#wough i dont have space to talk about his other insecurities but they definitely exist

[dnangelic]

i rlly like riku's mental description of daisuke (which is while he's carrying her up a sheer mountain cliff for half an hr) bc whenever daisuke's forced to describe himself he has like..... just about nothing good to say about himself. he's lacking in confidence, he's wanting for growth and self-substance. since the start of the series he wanted to change, and during the rokuto arc he outright says that someone confident, charismatic, and able to smile freely is the sort of person he WISHES he could be. he calls himself a loser and hates how he 'can never do anything alone,' or relies on dark too much, and likewise gets overwhelmed then furious + frustrated by his own self's apparent helplessness, but he canonically has what it takes to match dark, in the end. dark isn't the source of daisuke's skill or anything either. daisuke doesn't become any less skilled of a phantom thief even if/when dark gets taken away from him --- that's all also naturally him. he comes off as clumsy and careless which is funny because it's when he's not under pressure that he loosens up and inadvertently shows off a lot of his skill, ie:

vs

+ a hundred other scenes where someone starts chasing him or daisuke isn't actively anxious / overthinking, and he pulls some incredible gymnastic move or sprints away at blistering speed. it's typical but esp when foiled with the likes of satoshi who comes off as cold, strong, and self-contained (yet actually has a VERY delicate, weak-willed and fragile inner personality,) daisuke's the sort of person who seems overly meek but actually, even through all of canon's psychological + physical torments, can behave REALLY recklessly. enough so that sometimes somebody often has to hold him back and remind him to think. it doesn't matter if he has to do what feels like a triathlon, or if a huge rock hits his head and knocks him out for a while, or if he's quite literally pushing himself to the point that he's in serious, agonizing pain for the sake of someone else. people who know him on a deeper level will be able to recognize this detail that daisuke himself is somewhat blind to --- he invests himself and his emotions completely into anything he does.