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All right! Um, okay, uh...so Connie has asked me, um, to talk at length about my feelings on Kiyotaka Ishimaru for an...um, for like an ask meme thing - and it works a lot better if you don't fall asleep before you can do it, I am so sorry about last night - but as such I am going to do this now, and I am so sorry to all of my followers who are about to be subjected to my massive amounts of wordvomit. But I will try not to go on for too long, and I'll attempt to get this down in a halfway coherent manner - and by all that, I mean this is gonna be, like...eight minutes of rambling if we're lucky. I am...so...sorry.
There are obviously going to be Dangan Ronpa spoilers all up in here, so if you're following me and you are not spoiled for up to at least Chapter Three of Dangan Ronpa then you might want to quit now, and - oh, but before you go, now is when I shamelessly plug the LP - GO READ IT. Now. Like, right...right now, if you haven't read it. It's archived, so you don't even have to worry about the paywall. (Woo!)
Okay. Ummmmmm, if you're still here, I'm just gonna start by saying that I find Ishimaru fascinating as a character, first and foremost, because he's a huge asshole. He gets better as the game goes on, obviously, and his social confidence takes a large and obvious boost after the entire deal in the sauna and he becomes a lot more personable and a lot more likeable as a whole...if a bit of a tremendous, obnoxious dudebro...but for the majority of the game he's hostile, he's snappish, he's shouting at everybody for trivial things. He's screaming at everyone about how their introductions are going on too long. He's micromanaging everybody's time. I'm pretty sure he physically dragged Leon out of bed at one point. He makes himself out to be some sort of paragon of virtue and justice and intelligence and the thing with this is he just...seriously looks down on everyone else. Like, he doesn't want them to die, obviously, but he clearly seems to be holding himself to a higher standard than everyone else - and this is why he's so hard on himself. It's not even that he's got really really low self-esteem necessarily, because he knows he's good, he knows he's excellent at what he does. Just the same, he's so fuckin' hard on himself - and the reason why isn't that he thinks he's lower than everyone else because that's Komaeda's job. But rather, he thinks he's above everyone else. The...the self-esteem, here, the...ego and the self-confidence just did some hideous reacharound and he basically...he's hard on himself because he thinks he is literally the only competent person in the room. If something's going wrong, then it's his fault because he's not living up to that standard he's put on himself - and it is a ridiculously self-centered, judgemental way of thinking and for someone of a different alignment that would be bad. Like, that could go so badly, so fast. That's the sort of shit that inspires A GOD AM I in Evil-aligned characters; this is basically the major flaw that a lot of Evil-aligned characters have before they go One-Winged Angel. They think they're the only competent person in the room - this is what makes Knight Templars.
But!
But.
Ishimaru is not Evil-aligned and that is what makes him fascinating - for all his ego and judgmental bitchery and general assholery he's Lawful Good, he's someone who refuses to use his skills against others and instead insists on using them to help everyone else. Instead of trying to divide he rallies, instead of trying to rule he guides and for someone who is not naturally inclined to do such things - and I think we can generally agree that as much as he believes in it, he is not naturally inclined. He has all the empathy of a rock. This is best seen when he asks Naegi about Maizono's body; that wasn't a lack of tact or decorum or whatever the hell that's being translated as. That was a blatant empathy failure.
And again, he's a tremendous asshole, as is seen by the entire incident with Mondo. Mondo isn't the reason the sauna was necessary. The reason the sauna was necessary was because Ishimaru was being petty and judgemental and literally would not get out of Mondo's face. And whenever Mondo tried to get him out of his face Ishimaru's response was basically to deploy some colorfully pointed insults and then gloat about his amazing willpower later because that isn't hypocritical at all. Mondo is inherently less of an asshole personality-wise than Ishimaru is - which is something I feel people tend to gloss over; obviously Ishimaru has the moral high ground as far as restraint is concerned but that is about it.
The other thing that makes it fairly plain that I don't think - ...basically the reason I don't think Ishimaru is naturally prone to Lawful Good behavior is the presence of Ishida and what brought him about in the first place - and let me talk about Ishida for a moment. I tend to think of Ishida as being a product of insanity and not legitimate spiritual possession. Dialogue can be taken either way, I will say that, but the other characters think Ishimaru's lost his mind, Ishimaru thinks he's been possessed, no one has any fuckin' idea what just happened...but since spiritual possession doesn't seem to be a legitimate thing within the Dangan Ronpa universe, and as far as I know there was not any Matrix-style Super Dangan Ronpa 2 fuckery involved with the Dangan Ronpa 1 kids. As such, I think it's fair to assume that Ishida is at the very least not the result of legit spiritual possession.
Of course, this makes Ishida really really inherently tragic, given that he's a dissociated state brought on by the death of Ishimaru's only friend, a friend that Ishimaru is clearly trying to emulate as closely as possible - and he's emulating him badly, by the way. The swearing doesn't scan as natural, like it does when Mondo does it, but rather painfully tryhard; it's like he doesn't seem to know where all the swearing actually goes. He's not even bothering with attempts at empathy anymore; instead he's replacing them with pointless machismo behavior, threatening to punch people's faces in when they try to talk to him, he's horrifically missing the point of everything Mondo actually was, and most importantly he's doing this because he's angry and he's hurt and he has no idea how to handle it and basically Ishida just makes me really...really really fuckin' sad.
But that aside, Ishida is a good representation of what happens if Ishimaru does not have the restraint he shows for most of the game - no aversion to swearing, violence, threats designed to get his way; he eventually falls into a pattern of carelessness and generally doing nothing to aid the others - he's not hindering but he's not aiding anymore. Any attempts at friendliness have gone completely out the fucking window; obviously he's hurt and he's angry, but he's directing that anger at literally everyone else first and foremost now - presumably because in his eyes they killed his brother
A lot of that anger is turned inward as well, as is shown when he asks Fujisaki - actually Alter Ego - if he hates him for not being able to stop Mondo...which is, again, an example of him thinking that he's the only competent person in the room. His first thought is for Mondo, yes, in that he asks if Fujisaki hates his brother, but his next thought is literally that he should have been able to do something that was completely and utterly physically impossible, and temporally impossible, and stop him...somehow, because that is what Ishimaru does. He is the Competent One, he is the person with all the answers, he's the person who restores order, he's the person who keeps order; he is the peacekeeper, and as such that is such an important part of who he is that it's one of the first things he thinks to ask about. (And...again with the lack of empathy, by the way, because who in the good bloody hell thinks it's actually a good idea to ask a murder victim to please not hate the murderer, also are you mad, because...y'know, I wasn't magical enough and couldn't stop the killing - are you fucking serious.)
But with all of his obvious failings aside, and even though he's kind of a dick and has no idea how to do social anything and as far as he knows empathy is probably some kind of pastry...he's still Lawful Good and that's what kills me - it's not because of his attachment to others, it's not an I FIGHT FOR MY LOVE AND FOR MY FRIENDS thing at all, it's just because it's the right thing to do and that is worthy of so much fucking respect it's insane. The idea of doing right just because it's right, just because for him it's common sense to do it - he literally can't see a reason why people would choose to be bad or evil is, while that is...okay, it's mind-blowingly naive, but it's an unbelievably difficult stance to take or maintain but he does and that's where his strength is. It's in his hard work and his diligence and his willingness to do right by people. Even by people he doesn't like, even by people he hates, by people he explicitly says he considers his enemies. That is stated in his free-time event, the fourth one, the last one - he says everyone in this school is his enemy; at the very least, that's how he considered them all. However, Naegi has shown him otherwise by the end - which is a really, really backwards concession, given that it's followed up by "Naegi, it's because you're like me and...we're...so average it's okay!"
But, the fact that he's willing to do all this for people he does not like - for people he does not care about...that is the most fucking admirable thing. That is fucking admirable. The idea of "Love your enemy" is not something that most people have grasped, and yet this poor...painfully socially stupid individual has figured this out.
And I am just going to shut up now because I'm starting to get feelings.
Basically he's an unbelievably good character underneath all the quirks and the crying and the general failure, and if you don't like him you are more than entitled to your opinion - you are more than welcome to have that opinion and you are more than welcome to be wrong as far as I'm concerned. But I will ask you please reconsider because he is actually a really excellently-written character under all that and just
Gently
Caress.
There are obviously going to be Dangan Ronpa spoilers all up in here, so if you're following me and you are not spoiled for up to at least Chapter Three of Dangan Ronpa then you might want to quit now, and - oh, but before you go, now is when I shamelessly plug the LP - GO READ IT. Now. Like, right...right now, if you haven't read it. It's archived, so you don't even have to worry about the paywall. (Woo!)
Okay. Ummmmmm, if you're still here, I'm just gonna start by saying that I find Ishimaru fascinating as a character, first and foremost, because he's a huge asshole. He gets better as the game goes on, obviously, and his social confidence takes a large and obvious boost after the entire deal in the sauna and he becomes a lot more personable and a lot more likeable as a whole...if a bit of a tremendous, obnoxious dudebro...but for the majority of the game he's hostile, he's snappish, he's shouting at everybody for trivial things. He's screaming at everyone about how their introductions are going on too long. He's micromanaging everybody's time. I'm pretty sure he physically dragged Leon out of bed at one point. He makes himself out to be some sort of paragon of virtue and justice and intelligence and the thing with this is he just...seriously looks down on everyone else. Like, he doesn't want them to die, obviously, but he clearly seems to be holding himself to a higher standard than everyone else - and this is why he's so hard on himself. It's not even that he's got really really low self-esteem necessarily, because he knows he's good, he knows he's excellent at what he does. Just the same, he's so fuckin' hard on himself - and the reason why isn't that he thinks he's lower than everyone else because that's Komaeda's job. But rather, he thinks he's above everyone else. The...the self-esteem, here, the...ego and the self-confidence just did some hideous reacharound and he basically...he's hard on himself because he thinks he is literally the only competent person in the room. If something's going wrong, then it's his fault because he's not living up to that standard he's put on himself - and it is a ridiculously self-centered, judgemental way of thinking and for someone of a different alignment that would be bad. Like, that could go so badly, so fast. That's the sort of shit that inspires A GOD AM I in Evil-aligned characters; this is basically the major flaw that a lot of Evil-aligned characters have before they go One-Winged Angel. They think they're the only competent person in the room - this is what makes Knight Templars.
But!
But.
Ishimaru is not Evil-aligned and that is what makes him fascinating - for all his ego and judgmental bitchery and general assholery he's Lawful Good, he's someone who refuses to use his skills against others and instead insists on using them to help everyone else. Instead of trying to divide he rallies, instead of trying to rule he guides and for someone who is not naturally inclined to do such things - and I think we can generally agree that as much as he believes in it, he is not naturally inclined. He has all the empathy of a rock. This is best seen when he asks Naegi about Maizono's body; that wasn't a lack of tact or decorum or whatever the hell that's being translated as. That was a blatant empathy failure.
And again, he's a tremendous asshole, as is seen by the entire incident with Mondo. Mondo isn't the reason the sauna was necessary. The reason the sauna was necessary was because Ishimaru was being petty and judgemental and literally would not get out of Mondo's face. And whenever Mondo tried to get him out of his face Ishimaru's response was basically to deploy some colorfully pointed insults and then gloat about his amazing willpower later because that isn't hypocritical at all. Mondo is inherently less of an asshole personality-wise than Ishimaru is - which is something I feel people tend to gloss over; obviously Ishimaru has the moral high ground as far as restraint is concerned but that is about it.
The other thing that makes it fairly plain that I don't think - ...basically the reason I don't think Ishimaru is naturally prone to Lawful Good behavior is the presence of Ishida and what brought him about in the first place - and let me talk about Ishida for a moment. I tend to think of Ishida as being a product of insanity and not legitimate spiritual possession. Dialogue can be taken either way, I will say that, but the other characters think Ishimaru's lost his mind, Ishimaru thinks he's been possessed, no one has any fuckin' idea what just happened...but since spiritual possession doesn't seem to be a legitimate thing within the Dangan Ronpa universe, and as far as I know there was not any Matrix-style Super Dangan Ronpa 2 fuckery involved with the Dangan Ronpa 1 kids. As such, I think it's fair to assume that Ishida is at the very least not the result of legit spiritual possession.
Of course, this makes Ishida really really inherently tragic, given that he's a dissociated state brought on by the death of Ishimaru's only friend, a friend that Ishimaru is clearly trying to emulate as closely as possible - and he's emulating him badly, by the way. The swearing doesn't scan as natural, like it does when Mondo does it, but rather painfully tryhard; it's like he doesn't seem to know where all the swearing actually goes. He's not even bothering with attempts at empathy anymore; instead he's replacing them with pointless machismo behavior, threatening to punch people's faces in when they try to talk to him, he's horrifically missing the point of everything Mondo actually was, and most importantly he's doing this because he's angry and he's hurt and he has no idea how to handle it and basically Ishida just makes me really...really really fuckin' sad.
But that aside, Ishida is a good representation of what happens if Ishimaru does not have the restraint he shows for most of the game - no aversion to swearing, violence, threats designed to get his way; he eventually falls into a pattern of carelessness and generally doing nothing to aid the others - he's not hindering but he's not aiding anymore. Any attempts at friendliness have gone completely out the fucking window; obviously he's hurt and he's angry, but he's directing that anger at literally everyone else first and foremost now - presumably because in his eyes they killed his brother
A lot of that anger is turned inward as well, as is shown when he asks Fujisaki - actually Alter Ego - if he hates him for not being able to stop Mondo...which is, again, an example of him thinking that he's the only competent person in the room. His first thought is for Mondo, yes, in that he asks if Fujisaki hates his brother, but his next thought is literally that he should have been able to do something that was completely and utterly physically impossible, and temporally impossible, and stop him...somehow, because that is what Ishimaru does. He is the Competent One, he is the person with all the answers, he's the person who restores order, he's the person who keeps order; he is the peacekeeper, and as such that is such an important part of who he is that it's one of the first things he thinks to ask about. (And...again with the lack of empathy, by the way, because who in the good bloody hell thinks it's actually a good idea to ask a murder victim to please not hate the murderer, also are you mad, because...y'know, I wasn't magical enough and couldn't stop the killing - are you fucking serious.)
But with all of his obvious failings aside, and even though he's kind of a dick and has no idea how to do social anything and as far as he knows empathy is probably some kind of pastry...he's still Lawful Good and that's what kills me - it's not because of his attachment to others, it's not an I FIGHT FOR MY LOVE AND FOR MY FRIENDS thing at all, it's just because it's the right thing to do and that is worthy of so much fucking respect it's insane. The idea of doing right just because it's right, just because for him it's common sense to do it - he literally can't see a reason why people would choose to be bad or evil is, while that is...okay, it's mind-blowingly naive, but it's an unbelievably difficult stance to take or maintain but he does and that's where his strength is. It's in his hard work and his diligence and his willingness to do right by people. Even by people he doesn't like, even by people he hates, by people he explicitly says he considers his enemies. That is stated in his free-time event, the fourth one, the last one - he says everyone in this school is his enemy; at the very least, that's how he considered them all. However, Naegi has shown him otherwise by the end - which is a really, really backwards concession, given that it's followed up by "Naegi, it's because you're like me and...we're...so average it's okay!"
But, the fact that he's willing to do all this for people he does not like - for people he does not care about...that is the most fucking admirable thing. That is fucking admirable. The idea of "Love your enemy" is not something that most people have grasped, and yet this poor...painfully socially stupid individual has figured this out.
And I am just going to shut up now because I'm starting to get feelings.
Basically he's an unbelievably good character underneath all the quirks and the crying and the general failure, and if you don't like him you are more than entitled to your opinion - you are more than welcome to have that opinion and you are more than welcome to be wrong as far as I'm concerned. But I will ask you please reconsider because he is actually a really excellently-written character under all that and just
Gently
Caress.