Hey, this seems like something you could help with... where do you think just liking a character ends and kinning begins? Some of my friends seem to think I kin Komaeda and I've been playing along with it like a big joke. I really enjoyed Komaeda's character despite finding his actions reprehensible and did some voice acting/cosplay stuffs as him. I relate to him more than I feel I should - is that, really, what kinning is all about? Curious about your thoughts.
hey, nonnie !!
i've actually wanted to talk abt my thoughts on this for a bit, so this question can perfectly timed !!
now, my opinion on this is very long, but i'll try and put a tldr at the end !!
alright, so, this all depends on how you define kinning. there are multiple ways and reasons to kin, so let's start by explaining that !!
the most common definition of kinning is relating to a character so much to the point that, in some sense, you believe you are them or you have this certain connection to them that's more than them just being a comfort character.
the original definition of kinning has to do with past lives, and having memories of a life as animals !! since fictionkin wasn't coined/talked about until after otherkin and therianthropy were !!
now, i have a lot of kins. but a lot of them are sympaths and copinglinks, aka non-spiritual kins. a lot of my kins are for fun, comfort, and coping. which, is super duper valid !! but i also have kin mems, especially for sayori, as she's my highest kin.
what you described could totally be komeada being a sympath or copinglink kin (the difference, to my understanding, is that sympaths are purely/primarily for fun/comfort kins, and copinglinks are for coping reasons) but he could also just be a big comfort character !!
take my comfort character nekomaru, for example. for a good while, nekomaru was my absolute biggest comfort character. i'd think about him a lot, want to look at content of him forever, and even considered adding him to my kinlist. but, ultimately, i realized that i just super loved him and his character, and that i just started morphing to be more like him.
but if we take hina from drthh, she is a sympath of mine. i don't have any mems of her and she is purely for fun and comfort, but she was one of my comfort characters for a long time. i always lived and appreciated her character, but once i played the game myself, i realized i related a lot to her and she's exactly like what my ideal version of myself is.
so, ultimately, i cannot tell you whether or not you kin komeada or not, that is something you'll have to figure out for yourself, but you are so so valid regardless of whether he's a kin or a cc !!
tldr/closing thoughts; kinning is a unique experience to everyone, and however you choose to identify your personal relationship to komeada is valid and i wish you the best figuring that out !! sorry if this was a rambly and unhelpful mess, it's 5 a.m. and i haven't slept yet lmao
also, please take all of this with a grain of salt bc i haven't done super extensive research on this (which is sad bc i've been wanting to for forever-) and, once again, it's 5 a.m.
chi (jataro shift) signing off !!