Something that my boyfriend pointed out to me that I will now frame as my own original observation (because I’ve also thought this, too) is that if her story came out, showing her as the bully first, I would have felt really differently about Muu’s character. Or even if I wasn’t super early to MILGRAM, and I came in during trial 2. She might well have ended up ended in the “you deserve what you get” realm with Shidou, in my mind.
For context: I’m a victim of both severe bullying, and psychiatric abuse. This leads to me viewing characters who are bullies (outside of specific explicit narratives about parental abuse and/or internalized bigotry), or who are doctors that commit medical malpractice, especially harshly.
Part of what got me attached to Muu in the first place was the narrative of her as a bully victim who achieved revenge. And, in the time where I understood her as a bully victim, I viewed a lot of her behavior through a sympathetic lens. I saw a lot of myself in her personality, and especially my autistic traits in how her inability to “read the room” comes across badly to others.
I did feel betrayed when it was revealed that she was a bully, too. But that also came hand-in-hand with the reveal that she was befriending Haruka — the disabled prisoner. Which, given that I was bullied for being disabled, did a lot to raise her favor, on top of all my previous work towards viewing her personality through a sympathetic lens.
It’s only because of this, I think, that I was able to eventually recognize that the way that Muu was being treated by a lot of the fandom was rooted in misogyny. The idea of the prototypical “mean girl” is treated with a more particular harshness than other forms of bullying. I’m sure, for a lot of people, that comes from a place of past trauma and personal experience, but that doesn’t change that ultimately views women as more capable of harm than men, and punishes women more harshly for similar deeds. I was unable to stop seeing how her being a supposed “bitchy and shallow teenage girl” got her treated like and theorized to be the worst of the worst, even when evidence opposite to that narrative existed (people who claimed that Muu “didn’t actually care” about Haruka, etc).
The way that Muu was developed, in a way quite unique to MILGRAM, made me ultimately give a chance to a character that I would have never been inclined to view kindly under different circumstances. And, ultimately, it made me develop a favorite character!
right because she’s going to live in the real world without consequences right. because it’s worse than being psychologically tortured and possibly killed in prison, right.
clearly, this doesn’t sound like guilt or possible chance at change, right?
But blame it on “reading comprehension,” or we truly “don’t love Amane” enough.
there's something very sinister about this scene... i'm speaking as someone outside of japan so maybe it's different but all amane's mom would have to do is say her address and that she needs medical help and the emergency services would understand that something's wrong and come over. she obviously doesn't look well, but if she's well enough to be able to type in the numbers, surely she's well enough to press the dial button? even if she couldn't speak, she could still press dial and THEN give the phone to amane.
but by giving the phone to amane, she's resolving herself of any blame. if amane makes the phone call, then amanemom can push the fall onto her instead. she could even at a later date punish her for it, for failing a test given to her by god. she just didn't expect amane to punish her, which was ultimately her downfall.
Uhhh.....so I'm gonna say something I guess(?) controversial in the Milgram fandom....
People saying Shidou is like....the most selfish character in Milgram--or even one of the most selfish characters--just always irked me. Cause like yeah, obviously no one plans to be in car accidents, and him killing that truck driver was horrible. But....my guy:
He just found out his family was fucking bulldozed
Wasn't allowed to even leave, instead operate on the guy that killed them
Just wanted to fucking get to his five year old preschooler son who could've been fucking dead right now (spoiler, he was)
His crime does not define him as a whole person. You literally just read what he did at his worst and decided "Most selfish person in the world". Throughout the entire course of Milgram, Shidou never saw himself as fully human and only found a spark to keep living when OTHERS needed him
Yeah, sure, most selfish prisoner in Milgram. Not Miss "I stabbed my classmate because she looked me at like empty air"
Had a bunch of silly ideas last night about 0308 sibs so heres my brain blast
Amane gets Fuuta to play tag with her somehow (probably by going "youre it" then ragebaiting him into going along with it), at first hes super reluctant but quickly gets super into it. Which turns into them dragging the entire prison into their game, including such silly scenarios: Amane pretending shes being attacked by Fuuta so one of them can tag Kazui who comes over to help her and then they run away giggling, Shidou helping them hide from Kazui... only to reveal hes now playing as he tags one of them, them finding Haruka and excitedly yelling at him about the game only for him to start yelling back in terrified confusion and now theyre all screaming in the kitchen.
Fuuta and Amane doing crafts together, Amane leaves for a sec and someone (probably Mikoto) comes past asking Fuuta if thats Amanes drawing hes holding, its not, its his. He cant draw for shit due to his messed up depth perception. He then starts crying cause of that accidental reminder and its really awkward 😭
Amane visiting Mahiru and Fuuta post Kotoko attack. The conversation somehow turns to them discussing what animal they think the others would be. Mahiru and Amane both agree Fuuta would be a cat, and start going on about him being like a sad little stray cat you'd find in a cardboard box in the rain then get carried away talking about how cute cats are. As he's right there. Listening to everything.
This ones like a slight au where Amane cant bring herself to kill Shidou T3 but still hates medicine and thus hates him. Fuuta gets sick (oh no) and Amane tries to take care of him the best she can without any medicine or medical care. Shidou finds out and they end up arguing back and forth while trying to help a sick Fuuta whos questioning his life choices rn and really would like them to shut up
Yayyy yippeeeee 0308 siblings my fucking beloved!!! Expanding on these under the cut because they’re so cute!! 😊
These kids are going to give the older prisoners a heart attack, feigning prison fights for the same of tag (but also. It would work asdfds.) I love the idea of the game spreading to the whole group and you just hear intense commotion from the other rooms now and then as someone gets into it. Cut to Amane lurking the dark corridor like Shidou’s death video as she waits for Fuuta to leave the bathroom so she can Get Him (tap him lightly).
I feel like Amane would be pretty sheltered when it came to basic games, both from the cult’s general isolation but also an aversion to indulging in unnecessary pleasures. So, Fuuta teaches her all sorts of card/dice/word games. In any other situation he’d label them as stupid and childish, but if he’s helping her discover them for the first time, he doesn’t seem to notice… Amane would be used to older kids trying to boast new knowledge, but Fuuta is having a brand new experience feeling like an older brother helping her with rules and tricks.
Art time!! (No Shidou Allowed… for multiple reasons asdfds…) Between the graffiti imagery and the fact that he’s a video game nerd, Fuuta has definitely tried his hand at drawing in the past, and can be convinced into Amane’s craft time. She probably makes him a ton of stuff that he huffs about, but Es finds every one of her gifts stashed in a drawer next to his bed. If Fuuta ever ends up drawing something for her, it ends up on the wall of her cell within the day. I can see them having those matching knot bracelets – Amane thinks they’re super cute, and Fuuta’s seen plenty of sports guys with braided cords so he’s not afraid to wear it around.
RIP Fuuta’s depth perception noooo 😭 They both tease each other for their art – both constantly pointing out at wonky-shaped animals and weird perspectives. Amane is always finding something to criticize Fuuta on and pretend to show him the right way to do it. That is, until it was something he was genuinely self-conscious about. Then, she’s on her feet, defending him in an instant.
I’m glad both the fandom and characters can tell he’s stray cat coded and also doesn’t care that he’d hate it 😂 I can see the conversation taking a turn when he goes “ew, I’m not a furry or anything!” (regardless of if he actually is), only for the other two to give blank stares: “what’s a furry?” Several minutes later, the girls are Locked In and have their fursonas all planned out. Amane immediately gets to work on drawing all of them, and is very proud of her Cat Fuuta artwork.
So many sweet and angsty possibilities in Fuuta sickfics ough… Amane cares deeply for him and wants to save him, but she can’t go back on her rules after all the pain it’s brought her. Shidou is also determined to save him, but he hates butting heads with Amane while also trying to get her to trust him. “Fuuta-san wants his soul saved!” “No, Kajiyama-kun wants to live!” “Well, actually right now I do want to die because of how loud you guys are being -_-”
I find it interesting that people think Fuuta studies something related to technology or law at his university since Milgram doesn't give many details about it. What if it's just something he didn't want to admit to the others? (like gastronomy...)
Honestly! I know he’s fandomized as the tech guy (myself included on occasion,) but everything he does is pretty standard social media use – there’s no crazy coding/hacking involved, just a keen eye for telling info and a love for gaming. I definitely think he’d get too overwhelmed for any kind of law/political/medical program that’s seen as a “hero” career to him. I don’t think his father would approve of him going in undeclared and aimless, so he’d have to pick something.
Which brings us to Food Career Fuuta my belovedddd ;---; It’s so perfect for him – it satisfies his hunger for being nosy about society, he gets the feeling of providing for others (giving him that hero’s high), while also showing off and gaining the simple praise he craves. He would probably pick something culinary from the list of majors just because it looked the most bearable, only to discover a genuine passion once he actually got into it.
I feel like he’d be pretty burned out back at his apartment – he’s not going out and buying fresh ingredients for grand meals, he’s just endlessly scrolling recipe videos on tiktok. And so, when he gets to Milgram and it’s his turn on kitchen duty, he’s amazed to see their full stock of ingredients and tools. He throws himself into cooking, reviving that old knowledge/love of the craft. He pretends to despise his other chores and “settle” for switching with cooking duty, but everyone quickly sees how much he enjoys it (and willingly trades jobs as they taste his food...)
He would be embarrassed about it at first, especially since the two other chefs of the prison are girly housewife Mappi and family dad Shidou. He doesn’t want to be lumped in with them, but he can’t control his temptation to boast his skills when the topic comes up. He’ll give the others tips on how to better prepare something, or mention fun facts about dishes around the country/globe.
Though he could claim the knowledge came from his family/online, the truth would come out when he needs credibility. I can picture him getting into a debate with 05-08 about Amane’s eating restrictions. Whether he’s defending Amane’s right to eat what she wants or encouraging her to keep up her strength with a little more protein in her diet, everyone keeps shrugging off his opinion aside until he shouts that he’s literally studying this and knows what he’s talking about.
(And even if he against Shidou then,) I bet he’d work closely with him to help feed Mahiru the nutrition and spirit-lifting dishes he’s well-versed in. Haruka’s death would probably hit him even harder knowing that feeding the prison had become His Thing, and he didn’t do a good enough job to save anyone…
dededos
2087
annaxmalina
yousharknotpass
turnnoffyourmind
pixelskylines
jacobvanloon
blakekathryn
