Random Togafuka analysis/opinion i texted to my friend at midnight that he told me to post (this will likely not be entirely canon accurate but i tried): from Togamis pov
the crucifix imagery given to Togami when it comes to him and toko/syo is super interesting to me
Heās expected to carry the weight of Tokoās obsession solely because if that energy isnāt put towards him it will cause the murdering of others, and he is expected to be āgratefulā she doesnāt actively want to kill him
Heās expected to be the savior of hypothetical men she may target, he has to take all of her abuse because itās better he experience it then others because she abuses him significantly less then she would another man.
(Also yes, repeated sexual harassment IS abuse, even if he shows toxic behavior towards her as well.)
thereās a crooked cross behind him and she has scissors to his neck
But the scissors are holding a flower making it both a threat and a non threat. They canāt hurt him as long as the flower is there but if she chooses to let go it would only take seconds for him to have his neck slit
Tokos physical stance is a protective one, sheās trying to shield him but is failing because he and syo are equal in physical size and appearance. Syo however had a louder presence due to her pose being more aggressive and splayed
Toko has an arm wrapped around his, which he would have had to have done willingly because his pose is a defensive one.
Him having his arms crossed is significant, in body language it is acself soothing behavior thatās triggered emotionally by feeling threatened, itās a defensive pose His arms are tight to his chest, notably syo cannot touch him because his stance is too defensive for her to do so. He allows toko to grab hold of him though Toko also seems to be lightly holding her hand above his hip, shes trying to gently angle him away him from syo.
Byakuya feels indebted to Toko (confirmed in the ending of UDG) because she saved his life in more ways then one. He is able to discern her from Syo, he knows she is a different person then her alter. He thinks sheās disgusting for her fantasies but her genuine love for him is the only thing that prevents him from being killed by syo. Syo would be sexually attracted to him anyways, and he is the perfect victim type;however she and toko share emotions. If toko is genuinely in love with him syo will be as well, rendering Syo non-violent.
So tokos love for him while he hates it and finds the sexual aspect of it disgusting and the romantic part plain confusing, (as seen in summer camp S) is also what keeps him alive and protected from syo. There is a part of him who does care for her, (even in the game before his character development itās implied he lied about liking chubbier women so she would eat when she wasnāt eating properly) and a part of him that is extremely thankful for her (him feeling indebted to her for saving his life, and she is the barrier between he and syo.) but there is also a part of him that is disgusted by her (even in UDG, after she saves his life he tells her he feels disgusted by her, and then goes on to tell Makoto he is in debt to her and is going to try helping her and Komaru in any way he can behind the scenes.)
He is also very confused about the romantic aspect because he canāt imagine why she would like him
He Directly says āI donāt understandā (very vulnerable coming from Togami) in the danganronpa S game
Which gets me to my major Togami point:
Togami doesnāt really view himself as a person rather than an entity, he views himself as the personification of the Togami family. He bears the sole responsibility of keeping the family name, a legacy which people have ended their lives for just a chance to have. He bears the weight of that, the responsibility. He had to do awful things to get there, he had awful things done to him. He says to Makoto in the game at one point that the killing game is a REDUCED form of what everyday life was like for him before he became the heir. He resents everyone around him during the game because they donāt understand. Heās above them not because he is rich, but because if he didnāt fight he would have been absolutely nothing, he fought to get where he was and had to endure horrible hardship which he has been conditioned to believe is the default, itās whatās expected of him. He doesnāt think others are at his level because to him he was the only one willing to fight to get there. He doesnāt think heās better because of the number of dollars he has, he thinks heās better because of what it took to get there.
He expresses resentment towards Makoto in the FTE because Makoto canāt understand. Even going through a killing game isnāt enough to grasp what he went through, they truly are from different worlds and he feels nobody seems to understand that
It was win or lose, and losing was considered a fate worse then death, so he chose life, he chose to win. As long as he was a member of the Togami family, the heir, he was expected to win. If he lost he risked throwing his life away, everything he endured, everything he had done.
Togami in his mind IS his family legacy. He is AWARE that his rudeness and callousness are negative traits, and he views them as being bad things about himself but he doesnāt care to change them because it isnāt going to tarnish the Togami families reputation
He knows how powerful he is, his social standing, how quickly he can victimize others being the embodiment of the Togami conglomerate, because he has been a victim to them too.
So i think a lot of his confusion with toko liking *him* is because he sees himself as nothing but his heir status, as nothing but his family legacy. To him, being rude and cold are *his* traits and his alone, and he thinks those are bad, he thinks what he is outside of the family legacy is *bad*. He canāt comprehend why anyone would like him for just him because the only traits he knows outside of what was born out of winning are traits that are bad.
