Greetings, my amazing readers! This is Mod Sam coming back to you with another historical analysis! Now, the last analysis was…divisive. Whi
//Greetings everyone, this is Mod Sam. I present to you the second history review of the bunch, the Stasi review. Now I'm pretty sure that most of you were expecting this review instead of the Soviet one, given that the Stasi are currently the biggest threat to the blog as of this season, It would make sense to do an analysis on them and what their tactics and operations are. But due to my poor organizational skills, I instead did the Soviet one first, and that review was... disappointing to say the least, but now I understand why it wasn't as successful: it wasn't relevant to the main story yet.
//That's certainly not to say every historical post should be connected to the story, but given the stakes that we have now, it makes perfect sense to talk about them now and explain why they are so dangerous. How I didn't recognize that earlier is beyond me.
//But anyway, I think I did slightly better here in comparison to the last review, where it got way too overcomplicated for anyone to understand, aside from a few aspects. But I think I managed to make it understandable enough for you guys to understand. An added bonus is that the review is shorter, thus you don't have to spend hours reading it, so that's a drastic improvement.
//Given that I've seen a lot of Stasi-related asks during the story, consider this a firsthand survival guide on the Stasi, and what they do exactly firsthand. Consider them a more terrifying version of the KGB and the North Japanese secret police force, at least for now.
//I just want to apologize for the lack of activity on this blog for a while, aside from answering asks and me complaining. I've calmed down since the last time I made that rant, and I eventually realized that I need to take it easy with you guys and not force you because if there is anything people don't like, it's being told what to do, and I feel ashamed that I tried to do that. I hope you all can accept my forgiveness and just no that I meant no ill intentions towards you guys. I was just... so stressed that day and I pretty much lost it.
//But besides that, I'm ready to possibly get back into the story. If all goes to plan, I should have the next story chapter by around Friday or Saturday at the latest. But in the meantime, you have this file to occupy your attention while I start working on the next chapter, so be vigilant for a new chapter coming out soon.
//To close this post off, let me show you the ID card of Vladimir Putin while he was in the Stasi. And before you ask, yes, this is 100% real and accurate, this was actually what he looked like when he was younger. Viewer discretion is advised.
//At the very least, he had some hair, so I'll give him that.
//This shall probably be the last historical post I do for now, as I prefer to continue working on the story since these posts aren't going to really matter to anyone unless we focus on the actual plot itself. I know I just said that before, but I wanted to add more context as to why. Plus, it's pretty much a slog for me to write these long essays in Google Docs since I highly doubt anyone here reads a Google Doc for a review. Still, though, I hope you enjoyed these reviews as that's all you're going to get untill the end of this arc or even the season, it's up to my own volition on how I shall conduct this type of strategy.
//This is Mod Sam from A Tale Never Told, signing out for now. Have a great rest of the day everyone ^^.
//Hey everyone, it's been quite the postponement, huh? Apologies for diligently taking my precious time to indulge in the pleasures of adolescence, and when I describe pleasures, I mean that my introverted faculties have spiked up again.
//I'm gonna be real, I do not enjoy the current status of my return, as I've made that very clear. And no, I'm not talking about the fact that I haven't updated since February. I'm talking about the constant favoritism and overinflation that pervades this entire community, especially current events unfolding in the Danganronpa community.
//If you're intrigued as to why I'm so frustrated, it is because I'm fatigued and appalled by the social stratification of story blogs and how insanely lumped and overlooked the majority of fascinating, truly awesome blogs are on this platform as opposed to propagating just one.
//Frankly, it's generally criminal how hypocritical and multifaceted people are these days, to the extent that just one person even bothered to check up on me and inquired about where I'd stumbled off to. Let me tell you, I'm actually thankful nobody aside from three even remotely asked about my sudden departure from the platform because it would have been heartwarmingly lucid to have an entire legion of followers forming a post to spread awareness about your disappearance.
//Naturally, you might be very confused as to why my tone comes off as condescending yet cynical at the same time, and my answer to that is that I'm genuinely startled as to how little you all gave a damm about my existence in the first place, and I'm real tired of repressing these feelings any longer.
//First things first, I wasn't shell-shocked as to why people grew some form of aversion towards my content ever since the blog's inception. I have undergone quite the retrospective as of these past few months, and that was an interesting experience. It was like reimbursing for trash in the garbage disposal, and what you'd end up with is so abysmal and unknowledgeable about the most basic of facts when it comes to discussing anything relevant at all to what people gauge their interests that it's laughably detached from the mind.
//Don't get me wrong, I necessarily don't think that my concepts are that horrible, narratively wise, but once you've started to analyze the level of accuracy and bizarre decision-making showcased with each post, it's really tempting not to look at that and say "Yeah, this thing looks like shit!".
//It's not that the overall premise itself is conceptually flawed; it's just that, to convey a really engrossing storyline, it's pretty pertinent that you get attached to our main cast and follow their daily life-to-life struggles, to not feel disengaged or uninterested whenever you're seeing them in action.
//Obviously, as indicated by literally every post in this blog's history, I had no rationale or vision beneath all of that, just broad specifics and generalized, overly exaggerated caricatures of our cast and the worldbuilding that it ended up aging more disastrously than the O.J Simpson trial.
//Often, there was very little in the way of information or research, and the research I did provide was so half-baked and riddled with logical, methodical fallacies that it scarcely resembled a painfully unfunny satire. Like, does anyone get the same vibes of cringe-inducing, nonsensical, downright comically ignorant moments after reading through this? Seems like it's pretty common when it comes to the earlier instances.
/Regardless, I plan to address all of these concerns and tackle them individually as the story progresses because I've deemed the earlier to be the equivalent of comically produced feces, and an insult to the audience that actually comes here to eat quality content.
//Aside from that, that's not what I'm here to discuss at the moment. No, what I'm truly incensed about and what implored me to finally open the floodgates of tulmotious self-loathing and emerge out of hiding was the recent situation surrounding a friend of mine, who, for simplicity, we'll refer to as Person A. If you've been to his blog and skimmed through the contents, you'd possibly get a good indicator as to who I'm bringing up.
//It's heavily worth mentioning that at approximately 11:00pm standard time, a colossal hurricane known as Helene swept throughout the southern proportions of the continental United States, inflicting historic flooding and millions of power outages across a vast plenitude of states. Entire tributaries were overflooded, and boats capsized, homes devastatingly flattened. Simply put, it'd become a calamity of unprecedented proportions and if you've been following the news as of late, you would see just how terrifying and weary the crisis is.
//Fun fact, my house is situated somewhere near the navigational routes to Miami, so it wasn't like I was entirely insulated from the disaster. Due to my residence being completely far from the severity of the storm, I'd, fortunately, been able to avoid the worst of what Helene had to offer, though it cannot be understated just how insane the probability of eventual flooding was and how we narrowly came close to calamity.
//I had to continuously make sure that the density of the rain never surpassed what could potentially snowball into an irreparable flood, so if any of you are wondering why I was inactionable between Thursday and Friday, here's your confirmation.
//When I reconvened back on the platform earlier this morning, however, I saw a submission between Mod Poi and another anon, specifically one who's inextricably tight with Person A whom I'm great friends, and who happens to be affiliated with Person A blog.
//Now, just for clarity, this is not some form of deliberate jeering towards the anon. He was clearly looking out for Person A's security, and that's highly respectable in my book. What positively irked me about that submission, however, was the connotative phrasing of it, as if the person who I'm very good mutuals with was the only individual negatively afflicted by the disaster.
//Part of it, I theorized, was mainly unintentional on his end, but the implication that he was singling out millions of displaced, bereaved refugees and victims of the disaster just to spread awareness about one guy whose current situation is congruent and vastly identical to the tenuous situation others are facing instead of doing the sensible option of spreading awareness to everyone affected by the calamity, it'd finally prompted me to stop by a lethargic snob and offer my uncensored thoughts as to why I'm disgusted by the level of idolization and pedestalism that normally goes on here.
//... Frankly, I don't wanna insulate anything negative about the anon behind this tweet, since there was no malicious intent towards the others discerned underneath that submission. Rather, it lit an unquenchable fuse in my body that is primarily directed at why this submission is a critical red flag.
//I get it, it's probably not deliberate. But when you're posturing yourself so badly that you singled out everybody that potentially could've been in the vicinity of the catastrophe just because of one guy who's probably gonna take a well-needed break after experiencing the 14th most powerful storm ever to impact the United States, it needs to be called out upon for how tone-deaf it is.
//For starters, massively alarming to send this to a blog whose moderator happens to know you and the companion personally. Don't get mistaken, I seriously appreciate the concern for his mental consciousness and well-being, but sending this to a mutual of yours and tagging the submission with his blog initials instead of arguably posting about the situation on your blog with the tags of everyone involved in the incident, and then said people repost it to their buddies is irrefutably biased.
2. //Not once do you specify why you're mainly centering the discussion around him, given that many of his followers also reside in the same region that's unequivocally suffering the worst natural disaster in recent history. For reference, what I'm inferring is that the region most brutalized with the torrential rains and increased flooding is principally ravaging the southern parts of the country, much of it spanning Georgia, the Carolinas, and the state I live in, Florida. So it's not just limited to coastal regions, it's anywhere within the South that has a modicum of precipitation or just so happens to be within the path of which it's traversing, though it has been reputed to have massive ripples within non-Southern states such as Virginia and Ohio.
3. // As aforementioned previously, this was primarily just one anon conversing with a friend of mine and proceeding to spread the most tone-deaf, unintentionally pedestal-like submission I've ever seen. Now, this wouldn't be as frustrating if he'd just taken the simpler route and created a separate post extensively detailing the impending disaster and spreading awareness to everyone by tagging the majority of people following him. Instead, he opted to specifically inform Poi of this submission by tagging it with the person he was close with specifically, either out of ignorance or sheer incompetence. Pick your poison
4. //Out of all of the things you could have chosen as to why he's currently undergoing severe hell at the moment.. it had to be because he was unavailable to watch the latest Despair Time episode, wasn't it? That's the only logical explanation as to why you intentionally sent it to Poi as opposed to accomplishing the bare minimum and spreading awareness yourself because he wasn't physically attendant to the reaction video. All things considered, it might be the opposite, but it came off as so self-centered and indifferent to what's actually going on that I felt compelled to bring that up. 5. //As anticipated, the legion of pious followers quickly responded and began to emulate the same type of methods the previous anon had employed. Notably, @review-anon messaged another close companion of mine, Mod Freeze, and then decided to note down the friend's whereabouts, asserting that since they live high up, they averted the storm surge, and then remarked that UK storms are really pathetic in comparison to tropical revolving storms. This isn't entirely without logic, as Europe statically and historically seems to be the section of the globe where hurricanes are very rare and not that endemic to the climate, so he's done his homework. Still, it's worth noting that this leads to my vocal criticism about all of this preferential treatment Person A has been receiving.
// For those of you blissfully unaware, I have an infamous history of being systematically ostracized and segregated from whatever social group I aspired to interact with. Throughout various stages of my life, I'd been a frequent outlet of abusive inhibitions that my fellow peers liked to unload towards me, irrespective of whether I committed any grievous errors.
//Personally, they'd intended to see me squirm and grovel in their stead, taunting me relentlessly, utilizing signature gaslighting techniques to convince me that I'm better than I think they are, demeaning me at every opportunity. One pretentious kid back then even had the astute proposal of thumping me in the head when I was still a toddler. Routinely interspersed with hateful bullying and mean-spirited remarks, it was a pitifully miserable spectacle to behold. For some reason, I have always felt that society was out to get me due to how I conducted myself and my diagnostic disabilities.
// Since my youth, I have completely craved validation and approval from people outside of family members and teachers, yet I'd consistently get turned down despite augmenting and swapping out distinctive traits of my personality to acclimate with the rest of the group. Even when I was part of some social group, I'd always get separated and left out of whatever was happening simply due to my eccentricities and quirks. Combine that with destabilizing social anxiety and depression and it's safe to say I was far from the most ideal person, mentally.
//Partially, the reason why this blog exists is to enhance social interaction and establish an emotional connection with my fanbase, to fill the vacancy and absenteeism that radically defined my educational life, to construe relationships with like-minded individuals like Bubbles and Mod Creeper out of self-indulgence, but merely due to feeling isolated from the wider community. Ever get the vibes of wanting somebody to lean your shoulder on, but come to the realization that barely anybody recounts that you existed? That's how I realistically feel after writing this.
//So to return back to the platform after months of speculation as to whether I was doing alright or not, only to witness that aside from a couple of folks, barely anyone acknowledged your existence for even a fraction, while simultaneously observing someone else procure more recognition and admiration from people that probably don't even know who he is just... dispiriting.
//No joke, I did not want to make this essay some unrepentant jab against those who have vivaciously supported me and offered constructive feedback to improve the quality and narrative of the blog, and I extend my gratefulness to @randdodraggo, @poisonrozen, @commander-bubbles-the-first and @freezethunder. All of you are exceptionally benevolent and kind people, you guys are actually very cool in my eyes.
//Now, I did say I was undergoing a retrospective on how I conduct myself on this platform, and after extensively going through much deliberation and self-reflection on how this blog is currently being run, it has come to my attention that @A Tale Never Told, in its current iteration, is simply a purported byproduct of idealism and natively, to think I could once challenge these monolithic powerhouses of the Danganronpa Community. And that's why as of me typing this, A Tale Never Told is on indefinite hiatus.
//Reasons cited are purely from a story-driven and historical perspective, but one of the fundamental variables is just that I don't have it in me to continually update it when it's painfully obvious that it needs to be revised. It doesn't help that I've been grappling with another bout of depression stemming from my academic curriculum, which plays out just as well as you expect.
//All in all, the pedestal-like responses of two anons were what finally pressurized me into dedicating a full section of this essay to dissembling my intensely troubling thoughts on the favoritism aspect in this community as a whole and the wildly fantastical expectations and bar that has been set due to one blog's existence.
//I'd like to discard any prefabrications about the anon situation being the sole catalyst as to why I'm postponing A Tale Never Told indefinitely. Even if those comments never manifested, I still went into this intending to shelve ATAT until further notice, because there's far too much wrong with it. It is inarguably self-apparent once you start delving deep into it.
//Truthfully, I don't really know how to cap off this section of the essay other than having something to say toward the ASOOT fanbase; I desperately craved to become part of that community, as I legitimately think all of you are very generous, kind-hearted, altruistic folks, and I still unquestionably attest to that belief. I can't bear the thought of being an unperson, so I frequently reassured myself that perhaps I was far from alone, while endlessly seeking out fellow company and solstice in my fellow friends, hence why I was desperately hooking on to you guys like a lifeline to avoid feeling desolated or marginalized.
//I'm severely autophobic, and even though I hold accountability for my vendetta against select types of people in this community was due to vapidity, it was partially motivated by an extreme desire to not feel discarded and solicitude. Really, I just craved your affection, especially since we'd have those routine Ted-Talk motivations on ASOOT where Bubbles elaborates on a topic and offers his insightful viewpoint on it, and I always found that pretty neat and engrossing.
//People are a lot more kinder and mindful of others than you might think, and it's because of this that I've always envisioned myself being part of a grand collective where we'd gather round and simply just talk with each other. Instead, what I have gotten in exchange is the exact opposite, and even though it might've not been that intentional or purposeful, it still indirectly hurts getting abandoned and figuratively erased by your own friends, not even interacting with the majority of the community you've inserted yourselves in.
//This may sound rather hyperbolic since the vast majority of you do not even know who I am, presumably, but I largely valued the sense of camaraderie and unity that was present in the Dr community and a probable reason as to why I incessantly messaged other ASOOT fans before my hiatus and even conforming to their standards, because if there's one thing we all universally agree upon, it's that the existence of ASOOT gave us a sense of belonging and, in terms of personal rationale, need to be accepted by others.
//But it seems that I was incorrect with my premeditated assessment from all those months ago. Turns out that things aren't as woefully perfect as they once were. I know it's probably just a coping mechanism or just my cognitive faculties validating my concerns, but it just really sucked when you take a snowy, hard, reflection and be like "Yeah, I'm actually pretty worthless and malding over overwhelmingly positive reception which I'm probably never gonna encounter in my entire tenure in this platform. How lucid.
//Arguably, I'm feeling honestly pathetic and gutted about how I necessitated I needed to aspire to ASOOT metrics of popularity when it was clear I was never surpassing the peak of the mountain, and whether it was out of undisclosed envy and entitlement, it does not give me an excuse to behave like a pedantic dickhead and harassing those that just wanted to go about their good ol' time on this platform.
//To conclude this really exhaustive essay, what better to wrap this up than quoting from a game that's been at the center of reverence in the Dr environment? I think this monologue perfectly encapsulates my overall assessment of the situation" You don’t understand, do you? I used to be like you. I barely remember, but I used to be like you. I cared so much about people, I cried every time someone was hurt. I suffered for a long time stuck in here caring about people. I know what you’re going through. You’re going to hold on as long as you have, with the hope that you can make it out of here with everyone. Then you’re going to despair. That lasts a while, too. Then you’ll get bored. Like me. And you’ll wish you were still suffering. Anything else is better than boredom. I wish I could feel something, anything else, other than being bored. I’m stuck in here for eternity, and I know everything that could possibly happen. I know how everyone reacts to murder, what makes people turn to despair, what fills people with hope and makes them survive until we all run out of food and starve to death. I wish I could feel terrified, afraid, or angry. But I can’t anymore. I don’t feel anything at all except boredom.
Honestly, this anon is personally starting to wish the character of Hiyoko Saionji had never been created in the first place. And it's not even because of anything the character actually did, I just share your frustration on how "parasitic" some fans are. I don't run any Danganronpa story blogs myself, but if I did, I would take a leaf out of your book and just "not use the character at all". Not because I hate the character or anything, but just so I wouldn't have to deal with her fans.
//Looking back in hindsight, and with the recent developments we've just faced, it probably was the most solid decision I've ever taken, when it comes to discussing anything relating to the Hiyoko situation, and that's honestly surprising when you take into consideration just how vocal I was about the entire issue, since it's inception during the Mod Freeze dilemma.
//Personally, I usually tend to avoid engaging in controversial discourse, because it's a stream of vindictive toxicity that often criticizes other's beliefs and opinions unless it involves a particular character that I'd really enjoy or a sensitive subject matter that needs to be addressed. Because once you finish talking about it, you come to the realization that it's all pointless melodrama surrounding a character that, for all intents and purposes, doesn't deserve the amount of hate she gets.
//Now, saying that Hiyoko shouldn't exist as a character in the Danganronpa franchise, mostly due to the controversy around her fanbase, is kinda excessive to me, because there's clearly a bunch of positive character traits she has, both in the main storyline, and in the Free Time Events, with her concern for her father, the only family member that she values and cares for in her life, and her sincere friendship with Mahiru and how it's generally nice to see Hiyoko actually have somebody to relate to when it comes to parental issues.
//Still, I do get why you're frustrated about this whole thing, and believe me when I say, that the majority of the Hiyoko fanbase, at least the ones with a sense of nuance and those who aren't willing to go into emotionally charged rants about why Hiyoko's a great character, instead of plling together a co, seems to be generally against these absurd claims of justifying Hiyoko's behavior towards others, at least from my perspective.
//If anything, I've made my stance on the whole situation pretty clear from the get-go, and so far, it hasn't been significantly changed throughout the number of times this issue has escalated to a breaking point, but it's a pretty massive issue, one that requires an in-depth analysis of Hiyoko's character and why she's so divisive, to begin with.
//Other than what I'd just said earlier, I don't really know what else to offer, other than it's a difficult and tough affair when it comes to writing compelling or satisfying moments in storytelling and dealing with unwarranted or toxic criticism, especially if you're writing a scene where a major character that a large portion of the fandom loathes ends up getting their comeuppance in less than satisfying ways, and it often leads to disastrous outcomes as a result.
//Yes, there's gonna be people who'll hate you because of your writing how you've treated their beloved character in their fanbase, and how you are as a person no matter how much you try to please them, but that doesn't mean that you'd have to let these types of people dissuade you from the type of story you want to convey. Is criticism an overall bad thing? Absolutely not, in many cases, it's actually been proven to be quite helpful in terms of progressing the story, but there's gotta be a barrier between providing constructive criticism and constantly punishing others when they're down and acting like petty, parasitic, idiots who've probably never heard of the actual meaning behind constructive criticism.
//It's okay to disagree with somebody's perspective on a character, but you can't actively pressure and gaslight them into accepting your viewpoint and personal opinions, because nobody's gonna feel comfortable about discussing anything about that topic around you because they'll know about how you'd react to such an obviously sensitive topic, and it'll often foster deep-seated feelings of paranoia and a general incapability of continuing on with what makes them happy, because what's the point of even continuing on anymore if everybody's mad at something you did wrong, even if it really isn't your fault?
//This sort of irrational, vitriolic, rhetoric is actively dissuading people from continuing on with what gives them enjoyment and comfort in life, and it's honestly depressing to see that it's only getting worse.
//Instead, as a piece of genuine advice cherish those who are willing to be supportive towards you and provide constructive advice to help improve your self-confidence and your positive qualities as a person, while proactively blocking out those who'll just leave a negative influence on you in life, both in terms of internet and real-life problems. I promise you
//Yes, it's a difficult process to handle, especially if that toxic influence is a personal friend of yours, or a dedicated fan who's been supporting the blog since its creation, but it's honestly for the best that you cut ties with these people because people who constantly resort to guilt-tripping you over some minor misunderstanding, making you severely doubt yourself about whether or not you're actually a good person, and basically use manipulation and violent, intimidation tactics to silence you when they dislike how you'd portrayed a certain character, and attempting to psychologically break you by spamming hate each time you update a new chapter.
//As someone who's witnessed stuff like this before, it's abundantly clear to me that it's being perpetuated by a group of sensitive bullies who don't understand the very definition of what humans are like, and that, contrary to what we'd think, humans aren't devoid of empathy or compassion for others, as everybody might assume at first glance. The human mind is a fascinating, complex, treasure trove of knowledge, and we often tend to neglect just how much potential we have to accomplish incredible things in life, not just from a historical or writing perspective, but also from a human perspective as well.
//Humanity is capable of showcasing cases of empathy, positivity, kindness, and a plethora of other beautiful things about ourselves, but we often take those promises for granted, and that doesn't change the fact that we have an inherent tendency toward being self-destructive and violent, as history has pointed out over the years. We are our worst enemies, but that doesn't mean that we're all inevitably doomed to fail as a civilization and never progress as a species in terms of showing love and compassion toward others.
//Sadly, these so-called "fans" have no storage of kindness or empathy in their hearts, only existing just to relentlessly intimidate those who are really sincere and great people, into submission, because that's how they derive their power, bullying others out of a sense of blind devotion, and sadistic desires because that's what the majority of those haters are, and it's a definite example of parasitism and bullying
//Apologies if I've ranted a bit about this situation quite longer than what I'd originally hoped it would be. It's just so exhausting having to deal with all of this, so I hoped that this post managed to bring those who were targeted by those miserable excuses for fans some semblance of comfort. I seriously don't wanna discuss this topic any further than it should've been, because aside from what I'd just stated, there's not much to it, other than the controversy and discourse surrounding Hiyoko has gotten far worse than what I expected, and from where things stand as of late, it's not going away anytime soon.
To take your mind off of all the bullshit you’ve definitely seen by now with Mod Poi, I’ll let you know that I just finished reading a book about the creation of the Russian Sesame Street and all the chaos that went down trying to get a very American show on the Tv screens of post-Soviet Russia. It’s called Muppets in Moscow if you want to check it out
//Honestly wasn't expecting to mesh these two subtopics together, as they barely have anything in common with one another. Still, it makes it all the more fascinating to investigate it.
//I'll have to definitely review and check that out when the opportunity comes up because it combines two of the most surrealist things I've ever witnessed, the turmoils and chaotic nightmare that was post-Soviet Russia, and a kid's show where you're taught the basic subjects of academics by a reddish, Kermit-esque muppet. What could possibly go wrong?.
//Yeah, I've only recently heard about this now, and it's getting generally exhausting on how much these fans are willing to antagonize others for sharing an opinion and disagreement of how the character was characterized, even when actual, definable, proof is presented before them, or having basic common sense.
//It's less of my general thoughts on this situation being frustration and anger, and more of me basically being disappointed that we're reaching this stage of the Hiyoko- fandom debacle, where they haven't learned anything from the last time they went after someone for their portrayal of Hiyoko, and have actually gotten worse in the period between both incidents.
//It's remarkable that they're so devoted to idolizing their queen and shielding her from any criticism that any amount of nuance or rationality is completely lost on them. Frankly, I ain't that surprised about them attacking someone for their honest opinion about Hiyoko, but what I'm surprised by is how they're willingly discarding any meaningful or good advice we've given them, and instead continue to relentlessly harass those who even have the slightest bad thing to say about her.
//It's a parasitic syndrome that's becoming a huge stain on how I view this character, and it's getting very tiring to deal with. I'm already preoccupied with a lot of stuff right now, and I certainly don't need to get into an argument with a Hiyoko stan about whether or now Hiyoko's a great character. Does Hiyoko deserve some love? Absolutely. But to the extent of continuously harassing others based on their opinions about a certain character? I don't believe so.
//I'm doing pretty alright. A bit exhausted from finishing up a geometry lesson I was assigned, but I'm managing it decently.
//Apologies for the continuous lack of absence, as I've been increasingly preoccupied with a substantial amount of schoolwork, researching other topics, and a general lack of proper motivation, so it's been really difficult for me to accomplish much when I'm getting overwhelmed with everything 24/7.
//Thankfully, I regained some amount of motivation and confidence to continue being proactive on the blog and to officially restart the arc, so that's nice^^.
There's no Plagirism on a post that's just a general notice about what's important for one's mental health. I don't really care about that, especially when the message is more important than who wrote it first. I'm glad you're bringing more attention to things like this, especially when all I did was get annoyed at a terrible webcomic that most people will probably never even see
//Frankly, I don't blame you for getting incredibly annoyed about that toxic message as much as you were on that day, as that webcomic sounded like it was written by someone who clearly misunderstood or hasn't grasped how damaging messages like these are sending out to younger readers and people who are suffering from problematic relationships.
//If I were in your position, I'd probably quit reading it the moment Green decided to abandon a mentally struggling Red, instead of properly communicating with him about the situation and trying to offer helpful advice to support Red with his problems. It's seriously not that difficult to show just an ounce of compassion or empathy to someone, even if you're hesitant about what to say in situations like these.
//Still, it's refreshing to hear that you're not holding anything personal towards me for plagiarizing your post, even if it didn't even constitute actually plagiarizing one's content, and just borrowing some valuable pieces of dialogue for a separate subject matter, even if the entire essay was bordering on sharing similarities with the original source material
//Trust me, there are numerous worse cases of plagiarization and maliciously copying someone's work than deliberately taking too much inspiration from a post that people who haven't subscribed to ASOOT are possibly never going to read, so I'm basically doing them a favor by bringing more awareness and attention to harmful messages and examples like these.
//The only valid criticism that you can wholeheartedly direct at me was the notion that I took an unnecessary amount of Bubble's dialogues and mannerisms and attached them to here, instead of creating something entirely original with the subject matter I was tackling. But other than that, it's not actually a major deal in retrospect and it shouldn't be viewed as an actual case of plagiarizing when there are more prominent cases of other creators plagiarizing and stealing someone's work for their own intentions.
//At worst, I borrowed heavily from Bubble's Christmas post and ended up creating something almost borderline identical, but considering that it didn't garner any substantial attention from the general audience other than a few people, it's not like I intentionally harmed anybody while making this.
…This feels like a barely modified version of Mod Bubble’s post he posted just before Christmas about that comic about how you are supposed to cut people off who are too toxic to handle and that comic is actually sending a damage message. To the point it borders on plagiarism. Some of the literal text in the post is completely identical.
//Apologies for the delayed response to this particular ask, but in complete regard to this bold claim, I honestly can't deny it, because that's basically what the entirety of that post was. I'm not going to bother giving myself any justifiable explanation for this, other than I was genuinely hoping to send out an actually helpful response, using the Chrismas post as a template for what I was going to create, but I'd ended up copying it because I seriously didn't know what life-changing advice I could even offer for a situation like this, other than reiterating the same talking points.
//Frankly, it wasn't my intention to directly plagiarize Bubble's work, because that's a clear violation of honest integrity when it comes to creating original content. Rather, I was merely attempting to use his work as an example of how to give meaningful and healthy solutions to real-life issues, and trying to reverse-engineer that valuable message and apply that formula as a prototype for what I was going to originally address, but I must've gotten sidetracked again or forgotten other ways on how I could properly address a damaging topic, and as a result, I accidentally plagiarized the whole thing.
//Perhaps I should have reinstated the vital message of the entire post, which was about gradually overcoming Social Anxiety Disorder and how it negatively affects your mental well-being, isolating those who suffer from social problems from the rest of society, preventing them from interacting with others and creating worthwhile connections, unintentionally harming their social capabilities and such. Instead, I sort of misjudged how the majority of my audience was going to react to this unexpected change of tone for the blog
//Regardless, I hope you all understand that I sincerely meant when I said I wanted to offer truly helpful advice when it comes to addressing real-life issues because I wanna encourage more positivity and kindness in this blog, not just toward other people, but also toward yourselves, and I really want to show that I value your supportive comments tremendously and that I'm not appearing as disingenuous or uncaring about your personal issues and mental wellbeing, because that's not who I am as a person or an individual
//It's just incredibly disappointing and shameful that I had to basically plagiarize another moderator's work which had a considerable amount of time and effort into creating it and addressing a concerning subject, just to plunder it and modify it to make it suitable for my own intentions, even if it was well-intentioned.
1. Current idea for a codename for the organization: League Of Villainous Evildoers Maniacally United For Frightening Investments In Naughtiness, or LOVEMUFFIN for short. Yes, it is stupid and makes no sense, that’s the point.
2. As a followup, Wagner himself, should LOVEMUFFIN become the official codename, will be known as Herr Baker, much like Fisher is known as Herr Golfer
3. The location of LOVEMUFFIN itself is currently unknown, all that is known is that it is a 5 story brick building located somewhere in the heart of Kyoto.
4. The office of Herr Baker is loaded with historical artifacts, unusual for a commie. (perhaps artifacts could be traced back via black market?)
//I come to you with something pretty uncommon for this blog, and it's a discussion about mental health, toxicity, and especially mental disorders, the products of which are kinda heavy, so if you'd rather skip it, I understand.
//But I wanna talk about this because it concerns a growing misconception and trend I've been seeing about a type of mental Disorder that I'm sure we're all familiar with, and that's Social Anxiety disorder, as well as highlighting a life lesson video that I watched about that, which handles the topic poorly and why you shouldn't pay it any heed.
//This one goes out to everyone who suffers from that type of mental disorder and fears how others perceive them. You guys are actually amazing.
//Before we discuss the numerous myths that people seem to label when it comes to the topic of mentally disabled people and the damaging lies and misunderstandings that are really common when it comes to talking about disorders and anxiety issues, what is Social Anxiety Disorder?
//Social Anxiety Disorder, or social phobia, is an anxiety that's characterized by feelings of fear and anxiety in types of social situations causing considerable distress for the person, and damaging or limiting their ability to function in at least some aspects of everyday life. Symptoms of this disorder usually range from expressing concern about how presentable they are towards other people, to fearing being judged by others for their lack of social skills, and oftentimes, it leads to them behaving a certain way or saying something in a normal conversation and then feeling embarrassed afterward.
//Generally, they often tend to isolate themselves from society to avoid being in that situation again, acting distant when they're with large groups of people. In some extremely common cases, they might resort to avoiding eye contact, or blushing when someone's talking to them, which is a key part of social anxiety disorder and the lack of communication it often produces.
//According to psychologist B.F. Skinner, phobias are controlled by avoidance behaviors, which can be put into two categories of how these types of behavioral aspects play out whenever a situation like this happens.
Major avoidance behaviors. These typically include an almost compulsive or pathological lying behavior to preserve self-image and avoid being judged in front of others This is mostly attributed to those who are compulsive liars, or people who have a tendency to lie about everything 24/7, even if they can't control it. One of my personal headcanons is that Kokichi was diagnosed with a social anxiety disorder since it's repeatedly stated that he considers lying a big part of his personality since he'll often claim something only to reveal that he's lying about the whole thing. But that's a topic for another time.
Minor avoidance behaviors. This is the type of behavioral aspect that's often presented in media and the public eye, almost to the point of being somewhat regarded as a stereotype, though they're both similarly used. It's often portrayed as people avoiding eye contact, crossing their arms to hide shaking, or lack of speaking in a conversation. This has been used so much that it's become the de facto behavior when somebody thinks of "Social Anxiety Disorder" and that's kinda accurate for how people with this type of illness act.
//Still, I'm tired of the common thought people have when it comes to portraying people with social issues as being too afraid to speak up, and referring to it as "shyiness" which isn't even true at all, because it exceeds normal shynesss, leading to social avoidance, and missing out on interacting with other people that might've been sincere with us.
//But now we're going to talk about the media in question, which is a life-lesson YouTube video, created by the YouTuber Dhar Mann, whose main brand of content is him taking valuable life lessons and talking about real-life problems, such as toxic relationships, fat shaming, and numerous other topics, and creating the most unrealistic life-lesson scenarios with the weirdest dialogue I've ever seen.
//It's one of those pretty simplistic life lesson videos about how the protagonist warns the antagonist about doing something wrong, but the antagonist ignores the warning and does it regardless. In this case, it's about this teenage gamer called Ali who's having a discussion with his athletic older brother, Brandon, about Ali's questionable habits of constantly playing video games and not doing anything. Brandon points out that Ali's never going to have a successful career by just endlessly streaming, which Ali doesn't want to admit.
//Brandon calls Ali a "shy loser' saying that he'll never achieve success in life if he continuously plays video games and that he's destined to never be successful, even though he's rightfully explaining to Ali the risks and trials it takes to become a gamer. Ali is deeply affected by his brother's torment and toxicity toward him and he begins to question his self-confidence and sense of worth in society, believing that he'll never become successful. And then guess who decides to make an appearance at the near climax?
//Surprisingly, it's none other than Faze Rug, the official co-owner of the esports and video gaming entertainment business, Faze Clan. I'm positively sure you're all confused as to why Faze Rug's making a guest appearance here, on a life lesson video, but it's outrightly stated that Ali idolizes Faze Clan greatly, and Dhar Mann was collaborating with Faze Rug to produce this video from the beginning in an attempt to promote Faze Clan, so that offers a reasonable explanation as to why Faze Rug's present in the video, but it's still a pretty confusing explanation.
//Upon seeing his hero chatting with him, Ali begins to express absolute excitement and freaks out about Faze Rug's sudden appearance, which is certainly not how a person diagnosed with social anxiety disorder would've responded to their idol wanting to have a conversation with them and tells Faze Rug about his brother's harmful advice about his shyness, to which he conveniently says that he's also shy and states that Ail should think of having a social anxiety disorder, constantly stuttering, and feeling like you're perpetually trapped in a never-ending cycle of loneliness is a superpower and that it doesn't make you a loser, but makes you awesome.
//...Ali is inspired by this life-changing piece of advice from Faze Rug, and immediately rushes to his computer and begins his very first livestream. Within the brief span of just a few days, Ail's popularity begins to dramatically increase, to the point where he gets noticed by the Faze Clan themselves and is offered a contract to join their team, which he gladly accepts. He's so notorious that he even manages to purchase a fancy Porsche, gets into an intimate relationship with a popular girl in school, and gets sponsored by GFuel. In other words, all the generic, typical dreams that you'd correctly expect to happen in a scenario like this happen.
//Obviously, everybody, aside from his endorsing fanbase which is literally made up of children, proceeded to rip into the video's horrible presentation of its message, and I completely agree with that, so I'm gonna count the ways in which this life lesson video is awful.
1. Ali and Brandon don't even feel like brothers in the slightest. It doesn't showcase any kindness or affectionate behavior that you'd might expect from siblings, no believable humanity or empathy from them, and nothing about why their relationship took a tumultuous turn in the first place. It just showcases Brandon's resentment of Ali's problems and expects us to side with Ail because it's causing him issues when he's rightfully stating the truth.
2. Brandon's "toxicity" instead feels more like it's a mixture of misinterpretation, lack of proper understanding of the situation, sibling bullying, meanspiritedness, miscommunication, or some other significant problem. That isn't toxic behavior, it's just a simple case of sibling bullying that requires understanding and more empathy from Brandon.
3. If someone is bullying you and stating that you'll never be successful because you're shy/anxious/terrified and that they're feeling jealously insecure about your success a person, the proper response is to ask why they feel that way and not act like it's an intrinsic part of their human nature. Nobody WANTS to have these thoughts, nobody wants to have these problems, nobody asked for them, and nobody wants to have their friends resentful of them. Sometimes, it's just a case of understanding their issues and showing them empathy
4. If you are this person and someone responds to your concerns about being shy/anxious/terrified by continuing to berate you and then abandoning you due to your problems, you are better off without them in your life. They are the toxic jerk, not you.
5. The idea of "being shy is a superpower" is absolutely nonsensical. While the original intentions behind it aren't inherently awful, Faze Rug here has taken it to mean that suffering from extreme loneliness, social ineptness, lacking enough confidence to hold a conversation with someone, and worrying about the slightest of problems is automatically a superpower and that it doesn't make you weak. That's a clear sign of toxic advice being an influential person who only cares about selling his merchandise to fans, disregarding their mental well-being, and proceeding to give them harmful advice. Relationships are a two-way road upward, and the people involved should work to maintain and support it; having only one being portrayed as introverted and the other benefits from it while giving nothing in return isn't friendship or admiration. It's more like parasitism.
6. Brandon's position is that Ail should be the one to communicate more with other people, not wasting his livelihood on video games, but at no point does Brandon suggest any alternative solutions for Ali's social anxiety like therapy, offer suggestions about Ail changing his behavior on their own terms, or even bothering to have a heartfelt or meaningful conversation with, expressing sympathy for Ail's dilemma and trying to figure out what's wrong with his brother. No, Brandon simply labels him as a nervous loser because he's too self-centered to even show compassion toward him, which is not only incredibly selfish, it's one of the most damaging things you could do for someone with rejection sensitivity. Keep in mind that it's his younger brother he's putting down, so it makes it all unbearably worse than it actually is.
7. People with these types of social problems who avoid you or try to isolate themselves from society when you try to interact with them are not being toxic, seeking some form of approval, or trying to manipulate you or deceive you. They're often experiencing real fear and real concerns about how they're viewed by the majority of the public, and so may be avoiding you because it's the only way they can prevent themselves from getting humiliated, embarrassed, or mistreated by others around them. It's unhealthy, but that's why it's better to approach the situation with sympathy and compassion, rather than assuming they have bad intentions.
8: Toxic people are far easier to read than you might believe. As someone who's been exposed to countless amounts of toxicity throughout my life, I can confidently say that it isn't a pleasant experience by any means. They make everything about themselves, put your desires and your concerns down, exploit your friendship for personal gain, constantly try to guilt-trip you and make you believe you're the one at fault, never taking any responsibility, and then cut you off when you're no longer useful or exploitable. In other words, exactly like Brandon and Faze Rug in this video.
9: I'm just going to promptly issue this statement: Mental health problems do not make you a toxic or bad person, especially with severe mental disorders such as this. People with those problems are more often than not the victims of toxic and abusive behavior, not the perpetrators of said behavior. Mental illness gets used FAR too causally as referring to behaviors people don't like or find strange, rather than what they actually are: problems that some people have that do not define their entire character, no matter how much it's portrayed in the common perception of it.
10. I don't even know what else to describe this life lesson video's terrible message other than the fact that it's okay for people to feel introverted and shy most of the time, but it shouldn't define you as an individual or a person and you can't continuously live in a cycle of social avoidance and nervousness, because that's incredibly unhealthy, and only serves to limit whatever social interactions you're missing out on. Working on your self-esteem and self-confidence is an important step in overcoming social anxiety, as it displays that you're becoming confident in yourself as a person, and are more willing to express yourself healthily. Trust me, it works miracles.
//This video's message is supposed to be that having social anxiety issues doesn't make you weak instead, it's apparently a superpower, instead, the message I took away from this was that it's okay to feel introverted and nervous often, but that it shouldn't stop you from socializing with other people and attempting to make lasting relationships with friends, and I feel like I'm correct in that assessment.
//I'm a person who's suffering from an excessive case of Social Anxiety disorder, with my behavior usually consisting of being inept at holding an interesting conversation in real life, as I would just be incredibly hesitant whenever someone was talking to me, and I'd barely even said anything meaningful or amazing whenever I was talking with someone. Contrary to what Dhar Mann thinks, it isn't simplistic and it isn't easy, but the possibility of gaining confidence and connecting with others is very likely, it's just that it gradually takes a lengthy amount of time for people who suffer from an uncurable illness like this.
//It takes kindness, compassion, persistence, confidence, courage, and understanding, not to mention exposing yourself to situations that make you anxious will eventually help you overcome shyness over pointing out that having social anxiety and shyness and being unwilling to change that behavior is a superpower.
//I promise you, whatever problems someone's social anxiety issues might cause for you, the problems it causes for them are far worse. By using avoidance as a tool to cope, they won't be making any sort of personal growth or change, but they'll instead be depriving themselves of a crucial part of human development, and they won't be helping themselves or anybody, as well as reinforcing everything that they were afraid of.
//I sincerely hope Dharr Mann grows up and learns the importance of compassion over selfishness, and makes an effort to give more helpful advice for the majority of his life lesson videos. However, since this is an old video that's been uploaded since 2021, it's extremely unlikely that he actually learned anything valuable, and continues to spread harmful, damaging, messages about real-life topics to this day.
//And to everyone who struggles with these issues, and other types of mental disorders in real life, I promise you, people like this don't deserve to be a part of your life, especially if they're being disingenuous about your feelings. You are worth so much more than you think you are, and you all deserve to have good things in your life.
//The people worth having around you are the ones who acknowledge your flaws while emphasizing your strengths and positive qualities as people. They're the people who want to help you grow out of your issues and assist you in becoming a better version of yourself. And if you have the misfortune of encountering people who relentlessly spew negative, toxic comments like Brandon, you can at least try and take the lesson of what to look out for in toxic people, as they absolutely don't deserve to see just how kindhearted, and amazing you all truly are.
//People are kinder and more understanding of other people's well-being than they're given credit for, and you should be that kind of model person for yourself, it's not impossible. Show yourself compassion and understand where you might've gone wrong, rather than constantly punishing yourself and beating yourself up for the smallest of things. Otherwise, you'll end up destroying yourself, living in a cycle of self-loathing and self-harm that's going to become difficult to escape and detrimental to how you live life. It's better for yourself, especially for you and the ones closest to you.
//Apologies if this wasn't what you were all expecting. Admittedly, this is significantly different compared to what I usually write, but I just wanted to offer some truly useful advice when it comes to addressing real-life problems such as this, and I genuinely hope that people would willingly take away from meaningful words such as this, and frequently strive to become better people and better human beings, treating others with the same compassion, empathy, kindness, and respect, that the ones closest to me were willing to provide.
//Have a wonderful rest of the evening, everyone^^
I'd feel kinda bad for Kazuya if he was in this fucked up world, and I would totally understand why he'd be the way he is. He'd still be a douche though
//Kazuya always had a tendency to display an uneasy air of self-entitlement and arrogance in the first game, so it wouldn't be incredibly out of character for him to behave arguably worse in this AU.
//Still, I don't disagree with emphasizing his situation, and this gives him a rational explanation for his behavior instead of it just coming off as him being a douchebag.
//Frankly, you can emphasize and show compassion with almost anybody in this world, except for the ones who are usually unrepentant and just not genuine people at heart, like Junko or the Russian government.
//Still, he's an arrogant, entitled, jerkass for the majority of his time in the AU, except he's got a motive for his actions that doesn't come out as half-baked or cliche, but fits perfectly with the feelings and tone of the time, except it's with Kazuya.
(To mod) In your opinion, how well would the cast of Brave DR: Coward's Paradise fare in the world of A Tale Never Told?
//Depends on whether how you interpret it. It's quite amusing that you decided to bring up Brave DR: Coward's Paradise specifically, because that's the first Fanaganronpa I've ever experienced, despite it being not officially completed yet.
//Personally speaking, it was the first Fanganronpa I've ever watched or heard of, and found myself incredibly immersed in the majority of the content and development regarding the web video, it's actually quite remarkable how much Gitaroo was able to make me appreciate and obtain fondness for these characters( with the inherent exception of Kazuya) from the prologue alone. When you've managed to create such a diverse cast of characters, with a variety of interesting and colorful personalities, introducing them in such a brief amount of time, yet managing to write them as if they've already received considerable amounts of development, appearing fleshed out and making us express concern over them, that's an impressive achievement and I can't commend Giataroo enough for blessing us with an awesome web video^^
//Nevertheless, it's extremely difficult and complicated as I can't accurately predict how the Brave Danganronpa cast would fare if they managed to become part of this bad situation, considering that aside from their biography cards, and what we'd officially viewed from the prologue, there's not much we can explicitly state or say about how they would realistically behave if they were thrust into an unnerving and disturbing scenario like this.
//What I can predict, though, is that their official reactions and thoughts to the unpleasant state would certainly be anything but welcoming. Frankly, it'd be something resembling a mixture of hopeful idealism and optimism clashing alongside cynical, pessimistic, apathy that would dominate the rest of the world, aside from a few key people who sincerely believe in a more positive future. In short, it would create a widening divide in the cast between those who possess some form of naivety and optimism about humanity's future, and those who are self-conceited, arrogant, or uncaring about the prominent issues that the world's currently dealing with.
//One conflict that would really become prevalent throughout this entire scenario is that Kazuya and Hiroto's rivalry would become far more authentic and heated than it originally was. Kazuya would essentially become the embodiment of everything that this world upholds, becoming far nastier, arrogantly ruthless, and just downright deplorable than his canon self. Most likely, he'd become overly disenchanted and embittered at the notion that due to the prejudiced standards of this world, he wouldn't receive the amount of popularity he originally had, due to him being unable to enter any major athletic tournaments based on racial standards.
//That is basically why he would feel the compulsive need to express his frustrations and resentment that he holds toward society for rejecting him thanks to his natural skin color, regardless if he wasn't exceptional enough for their standards, and would this justify his self-entitled, and arrogant attitude towards others, as it's a coping mechanism for him to distract him from the nightmares of living in a dystopian- like world such as this, where all of his aspirations were crushed thanks to forces outside his control.
//Unsurprisingly, Hiroto wouldn't take Kazuya's condescending attitude fondly, since he's actively making things more stressful and problematic for the rest of the group, causing an internal divide within them by promoting his ideals and just being a major nuisance to deal with. During their interaction, Hiroto looked rather uncomfortable and annoyed every time Kazuya opened his mouth to say something arrogant, even calling him out on this behavior during their conversation, saying that just because people aren't up to his level doesn't give him the right to put them down constantly and that he couldn't agree with his negative mindset.
//Obviously, the two would develop complete animosity and tense feelings towards each other, always disagreeing and bickering with one another on their ideals concerning the social hierarchy that would become increasingly relevant as the two's conflicting views of society become a source of discord and mistrust between the gang, with some choosing to believe Hiroto's worlds of inspiration, saying it's necessary to assist people in times of uncertainty and saving them from whatever threat exists, and Kazuaya's Social Darwinist belief that the "losers" in society, which is practically the rest of the lesser people of the world, deserved to be mistreated and look down upon them by the "winners", which is the more prestigious, wealthy group that he's a part of.
//In many ways, this would resemble what I'd originally believed the Naegi-Togami relationship was going to end up becoming, which it didn't. It's a shame because this idea of having a cynical yet confident protagonist going up against this pessimistic, arrogant jerk, challenging the negative stereotypes of society, aspiring to change the status of the world into a better world, and showing that in troubling times like these, it's always helpful to possess some form of hopefulness and positivity in times of bleakness and depression to keep you moving in life and remembering that life isn't always negative, and there are some bright moments in life, even if we don't notice it.
//Regarding the rest of the group's actions in this reality, I'm guessing that they'll be suffering immensely, struggling to handle whatever issue comes their way. Usually, some of the more resilient and mentally stronger ones would power their way through this, such as Goro, Rei, and Daigo, while the more fragile, timid members would be prone to collapsing underneath with having to deal with endless amounts of trauma from witnessing all of the terrible sides of humanity, but that's a long story for another time.
//Needless to say, they would've fared poorly in this timeline, only being hampered by Kauzuya's continuous attempts to show his self-superiority and views over others and his blatant disregard and contempt for those beneath him, as well as people like Mitsuba and Honaka unintentionally causing more harm than good. Except for a few people in the cast who are sharp-witted and cunning enough to get a more comprehensive understanding as to what they're dealing with and how they can approach this properly, I wouldn't be so certain that everyone in the cast would've survived the grim world of ATAT.
//But that's just me expressing an opinion. Feel free to let me know what questions you have regarding Brave DR: Coward's Paradise, since it's actually one of my most cherished fangans that I've seen in my life, and it arguably got me invested in Fanganronpas to begin with.
//Apologies for this massive delay, since I was celebrating New Year's in Europe, (Western and Northern Europe to be specific), but thank you!^^ I greatly appreciate these comments, guys, and I'm sharing the same sentiment as you all, that it might be an enjoyable New Year's.
//Frankly, I wasn't expecting to receive any asks, considering that I've created a post earlier, detailing my thoughts on 2023 as a whole and expressing my thanks beforehand, but I'm delighted to see these comments nonetheless since it's actually the first time receiving these types of asks for me^^
//Originally, I wanted to continue the previous post for Christmas as I initially wrote down more extensive comments that I wanted to reveal and share with the entirety of you. However, I'd had to officially scrap it, since I was about to disembark and leave for the Uber, which offered an explanation as to why it ended so abruptly, as that's not what I had in mind, regarding my New Year's post. If I'd had more preparedness and better timing, I would've undoubtedly written more to show my gratitude towards you all.
//Fortunately, I've managed to regain some inspiration and energy from my experiences in Europe, as well as experimenting with numerous ideas for broadening out my options in terms of character writing, especially when it comes to writing realistic dialogue for the characters and how they're supposed to behave, so I'm really excited to share with you all what I have in the works^^
//More importantly, I look back on my earlier posts and came to a realization that I haven't been talking much about Danaganronpa content and media on my blog since it's so microscopic when you revisit the earlier moments of it, and it's quite embarrassing when you managed to neglect the major piece of media that everyone followed this blog for, aside from the historical lore.
//So that's why I wanna start reviewing and analyzing Danganronpa content from this ask onwards, critiquing and assessing the qualities of the Danganronpa franchise, discussing the central themes and topics of every piece of lore, specifically Fanganronpa content, and how the variety of each Fanganronpa's subject matter, interesting themes, creative and colorful cast of characters, and the majority of its storylines serves as a gateway to introduce an entirely new generation of Danganronpa enthusiasts who've probably never heard of Danganronpa before, as well as doing separate analyses of Danaganronpa characters, outlining my reasons as to why they're so enjoyable to watch
//Nevertheless, this doesn't mean I'm going to neglect the historical themes of the blog, because that's a central part of the blog. Yet, I want to extensively focus more on the historical aspects of this blog, discussing past events, stating the facts about what happened, and how the aftereffects of these pivotal moments in history created the path that we're currently living in. I'm recently getting invested in an alternate history, a subgenre that's honestly fascinating in the amount of diverse timelines people have made over the years.
//Hopefully, I can master this dynamic of integrating my passion for History as a genre, with my adoration and love for Danganronpa content, and be able to strike a balance between the two topics. Suffice it to say, there's going to be changes in what topics I'm shifting my focus on.
//Still, I hope you enjoyed this response. Apologies for getting sidetracked, but I really do value all of the support you guys give me, and I can't express how overjoyed I am to receive this, since I wasn't even expecting it. I wish you all a Happy New Year, and a fantastic 2024!^^
//Hey, everybody, Mod Sam here! My apologies if I wasn't occasionally online active this week or if I'm putting this out a bit earlier than expected, as the majority of you would be expecting from me.
//I've been incredibly busy these past few days, running errands, packing for my Christmas vacations, and enjoying well-needed quality bonding time with my loved ones. As a result of that, updates and progress on the Twilight Syndrome Arc have been rather sluggish this week, in comparison to other ones.
//Since it's officially the beginning of the holiday week, and it's going to be Christmas Eve tommorow, I imagine that you can all understand where my priorities are currently at the moment, guaranteeing a safe flight from Florida to my destination. Still, I should've probably informed all of you earlier during the week, to not cause confusion about where I exactly was these days^^
//I just wanted to create this brief Chrismas/New Year post because I feel like I owed all of you some form of explanation as to my current status at this point, and because I'm in an overwhelming Chrismas mood right now, and I want to announce my gratitude to everyone here for the amount of love and support you gave me^^
//2023 has been an absolutely difficult, stressful, year for me as it has been for almost everyone who experienced it. I can confidently say that I will not be looking back on this year fondly, as I'd gone through a particular lot of stuff this year, both awful and amazing at the best of circumstances. However, I don't wanna focus on the negatives this time around, as I'm in a positive mood and I think we're all getting tired of experiencing complete sadness these days, aren't we?
//Hopefully, 2024 will be a far better experience for me, both personally and for my writing capabilities, as I still have so much potential to show, if the last ask I answered is any indication of that. Fingers crossed that we'll be able to finish the first arc in January-February of 2024 and with enough planning and time, move on to the second arc.
//I just want to express my gratefulness and appreciation towards all of my fanbase here, because you guys are truly amazing! I always value your token kindness and advice on how to do wonderful character writing, really I do. And it's because of this that I want to express my thanks to all of you here, for making this story a reality, and for constantly being supportive of me, and I don't know how much I can repay you enough.
//Have a wonderful Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and I'll see you all in 2024!^^^
Kazuichi, if he treats you like shit constantly, making you doubt your self-worth, and just doesn't seem to care about you, you don't have a father. You have a sperm donor.
S-Sperm Donor? What does that even mean? I know that my dad might've been a bit flawed with his judgment, but let's not go THAT far!
‘Sides, despite what happened on that day, he's not that bad of a person, trust me. He just has a lotta issues that he needs to deal with personally.
And how can you be so sure of that? After all of the physical and verbal abuse that he tossed upon you?
Because I know how he behaves and acts. This isn't the first time he's done this to me, at least on a level such as what happened that day. Unlike other abusive fathers I've seen, he actually has the decency to regret his actions, mostly.
Hell, he couldn't even look me in the eyes when we were eating breakfast, or whenever I was on summer break and helping him out with runnin' the bike shop. Probably didn't wanna look at me after what happened, out of remorse or shame.
Doesn't give him an excuse for all of the abusive crap he did. To be fair, I might've gone a little bit overboard during that night, and we haven't really apologized for what happened, but it's still not an excuse for his shitty behavior.
And after all of the crappy things we've said to each other over five hours that night, I don't even wanna say anything to him, out of concern that I'd make him pissed off at me if we ever decide to hold a conversation about what happened.
Still, he's not an awful guy, he just has a lotta personal stuff that he needs to deal with, and a whole of them in fact.
Okay, okay! I'll tell you why I went to Hope's Peak in the first place. Just... promise me you won't tell anyone about the reasons why I wanted to attend there, okay? It's kinda sensitive for me to say.
Absolutely. I swear that I won't tell any part of this to anybody besides you and me, alright? Now what are the main reasons of why'd you decided to attend Hope's Peak in the first place?
Well, it's not that complicated. I mean, I first started out as a mechanic cuz my family ran a bike shop. We didn’t have a lotta work or money, and oftentimes, we were balancing between makin' a decent living for ourselves, and almost on the verge of going broke. So I just spent time taking stuff apart and puttin’ it together to impress potential customers, to help my folks with the expenses that we'd often had to pay for buying stuff.
I always just kinda made stuff for me, y’know? I had my own ideas and I wanted to make ‘em. But my folks always got pissed at me over it, calling ‘em "worthless toys," and saying that I ain't gonna make a career buildin' anything besides bikes. And that's not to mention the issues going on at home.
Family issues? No offense, but I'd never taken you for a guy who has parental issues, considering how laidback you seem to be.
It’s a lot to go into, but…well, my mom wasn’t a great…anything
She was kind of a stalker who followed Dad through high school, but nobody else wanted to date him, so the two of them just sorta ended up together. And when they did, she didn’t even let him look at other women. Not even ones he wasn’t interested in.
And she didn’t do much to help him around the house or improve our situation. He ran the bike shop, did the cooking, cleaning, and just…a lot of things for me. He was stressed out a lot of the time, and so…he kinda took it out on me. I don’t blame him though.
Mom hardly gave a shit about me anyway. If I was a girl, maybe she’d be better to me, maybe she’d have been worse. I dunno.
However, they finally got divorced back in 2008, and since then, things started to improve for me and Dad. We ended up makin' more money than we used to thanks to a genius advertising campaign I'd come up with for the bike shop. The amount of money that we've raised was sizeable enough that we were able to move out of the cruddy apartment we'd been living in since I was a child.
So, we settled on making a livin' in the countryside, bought this gorgeous, summer vacation house, and even started up our own automotive repair shop to pay off the expenses that came up when we'd moved in. At the same time though, there was this nagging, weird feeling in the back of my head.
I couldn't quite put down what I was feeling, but then I realized that I felt obligated to owe my dad something in compensation for all the hard work and sacrifices he'd put in to make sure I had a healthy upbringing, even if it means dealing with my crappy excuse of a mom. The problem is, I didn't know how to repay him for all of that. After all, he'd always exclude me from doin' most of the work, calling me young and inexperienced when it came to handling bigger projects.
But, when I overheard that a talent scout from Hope's Peak was searching for people with skilled talents like me, I decided to sign up for the opportunity to attend not only because I like makin' and fixin' things, but also to prove a point to my old man that I'm capable of taking over the family business once he retires, and trying my hardest to impress him. I was excited to be enrolled there... sorta.
Oh?
Hope's Peak... isn't what it's cracked up to be. Behind this mask of politeness and sincerity, the school is packed with racist, selfish, rotten, jerkasses who'll basically do nothin' more than betray each other for the pettiest of reasons. And the teachers aren't any better, teaching us that talent is everything we're supposed to live up to in society, or how commies are the new Nazis or something comparable to that.
At the same time, I didn't really bother to pay attention to all of that political crap and occasionally ignored it whenever I could. All I was concerned about was impressing my dad and creating some sweet, radical, gadgets for everyday use.
While we're on the subject of Hope's Peak, how exactly did your dad officially react to you attending Hope's Peak? He must've been overjoyed to hear that you got recognized as being part of an elite group of talented people, right?
...!
S-Souda-kun? What's with that terrified expression on your face? Did something happen between you and your dad?
... See, my old man's really not a bad person, but he's not what I would've liked to call the calmest person that I've known. Even though he and Mom had been divorced for four years now, he hasn't really recovered from the aftereffects of the divorce. Probably affected him a whole more than I'd thought. But when he figured out that I was attending Hope's Peak... it wasn't gonna end well for both of us.
The moment I'd arrived home, he started yelling at me to my face, gettin' pissed off over how I'd never explained to him that I was attending the academy, which is understandable. What wasn't was when he started to insult and mock the rest of the student body, calling them "low-life bigoted freaks that only embody the absolute worst of society" and how Hope's Peak is nothing more than a school shoving down vile, shitty propaganda about talents and white supremacy, while being run by corrupt, greedy assholes.
Looking back, it's perfectly clear to see that he wasn't wrong about this school and how it works, but back then, I was too stupid and naive to even listen to whatever damm reasons he'd had, and I certainly wasn't going to take his insults laying down, after I just built a career for myself. It all escalated into a full-blown argument about me attending.
However, I took it one step too far when I called him a drunken coward, calling him out for all of his crappy mistakes as a father, and then... I brought up the whole divorce situation that happened a while back. Out of all the stuff I've said to him that day, bringing up the divorce was the last straw for him, and he...he...
He slapped me... hit me so damm hard that I collapsed to the floor, holding my cheek, all red. My dad kinda always had a particular habit of taking his anger out on me whenever he was stressed... but this hurt way more than the other times it'd happen... at least back then, he didn't directly call me a failure... an embarrassment... and wished that I'd never was born...
Honestly, it might be for the best that you don’t receive a lot of likes. If your blog doesn’t attract fame, then it won’t attract haters and trolls either. No hate mail, no false reports, no obsessive character “stans” demanding you change your story to please them, etc. Fame isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, especially in today’s social and political climate.
//As I've heard. It's completely understandable why fame is a risky and hazardous slope to tread upon, and it's probably going to be inevitable that I eventually get so popular, judging by how the current chapter has been massively well-received at the moment.
//However, I'd probably just delete all of their baseless complaints if I do eventually become infamous in the Danaganronpa story blog community, which potentially might not happen until I reach adolescence or something.
//Still, I'm grateful that you decided to express this concern to me, and I'll be sure to take that form of advice into note if I do encounter unnecessary haters during my life. Nevertheless, I appreciate your concerns^^
I thought up of a good Watsonian reason as to why these types of recordings exist. The Anons had their memories of the events of the story take the form of physical film reels, along with all the Anon Files
//That's certainly an interesting notion you've got there. I wouldn't be surprised if that turned out to be the reason why these recordings exist in the future.
//Like... don't the Americans, with their endless amount of resources and technological experience, be able to afford actual recording tapes because they'd experienced the entirety of those events in the first place? I'd be inclined to believe that.
//But that's all just a mystery for now. Who knows how exactly those physical film reels came from :P
