My husband and I have a new favorite game. Maybe you've heard of Danganronpa. Basically, this creature called Monokuma sticks a bunch of high schoolers together and tells them to kill each other, or he will keep them locked up forever. Lots of people die to fulfill Monokuma's purpose. What is that purpose? Despair. His goal is to fill the entire world with unnending despair.
This game impacted both of us in such different spiritual ways that we decided to team up to write about it. He is going to take first shift and introduce you to our villain, and then I will take over and end on a high note with the hero. (Since we both have so much to say, I'm dividing it into two different posts, meant to be read together.)
So let me explain to you why I loathe this creature called Monokuma. My vocabulary isn’t expansive enough to carry the heavy emotions from the deepest part of my soul to yours, so what I have will have to do.
For those of you who don’t know, here’s a picture:
This game impacted both of us in such different spiritual ways that we decided to team up to write about it. He is going to take first shift and introduce you to our villain, and then I will take over and end on a high note with the hero. (Since we both have so much to say, I'm dividing it into two different posts, meant to be read together.)
So let me explain to you why I loathe this creature called Monokuma. My vocabulary isn’t expansive enough to carry the heavy emotions from the deepest part of my soul to yours, so what I have will have to do.
For those of you who don’t know, here’s a picture:
It would be as if Bug Bunny was homicidal!
Yep, it’s a teddy bear. It has this yin-yang thing going on with his design. It really lends to the parallel that will soon be drawn.
This little antagonist will pop in and out of location and spout the most benign malarky with the purpose of driving you insane. He avoids serious questions by using wordplay, playing dumb, or just running away. If he gets destroyed, another just takes its place, and he takes up a lot of time bringing up discussions that are twists on popular ideas or make no sense to the plot.
In a word, he’s good at his job of being the devil.
Speaking of the devil, that’s all I see when this guy talks or moves. The entire purpose for this animatronic existence is to bring despair by any means necessary. And after playing two games in the main Danganronpa series, I italicize that with an exhausting heart. He has tried everything.
This little antagonist will pop in and out of location and spout the most benign malarky with the purpose of driving you insane. He avoids serious questions by using wordplay, playing dumb, or just running away. If he gets destroyed, another just takes its place, and he takes up a lot of time bringing up discussions that are twists on popular ideas or make no sense to the plot.
In a word, he’s good at his job of being the devil.
Speaking of the devil, that’s all I see when this guy talks or moves. The entire purpose for this animatronic existence is to bring despair by any means necessary. And after playing two games in the main Danganronpa series, I italicize that with an exhausting heart. He has tried everything.
Case in point, he reveals secrets, exploits greed, threatens family, becomes a severe nuisance, starves people, exposes traitors, recruits spies, uses brute force, and imitates omniscience through the use of surveillance cameras and monitors for relaying messages. Monokuma goes straight for the throat by striking at the trust between the characters without directly interfering, as it’s against his protocols. But that is the most striking resemblance to Satan that horrifies, annoys, and really gets to me. As much as he interacts among the students, he probably does twice as much behind the scenes, and that work is what pays off the most.
Most of the time he acts jovial and throws in a pun or a joke nearly the entire time he’s talking, and it’s usually about death, destruction, and despair. The timing of his material is always at its worst. When someone dies, he’s happy to present an autopsy file so the trial can proceed and the next victim be found and executed.
Most of the time he acts jovial and throws in a pun or a joke nearly the entire time he’s talking, and it’s usually about death, destruction, and despair. The timing of his material is always at its worst. When someone dies, he’s happy to present an autopsy file so the trial can proceed and the next victim be found and executed.
The time that really makes this point so clear is when he’s upset that no one is putting forth their best effort to find out which of their friends killed another. However, when it comes out that it’s because of him they refuse to cooperate, he flips it around right back and replies, “But I’m not the one who killed [insert name here]."
It would be as if Bug Bunny was homicidal!
It would be as if Bug Bunny was homicidal!
The worst part of it all is that the personality behind this… abomination is somewhat charming, and at times you agree with some of the truth that he lays out. He didn’t pull the trigger, even though he made the gun. But still someone of their own will squeezed it, and someone else died because of that. And when he cracks a joke, it makes me laugh.
But then isn’t that all just like Satan?
Did the Bible not say that the enemy is like a lion, seeking whom he may devour? Wasn’t Lucifer once a mighty and beautiful angel, who knows the Bible as good as John Hagee and has nicknames like “The Ultimate Liar”?
In my mind, media (Japanese media) has reached a pinnacle where they get it. They understand what makes humans tick, what evil is, and how its multifarious and plentiful faces exist. DC’s the Joker comes to mind in terms of great American showcases for chaotic evil, but Monokuma takes the cake, eats it, blames you, and you somehow feel bad. The reverse engineering of modern ideals tipped on their head haven’t surprised me since reading Nietzsche.
But then isn’t that all just like Satan?
Did the Bible not say that the enemy is like a lion, seeking whom he may devour? Wasn’t Lucifer once a mighty and beautiful angel, who knows the Bible as good as John Hagee and has nicknames like “The Ultimate Liar”?
In my mind, media (Japanese media) has reached a pinnacle where they get it. They understand what makes humans tick, what evil is, and how its multifarious and plentiful faces exist. DC’s the Joker comes to mind in terms of great American showcases for chaotic evil, but Monokuma takes the cake, eats it, blames you, and you somehow feel bad. The reverse engineering of modern ideals tipped on their head haven’t surprised me since reading Nietzsche.
Huh!? You admire superheroes?
Don’t you understand what superheroes are like?
Superheroes live to stop people achieving their hopes & dreams, y'know?
They immediately attack people in groups because they don’t have many friends themselves, y'know?
They’re all short tempered and say stuff like, ‘Now I’m mad!’ and 'I won’t forgive you!’ and laugh, y'know?
They’re lazy people who’ll run away once the other guy starts fighting back, y'know?
They’re willing to use weapons even if they’re fighting someone who is alone or unarmed, y'know?
They’re always the winner, so they don’t know what it’s like to have a weakling’s worries, y'know?
And they wear flashy costumes, y'know?
Which means they’re all a bunch of smart, good-looking, violent, stubborn elitists who don’t have many friends.
Do you really want to admire people like that?
-Monokuma
Don’t you understand what superheroes are like?
Superheroes live to stop people achieving their hopes & dreams, y'know?
They immediately attack people in groups because they don’t have many friends themselves, y'know?
They’re all short tempered and say stuff like, ‘Now I’m mad!’ and 'I won’t forgive you!’ and laugh, y'know?
They’re lazy people who’ll run away once the other guy starts fighting back, y'know?
They’re willing to use weapons even if they’re fighting someone who is alone or unarmed, y'know?
They’re always the winner, so they don’t know what it’s like to have a weakling’s worries, y'know?
And they wear flashy costumes, y'know?
Which means they’re all a bunch of smart, good-looking, violent, stubborn elitists who don’t have many friends.
Do you really want to admire people like that?
-Monokuma
Please don’t judge me by my words, I am no fan of this character. However, that’s what makes him one of the best villains in any game or media I’ve ever experienced.
One more thing before I go. Monokuma shows me one more thing. Extent. The extent that Satan can and will go to make us despair is far, and on every corner. There is no resting spot for Christians. If we do not have hope, (and hopefully we won’t need enough hope to survive a killing trip) and if we do not stay in the light, then even our own darkness can lead us to despair. Let’s stay open, honest, loving, and hopeful as we continue to live our lives. That way, no Monokumas can trip us up, but we can trip them up instead.
One more thing before I go. Monokuma shows me one more thing. Extent. The extent that Satan can and will go to make us despair is far, and on every corner. There is no resting spot for Christians. If we do not have hope, (and hopefully we won’t need enough hope to survive a killing trip) and if we do not stay in the light, then even our own darkness can lead us to despair. Let’s stay open, honest, loving, and hopeful as we continue to live our lives. That way, no Monokumas can trip us up, but we can trip them up instead.