saw this junko analysis but tumblr won’t let me reblog it so i’ll just post what i have to say about their incest claims regarding this infamous dr0 passage here:
okay so first off a really important aspect of this scene that people tend to forget is that mukuro is talking to junko. to mukuro, ryoko is junko.
second of all there’s nothing incestuous about this scene. people just misunderstand mukuro’s character, the nature of the abuse she experiences at junko’s hand, and how that impacts her behavior. what’s happening here is the product of junko’s constant cruelty and withholding of love.
in this specific scene mukuro is talking to an amnesiac junko and for the first time ever she’s finally able to tell junko to her face how much she loves her, how she’d do anything for her, how badly she wants her to be happy while also reenforcing how special their bond is without being punished. this scene is attempting to portray her excitement and her obsessive nature when it comes to junko, which is not objectively sexual. op is labeling it and assuming it’s sexual, which again is not objective whatsoever.
an essential aspect of the despair sisters dynamic that people fail to recognize is that mukuro and junko aren’t just siblings: they’re twins. the bond and the love between twins is different and significantly more intense than a bond between regular siblings. in every sense of the word, junko is mukuro’s life partner: they were together before they were even born. they came into this world together, hit their developmental milestones together, grew up completely and utterly together until mukuro left for the fenrir. think about it: mukuro’s twin sister, her life partner, her other half, the person she loves more than anything and anyone in the entire world is addicted not only to hurting her in ways that cause her extreme emotional agony but to depriving her of the love and connection she needs to survive.
mukuro can’t express her love and affection for junko in a regular way because she gets punished for it. it gets in the way of junko’s despair so she has all of this love inside of her with nowhere to put it so of course she’s gonna gush about how much she cares for and understands junko to others. it’s a way for her to feel connected to junko. one of the beliefs that keeps mukuro afloat is that she’s different than other people, that she’s special to junko, that she understands her in a way nobody else ever could. (she’s right about those things but that’s besides the point). but junko will never let her feel special or feel loved. junko is junko so mukuro doesn’t get to experience either of these things naturally.
in a sense, mukuro is starving, and when you’re starving, your entire world centers around food. it takes over your mind, seeps into your dreams. your actions become increasingly more erratic and frantic the hungrier you get. that’s what’s happening with mukuro. she’s starving for junko’s affection and for an openly loving connection with her twin sister so it makes sense that she’d be devouring every little scrap of connection she could find and forge. it isn’t as odd as people think for her love for junko to overflow and take on an obsessive quality because really, talking about their connection is one of the only ways she can truly experience it.
i’d also argue that the use of the word “ecstasy” isn’t compelling textual evidence for incestuous feelings whatsoever, one because it’s a translation and two because even if it’s exactly the same in the original language as it is in the translation the use of awkwardly ostentatious language fits with the convoluted writing style and exaggerated descriptions that are consistent throughout the text. the verbs and modifiers are so overdone it almost becomes difficult to follow at times.
by definition, “ecstasy” is “a state of extreme happiness or pleasure,” which isn’t inherently sexual. it’s a word commonly associated with sexual pleasure, but it has other unsexual connotations as well. it gets its sexual connotation because it’s often used when describing the sensation of physical sexual stimulation or an orgasm, of which mukuro is experiencing neither, obviously. if we’re attempting to deduce why a translator would choose the word “ecstasy,” its more likely because of its connotation to a drug high. throughout the franchise despair is given an addictive almost drug like quality that induces feelings of euphoria and extreme pleasure. mukuro isn’t just talking about her connection to junko but also junko’s connection to despair, so technically that checks out.
personally i think it’s most likely just another example of the ostentatious hyperbolic word choice and style we see throughout the text as well as just mukuro being strange lol. she’s definitely an obsessive weirdo but there are reasons for that that make significantly more sense than incest.
if this were truly the objective analysis that op claims it to be, the fact that that dr0 passage is taken from a fan translation of the text would’ve been taken into account. indirect implications hinging on word choice can easily become muddled by the translator’s bias, personal interpretation of the text, and writing style, which is especially relevant in this case considering that the translation isn’t official.
also…their doubling down on the fact that despaircest is so objectively present in canon that they don’t want to hear otherwise from anyone is bizarre. it’s an incredibly odd hill to die on for someone who allegedly doesn’t like despaircest. my “objective analysis” is that thou doth protest too much.
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