Kakegurui Meta: Miroslava Missteps
A while back, I did an entry on the most underutilized characters in Kakegurui. Topping the list was Yuriko Nishinotouin, a character who did next to nothing after her game with Yumeko in S1, and was only ever shown losing in Election Arc. As time went on, however, I realized that some people thought Miroslava Honebami deserved top spot.Ā
Letās talk about that.Ā
Miroslava Honebami is a half-Russian member of the Hundred Devourers. Her familyās niche is ācleanupā - that is, eliminating members of the Devourers who didnāt make the cut. Although she was introduced at the same time as the other members of Kirariās extended family, as a character, she only had two major assets:Ā
Other than that, she really didnāt offer much to the story. Looking at how KG rolls, though, what could have been done to improve her as a character, both before and during the Greater Good Game (Tax Game)? We can workshop her within the context of KG, and see what exactly went wrong.Ā
As a bit of a litmus test, I asked my Discord server who they thought the scariest character in all of Kakegurui was. Midari did not even come up. That title went to Kirari Momobami, and, by extension, Ririka, in a landslide.Ā
So, how did the author set her up? Sheās given one panel in Ch.1, and slowly built up over time. Every encounter with Kirari paints her as an intimidating, but still childishly, morbidly curious individual. The trick with Ririka switching in adds more mystery. Her encounters with Midari and Mary set her up as someone not to take lightly, twice over, in two completely different ways. By the time Idol Arc happens, and Kirari is on stage, we can sympathize with Manyuuda, even though we also want to see him crushed:Ā
But Kirari was literally set up as intimidating from Day 1. That gave her a lot of time to build anticipation, set up the twin switch, etc. Maybe a better comparison could be made with one of the other Devourersā¦Ā
(āKuro, this is the MILLIONTH time youāve brought up Miyo!ā)Ā
First, that design. Thereās a bit of Chinese coding in both the eye makeup and her hair bun. More importantly, her eyes are pitch black in the manga, and only have any color in the anime - even then, most of the time, itās just a touch of really dark blue. Characters like Manyuuda and Sayaka had that going for them, too; instant threat! When her eyes are closed, she looks perfectly tappable fine.Ā Ā
But letās not change Miroslavaās design - itās one of the few things she has going for her. Her light hair and huge breasts both communicate āforeignerā to a Japanese audience, if not āRussian.ā I wish her eyes would stay one color between versions, but thatās about all I would fix. (Recent color arts from the manga make the reasoning a little clearer: apparently, Miroslava always had white hair and blue eyes. If her eye color was changed to prevent confusion with the Momobami twins, I can understand it, even if itās not what I would have done.)Ā
Miyoās design is only half of what makes her work, anyways. The other half? Sheās got bite.Ā
Beneath the āsubmissive, polite Asian womanā faƧade is a lady who is out for blood. She poisons Yuriko, who was already threatening. We learn very quickly that her sweet, familial hug to Yumeko was laced with monkshood. Sheās not afraid to take anybodyās life - even her own. If she says sheās going to murder someone, thereās a good chance she will do it, so everyone has a reason to take her seriously.Ā
Miri feels largely like a supplement to what Miyo has going, as well as functioning as her entire motivation. Miyo and Miri can communicate in their own code (which uses the Chinese āsquinty eyesā stereotype in anime to good effect). Miyo and Miri together form the idea of medicine and poison being the same thing, with dosage being the only difference. Also, aww, theyāre in love, and winning the head of family status is the only way they can be together! (Wait a minute, arenāt they also related?)Ā
Even if Miyo plays into Chinese stereotypes, Kawamoto made an effort to go beyond them. He definitely did research into traditional Chinese medicine. Monkshood, a decently-quick cardiotoxin, was a good weapon of choice for a smart, deadly character ultimately motivated by love. Just about the only criticisms I have are that he didnāt get into the history of Chinese medicine at all, and the distinct possibility that Miyo and Miri are back-alley doctors.Ā
We donāt get that with Miroslava. All we know about her is what Runa says: sheās an āice-cold, vote-grabbing machine.ā (That, and fanservice.) The anime subs add āworking hardā to that; okay.Ā
Excuse me while I slam my head onto the desk for a moment. Okay, moment over.Ā
Basically, anime has a few stereotypes about Russiansā¦Ā
ā¦and Miroslava didnāt really break any of them. If anything, she underplayed two of them, and put all her effort into the āemotionless, cold-bloodedā one. Nothing interesting was done with that. Miroslava was only around for one game, and after Taxes, sheās out, so weāre probably not going to see anything interesting.Ā
(On a related note, Alisa from God Eater is a far more interesting take on Russian Stereotype #2. Yes, she is still very cold, and definitely has a murderous side to her, but there is a reason for why sheās emotionally-distant. Like many people in God Eaterās world, her parents were eaten by a giant monster before her eyes. The experience shook her so much that, badass though she is, Aragami that look similar to Dyaus Pita sometimes cause her to stall in the middle of combat. She also undergoes intensive therapy for her trauma. Thatās taking a stereotype and giving it at least some depth.)Ā
Ideally, Miroslava would have had at least one on-screen game snippet to set her up like Miyo. Iād recommend Midari or one of her club members. The Beautification Council doesnāt take crap from anyone, and Midari herself has Russian roulette as her personal favorite game. In ESP Game, Midari brushes off the consequences of her game potentially killing someone. I canāt see Miroslava taking that lightly; murder is, after all, her business. Itās not the same when we donāt see the game, even if the anime did a slightly better job teasing her.Ā
So, while Miyo has a mask of innocence that you can suspect something beneath, Miroslava has an āall bark, no biteā feel to her. I understand why they didnāt make Miroslava a subversion of her stereotype, but I donāt like it. Her business (and Ibaraās) was briefly hinted at before the Greater Good Game, but it wasnāt anywhere near as relevant as it could have been. Itād be interesting if they made Miroslava a sweetheart beneath her chilling, ambitious exterior after the minimal buildup she got, explained how murder can traumatize someone/alter their perception on death games (which KG already hates), or given her something related to her Russian lineage.Ā
Speaking of that, quick, before you scroll down, what do you know about Russian politics?! This is relevant to Kakeguruiās running themes, I swear!Ā
Most of you probably said either, āthe Romanov dynasty/Anastasia,ā ācommunism,ā or both. While thereās a lot more history where that came from, both of those could have been relevant to Kakegurui, especially in an arc where economics and politics are both in play. Letās examine why with a mini history lesson.Ā
Up until the late 1800ās, Russia was more or less content as a monarchy. In 1861, Tsar Alexander II ended āserfdom,ā which meant that peasants were tied to their land. There was now a peasant working class (i.e. they were still peasants, they could just work wherever they wanted). This was a mixed blessing: serf masters often kept their distance from their workers, but the same was not true of factory heads, who were not only more personal, but also abusive and low-paying.Ā
Alexander II died in 1894. His son Nicholas II was coronated 2 years later in May of 1896, and this is where things start to get really ugly.Ā
Right after the coronation, there was a free merchandise rush so big that it was called āThe Khodynka Tragedy.ā Peasants (remember: there is no real middle class) stormed souvenir stalls in a stampede so massive that over 1,300 people died. Basically, imagine every Black Friday or huge sale youāve ever been to, and then multiply the death toll by 100.Ā
Without getting too much into it, things only got worse from there. Remember how I mentioned that peasants could work in factories now, and didnāt like their new handlers? They formed unions and began striking, a lot. They eventually drafted a document addressing their woes to be signed by Tsar Nicholas II. Maybe he wasnāt aware of what they were going through.Ā
Nicholas II was not fond of 3,000+ Russian peasants storming his house. Not only did he ānopeā and leave the day before the march, but he had over 10,000 troops prepared to halt the marchers. Because the peasants saw the tsar as a holy ruler, the march happened on Sunday, January 22nd, 1905 - a day called āBloody Sunday.āĀ
With a name like that, you can probably guess what happened: people marched, troops fired (even without an order from the tsar). Exactly how many died varies heavily by source; bare minimum, there were 96 dead. Somewhere around 1,000 is more likely. Even though the tsar wasnāt there to do anything, people blamed him for Bloody Sunday.Ā
He couldnāt avoid the masses forever. Strike after strike happened following Bloody Sunday. The October Manifesto assured citizens that they had certain rights, including speech, conscience, and assemblage, and that the tsar no longer had absolute power. By October of 1905, however, it was too little, too late.Ā
Attempted coups, strikes, and revolutions continued for 12 years. Now weāre hitting the parts that fall into popular consciousness: Nicholas II was having his hemophiliac son Alexei treated by Rasputin, and also had a daughter named Anastasia that he was less than thrilled about. The Bolsheviks stormed the Winter Palace, the last stronghold of the old government, on Nov 8, 1917, killing the royal family and firmly seating power in the hands of the future Communist Party.Ā
This leaves us with:
-Capitalism gone horribly wrong.Ā
-People going crazy for material goods, to the point where many died.Ā
-A LOT of rejection of monarchy.Ā
-Adoption of communism, which is also pretty iffy, in part because it often leads to paranoid dictators.Ā Ā
While I wouldnāt expect too much from Kawamoto in this regard, how do you not mention any of that in a series about economics, democracy, and what it means to be human? Russian history would give Miroslava a lot of earned caution towards a regime change. Likewise, she has every reason to reject Kirariās monarchy, but is also aware of what might go wrong if the peasants rise up. In other words, she knows the questions, but doesnāt have answers. That would make her an interesting character.Ā
(I swear the Greater Good Game had the weirdest chestsā¦)Ā
Tax Game didnāt feel right to a lot of people, especially if you were reading month-by-month. Given the problems that Miroslavaās character has without it, āHow to Improve Tax Gameā will be its own entry. That said, that entry will also supplement this one, because the Russian mob has an interesting, relevant history and this entry is long enough.Ā
Please note that I donāt think Miroslava deserves to kick Nishinotouin out of her number 1 place; Nishi got there by doing nothing for a long time, being a sacrifice for Miyo, and having an entire club around her that could have been used in some capacity. Miroslava was nonetheless very underdeveloped, even given the short amount of time she was around. So much could have been done, but wasnāt, and probably wonāt get explored. Meanwhile, Nishiās current niche is having Midari eat her hair, so who really wound up with the worse fate remains to be seen.Ā
Next up: Iām going to make taxes cool.
