annabxth

if the true intention had always been that mileven was canon, and that will’s character arc was purely that of self acceptance, then there was no need to waste screen time with scenes that— in my opinion— were purely byler bait.

instead, if they had spent that time showing will accepting himself on his own terms like robin had (since the finale is making it clear they’re direct parallels) and showing mileven being a strong couple, i would’ve enjoyed the ending more.

I absolutely adore Rosie’s reaction to Alastor’s plan succeeding!

I truly believe that Rosie and Alastor are actually friends, despite their unique relationship. So, I think Rosie’s previous refusal to fix his staff—and her line “in due time,” in response to his request— was her leading him exactly to this ^^

Rosie wanted Alastor to stop feeling sorry for himself and remember that he is the Radio Demon!! He’s smart and cunning and powerful!! Even if Rosie grants him his power, he has to earn it— which he had been up until his fight with Adam.

Furthermore, he’s her right hand. He’s representing her. Remember: she picked Alastor because he was everything she admired (refined, cunning, determined, ruthless, etc.)

In this scene, I believe that Rosie was genuinely proud of Alastor for pulling off such a crafty and devious plan, one that is exactly what she’d expect from her old friend. While she was probably a little irritated that he’d tricked her, she was also pleased that he’d done so with genius and class.

Recently, I’ve seen a lot of people hating on Wolfgang for ostracizing Eva, but totally okay with Eva’s whole murder scheme??

I get it if you just like Eva, which is cool idc, but SO many people have totally forgotten Eva’s whole scheme and her betrayals, which erases the complexity of her character.

Eva did betray Damon and Diana. She 100% thought she was smarter than the rest of the cast and thought she could win against them in a trial. She immediately distrusted and shut herself off from the rest of the cast before even attempting to know them, convincing herself that any kindness they showed her was pity.

By boiling her down to a victim (which she isn’t), y’all have eliminated her from complexity. Eva isn’t a victim. She was entirely proactive from the start, at first, lying about her talent, and then killing someone and attempting to frame someone else for it.

For example, Wolfgang’s animal motif is a sheep, therefore, sheep are associated with his character. (Ex: his blackmail is a play on “a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”) That being said, I don’t think Wolfgang is a sheep, rather, he is a shepherd. Wolfgang is quickly established as the “leader” of the group. As a lawyer, he’s used to defending the helpless, so he steps in to protect a group of people who he thinks need his guidance.

I’ve seen people debate about the motivations behind Wolfgang’s optimistic approach to the killing game, but I believe they were entirely wholehearted. Something I’ve seen a lot is the idea that “Wolfgang was blindly leading the group because he didn’t even seem to believe what he was saying.” While it’s true that Wolfgang didn’t entirely believe that no one in the group would possibly kill another person, I think he wanted the others to believe that.

Going back to the shepherd metaphor, Wolfgang was trying to convince the group— his “flock”— that everything would be alright. He knows that they are in a dangerous situation, but he wants the group to believe that they can trust each other, which allows them to make bonds and friendships. He also tries to eliminate any feeling of inferiority between the ultimates, as he insists that everyone’s ultimate is important and can possibly benefit humanity. Through all of this, the creation of relationships would hypothetically prevent a murder from occurring because there would be a feeling of harmony among them.

This mentality is why characters like Eva and Damon quickly get singled out. The majority of the group is receptive to Wolfgang’s encouragement because they want to believe him. However, Eva and Damon immediately dispute this and blatantly state what everyone is secretly thinking: that they really can’t trust each other. They also think that some ultimates, such as their own, are more valuable than others. (Ex: Damon thinks his talent as the Ultimate Debater is more important than Diana’s or Cassidy’s.) Because they disagree with the group and are disrupting Wolfgang’s attempt to cultivate peace, he allows them to be ostracized by the others. Even though it creates discourse, it protects the rest of the group.

However, there’s a difference between Eva and Damon. While both Damon and Eva are initially singled out from the group, Damon manages to reintegrate. Unlike Eva, Damon works to form relationships with the other ultimates and proves that while he doesn’t entirely agree with Wolfgang, he’s not a threat to the harmony that Wolfgang is trying to create. Eva, on the other hand, maintains her beliefs that she does not trust the others and isn’t going to play nice with them. (Ironically, she proves Wolfgang’s philosophy by trusting Damon, but that’s a whole other rant lol.)

I disagree heavily with the idea that Wolfgang is egotistical and is leading the group solely because he wants their praise/admiration. I think that he genuinely wants to protect people he views as his “friends.” He gives them the benefit of the doubt when he logically shouldn’t. This is why he goes to meet the person who wrote the letter, but he brings a weapon just in case. Wolfgang is not naïve and he knows that every single person in their class has the potential to harm another, but by placing trust in them and setting the expectation that they won’t harm anyone, he helps them to believe in each other.

— Side note: I think that his tendency to believe in others comes from something to do with his past/his father. (His hallucinations/delusions when talking to Diana suggest that he is actively trying to rise above someone else’s shadow and break a harmful cycle, likely to do with his parents.) I believe his blackmail is a dig at him, as he is possibly trying not to be like his father by attempting to be a good person?

lore accurate junko enoshima !!

ok so here are my thoughts on it because what the fuck just happened.

i just finished the game and i want my money back. idk if all the writers were on a serious acid trip but this game isn’t like the first two at all. the first two games are super self aware and hilarious, but this one is 100% poorly disguised fetish content. like i unironically feel like jeffery would play this game.

there are five endings. two of them have to do with a foot fetish, jecka’s suicide ending has her randomly naked, and another has her sold into sex slavery??

jecka’s dad is suddenly super terrible btw, which he wasn’t in any of the other games. i wasn’t rooting for him in the first place but like he’s worse than nicole’s mom by a million points. idk i just feel like jecka was supposed to be the milder version of nicole so that nicole’s actions seem more harsh, so it would make sense that jecka would have a better home life?? i guess not.

the writing was just bad and unfunny too. i liked the idea of jecka going to therapy and i think her panic attacks could’ve been actually meaningful considering all the bs she goes though, but the rest of the game + plus the endings totally kill any chance of the game having the same depth as the others.

like in nicole’s games, what made her endings so powerful was that the entire game was supposed to be funny and apathetic, so when she gives her ending monologue, they’re actually thought-provoking and lowkey almost philosophical. an example would be in nicole’s sex worker route vs jeckas. nicole’s highlights how desperate and demeaning sex work can be, and that it’s ultimately not what it can be glamorized to be (like nicole originally thought.) in jeckas, while it does definitely show that it’s demeaning, it feels sexualized.

the charm of these games has been lost completely and i think the creator either misunderstood what people liked about the games or blatantly disregarded it. (which is totally possible because he literally states that he hates jeckole and like 98% of his fans.) what people liked about class of 09 is while the edgy and wild humor is very iconic and funny, the self aware commentary on topics like depression, self worth, homophobia, and sex work were very good and impactful.

(minor tw for sh & ed):

jecka: she’s literally a preppy, trendy 2000s teen. she wears lacoste/abercrombie polo shirts, hollister skinny jeans, american eagle, bebe jackets, and juicy couture. a lot of her clothes come from her mom’s job, as apparently her mom gets them for free.

she is a “pharma-princess” and openly idolizes paris hilton. she smokes cigarettes and casually abuses painkillers. she may be a little trashy, but she dresses like any other fashionable girl from that era.

nicole: for starters, shes lower middle class. her mom buys the cheapest internet and cable packages, as well as having nicole on the assisted lunch plan. with that being said, she’s not buying a ton of miss me jeans, bb belts, or affliction shirts. shes a hot topic/spencers fiend bc she can steal it. her outfits are usually a hoodie, tank top, or t-shirt with ripped skinny jeans- which is to say they aren’t very complicated. i think people get confused and try and dress her in the modern “y2k” fashion, but it doesn’t really work for her.

shes severely depressed and winning the idagf war, which is shown in her makeup and nails. i think her makeup routine is very messy and smudged, but thats lowkey the look.

emily: shes rich, but she doesn’t care or acknowledge it. she can buy whatever she wants, but chooses to go for the grungey/emo look. even though she’s the most “scene” character, she still follows a few trends- ex: the lifeguard hoodie. her hair is definitely damaged by the box bleach she uses and the excessive use of her straightener. i also think she 100% has raccoon eyes (in the avril lavigne-way.)

she parties with her sketchy boyfriends, day drinks, and does almost any drug she can get her hands on. she’s suicidal and highkey crazy, which results in her tattoos and scars. (the excessive SH-culture is completely on brand for the 2000s.)

ari: borderline manic pixie dream girl going through a sexuality crisis. she’s almost emo, but not quite. she wears winged eyeliner and red lipgloss. her wardrobe consists of mostly graphic tee shirts and skinny + bootcut jeans. she dyes her hair because “no one understands her,” but she still has a decent relationship with her parents.

she used to be a girl scout, so she definitely cuts her own hair and thinks it’s rebellious. i think her favorite shoe would be black high top converse.

kelly: is the definition of a trendy, trashy, 2000s girl. kelly is also rich (as stated by jecka.) she’s popular with the boys because she’s pretty, has big boobs, and dtf. she wears a lot of hollister, wet seal, juicy couture, and victoria secret. i think she would wear a full face of makeup to school. her hair is dyed blonde but she keeps the roots grown out just a little.

megan: 2000s THEATRE KID!! she’s ARTSY, not EMO. she’s apparently pretty, but not pretty enough to be constantly hit on. she wears a lot of media/pop culture clothing and jeans. (if she were in the 2010s, she would wear those hot topic disney dresses.) her hair color is her natural hair color and her nail polish is always chipped.

jecka & hunter say she’s a christian girlie, so most of her outfits are more modest and toned down compared to some of the other girls. she probably wears minimal makeup unless she’s doing a show.

karen: she’s dorky and nerdy to the extreme. she looks very mousy and homely. she likes twilight and harry potter + she works at a library (and is strict about the rules.) karen likes and is good at school. she probably only wears mascara and medicated chapstick + her glasses. she has a messy bob that she never styles.

she’s also insecure about her body, as jecka and nicole make her relapse on her ED, so she wears baggier clothing than any of the other characters.

i think she would wear sketchers and jeggings.

throughout the game, she does express empathy and sympathy for characters like jecka, ari, or even jeffery, but will actively choose to ignore her wrong doings in order to peserve her own piece of mind- something that most teenagers do. in each of the endings, nicole will reflect on the actions she took to end up where she did. her reactions can range from denial to her own faults to a realization of what she really did.

though it’s a comedy game, so everything is incredibly exaggerated, nicole is clearly depressed and extremely suicidal. she’s addicted to drugs to distract herself from her own thoughts, which allows her to feel better, even if just temporarily. i think her numbness and recklessness probably come more from her disregard for her own life, rather than for a desire for entertainment. she also has no positive role models, as her brother is slobbish and lazy, and her mother is abusive and irresponsible.

nicole was implied to be a relatively normal person before the events of both games, having become popular in her other school once she became pretty. she also talks about what it felt like to be considered an outcast and to be left out. during the game’s opening, she says she used to be nice and and friendly to people, but she ends up changing her tune just before the events of the game begin, choosing to decide not to care about anyone but herself. she even explains this to her mom during one of the routes.

from what i gathered, her dad was a nice person who was constantly taken advantage of by people (including nicole’s mom), which led him to kill himself. nicole was probably traumatized from watching her father’s suicide, and decided after watching it happen (and having the only words on his suicide note being “nicole’s fault”) that being nice wasn’t worth it.

for example, after the whole school turns on her in the suicide ending, nicole describes how hopeless and miserable she felt. she says how she learned exactly what people wanted from her, which was sex more often than not. she spends the entire route being friendly to people (mostly boys) she doesn’t like for the sake of “being nice” and getting them to like her, only for it to blow up in her face because she didn’t want to sleep with them. she feels taken advantage of, just like her dad, which drives her to suicide.

regarding her apparent lack of empathy, she is said to feel sorry for what she did to ari, though she chooses to ignore it because guilt makes her feel bad. as jecka pointed out, ari didn’t really do anything wrong, which makes nicole feel upset because she knows she messed up. it’s clear that nicole has a morale code, though it’s a bit twisted. she hates people who are homophobic, racist, sexist, etc. (she makes a few odd comments throughout the game, but my point still stands). her lack of remorse comes to people like kyler, who nicole hates because he is a known rapist and misogynist.

as i said before, jecka, ari, and jeffery are probably the best examples of nicole feeling bad for others.

jecka is nicole’s best friend and the person she cares most about. a key moment in the game that shows this is when jecka gets mad at nicole and they temporarily end their friendship. after realizing she’s in the wrong, nicole goes to apologize by getting herself stuck with the counselor (a man she openly hates) all year so that jecka can smoke in peace again, which was something she’d previously complained about.

ari is important because i think she represents nicole’s own sexuality. while nicole is overly harsh and abusive towards her in one of the routes, in the other, she supports ari at first, telling her that even though coming out might seem tough, nobody cares and that most people would be fine with it. i personally believe nicole is gay herself (based on her respective interactions with jecka and emily) and i think that how she chooses to treat ari is based on how nicole feels about herself.

regarding jeffery, nicole probably sees a bit of herself in him. therefore, since nicole hates herself, i think it led her to immediately hate him too. (that’s not to say he isn’t weird and annoying, of course.) jeffery is the school loser that everyone either ignores or abuses. nicole says in the opening that she used to be that kid too. in jeffery’s deranged texts to nicole, he says a lot of the things that nicole had said herself. in one of the routes, nicole can choose to talk jeffery off of the ledge, which leads him not to kill himself nor shoot up the school. (i think jeffery has schizophrenia, so there’s that.)

but like i said, just because nicole isn’t exactly a sociopath doesn’t mean she’s not a bad person. she’s still pretty awful and makes dumb and harmful decisions. i think she’s lowkey a well written character that’s really funny, but has a moments that actual inspire reflection.