Misconceptions on "Sly Blue"
I don’t really know why it bothers me so much, but it does. I feel like there’s a lot of users that don’t have a very good grasp on how Aoba’s mind works and what it means to have Dissociative Identity Disorder, or DID.
Now, DMMd’s interpretation on DID is a bit fantastical considering the genre, but it still generally follows the same symptoms.
Aoba has Dissociative Identity Disorder, yes. Basically that means he has another personality or identity up in his head, and this “alter” of his will take over from time to time. Aoba often has no recollection of the things that he did while his alter was in control.
Now focusing on that alter, or “Sly Blue” …
First thing I want to make clear is that “Sly Blue” is not a separate entity from Aoba. What bugs me the most is when people characterize Instinct as a completely different person from Aoba, like he’s another being entirely. This is not the case. Instinct/Desire may have a separate personality, but he’s still apart of Aoba. He still is Aoba. (I cannot include Ren in this because he did manage to become a separate being. That’s when things get weird and fantastical, so I’ll save that for another post.) Anyway, when it comes down to it, there’s not multiple people living in Aoba’s body. It is one mind that is coping with life through a damaging mental illness. Aoba is mentally ill.
DID is typically a trauma-based mental disorder. One thing I often see people tripping up on about Instinct and Aoba is when Instinct takes control. People seem to think that Instinct can take control whenever… or something? That’s not the case. Instinct only really makes a presence when Aoba is under some kind of stress. Throughout the game, we see Instinct telling Aoba to “destroy” when Aoba’s confronted with a potentially dangerous situation. Instinct only takes control if that situation becomes TOO much for Aoba.
Instinct is practically a defense mechanism for Aoba. He is there to protect Aoba. He takes control to save Aoba from as much trauma as possible. This happens frequently with Mink, in both the common route and Mink’s route. After Aoba’s parents left Midorijima, Aoba became so depressed that Instinct took control for several years. (Another instance where things get weird, but eh.) Instinct doesn’t take control to fuck around. He’s actually there to protect Aoba, from what I can see. Sadly, Aoba often fights Instinct’s presence.
Focusing a little more on Instinct, his name is not “Sly Blue”, either. I can’t recall a single time in the games where he refers to himself as Sly. He introduces himself as Aoba. Aoba Aoba Aoba. He wants to be recognized as Aoba, since he’s apart of him. Sly Blue is literally just his dumb Rhyme username. I’ve seen too many writers and fanartists have Instinct refer to himself as Sly, and it’s just… it isn’t right. Remember in the Ren’s route when we discover that the only thing Instinct really wanted was to be accepted by Aoba like Ren did? Remember when Aoba and Instinct became one? Yeah. It’s because they are different parts of the same person. They always have been.
It’s especially evident in Koujaku’s bad end, when we encounter Shiroba. “Shiroba” is basically a more concentrated, twisted version of Instinct. Throughout the ending, Instinct continually refers to himself as Aoba. He may not have been the same Aoba that Koujaku knew, but he was still Aoba.
I feel like there was more I wanted to add, but I can’t remember right now. I still haven’t played/read Mizuki’s route in re:code, so I don’t exactly know how that stuff fits into all of this.
Really though… bottom line is that Aoba is mentally ill, and Instinct, Shiroba and Aoba are all the same person.
Lmao this all sounded so much better in my head.