I really need to get this out of my system because it’s starting to driving me crazy.
The common consensus as of ch4 was that Berdly saw the world as his personal dating sim, with the girls and Kris as his potential love interests.
And this isn’t entirely wrong, as his brief appearance in ch5 aligns with the idea of a typical dating sim before Noelle and Susie set him straight on the fact they aren’t straight.
But what Berdly’s doing isn’t exactly your typical generic dating sim MC boy behavior… it’s something far more confusing.
To start with, here’s this line from ch4.
I don’t know how else to convey what I mean, so cue the Miles Edgeworth again.
If you still don’t get it… Berdly is the one asking for someone else to be his support.
So that’s not a pickup line.
This would normally be just another instance of Berdly unintentionally describing someone else in a way that fits him far better (see also: “a poor girl with no one to show her exclusive tips and tricks”, “so tsundere and confusing”, “heart beeping for love”, etc.)
If you accept the festival invite and continue this over in ch5, Berdly sets up the event so that the lover that impresses him the most would be the date.
That… isn’t something a self insert protag does. That’s something the girl they are trying to woo does.
I don’t think Berdly realizes it yet, but the second his dating sim view of relationships gets reinforced, he starts placing himself in the position of the girl you are trying to date, not the MC.
You probably don’t notice it in the moment because you’re more likely to assume Berdly sees himself as the MC boy of the dating sim, considering it’s him plus the girls, and also Kris.
But by having him as the one you’re supposed to impress, he’s placed Kris, Noelle and Susie where the MC would be…
which is exactly what ends up happening within the Pink battle (with Ralsei there ofc)
…meaning Berdly is the Mew Mew in this situation.
And please note that not only does Berdly reference the Doki mechanic of the Pink battle, and being “a puppet monarchy who promotes the love of two girls”, but the Hatsune Miku vocals of the battle heavily allude to the weird route.
Oh, and the Switch trailer initially features Mew Mew frozen in an iceberg.
In conclusion, let me restate my point:
why does berdly have significant connections to the transfem anime catgirl shadow crystal secret boss.
