I’ve made progress on Osana, but not enough progress to justify a whole video about the subject. It feels wrong to let two weeks pass without a video, so I’ve decided to make a video about a subject related to the game’s development.
Occasionally, I hear people say that they find Yandere-chan to be a boring character because of her lack of emotions. I felt a need to explain what led me to create that type of character, and that’s what made me decide to create this video. Over the course of this video, I also discussed related subjects, such as whether or not the other characters in the game will be simple or complex, and whether or not the statements in my videos are set in stone, or subject to change.
Spending so much time thinking about these subjects has made me wonder whether or not it would be appropriate to change Yandere-chan’s identity. It feels strange to suggest making significant changes to the protagonist after 3 years, but if the majority of the fanbase is disappointed in her, then it seems like the wise thing to do would be to change the type of character that she is.
In the above video, I proposed the idea of changing her identity from “a girl who can’t experience emotions” to “a girl who can’t experience happiness”. It’s tough to find the right words to describe exactly what I am imagining; I tried to phrase it a few different ways:
- “A girl who has felt like something is missing for her entire life.”
- “A lifelong sensation of having a craving that cannot be fulfilled.”
- “Being unable to ever truly experience happiness.”
- “A perpetual state of listlessness.”
It’s easy to summarize her current identity with one word: “emotionless”. But, unfortunately, there is no one word that adequately describes the new identity that I’m proposing for her. Terms like “something’s missing” and “perpetually craving” and “never happy” just don’t adequately describe it. I can communicate the concept pretty effectively with a speech in a video or with a bullet-point list, but not with a single phrase or word.
The condition that I’m proposing isn’t something that exists in real life, and it’s also possible that what I’m proposing is something that hasn’t ever been featured in fiction before, either. This would explain why there’s no pre-existing word for it, and no way to succinctly summarize it. It’s almost like we’d have to invent a new word just to describe the condition that I’m proposing.
The closest I can come to summarizing her condition is by calling her an “Empty Girl”. For her entire life, she’s felt hollow and incomplete – but she can’t even explain what’s missing, or what’s wrong. She craves something and yearns for something, but she can’t even explain what that “something” is. Then, on the day she meets Senpai, she finally feels “complete” and “whole” for the first time in her life. There’s no one word that accurately describes exactly how she feels before she meets Senpai, but “Empty” might do the trick for now.
You might be wondering, “Why go through the trouble of changing her identity into something that is difficult to define? Why not give her an identity that is easier to summarize?” Well, if it’s difficult to summarize or explain something because of a lack of comparisons, then it’s clearly something original. If I could summarize it in one word, then it would be something that’s already cliche. This is why I don’t want to take the easy way out and give her an identity that is easy to describe. Get it?
If you’re worried that it’s going to be jarring to adapt to a completely new Yandere-chan, I don’t think you should worry about it. What I’m proposing isn’t too different from her previous identity. In both cases:
- She cannot experience life in the same way as other people.
- She’s had an inexplicable, incurable condition her entire life.
- She pretends to be normal around others in order to avoid negative attention.
- She doesn’t realize what’s been missing from her life until she meets Senpai.
You might be wondering, “What’s the point of changing her identity, if so little is going to change?” The difference is that an “emotionless” character is like a machine; no personality, no desires, no reason to care about anything. This type of character is boring and uninteresting. But if she can feel emotions – but cannot ever experience satisfaction, fulfillment, or happiness – then she can have a personality, have desires, and care about things, which gives her waaaaay more potential as a character.
Crafting a believable serial killer requires more of an explanation than just “she lacks emotions” or “she felt empty and then found someone who made her feel whole”. I think that Yandere-chan’s nature can be attributed to the way that she was raised by her parents – specifically, her mother.
Yandere-chan’s mother (Ryoba) has gone through the same experience as her daughter – feeling “empty” for nearly two decades. So, she is the only person who could possibly relate to Yandere-chan or give her more information about her condition. Yandere-chan would seek answers from her mother, who would tell her, “One day you’ll meet someone who will make you feel complete,” These words would become a point of obsession for Yandere-chan. She would obsess over the idea of meeting her “prince charming” for over a decade, which explains how she could “fall in love” with a boy after just one meeting, and why she’d be willing to commit multiple homicides for his sake.
Yandere-chan’s father, having knowledge of his wife’s true nature, would do everything in his power to raise his daughter into someone who wouldn’t dare to spill a single drop of blood, which is why Yandere-chan would be willing to consider the possibility of eliminating her rivals in non-lethal ways…but, ultimately, it’s up to the player how Yandere-chan decides to solve her problems.
I don’t want to make any decisions that would anger the majority of the fanbase, so I’d like to ask you to vote on a few polls for me. Please note that the outcome of these polls won’t guarantee my next course of action, so if an option that you dislike is “winning”, don’t freak out about it.
Do you disapprove of Yandere-chan’s current identity as an “emotionless” character?
Which of these two identities would you prefer for Yandere-chan?
In your opinion, is it too late to change Yandere-chan’s identity?
I’ll look forward to reading your feedback!
Thank you for following the development of Yandere Simulator!