#sdr3

An overwhelming amount of people in the DanganRonpa fandoms dislike Miu Iruma, and I can understand why. I myself do like the character very much, but I get where the people who disagree with me are coming from.

Miu Iruma is a controversial character for obvious reasons. Throughout V3, she is making lewd jokes and making other characters uncomfortable (in a way that could be construed to be intentional or unintentional, depending on how you look at it). She talks about sex to an excessive extent, I’d say, and she is generally just very awkward in the way she speaks to people. In the first chapter of V3, she has something Kaede and Shuichi need for their investigation of Rantaro’s death. She acts very high-and-mighty about potentially being useful to them, and makes them beg for whatever the item is/her services IIRC, and when they actually do, she becomes very flustered and nervous.

One possible reason for this is that she is not used to being respected and taken seriously because she says outlandish things and most people (in the game) assume that she doesn’t mean it or something like that.

However, I think there is a much better explanation for Miu’s behaviour. Pregame Miu wanted it to be part of in-game Miu’s behaviour to have been involved in an accident that gave her (in-game Miu) a significant neurological injury, specifically to the frontal lobes. The purpose of the frontal lobes is to facilitate voluntary movement and regulate higher level executive functions.

”Higher level executive functions” refers to thinking, emotions, and judgement, as well as other things. In-game Miu’s frontal lobes were damaged, impairing her ability to “read the room” or make appropriate jokes at an appropriate time.

Obviously, this is not an excuse and does not erase anything she has done, but it does provide a reason as to why she acts the way she does.

The Comparison to Teruteru Hanamura (And Why I Don’t Like It)

Because of Miu’s demeanour, as has been detailed, she is often compared to a character from Super Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, that being Teruteru Hanamura.

Teruteru is similar to her in the sense that they both act “pervy” and usually make inappropriate comments to the other characters. However, there is no evidence that Teruteru is not fully aware of his actions and able to control his impulses, unlike Miu. It puts some insight into why these characters both share these characteristics.

To summarize, Teruteru is a pervert and that’s it. Miu has brain damage.