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i actually think romance route is a top tier route specifically for takumi, kurara and kyoshika as characters and I'll die on this hill. there is so much to be crazy about there that I don't even know where to start but I'll start with how the whole thing IS deeply connected to the major themes of the game and has something to say, that being war and what enables and facilitates it. such as. fascistic and conservative states and the way they treat disabled individuals.
the plot of takumi and the girls having to play this romance game as set up by the stand in for amatonormative heterosexual society moko being one of the only endings where no one dies (yay good!) and their mission of completing a genocide is fulfilled (oh dear.) with barely any hang ups about what theyre really doing (um. oof) getting started by locking the Loud Mentally Ill Problematic One up in a mental asylum sorry, single dark room and forgetting completely about his existence is so choice and so evocative of what I think the society on the TRC is actually like and partially why I claim it is restrictively, stiflingly, heteronormative and fascistic despite sireis accepting statements.
lets get rid of the Eito causing problems like being loud and annoying about the fact that you're doing something deeply evil so you can pretend to be heterosexual and the worst thing you can worry about is which girl likes you! and the kicker is neither takumi nor any of the girls actually like each other they're all emulating what their society wants from them. and the even bigger kicker is they all act like eito doesn't exist once they lock him away, to the point where he might have literally still been in there by the time the escape pod takes off on day 100 and we'd never know. Wow! I could not make a more direct point about the way disabled individuals are treated within a society that views them as flaws if I tried. it is Fascinating.
and I know none of this was intentional on the authors part because why the fuck would it be but that makes it even more interesting to me, since the fact that this... big. THING about romance route is overlooked in the narrative is reflective of not only the TRCS society but our own, the society that hundred line was made in. Wow!!!! the implications it gives are Good and I wish more people understood that it is Good and relevant and talked about it and didn't think of it as just a hetslop route that can be written off. it is shockingly relevant If You GAF
takumi autism. weird boy with exactly 1 friend (a weird girl) who talks about retro movies too much and chews on his sleeves an excessive amount and probably organized his toys by size and color for fun as a baby. He and karua can talk and talk and talk for hours about their special interests but the second they try to include anyone else they just get looked at weird so they don't try. Takky and Karua (and nozomi) autistic socially ostracized kids who are weird but not obvious enough to get a diagnosis so they just suffer with the Symptoms.
On A Related Note: I think takumi not understanding social cues well contributed to why he relies on giving physical presents to people in order to befriend them. If he can figure out what they like. and give them a Gift(!!) Of the Thing(!!) They Like(!!) They will like Him!!!!! Like the way to get bond events and the persuasion failures and the fact that he would be incredibly flustered if anyone ever gave HIM a present are soooo painting a beautiful picture.
You can take advantage of him this way to get free stuff and im sure his and karuas bullies in his tubeworld did this to him often. Always out of pocket change because hes buying stuff for the girl that said shed stop being mad at him if he got her that new makeup set. Takumi rejection sensitive dysphoria that prevents him from talking to nozomi when he precieves her as even a little mad at him. Trying to make up for it with presents. I smokes a cigar. He needs a bunch of old dvds and some chewlery right now.
thinking of takumi as aroace is so fun to me because you just know that, alongside his obvious multiple other mental health issues, he does NOT know that he is aroace. In my interpretation based on romance and CoT, i think he is both romantically and sexually repulsed alongside simply Not Getting It on a personal level. however however however there is virtually no chance he ever figures this out in any route, because he is both a deeply repressed normie AND! he soooo susceptible to propaganda.
his relationship with kyoshika in romance route specifically is interesting to me for this because both of them are...... acting out tropes, essentially, about what it means for a boy and a girl to be lovers, or what its like to have a (socially mandated) (by moko mojiro) (who is our stand in for amatonormative cisgender heterosexual society) crush on another person. they both get their understanding of what a relationship is supposed to be like through media. kyoshika's obvious fixation on manga and takumi's...well, there is a whole earlier section of the route where we learn that one of this kids only actual interests is movies.
the fact that kyoshikas idea of love as an ideal is creating a family, something she grew up lacking, and takumis idea of love as an ideal, keeping people safe, speaks at least a little to the difference in the media they consumed. kyoshika wanting to be a caring mother while takumi wants to be the breadwinning protector seems TO ME to be a symptom of how their genders are portrayed in the media they consume.
This might be me talking out of my ass about the 3 shonens and 4 classic movies ive watched so take this next part with a grain of salt and correct me if im wrong, but a common take ive noticed in the way people discuss the writing of female characters within the shonen genre is that most of them are Not Written That Well. and that is what kyoshika consumes, media that (allegedly??) portrays the female ideal to be weaker, more submissive, housewives to the real heroes. This is what she bases her perception of reality on, everything she learned is from these types of stories. Retro movies, on the other hand, especially western ones such as the ones takumi references often and are presumably what he likes, have trends of the macho masculine hero saving the day and getting the girl as a reward.
now! I dont particularly think kyoshika is also aroace (tho im not opposed), nor do I think her wanting to have a family is only because of her interest in anime (obviously), NOR am I saying all of this intentionally implied in the text of the game (this is nothing more than MY crackpipe hill ill die on). But what i AM saying is that it is supremely interesting to me to imagine see and examine the way that kyoshika/takumi works specifically through this lens. They are both EMULATING what a normal couple in an amatonormative cisheterosexual society based on the TROPES they've internalized as the "normal" way to have a relationship, due to kyoshika being very very socially stunted and takumi being deeply deeply aroace but trying not to be. They don't know any better. Theyre trying to do what's expected of them by society (moko), by what they have been told is normal and the only way to have a proper relationship.
She tries to make his heart flutter by trying to copy a classic romantic trope. He, and I quote, "didnt think of it like that."
walk with me even more here. Kyoshika wants a family!!! takumi knows full well that he cannot give her that!!!! He is uncomfortable with every part of what "starting a family" implies!!! He would be deeply disturbed by it!! And he goes along with her idea of family anyway, because he is so terrible at establishing boundaries and disappointing people. He accepts kyoshikas confession simply because she is his friend and he doesnt want to see her being heartbroken over him. this is how I view all the accept the girls confessions endings honestly. He cares about them, obviously, they are his dear friends whom he has died for and will die to protect. He will protect kyoshikas dream of having a family one day just like he was made to protect karua and would be hirukos loyal servant because despite his aromanticism and asexuality he is a character that was BUILT to form deep interpersonal platonic bonds. Takumi only has this incredibly difficult time separating romance from friendship because it has been shoved down his throat by media and by his mom insisting that he must have a crush on karua and that they should just make it official already, and if another girl makes him feel something similar to the way karua made him feel, which is an INCREDIBLY EASY FEAT, then he will latch onto them and please them and do anything he can to help them. Theres even another layer here if you headcanon him as a trans man like I do but thats like very outside of the scope of this post Anyway
And then there's kyoshika whos never talked to other teenagers and has no reference for life outside her mangas. I bet she believes in love at first sight and everything. She has so much to learn about what real life is actually like and what is actually normal for kids her age. For fucks sake she has an imaginary friend thats a sword because she had nobody to talk to all her life growing up. I dont know if this is controversial but like the amount of innuendo she makes is not normal, the way she gets scandalized and automatically assumes random stuff must be dirty makes me think she might have grown up exposed to a lot of explicit content thst she prolly shouldn't have been. which contributes to her inexperience with romance as a topic specifically. Dont know where im going with this but happy kyotaku ramble wednesday
