Someday, our dream will illuminate the world!

^ ^ ^ THIS!!! PISSES ME OFF SOOOOOOOOO BAD!!!

Each character in Project Sekai is supposed to be relatable to someone, right? All of them, even as they're out starting a band or becoming idols or whatever, have down to earth personal struggles that someone can relate to. The easiest identifiable example of this to me is Mizuki - while they do dance around what she actually is, her struggles are deeply relatable to many transgender people, making her good representation. Saki Tenma could have been this for people struggling with a disability or health issues, if they'd bothered to try. Instead, as the screenshot above says, her "sickness" (it's left as vague as possible) is used as a narrative tool that basically only exists when it's needed for an Angst Moment, and is completely ignored otherwise. Sure, the other members of her group will often make an offhand comment about making sure not to overwork herself, but that's really as far as it goes. They refuse to identify any specific kind of illness, even, or decide on a consistent list of symptoms or things Saki has to deal with in her daily life. That would require caring about proper representation, which they obviously don't. I haven't touched WL2 as of yet, but we all know how awful that was, and it further muddies the water of what the hell is even wrong with her. I wish they could have cared, like.. at all.

Stepping back from Saki, now - there are obviously many flaws in Project Sekai's writing, but this is really one of the most consistent flaws I can identify. They handle the concept of physical limits terribly. 9 times out of 10, especially for main characters, the concept of burnout - hitting limits, overworking yourself, overexertion - they just don't exist most of the time. The solution to everything is to Try Harder. Throw yourself at the wall until you stick!

This rule is literally only broken when it's Angst Time, in which case a character will suddenly experience physical consequences of overwork (that often don't even make sense with what they were doing). The next story, of course, they're back to doing the same exact thing.

Take Haruka1, for example, which is titled "You Deserve It! Break Time!" Ignoring the other aspects that make it one of the worst written event stories in the game, the event literally sets Haruka up to be a terrible character. The entire plot of the event is that Haruka seems to be overworking herself, and never really properly resting. Even when she's not doing stuff for work, she's exercising, or otherwise being Productive. this could have been a chance to address the need for a work/life balance! Instead, the plot is resolved by literally saying, "it's okay, actually. Haruka has been doing this her whole life, and she's so used to it that she just can't stop!" And THAT'S HOW THE FUCKING EVENT IS RESOLVED. They throw in a non-committal message at the very end about making sure to take more breaks, but the core of the problem is completely ignored, and then treated as a Good Thing!!! This game treats overworking yourself as a desirable thing to aspire to, and physical limits are barely addressed for main characters.

As previously addressed, though, occasionally physical limits are addressed, for the purpose of Angst Time. Let's talk about whatever the fuck is going on with Kanade's dad! Similar to Saki, he suffers from a vague mystery illness that only exists for angst purposes, but since he's not a main character, they can make it even worse. I.. genuinely don't even know what the fuck is happening with him. He overworked himself, and somehow this put him into the hospital long-term and gave him some kind of amnesia?? Admittedly, I haven't read very far into N25's stories just yet, so I can't comment on him too much, but he's still a great example of how little the writers care about being realistic when it comes to burnout and overwork. It works for the purpose of giving Kanade depth, sure, but it isn't well handled at all if you examine him on his own.