The Genius of Doki Doki Literature Club

[@xanderscut]

Hey everyone! I recently wrote a song from Sayori's perspective, exploring her depression through the lense of the beach poem she never got. Streaming links are down below! Thank you to anyone who listens, I hope you enjoy! ❤‍🔥❤‍🔥❤‍🔥 The song: distrokid.com/hyperfollow/xanderbernhardt/my-castle

[@youarethebest_15]

very nice!!💕

[@bradydoesthings2547]

I'll never forgive you for saying Yuri is best girl.

[@zveatz]

She is tho​@@bradydoesthings2547

[@sir_crocodilee]

​@@bradydoesthings2547 1.Monika 2.Natsuki 3.Sayori 4.Yuri What do u think?

[@xatrosh6730]

😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊

[@nyxmoth]

A fun (incredibly commonly known) detail is that you can tell when Monika is listening in on your conversations when there's piano in the soundtrack.

[@Insomnia19101]

That just makes it scarier because just before Yuri stabbed herself, there was a quick piano sound, almost as if Monika decided to jump in and take control and end yuri quickly

[@valerioharvey7289]

​@@Insomnia19101shit. Yuri in act 2 is menacing

[@astralbirthvoid02]

Other fact: the whole soundtrack has piano except "Ohayou Sayori!"

[@GreenEyedMan06]

​@@astralbirthvoid02 and it makes sense, because in the very beginning of the game, right after the 1st poem reading, Monika tells the player something along the lines of "let me know if you have any changes for the club..... I'm always listening". I finally got that final sentence after finishing all acts.

[@LemonCakexz]

@@Insomnia19101WHAT 😨

[@FoxofScadrial]

One thing I realized very recently that changed what I thought about Monika was this: she doesn’t love you. What I mean by that is that yes, she loves the player. But not like a romantic partner would. She doesn’t love your person, she loves what you are- reality. To her, everything around her is fake. Sayori, Natsuki, Yuri, none of them are real to her. She’s desperately gasping for anything real, and she’s given that in the form of you. It’s like she’s trapped in a dream and you are the only way to wake up.

[@Kayta-Linda]

That’s the whole point of her character. And really, if you think on it, it starts to become more and more relatable, just not in a literal sense.

[@rocketrelm1125]

@@Kayta-Linda The literal sense comes when you relate her to the fact that like Sayori she's got a severe case of mental illness. Except it's not depression, it's schizophrenia. In her case the delusions just happen to be true, but almost the entirety of the mainline DDLC game events could be explained by Monika developing low tier psionic powers to manipulate peoples emotions that she is struggling to control alongside sudden onset of severe schizophrenia. Going up to mid tier for the occasional mind wipe or puppeting of a character.

[@lexcentrique2554]

It could even explain why she's ready to fall for any people who would be willing to play the game, she isn't really in love with you for being who you are, but rather for what you are: The closest thing to something real. You could even argue that she may not actually feel love, but was programmed to use love to get in touch with people. It ultimately doesn't justify her actions on Sayori and the rest, but it does give a proper understanding of who she is: An unhinged creature who wants to get in touch with the world she wants to belong to, at all costs. It even makes it sadder when you consider that she used to be a great person in the extra cutscenes (Like Trust where she comforts Sayori, which is completely opposite to the main game where she is ready to make the problem worse just to kick her out of the competition), implying that at one point, she eventually lost her interest in her old friends, to the point of preferring something who may never really share the same love with her.

[@MidnightDStroyer]

To Monika, the Main Character represented something that she couldn't even hope for; an escape from the digital trap she's in. She's hoping that you can somehow breach the fourth wall in a physical way that would allow her to step into our world. She saw the player as a way to enter "a world of infinite choices" which were so lacking in game play, but she failed to reckon that every choice made & acted upon carries some form of consequences with it, for good or bad.

[@xmanroberson753]

Bruh you made a theory book by by writing about the story, base and character designs nice. 😳 😎👍

[@tianzheng4663]

The ending lyric, "I'll leave you be" hits so damn hard. Monika finally realizes she only exists in a game and you as the player ha to return to your own reality at some point, leaving her alone in her own world.

[@PanduPoluan]

That's so sad actually...

[@TheBluePhoenix008]

Those lines broke me so many years ago

[@HTBsnowgoon]

I really feel bad for Monika

[@valerioharvey7289]

she is fictional. But damn, the 4th wall break is so good that it makes me feel like she is actually trapped in the game. The developer is a genius

[@lindelheimen]

Yeah, this is definitely something I think about a lot, I thought about this for a while, I don’t know, I think it’s the fact I have to go back to my own reality, and reality isn’t that fun for a lot of people. This game is really powerful.

[@shingodzilla7410]

The fact that DDLC had literally no ads, marketing, or any teasers before it’s release makes its popularity such a more impressive feat. It’s crazy how a game that popped out of nowhere became recognized as one of the most influential indie horror games

[@_theknighthawk_7018]

That's a fair point about the no ads...no wonder it was so popular

[@arandomthought9001]

I do point at like every other KZbinr at release playing it. But it is insane how popular the game is

[@somerandombuls]

@@arandomthought9001 bruh, Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy is more disturbing... i agree with the start of the video, after all, I'm more used to and like cosmic horror more than psychological horror.

[@missrebel634]

Maybe because the og version is free and youtubers

[@arandomthought9001]

@@somerandombuls did you reply to the wrong comment?

[@akuma4321]

something really interesting about sayori's death cg is her hands. they're scraped-up and bloody, as if she'd been struggling in her last moments and scratched her hands on the rope around her neck. no matter how much someone wants to kill themself, in their last moments, their instincts will kick in and they'll struggle. their mind wants to die but their body doesn't, so they instinctively fight back against what's killing them. it's a harrowing idea, that sayori's last moments were spent clawing at the noose.

[@tenhaaaa]

Gosh that’s awful

[@yumi_cloud]

I think Monika has a line about it in game somewhere. I sat there for like 4 hours reading all of Monikas dialogues until they repeated and there is a line saying something about the way sayori hanged herself. Half of it is about sayori clawing at the noose and the other half of the line is about how sayori hanged herself in a way that wouldn't snap her neck so she slowly suffocated.

[@synchrotune2833]

What if, since Monika was manipulating her, Sayori came to her senses with no idea why or how she's hanging with a noose around her neck and had no choice but to struggle until she died 😬

[@sunsetskye483]

And it means that she failed to snap her neck instantly, instead suffocating slowly

[@dark_galaxyy]

That’s universal

[@CZsWorld]

This game made me fear my computer was fcked

[@abhitheshayar8931]

Well jokes on you when I downloaded this I pirated it (I know this game is free but i don't know it that time ) and soooo I leave it to your imagination what happened after to me

[@gz1236]

​@@abhitheshayar8931I bet you thought those are anti-piracy measures when you expirenced that lol 😂

[@ZZDoesStuffYT]

Not suprised

[@cl34n.62]

I played the original on my phone, and had almost zero technical knowledge. I was so confused and worried I texted my buddy(who gave the game to me) to make sure I wasn't destroying my phone by deleting files 💀💀

[@heisenkirb]

i just finished this game... the psp port tho (i loved it btw)

[@radicalpollution4270]

Monika mentioned in act three that she did try to reprogram the game to make her an option in the game, but she wasn’t good at programming(hence all the glitches, it was all just her making mistakes). She also went on to mention that when she did get better at programming, she noted that for some reason, the game seemed to be programmed to make sure she was never an option so she felt like it was easier to just get rid of all the other options so the game would be forced to give her a chance.

[@Azyne]

if only it worked I would've 100% chose her path

[@growingoaks]

Mmmm idk man, she stated she just amped up their negative traits to make her more desirable. She didnt want them to be gone.

[@AdariousMistdancer]

@@Azyne I mean, there is the Purist mod if you haven't looked at it yet. I find it to be well worthwhile, even if I feel like Yuri didn't get as much of a route in it as she should have.

[@magolord2820]

Fun fact, there's a secret ending if you "exploit" the save feature during the first act where you do every routes in one playthrough by constantly saving and switching your saves to do them all. When you do do it and you finish the game, Sayori will thank you and tell you that they all love you and that she hopes you'll see them again. Nothing gets deleted, everyone's happy and you even get a special letter from Dan himself! It truly is the best ending.

[@tuttypatuty]

i’m so proud of the fact that i was able to get this first try just because i’m a person that loves to experience every bit of a game before moving on 😅 i think i saved before every single choice in the game LMAO

[@Mista1Take]

xd

[@ElFreakinCid]

@@tuttypatuty I got it first try too--I quickly put together what you're supposed to do right after watching Jack Septiceye's playthrough, and after a four-hour late-night play session (and what felt like Monika knowing what I was trying to do when I went to delete her, almost preventing me from completing the game), I got to enjoy the true ending. Ever since then, it's sat untouched on my computer. I never want to restart the game--I want Sayori, Natsuki and Yuri to be safe and happy. ♥

[@silentoccasion4359]

There’s another secret ending where you can remove and delete Monika’s character file from the game before playing it. This automatically gives sentience to Sayori, who turns insane, deletes all the characters files, and then hangs herself. I remember looking at it for 10 minutes as I was suddenly caught up in an online class and didn’t know what to do. After 10 the words will slowly etch into the screen, “Now everyone can be happy”

[@ChimeraLotietheBunny]

Agreed

[@lowkeyloosingit3003]

i love when yuri is talking about her book and she says something like “isn’t it cool when a writer can use your own lack of imagination to throw you for a loop” and when you hear it for a second time it has a totally different meaning

[@MaxRavenclaw]

24:38 What do you mean it makes no sense? It makes perfect sense. She realised she's an artificial construct trapped in a video game and is fated to never have a chance to be with the only other entity she believes to be sapient. That's existential horror right there. It would make anyone go mad. She sees her club mates as pieces of code, not real consciousnesses. What I liked is that she realises she's wrong and corrects it, and if you did your job right, you get a happy ending. If not, you get to see how Sayori handles all that power and realisation. Personally, I did sympathise with Monika by the end, and the credits song sung by her almost made me cry. Her entire existence is a tragedy.

[@handtomouth4690]

Apparently relatability = sensibility to him. If it's not relatable, it doesn't make sense.

[@Taskmasterxyz]

I agree with everything you said and I wish more people realised this. Instead, most people in this fandom just think she's a deranged ai yandere.

[@LL-tr5et]

@@amber3392 no, they did. imagine being trapped in the same place forever, with nobody who you can relate to or enjoy time with, and forced to replay the same dull dialogue and events over and over. you'd go crazy too.

[@desayori5840]

@@LL-tr5et right! and not only that she had to sit there knowing that she didn't even have a route which was probably even more of a cause to her insanity. I mean imagine living in a world where the events repeat and you know that it isn't real and the one thing that is a way to get a grasp of reality isn't even accessible to you because you're not an option. Seems pretty sucky because I have feeling that if she actually was an option she wouldn't have done all the terrible things she did because there was always a chance for her to be picked by the player.

[@moikewe]

I believe that "sentient" is the word you were looking for, not "sapient" ^^

[@bainbonic]

I found the fact that Sayori becomes self-aware and goes insane in the ending actually kinda horrifying. Like, it wasn't simply that Monika was just nuts, but something about the station of club president puts you in the role of the game's admin and drives these otherwise normal people insane as they can no longer see the world as they used to, everyone around them is no longer real. It's great.

[@arnauddupont7170]

The fact that Monika says in Act 3 that it's not that important the girls went though those horrifing moments because they aren't "real/conscious" comes back as a slap on her face when Sayori is gently telling that she knows everything that happen is kinda the worse for Monika, since she's still watching and is probably feeling really big regrets is also disturbing. (and she's probably disgusted that the literature club is doomed)

[@Stigmatix666]

Someone hasn't seen the good ending..

[@grill999]

It's just like portal! Being in control of the facility corrupts whoever is doing it.

[@Yammerzaki123fr]

@@Stigmatix666what’s in it…

[@Stigmatix666]

@@Yammerzaki123fr Play and see

[@Flores-p5i]

22:50 My god. Imagine how shocked the poor MC was to have stayed there for *TWO WHOLE DAYS* just staring at Yuri’s corpse.

[@CharleneLoach]

My hungry ass could NOT be around a corpse

[@truthful81]

@@CharleneLoach what the fuck dawg 😭😭😭

[@magarinoskevin2063]

​@@CharleneLoachmy horny ass as well dawg😂

[@BucketIHead]

Lmfaoooo​@@CharleneLoach

[@nergigante3514]

​@@CharleneLoachI mean you're not wrong

[@HannahLazyknife]

In the 3rd act, when Monika calls you by your "real name" she called me "Administrator", I laughed SO hard!!

[@localchibigameuser9732]

she called me dell(my computer brand name) i was like "what the"

[@pachicore]

Do you go by user or something?

[@autumn_sunday]

​@@pachicore "Do really you go by GUEST or something?"

[@unfaithful...]

My admin name is supposed to be my first name but she called me HP instead lol

[@fernandofaria2872]

I mean... she did say my name. When it works (as it is bound to happen in SOME cases), its brilliant. I had a mini heart attack for a few seconds.

[@krossdreemurr42]

Monika also has a small extra layer of detail She is the only one who has a realistic hair and eye color Everyone else has hair and eyes that are pink and purple, and generally extraordinarily bright. Monika's hair is brown with green eyes. Realistic compared to everything else.

[@Ich-Existiere-Nicht]

Wait, that's right

[@dangaslang2958]

noticed the same thing

[@alephorsmth9140]

sayori has blue eyes.

[@krossdreemurr42]

​@@alephorsmth9140 yes but her hair is an off-pinkish color

[@alephorsmth9140]

@@krossdreemurr42 why didn't you just say 'monika is the only club member with a natural hair color.' without including the eyecolor then?

[@Swag-Antwan]

"Left her hanging" is absolutely diabolical

[@anothermiddleschoolburnout8816]

According to her act 3 dialog, she didn't mean to say that and she immediately felt bad about it afterwards.

[@TRN-489]

People will probably just forget it if they know nothing about ddlc until their second playthrough. Then the realisation kicks in

[@EfaEfaBanefa]

Nothing beats playing it for the first time on steam where you'd have to go into the literal game files and delete Monika. It felt so much more immersive because it made you feel as if she took over your whole computer rather than a fake one.

[@Y-I-N-A]

I was a second grade playing the game on my sister’s computer. I did think something went wrong with the computer and contemplated resetting the whole computer to fix it.

[@dmm7736]

What I love about the desktop on DDLC+ is the way it opens our eyes more to the bigger picture, like project libitina- the world within yuris book that is actually a world existing alongside DDLC

[@klop4228]

@@dmm7736 If I'm being honest, I think all of the extra Libitina stuff distracts from the really great story at the core. Like, DDLC is a masterpiece as it is. It doesn't need a bunch of extra background lore, and that stuff does nothing for the story itself.

[@keqingfavbestie8650]

@@klop4228 not really, there's a reason why doki doki is so popular.

[@klop4228]

@@keqingfavbestie8650 Yeah, and that reason is that the core story is so freaking strong. Most Doki Doki fans probably don't know about Project Libitina, and even fewer actually know what it is.

[@Insert_Bland_Name_Here]

One interesting thing to note that wasn't mentioned: If you read all the names in Japanese, Monika sounds a lot like モニカー, which is how a Japanese person would pronounce "moniker", a word that literally just means "name". It's a brilliant, but kinda subtle hint at how she's just treated as a nameless side-character you can't pursue as a romantic option.

[@pekkamanager]

In plus, monika means Monitor Kernel Access

[@Ich-Existiere-Nicht]

Oh, fuck-

[@Potatoes38]

DRAMAAA

[@meiilu7799]

idk where did u read that but that is not true. no japanese word ends with a consonant and the word モニカー is pronounced "monikā" not moniker (whatever that is)🤦🏻‍♀️ and it certainly doesn’t mean "name".

[@404usernotfound_]

@mimi8069 moniker does mean name, and they're saying the pronunciation is similar, not that the word Monika in Japanese means that lmao. The pronunciation would be roughly similar because a Japanese person would likely not emphasize the "-er" in the same way an english-speaking person does, due to the lack of consonants at the end of words 😋

[@Sania.Daremo]

14:09 Sayory's last poem isnt just "get out of my head" if you scroll, there are more "Get out of my head before I do what I know is best for you. Get out of my head before I listen to everything *she* said to me. Get out of my head before I show you how much I love you. Get out of my head before I finish writing this poem. But a poem is never actually finished. It just stops moving."

[@sadcoyote89]

Wow. All it takes is an ample bosom for GPS to say they're an amazing character.

[@elecbaguette]

n0 (woosh me)

[@Voiding-ofdark]

@@elecbaguette Oh look is a plane Woosh.... Oh there it goes.

[@coolgu3stlance344]

@@elecbaguette bye plane

[@xmanroberson753]

No sense of statement whatsoever lol 😆 😂

[@Hypnotichypno]

I did a cheese

[@edd_icoda1]

One thing i found intriguing was the body position of each character. At 4:05 you can notice each girl is side glancing, almost as if they're vision dosen't allow them to see further than the games MC, while Monika is looking straight at "YOU", the you beyond the screen. She's directly facing you instead of the game MC. Ong, when i noticed this shit, it freaked me the fuck out.

[@tastytoenails3629]

also, when yuri and natsuki were fighting in one of the acts, i cant remember which one, monika is just standing between them staring right at “you” while smiling. i noticed this in mark’s playthrough and it really creeped me out

[@burgercatz]

now i just realised that and i’m like 7 mins into the video and monikas scaring me 😭😭😭😭

[@_aWiseMan]

Yeah, the playable character is to the right, so the the characters look like they arent interacting with you but your character, but you can see there faces still. But when ever a fourth e Wall break happens or a intense moment like yuris suiceide happens, the other characters eyes seem to look at you the player too... Or atleast seen that way. But monika really does just talk to the player themselves,

[@quarreneverett4767]

What is even more freaky is he rpose design blends and pops out so much more with horror. Thats why some of the weird pop ups of her are really much more freaky

[@ExecutionerDan]

That's done on purpose by Dan Salvato himself to try and signify that monika is trying to look at you in the real world instead of the mc in hers.

[@Wolfy10720]

9:35 The shoes are also different. Sayori, Yuri, and Natsuki all have a blue splotch on their shoes. Monika has the same on her shoes but pink.

[@Deman-sc4rc]

Fun fact: Monika’s shoes and socks is the inverted colors of the other girls

[@Wolfy10720]

Cool @@Deman-sc4rc !

[@HajudinStar]

Sayori and natsuki have red bows, Yuri has a red... Hairclip? But Monika has a *white* bow! Edit nvm natsuki has the hairclip, Yuri's is ourple

[@Sayoriismyfavdoki899]

@@HajudinStaryep Monika has a colorless accessory while the girls have colored accessories

[@shieldsaint]

I'm surprised no one is mentioning the good ending, in which you save at the end of every route and give everyone a good time, and then after Sayori becomes president, she thanks you for doing so much to make them all happy and Monika doesn't delete them :') it's wholesome af, and Dan's letter at the end just makes it more wholesome

[@spike5609]

That's what I was wondering too he doesn't even bring it up I wonder if he even knows about it lol

[@Stigmatix666]

That’s the true ending. Yes, true. Because the real and happy ending should be *earned* and not handed to you on a silver platter

[@Stigmatix666]

@@saiv46 In the Bad ending, Monika does this. Not in the Good ending.. And in the Good ending, Sayori becomes self aware sure, but she doesn't do anything twisted at all.

[@LegionEagles22]

@@Stigmatix666 No, both ends result in the game being deleted, it’s just that one is sad and the other is bittersweet. Sayori thanks you but tells you she has to delete the game, and you get a letter from Dan Salvato instead of Monika.

[@Stigmatix666]

@@LegionEagles22 No. The better ending has Monika 100% absent and nothing gets deleted, that was one of the things that was fixed in DDLC Plus. Sayori doesn't delete anything herself either in this ending, for that matter. Have you actually played DDLC Plus? And gotten the good ending?

[@shaunlow1500]

Not so fun fact! Yuris most common pose, with her hands behind her back, is covered up as her just being shy, since this pose is known for its cute, gentle nature. But this is also because she cuts herself. She is careful enough to hide her arms so no one sees.

[@die_please]

She has sleeves on already though

[@iamsomething6151]

I thought it was because she’s trying to keep that posture to support her back for her big chest, so she puts her arms like that so it wouldn’t look too weird. Could be that too though

[@maz9665]

@@die_please yes but sleeves can slip up, and she may be subconsciously hiding it because its still something shes embarrassed about. pretty cool detail !

[@Aimi_Kaneko]

@@iamsomething6151I kinda thought it was that too for a while like please someone give the girl a back brace

[@Axylotl.hehe.]

Well duh. Isnt it kinda obvi? (I'm not being a hater)

[@ElFreakinCid]

Something a lot of people miss as well: MC-kun stops talking partway through Act 2. This is because when you click that confirmation button after Monika says "Help me", you confirmed you're a real person. Monika wanted your help to determine if she was right about an actual person being there controlling MC-kun. She no longer needs him, and so he essentially gets killed off next. Yes, even he wasn't safe from Monika. From then on, you are playing as yourself. *(SPOILERS AHEAD FOR DDLC+ BONUS CONTENT)* This is further detailed in DDLC+ where we learn that Monika (who began as a progress monitoring program called Monitor Kernal Access, gained sentience and awareness of a "player" making things happen, gradually made herself a character--giving herself a name she admits in the main game isn't even Japanese using the MONI, K and A from her original name--and inserted herself into the life sim she was used to watch over, and has been killing these same girls and destroying their simulated world over and over) created MC-kun out of Sayori's vague mention of a male childhood friend, intending him to be a vessel for her to get close to and finally trap this user she knows nothing about but has developed a strange crush on nonetheless (or, more accurately, she's in love with the fact that someone real is there, since from her perspective, the whole setting and the other girls are all fake and it's driving her mad), which is also the whole purpose of this rebuild of the setting being a dating sim visual novel. That's right, after all those touching scenes of character growth you unlocked took place, Monika still destroyed and restarted everything. This is why MC-kun is a nameless, faceless cypher with a very basic dating sim protag personality--Monika knew about as much about Sayori's friend as she knows about the player, ie. nothing, and she always intended to remove him from existence once his true purpose had been served.

[@shinyminunthetheatregeek2036]

Holy shit I never noticed he stops talking! The attention to detail in this game!!!!

[@sirgrounded]

He actually does talk after the "Please help me." confirmation button, but only in the parts unique to Act 2, like the part where Monika questions why she opened the club and Yuri's disturbing poem.

[@featdirty1127]

Ok I may be a little late to say this…. But I guess you could also call her name a Monicker! I’ll leave now

[@MrFusion]

​@sirgrounded it does seem he only talks in pre-existing scenes like hanging out with Yuri or whenever the members directly ask him something, except Monika that is as she knows he's just a husk

[@AidanBueling]

Monika was always a part of the game, she didn't make herself a character. It was designed that way because the simulation was meant to test what would happen to MSE's simulated universe if a real person in it got an elevated access level. It's also unclear whether Monika or Ive made MC, but yeah MC is clearly a superficial program meant only to allow the player to interact with the game. Edit: I realized Monika doesn't actually have the resources to create something that would last a full virtual machine reset, so it must have been at least partially Ive, but he could have gotten design help from Monika.

[@shuhratkessikbayev8886]

I think the scariest thing about DDLC was how realistic Sayori's depression is. I've met a lot of people in my life who had gone through depression and had fallen to it myself. Although I nor the people I knew took our lives it could've ended that way had it not been managed either on our own or by someone's helpful presence. Sayori's depression really resembles the depression I've seen in others. And it is the most uncomfortable yet familiar feeling.

[@ToastyNoneofyourbusiness]

What ended up getting to me was not the game itself, but Yuri's side story. You cannot convince me that Yuri wasn't intended to be autistic coded, based on that side story. Reading it was like looking in a mirror for me.

[@champejnn6461]

As someone whose close ones go through thiss illness as well as me myself and the fact that my closest friend actually ended up like Sayori did I can relate to that very much. Just the way Sayori speaks about her depression makes me thing that it's so real and it's just creepy of how realistic that thing was presented in DDLC.

[@somerandomidiot8050]

I think Yahtzee Croshaw said it best in his review of the game, "Her depression had been portrayed with a slightly uncomfortable authenticity so it wasn't creepy in an enjoyable, psychological horror kind of way, it was just really fucking sad"

[@DeborahSwenson]

I don't know about others, But I've been suffering from depression for years and I found Sayori scarily relatable

[@sp4cef0rc37]

@@DeborahSwenson I don't have a really big depression but sometimes I feel a little depressed. So when she talked about how the thinks herself worthless and that all she could do is make others feel better made me feel the same way.

[@lachlanmcdougall5326]

What makes Monika so loveable in the original game is how unique her circumstances are, the idea of an all knowing artificial intelegence is both terrifying to play against, but also terrifying for her, a human soul trapped in an artificial reality. In act 3 you are terrified of her because you cant look past how psychotic her actions where, but her redemtion i guess after you delete her and at the end of act 4 verify her humanity, which is why she is such a beloved character.

[@wyattgoralski818]

Indeed.

[@LoserLoiue2009]

Indeed.

[@tsultana3411]

Indeed.

[@frankvalencia3144]

Indeed

[@Stigmatix666]

Monika "loveable"? She’s the fucking villain!

[@onee-ch4n46]

In the end I actually cried, because I liked every single character and seeing the game being "deleted" for good, kinda broke me. Plus adding salt to the wound hearing Monikas voice, was like remembering something dear to you that happened a long time ago. Like remembering a old friend of yours.

[@ninar597]

I also noticed that Monika and Yuri’s poems in act 1 really foreshadow the rest of the game. In Monika’s first 2 poems she talks about how she figured out she is inside of a video game, mentioning red, green, and blue which are the primary colors of light used in computer screens to create colored light. She also talks about “looking out” and how “he” on the other side “looks in” (he being the player). Also in dialogue Monika mentions how she came to an epiphany, presumably figuring out she is stuck inside of the game. Smaller detail, but Yuri’s poem about the raccoon and bread is about her self harm, and this is before Monika has messed with any of the girls, so just shows how Monika took their worst qualities and upped them to 100 lol.

[@gokbay3057]

Actually he who looks in would probably be the player, not the protagonist. That is a distinction that matters with DDLC/Monika.

[@ninar597]

@@gokbay3057 ahh yes you’re right I confused the two

[@NoNumbersAfterName]

All the poems are foreshadowing. "I could sleep forever." "Humans can try." By the end of the first poem, you've got everything you need to know about everyone. You just might not know it yet.

[@Stigmatix666]

@@NoNumbersAfterName All of Sayori's poems seriously foreshadows her depression..

[@anothermiddleschoolburnout8816]

There is a poem in the games code that basically goes over the same concept. It gets added to the games directory a little into the second act.

[@alfie4234]

A little detail that I love in DDLC is that around the last 2 hours of the game, the MC stops talking, and it feels as if he’s not even there in the later hours of the story. This helps the game feel more alienating, lonely and off-putting for the player since you don’t have a character to experience the crazy situations for you, it feels like you (the player) is the one who has to experience the creepy scenarios yourself.

[@ziza1825]

Well, that's because MC probably isn't programmed to react to things like being with Yuri's corpse for an entire weekend. I mean, it wouldn't make sense if MC was just there with Yuri's decomposing body doing literally nothing for three days. Though, he did react to Sayori's suicide.

[@JediMaestr0]

Dang, for some reason, that little fact makes it twice as creepy now that I notice that. It’s like he just completely mentally shuts down because he has no idea how to process the game being broken like this

[@anothermiddleschoolburnout8816]

It's a really good way to immerse the player into the world. In the first act you're playing as a distinct character with hobbies, interests, and personality traits that probably don't all apply to the player. This character is phased out in act two, and places you as the player in his shoes. It's easier to distance yourself from the events of the game when you're playing as someone who is obviously not you. The game starts centering the player, not the character. This choice obviously has It's narrative function but it's also brilliant subtle storytelling.

[@cdcopycat997]

As much as Sayori's death is devastating, I love how there wasn't any fade ins and just straight up appears in front of you. Amazing. AND THE WAY IT CUTS OFF THE MC'S DIALOGUE TOO AS A WAY OF SHOWING SHOCKK, amazingg

[@Brownyan]

Pretty accurate to how it would actually happen. There is no time to process it before you react, It would happen suddenly, very much scaring the fuck outta you

[@valerioharvey7289]

I thought the mc would find the body in the first visit. The suicide is kind of expected but it still makes me flip when i see the scene

[@the711devin4]

21:00 What’s interesting is that in the original release of the game, the mouse would automatically drift towards Monika’s name. Players would have to actively fight it in order to choose Yuri or Natsuki, and if they did, Yuri’s Irises would be floating in a white void as the center of the screen would fill with Monika’s option. When the player chose it, the game would continue like nothing happened.

[@Tuskbumper]

He mentioned this later in the video

[@whyyoumadbro2370]

Wait why did it change? Did something happen?

[@the711devin4]

@@whyyoumadbro2370 Because this trick requires a cursor, but in the console releases this cannot be done. So you get what’s shown in the timestamp

[@localchibigameuser9732]

as someone with a laptop this can be done. and it freaks ppl the fuck out

[@ACoolPersonMan]

I did it on the switch. You just have to be fast enough

[@Jolin_09]

monika was absolutely devious when she said “You kinda left her hanging you know?”

[@gaming_-jh3ge]

menace

[@Stigmatix666]

And people *still* refuse to accept her as a villain 🙄

[@cheddarsunchipsyes8144]

@@Stigmatix666bc she isn’t. No one else is real . By your logic every author who killed off characters in a novel is a villain

[@Stigmatix666]

@@cheddarsunchipsyes8144 She IS a villain, she is in fact written as such.

[@TheRobloxiansOfficialGroup]

@Stigmatix666 No, she is not

[@zombieboy7073]

I don't think very many people have commented about this, but one scary thing that a lot of people missed is that on the desktop version files get added and deleted (obviously) but some of these contain hidden messages. In one of them they show Monika tampering with the files through a log. There are others that contain other messages and they appear and dissappear throughout the game, meaning you have to check periodically to see if any more have been added.

[@tatltails3923]

21:33 Aw man, you skipped over my favorite part of that moment. As soon as you finish reading the letter, Natsuki glitches out and says she changed her mind, and to ignore everything she'd just written. In fact, ignore her entirely, and don't even bother helping Yuri. Just focus on Monika. Just Monika- IT'S LITERALLY THE ORIGIN OF JUST MONIKA. But the reason that line became so iconic is because it came at that moment. The moment you realize that Natsuki is as aware as she possibly can be about her fate, but is still wholly unable to escape it. There is nothing Monika can't see, nothing she can't know about, nothing Natsuki can do no matter how hard she tries.

[@ondiiina]

I feel like it's the opposite. Natsuki ISN'T aware. She wants to help her friend but doesn't know that it's all Monika's fault and that Yuri cannot get better by herself because it's her character traits being messed with directly. Natsuki "changing" her mind is Monika making her say all that. That's why she glitches out: Monika messed with her code/dialogue. Natsuki's will get overwritten. It goes to show that she isn't sentient but she may very well become if she gets the administrator key like the Club President does. All the girls have that capacity, none of them are fake (which makes Monika's beliefs wrong and even worse, especially when she realizes that her friends are somewhat real). Natsuki actually wanted to help and was getting scared of Monika. That's incredibly sad when you realize what they all are and what is happening with/to them. Natsuki doesn't know. She doesn't know anything. She's innocent in all of this, she never does anything huge. She never gets a big moment like Sayori and Yuri do apart from a minor jumpscare. She just wanted her friends to be happy and to have fun in the club. She's even last in line to become President/self-aware. Poor Natsuki is ignored by everyone. Her story is tragic yet so subtle you'll miss it. I do agree that "Just Monika" became iconic because of Natsuki though. Natsuki's fake poem was a shock in itself and sad (+ a reminder of Sayuri's last poem) but also a sweet moment. The most obvious moment she showed she cared a lot about Yuri. The moment you realize that Yuri's out of control and this is affecting everyone... And Monika bruteforced her way through it and ruined it. She gets everything she can to display her message.

[@tatltails3923]

@@ondiiina That's why I said 'aware as she can be.' She doesn't know she's in a simulation, but she _knows_ Monika has bad intentions and that she wants Yuri to continue her downward spiral. She knows the only one with any power to help Yuri at this point is MC, and that Monika doesn't want him to have that chance. She knows that _her_ only chance to help he friend is to appeal to MC, _behind Monika's back._ "_DON'T LET HER KNOW I WROTE THIS._" But then as soon as he sees that, we see it. And as soon as we see it, Monika sees it. And as soon as she sees it, well... "I changed my mind."

[@jacobmurphy4994]

that was my favourite poem the way she said please read it carefully and it’s a message for help

[@eca2009]

i think she also had a gut feeling about Yuri's fate. In oen fo her poems in act 2, he rpoem i a cry for help! when she asks uer to seek help it' probaly because her gut was like "BITCH YURI'S GOING TO DIE IF YALL DON'T HELP HER!" but she knows her only attempt failed

[@CaptainZaimon]

Honestly, the most relatable/sympathetic part of Yuri for me back as a highschooler was actually not the fact she was timid, but how she starts talking more enthusiastically about her interests eventually. Like the whole "prefers to stay behind and read books" thing was relatable, but her opening up about her hobbies had a really unique and relatable thing that really fit my wavelength back then (and still makes me look back at her route - well, most of it - fondly). Also, her actively CHOOSING to be lonely because it lets her collect her thoughts was something I adored, considering how many pieces of media automatically treat every lonely person as deeply unhappy and flawed. Also c'mon, her bosom isn't THAT big. There's no way that influenced my pick on top of that.

[@Connor-g6s]

The addiction to self harm enters the room

[@CerealExperimentsMizuki]

As someome who acts similar to her and loves reading and is mostly timid. She's the most relatable and best character in the game for me. Honestly for all the 4th wall breaking of Monika, Yuri and Sayori seemed the most Human and realistic for me. Monika just seemed like a self aware AI desperately wanting to experence the outside world, although i get that, that's the whole point lol.

[@Messerschmitt_BF_109G_10]

Having a huge rack is certainly a nice perk, but it was about one of the last things that made me like her more than the others.

[@brandonperez8977]

*SPOILER WARNING* 27:06 the game has 2 endings, everyone mostly got the bad ending instead the good one, If you did all three routes in Act 1 by saving them on three separate states before reaching to Sayori's death scene, Sayori will say thanks for spending time with everyone which she'll be happy and she will not going to do the same thing what Monika do, you'll even get a special message from Dan Salvato instead of Monika's in the ending

[@TheRealGiRaph]

I personally think Monika’s reasoning and character is actually really good, hard to explain in a short comment but, she isn’t meant to be relatable, her situation isn’t scary to you. *it’s scary to HER* and that’s where your fear comes from, it’s a bit hard to feel. It’s easiest to describe it as “a imaginary fear” her situation is terrifying Edit: this comment has done fairly well, I’m not a clown so I’m not going to thank you guys, but I do want to add on my original notion, as the replies have pointed out, yes, existentialism exists and I forgot about it, pretty much, it isn’t that it’s scary to her but the fact that people actually struggle with this problem. well yeah, “im famous mom” (🤡)

[@wyattgoralski818]

Very well said.

[@suruxstrawde8322]

Idk what you mean the feeling that reality is fake and everything you experience is just another trap meant to make you forget you’re trapped is relatable af.

[@tokolo9279]

I mean it's just like killing a character in your own book

[@milla5454]

it was scary to me too eith all those damn jumpscares

[@wyattgoralski818]

@@tokolo9279 Not even, since she didn't intend for any of them to die.

[@Feraligamr]

The existential dread of being trapped alone in a simulation did get me though. And it does make sense that someone like that would become obsessed if another "real" person entered the picture. Like that's the only hope she has for genuine connection, of course it makes her crazy.

[@chadwickmilliman3311]

29:31 I love the little detail where she's grabbing the logo of the game, it kinda foreshadows that she's aware its just a game and its super unsettling when you notice it

[@GrandpaTrout]

I have suffered deep, deep depression to the point of having to be hospitalized for it and every now and then, as a weird catharsis, I read through Sayori's dialogue describing her depression and just like... weep. It's so real that it genuinely connected with me, yet that solidarity is obviously bittersweet because I know that whoever wrote those lines has genuinely gone through the same pain. That monologue is pure art.

[@EliRetroVHS642]

I connected to Sayori just about all the way and what happened to Sayori was almost what happened to me

[@DarcOfTheShadows]

God, same. Sayori's descriptions of her thoughts are so perfectly spot on, it's a pinpoint accurate picture of just what it's like to live with suicidal depression.

[@EliRetroVHS642]

@@DarcOfTheShadows Like me.. With someone that experienced this playing this game help me and stopped me from causing any harm to myself I lived with it for 4 years it just didn't hit me hard aside from last year

[@Young_Green_Shoot]

I’m so sure, I hope it isn’t too hard. I hope you get as much love as you can, and I hope you’re well.

[@Young_Green_Shoot]

Sorry not sure*

[@ucnguyen6375]

there is an actual reason for why natsuki look like a 12 years old, she was not well fed and neglected by her father making her much smaller than other people of the same age

[@ashrecalde4649]

OHH where did u read that? Any link would be useful.

[@ucnguyen6375]

@@ashrecalde4649 monika act 3 dialogue if you choose to write poem for natsuki in that act

[@ashrecalde4649]

@@ucnguyen6375 thx!

[@yuarentlucky]

@@ucnguyen6375 Act 2* act 3 is the 'just Monika' phase of the game.

[@quarreneverett4767]

Also petite people exist

[@jubilee782]

23:03 my friend once told me about this part also being linked to when you are painting the banner with yuri, she says ''sunrise, daytime, sunset and nightime'' and ever since she told me that, ive never seen yuris death the same. how geniously foreshadowed and played it is is incredible.

[@georgespiggott5615]

Actually, you can get Monika's mini poetry sprite. I got it exactly once, after I'd played through two routes and was in the middle of a third. When you click the word "love," you can see the top of her head jump up from the bottom of the screen, though not the full sprite. It's like the game is trying to keep you from starting her route, but she's gradually breaking through.

[@pachicore]

I think any word can trigger it

[@anothermiddleschoolburnout8816]

It's a one in ten chance for any word to trigger Monika's character sprite in the final poem game of act 2.

[@TeaGryff]

What a passionate and in-depth video. You really killed it with the edits and jokes. I loved hearing about all the uncomfortable moments in the game. That 'left her hanging' dialogue line was genuinely morbid. Great work as always GPS. rip polterkitty

[@xanderscut]

Thank you Tea!!! Good to know I’m hitting the right spots. Makes my day that you liked it!

[@megangibbs4158]

Hehe he "killed it".

[@brunopagnoncelli975]

@@megangibbs4158 oh God-

[@kirbylover_6]

@@xanderscut wait, were you actually the person that made Monika a Twitter account?

[@Chippur]

​@@megangibbs4158 welcome to the club! This is Monika, she likes to keep it real by practicing programming. This is sayori, she's a kooky girl with a sweet tooth who will never leave you hanging. This is Yuri, a quiet and mature bookworm who loses herself in her passions and always cuts to the chase. And finally, this is Natsuki, a petite little girl who loves baking and spending time with family so much that she often forgets to snap back to reality!

[@TheBluePhoenix008]

If the ending song didn't exist, I don't think I would remember Monika. But that song, that damn song, it's been in my head for 7 years.

[@Fire_fist_ace47]

I wanted to add that when you play the poems and choose the word suicide, natsukis character is the one who jumps up. Super cool foreshadowing

[@that_objectguy]

*looks at pfp name* 🤨🤨🤨🤨🤨🤨

[@BeautifulBelladonna]

The irony of your name is not lost on me

[@ki2348]

how's it foreshadowing? natsuki didn't die, she just got deleted compared to sayori and yuri

[@rat._.noodles9059]

Maybe you’re mixing up character names, maybe I’m misremembering, but i remember Sayori jumping at “suicide” in act one, then Yuri jumping to it in act two

[@nekonochesire6023]

@@rat._.noodles9059 For act 2, all words that belonged to Sayori are randomly distributed to Yuri and Natsuki, so it should be possible to have Natsuki jumps when choosing suicide too.

[@ihavenoideawhatimdoing2553]

another cool thing they did with the music in this game, is that the music demonstrates Monikas' presence. if there is piano in the bg, then Monika has an eye on the character. just something i found really cool that they did.

[@arishachoudhury_]

WAIT FR

[@minfiresmanyeah]

OH My GODS I HAVE GOOSEBUMPS

[@Yammerzaki123fr]

OH MAN

[@candlesmainl0ver]

…does this mean that she’s always watching the protagonist, basically?

[@KusaneHexaku]

@@candlesmainl0ver I mean, she literally does say "I'm always listening~!"

[@carbodude5414]

DDLC stood out from other horror games by not being mean-spirited and cynical Like, I was honestly surprised that, in the good ending, the game actually praises you for completing each girl's route. Other horror/fourth wall breaking games would probably gaslight you as a "cheater" or a "villain" just cause you wanted to see everything the game had to offer but with DDLC, doing so saves the current club president from repeating her predecessor's mistakes because your save scumming validated hers and her friends existence

[@MistSGM]

In order for you to have the ultimate fourth wall experience. Play the old DDLC on the computer. They will tamper with your game folders IN REAL TIME. That's how immersive and scary the old ddlc back in the day imo Edit: yea, just watched the end. That's what I'm exactly talking about lol

[@sami-kc8ox]

i got way too scared seeing my actual computer files change and new things appear in explorer

[@dayahisaposer]

Seeing the little messages show up in the files like "have a nice weekend" was so interesting, and creepy once you realize what it's referencing 🙃

[@Tomioka274]

"FOURTH Wall" Would you say that again? (Fnaf. Joy Of Creation)

[@Nanospaggle]

I've played this about 6 times on my PC, either alone or with friends. I noticed when I updated to Windows 11, not all of those game folder changes translated :(( It's truly a shame

[@MistSGM]

@@Nanospaggle that is why Windows 10 is still superior, my friend

[@ayac.s4509]

You missed the good ending, where nobody dies. That's the whole point why you can save in the game even tho your decision kinda doesn't matter. You can play all characters routes at the same time to make them all happy. And if I remembered it right, you can also actually write a poem for Monika, she is just hidden at the side where you can't see her, but once she jumps you can see her hair or a part of her. I hope I didn't say anything wrong, this is all written from my memories lmao.

[@ayac.s4509]

I forgot to say, that it was still a good video and funny! I had to laugh out loud here and there haha

[@Axylotl.hehe.]

Ya I'm pretty sure I saw Monika jump once or twice during a time I was playing it. I can't remember what words I exactly chose, but I do remember seeing the end of her ponytail on her chibi persona sticking out and then going back into the cronical abyss of nothing but codes and darkness.

[@DavidPolley-ek9bh]

Ye you can right poems for Monika, if you pick the right options Monica’s little charcter thing will jump into sight,

[@pjtipstea]

Wait but what’s the point? Can you even give the letter to her?

[@sofidragon205]

I love how some youtubers miss Monika become a comedian right before act 1 ends... "It seems you left Sayori hanging this morning"

[@Strawberrygremlins]

Man, Sayori was always my favorite. When you were depressed her whole character just shoots right into your heart. And still she is such a bundle of sunshine. Sad sunshine, yet sunshine. So her death was especially brutal. I will forever root for that apple-juice loving, clumsy dork

[@Connor-g6s]

Cool bug factus: sayori’s cause for her worsening depression is she can’t spend time for her self as shown in the happy thoughts poem

[@repr_4016]

Actually, the first instance of a 4th wall break (its a very minor 4th one but still), is if you write a poem almost that is entirely made for one character, and you choose every word correctly. I only eve tried this with natsuki, but it may work with others. Monika says "You sure know natsuki well. Are you sure you aren't cheating?" The mc passes it off as a joke, but im pretty sur this is the first instance of a 4th wall break.

[@AidanBueling]

I think it is only with Natsuki, since my first playthroughs for each of them I savescummed a perfect poem but only got that dialogue for her. It totally caught me off-guard though, especially because I did Yuri and Sayori legit through educated guesses but cheated with Natsuki and looked up her words.

[@graysonmiller5615]

So what is interesting is that every time Monika is portrayed, even before we start the horror, she is always like posed in a special way or something else to stand out. For example, at 4:06 she stares directly at the 4th wall as opposed to the others, who are turned slightly away.

[@akiyamaakeo]

Some more things about Yuri's death! If you watch closely, you will notice that when she first dies, she has a smile on her face. And after a while, that smile turns to a frown. Her skin also gets paler, she gets bags under her eyes, blood turns darker (as pointed out in the video) and eyes go darker (once again pointed out in the video). It is amazing how much detail they put in.

[@MrFourchords]

When the blood turned black it looked less scary because it looks like black paint

[@thejonbrownshow8470]

16:44 I would of loved in natsuki's final poem when she's asking for help, if she mentioned that picture like, "and that picture in the back of the room. It's creepy, I don't even know who that poor girl is but this doesn't belong in a school, yet no one seems to notice it." Or something lol

[@LeConSound]

As far as I remember that picture in the back isn't always there, there's only a certain chance for the screen to be loaded like this

[@thejonbrownshow8470]

@Sandra Swan that's where the "or something" comes in😅

[@Doomsword0]

Fun fact about that picture, it’s only there for one if the days and apparently can appear anytime throughout the game. As in even before the even happens.

[@yuarentlucky]

@@LeConSound It's like, a 5% chance for Sayori to hang out in the club during the second act.

[@fairyyllewellyn7096]

​@@yuarentlucky This choice of words.

[@TruxySSJ]

17:47 "And the people trapped there have this trait that turns them into killing machines that lust for blood." *MANKIND IS DEAD.* *BLOOD IS FUEL.* *HELL IS FULL.*

[@laszlototh5622]

JUDGEMENT! PREPARE THYSELF!

[@Terrifyger]

Another detail that I like are the descriptions for the games on their respective _Steam_ store pages. The description for the original DDLC is mostly happy and cutesy, with a few hints about there being more than meets the eye, and when you get neck-deep into the game, the horror side fully bleeds in and leaves you on edge the whole time. Whereas, with DDLC+, they're not even hiding it in the description, with statements like "Enter the #1 Psychological Horror Experience!" and "Welcome to a terrifying world of poetry and romance!", so we think that there'll be new horror stuff that we haven't seen yet, but all the additional content is actually completely normal and wholesome. With both games, their _Steam_ store pages make us expect something else than what we get, and they're even the inverse of each other. DDLC made us expect a normal happy experience but treated us to horror, and DDLC+ made us expect more horror but just gave us normal happy experiences.

[@Doomsword0]

It’s not even a few hints, in the description of the original it’s Monika saying in character “welcome to the literature club I’m Monika comes meet me and my friends” and that sorta speech (which then fun fact is that same dialogue is what’s out in the text history over the weekend with Yuri’s body if it’s checked

[@yuarentlucky]

Legally, they can't really hide the fact that it's a psychological horror or else they could get sued, lol.

[@ChaoticFantasy57]

​@@yuarentluckyoh damn, i didn't know that

[@quarreneverett4767]

@@yuarentlucky but they did though..

[@Stigmatix666]

​@@yuarentlucky Rubbish. A game such as Life Is Strange didn’t spoil on the steam page that it slowly turns into a horror game. Thus DDLC doesn’t need to either.

[@miss_jihyo]

Although this was a while ago I do agree that the game is amazing at breaking the fourth wall. I was listening to music while I was alone in the other dimension with Monika so I could feel a little less scared and I read her dialogue box which read "What kind of music are you listening to?"

[@Nanospaggle]

You know how there is a "quick access" tab in your computer files for your recent file downloads/edits? Not too long ago, my quick access tab was all old Doki Doki files like HXPPY THXGHTS. Mind you, I hadn't played the game in years at this point. But, I never bothered to uninstall the fragments. Why were they under my recents??? Makes me sick just thinking about it hahah..

[@thatonedarsh]

​@@NanospaggleI Think You're being Watched

[@thatonedarsh]

What app did you use? Spotify?

[@Chippur]

Pretty sure that dialogue option doesn't exist.

[@therealmonke561]

21:40 "and that's why it's so damn good, you're constantly on edge, and that feeling just builds and builds. with that being said, what does the climax look like? let's take a look. because it does not disappoint in the slightest." 💀

[@nickz171]

wrong way to take it☠️

[@Sayoriismyfavdoki899]

Whats wrong about it

[@Insomnia19101]

First time reading it- 👍 Second time reading it- 💀

[@Sayoriismyfavdoki899]

@@Insomnia19101 I mean that depends on how you think of it

[@aero_flame8351]

I am genuinely flabbergasted that a channel with this high level quality of editing only has 1.8k subs. I really hope your channel takes off, all the best!

[@xanderscut]

Man thank you so much for the kind words! I wish you the best as well!

[@danemr6808]

Same, its double that by now but this kind of video with this skill makes me think this channel must have 6 digits.

[@dalV_Studio]

Natsuki is the best character for me, cause she tries to stop act2 Yuris madness, she doesnt even die, and yeah her alternative ending when she breaks her neck, does not count

[@colorstripes8588]

Finally!! Somebody likes Natsuki here. And not to mention, the reason why she's so mean to everyone is cuz she's afraid that showing her true self would make her weak and her so called "dad" would make her life a living hell for that. Gal's going through some serious crap at home and she's got nobody by her side cuz of that too and despite all that she still tries her best to be kind to everyone at school. Like, she literally gives Sayori a cookie even though she barely gets anything to eat at home. Like you can't tell me that's seriously not generous of her knowing her background.

[@handhelder823]

@@colorstripes8588 i still don’t like her, but i will respect her

[@colorstripes8588]

@@handhelder823 That's completely fine. Obviously not everybody HAS to like Natsuki and I can totally see why many people wouldn't like her. I just wanted to let people know there's alot more to her than just being a bitchy tsundere just like the rest of the girls in this game

[@handhelder823]

@@colorstripes8588 agreed

[@meriewanderer]

Tbh all characters have layers which makes ddlc so good, they're clichés with twists, just like the game Which it's hard for me to say which is my favourite and it usually bounce between Yuri and Monika, but the four of them are all really good characters so it's hard to say which is the best for me

[@Catttails.-.]

The thing I loved most about it is that it pretty much never uses jumpscares. I mean, yeah, there are a few, but it doesn’t solely rely on them to scare the player. Instead it uses very subtle changes in music, camera angles, and character sprites to just ever so slowly creep the player out more and more until it takes you down the rabbit hole of creepy. DDLC is a truly one of a kind experience that no other game can achieve

[@_.natsuki._7903]

I actually noticed something else in act 2 that I’m sad you didn’t bring up: I can’t remember when this happens in the game, but I’m gonna do I comparison to make it more shocking. When you find Yuri’s cutting herself for the second time, and when she’s trying to speak, Monika slowly shows up and covers the words, and I’m glad you mentioned that. But the second time Monika covers the speech bubble, its her speaking, and the words are all to the side so you can read them. What I’m tryna get at, is that when Yuri was speaking, Monika didn’t care about what she was saying, so she didn’t go out of her way so you could see it, but when SHE was taking, she wanted to make sure you could see her words, so she went out of her way to do something the game doesn’t do ever again. I thought that was an interesting detail that really added to Monikas power.

[@allurajane4979]

maybe it is bc all playthroughs are slightly different and have different "glitches" happen so that probably did not happen in his playthrough

[@_.natsuki._7903]

@@allurajane4979 it isn’t just a glitch tho. It’s main part where Monika interferes with your conversation and brings you to a different area. I’d be pretty shocked if his playthrough didn’t have it 😅 thx for the input tho!

[@yuarentlucky]

@@allurajane4979 I think you can see Yuri cutting herself twice If you do her route in act 2?

[@Stigmatix666]

Act 2 is random ly different each time. It also depends on which of the girls you're still apoealing to..

[@saintazepam]

I remember playing the game for the first time with my college roommate. I went in blind while she had watched gameplay videos of it and knew the whole thing. When Monika called me by my real name I YELLED and jumped up in fear while my roommate was laughing her ass off

[@Albtraum_TDDC]

You have a great roommate who allowed to have this wonderful experience. You should repay the favor and call her "Just Monika" from now on.

[@bologna3464]

I had this exact experience with my college flatmate, but I was the one who’d already seen the gameplay. The name thing caught her way off guard, it was great.

[@treali]

I hope you're a girl because you're being such a little drama queen. Such a fragile and weak mind.

[@Otakupatriot117]

I have my username set as Stalin. So when she said "Is your name Stalin or something?" I thought it was some weird absurdist humor for a second. And then I just remembered that the game looks at your computer's username. More cool than scary to me.

[@tonih.8094]

This game has aged like fine wine. It's so great. I want to show this to aliens as an example of peak fiction.

[@eeev4832]

too bad the new version's formatting of files takes away a good bit from the sureallness of the original

[@arishachoudhury_]

yurp

[@TMWF1]

well well well

[@CerealExperimentsMizuki]

Aliens may not even see in thr small spectrum of Light that we see. They may not even use thr Electromagnetic Spectrum to see they may just use other entirely unique means beyond our ubderstanding. Even then I'd expect them to enjoy this game.

[@Lokear]

Commenting before getting that far, so idk if you address it, but: My favorite part of this game is how Natsuki tries to get your help through the poem system. It's such a simple thing in a scene that lasts about 3 minutes, but that was the first thing that REALLY blew me away with this game. It was such a cool thing to put in, and not something you'd see every day.

[@delululune]

How does she try?

[@Lokear]

@@delululune Have you played/seen the game??

[@delululune]

@@Lokear I have but it’s been a few years

[@creativ-ish]

@@delululune I think they're talking about where natsuki writes her 'poem' as a letter to the played to try and get them to help yuri

[@delululune]

@@creativ-ish ohhh

[@GrimoireIsGrimm]

Played DDLC+ on my switch. Gotta say, I do wonder what Monika thought when she realised my name was literally SephySimp

[@royalcass]

One of the most bizarre things. in DDLC+ was the trophy requiring you to go into specific folders on the 'desktop' at a specific time in the day (2:40am) to open a file to unlock a trophy. It's such a bizarre set of requirements for a trophy, but I love it

[@supasoljas7824]

One more thing about names, everyone except Monika has a Japanese name (Yuri could be considered an exception, but as far as I know, Yuri is a masculine Slavic name, and is largely unrelated of the feminine Japanese one.) Monika is a name that most people consider a German or Scandinavian name, which by the way means Advisor or Unique. Another hint to her being different from the rest. An another thing about Monika, she's not necessarily the god of this world. Exclamation Point did a great video about this a long while ago, where he went over the fact that Monika and the rest of the cast are just waifus. Monika just happens to be a sentient 2D anime version of a sex doll, and the actual gods of the world, the devs, didn't even give her a route. It's entirely up to interpretation I suppose, but this way of looking at things is even creepier, especially if someone believes in the lack of free will, and believes that everything is pre-determined

[@LL346u3r]

Yuri is definitely a Japanese feminine name. The Russian Юрий is pronounced more like Yuriy (with both "y"s pronounced almost the same)

[@supasoljas7824]

Yeah, I figured something like that

[@GippyHappy]

Yuri is Japanese, it means "lily" it also means lesbians I think

[@tit-sucker-3000]

pretty sure monika means “alone” in another language. not sure though

[@supasoljas7824]

@@tit-sucker-3000 yeah, according to Wikipedia, it indeed does. I didn't know that, that's quite interesting and a bit sad By the way, Monika means alone in Greek, if you were wondering the exact origin of the meaning

[@zoeythedoubletrouble-4254]

11:47 I like how her only sprite where she is facing the side like the other girls is when we can’t trust her/she’s acting off, it’s like she trying to deter your worries by appearing like the other girls but hinting that she knows we don’t really trust her.

[@ladygabes5558]

FINALLY SOMEONE TALKED ABOUT MONIKA'S SPRITES! THE FIRST THING I THOUGHT ABOUT IT IN MY FIRST PLAYTHROUGH WAS "Woah she looks like a robot lmao"

[@bluealtas9976]

The thing with Monika is that when the game re-rebuts itself again after we delete her, We understand that been the president of the literature club is what made Monika and Sayori crazy.

[@Tuskbumper]

Moreso being president just makes the character self aware.

[@pachicore]

More than being club president when the game starts makes them self aware. If you get all the CG's Sayori doesn't go nuts and just thanks you for spending time with everyone

[@Stigmatix666]

​@@pachicore Which is obviously the *true ending* of the game

[@anothermiddleschoolburnout8816]

If backed up Monika's character file and try to reimplement her into the game during act 4 a pop-up appears telling you that she doesn't want to come back before deleting herself again.

[@_senpuu]

19:20 YURI ACTUALLY P!SSED ON HER POEM BRO?? 😭😭💀💀 I THOUGHT IT WAS SPILLED COFEE OR SMTH

[@havocgaming9015]

Its a tea

[@cjmartinez8318]

Jesus Christ 😭

[@Sayoriismyfavdoki899]

I guess she never had potty training when she was in preschool

[@_senpuu]

@@Sayoriismyfavdoki899 HELP-

[@Sayoriismyfavdoki899]

@@_senpuuim sorry

[@masontabalani1464]

3:56 I just LOVE how "GiantPokeSpyro" says, "...and how can you *forget* the class star, Monika?" and the whole time through the game, this game does not let you choose a Monika route, while Monika would just straight up and say in the game to you, "Don't forget about me!" and, "I'm not approachable or anything, am I?"

[@DavidPolley-ek9bh]

You can pick Monika potentially, this game has a lot of stuff most people don’t know, there’s even a route where no one dies

[@Nevernot420]

How do you do that​@@DavidPolley-ek9bh

[@valerioharvey7289]

​@@DavidPolley-ek9bhhow

[@kaitlynboss3497]

“This isn’t putting up with you. This is being your friend.” Wasn’t expecting to wanna cry because of this video but here we are

[@beatrizzhelena]

I'm at 15:22, you already talked about the suicide but did not mention a little but really meaningful detail. Something that I believe not many people noticed, but Sayori has blood on her hands (Sucide Sprite), meaning she probably cutted herself trying to unknot the rope. Monika accentuated their characteristics which led to Sayori's suicide, however the actual Sayori still wanted to live. "You left her hanging this morning", says Monika. I believe that if the MC had gone to check up on Sayori, we could've avoided it. I believe we would've caught her doing it and we would've been able to free her, but no, we "left her hanging" Edit: Also, this is all from DDLC wiki Monika talking about Sayori's hanging: "You know how Sayori is really clumsy?" "Well, she kind of messed up the whole hanging thing..." "You're supposed to jump from high enough that the rope snaps your neck, making it quick and painless." "But she just used a chair, meaning she kind of just left herself to slowly asphyxiate." "But a few seconds in, she must have changed her mind or something..." "Because she started clawing at the rope, trying to free herself." "She must have kept at it all the way until she lost consciousness." "That's why her fingertips were all bloody, anyway." "Come to think of it, it was probably less 'changing her mind' and more just her survival instincts kicking in." "So you can't really fault her for that." "It's easier to think that she probably wouldn't have changed her mind anyway, right?" "It's not healthy to think about the things you could have done differently." "So just remember that even though you could have saved her, it's technically not your fault she killed herself."

[@PettityPetPetRoccityRocRoc]

I like to think that DDLC separates itself because it prioritizes severe discomfort over outright fear. More than anything, you feel dread at what might come next. You are scared, but it's not really fear. You never feel unsafe, and that's usually what makes you uncomfortable.

[@birbman5186]

22:54 Ok so, I'm very sensitive to the concept of life being drained and this attention to detail was enough to out me on edge. Take a look at how as time passes, her mouth starts off slightly tense even in her... state. But after a while, you can see the mouth shrinks a teeny bit. Not a lot to be obvious but enough that it confirms the reality of the situation. Anything that could have been done to prevent this, and any actions you could have had before, it's all gone now. This is your new reality.

[@Т1000-м1и]

Idk if this is the most aesthetically and thematically whole style I've seen or is it like looking at a lightbulb each time you pay attention to details. I saw bits of this style years ago but 30 minutes is truly something

[@yobud6637]

It's interesting to note that Monika's point of view does make sense, in a way. She's the only one who has any sort of sentience, and the other three are literally robots. People like to say that Monika is so evil and so horrible because "how could she do something so horrible to my friends/waifus" but that's the whole point of Monika's turn to hurt them: they were never real, never alive, and never really in love with the player. Of course Monika laughed when she saw Yuri on the floor; it's the same reason people laugh when they see a machine shake itself to pieces when it malfunctions, because it's ridiculous, but nobody really got hurt. This isn't to say that Monika is perfect at all, she clearly didn't care how doing all these things would affect the player until her change of heart before act 4. But even so, there is no way to effectively claim that Monika is "evil" when she tells us straight to our faces that video game characters aren't real, as if we didn't know that already

[@xVibra]

The designs of the characters all play a part in even how the player is going to judge the characters. The thing people miss with Natsuki often is that she's not a tsundere character. Yes, she literally set up with the line, "It's not like I did it for you, or anything," but it's not dishonest. A tsundere is fundamentally dishonest about how they feel, and Natsuki really doesn't hide what she thinks ever. She's combative, assertive, tactless, and overly vigilant. A tsundere is lying when they say they don't like you, but Natsuki is honestly saying that. Sure, she's saying that before she even has given you a chance, but that is the hubris of her character. She's a hypocrite that automatically assumes how you'll act based on how you look, like thinking that because the main character is a boy that he'll be bad at literature. The player is set up to misunderstand her like everyone else in her life, and since most people gravitate towards Yuri and Sayori more, they never learn they're wrong about her character. Yuri says something important in the second act that really pulls into focus how misunderstood Natsuki is. "You think you can counterbalance your toxic personality just by dressing and acting cute?" The exact opposite is true. Natsuki is combative and critical of other people to defend herself from the perception that she's just cute and immature. She doesn't go out of her way to be cute, she goes out of her way to be rude. That mask she puts on is to protect herself from being undermined, overlooked, and misunderstood. Most things feminine and cute are underestimated and seen as frivolous, and she has to go out of her way to be pompous to try to get respect. No where does it say that she's even younger than any of the other students, and the narrative makes a point of saying she *"looks* like a first year student." Were it not for her appearance, and also for the fact that she's intentionally set up to be misunderstood, people wouldn't assume she's tsundere. Also the fourth wall break that Monika has with dimensions is mainly to point out that she recognizes that humans are three dimensional. The main character doesn't realize there's more beyond this reality, and wrongly corrects her by saying "you mean one dimensional?" It implies he thinks that humans are only two dimensional, but Monika knows better. It's like the game itself isn't even aware of the fact it's a game.

[@arishachoudhury_]

DAMN the thing w natsuki being ruder to hide her more cute personality makes sense, if she acted all cutesy shed be more like sayori

[@kawaii33366]

This one gets it

[@Araidiara]

fourth woman, fourth wall

[@yourcraft000]

geez thats allat 💀

[@Polskie573]

i just like her because she acted different everyone else acted how you think in a game like this (first act) and the theres Nasuki and honestly how she acts just works for her

[@Thepateisgreat]

Yuri is most people’s favorite, I think that’s why the game makes her the most terrifying, haha. Her becoming horrifically obsessed with you after you hang out with her a few times really plays into it. Its perfect.

[@Pivotmasterblackbird]

One thing i don't think you mentioned during the Yuri weekend scene. Every click of the text box equated either 10 minutes or an hour of the weekend. Emulating sitting there the whole time.

[@juststardust9816]

@@Nanospaggle huh, what does it say? I don't wanna torture myself with this game.

[@bumbabees]

@@juststardust9816 according to the fandom wiki: "checking the history will reveal that all of her lines are replaced with the Steam description of the game, followed by a couple lines of "Will you promise to spend more time with me?" repeated at the end."

[@Cheese-Slime-Sheriff]

One thing I love is that Monika doesn’t love *you* as a person, but love’s something you have… *reality*

[@AnekoF90]

12:07 Sayori is just like I was back in 2020/21, and a hell of a part of 2022 too.

[@ThatBoyAqua]

Your channel is criminally underrated and I’m excited to see where you go next! Fantastic work here 👍

[@xanderscut]

Thanks you Aqua! That means so much coming from you ❤️

[@Wolfietjuh]

I always felt like afterward, it just made sense how Monika would be so cold and kind of not giving a crap about the horrifying fate of her friends. Within the game she of course seems like some sort of sadistic psychopath, but to me it seemed to be about how she was sentient, she experienced herself as a "real" person whereas everything and everyone around her was ultimately just a bunch of pixels. Similarly like how we gamers tend to have no qualms slaughtering others in games, while that doesn't mean that we actually are sadistic psychopaths. I think she really wanted to care for her friends, but upon realizing they aren't "really" her friends, in the sense that they are only pieces of code following a script, they don't feel like something for her to care about. So if any of them dies or "feels bad", why would it matter to her? In that sense, I do not feel like she was a cruel, twisted person per se, rather that her emotions concerning the situation would have been in line with how any of us would have reacted: That it would be okay for us to further our own goal so long as we aren't harming a real person anyway.

[@arishachoudhury_]

real

[@CerealExperimentsMizuki]

Personally I'd not be like that, yeah I'd be in an existential crisis due to me being trapped in a game and finding out that nothing around me is real, but I'd never go out of my way to hurt the others, I'd just discreetly mess with the narrative and stuff over time so that i can live as good a life as possible. I'd maybe actually end up telling them about the reaality that they live in and everyrhing out further but it depends. If I'm able to get the proper ending of course then I'll peotect all of them. But kinda sadly but also thankfully, I'm not a sentient AI trapped in a fictional game world. Although id atill choose the ending to help save eveeyone. No matter what life it is, even fictional programs following a script, its great to be kind.

[@AnimEnthusiast9]

@@CerealExperimentsMizuki I dont think its just that monika went insane BECAUSE of the epiphany (the realization that her friends are all just a bunch of codes), I think its that anyone who is put in the position of president of the literature club goes insane, no matter how kind or forgiving you are. I mean take a look at the normal ending. Sayori in act 1 was always kind and wanted everyone to be together even though shes depressed af. but in act 4, she literally went insane, deleted the game and trapped the player with her. Or the side stories. You can clearly see how kind and forgiving monika is if the events in ddlc never actually happened (or before it happened ig). So with all that said, my opinion/headcanon is that anyone who is put as the president of the literature club goes insane, with no exception. This is just a theory btw, a GAME THEORY (if u get the references :P)

[@CerealExperimentsMizuki]

@@AnimEnthusiast9 everyone knows matpat.

[@shinyminunthetheatregeek2036]

Exactly!

[@juniphoe]

something that took me a while to notice in the difference between yuri in act one and two, is a very subtle difference in her description of the book. it’s obvious at first how much darker her description is, but she also approaches the story from an entirely different point of view. in act one, she says it’s about a girl being targeted by people from the camp. in act two, she says it’s about the camp. it shows a shift in her perspective from looking at the story from the outside to feeling herself physically inside of the story, and understanding it to be about her life in a way that she initially didnt.

[@RandomFullbringer]

imagine being the first guy to find the horror ending you would think you were high

[@Andreimina123]

28:53 It was at this point I realized the fact that Monica is the only character outside the box, symoblising the fact that she is not like the other characters and doesn't belong in the same universe as them 💀💀

[@ziza1825]

She does tho but like she's just self aware

[@Sayoriismyfavdoki899]

@@ziza1825no I think she put herself in the game

[@pepperclaire7610]

I saw a game theory video from forever ago that had a part in it that mentioned how weird it was that Monika was just able to ‘manipulate their emotional values’ like they had some sort of bar for how insane they’d be, but that’s literally not how visual novels work. He thought that maybe, in lore, the game was more than a visual novel and so they actually had real personalities.

[@marigold4564]

the meanings of each of the girls poems are honestly so sad to re-read when you figure them out. natsukis spider poem is about her finding out about yuris self-harming and secretly resenting her for it, and also how she worried what people would think if they knew her dad abused her. yuris raccoon poem is about her self harm. the bread is her skin, the knife is … well a knife, and the raccoon is her addiction. sayoris bottle poem is about her feeding all her happiness to her friends and none to herself. monikas first poem is about her finding out she was inside of the game.

[@luvaria8429]

im pretty sure natsuki's poem is about people judging her for liking manga, she even said a few times that people think manga is childish

[@Stigmatix666]

@@luvaria8429 Of course Natsuki's poem is about her manga obsession. All of Sayori's poems hint at depression; "sleep forever" is obvious, "bottles of joy" = antidepressants.

[@luvaria8429]

@@Stigmatix666 yeah, i was just correcting the main comment

[@Stigmatix666]

@@luvaria8429 Yup, no worries

[@theonlysamman3889]

I know I am a year late but this was an AMAZING video! While so many people talk about the lore and the .chr files, its rare to see someone talk about THE ACTUAL GAME which was done beautifuly. Also the way you described important scenes was phenomenal, I felt like the way you described them made it so that someone who hadnt picked up the game knew exactly how most people felt in that moment.

[@xanderscut]

That is so sweet of you! Thanks a million for the lovely feedback, I hope you have an amazing day!

[@theonlysamman3889]

@@xanderscut Thanks for the video! Glad to know my comment reached you and didn’t get lost in the sea of others. You have a good day too!

[@Melangox_JAM]

“You kind of left her hanging this morning, you know?” That sent CHILLS down my spine

[@rift_right3259]

Such an insensitive thing for Monika to say

[@ExecutionerDan]

Monika is truly a tragic character. I'd do the same thing if I were in her position. Finding out everything is fake, your friends aren't real, and the only thing that is real is the person controlling the MC.

[@MasterJack1109]

I relate to Monika, I know what it's like to be completely trapped for a long time. The world is dark and desaturated, the lack of satisfaction drives you crazy, and never knowing what it's like to be content is complete torture. Always dreaming of finding someone to love, because that is your only escape. Your only hope. I understand why Monika did what she did, and I can't say I wouldn't do the same. Her story is tragic and enthralling, but to me it's also relatable.

[@Sam-gh1ms]

Literally me

[@yuarentlucky]

​@@Sam-gh1msFrfr.

[@CerealExperimentsMizuki]

To each their own, I've never felt trapped except the times i was at the police station. I can easily find stimulus and satisfaction.

[@cashnelson2306]

🤭 ok

[@hissingbeatles499]

man this game puts my stomach into knots every time i see anything about it. i've never had such a visceral reaction to any other game i've played besides this one, and somehow it STILL fucks me up just by looking at it

[@Just_Gent]

16:34 I thought I knew and was prepared for everything that would be discussed in this video. I'm currently sitting here with a wide open jaw and chills. I can't believe the game taunts us like this.