#sei yttd

[sylkiescoat]

[buttercupdemon]

Hiiii sorry for the inactivity, I've had issues lately!! But I'm still here, and today I bring you: more Satou(s) 🚗

[zombiotical]

that steam sure did release

[eveningrainstorm]

People often talk about Rio Ranger as if he's the doll version of Sei but what I find super fascinating is that he isn't, not in the same way Fake Reko or the Dummies are replications of their human counterparts.

Ranger resembles Sei on a surface level — same physical appearance, just an unclear amount older; same way of speaking. But he is unmistakably different. Ranger is an incomplete being, missing his positive emotions, but even the true Ranger is Rio Laizer rather than Sei, because there's still something different.

Rio Ranger is, fundamentally, inhuman and yet desperate to be human. He was created to be jealous of humanity and despite his hatred for them, humanity is what he is always striving for. But it is something that he doesn't possess, and is forced to steal instead. He takes clothes from the dead and uses drawings on cards to feign emotion; he is the Dress-Up Doll, Rearranger, not possessor of anything of his own.

While the other dolls based on humans in the game have identity issues based on their personhood being defined by someone else, being merely a copy of another person, Ranger is not even allowed Sei's identity to base himself on — it's very likely he doesn't even know who Sei was. He does not have Sei's clothes — nondescript and tied to Asunaro as they are — and he does not have the capacity for expressing emotion that Sei had.

When comparing Ranger and Sei in terms of personality, differences are obvious. There are similarities, naturally — besides the abrasive way of speaking, there's the jealousy and desire for validation. But in Ranger, these are present to an extreme — they're all he has. (And, ironically, this is what Gashu claims to believe makes him so human, even when Ranger's inhumanity comes through most clearly in this lack of anything else.)

In Sei, on the other hand, these traits are tempered by logic, to put things in YTTD's beloved logic vs. emotion dichotomy. Despite his outwardly emotional nature, from what we see of him he appears realistic and focused on survival in a way that Kai isn't. He's aggressive and overly casual about killing people, but he doesn't express the glee at violence that Ranger does, only a fierce desire to prove himself and survive. Sei is jealous of Kai and desires Gashu's affection, but also has an understanding of the situation he's in that both Kai and Ranger lack — he can tell that Gashu doesn't care about him as much as he does Kai, and recognizes that the way Gashu treats both of them is wrong. Ranger believes Gashu truly loves him, a fact proven blatantly false by his eventual demise at Gashu's hands. Ironically, this blindness is more similar to Kai as we see him in his minisode, rather than Sei.

Of course, this understanding isn't simply a part of Sei's basic nature, but rather the fact that unlike Kai and Ranger, he has past experience to go on. Sei wasn't born into the Satou family — though his exact origins are unclear, based on his grief for his birth father and how he talks about Asunaro ("all this shady organization crap"), it's possible he wasn't even born into Asunaro at all. Before being sent to Gashu, he had his own father, one who we don't know anything about but whom he apparently loved. He doesn't accept Gashu's treatment of him and Kai the way Kai does because he has known a different father and a different way of life. This doesn't free him from Asunaro's influence — he still accepts the role of assassin they give him and resigns himself to becoming a killer. What choice does he have, after all? But he carries no illusions about Asunaro or his role in it. He knows that the training is cruel, that he is viewed only as a tool, that Asunaro is wrong even if they are also not worth resisting.

This is a major part of why Ranger isn't Sei, why he cannot be; because Asunaro is all Ranger knows. They are his creators, who he was literally built to serve. In Ranger's mind, he is not only Gashu's son and heir, but his creation, his masterpiece. And of course he wouldn't have been created with Sei's memories — why take that risk? Why give him any sort of knowledge of a life outside Asunaro or reason to be disloyal to them?

Ranger is not Sei — so why model Ranger after him? Because Ranger is the idea of Sei, what Sei was meant to be: a counterpart to Kai, a rival, a second choice. Gashu preferred Kai, once; Kai won out over Sei. But Kai has proven himself a failure and betrayed Asunaro, leaving Gashu with no choice but turn once more to Kai's long-dead competition. Ranger is, like Sei, the opposite of Kai, temperamental and vulgar while Kai is stoic and polite, and perhaps more importantly, capable of murder while Kai steadfastly is not.

And yet Ranger isn't Sei. Sei was jealous of those — specifically Kai — he saw as superior or at least as being treated as such; Ranger is this idea taken to its natural conclusion. Sei had lost everything he had outside of Asunaro; Ranger never had anything else to begin with. Sei was a human; Ranger will never be, doomed to forever long otherwise. Ranger is Sei only in the ways Sei was useful — desperate for recognition, willing to kill, a perfect rival to Kai — but something entirely different, an inhuman machine, in all the ways Sei was a liability.

Sei was human, and he knew that he deserved to have that fact respected. Ranger isn't human and gets only the wanting, desperate to be as good as a human even humanity itself is unattainable. Of course, it isn't being a doll that is actually Ranger's problem — it's Asunaro, who view humans and dolls alike as disposable. Sei's humanity didn't make him any less of a tool as far as Asunaro was concerned, it only made him more difficult to control. All Sei wanted was to be seen as an equal to Kai, a person worthy of respect — and this is what he gets, in the end: his face and voice used as a base for one of Asunaro's weapons, while his true identity and personhood remains forgotten.

Ranger has nothing to hold him back from doing his duty for Asunaro, nor does he have anything to hold onto outside of it. In that sense, Ranger is an ideal asset for Asunaro — at least until the very jealousy and hatred Gashu programmed into him goes too far, and he is, once again, deemed a failure. Ironically, Gashu shoots Ranger for attempting to kill a participant, when willingness to kill was perhaps the one true advantage Sei had over Kai.

In the end, Ranger is offered no more humanity in his death than Sei is — they are both merely pawns of Asunaro, set to die at its whims. But while Sei dies in the arms of his brother, receiving one final act of kindness as Kai refuses to kill him, Ranger has no one in either of his deaths but his creators: in his death as Rio Laizer the dubious kindness of Tia Safalin, making his final moments full of agonizing guilt, and of course in his first death, as Rio Ranger, nothing but Gashu's coldness, the bullet in his head a sort of culmination to the favoritism Sei found weighed against him, and a demonstration of just how far Gashu has come from the father who once genuinely cared for Sei. Sei was human, Ranger was not, but as far as Asunaro is concerned, they are exactly the same: tools, easily thrown away as soon as they stop being useful.

[key-rhymee]

Charlie and Sei

[1emon-ice]

CW, mild flash! Kai minisode spoilers!

Both of them!

[daily-yttd-something]

Day 150: what the fuck?

[gashu-satou-daily]

Day 5:

A family photo. Happy father's day to the worst one out there!

(part of a series! maybe)

[kaisatouofeachday]

Kai sitting and watching the clouds go by as it rains somewhere off in the distance.

reminiscing.

[doonalli]

Hinako, Sei and The Effects of Asu-Naro

So hopefully with my previous analysis I’ve been able to convince you of Hinako’s character that was all already been there in the base game. If you haven't read it, you should as this is essentially a part 2 that which I couldn't fit in because of the image limit on Tumblr. Generally I've avoided talking about content from the past episodes because I want to make the point that the dummies’ characters have all been there from the start, but I do want to talk about it here a bit more just to add a little more and further prove the points I made.

In the last analysis I said Kai’s character is one that relates most to Hinako, but I LIED!!! I AM A LIAR!!! There is one character who parallels a lot more closely to Hinako, that being Sei from Kai’s past episode. Like Hinako he was raised in Asunaro as a child, and like Hinako he was given a small taste of affection before being killed off anyways. And both their mindsets are reflective of this too.

Both talking about being used and being "pawn", a specific word choice that only shows up 3 times throughout the whole game, being here and during Keiji's discussion about Kai, all related to people from Asu-naro.

Sei also mentions being a tool, and with that context Sara’s claim that she doesn’t think of the dummies as tools holds a lot more meaning

And to add to one of the major points in my analysis, being the affection Hinako doesn't seem to get, the lack of affection Asu-naro shows is something directly called out during the minisode.

Asu-naro's mindset of “value” which Hinako follows closely is shown through Sei yet again when he says,

And if that wasn’t enough, their humanity is called into question just the same as how the dummies were in 3-1, being treated as gimmicks.

In a way, the way Sei was brought in as a rival to bring Kai up also mirrors the way Hinako was an agent placed into the dummies assumedly to push the death game forward (as she claims Mai may have done, which could be seen as projection)

The parallels are clear between Sei and Hinako, and these connections continue onto the doll Rio Ranger as well.

Obviously Rio watched as the real Hinako died, beating her corpse out of jealousy upon realising she didn’t value her life, and specifically refusing to wear any clothes from her corpse.

Meanwhile our pink haired Hinako obviously did wear her clothes.

Already this puts some connection between them, but Rio also backs up the connection between affection and humanity with his death.

And Gashu’s denial of this (along with the Asunaro executive in the Past Episode) shows that the lack of humanity through affection in Asu-naro is a consistent thing, especially in the younger members. 

Considering all that the fact Hinako was finally able to find that affection means even more, and the fact that she was able to break out of this bubble for a moment, only to be dragged back in just adds to her tragedy, especially since we’ve seen Kai be able to escape Asu-naro’s grasps even in his final moments. The fact Hinako was denied that by Midori even after coming so far shows the dark core of Asu-naro at full force and tells us so much about Hinako herself to be able to grow from there.

[corvidcrowned]

So about those Satous.

[sylkiescoat]

Kai minisode spoilers under cut

He makes me so pained and ugghh. What’s the painful and relatable this-person-is-a-part-of-me equivalent of a comfort character. He’s like a weird cat or something

[buttercupdemon]

KAI MINI EPISODE SPOILERS

Currently thinking about the fact that Kai only gets violent towards Miley after she starts mocking Kanna.

After she deliberately made her remember her sister's death.

Toying with Kanna's survivor guilt and blaming it on her.

After her sibling died right in front of her.

So I'm thinking...considering the parallels, it makes sense that this was the thing that triggered Kai's response. Kai understands. He really does.

[zombiotical]

growing up

[aubreyathame]

THE YTTD POPULARITY POLL RESULTS!

ALRIGHT i'll call the vote now.

DISCLAIMER !! I accidentally lost the first 30 votes or so. So tragically this does actually effect the poll a small bit (especially for last place winners)

221 responses! ii wouldve wanted one more because i hate odd numbers but im lazy and this is like a month old now so at least 50% of you forgot you did this probably.

Shin Tsukimi (Fake Sou Hiyori) - 224 Points, 91 votes (~13.7%)

Gin Ibushi - 156 Points, 71 Votes (~10.7%)

Keiji Shinogi - 110 Points, 48 Votes (~7.2%)

Joe Tazuna - 99 Points, 45 Votes (~6.7%)

Sara Chidouin - 84 Points, 58 Votes (~8.7%)

Kai Satou - 79 Points, 38 Votes (~5.7%)

Kanna Kizuchi - 71 Points, 38 Votes (~5.7%)

Nao Egokoro - 62 Points, 34 Votes (~5.1%)

Midori (Real Sou Hiyori) - 55 Points, 29 Votes (~4.3%)

Ranmaru Kageyama - 53 Points, 27 Votes (~4%)

Reko Yabusame - 51 Points, 29 Votes (~4.3%)

Alice Yabusame - 44 Points, 22 Votes (~3.3%)

Rio Ranger (Sei) - 42 Points, 25 Votes (~3.7%)

Tia Safalin (Michiru Namida) - 31 Points, 17 Votes (~2.5%)

Q-taro Burgerberg - 24 Points, 17 Votes (~2.5%)

Naomichi Kurumada - 19 Points, 13 Votes (~1.9%)

Kazumi Mishima - 18 Points, 8 Votes (~1.2%)

Mai Tsurugi - 17 Points, 11 Votes (~1.6%)

Maple - 13 Points, 7 Votes (~1%)

Anzu Kinashi - 12 Points, 8 Votes (~1.2%)

Sue Miley (Emiri Harai) - 7 Points, 5 Votes (~0.7%)

Shunsuke Hayasaka - 6 Points, 4 Votes (~0.6%)

Gashu - 5 Points, 3 Votes (~0.4%)

Mr. Policeman - 4 Points, 2 Votes (~0.3%)

Hinako Mishuku (Fake) and Megumi Sasahara - 3 Points - 2 Votes (~0.3%)

Meister, Ryoko Hirose, Kobushi, and Touko Rikuno - 1 Point, 1 Vote (~0.1%)

Kugie Kizuchi*, Mr. Chidouin, Ursheen, Stronghold, Ryuu, Gruusem and Jin Mutou - 0 Points, 0 Votes (0%) *Due to the loss of the first 30 or so submissions, I think Kugie got snubbed of being tied 25th place but with 1 vote. I'm almost certain I saw that during early result checking, and I am SO sorry to that one person...

ANALYSIS BELOW THE CUT

Unsurprisingly, Shin won by a LOT. What did shock me, however, was that Gin got second place. I had no clue there were that many gin fans?? Where are you people at...

Another thing that surprised me was that Midori was...really low actually. I was expecting him to be second, but no...he's 9th.

Due to the points system, a few things like Rio Ranger being below Alice is debatable, but...do you really want to put Ranger in between the Yabusame siblings again? It's also insane how Sara scored a fair few more votes than Joe, yet Joe still won.

If anyone's curious who won based on votes instead of points...I'm not writing that out again. Sorry!! This post just took fucking ages to write and it was entirely because of the list I don't want to do that again... ahaha..

ALSO. REKO AND ALICE AND RIO TOGETHER THAT CLOSE... YOU WERE SO NICE UNTIL YOU WERE EVIL.

In terms of placement, Shin won 1st place for 1st and 2nd, but Sara shockingly overtook him in 3rd.

Also the poll did have some...suspicious activity. Namely this complete duplicate answer HOWEVER it also has 4 Saras in a row here which is very funny.

This is also I think the only exact pair of duplicates but I don't wanna check the data again...

Also shoutout to the LEGEND that only answered their first favorite and put Mishima. You might've only gotten 17th, but you left a huge impact on this poll because you had the funniest answer.

anyways, enough rambling. this was neat!

[susie-dreemurr]

I’ve been thinking about this ever since the Kai Mini-episode came out. I already thought they felt similar, and now this? Man…