SubaHibi: Confronting the Horrors of Life (Analysis & Retrospective)

[@deadprez50]

If you have a specific visual novel/game/anime you want me to review let me know!

[@AngeVNs]

I'll take you analyzing any visual novel. We just need more visual novel videos on KZbin!!!!!!

[@deadprez50]

@@AngeVNs Thanks Ange!

[@bagel_remover8945]

This is late, but you should read The House in Fata Morgana. Also have you read the epilogue for Subahibi?

[@deadprez50]

@@bagel_remover8945 Morgana is on the list and yes

[@bagel_remover8945]

@@deadprez50Great analysis :)

[@russiandoggo4336]

This VN changed the way I view the world. On top of everything the story says about purpose and living happily, the message from this story I found the most striking was changing perspective. Yuki is probably my favorite character in all of fiction at this point. She's smart, strong, pretty, friendly, and plays the piano, but above all else she knows how to enjoy the simple things in life. The summer sky, a frilly dress, and never knows best. What more can a girl ask for? I read the first 2 chapters and I wanted to be her I want to see myself the way she does. So I kinda started manifesting it. I would be more sociable and talk more, I acted confident in what I was doing even if I was scared, I started putting more effort into my appearance. Mind you this was all before getting to Invention. When I looked at Takuji I saw some of my worst aspects of myself in him. He's reclusive pervert that thinks everyone is below him, even before his mental break. It pains me to admit I related more to him than Yuki, but when the twist was revealed, that they were the same person my mind was blown. What I took from Subahibi is that I don't have to see myself as that weak, scared kid that I always have, I can change that if I try my best to live happily.

[@xuxi6912]

as corny as it sounds, subahibi changed my life. its not even my favorite visual novel, but i think i read it at a perfect point in my life for it to have such a huge impact on my life, despite a lot of problems i have with the vn. great video

[@setyasan1386]

I can't believe I finished the visual novel. This is just complex but meaningful

[@eyeamthei1801]

A few random thoughts: I have, yet to find anyone who found the meaning of life. I'm only seeing people who found a temporary fragile illusion or to be precise they made themeselves belive they found something just to later realize they didn't. Zakuro: She is nowhere near perfect. She carries one of the biggest sin of all... Naivity. Also she is coward, she is ignorant, she easily gives in to peer pressure. Possibly more, but I don't remember. It was years ago when I read it. "These two": It is an important message of the story that even though you don't see it, everyone suffers. Possibly the two girls suffered more than even Zakuro, that's why they acted like that. As you mentioned Takuji's crazyiness was understandable. Why though? He is basically maniac sect leader who organized a group seppuku. Yet, you understand, because you get to see his thought process [or lack there of]. Now imagine if you get to see these two girl's perspective... You would understand them as well... The moment you understand someone is the moment when you stop seeing them irredeemable evil, but a faulty human being. As for the End Sky and Ayana's interpretations. This one is an another important message of the VN. Every intrerpretion is valid, every interpretation is real, every interpretation is equal, every interpretation happens every day in the world. Every ending in this VN is just an alternative ending. Nothing more. [Which actually stems from Wittgenstein's philosophy] Personal hot take: Even Zakuro's self-deletion can be interpereted as a "happy" end. Life is full of suffering and choosing not to suffer anymore when you have had enough is an entierly valid decision... I was there once. I almost pulled the trigger, but a song pulled me back to reality. It has been almost 20 years. Since then I found a lot of happiness in my life. I have everything I could wish for, yet time to time I still question if I made the right choice...

[@Stabbyhara]

We eating well subahibros

[@CalculadoraR]

Vive felizmente Una frase que muchos creen que es simple y otros que nunca entenderan su significado Mi vida fue como un lingote de acero La vida me calentó y luego me dio varios martillazos, no entendía porque tenía que sufrir tanto Con el paso del tiempo me dió forma de una manera dolorosa, pero si no fuera por eso no sería quien soy ahora "Si no puedes abandonarlo, aprende a armarlo" Acepte la luz y la sombra de mi ser, y de poco a poco estoy mejorando Gracias por el vídeo

[@FirzenExpert]

21:21 I believe the idea of forgiveness and empathy are two separate things. You can have empathy for someone without while still vowing to not forgive them. One "perspective" is that their way of coping with being jealous and not being special is by dragging others down, as occurred here. This give them a short dopamine hit (e.g., by Schadenfreude), but in the long run, that coping strategy will not bring peace to them and their relationships are likely to be insubstantial and unsatisfying. If continued as is, they probably will never have deep and meaningful relationships. And if they do learn better coping strategies in the future e.g., via counselling or otherwise, they probably have to live with or hide the fact that they did these horrible things to others. Another "perspective" is that society and government are mostly to blame, to allow bullying to go unchecked and unpunished for so long such that it become so normalised for these two that their appetite for destruction grows so much likely due to tolerance e.g., requiring a bigger dose of Schadenfreude to get the same or higher dopamine hit. While I was growing up, there has been teaching of the bystander effect, but it wasn't consistently or truly practicsed in my school, via lets say modelling by all teachers. Yes you are entiled to your own opinion, but I am sorry to say that I really dislike the tone in which you said "It's good to have empathy and all but..." because it is quite clear you are only giving lipservice, and not applying genuine empathy to those 2 characters. You are putting yourself out there and risking your own mental state of being criticised, but at the same time, as an audience, I still don't think I am obliged to sit back and do nothing when I hear something I strongly disagree with. All in all, thanks for your attempt of reviewing/analysing SubaHibi, being a story I find special. I did enjoy the rest of your video though, which I hope provides you with some solace.

[@deadprez50]

Agree to disagree. I generally consider myself a very empathetic individual, but as I said in the video, sometimes in life you encounter a person who is so twisted/sadistic/morally corrupt that no level of empathy can justify their reprehensible actions. This kind of disdain is of course only reserved for the absolute worst of people. You mentioned the idea that society/governments could be to blame for this type of behavior occurring. I am more aligned with Thomas Hobbes, in that I believe humans in a state of nature are often evil and chaotic, as opposed to Rousseau who believes societal institutions are responsible for human misdoings and humans are good by nature. I understand Schadenfreude and perhaps that Megu and Sakoto had tragic backstories of their own, but then I think to myself, hypothetically, would I be able to (or even want to) convince Zakuro that she needs to empathize with them and see things from their perspective, after all that they did to her? I would not. This is all just subjective values, so neither of us is right or wrong.

[@FirzenExpert]

@@deadprez50 Thanks for expanding - but I still do not believe we are on the same understanding as to where we differ. The use of lipservice wording (unless you genuinely mean it) such as everything is subjective is often a method of ending a discussion without hurting each other's feelings. To be clear, I am not concerned with justifying their action (e.g., coming to a conclusion as to Megu/Sakoto is right or wrong and whether Zakuro is obliged to empathise with them). I'm saying Empathy as being able to understand/reason/perceive the nature and nurture leading up to their behaviour - and not simply saying, as you effectively did, in the video by saying "these girls are evil, end of story". Theory of mind (and thus Empathy) start developing in child around 4-5 years of age. As adults, we conciously and subconsciously choose if and when we use it (e.g., people we are close to vs. a complete stranger vs. someone we hate). Yes, there may be people who we disdain so much that we choose to not even try to use it or that it is harder to use, but that does not mean there is no way someone cannot empathise with why they do what they did, which you challenged your viewers to do. Yes I hate them and I won't forgive them. But I can imagine their parents or a clinical psychologist would be able to see how their upbringing or external influence have lead them to make the choice they did, and it could very well not involve a tragic backstory.

[@deadprez50]

@@FirzenExpert I wasn't intending to be dismissive, I genuinely meant that morality is subjective. Neither you, I, or anyone else can claim to possess objective morality, so there's not a "right" answer when it comes to this stuff, though I'm happy to debate with you nonetheless. I definitely see what you're saying about empathy. I understand that all behaviors and actions that I consider "evil" can be traced back to a complex interplay between nature/nurture and what not. But the crux of what I was saying was not "they're evil, end of story" but rather "past a certain point empathy is not useful." I can intellectually understand that everyone has their own set of circumstances that causes them to behave as they do, but what it sounded like when I read the VN was that SCA-DI was almost trying to absolve Kotomi by saying "the road to hell is paved with good intentions" and "she thought she was doing good but she's just naive" and "It would be wrong to blame her as the root cause" and what not. In some cases we CAN try to analyze like a psychologist what external influences and factors made someone behave a certain way, but such exercises would only serve to give us a greater understanding of why they did it, it would in no way absolve them. Do I have empathy for Kotomi and understand why she acted the way she did? Yes. Do I also think that her dysfunctional and toxic behaviors are the root cause of most of the conflict in the VN? Also yes.

[@ZloYLeXa]

Кайфовый видос, кратко и по делу

[@AyamineMISC]

Great video, always appreciate new subahibi content. it's been 4 years since I read it and it stuck with me all this time.

[@JoaoPaulo-wl5sj]

really great analysis!

[@invertedrosary2065]

such a great analysis!

[@e-rratic]

Great video sir.

[@Christopherjazzcat]

Live happily

[@nafinapkin5439]

Loved this video, a lot of what you said made see things in a different light. Never heard of absurdism but it really is a great answer to the meaning of life.

[@ForYouTheOneListening]

Subarashiki Hibi changed my life

[@FaroushJinal]

Happy Subahibi day 1

[@Ping0309]

Very good video 😁

[@aqualucasYT]

The real question is why is subahibi in 4:3 aspect ratio?

[@AngeVNs]

Cuz it was made in the late 2000s when 4:3 ratio was everywhere

[@aliestercardigan8574]

Great video

[@_bofu]

I loved your analysis. What other vns do you recommend?

[@ibuprofensaint]

Kino and Wittgenpilled

[@szthng6681]

your reviews are so good man, I have watched all your vn stuffs in full and they always delivered. When will the next one come though?

[@deadprez50]

Muv Luv coming in a few weeks :)

[@szthng6681]

@@deadprez50 damn no wonder you take so long that triology is long af. I am looking foward to it :)

[@eldritchgrl]

Really good video and reminded me of why this game was very gripping. If you’ve ever heard of the vn MYTH before, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

[@Christopherjazzcat]

I would love to see you do an analysis of YOU and ME and HER: A Love Story This is a wonderful video essay. You can tell this story had a deep meaning to you, as it did for me.

[@w.vv.w]

re the meaning of life, passing genes etc. i find your counterpoint to be only valid under the assumption that meaning = happiness. you can reproduce, fulfill your biological meaning and still be miserable - it wouldn't matter. i feel like there definitely needs to be a distinction between biological and "spiritual" meaning when discussing the meaning of life, and biological meaning shouldn't be dismissed as unimportant because i believe the two cannot be separated - your spiritual meaning can be influenced by how you feel about your biological purpose

[@revivalfromruins]

Camus? That's the guy from Fire Emblem, right?

[@avendurree]

I liked your analysis. A lot of this VN is shock value though and sometimes it was philosophical just to be philosophical. I get it, the author needs to deliver plenty of hscenes for eroge and made it easier for himself to deliver the end message, but I feel like a lot could be cut down and nothing would be lost.

[@cdm966]

I would disagree heavily that "a lot" of the VN being shock value. There are a lot of shocking things that happen, but I really don't feel like any of them don't serve their purpose. The closest I felt to that was Zakuro's route, but despite the very disturbing nature of her bullying and the fact that I personally was so sick of seeing it that I skipped through a lot of it, I still feel like it did serve a purpose. It really puts Zakuro's entire motivation in perspective; it feels endless and disgusting because that's how Zakuro's life is. If a little title popped up and said "and then Zakuro was assaulted" I feel like her despair would feel over-played, but you *see* how awful her life is, and it makes her intense despair understandable and gut wrenching. I also don't think that the game was "philosophical to just be philosophical," because it's philosophies are pretty streamlined, and it's not even afraid to call out things like how often Kant's philosophies are used in media to the point it's almost a trope. I genuinely don't think SCAD-JI is the type of person to hamfist philosophies while also calling out other people for hamfisting philosophies.

[@aciddementia]

Simply agree, a lot of h scenes and humiliation feels unneccessary though if is compared to the ideas of vn.

[@anomitas]

Just say it went over your head, man

[@Christopherjazzcat]

I adamantly disagree here. If you just say "live happily" without context, it sounds like toxic positivity. Like you are ignorant of the very real horrors of this world. If you go through hell to get there, then it becomes a statement of defiance. An inspirational message that in full knowledge of just how bad things can be, it's still not only possible, but that life demands that you make that choice, because there's only one alternative.

[@GoumesGames]

Kino

[@sunbeamseadream801]

Subahibi content !?

[@Tennisers]

They could have just thrown out the whole first chapter and that would have made it better.

[@flyableheart]

I'm sorry but I have to disagree with this. How can Kimika be best girl when Yuki was literally created to be the ideal woman?

[@gabrielg-z1r]

Maybe because Yuki was just designed to be perfect. Kimika had to atone and learn from everything that happened around her. Just like Tomosane wanted to be as strong and capable of taking care of Hasaki as he perceived Yuki-san. Think upon the people who inspires us and we just want to acquire the same traits. Kimika can be considered the best girl and side character becase she didn't have those qualities from the start. Even Yuki being perfect, she did not have the urge to act in the plot. Sure, there are many different ones of herself, and eventually she started to puzzle and solve things by herself, but none of the horrific things that happened to Zakuro and Kimika, did to her. Because Yuki was just designed to be perfect in someway. Kimika's been to a metamorphosis during the plot. She became something else to overcome everything that happened. Yuki did not have these issues because, once again, she was designed to be perfect, and because she has a reason to be. Other characters like Tomosame, Zakuro, Kimika, Takuji, they went through a great torment because they didn't have the same qualities as Yuki, even Tomosane being a bully somehow, strong and hot headed, that didn't stop his existence to suffer. It's just an annotation I made comparing these characters. Also, Zakuro wanted to be courageous as Cyranno when she quoted his Panache

[@hurt6145]

Ayana is better anyways

[@SaintCecilia19]

dude really spoiled the game in less than 60 seconds 💀

[@deadprez50]

>clicks on video with (analysis & retrospective) in the title >upset over spoilers What did he mean by this?

[@SaintCecilia19]

@@deadprez50 i dont know who "he" is so i cant really say, also im not upset because ive finished this game years ago. its just generally not a smart idea to spoil a game at the beginning of your video without any warning lmao

[@deadprez50]

@@SaintCecilia19 "Generally not a smart idea to spoil a game at the beginning of the video" ok I think it's "generally not a smart idea" for someone to click on retrospective and analysis videos for game if they haven't played it and then get upset over spoilers lmao

[@SaintCecilia19]

@@deadprez50 if anyones upset it seems like its you :)

[@katkatplu0]

who tf watches a retrospective vid not expecting spoilers