psa: if you find yourself “”obsessively”” cleaning and organizing and needing everything in your house to be spick and span, and it takes a lot of time out of your day but in the end you perceive this as good and correct and satisfying– and if you are driven simply by a desire to be organized or in control of your environment, not irrational intrusive thoughts (you need to clean to get rid of bad thoughts, or prevent something horrible from happening, etc), consider that you might have Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder, not OCD.
it is deeply unfortunate that these two very different disorders have such similar names, because this leads to a lot of confusion, but they are classified completely differently in the DSM-V and operate on different rules.
OCPD is a Cluster C personality disorder. people with OCPD are the ones perceived as “type-A” personalities dialed up to an extreme. these people typically don’t experience their disorder as distressing, though it often distresses the people around them. people with OCPD may not even recognize their behaviour is disordered until others point it out to them. because it’s a personality disorder, it’s harder to self-detect because it simply feels like a natural way of existing to the person with it. there is typically an underlying anxiety or deep need to be in control that drives their behaviour, but the OCPD person is often in denial of this and perceives their behaviour as rational and logical. meanwhile, those around them may perceive them as inflexible, controlling, stingy, or overly perfectionist.
on the other hand, OCD was classified as an anxiety disorder until recently, and now has its own category, but is notably not a personality disorder. it still shares much in common with anxiety disorders, as well as hoarding disorders, skin picking / hair pulling, and even tic disorders. the word “obsession” in this context does not refer to what we typically think of as obsessive behaviours; it refers to frequent, uncontrollable anxiety-inducing thoughts or feelings that then lead to outward (or mental) compulsions to try to get rid of them. nobody with OCD experiences it as inherently positive, because the whole disorder is driven by fear, doubt, and shame. OCD sufferers are often painfully aware their behaviour is irrational or done in vain, but cannot stop doing it because their anxiety about what may happen if they do is too much to handle. across the board, it is highly distressing and often disabling.
the real kicker is it’s possible to have both! I suspect this also contributes to misinformation.
please learn the difference, and see a professional if you suspect you may have one or both.
I wish more people knew about what those with NPD go through.
When we look up information on NPD, by searching “NPD”, “NPD awareness”, “NPD help”, rarely do we get accurate information. Instead, we find pages and pages of things on how to spot us, how to find a “malignant” narcissist, how to hurt us, how to escape us, the warning traits of someone having NPD, and almost every single person conflating having NPD with being an abuser who wants to hurt you. Even on pages that list our symptoms, there’s often snippets at the bottom saying people might need to escape us because we’re just so likely to be abusers to them. Fake symptoms are often slipped in with real ones, and nobody bats an eye.
There is hardly any help for people like us, no help for our family and friends who want to understand or help us, only guides to find out how to hurt, stereotype, and spread misinformation on us and how we work.
Positivity posts, awareness posts, anything, is so hard to find on any site. I can find miles of it for multiple other things I experience, but with NPD, it’s filled with things about how awful we are and how to spot us from a distance. It’s not just in the narcissist tag, it’s in the NPD tag, the actually NPD tag, everywhere. Making posts that say “we deserve to be treated fairly and equally like any other personality disorder” causes backlash telling us that we’re being abusive and trying to force people to accept abusers into cluster b spaces. They do no research. They know nothing of what they’re talking about except that NPD is their word and nobody, not even real, suffering, people, can take the horrible light off of it.
When did “support people with personality disorders”, “support people with scary symptoms”, and “support people with low empathy”, suddenly disappear when we came up?
if you have hallucinations and/or delusions i love you. youre not bad or evil, and struggling to tell what's real or fake isnt a personal flaw. you deserve happiness and safety, you deserve to be listened to and taken seriously, and you deserve a loving group of people who will support you and treat you well.
i hope everyone struggling with body focused repetitive behaviors is having a good day!! whether it be dermatillomania, trichotillomania, or any other bfrb, you deserve to happy and proud of your body.
plum drop the essay on fuyu/peko and mondo/taka paralelles !!!! i am curious
ask and u shall recieve (inserting my first ever page break because holy FUCK this got long)
oke! I guess I’ll start off with Peko’s initial conception as a character, which was the main initial comparison danganronpa intended between Peko and Kiyotaka.
I’ve noticed danganronpa has a tendency to re-use character tropes or roles after each game, tho their fates end up differently. For example, Chihiro was the smart, cute, and sweet character who ended up dying early on and had little significance outside of alter ego afterwards. Chiaki is the same, except if Danganronpa took Chihiro’s character and made her one of the main protagonists that has much more significance in the game.
The staff of SDR2 confirmed that they based Peko off of Kiyotaka, from their intense red eyes (which was intentional) + predominately b&w colorscheme, they both have swords, and their characters are tied to justice, though in different ways. Not to mention both are meant to be extremely disciplined, but ultimately struggle at socializing due to their rough backstories. But that’s where Peko’s ties to Taka as an initial concept end there, because the parallels between Peko/Taka and Fuyuhiko/Mondo are a whole ‘nother ballpark.
Before bringing that up though, we should note that while their designs are significantly different, Mondo and Fuyuhiko are extremely similar in terms of their backstory and personality (down to their ability to curse like a sailor). Both struggle with an inferiority complex (Fuyuhiko w/ how he isn’t taken seriously because of his babyface, Mondo w/ how his self esteem is really fragile and gets jealous of others when he acknowledges them to be stronger than him). Both act like tough, aggressive lone-wolfs (well, Mondo pre-sauna anyways), but have been stated to have a soft side, to the point they doubt their capabilities of being a tough leader because of it. BASICALLY fuyuhiko and mondo are the same role, being the intimidating gang leader that no one should fuck with, but in actuality has a lot of insecurities behind that facade.
Ok, ok, time to the ACTUAL relationship parallel analysis. We now know why Peko/Taka are meant to be parallels, and we can definintely make a solid claim for Fuyuhiko and Mondo. This isn’t new for Danganronpa, in their tendency to use patterns but give them a different twist depending on the game. Which is exactly what happened in regards to chapter 2 of THH and SDR2, respectively.
The games’ chapter 1s are simple: meant to introduce the characters/game/stakes. Leon and Sayaka’s deaths were tragic, but the emotional impact of them wasn’t the main priority by the writers. Only to show that this was, indeed, a Killing Game where anyone’s possible to die. But chapter 2 of danganronpa is intended to be the chapter where you’re introduced to just how emotional and tragic the games can actually be, meant for maximum heartbreak (for both the characters and the player).
Chapter 2 of THH was where the different students’s relationships between each other became more solid. Sakura and Aoi were good friends. Toko’s obsession for Byakuya first solidified. Hifumi being Celeste’s servant, etc. Taka and Mondo’s fast developed friendship is no different. After the sauna, the two clicked so much that they believed calling each other just a friend wasn’t really accurate, and settled on calling each other brother instead. While they don’t have memories of their close friendship during Hope’s Peak at this time, it’s heavily implied that their closeness during that time made them subconsciously gravitate towards each other so fast, which could also be seen with Sakura and Aoi, and how Chihiro was able to find Makoto familiar during their introduction.
Peko and Fuyuhiko’s relationship could be considered to be just as close. The two grew up together, quite literally since they were kids. Like Taka and Mondo’s relationship pre-sauna, Fuyuhiko and Peko’s relationship was somewhat strained, though it’s more deeply rooted than two extremely contrasting guys clashing over their perceptions of each other. Fuyuhiko is extremely insecure in his place as the Kuzuruyuu clan’s head, and sees Peko’s desire to protect him and carry out his commands as an unwanted crutch that challenges his desire to be independent, as well as extremely worrying considering how because of this, Peko devalues her own life and worth as a person. Fuyuhiko very much loves Peko as a person, and as such tried to distance himself from her during their time on Jabberwock Island. Though unfortunately, Peko took this as him loathing her in general, further cementing her desire to be his “tool” because if he couldn’t stand being around her, she might as well make herself useful to him.
Now. Finally to get into the explicit parallels between the relationships of Kiyotaka/Mondo, and Peko/Fuyuhiko. Peko and Taka’s perspective on their relationships is a great starting point.
Each game’s chapter 2 shows just how willing both Taka and Peko are willing to go in order to protect Mondo. Peko’s motive for killing Mahiru wasn’t to escape, but to in her eyes save Fuyuhiko from the Killing Game, by using herself as his tool to carry out muder, and have everyone incorrectly vote for her so Fuyuhiko could get away. She was his bodyguard in the truest sense of the word. Now in THH’s chapter 2, instead of fighting against Mondo in proving his guilt, you’re fighting Kiyotaka. He refuses any evidence you throw at him, arguing relentlessly to prove Mondo’s innocence, to the point the only reason he stopped was because Mondo told him to. And you later find out, in chapter 3, that Kiyotaka felt so determined to prove Mondo’s innocence was because he felt like it was his responsibility to, as he cared for Mondo so much.
So, in a way, Taka considers himself Mondo’s bodyguard. Just without the years worth of reinforcement that you’re nothing but a tool to be used which makes you devalue your own worth as a person. (Not that his self esteem and willpower wasn’t ultimately crushed by Mondo’s execution, but that’s only because the circumstances he lost him was undenyingly brutal considering the Killing Game). While the circumstances of Peko’s desire to protect Fuyuhiko are really murky and problematic considering how she was raised, Danganronpa confirmed that she protected him so much because of her care for him, to the point she was willing to sacrifice her own life to assure that Fuyuhiko is safe. And Kiyotaka was willing to go to the exact same drastic measures, by voting for himself.
It’s also worth noting that in the stage play, he willingly accepted to be punished alongside him by doing this to make sure Mondo doesn’t die alone.
So from my own understanding, Super Danganronpa 2 took the tragedy of Mondo and Taka’s relationship, and flipped it so that while it still follows its signature use of repetitive patterns, they made the circumstances different, but just as heartbreaking. And how? Because they took the Taka of the relationship, and made Peko the culprit. It’s not the Mondo this time, which is who you’re supposed to expect to be the culprit, because of your expectation from THH’s trial 2.
Peko tried her best to protect Fuyuhiko, much like Kiyotaka tried to after he recognized the fact Mondo was the blackened. Both were, at the expense of their classmate’s and their own lives, were willing to protect them both, no matter what. Peko took a more active role in trying to do this however, which is what Kiyotaka severely regretted not doing, as stated in chapter 3.
And Fuyuhiko is what would have happened if Mondo was forced to face the consequences of his actions (in Fuyu’s case, being partially responsible for Mahiru’s death, in Mondo’s case, Chihiro’s). Instead of Taka arguing to prove Mondo’s innocence, it’s Fuyuhiko who’s doing that for Peko. A deliberate use of subverting the pattern given to us by THH’s chapter 2.
That’s the main takeaway, but I suppose I should also address the romantic parallels while I’m at it. I personally don’t like Kuzupeko as a romantic relationship, mainly because of how Peko’s self worth and personal value of herself as a person was as a direct result from being considered Fuyuhiko’s “tool” and their professional relationship as yakuza leader/henchman. Fuyuhiko does love her as a person, but that doesn’t negate the years of psychological degradation Peko endured to consider herself as a tool. Though in typical Danganronpa fashion, they choose to gloss over the problematic aspects of their relationship while heavily implying romantic subtext between them. So while I can’t say I’m a fan, I know the game/DR3 anime says otherwise.
And as for Ishimondo, I know some will disagree with me, but I definitely feel that their relationship is heavily lined with romantic subtext as well. Not much is really explicit in the game outside of Ishida and Hifumi’s romantic rivalry for alter ego (who Taka considers Mondo), but the mangas and posters definitely show their relationship that most would consider normal for couples.
But at the end of the day? Both Peko and Taka love Fuyuhiko and Mondo, whether or not you consider both, one, or none of their relationship to be romantic. They wouldn’t have put their own lives on the line if it was anything else. And it’s that emotional connection between Kiyotaka and Mondo, and Peko and Fuyuhiko that’s meant to give you an emotional punch in the gut for THH and SDR2’S chapter 2’s, because of how far the two were willing to protect them.
I love this part because the gag is she assembled the desk right in front of the door, thereby trapping herself inside the room. In the manga, she just outright says it.
But in the anime, they show her standing up, looking for the exit, realizing her mistake, and going “Well, fuck.”
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