#dmmd analysis

[aobabes]

Should I make more posts about Clear and Toue's relationship? Because their relationship is so intriguing and I love them.

Like wdym Clear's route is the only one where Toue doesn't even really register Aoba at all because he's so fixated on Clear and questions him “Why do you reject me?” and “What makes him (Clear) respond to you [opposed to me]?”

Wdym he goes “You went against your own.” implying he's included in Clear's “true family” along with his android brothers?

Wdym in every route Toue replicates and emulates Clear as well as his original programming before he was discarded: Ryuho's mind controlling tatoo ink, the blood of Mink's family which he used to create the hallucinatory scent for more mass mind control, owning Rhyme, a game that gave him access to millions of player's minds, the Alpha Clears created in Clear's image, whom Toue deemes “almost perfect,” and Ren being an allmate, a robotic companion, a simulation of the idea of Clear?

Wdym Toue acts like a crazed artist and treats Clear as his muse and dedicates his entire life and research to replicating him, his original creation?

Wdym Clear concealing his identity and living in isolation amongst the Old Residental District to hide from Toue, a man who overrules the island he lives on and owns Platinum Jail, a utopian-esque amusement facility, whom has a very blatant infatuation with Clear whilst referring to him as one of his “children” is somewhat similar to Donkeyskin?

Wdym Toue and Clear are an inverted version of Victor Frankenstein and Frankenstein's Monster, in the sense that, in Mary Shelley's “Frankenstein,” the relationship between Victor Frankenstein and his “monster” resembles a creator-creature dynamic where Frankenstein, as the scientist, created the monster but then abandoned him, leading to the monster's desire for revenge and a desperate longing for connection with his creator; despite being the creator, Frankenstein is horrified by his creation and feels deeply responsible for the monster's suffering. With Toue and Clear, Toue still created Clear and abandoned him, but Toue regrets it and keeps creating in Clear's image, trying to replicate him, and he's the one desperate for Clear to return to his side whilst Clear is horrified and refuses his twisted attempts at connection. And wdym there's official art of Clear AS Frankenstein's Monster??

I just... Their relationship is SO multilayered and fascinating to me. Yes, I like analyzing the main characters and ships, but I'm not opposed to analyzing the toxic relationships and, like I said, Clear and Toue's relationship is the most complex throughout all the games.

[tourmalinedreams]

Yo I do think Koujaku is an interesting character and I like his design (except for his fuckass ninja sandals) but I think some of you guys are a tad delusional if you don't think he's a benevolent misogynist. LIKE I'm sorryyyy but in my very personal opinion his interactions with women are giving ever-so-slight Touga Kiryuu (AGAIN MY OPINION) I'm not saying they're the same picture! I'm just saying fandom tends to take a lot of surface-level character details at face value! I can believe Koujaku is bi but he's so performative about cherishing women that he comes off gayer. My Koujaku Dilemma is trying to figure out what his fucking deal is. Is his attraction not biased so strongly toward women as he thinks? Or is it literally just the misogyny? Who knows! It's NITRO CHiRAL!!! KouAo is FINE it's just not.... juicy? enough for me. Like boy you need to get a grip and quit annoying the shit out of me.

Anyway I love this game I can't believe it took me all these years to play it. Peace and love!

[aobabes]

I've noticed that Clear gets beat up a lot in his route. Aside from the Clearao slapstick comedy and the android/human love story + angst, the rest of it was Toue indirectly abusing Clear; he allowed his associates to beat up Clear and to pour sulfuric acid on his face and programed the alphas to beat up Clear multiple times and each time it's just uncomfortably long? And he's incapable of fighting back every time unless Aoba is in immediate danger. And it's only when he destroys his key lock, which directly leads to his death, that he's able to defend himself. I love Clear's route, but I have to always skip those parts because it just gives me the ick. Speaking of things that give me the ick, I don't think anyone has talked about this throughout my time being in the dmmd fandom. In his bad end, Clear is enforcing the trauma Toue gave him onto Aoba as a means to make them more alike.

When you put into perspective the way Clear is talking about how Toue makes him feel and how he can't fight back against him, you start to realize that Clear is basically treating Aoba like how Toue impliedly treats him and his brothers. You can tell because the way Aoba feels about Clear's treatment of him is exactly how Clear feels about Toue.

Clear wants to make Aoba like him, like how he sees himself, like how Toue's abuse has made him perceive himself. He takes Aoba's sight to remove his window to the outside world and to deny him of any unnecessary knowledge because all Aoba needs to know is Clear. He removes Aoba's limbs to take away his sense of freedom, his free will, and to make it impossible for him to escape. He removes Aoba's vocal cords because, to Clear, he doesn't need something that allows him to make any choices and he's quite literally silencing him. Since being reprogrammed, for two months all Clear knew was Toue and the inner walls of Oval Tower before he finally granted him permission to see Aoba. Clear, being a machine created by Toue, has no freedom, no free will, and cannot escape considering he's physically incapable of defying Toue. Clear was never allowed a choice, given a say in anything, nor allowed to voice what he wanted, unless Toue approved of it first. Clear is taking Toue's place whilst Aoba has taken Clear's place.

Clear wants to make Aoba share the same pain he's endured, and more than anything he wants Aoba to be a "living doll" like he is. He wants to turn Aoba into a mirrored image of his trauma so that he doesn't feel completely alone.

Even Clear begging Aoba to say his name and wanting to hear his voice in the r-word scene mirrors Toue being so obsessed with Clear denying him as his master and wanting to know why. Clear knew that if he applied enough force/pain onto Aoba that he'd eventually give him what he wanted in that scene. That always stood out to me because Clear is an android and androids are learning ais given human-looking models. Clear's grandpa and Aoba taught him how to be human and what it means to have emotions, to be alive. Toue reprogramming him, taking all of that away from him, what does he have left to learn anything from other than Toue's abuse? How else would he know that denying Aoba the hope of ever escaping, the freedom of choice, and the free will to fight back would eventually make him give up and submit to him after being reunited with him after two whole months of being separated? Who else would teach him that, if not his master, Toue?

I know this isn't my usual dmmd rambling post, but I can't only talk about the positives of dmmd without bringing up the bad ends sometimes. Because they're unfortunately just as beautifully written as the good ends. Taking a character like Clear, who's entire character arc was about claiming free will, the freedom of choice, and what it means to live only to witness all of that taken away from him in the form of watching him victimize his lover the same way he was victimized really portrays abusive power dynamics, Stockholm syndrome, unhealthy coping mechanisms, and trauma responses so perfectly.