Okay so, ive been rotating this idea in my head like a rotisserie chicken for a while now and i need to infodump
Yandere Simulator but instead of the dumb Aishi curse, it's sociocultural expectations, generational trauma, gender roles and extreme romanticization played for horror.
Okay, lemme cook
All Aishi women were raised with the expectation that one day, they'd find someone who would make life bearable for them and that it was their goal to make sure that certain someone would stay theirs. Media historically loves to portray finding love as the happy ending; the solution to all of your problems. For women especially, getting married and having children is seen as the key to happiness.
Dozuki grew up emotionally neglected and starved for attention. She grew up observing her parents' loving relationship and assumed that's what she needed to fill in the void. She kidnapped some guy she had a faint romantic interest in and broke him beyond recognition because she believed absolute submission to your spouse is what true love is. She had children with him, despite having no intention of behaving like a proper mother, because she believed that's what loving couples do; that's what every Aishi before her did.
Ryoba grew up idolizing the standard nuclear family and was influenced by many forms of media from the 80s (mainly romcoms and music - ie the song every breath you take which is often regarded as a cute love song) portraying obsession and possessiveness as innocent aspects of love. To her, murdering several girls and kidnapping her senpai was all part of that very romanticized chase to bind someone else to you.
Ayano grew up struggling with emotionally regulating herself and forming meaningful connections. Ryoba did nothing about it and brushed it off as part of that bleak nothingness that precedes love. She doubled down on the idea that finding your soulmate will fix everything in your life and left Ayano with that "advice" instead of helping her out. Maybe there was pride involved too, a sick desire to see her daughter go down a similar path.
Imagine Ryoba purposefully making Ayano watch stuff like Fatal Attraction and pointing to the screen like "See? This is how you get your crush to notice you!"
Imagine Ayano reading manga where the male lead keeps asking out his crush over and over again, despite her having made it clear that she's not interested in him, and it all comes across as her simply being a tsundere.
Imagine teen Ryoba timidly asking her mother to spend time with her, only for Dozuki to grab a nearby romance novel and shove it in her face, saying something like "I'm busy. Read this and it will all make sense to you."
All of them were taught to delegate the responsibility of their personal happiness to their love interest instead of finding personal fulfilment first. All of them were taught that as long as it's in the name of love, even the most heinous crimes can be justified. All of them were taught that this twisted logic is a tradition unique to their family and that only they understand love; everyone else is just delusional.
Man, i'm searching for depth in a game made by a guy who has only ever swum around in his bathtub. But i guess it's a lot more sexy having a cardboard cut-out of a yandere girl instead of actually diving into the deep-rooted factors that feed back into the "yandere" label
