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sunlit-haruka · 23 hours
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I am on my knees BEGGING for someone in this godforsaken fandom to draw Whit as a host (as in a host club kind of host)
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sunlit-haruka · 5 days
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how to make verdicts influence characters in an ocgram or how to come up with your own judgement system
disclaimers: this is the way i see the original story and work on my story, not an ultimate instruction. i have constant brain fog i try to sound coherent but sometimes i don't. this is very long because i was the best at writing essays in my school class and i'm a neet with a lot of free time. this is actually very long
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Judgement system
You can do everything you want forever and be as creative as you want but since you're reading it I suppose you might be struggling with deciding on your judgement system. Or you have a lot of free time like me. Anyway here's the general principle:
The "good/evil" would be the easiest way to reword Milgram's verdicts since it's after all a project about morals, but because it's a prison and a story that needs to have its ending, I would say that the possible verdict options can be boiled down to "set them free or not". Because at the end of the trials you're expected to set them free to the outside world or make them stay in the prison. Another way I'd word it would be "put the blame on the person or on something else".
Forgive or not forgive? Free them from the blame or make them live with it? Innocent or guilty? They're free from the blame or the blame is on them? In my ocgram I use "victim/perpetrator/savior", which could be worded as they're free from doing the crime, they hold the responsibility for doing the crime, or they did something but not the crime? Another ocgram with an original judgement system that I saw (unfortunately it was a long time ago on twt, so I can't find it) used "character/circumstances" as verdicts, i.e. who pushed them to commit the crime — the person's will or their circumstances. Again, who's got the blame?
In this post (see reblogs if it gets updated after me posting this) me and other people came up with some ideas for judgement system which you can use as inspiration, but they all generally follow the formula of "set them free or not" or "who's got the blame". Those which don't instead decide on the sentence in a way (the idea with seven deadly sins and circles of hell). Anything that would work for a prison or a court can work for Milgram.
If you struggle with which kind of voting options would have an impact on your characters in particular, or you have the original voting system but struggle with writing the characters' reaction to it, then looking into why and how the verdicts influence the characters in the first place can help with that.
The influence of verdicts
I once already talked about how it's as if Milgram chooses not just anyone, but those who want to be judged themselves in this post:
what being told "I forgive you" or "I don't forgive you" by a random teenager really means? is it that important? it's as if they, themselves, wanted to happen in a place that would tell them once and for all, whether they're Innocent or Guilty and whether they're deserving of forgiveness or not. as if mlgr chooses for judgement not just anyone but those who want to be judged.
What happens is that prisoners have a desire for approval which comes free with being human species, and being forgiven (approved) or not forgiven (unapproved, rejected) resonates with it. Because of that they get easily swayed by the mere meaning of the verdict. I believe that they would have a strong reaction even if they weren't given any direct punishments or benefits, however, the fact that some received mental and physical torture (punishments) and the others expected the warden to treat them in a special way (benefits) contributed to their reactions.
So, the general formula to make the verdicts influence the characters: approval/rejection + other consequences.
Approval/rejection
The way we see ourselves and the way others see us influences what kind of treatment we receive. If we lose our support system (a social group, a caretaker, a partner, etc) we have less chances for survival especially in such a life-threatening environment as Milgram prison is. This is why being accepted is important.
If you want to make the verdicts influence the characters, especially their self-perception, you have to work with their need for approval. If you have characters that don't get easily influenced by others' impressions of them and are generally disconnected from others' opinions, you have to find a way that would enable this need.
I will list some questions that you could use as reference, and elaborate on them with examples from canon (I will not cover every character but the ones that come to my mind first). These are not solid and you're not required to sit down and write detailed answers for all 10 characters of yours. It's just some points that can help you with the general question: "how would the character react to their verdict?".
What kind of approval do they prefer to receive? How does it correlate with the kind of approval they were or weren't given in the past?
Haruka wants to be useful and special because he was easily discarded and compared. Muu wants to be liked by everyone in existence because her school was a highly hostile environment where it was easy to get ostracized. Shidou wants to be viewed as a savior or a caretaker which was formed by working on a job where human lives depend on his decisions.
Whose approval do they prefer to receive? Who is their support system / whose opinion is the most important to them? (social group, a partner, a parent or caretaker, an idol or role model, an authority, etc)
Kotoko and Yuno are examples of people who are hard to get influenced by the verdicts. Kotoko doesn't care what other prisoners think of her that much and stays isolated from them. She is also blinded by her own mindset on morals. So merely being called innocent or guilty, being liked or excluded wouldn't matter to her. However, she very much cares what authorities think of her and whether they accept her as their ally. Her reaction to being accepted and then rejected by Es is almost as mentally unstable as Haruka's who had the same happening to him. They put expectations on Es as their support system and then got these expectations broken.
With Yuno, the issue is not that she doesn't care what people think of her. Her occupation was being a perfect girlfriend who adapts to anyone. The question is whose opinions are important to her, similarly to Kotoko. In voice dramas, she repeatedly says that she wants society as a whole to stay out of others' business if it doesn't harm anyone. Generally, she creates an image that others' impressions of her don't matter to her. However, her occupation was being a perfect girlfriend, and in Umbilical's lyrics, she appears asking for approval and guidance a lot, because the one she's talking to is her lover.
With that, the issue becomes that this judgment system doesn't fit her. It doesn't influence her — she didn't receive any punishments, and she doesn't view Es as a support system in the same way as Haruka or Kotoko do so she doesn't feel benefited by the innocent verdict. She hears voices and they annoy her because they belong to society. She doesn't care what society thinks. The approval that matters for Yuno is affection from someone who could be her lover.
T1: Guard-san! What’s with the long face? I know! I’ll give you a lap pillow for 1000 yen! T2: Being forgiven or not being forgiven… That’s all child’s play. That won’t warm me up at all. If you won’t embrace me, then there’s no way.
To not make Yuno's section endlessly long, I talk more about her relationships with the judgement system in this post. Shortly, if you have characters who can't get impressed by the original judgement system, Yuno is a good reference because this judgement system and its consequences simply don't influence her much enough for her to show a strong reaction. One of the reasons is that there's no support system that she desires/prefers.
What kind of social position did they have? What did people generally think of them?
How does it influence them that they lose all of this in the prison? What is their social position here and how would one or the other verdict influence it?
Do they want to go back to the previous support system and how do they react when they realize they won't any time soon?
An interesting thing about Milgram prison is that it doesn't matter who you used to be. You're just a prisoner, a criminal, and everyone is on the same position in the social hierarchy, below the warden. A celebrity doesn't have their fanbase here with them and a social outcast doesn't have their bullies here. No one knows what was the actual timeline of events.
This can make getting the approval easier or harder than before, and remembering the past experiences can influence the character's reaction to being accepted or rejected.
We see this happening with Muu. In T1 she tries to make herself look good and likeable, her behavior is generally more meek and fawning than now. Because people who were bullied by her and people who bullied her aren't here anymore. She's not hated for being a "bad person" anymore, and now just has to appear nice and likeable for as long as possible. However, when Muu gets "too comfortable", she slips and puts too many expectations on people's sympathy towards her, because getting approval from a social group was relatively easy for her before the bullying towards her started to happen.
How does acceptance or rejection adds onto their already existing self-perception?
In the canon, all the prisoners came here with already existing self-perception. Some are more stubborn when it comes to accepting others' opinions and some adapt more easily. The way the verdict, or just the way others' treat them, resonates with their own opinion of themselves also adds onto their behavior.
One thing to consider is that everyone became basically desperate for approval. Either avoiding showing the parts of themselves that made them feel rejected in the past (Muu and Haruka in T1; Shidou), or shoving those parts into Es' face to see if they will be accepted despite it (Yuno in T2; Kotoko to some extent), or waiting for the warden to find out these parts on their own (Kazui).
Other consequences
While I already covered a lot about the verdicts. I would guess that when you think how to make the verdicts influence the characters, or how we see them influencing the characters in the canon, the first thought is "what do they mean for them". You can work with this, but you can also easily get stuck. I already talked about Kotoko and Yuno not particularly caring about the verdicts' meaning for example. Don't think what the verdicts mean for them, think where the verdicts lead them. Distribute punishments and benefits.
In canon, the punishment is voices (planned by Milgram) and the injuries given to the guilty prisoners by Kotoko (unplanned). Voices aren't exclusive to guilty prisoners (Yuno), but we see that they strongly exhaust people even without the physical punishment (Amane's state).
Kotoko's actions put the innocent ones and the guilty ones apart further, because the guilty ones now think that they're cursed, isolated, while the innocent ones now think they're special. The innocent ones avoided the mental and physical torture, but they see others receiving it. They're lucky that they weren't given it. Muu mocks Fuuta for his head being injured, because she's lucky, she can allow herself to find it unserious. Shidou is developing a god complex because he's safe and can now decide what to do with human lives. Kotoko was chosen by Es to be their ally, she's the most special of all to the point she can distribute punishments.
Social isolation is also sort of a punishment, though it happened mostly to the guilty prisoners, Mahiru didn't get it despite being guilty and Kotoko got it despite being innocent. So this might not depend on the verdicts in particular.
If you don't want to give direct punishments or benefits, then merely the way the character gets treated by others based on their verdict can work as a punishment or a benefit. As I said previously:
The way we see ourselves and the way others see us influences what kind of treatment we receive. If we lose our support system (a social group, a caretaker, a partner, etc) we have less chances for survival especially in such a life-threatening environment as Milgram prison is. This is why being accepted is important.
How does the character's verdict make others treat them? How does their social position in the prison change? Would they get isolated, accepted, or idolized?
How would they treat a person who got one or the other verdict? How would they treat a person with the same verdict as them?
Your own system
These are a few more random recommendations for deciding on your own judgement system. Again these are not guidelines and are just what I used when wording mine and coming up with more options in the already mentioned post.
Is there a pattern between your characters on what would make them feel accepted or rejected?
The people in canon Milgram are united by the feeling of guilt and social isolation of some sort, which is why innocent/guilty works for them. In my ocgram, the feeling of guilt doesn't matter as much because I erased memories of these people, but it focuses on social dynamics (or so is my intention) and some other things (spoiler-ish) which is why victim/perpetrator/savior works for them.
Observe the way people vote with canon Milgram.
I came up with the "victim/perpetrator/savior" system watching people trying to play chess in T2. Because it felt like actual innocence/guilt don't matter anymore but rather who will hurt, who will get hurt, and who will save others from the pain.
Many people vote not forgive while forgiving and vice versa because they're pursuing other things in the plot. For example, trying to make the character share more information or to change their mindset on the crime.
Believing that the character can get another chance and change, or they're impossible to be saved. Character/circumstances that I mentioned at the start also works because many debates around certain characters focus on what is more important - the own will of the person to commit the crime or the circumstances that pushed them to the crime.
Let the verdicts be personal.
Many people aren't fond of the verdicts being "innocent/guilty" in English (forgive/not forgive in Japanese) because the Japanese ones are personal while the English ones are more suitable for an actual court. In my opinion innocent/guilty has its benefits because they mean what is the character rather than what do we do with them, and because of that the words themselves can have personal interpretations, but I understand the frustration about them as well. Forgive/not forgive would definitely imply more personal involvement. Shortly, try to search for words that can be interpreted in personal ways and which wouldn't be used in an actual court.
Leave the space for mistrust or blame even with the innocent ones.
Everyone is already proclaimed a murderer and not a very morally good person. The voting options which have too strong "pure/corrupt" dichotomy might be hard to work with because people are just more likely to think "corrupt" of everyone.
(That said, I think you can leave this out if not all of your prisoners are murderers.)
I will use some examples from the mentioned post:
Ally/Enemy and Diligent/Disobedient imply that the characters' behavior is good or useful only for the time being. In canon, Shidou could be an ally because he's a doctor. Kotoko, getting innocent in T1 and likely guilty in T2, would go from ally to enemy.
In Half-truth/Lie, I didn't use Truth because it's expected that the memories are at least distorted. Real/Fake works better because once again it talks about what the character is and can be interpreted in various ways.
Reincarnation/Oblivion, Salvation/Damnation, Mistake/Malice imply that the character did something either way, but we just decide whether to give them a second chance or what kind of sentence to give them.
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that's it. I ran out of ideas. the end bye all and remember, literally do anything you want forever, distort the original concept of milgram as much as you want and find what works for you personally and then you will find happiness
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sunlit-haruka · 7 days
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video essays i’ve loved a lot recently!
the history of dieting is crazier than you think - a history of diet culture, its phases, faces, and diet culture media by mina le
When Hollywood Speaks Chinese, I Cringe - short essay about the cringey racist way Chinese language is portrayed in Hollywood
Good LGBT Representation is Boring (and why that’s a problem) - essay that dives into the double edge sword of “unproblematic” lgbt rep
The Decline of History Channel - a history of the history channel and how it lost almost all credibility. 
The Black Right Wing - fascinating essay on Black Americans who support Donald Trump, right wing politics and why that is. 
Can We Kill the Final Girl Trope Already? - one of my favourite essays ever about the first girl who dies in horror films.
Exploring The “Gender Critical” Radicalization Pipeline - tw: major transphobia, an essay about how TERF ideology online radicalises people to the right
A Buffet of Black Food History - do not watch this on an empty stomach! essay about the history of Black American food, culture and the success of Black cooks/chefs
No, Superhero Movies are NOT Like Westerns - excellent breakdown of all the reasons why the current proliferation of superhero films is not comparable culturally, economically or artistically to Westerns.
Maybe you should stay in the closet?…Coming Out re-examined - personal vlog/video essay about the history of “coming out” as lgbt and the culture around doing so has changed
The Matrix Resurrections Is Absolutely Beautiful - an analysis/review of the beautifully executed trans-ness of latest matrix films
make more characters bi, you cowards: why (not) romance? - analysis on the current state of bisexual representation in pop culture 
Heterofatalism: WHY straight women aren’t okay. - absolutely wild essay on the complex cultural attitudes that encourages straight women to hate themselves for loving men
The Pandemic Onscreen - How Film & TV Do Covid - analysis of the different ways fictional media is acknowledging the pandemic
#rb
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sunlit-haruka · 7 days
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video essays about horror, fear and dread
Films That Feel Like Bad Dreams
The Nightmare Artist
Fear of Big Things Underwater
Control, Anatomy, and the Legacy of the Haunted House
House of Leaves: The Horror Of Fiction
The History of Insane Asylums and Horror Movies
The Saddest Horror Movie You’ve Never Seen
Fear of Forgetting
Slender Man: Misunderstanding Ten Years Of The Internet
The Real Reason The Thing (1982) is Better than The Thing (2011)
The Bizarre Clown Painting No One Fully Understands
The Little Book of Cosmic Horrors
The Disturbing Art of A.I.
Fear of Depths
Goya’s Witches
David Lynch: The Treachery of Language
The True History That Created Folk Horror
The Existential Horror of David Cronenberg’s Camera
more under the cut
Keep reading
#rb
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sunlit-haruka · 7 days
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Video essays that make me go “oh, so you’re like smart smart”
Elon Musk and Grimes: A Retrospective
Bo Burnham vs. Jeff Bezos
The Systemic Abuse of Celebrities
Lana Del Rey: the pitfalls of having a persona
we need to talk about Call Me By Your Name
MYTH OF THE AUTEUR: Stanley Kubrick vs David Lynch
In Search Of A Flat Earth
Envy
The Commodification of Black Athletes
The Lies Of The Lighthouse
The Green Knight: The Uncanny Horror of Masculinity
Time Loop Nihilism
How Bisexuality Changed Video Games
The Golden Age of Horror Comics - Part 1 (Part 2)
Weighing the Value of Director’s Cuts | Scanline
The True Horror Of Midsommar
Keep reading
#rb
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sunlit-haruka · 7 days
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Alright hope everyone is having a nice day with the Kotoko guilty verdict!
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Look at our guilty queen hehe. Ok, now for a little rant that I feel the need to do before trial 3.
I am seeing a lot of people commemorating the guilty vote. And I agree with them! I have been voting her guilty as well! And although I am also crying in the corner I am celebrating too. This is fine, there is nothing wrong with it. Although there are people laughing and saying deserved already. Which... Yeah, it is deserved. This is not my problem. My problem is how some of these people will react later.
Listen. You are free to say whatever you want. You are entitled to that. This is the internet, you are free to hate a character for whatever reason you want. You are free to talk shit for whatever reason you want. However it doesn't mean I need to like it. And something that really worries me is the reaction of some people to when T3 comes around.
As almost everyone knows this guilty verdict will deeply impact Kotoko. Whether she'll lash out in anger or simply shut herself out is yet to be seen. However there is something I think everyone agrees with. Kotoko is not making it through this trial unscathed. Either the psychological torture will get to her or she might be physically injured (either by her own hand or someone else's) OR BOTH.
Whatever her T3 sprite will look like, it won't be pretty. Whatever the trial commencement announcement will say happened, it won't be pretty. And that's my problem. Because if so many people are laughing at her face right now, how will they react when they show us a Kotoko who has clearly gone through pain and suffering.
"Hah deserved"
"Serves her right"
"Should have been hurt more"
"How ironic maybe now she understands"
"Not so nice now is it?"
"Justice has been served"
And... Yeah. This makes sense. She had it coming. But... Are you really happy someone is suffering? Are you really wishing for them to suffer more? (Hell I have even seen some people wish she does SH) It's all so... Cruel. And I would be lying if I didn't say that it will upset me a little.
First of all I want to say that I do believe there are some people who deserve to suffer. Having said that... Kotoko is not one of them. None of the 10 prisoners are. And yet here we are. What people that will make those comments fail to realise (and trust me they WILL make them) is that... Well, for starters if you despise her so much maybe don't... Become like her? She is a direct mirror to the audience. How people fail to see this baffles me every time. She even says it herself!
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People you are getting called out!
But that's not even what annoys me the most. Is the fact these people act like Kotoko is this cocky bastard who needs to be taken down a peg, who is soooooo sure of herself. Who is just having fun, who doesn't understand what suffering the others are going through.
But this is wrong? Kotoko is not that self assured. She acts confident to cope with the fact... Well that she is not confident at all. That she is afraid of herself. Surely if she keeps clinging to her morals everything will be okay and she will stop hurting. Except that no. All she does is make things worse. Look at these answers for crying out loud.
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She is constantly putting herself through pain. She disregards her own emotions. She pushes everyone away. She only sees herself as a tool. She believes she will never be able to rest, that at the end of the day her goal of stopping all evil is unachievable. She even admits to liking the other prisoners but having to ignore that connection, sever it, just so she can keep up this sorry "mission for justice" that she can't run away from.
If you want Kotoko to suffer, let me tell you something. She already is. She has been like this, allegedly, ever since she was 12. This is not healthy. This is not fine. She is actively hurting herself.
So why are you happy about it? Why are you wishing for more?
Yes, all of these stupid decisions are her fault. She led herself into this. The fact she is suffering does not justify the suffering she has caused to others. But that's the point of her character. She is tragic because of it. She is flawed. But I don't think she deserves to suffer more because of this. It's just perpetuating this stupid cycle. She is not an irredeemable monster despite what she herself thinks. She is more complicated than that! It just feels so disheartening that Kotoko doesn't even get a second consideration from most people. That they will actually enjoy the fact she is in pain when she hasn't known anything but that. That they'll mock her for ending up like this.
Not to mention how much she already despises all her actions. Sorry to break it to you but no matter how big of a Kotoko hater you consider yourself, you'll never beat her.
I am sorry. It's just a behaviour that I really dislike, but it's not like people aren't free to say that anyways... It will happen and it will upset me. I'll obviously not say anything to these people since again you are free to say whatever you want. I just wanted to share my thoughts on this matter.
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sunlit-haruka · 8 days
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Someone should go up to Amane and show her Lacey's Petshop and watch as she proceeds to stare at a wall for three hours
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sunlit-haruka · 11 days
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Here's the context for what I'm about to ask So in a Danganronpa setting, between the ten Milgram prisoners
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sunlit-haruka · 11 days
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I've been rewatching Danganronpa V3 recently, and I cannot understate how much I need to see the Milgram prisoners in a Danganronpa trial
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sunlit-haruka · 12 days
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I will just be existing, and then the image of Whit Young in booty shorts will infiltrate my brain with a vine boom
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sunlit-haruka · 19 days
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I swear Muu got that Junko Enoshima ass hair color because I cannot tell what her hair color is actually supposed to be for the life of me
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sunlit-haruka · 21 days
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Happy Anniversary CH2-11, you will always be famous
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sunlit-haruka · 21 days
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This visual made me crack the hell up so now I'll share it with you
Trial 1 - 006 Voting Notice
Have I ever said you’re the best warden that I could ever ask for, Ego-chan? I’m saying it now, then! The trials have been going really smoothly. I’m happy to see you being that responsible, he-he.
Oh, right, talking about the trials– Prisoner 006, Kawai Chise. As always, you need to decide whether she’s a Victim, a Perpetrator or a Savior. 
It seems she really wants you to find out about her secrets, huh? If you look closely into the interrogation, memory reports from her dreams, and the extraction of your dreams, I’m sure you’ll be able to see them.
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If you have any thoughts on the character and their case, you can send them in any place where I can see (asks, submissions, comments, separate posts with tagging me, anything you want). 
Voting period: April 7 — June 7
You can change your vote during the voting period.
Form for voting | See current voting
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sunlit-haruka · 22 days
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Honestly, I think that if Kotoko doesn't have any kind of tragic backstory or deep-ridden trauma and did have a relatively normal upbringing like she says she does, it will probably heighten my enjoyment of her character and her narrative even more. I've said it before and I'll say it again, my favorite thing about Kotoko's narrative and role in the story and why she is my favorite prisoner is the fact that she is the perfect encapsulation of what I think Milgram is trying to teach. It is unfair to put her, or any of these prisoners into boxes of good and bad because both are cruel oversimplifications that only serve to dehumanize them regardless of if the audience's intentions are good or bad. By dehumanizing them and partaking in the fucked up justice system that is Milgram, you are emotionally distancing yourself from them. When you emotionally distance yourself from these people, you become more ignorant to the possibility that you could do the very thing that they're doing. That Haruka, Yuno, Fuuta, Muu, Shidou, Mahiru, Kazui, Amane, Mikoto, and especially Kotoko could all be you and you won't know it before it is too late. That is why even within this system that pushes black-and-white nuance-less thinking, the narrative itself encourages you to look beyond the surface depiction of these prisoners that we are presented with. Because in the words of one Will Wood - "If you were in my shoes, you'd see I wear the same size as you" But what does any of that have to do with Kotoko and her backstory? Well, @/archivalofsins / Gunsli made a very good post that explains exactly what I'm going to talk about in more depth, but I'll give it a rundown nonetheless. It would be very easy for someone to look at a person who has gone through tragedy or trauma who has done bad things, and say in response: "See, I can't become like that because she is abnormal. I could never do that, that would never happen to me.". Now I would hope that you don't need me to tell you that this way of thinking is a white lie cake rich with ableist frosting, but that is a discussion dug into by Gunsli's post. And I do believe, if Kotoko is revealed to have a tragic traumatic backstory, this will happen to her. Because it happened to Amane. And that is why Kotoko having a 'normal life' would be so important to me and, in my opinion, heighten her already amazing narrative and writing. Her role in the story is to be a audience parallel, she is an embodiment of the system and mindset Milgram as a story criticizes and her actions are a direct consequence of our involvement in it. Milgram is already not subtle about this fact, but Kotoko's ordinary upbringing is the thing that fully hammers the nail in the wood. Anyone can become like Kotoko Yuzuriha, trauma or not. Her beliefs, her bigotry, her fascism, her violence, and her fantasy to be the chivalrous hero who protects the weak are not things that are alien or only things that form within an "abnormal" brain. In fact, they are very normal things that a lot of normal people across the globe perpetuate wholeheartedly whether they realize it or not. Kotoko isn't some one-of-a-kind individual She is literally just a girl
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sunlit-haruka · 22 days
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I wonder if I should get into Alien Stage lmao
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sunlit-haruka · 23 days
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Y'know, so many of Kotoko's questions have been some variant of "What the FUCK are you doing girl" and part of me wonders if that's intentional
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sunlit-haruka · 24 days
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Shidou is 'look at that high-waisted man he got feminine hips' core
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