I see your point! Fanon seems to have taken on a pretty rigid fixation on the interpretation of the more popular pregame personalities. I like your take on them as victims of the Danganronpa social machine.I try to do that with my interpretations, too.
My Saihara tends to dip toes into the fanon's view of him, but honestly I'm not the biggest fan of their stereotypical yandere caricature. Kid's got issues, as does everybody I imagine, and while my base interpretation involves stalker tendencies and overall unhealthy behavior, it's less about the yandere gimmick and more about his infatuation with Danganronpa as a concept.
As for Ouma, most commonly I see him portrayed as a bullied waif, and while that's fair I suppose, I don't really like how much agency is taken from him. People go a bit too hard into defining the pregames as the theological opposite of their game counterparts because that's what Shirogane seemed to allude to doing. However, I imagine there has to be some kind of base something in them that their in-game selves grew from, and that they're a lot more alike than people like to make them out to be.
In that sense—and this might just be me heavily projecting as Ouma himself—I like to imagine that Ouma still had very distinct resolve in his beliefs, and the main difference is that he focuses his energy on himself rather than others. He keeps his head down, but is deeply offended by the injustice of it all, if only because it makes his life harder. I wouldn't say he's bullied so much as a wallflower, but sometimes he wishes bad things upon himself just so he'd have a socially acceptable excuse to feel as rotten on the inside as he does. Obviously I have a bias, so my thoughts on him are a lot more fleshed out than any other character.
I do have some thoughts on Amami, though, to deviate from the main three! My partner and I like to headcanon him with ASPD overall, and that extends to his pregame self. It's a rough disorder to have, and his jaded views of people and chronic boredom combined with the inherent stigma and isolation that comes with being a "sociopath" definitely wears on him. He hates what he is and he hates that he can't just be normal and he joined Danganronpa because 1) that's just the sort of place a sociopath belongs, isn't it? and 2) maybe if they can change my personality, they can cut this horrible rotten part of me out and then I can finally be normal (they can't, and even if they could, sociopathy sells so why would they).
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2025-05-03 05:34 pm (UTC)My Saihara tends to dip toes into the fanon's view of him, but honestly I'm not the biggest fan of their stereotypical yandere caricature. Kid's got issues, as does everybody I imagine, and while my base interpretation involves stalker tendencies and overall unhealthy behavior, it's less about the yandere gimmick and more about his infatuation with Danganronpa as a concept.
As for Ouma, most commonly I see him portrayed as a bullied waif, and while that's fair I suppose, I don't really like how much agency is taken from him. People go a bit too hard into defining the pregames as the theological opposite of their game counterparts because that's what Shirogane seemed to allude to doing. However, I imagine there has to be some kind of base something in them that their in-game selves grew from, and that they're a lot more alike than people like to make them out to be.
In that sense—and this might just be me heavily projecting as Ouma himself—I like to imagine that Ouma still had very distinct resolve in his beliefs, and the main difference is that he focuses his energy on himself rather than others. He keeps his head down, but is deeply offended by the injustice of it all, if only because it makes his life harder. I wouldn't say he's bullied so much as a wallflower, but sometimes he wishes bad things upon himself just so he'd have a socially acceptable excuse to feel as rotten on the inside as he does. Obviously I have a bias, so my thoughts on him are a lot more fleshed out than any other character.
I do have some thoughts on Amami, though, to deviate from the main three! My partner and I like to headcanon him with ASPD overall, and that extends to his pregame self. It's a rough disorder to have, and his jaded views of people and chronic boredom combined with the inherent stigma and isolation that comes with being a "sociopath" definitely wears on him. He hates what he is and he hates that he can't just be normal and he joined Danganronpa because 1) that's just the sort of place a sociopath belongs, isn't it? and 2) maybe if they can change my personality, they can cut this horrible rotten part of me out and then I can finally be normal (they can't, and even if they could, sociopathy sells so why would they).