#wondering if the three jokers thing is more of an extended metaphor when it comes to zdarsky???

[clownprince]

i didn't realize this until i was rereading zdarsky's run a while ago, but the designs of the jokers here aren't random; the one on the left is the design from the killing joke, the middle is joker war, and the right is from batman beyond: return of the joker -- or, in other words: past, present, future (past/present/future is a significant theme in zdarsky's batman works so far) which also might be why the left joker calls him batman and the middle calls him bruce (it's post-identity reveal).

[my-mystic-messenger]

Why Rika is poorly executed character and villain

See, here is the thing - and please don’t take it the wrong way - but in a fandom like Mystic Messenger where the fanbase is predominantly underaged, the general consensus tends to be off, in my opinion.

People say that there is no right and wrong in opinions and to some extend that’s true. What someone else thinks is bad can be golden to you, however there is a difference to personal opinion and critical one. Critically speaking, I don’t think Rika is a well executed character or villain and here’s why:

Writing:

So to explain my point for why I think Rika is a poorly written character and villain I will use a list I found of what makes a good villain as well as villains from other movies that I would actually consider good villains. Let’s start by determining what the most important thing is for a good villain: their motivation! Why they act the way they act can make or break a villain, because it does so much more then tell you why they do it. The motivation gives you their backstory and makes them human and relatable, which is very important. A really good villain, in my opinion, has to be so clever and manipulative it will make you question your own morals. A good example of such a villain would be Light Yagami from Death Note, who despite being a serial killer of unimaginable magnitude still has a large fanbase and many people who support what he did, in fiction as well as in our world. His motivation is to actually do good and the nice thing about Light is, that he does not have one of those silly, over the top backstories. He’s just a cop’s kid who saw how the system never allowed his father to actually safe people, so he takes matters into his own hands. However, there are even villains who have absolutely no motivation or known backstory and are still highly enjoyable, I call them the psychotics. It is something that is much harder to pull off and often times fails, but if done right can be amazing. Best example; the Joker. We know nothing of his past and even the bits and pieces of his ‘traumatic childhood’ he tells us about are presumed to be lies and manipulation. Because he is psychotic with no motivation other than chaos he’s unpredictable and keeps us on his toes. Rika, on the other hand, is neither of those despite trying to be both. She is definitely psychotic and with a twisted mind, but she isn’t the 'fun’ kind like the Joker and she most certainly isn’t as clever about it or half as unpredictable. He actions are foreseeable and have been done over and over before. Be it her torturing and manipulating vulnerable people into her personal slaves or the whole shtick of I’ll try to make everyone you care for believe I’m actually the good and innocent person in all of this to make you look bad. I mean “The important thing is not to discredit her message, but discredit her” is literally a quote from the Handmaid’s Tale. A book written in 1985 that in one sentence summarizes Rika’s obviously unoriginal actions. Then of course there is this whole thing about wanting to allow people to be their dark selves, but yet again has been done and done better. That’s kind of a Lucifer thing to do, in every media ever created, and Rika does it poorly as well. Again, she says she does it for others – which would be a Light thing to do – but actually does it for herself – which would be a Joker thing to do – because she can’t handle her own darkness. However she doesn’t do it for fun, she does it because she’s weak which discredits her as a villain immediately. Also, let’s be real, what has Rika really achieved? She started a cult, sure, but she never tried to actively harm the RFA. She didn’t have some kind of greater plan beyond trying to get them to Mint Eye where they’d mostly live peacefully. What she did was manipulate a bunch of innocent, mentally unstable people into joining a cult. Even in a hero-villain story of a smaller frame like Mystic Messenger that’s hardly interesting. Scientology does the same thing and I don’t call them villains, just idiots.

Motivation isn’t all, of course. Remember how motivation gives us backstory? It does in Rika’s case too, sadly as I mentioned before Rika is a walking, talking cliché. Boohoo, my parents didn’t love me and I was bullied at school. Haven’t heard that one before. 

Beyond her ‘tragic backstory’ being unimaginative as hell, the whole things is also highly convoluted, messily executed, rather unrealistic despite being such a simple premise and beyond all that does not excuse any of her actions. Like no offense, but people who choose to adopt a child – which is a messy and expensive process usually very carefully planned and thought through – abusing said child doesn’t make sense. Not to mention that there would be social workers checking on them regularly. Also, honey, this is a bit personal but I was physically and verbally abused by my mother my whole life. I was bullied in school until I graduated and I too am mentally ill. It still doesn’t make me relate to Rika and her bullshit at all. Those things usually make people kinder, because they know better than to mistreat others the same way they were mistreated or it makes them aggressive and lash out. Rika again tries to be both and fails at being both. At this point I’d also like to add that for a website like Tumblr where everything has to be PC and unproblematic, I find it quite strange that a mentally ill person like Rika is allowed to call her mental illness a bad, evil darkness. Just saying. Then again, motivation and backstory aren’t everything. Neither Moriarty nor the Joker have those and they are still some of the best villains in history. There are other traits a villain should have and I have a list. Let’s have a look:

✓convinced they’re the good guy

✘ has many likeable qualities

✓a worthy enough opponent to make your hero look good

✘ you like when they are on stage/appear

✓clever and accomplished enough that people must lend him begrudging respect

✓can’t be a fool or a bumbler

✓has many of the same characteristics of the hero, but they’re misdirected

✓should occasionally be kind, and not just for show

✓can be merciless, even to the innocent

✓persuasive

✓stop at nothing to get what they want

✓proud, deceitful, vengeful

✓jealous, especially of the hero

Now looking at this you might say hey, Rika has a lot of those! That makes a good villain right?! Wrong, because Rika has a lot of those! This is like checking off a very obvious bullet point list to make sure you got everything right.

That is precisely why Rika is so goddamn flat and boring, because someone sat down, made sure to stuff everything from this list into a character and call it a day. Worst of all, not only do they follow a well-known grid, they aren’t even innovative about it.

I could go into detail about all the things on the list she does have, but then again sadly enough, those speak for themselves and there is very little to elaborate on. I mean the fact that I cannot elaborate on bullet points already gives away just how poorly the character is constructed.

However, there are two things not checked off that are rather important to talk about and in my opinion outweigh most of the other bullet points anyway: “Likeable qualities” and “liking when they appear in the story.” Neither of which can be said for Rika. Name one (1), likeable trait Rika has. I can’t think of a single good thing about her, not a single one. She isn’t funny – like the Joker or Loki – she isn’t extraordinary intelligent – like Hannibal or Moriarty – and she doesn’t make you question your morals like Light or hell Jigsaw if you will. Beyond being a cliché villain, she’s also a failure as a character. Ever character, even the worst villain, have likeable traits. Rika has none. She literally doesn’t have a personality, if you think about it. All there is to her is her tragic backstory, her mental illness and her darkness. That’s it. As for liking when they appear, you better believe that whenever Stayin’ Alive plays I think of Moriarty or that I care more about Loki than I ever did about Thor. Whenever I got a VN with Rika I rolled my eyes and tried to get through it as fast as possible. She was boring, repetitive and talked in this silly metaphors that were so utterly basic I’m sure that if I dug through my writing during primary school or early teens I’d find something similar. She sounded more like an angsty teenager than a well through out villain. So to summarize, before the writing part gets even longer, she is hardly original, has no abilities of her own and instead uses goons for all her work, has no personality and no redeeming traits. What usually makes the movies and shows interesting – hero and villain going head to head – was by far the worst part of the V route. If I ever have to read a conversation between V and her again, I’ll smash my head.

Design:

Now one might thing that there isn’t much to talk about when it comes to Rika’s design and even less to criticize and there really isn’t much I have to say on the design itself, but more so the three designs of Rika we have and the changes in design and personality in the V route.

Rika has three main designs. Her main-main design – that brown dress – her Mint Eye grown – that thing she wore in the secret endings – and the latest addition that sleek, black dress with that pretty mask that still makes me wonder what the point of it was, MC didn’t know her anyway.

Let’s start with the main design. Frankly, it’s quite basic, although I get where they were going with it. The colours are all light and pastel, trying to make her seem approachable, sweet and innocent. Long wavy hair and that big bow on her chest add to that whole lolita-childlike innocence thing.

The dress is brown, because brown is a simple, 'cheap’ colour probably supposed to show how humble she is, that she doesn’t dress up herself to invest more of her money and time into people who need it more than her. I get it, I’m still not a fan of the design.

Everything about her is too light and similar in colour. Rika kind of drowns in that dress. Like her blonde hair faints into even lighter colour she fades into the dress. Compared to the vibrant designs of everyone else, she sticks out like a sore thumb and they could have done better.

Also, that whole looks like an angel but it actually the devil thing is like yet another cliché they knocked off with Rika. It’s like those little Grady twins from the Shining or ever Yandere in every anime ever. Yet another unimaginative rip-off.

Her second design, the whole Mint Eye ruler gown thing, not particularly pretty design wise as well as having a confusing colour palette that has literally nothing to do with neither Magenta – which is her code name in Mint Eye, right? - not you know mint?

Also the whole now I am evil therefor I give up my modesty and wear fancy ass clothes to show how much better I am than everyone else also leaves this Mean Girls vibe in my mouth. Especially when you consider that it looks like a pastors robe so it’s like Mean Girls meets God complex.

Again, it’s not horrible but better and smarter choices could have been made. What really ticked me off through was her third outfit, what that kind of said about Rika and how her behaviour changes while she wears that black dress.

Let me preface this by saying that sex isn’t a bad thing. It’s a natural process, it’s enjoyable and it brings life. While I personally think people should wait a little longer and be a bit more modest to fully enjoy the experience, there is nothing wrong with sex itself. Oversexualization, on the other hand, is a problem.

Throughout the entire V route I was actually shocked how sexualized the entire thing was compared to the main game and it made me so uncomfortable, especially when Rika was involved since they’d worked so hard to establish her as this innocent, childlike girl.

Be it the strange photo series that she shot with V or her dress that became black, tight and with a very suggestive cut out on her chest. Now mind you, I don’t have a problem with sexy characters, but I do have a problem when innocent characters become sexy once they turn evil.

Her being overly sexual in the V route to show that she’s given up her innocence and everything good is nothing new. Anyone reading comics or watching superhero movies knows that female villains are always overly sexy instead of practical. I just hate the message behind it.

It leaves a foul taste in my mouth that a game supposed to be for young girls basically, subconsciously teaches them that being sexy is dirty and evil. Even worse, however, is that she not only becomes overly sexy, she becomes lesbian!

You cannot imagine how I fumed at that bad ending. I really wanted to toss my phone against the wall. A previously straight established, innocent character becomes a prying, sexualized lesbian once they turn evil. Grade A writing, Cheritz. Grade A.

You have an entire route with Jaehee where you can’t romance the poor woman and never get so much as proper CG together until the DLC’s where it’s still a thing of blink and you miss it hidden romance and yet we have this whole thing with Rika.

To me, honestly, that was a double slap in the face. Being sexy isn’t evil. Seduction shouldn’t be a goddamn weapon. Prying on someone physically is fucked up, no matter the gender, and being lesbian is not a fucking trait you unlock when you turn evil.

Once again, nothing but clichés, overused tropes and at this point even harmful messages for a young, impressionable audience that really makes me question decisions that are made in the Cheritz headquarters.

Voice Acting:

Finally, we get to the voice acting. This time I really don’t have much to say other that I found it weak, especially compared to the other voice actors who did amazing jobs while having much less to work with than Rika.

Every actor dreams of getting to play crazy characters, because you can really go bonkers with it and do things normal characters can’t and wouldn’t do. You can be creepy, over the top, crazy and hysterical. You can scream and shout and then split seconds later switch to eerie and quiet.

Playing a villain properly is one of the hardest things to pull off, but also the most fun and rewarding. While voice acting makes it a little easier, since you only have to focus on your voice instead of every single body movement, it’s still the most fun and with lots of options.

Rika didn’t do any of those things. Even when she had that whole breakdown towards the end of the V route I was majorly disappointed at how subdued and small the whole thing was, especially in comparison to the actual CG.

That is why I really thing Rika’s voice actress did a poor job, because she didn’t even take into consideration what CG’s she was working with, let alone the facial expressions of the render in the general game. Her voice acting never freaking matched!

So we have a CG where Rika is on the floor, bawling her eyes out and obviously screaming in agony and the voice actress just…doesn’t do any of it. There is way too much almost calm talking in the middle of a break down and honestly I’ve cried and screamed more about series finale’s than she did in what was supposed to be a heartbreaking and defining moment. Talking about subdued and calm, I also don’t think that the voice actress worked a lot with the voice to begin with, just read the texts mostly as herself, since Rika sounds the same no matter the situation or the render. That feels out of place especially when she has that freaky render where her eyes get all black and spooky but he voice actress just keeps on talking like normal, the render changes back to her sweet personality – showing how twisted she is – but the acting doesn’t change along. It’s just a job poorly done especially in comparison to say V, Jumin and Yoosung, who in my opinion did the best jobs despite having little to work with in some cases. The others were good too, but those three really stood out. V, because despite having very little lines in comparison and being a relatively calm character managed to convey every single emotion necessary and always perfectly fitting to the render. Despite not being a big fan of V, his voice actor really tugged at my heart. Jumin, because he is such a cold and calculated character and gives you so little to work with – something the voice actor even talked about – and yet he gave him this vulnerability and human side with just his voice. The things this voice actor made me feel…oh boy. Yoosung’s voice actor literally made my jaw drop when I heard him speak in the Valentines Day special. While Yoosung was still almost a child with a high voice during the main route here he actually sounded like the same boy but older! Then I heard the guy speak and he sounds literally nothing like Yoosung and you manage to capture something so youthful despite not having that voice and then capturing it while aging it up at the same time is just amazing work. In comparison Rika’s voice acting was just as bland and boring as her character. Which is ironic, really, because Rika could have been and should have been the most interesting and facetted character of the whole game. Instead her side-kick stole her spotlight every time. Sad, but hey I love me some Saeran.

Conclusion:

3000+ words in and I have not written a single positive thing about Rika and I still can’t think of anything positive to say. The only time she made me feel any kind of emotion was when her theme was playing, because that is literally the only good and emotional part about Rika.So, after having read this piece I’d really like to know why people consider her a good or eve interesting villain, because to me she clearly is neither.