hello! i've never played kop and don't have any intention to but i love and trust your commentary and your understanding of characterisation and relationships and i wanted to ask if you could talk more about what disappointed you about yosuke's s3 and why?
Hey there! I’m glad you appreciate my commentary :D
Disclaimer: This is my personal opinion, and to anyone reading this, please don’t let my preferences ruin your enjoyment of the character/story.
Spoilers below for Yosuke’s S3 (and extremely long post below):
Phew. Where do I begin lol. I guess I want to start off by saying I normally approach Voltage stories with a very open mind since 1) they’re constrained by a 10-13 episode time frame, 2) they’re meant to be character-driven, not plot-driven, and 3) they’re episodic mobile otome games, not console otoges with an overarching plot. Hell, I play KBTBB with all its insanity and wacky ass logic, and I’m still fine with it lol
But man, there comes a point where I can’t suspend my disbelief anymore because the writing is just so bad and makes no sense in the narrative. That’s what Yosuke’s S3 felt like to me.
For context: Yosuke’s characterized as someone who’s shady, manipulative, two-faced, and immature. Among all the love interests, he's the most morally ambiguous one, and that’s what made him my favorite because I thought Voltage wrote such a unique character. Naturally, I was pretty curious about his backstory since S1 and S2 hinted that Yosuke went through something extremely traumatic.
Hoo boy, was I clowned.
S1 and S2 focused on MC, while S3 focused on Yosuke. Specifically, his background, upbringing, and reasons for his actions.
Essentially, the plot is that Yosuke tries to reconnect with his family (his stepmom, specifically), but his trauma with being unable to eat homemade food stops him from doing so. His stepmom, Sumire, is known for making homemade food, and Yosuke forces himself to eat it out of politeness (with him getting sick afterwards). The conflict in the story was that Yosuke didn’t want to show MC how “weak” he was every time he’d eat homemade food, so he’d hide away instead of confiding in her.
Drama happens, and essentially the reason why Yosuke has a hard time eating homemade food is because…..his stepmom never seasoned his food the way he liked it. She seasoned his food with nutmeg and he wasn’t a fan of the strong flavor (yes, you heard that right). Apparently, Yosuke never communicated this to his stepmom, and she in turn never asked him about it, so it snowballed into a big misunderstanding between the both of them which led to their distant relationship.
I know that trauma is complex and can come in many shapes and forms, but in the context of the narrative, this makes no sense. Basing the entire conflict of his backstory on a misunderstanding that could have easily been avoided isn’t a good use of the misunderstanding trope; it’s bad writing imo. I’m not sure if a person (or even a fictional character) can realistically have an aversion to homemade food because they never told their parents that they didn’t like the food? Even phrasing it like that makes it sound ridiculous and contrived.
S1 and S2 kept hinting at something darker (Yosuke being abused, poisoned, starved, etc.) and all his promotional material kept suggesting there was more to him than meets the eye, but to have his entire characterization from S1 to the present built on a misunderstanding over seasoning? Really?
On that note, the way MC was written in S3 didn’t do this story any favors either. KOP’s premise is MC, a recent divorcee, trying to heal from her emotional wounds left by her previous marriage. She ends up working as a housekeeper of sorts for the guys at the building they all live in, and boom she falls in love with one of the guys.
In S3, MC essentially forced him to get over his trauma. In the story, MC felt alienated at the fact that Yosuke didn’t completely open up to her in spite of all the time they spent together. It’s understandable that she’d feel hurt at being shut out, but the way they wrote her in S3 really made me question the writing in general. In order to have Yosuke “heal” from his trauma, she basically tricked Yosuke into eating homemade food that she didn’t make herself. Granted, Yosuke knew about it and ate the food anyway (and passed out after eating it), but goddamn man.
It took a long time for MC to heal from her emotional scars, and she even admits that she’s not completely healed yet…..so I’m just ???? at why the writers would make her rush through Yosuke’s healing. It’s so OOC for KOP MC to do so when in the previous two seasons, she stressed that healing takes a long time.
While she did acknowledge that doing that was a huge dick move, I’m really iffy about two things, specifically 1) how easily Yosuke forgave her for it and 2) how his trauma healed from that One incident. I mean, I understand that Yosuke loves her and that MC’s intentions were to help him, but holy shit, forcing someone to get over their trauma through tricking them into exposure therapy (at least, I think that was what MC was aiming for)? I’m not sure if Voltage intentionally wrote her to be hypocritical, or maybe this was just another instance of OOC writing.
Also, I understand that the story was only 10 episodes, but Yosuke’s trauma automatically healing right after MC did that? Really??? I know that people heal at their own pace, but I think the pacing here made no sense at all because this was Yosuke’s lifelong trauma. Not even I buy this pacing, and that says a lot for someone who religiously plays and enjoys KBTBB, a game full of pacing issues and continuity issues lmao
Again, I might be nitpicky about this, but I want to reiterate that I usually let a lot of things slide in Voltage stories when it comes to writing. But man, I really can’t get over his S3 considering Yosuke was one of my favorites. Re-reading his S1 and S2 (and reading his future stories) while knowing his backstory just makes his whole character feel like a joke knowing what drove him to be like that in the first place (nutmeg in his food....).
If written better, I think Yosuke could have been similar to Aseph from The Villain’s Savior or Sylvain from Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Both these characters went through severe childhood trauma and grew up into manipulative adults with unhealthy coping mechanisms to deal with their issues. The best part? Their conflict is believable in the narrative lmao
camy/ivan - high school au! i miss your writing <3
omg ahhhhh tea! <333
Pick a fandom/pairing, then pick a trope, and I’ll tell you a little bit about the fic I’d write for that combo.
I would write a comedy fluffy high school romance between us two and how we would meet is us becoming dance partners by me asking to be his partner. Where’s my eyes emoji when I need it.
