![]() “By the way, there’s something that’s been bothering me. If you do decide to stick with Monika, she talks about a few topics that she has thought about recently. You could also just close the game, too, but what’s the fun in that? The only way to leave the virtual limbo you’ve found yourself in is to delete files in your hard drive. After all, she’s got you all to herself now. She feels slightly hurt that you put on the facade of a high school boy, but it ultimately doesn’t matter to her. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Act 3, where the fully-sentient Monika uses your Steam or PC settings to reveal that she knows exactly who the player is. It resets itself, adds files into your library that disappear mysteriously, and above all, forces the player to look inside of themselves. Then the game completely restarts.įrom here on out, the player has to admit that they have no control over DDLC. However, despite these attempts at saving her, Sayori still dies. After all, isn't that what happens in every other visual novel that talks about mental illnesses? Aren't young girls supposed to be directionless and depressed until the perfect male character comes in and saves them? With how this subplot is seemingly resolved with the player's character vowing to never leave her behind, they are led to believe that your love will solve all of her problems. One of the game's most poignant scenes comes from a conversation you have with her regarding her depression. ![]() The player knows that Sayori, the stereotypically cute childhood friend, was struggling. Through creepily stereotypical dialogue about how cute or timid these characters are, the player almost ends up achieving this until one disturbing event completely changes the game. Each girl has their own distinct characteristics, but the ultimate objective is simple: Make one of these students fall in love with you. The player takes on the persona of a high school boy who ends up getting closer to one of the girls in the literature club he is almost forced into joining. What does this have to do with Doki Doki Literature Club? Quite a bit, actually. No matter how much people try to separate fiction from reality, it is clear that the way Asian girls are depicted in media has an impact. In a Teen Vogue interview about the dating realities of East Asian women, one subject referred to “whole internet communities of men fetishizing anime representation of girls” that reflect what they see in media, such as visual novels, into the real world. I am not the first person to talk about my experiences with fetishization, nor will I be the last. While being noticeably half-white avoided the more cruel comparisons, I eventually realized that I had experienced fetishization my entire life based on simply my ethnicity. In fact, it’s a sadly recurring experience among young girls and women of Asian descent. It turns out that I wasn’t alone in feeling this weirdness. ![]() It always made me feel weird, but I couldn’t put words to it. When I was starting to actually understand the world, I would get comments from both classmates and adults alike that I looked like a cute anime girl. This has changed as I’ve grown up and into my features, but the slightest of characteristics apparently gave me a mystical look that always made me feel insecure. I had bad bangs, huge eyes, and cheeks the size of apples. When I was growing up, I was a quintessential Asian kid. However, it also carries a more subtle yet still impactful message that has impacted both Japanese and Western visual novels for years.īut first, a little anecdote. While the game had some detractors and even almost caused a new moral panic in the U.K., it ultimately received praise for its more realistic depiction of mental health and how it can affect anyone, even the ones you least suspect. There is a lot that can be interpreted from the events of DDLC, especially how it portrayed the effects of mental illness. RELATED: ‘Doki Doki Literature Club’ Getting New DLC and Coming to Consoles
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