don’t like someone you don’t need to follow them. 

However, I am surprised that people seem to be shocked that Lando is receiving hate online as this is absolutely nothing new and, if I am being honest, I have seen worse (not that this is a competition!).

I will speak from the perspective of being a Max supporter and say that the abuse he has received both online and at track has been appalling over the years. After Silverstone 2021 there were plenty of comments from people saying he ‘deserved’ such an awful crash or that they wished it had been worse. Even this year there were memes going around saying that maybe we needed a repeat of Silverstone 21 (a meme liked by Lando’s dad no less, not that I think we should be blaming children for their parent’s actions!). Not only that but there is rarely a week that goes by that I don’t see jokes online about how Jos is the only one that ‘can beat Max’ or people posting memes about Max being left at a gas station when he does badly. Max needed a bodyguard in Mexico last year because there were concerns over death threats, he’s been booed up on the podium, had people chanting cheat at him in the fan zone, every comment section on his social media includes comments telling him he is a cheat or that his achievements mean nothing. The British media are like vultures any time there is even a hint of controversy. I don’t know why everyone is suddenly up in arms about Lando receiving hate, perhaps its a case of only caring when it happens to ‘their’ driver. 

It doesn’t just happen to Max either. I don’t follow Lewis on social media but I still know the type or racist abuse he has faced over the years. Other drivers also receive abuse - Lance for example has vile things said about him, Nicholas Latifi was sent death threats after 2021. I am sure most if not every driver has experienced some level of hate. Social media can be extremely toxic. 

Do I think any of the drivers should have to deal with such toxicity? No, but Lando is nowhere near the only one to receive hate and I don’t think someone like Max who appears ‘strong’ should have to put up with things because people get the impression it doesn’t bother him.

Whether the other drivers notice, well probably they do but its not happening just to Lando. Did Lando realise how much toxicity was being thrown at Max after Austria or Mexico? Did he try and calm things with the media or did he double down and make things worse for Max? 

As for taking Lando’s words out of context. That definitely happens from time to time, the same as with any driver. Media goes for clickbait headlines and run with them. The problem is that Lando has also said things that haven’t been taken out of context and that people still find distasteful. The comments about it not being talent and being luck did not come across well. I was tempted to give him the benefit on that one and assume he was referring to himself and saying it was not him being untalented but unlucky but then he doubled down by saying nobody deserved to win the race more than George - how can I take that any other way other than the fact he was saying Max didn’t ‘deserve’ to win the race. 

As for Lando saying he thought he could win the WDC, if he didn’t think he could win it this year then to me that would be more of a concern. He has a championship winning car and has done for most the season, if he can’t win it now then when?! He should have been confident that he could win or at least put up a good fight. I would have had no problem with him openly saying he is going for the championship. Look at Charles who is not afraid to say that whilst it is still possible he is still fighting. I think part of the problem here lies with Mclaren because they should have been fully backing Lando and hyping him up but seemed to flip flop back and forth about whether they thought he was truly in the fight. It’s hardly going to give Lando confidence when his team don’t seem to be backing him as strongly as they could be. 

As for Brazil, Lando didn’t have a great race. George got past him at the start. He made too many errors. Charles finished in front of him despite starting behind him. Max, Esteban and Pierre took a risk staying out on those worn inters, they gambled on the fact the race would be red flagged but also on their abilities and confidence to keep the car on track under those conditions. They all did extremely well and deserved their podium spots. The most important thing though is that all the drivers came away without serious injuries because over the course of that weekend there were numerous occasions where entertainment was put over safety. If a driver felt they had to pit for safety reasons then I am glad they took that step.

Lando is younger than Max but I don’t think we need to baby him in terms of his racing or in terms of giving him a free pass with what he says in the media. He is 24 years old, the same age Max was when Max won his first championship under very intense pressure. 

I think you are correct about confidence or self worth affecting him. Whilst I wouldn't like to comment to much on his mentality, to me (and I don’t tend to watch too many of his interviews so I could be wrong) he seems to flop back and forth between being overly critical of himself and then also not taking accountability and saying someone else just had the fastest car or were lucky. I think it would be really good for him to be able to look as objectively as possible about where he has actually made mistakes and can improve but also being able to pick out the things he has done well and be proud of those things. 

Overall I don’t think any drivers should have to put up with the amount of hate that they have to put up with but Lando is not the only one to receive hate and, dare I say it, I don’t even think it has been as vicious as some of the things I have seen over the years. Social media is toxic and people should be more mindful and realise these are real people - all of them!! 

Also, once again lets be thankful that nobody was seriously hurt over the weekend and lets hope the Fia take steps to act more swiftly when safety cars and red flags are needed and that they put safety above other concerns.

[a-bit-predictable]

saying it's "caitlyn stans" and "y'all are fucking sick" directly in the main tags is so grossly and unfairly accusatory. as if whatever this shit you're talking about is coming from more than just a handful of fucking racist, trolling sickos that do this same shit with all sorts of media and online spaces. i'm sick of y'all taking the worst behavior you can find in fandoms and ascribing that to EVERYBODY on the opposite side of whatever fucking anti- BS you're on.

the level of misinterpretation and misunderstanding in this fandom, of not only they story and characters in the show but fellow FANS THEMSELVES, is fucking miserable. you all get pissed off at stupid jokes and edgy troll posts and then project it on the rest of us who simply enjoy a morally gray fictional character because we, unlike an abysmal amount of way too outspoken "fans", actually watched the show with our eyes open instead of paying 0 attention and just taking claims on social media about what happened in the show as fucking gospel.

if you hate a single character/show/fandom SO MUCH over false and exaggerated plot details, why don't you just shut up, stop fucking interacting with it, and find something else you enjoy instead of continuing to be publicly miserable about it.

[wooyoungisbaby]

im being so serious rn, stop fucking whitewashing wooyoung!! his skintone is dark - do you like his actual real self or not? whitewashing idols isn't doing them a favour, it's cruel and it perpetuates the idea that light skin is more attractive and desirable. it treats idols as issues for editors to "fix". the colourism in kpop fandom needs to stop, it's so rampant both in fan photos and news outlet photos :)) im gonna come for your fuckin kneecaps

[the-moogle-of-your-nightmares]

i don't know what the community's been like since i left it, and if any of these attitudes have changed--i don't want to shit on a given system origin as a whole, there's enough of that out there and i'm sure plenty of people aren't Like That about it--but there was a HUGE emphasis on THIS IS A WEIGHTY MORAL RESPONSIBILITY YOU'VE TAKEN ON THAT'S AN ENTIRE PERSON WHO RELIES ON YOU FOR ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING AND WILL BE THERE IN YOUR HEAD FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE AND SUFFER HORRIBLY AND LOSE THEIR SENSE OF SELF IF YOU FUCK IT UP OR DON'T DEVOTE YOUR ATTENTION TO THEM ALL THE TIME, DID I MENTION THIS IS A PERMANENT CHOICE AND YOU CAN NEVER GO BACK etc etc etc, and like. holy shit dude that kind of thinking will fucking mangle you psychologically whether you are or aren't a system lmao

i saw a LOT of people at the time talking about being incredibly stressed and guilty and having their mental health impacted badly in general over this, and i cannot overstate that it fucked me up BAD. it is antithetical to basically everything i have learned since then about how to function as a system, and to get in touch with and be kind to myself. i'm still bitter about it, and i wish that was something i saw from a distance in discussion about issues with the community instead of endless discourse about whether it's ableist and/or culturally appropriative to make thoughtforms or whatever (spoiler alert it's not. just don't call them tulpas that's it).

one thing i really deeply wish is that i'd had access as a kid to the plural community and information that are more easily available today, instead of my first experience with plural community which both took it seriously and was nonjudgmental having been 10's era tul/pa.info lmao

[shsl-analyzer-guy]

In-Depth Analysis On All The DR Characters Because What, Are You Gonna Try And Stop Me? Who Are You, My Mom? Yeah, I Didn't Think So- Part 4: Yasuhiro Hagakure

I've actually managed to hype myself up a good bit for this one, despite the fact I'm not fond of Hiro. If there's anything I've learned since starting this series, it's that taking the time to actually absorb these characters and their full existence in the narrative reveals a lot more than you get just by playing the game normally, and I'm hopeful that doing that will make Hiro that much better of a character for me. So, let's dive in.

Per usual, this analysis uses only official materials from the DR series, primarily the english translation of the game. If you aren't that interested in lengthy yapping, then keep scrolling.

Part 1- Character Design

Yasuhiro Hagakure wears several layers of clothing, having a haramaki, white button-up, and his old high school uniform all on over a yellow shirt and a pair of baggy black pants tied up with a yellow bow. His old high school emblem is purposefully designed to look like the yin and yang symbol, and his hair is up in locs styled to bend backwards and stick out at odd angles.

Yasuhiro is a dual character, typically either being the most relaxed or the most panicked person in the room. This sort of duality is likely why he was given the yin and yang symbol, a symbol of balance, along with his talent. Yasuhiro was given the talent of SHSL Fortune Teller, or Ultimate Clairvoyant, and has a unique connection to the spirit world. This may also be why his hair is designed to stick out, similar to how when you touch an object with enough static, your hair stands up. In this way, we can see Yasuhiro is visibly connected to the spirit world at all times.

Part 2- Character Introduction

Hiro is actually the first character to speak in-game after Makoto's self-introduction, calling out in surprise when Makoto gets to the main hall with everyone else("Woah, hey! Another new kid?") He then continues on to be the first one we're able to identify as speaking after the class panover is completed.

This immediately makes him stick out, as this is the character the game makes a point to show you directly before anyone else- not Sayaka, Kyoko, Byakuya- nope, Hiro is first and foremost. Despite this, he fades into the background of the conversation almost immediately after as everyone else decides to introduce themselves to each other. When we get back to his introduction(one of the last ones we see), he introduces himself as someone who takes it easy, and tells you to do the same. We know from Makoto's internal dialogue that he has little to no knowledge on fortune telling, and thus, have almost no insight to Hiro's perspective. We also learn that within the psychic community, he's referred to as 'Supernova'. As he begins to speak, though, we learn exactly what the game's plan for his clairvoyance is: a big joke.

Though, he himself admits he's joking around, and invites Makoto to talk about Lemurian civilization. Lemuria is a debunked theory about a potential 8th continent that was believed to have sunk into the Indian Ocean, disproved by further research on continental drift and plate tectonics. Despite this, it still remains as a subject of conspiracy for many, and tells us a lot about Hiro's interests. Combined with his talent in fortune-telling, Hiro is someone with a fascination for what lies beneath the surface of human understanding. We also learn that he's of drinking age(20 in Japan, though this was changed to 21 in the English translation to reflect international drinking laws). He admits this is due to being held back a few years, waving it off as a 'long story' that we never get to hear.

As the class continues to talk, he remains completely calm, and insists it's all part of the fancy school's orientation. He continues to hold this belief even after Monokuma appears at the entrance ceremony, playing off Monokuma's threat of the killing game and Monokuma himself as a bit.

"Reveal the trick...?" "Yeah, cuz I mean... Y'know, this is all some kinda trick and all, right? So uh, like..."

So our first impression of Hiro is that he's a laidback older guy who isn't the sharpest knife in the kitchen, and that he's into conspiracies.

Part 3- Early Game Development

Once the game's officially started, Hiro very much takes a backseat so the story and mystery can develop, to the point where even when the entire class is talking about their explorations and what they found, Hiro remains silent, only telling the others to chill and continuing to say he believes this is all planned by the school. He appears completely unbothered by the whole situation.

"I mean, this was all planned out, right? The people in charge of Hope's Peak put this all together, right? Man, if I got stressed every time something like this happened, I'd have ectoplasm shooting out my mouth!"

Despite this, if you take the opportunity to talk to him in the laundry room the following morning, you get this:

Despite Hiro's insistence that this is all normal, he's run himself ragged trying to find out why they're trapped in the school. It suggests that his relaxed attitude towards the situation may be some kind of a facade to keep both himself and the others calm. He continues to insist upon it even after multiple days have passed, when Monokuma reappears again to give out the motive videos("Why the hell are you laughing?" "I'm just impressed at the total commitment to this whole act.") He refuses to acknowledge the mere possibility of this situation being an actual threat to their lives, even after watching the motive video of (presumably) his mother and sister in danger.

He insists on it to the point where he doesn't realize the truth of the situation until "Junko" is impaled with a ton of spears and dies right in front of him, and even then, his reaction is delayed, not realizing until Makoto and Byakuya check her for a pulse.

"Sh-she's... dead!? Then that means...! That means everything that's happened so far is real!? It's not a joke or whatever!? It's really real!? Hell no! Someone save me! Let me outta here! SOMEBODY HELP ME!!!" "You're j-just now accepting that...?"

He switches from total calm to ungodly terror, as he didn't experience the dread leading up to the incident that everyone else did. The horror renders him immobile for nearly the entire investigation, only pulled out of shock when Makoto shows him his broken glass ball.

"Did that guy totally dupe me!? He said it belonged to the pillars of history... Genghis Khan, George Washington, Napoleon... He said whoever controlled that crystal ball controlled the world! Was that seriously all BS!?"

"I'm almost afraid to ask, but how much did you pay for that thing?" "Everything I'd saved up from fortune-telling for two full years. Came out to be like... a million."

Not only did he pay that much for what was pretty obviously a glass ball, he fully believed that story despite the fact one of the named holders that 'controlled the world' was a failed emperor that died in exile. It is a hand-sized glass ball. Paying $1M in USD shouldn't have even been on the table in the first place.

Hiro goes into the next chapter still completely panicking, babbling on to Makoto about the 'ill omen' that is the items set in the display case and once again begging to the heavens to be released from the school.

"Ahhh! I've been struck with knowledge! It's an ill omen of total devastation and ruin! L-Let me outta here! Let me ouuuut!"

It's a bit late, as the only dangerous item from that case was used in the previous murder, but better late than never, I suppose.

Prior to the motive announcement, Hiro reveals that he was the one to pick up on the goings-on outside of Hope's Peak, having been in the dining hall and heard what he described as 'noises like a construction site'. It's important enough that Monokuma confirms the noises to be a) real and b) the result of some level of violence, as his provided explanations are an explosion or machine gun. So although Hiro himself hasn't had much of a story yet, he's still keeping his ears open and is at least paying some attention to the problem at hand now.

During the investigation, Hiro ends up in a much better position, now able to not go into total shock and do an investigation of his own. Although it doesn't yield many results, talking to him makes it clear that he's both trying to find something useful and trying to keep what information he does have private before the trial, which is progress. He's doing something instead of just sitting on his ass, and he's trying to remain secretive, even if he's really bad at it.

When the trial comes around, he's excited to provide evidence, being the one to tell the class about the e-handbooks in the mailbox despite insistence that he probably couldn't help anyway. Despite this, he takes it well when he's told he's wrong the second he's given a reason.

"No, she DID have a way! And I can tell you what it was!" "I highly doubt that." "Shut up! I'm telling you, I know how she could've done it!" ('it' being Chihiro entering the girls' locker room)

"She used the thing that was in the main hall!" "Huh? What thing?" "I'm talkin' about Leon's handbook, of course!"

"Why not!?" "Because Leon's handbook was broken." "Oh! Well then yeah, I guess that'd be pretty impossible, huh?"

Part 4- Midgame Events (In fact, we're gonna frame you for murder!)

Now that Taka's grieving, Hiro remembers he's significantly older than the rest of the class and decides to step up as the class rep and keep everyone calm and focused, at least until Taka can take over again. Although it doesn't last for very long, it's a nice gesture on Hiro's part, and shows some level of responsibility from him.

He's the one to direct the class to the 3rd floor and opens up to conversation about what they found, doing everything he can think of to both keep the class' gaze fixed ahead and try to rouse Taka from his silent state, though this falls apart the second Hina starts talking about a ghost.

Despite his efforts, Kyoko is the one who's really in charge here, and instead, Hiro becomes a messenger for her, alerting the rest of the class to 'bathtime' and acting as a voice of reason when both Hifumi and Taka become obsessed with Alter Ego.

"I happened to do a psychic reading for a certain famous CEO once... And that guy was seriously head over heels for a mannequin. He had a wedding and everything! And your eyes just now... I saw the same look in HIS eyes!"

"Oh, Taka! Are you back!?" "Who the hell's Taka!?" "Um... you?"

He also delivers letters to everyone in class when Kyoko has an important update on Alter Ego, assuming that the files have been decrypted. It's also worth noting he has remarkably clean penmanship, and this is attributed to his supernatural beliefs.

The following morning, when Hiro is one of the many students to go missing, Celeste sets it up so that almost everyone is led to believe that Hiro is the obvious culprit before he even so much as gets a chance to defend himself- falsifying and planting evidence, removing proof of innocence to the best of her ability, and manipulating Hifumi to help her- all with the stroke of luck in her favor that even after remembering his life before the game, Hifumi still couldn't betray her when he tried because her legal surname was the same as his first. On a surface level, almost every slip-up or seemingly stupid move was shrugged off as 'well, Hiro's an idiot anyway, so he probably didn't realize,' which is exactly what Celeste bet on. The only one who wouldn't automatically fall under this assumption (Kyoko) was so distracted by her own schemes that she was pulled out of the investigation for the vast majority of it. Even Byakuya completely fell for it until Makoto pointed out some of the inconsistencies to him.

But here's the thing: Hiro's gullible, not stupid. He may fall for other people's schemes, but he can just as easily craft his own and sell them, even when the person being sold to knows they're being duped to some degree. He's a businessman at heart, and you can't become a successful businessman if your schemes don't work. If Celeste wanted her plan to work, then she chose the wrong guy to frame. (The game never actually addresses this directly, but from a meta perspective, it's pretty obvious Hiro is just being used as a red herring, and it's all symbolized in his handwriting- Hiro is more put-together than he's given credit for, and that truth creates the physical evidence of his innocence Celeste couldn't change.)

I mean, Hiro deliberately plays up his own stupidity in the trial, taking the argument that was supposed to work against him and using it in his favor to convince everyone around him of his own incompetency. That's not the strategy of someone incapable of working out a survival plan.

"Come on, I'm not smart enough to think of trying to change my handwriting anyway!" <- a direct contradiction to when he writes Toko's name in blood in handwriting not of his own in the following chapter

Hiro being a red-herring suspect for a murder is quickly followed up with Hiro being a red-herring suspect for a murder. Yes, they do it twice, but this time, Hiro himself believes he's responsible. So there's enough differentiation to warrant it within the plot.

With chapter 4, Hiro's paranoia hits an all-new level. And for good reason, too. Not only have there been 5 attempted murders in the span of just over 2 weeks, 3 of which were intentional and 4 of which were successful, there's also a known serial killer chilling with the rest of the class that's known specifically for attacking men. Not only that, he was literally framed for a double murder case just a couple days ago, and to top it all off, Sakura, the visibly strongest person not only in the class, but also officially recognized as strongest person in the world, has been outed as a spy for Monokuma. So naturally, Hiro's a little on edge when he receives the invite from Sakura to meet in the rec room. So when he hears her muttering to herself-

"This is it... I'm going to end it today... I'm going to end... everything." "As soon as I heard that, I just knew... I knew she was gonna try and kill me! She was gonna kill me and make her escape!"

So, rather then let that potential end happen, he made the panicked decision to defend himself.

He admits to this pretty quickly in the trial as well, as the moment the dying message is disproven as being from Sakura, he caves and tells them everything that happened from his perspective. And he feels terrible about it, too, accepting that he has to die for what he did.

"Well, that's what happened. Go ahead, roast me, boil me, do whatever you want..."

Once Makoto and Kyoko are able to prove he's innocent, it's a massive weight off his shoulders. His fear and panic all but disappear, and he spends the rest of the trial in a much more relaxed state.

And once the trial is over, and they've all heard the truth about Sakura's case, he throws his full support to Hina and Sakura, unable to be mad at either of them.

"This is because of our misplaced hatred. I don't blame her(Sakura)! I CAN'T blame her! And nobody can blame Hina, either!"

Besides being a suspect in both murder cases, Hiro has another important moment in chapter 4. At breakfast on the first morning, after sharing his prediction of no more murders, he tells the story of his encounter with aliens, in which a burger that was supposedly 100% beef was beamed up by an alien spaceship. And because aliens supposedly steal cows, the meat separated and only took 30% of the meat. When he went back to the restaurant, they admitted to mixing pork into the meat. This story is representative of Hiro's own fortune-telling, as only 30% of his predictions are real and the rest are done just for money.

Part 5- Character Relationships

Though none of them are given a main focus in-game, Hiro has fairly important dynamics with about half the cast of THH. Actually, basically everyone that made it past chapter 2 has an established dynamic with Hiro.

5.1- Kiyotaka Ishimaru

Though it's a bit of a one-sided relationship, Hiro is the only character to show any concern for Taka going into chapter 3. After the brutal death of Mondo, Taka goes comatose, and won't eat, sleep, or speak to anyone. It's when in this state that Hiro attempts to get him back in action as class rep, more than once. Unfortunately, he never really succeeds, though this does leave us with the implication that he was the one who told Taka about Alter Ego, as it doesn't make sense for it to have been anyone else at this point.

5.2- Hifumi Yamada

Similar to Taka, Hifumi spends chapter 3 with a special interest in Alter Ego. Hiro is the one that tries to get through to him, calling out his strange behavior and likening it to a former client in love with a mannequin. The two of them also bounce off of each other quite a bit in the first half of the game during group conversations, and when they do, it often paints Hiro in a more reasonable light. As the older and therefore more mature of the two, he knows when Hifumi is full of shit and calls him on it, particularly when he's being horny("But he's a guy! And also a computer program!" "Oh, that aspect is no problem." "That... aspect?").

Hifumi later goes on to work with Celeste to frame him for the murder of both Taka and himself. It's unclear if he had any resentment for Hiro or if he just agreed with Celeste that he'd make a good scapegoat.

5.3- Celestia Ludenberg

Celeste frames him for murder, despite the fact that they didn't have much interaction before then. Why Hiro, though?

"Because you're stupid." "That's it!?" "And in that regard, I made the right choice. I'm so glad your stupidity surpassed my every expectation. Life must have been tough on your parents, though." "I feel like I could cry..."

Not only is this one final dig from her before her execution, it's also just blatantly wrong. Not only was Hiro not there for the majority of the investigation(by her design), but the supposed stupidity of his character she's referencing had almost no effect on the investigation or trial. Rather, it was the assumptions of the rest of the cast that benefitted her, with characters like Hina and Byakuya going along with the same assumption she wanted them to. He was almost immediately proven innocent by Makoto, and was only considered a suspect because Celeste herself kept hounding the idea.

In short, this proved Celeste the idiot. She didn't know her opponent at all, and so she lost, lying about it to the bitter end.

5.4- Sakura Ogami

Hiro's lack of a significant relationship with her is more important than what they did have. Throughout THH, Hiro consistently refers to Sakura not by name, but by the demeaning nickname given to her online, 'Ogre', due to how physically imposing she is. As such, the two never really connect, and when she's outed by Monokuma as the spy, he turns against her immediately, even when they were relatively friendly with each other up until that point. He doesn't necessarily want to distrust her, but not only is her allegiance under fire, but he's already been betrayed and directly put in the line of fire once. He has to consider his safety first, so he cuts her out with the others, though he does say if she makes good on her assertion to defeat the mastermind, that he'll forgive her("If she really can beat the mastermind like she said, that'd go a long way in my mind...").

But even if he isn't condemning her to hell like Byakuya and Toko, he still doesn't know her. He never bothered to try. So when she invites him to talk, he stays on his guard. The game has rendered him unable to connect to her, and so when he hears her speak of 'ending everything', he can only assume the worst. And it leads him to open the case of Sakura's attacker- not Toko, not Jack, not Byakuya. Hiro starts it. And he carries that guilt into her trial.

5.4- Byakuya Togami, Aoi Asahina, Toko Fukawa, Genocide Jill

Hiro has a fairly antagonistic relationship with the other non-main-character survivors(and Byakuya, if you consider him one). The 5 of them spend most of the latter half of the game at each other's throats, often for miniscule, petty things. This is mostly used as a source of comedy, with each pointing out the others' flaws and making each other look dumb. However, when it comes down to it, they can get along and cooperate when it's important.

He gets along best with Hina, as both were part of the overarching group from the beginning, and both are consistently present whenever the group splits up(for example, before Chihiro's body is found). And because Toko and Jack follow Byakuya around, and Makoto and Kyoko are the main characters, the two of them end up as an unintentional pair when it comes to group dialogue, even ganging up on Byakuya or Toko when appropriate. That said, Hina doesn't like him much, either.

5.5- Kyoko

Kyoko acknowledges Hiro's attempts to become the leader of the class in Taka's absence, and uses him to communicate with the rest of the class about Alter Ego when necessary. He acts as her messenger, suggesting she trusted him to some extent, enough to let him be the messenger. Their relationship isn't expanded upon outside of this, though.

5.6- Makoto Naegi

Despite his mounting paranoia and trust issues in the previous chapters, Hiro is shown to trust Makoto specifically, likely because he was the one to prove his innocence in both chapter 3 and 4. He holds Makoto in high regard, enthusiastically agreeing with Kyoko to let him hold the knife in chapter 5 and attempting to explain the dismantling of Monokuma to him: "I'll explain what's goin' on, Makoto. Cuz that's how much I like ya! Byakuya found this li'l fella layin' around, then we tore it apart!" "That doesn't explain anything..."

Part 6- Hiro's Clairvoyance

Despite Hiro's claims of only having a 30% accuracy rating at best, his fortune-telling and bouts of clairvoyance are accurate a good few times in THH. I'm not doing the math to see if it actually falls between 20-30%, but it is enough to be significant.

In the prologue and 1st chapter, Hiro insists that the killing game must be a prank because of his total certainty that the execs of Hope's Peak were the ones who locked them in the school. This is revealed to be true in chapter 4, when Alter Ego reveals the Hope's Peak Headmaster planned the shelter, and the board signed off on it.

In his 1st FTE, Hiro reveals he's already seen that his and Makoto's paths intersect, and that the mother of their children is the same woman. This becomes true if you get the bad ending in chapter 5.

The chapter 2 cover art has Hiro holding a manga with Taka and Celeste covered in blood, with the number 2 beside Taka. This accurately depicts that Celeste would kill Taka in the following chapter, and that he'd be one of two victims of hers.

In the start of chapter 4, Hiro reveals a prediction that there won't be any more murders. This turns out to be true, as the only other deaths after this are both by suicide.

Hiro's wild guess about what started the Tragedy was later proven in the series to be correct repeatedly- Hope's Peak students' deaths started and continued the domino effect of the Tragedy. Hajime became Izuru due to Natsumi's and Sato's murders; the student council were all slaughtered inside the school as the beta kg; the Reserve Course students killed all the Main Course students that weren't either 77-B or 78-B, and then committed mass suicide via brainwashing. All the students were killed.

Part 7- An Inner Look

During THH, we get a look at both Hiro's bedroom and his locker in the main story. This gives us a unique glimpse into his mentality that we don't get with anyone else in THH.

Interestingly, his room and his locker are very different, despite them both containing his fortune-telling materials. In his bedroom, his books are stacked fairly neatly on the desk, and his divination tools are organized, being set on separate tables with a protective tablecloth underneath. The singing bowl and incense- which work for ambience- are kept on one desk in the back, while his cards and dice are kept on the main table in the middle of the room. Meanwhile, his locker has his books shoved awkwardly into the bottom, while his divination tools are all lumped together on the top and have no separation or organization. The locker's state even leads Makoto to say that its owner "probably has organization problems in every part of their life". This may suggest that his room is clean for the sake of potential customers, or just that the lack of space in the locker was inconvenient.

Part 8- Late Game Events

When chapter 5 opens, Hiro's 'dumb guy' shenanigans are cranked up to the max. While everyone's investigating the 5th floor, talking to Hiro in the garden reveals his conspiracy theory on the inevitable global domination of the world by plants. He also gets excited about the 5 chickens, claiming the number 5 to "contain the mysteries of the cosmos" and says it's a good omen.

When he tells the rest of the survivors about the garden, he decides he wants to use the lawnmower to create crop circles, as a signal for help. What he fails to realize is that there are no crops in the school, and that no one would be able to see them from above if there were. It's this moment that Hina points out how ridiculous he's getting:

"What the heck's happened to you...? You weren't like this in the beginning, you know." "Well back then my personality hadn't quite solidified yet...!" "I didn't think it was possible, but I'm more disappointed in you now than I've ever been..."

This suggests Hiro's characterization, from the ground up, was designed to be laughed at. (That's a surprise tool that will help us later.)

When the other survivors decide to dismantle Monokuma, Hiro is the one who actually undergoes the process of dismantling and opening him up, with the only one we see helping with the parts to be Toko. This puts him directly under fire if Monokuma wakes up and decides to punish the perpetrator. It's safe to assume this is why he and Toko were chosen by Byakuya to do the actual dismantling. He also goes on to be the one to get the TV working in the data center, suggesting some level of proficiency with technology that's never explored again.

When the 5th trial begins, Hiro's panicking, insisting that Kyoko is a ghost("she's like the latest evolution in ghost technology!") and has to be corrected before the actual trial can start.

When the final investigation begins, and Kyoko, Byakuya, and Toko have all gone off on their own, Hiro decides he's going to go off on his own as well, declaring he's going to use his "totally awesome spirit power to figure out the mastermind's identity!" This declaration goes nowhere, as he's the only survivor you don't need to talk to before Monokuma's clue, and his only dialogue before the trial is him avoiding you. This 'totally awesome spirit power' is never used in the final trial, either.

When the final trial begins, Hiro is the first to make the accusation Monokuma wanted- that he was the only innocent one, and that everyone else was working together. But when Hina and Byakuya piggyback off of him, he's the first to realize that they've all been given the same evidence. Simultaneously, somehow, he's the last one to realize the evidence is fake("Wh-what? Wait, hold on... This doesn't make any sense... How can the three of us each have that kind of evidence!?")

When Junko reveals the truth to everyone, he's the first to beg for mercy. He's brought to despair- "We get it... We get it, okay? You're totally awesome, right? We get it already! So help us! I'll do anything! Just help me!" "A peasant begging for his life? How delightful! We've never witnessed such a travesty firsthand..." But when Makoto fights back, he's also the first one to embrace hope(assuming you shoot the characters in the order they appear):

"But to live means moving forward, right...? So even if it's hard... even if we're scared... we don't have any choice, do we? I want to keep on living! I want to open the next door! There must be something new waiting for me! So that's why... That's why...! No matter what, I need to get out of here! The whole fortune-telling thing doesn't matter anymore! What matters is my own gut feelings! I... I've decided to have faith in myself!"

He, along with the other survivors, votes for hope. Junko is executed, and the seven of them leave together.

Part 9- Ultra Despair Hagakure (yes we have to talk about this)

TW: discussion of pedophilia and incest. Skip to part 9 if you need to(5 paragraphs down).

Ultra Despair Hagakure, or UDH, is the spinoff-spinoff LN unlocked by completing "spinoff" game Ultra Despair Girls. It follows Yasuhiro Hagakure in Towa City as he's saved by former captive Kanon Nakajima, and the two of them try to survive the Monokumas and find a way to escape. The novel's state of canon is unclear, but it doesn't directly contradict anything in the main series continuity in terms of plot progression.

The problem with UDH (well, for Hiro anyway. Kanon is a whole other can of worms for the Leonalysis) is that UDH establishes Hiro as a pedophile. Kanon is 15, and says as much in her internal dialogue, but Hiro(who introduces himself as mid-20s) spends the LN being attracted to her, and that attraction combined with his money-hunger pushes him to stick with her, hoping to squeeze money out of her rich father upon their escape. He describes her as 'the type to have a baby by 21', and there are multiple instances of him being turned on by her, either while she's fighting the Monokumas or when she ends up physically leaned against him. All around, it's just a really unfortunate choice they made for his character that serves nothing to the main plot besides acting as a way to emphasize how cute Kanon is. Why did they choose to have Hiro act in this way towards Kanon? Simple: UDH is a fetish novel.

UDH adds no significant development to the worldbuilding or its pre-established characters, with two exceptions- Hiro, and Leon. Both become victims of immoral fetish content, though Leon at least gets the shield of plausible deniability from an unreliable narrator. Hiro doesn't get that since we see his first-person perspective. The plot of UDH is structured around Kanon, despite its being named after Hiro, and centers on her feelings of lust and desire for a relationship, using the setting of UDG as a backdrop. Hiro is an older man than Kanon, and Leon is Kanon's cousin. Both of these characters had their names and base personalities recycled to act as her love interests, as an excuse to write fetish content. It's as simple as that. And Hiro in particular suffers because he's the living and present man of the two, so to make the content, he's given perverted, sexual thoughts about Kanon, a 15 year old girl, as a grown adult in his 20s, not because it's something Hiro would've done, but because it's part of the older-guy fetish. It's unnecessary for his character, and doesn't appear at all in the next and final appearance he has in the series, nor does it ever come up outside of this LN.

UDH is a dark spot on the history of Yasuhiro Hagakure, and one of dubious canon at that. But it's still important to acknowledge that was written and released as official content within the DR franchise, and therefore, must be part of this character dissection. Ultimately, I've come to the conclusion that, due to the entire LN being primarily fetish content, it can't in good conscience be held up as part of Yasuhiro's own character. However, it is reflective of Kodaka's lack of care in the treatment of Yasuhiro Hagakure as a character.

Part 10- Danganronpa 3: Future Arc

Hiro, alongside Makoto, Kyoko, and Hina, are brought back as part of the lineup for DR3's Future Arc, participating in a new killing game with 12 new characters.

10.1- Character Design Pt 2

Hiro's design is updated to his Future Foundation uniform, with his pant sleeves rolled up, his blazer over his shoulders, and a bright blue tie. His locs are now pulled back, he's wearing thin-wire glasses, and he's pictured holding his crystal ball(though again, it breaks in the 1st episode).

10.2- Hiro's Subplot

In the first episode of the Future Arc, Hiro's left out of the meeting by the others and told to wait outside. He's then left out of the killing game and locked outside the building by accident when the exits are blown up, and left to fend for himself in occasional clips for over half of the season until Byakuya shows up to break into the building.

His only role in the anime is an occasional cutaway to him wondering what's going on inside, only to be shot at by a helicopter with a machine gun and barely survive unscathed. The anime straight up tells the audience the reason for this in one of the opening recaps:

He's the only survivor from THH not to play a significant role as well, as Makoto, Kyoko, and Hina are active in the kg, Byakuya is the one to lead the rescue effort, and Toko and Jack get a dedicated episode in Towa City with Komaru to hunt down Monaca. All this to say, his occasional bit of barely surviving is all he gets in comparison, which isn't much.

10.3- Byakuya Togami

As the only character Hiro has significant interaction with in the season, the relationship between Hiro and Byakuya is mildly expanded upon. Once Byakuya arrives, Hiro immediately falls in line beside him, following orders to lay explosives and try to break into the building, complaining all the while as Byakuya watches and directs him. It's all reminiscent of their relationship at the endgame of THH; however, Byakuya appears to be more fond of Hiro at this point, stopping him from triggering the trap in the lobby and keeping him out of danger at his own risk. In that vein of logic, Hiro being told to stay outside by not only Byakuya, but also Makoto, Hina, and Kyoko wasn't because 'no one likes him', it was because of genuine concern that he'd get caught up in something that wasn't his fault. It was because they liked him that he was safe.

Part 11- Racism in Danganronpa

As we've seen, Hiro is a character without much of a story to talk about. He's got his bit moments, and a banterous dynamic with the other survivors from THH, but even in his own novel, he doesn't have his own plot to speak of, nor does he ever receive any significant character growth in 8 years of DR history by real-world years. He is wholly a gag character, meant to be messy, stupid, and altogether unimportant in comparison to the rest of the cast. And to call this anything other than flat-out racism would be flat-out ignorance.

First off, in a series with over 100 characters, Hiro is one of 3-4 characters who are canonically dark-skinned(I can't remember if Akane was dark-skinned or is in "it's just a tan" club with Hina, Sakura, Teruteru, and Gonta). Of those, he's one of two black men, and the other is a racist caricature whose sole purpose is to die in demonstration of a 'game mechanic'(Daisaku Bandai). So already, we can clearly see that black men, as well as any other dark-skinned characters, aren't prioritized in DR's narrative.

When it comes to Hiro specifically, though, the specifics of his character- his design, his backstory, and the perception the other characters have of him- all at least partially stem from blatantly racist stereotypes. It's not just a matter of lack of rep, it's a matter of stereotypical and often outright offensive representation.

Scroll back up to see Hiro's THH design again. He's dressed in multiple layers, making him look 'grungy', like he doesn't care about his appearance, and he's the only dark-skinned character to have a black hairstyle throughout the entire series. There's a point in the game where, if you choose to speak to him in a group setting, Genocide Jill refers to him as "Afro Thunder" as a derogatory remark. Even from a character that gives everyone nicknames, this is clearly racism, as the other nicknames are plays on the characters' names ('Big Mac' for Makoto, 'Tick Tock' for Taka, etc).

While the details of Hiro's backstory aren't fully expanded upon, we do have enough information from his mother, Hiroko, and some of his dialogue in THH to have enough of an idea. Hiroko was a teen mother, and considering Hiro is in his mid-20s(23 at the youngest) while Hiroko is around 36 during the events of UDG according to the UDG artbook, that would mean she had him at age 13, at the oldest. In addition, Hiroko isn't dark-skinned, meaning that either Hiro got his color solely from his father, or his mother was biracial and just didn't get those genes. In addition, we know that his father wasn't around for most of his life, as he left Hiroko for an unspecified act she 'let go on too long,' which implies infidelity. We do know his dad was around long enough for Hiro to remember him, though, as he's able to recall an instance where his father burned their house down due to smoking in bed. Now, this may be on me, but the implication all this seems to suggest is that his father, who would've been black, left his family and left the teen mother to raise Hiro on her own, and that the one depiction we receive of him paints him as irresponsible for causing a house fire. It's not expressly canon, but it's the implication the given information leaves for the player, and is eerily similar to the stereotype that black men are irresponsible and absent fathers that knock up younger women.

Throughout all of THH, Hiro is perceived as stupid. Just about every character that interacts with Hiro calls him an idiot at least once, and he's repeatedly portrayed as not understanding what's going on around him. The only character that's ever less aware than he is at any given time is Genocide Jack or Toko, and that's because the two don't share memories. In chapter 3, his supposed idiocy is emphasized as the reason Celeste targeted and pinned a double-murder on him, and how she was able to get away with framing him for so long. Almost everyone agreed with her that Hiro's idiocy explained away the flaws in logic from his perspective as a killer. Byakuya even says as such("He probably thought that if nobody saw his face, it wouldn't matter if he was seen. Because he's an idiot, you see."). He falls for every little lie Monokuma drops over the course of the game, to the point where he contradicts himself at the start of the final trial. There's a moment in chapter 5 where Hina goes on about how stupid he is, and asks him what 10+10 is. It offends him to the point he forgets what question she asked, and when he asks her to repeat herself, she just says "Don't worry. You've already answered it." Even Makoto, the POV character who we're meant to project ourselves as player onto, goes on about how stupid and disorganized he is at multiple instances when talking to him. Not only do the other characters perceive him as stupid, but the game wants you as player to perceive him as stupid, too, at the detriment of his own characterization as a successful and sleazy businessman who's made millions. Stupid, disorganized idiots who spend $1M on a glass ball aren't normally charismatic and clever enough to be making that much at such a young age from the ground up.

And maybe, maybe, if Hiro were the only instance where a dark-skinned character were subject to this volume of stereotypes, and the rest of the dark-skinned characters were all excellently developed and unique and well, not written consistently with racist tropes, then you could try to make the argument that this was by mistake. That it wasn't fully intentional, or that the creator was just trying to make a variety of characters, whatever. But every single dark-skinned (or tanned) character in the series suffers from some kind of racist trope. If it's not this, or being a blatant caricature like Bandai, it's being a monster brute who's viewed as an inhuman monster(Sakura, Gonta), it's being an islander cultist who follows some indigenous violent god(Angie), etc. The racism within Danganronpa's dark-skinned characters is inherently a part of their characters, to the point where you cannot separate the sins of the author from the character. Yasuhiro Hagakure is a byproduct of racism, and it holds him back as a character from being expanded upon outside of what the stereotype allows so long as he's written by his creators.

Part 12- Fortune Telling Does Matter (Why we should care)

We've now thoroughly dissected Yasuhiro Hagakure and his role, or often lqack thereof, in the story. He's a gag character built on racist tropes that the creator didn't give a fuck about, and was lent out for a fetish piece. He's an idiot, a useless guy whose own creator built to be pointed at and laughed at. Why should anyone care about Hiro? The answer comes in the epilogue of THH, from Hiro himself:

"...Ah! I get it now! If there's no road, you just gotta build one! Creation... Fate is telling me to remake the world! That's... my hope! I've reached the next stage! The next chapter of Yasuhiro Hagakure's Life Story is about to begin!"

'If there's no road, you just gotta build one.' Hiro was made with racism, yes, and went underused in the source material, but that doesn't mean that was all there was to his character. If you dig into the work, you'll find a passionate man that cares deeply for his interest in the unknown, someone who researches and collects artifacts in his free time, and who genuinely believes in his clairvoyance, and used that passion and belief to build a career and life for himself. The pieces are in place for his story to continue, and if the source material won't do it, then well, can't we? Danganronpa is known for its love and attention to detail of its characters. Each and every character is designed with the potential to become the protagonist of their own story. That includes Hiro. He does have the potential to rise past the source material in the right hands, and those could be your hands. Who's to say? Maybe there's some unwritten genius hidden within that next chapter. That's the beauty of fanwork; untapped potential can become a fan favorite if you know where to look.

Afterword

"Hey guys, Sayakanalysis is taking a while, I want an easy one next." Well look how that turned out. This shit was NOT easy, not by a long shot. I've come to the conclusion that there is no easy character to analyze in this godforsaken series

That said, I am happy with how this turned out. Even if Hiro is a bit all over the place, I genuinely like him a lot more now! There's actually a lot of fun to be had with his character if you're willing to look deeper into him; that's what I want people to take away from this

Anyways, it'll probably be a nice long wait for the next one because uh. Junko is next. And V3 is basically the only time she doesn't show up soooooooo hope you enjoyed catch ya later

[artfightdramaconfessions]

A lot of weird racism going on in artfight attacks lately, and I'm not sure if I should report it at this point since mods haven't closed reports from 7 years ago for me. A friend of mine was dealing with this too, he said he sent a couple asks about it earlier. :/

Report it anyways. Bring it to a mod's attention even more (check which mods' intros in the server allow you to DM them about artfight related issues via Discord)