I've noticed that Clear gets beat up a lot in his route. Aside from the Clearao slapstick comedy and the android/human love story + angst, the rest of it was Toue indirectly abusing Clear; he allowed his associates to beat up Clear and to pour sulfuric acid on his face and programed the alphas to beat up Clear multiple times and each time it's just uncomfortably long? And he's incapable of fighting back every time unless Aoba is in immediate danger. And it's only when he destroys his key lock, which directly leads to his death, that he's able to defend himself. I love Clear's route, but I have to always skip those parts because it just gives me the ick. Speaking of things that give me the ick, I don't think anyone has talked about this throughout my time being in the dmmd fandom. In his bad end, Clear is enforcing the trauma Toue gave him onto Aoba as a means to make them more alike.
When you put into perspective the way Clear is talking about how Toue makes him feel and how he can't fight back against him, you start to realize that Clear is basically treating Aoba like how Toue impliedly treats him and his brothers. You can tell because the way Aoba feels about Clear's treatment of him is exactly how Clear feels about Toue.
Clear wants to make Aoba like him, like how he sees himself, like how Toue's abuse has made him perceive himself. He takes Aoba's sight to remove his window to the outside world and to deny him of any unnecessary knowledge because all Aoba needs to know is Clear. He removes Aoba's limbs to take away his sense of freedom, his free will, and to make it impossible for him to escape. He removes Aoba's vocal cords because, to Clear, he doesn't need something that allows him to make any choices and he's quite literally silencing him. Since being reprogrammed, for two months all Clear knew was Toue and the inner walls of Oval Tower before he finally granted him permission to see Aoba. Clear, being a machine created by Toue, has no freedom, no free will, and cannot escape considering he's physically incapable of defying Toue. Clear was never allowed a choice, given a say in anything, nor allowed to voice what he wanted, unless Toue approved of it first. Clear is taking Toue's place whilst Aoba has taken Clear's place.
Clear wants to make Aoba share the same pain he's endured, and more than anything he wants Aoba to be a "living doll" like he is. He wants to turn Aoba into a mirrored image of his trauma so that he doesn't feel completely alone.
Even Clear begging Aoba to say his name and wanting to hear his voice in the r-word scene mirrors Toue being so obsessed with Clear denying him as his master and wanting to know why. Clear knew that if he applied enough force/pain onto Aoba that he'd eventually give him what he wanted in that scene. That always stood out to me because Clear is an android and androids are learning ais given human-looking models. Clear's grandpa and Aoba taught him how to be human and what it means to have emotions, to be alive. Toue reprogramming him, taking all of that away from him, what does he have left to learn anything from other than Toue's abuse? How else would he know that denying Aoba the hope of ever escaping, the freedom of choice, and the free will to fight back would eventually make him give up and submit to him after being reunited with him after two whole months of being separated? Who else would teach him that, if not his master, Toue?
I know this isn't my usual dmmd rambling post, but I can't only talk about the positives of dmmd without bringing up the bad ends sometimes. Because they're unfortunately just as beautifully written as the good ends. Taking a character like Clear, who's entire character arc was about claiming free will, the freedom of choice, and what it means to live only to witness all of that taken away from him in the form of watching him victimize his lover the same way he was victimized really portrays abusive power dynamics, Stockholm syndrome, unhealthy coping mechanisms, and trauma responses so perfectly.
