okokok i don’t know if i’m on something with this or onto something, but i wanna talk about how humanity is a big overarching theme in yttd.
ofc there’s the dummies. they are perfect replicas of the participants in the killing game. there’s the real reko vs. fake reko in chapter 2. fake reko doesn’t even know she’s fake, and it takes a great deal of debating to decide that she is fake. it’s also notable that she dies because she is not the real reko. while the doll kills real reko (depending on the route), i can’t help but pity her. she fully and truly believed she was human, but she was treated as more disposable because she was a dummy.
then when it comes to the dummies in chapter 3, they’re also treated as disposable, particularly by midori. he uses them as tools to attack the human participants for his own amusement. the thing is, no matter what midori promised them, they were never going to survive. ofc, 3-c isn’t out yet, but it seems like no matter which dummy survives the banquet, nothing changes. the only substantial story differences come from the death of humans. ranmarus reaction when he removes his hand is also notable. the realization that he isn’t a “real person” hits him hard.
the dummies in yttd remind me of the book “klara and the sun”, which is a really good book. that book explores what makes someone human in a way that’s similar to how the dummies in yttd operate.
the last thing i have to say about the dummies is that i think it’s interesting how the banquet revolves around who is human and who is not, as well as sacrificing the dummies to save gin. they aren’t human, so they’re more disposable. though i’d sacrifice any yttd character for gin.
now, i wanna talk about humanity when it comes to sara, shin, and midori.
sara is a very kind, smart, and confident teenager. though she is pushed into the role, she is able to gain trust from almost the entire group. but, her survival percentage and what we hear about the test runs without joe from shin and midori show a different side to her. more than any other character, sara is desperate to survive. without joe, she can detach herself from her humanity and use people in order to survive. she doesn’t know these people, it’s fine. she can win. she can’t do that with her best friend present, with his life on the line. she also can’t do that after becoming attached to the other participants. that’s why she doesn’t go full emotionally detached killer mode after forgetting joe in the logic route.
as for shin, i think him and sara are two sides of the same coin. 15.5% and 0.0%. the highest chance of survival and the lowest. because the death game was made to be even, sara got joe as a debuff, and shin got to see the trial runs and survival percentages as a buff. just like sara, he is determined to survive. he takes on the name and the personality (or at least he tries to lol) of the person who he fears most, someone he believes would survive this situation: sou hiyori, midoris real name. the thing is, shin isn’t sou. he isn’t completely inhumane. he doesn’t enjoy hurting people. he lies and manipulates, but he still cares for others, particularly kanna. shin tries to not let the facade slip, but his efforts trying to keep kanna alive show that he cares, deeply, about what happens to her. the fact that he is willing to give up on surviving, the reason he did all of his bullshit in the first place, just for kanna to live shows that he is unable to actually discard his humanity and become sou hiyori.
as for midori. he has a particular fascination with humans, in a very detached way. he wants to understand what makes them work, physically and mentally. he mimics emotions like he doesn’t have them himself. the only genuine emotion we see from him is fear. midori is completely detached from a fundamental part of what makes us human.
i don’t know if the idea of “what makes us human” is really a main theme or question in yttd, but it’s just a pattern i noticed. sorry if this is long and rambly lol. i just had to get the ideas out.
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