Rokkenjima Festival of Mayhem - Event: Character Conversion Challenge

[Seraphitic]

Welcome one and all to the second day of our festivities. I trust that yesterday was enjoyable and that you were able to complete our challenges. While we enjoy the fruits of your labor I will entrust you with another challenge. In this challenge we will test your powers of persuasion; a worthy test for any witch.

Character Conversion Challenge

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This challenge will require your team to band together to put together an impeccable argument to persuade us, your judges, as well as your peers that generally poorly perceived 07th characters actually contain depth that not even Ryukishi could fathom. The most ‘persuasive’ team for the least likely character wins.

Make sure to keep your arguments relatively brief (about 1-3 paragraphs) and try to avoid spoilers if possible. If not possible then tag spoilers for those who have not read the work in question, providing context in parenthesis as usual.

As with most of our other challenges we will be scoring you by giving the first place 4 points, second gets 3 points, third and fourth get 2 and late submissions get 1.

The deadline for submission will be Wednesday, 11:30 am UTC. Enjoy day two!

[Seraphitic]

Team Goldenslaughterers submission:

Normally, when people look at Hojo Teppei, they see an evil man. They see someone who abuses his niece and nephew, someone who drinks a lot, and someone who is just downright nasty to be around. But, we know better! We know that Teppei really has a heart of gold!
Everyone in Hinamizawa ostracizes poor old Teppei, and no one will give him a chance. And yet, they take care of his adopted children just fine! All Teppei wants is to be a normal part of the community like everyone else! Why can’t they just say “Hello, Hojo-San! I hope you have a great day!” as they bike down the street? Why do they have to ignore poor, lonely Teppei?
He doesn’t have a single friend in Hinamizawa, and he’s all alone! How sad! We know we would seem grumpy if no one would talk to us. Even his own adopted children hate him, but can’t they see he’s hurting inside? His wounds from his wife’s death are clearly still fresh, and yet, he returned to the village where she died. So strong, so strong. And his new girlfriend is an outsider, as well! He’s clearly trying to find solace in someone, but the townsfolk simply ignore him and his girlfriend. How is he supposed to go on? Poor Teppei. He doesn’t deserve the cards he’s been dealt in life. If only the community would let him in instead of ostracizing him, maybe people would see that he’s actually a really swell guy. After all, if a single person doesn’t believe, the miracle won’t occur. Everyone needs to accept and be friends with Teppei-san, and a miracle will occur!

[Seraphitic]

Team 5 Elements of Desire’s submission:

Character Conversion Challenge:
Mamiya Rina

Mamiya Rina, whose real name is Mamiya Ritsuko, is thought by many as a despicable villain, along with her lover, Houjou Teppei, she fools wealthy men in order to get money out of them, however, her past hides even darkest secrets. Ritsuko was the youngest of three children, and the only girl amongst them, her mother was a kind and gentle woman, who always thought about what was best for her children, her father, on the other hand, was an alcoholic who spent almost all of his money on gambles and booze. He usually got home late, and extremely violent, for many times the children were forced t saw him attacking their mother, both physically and verbally, but their mother was fine with it as long as the children were safe. For 11 years, Ritsuko lived a life of fear and submission, and she was only able to endure that because of the love of her mother, who passed away a few months before she turned 12. Since her brothers had just finished high school, both left the small town they lived in to seek a good job in the big city, forcing her to live with her father all by herself. During 7 months Ritsuko had to endure the pain of his fierce beating, and the wounds in her heart weren’t small even when compared to the purple marks on her body, but after 7 months, in a sudden realisation, she decided she could no longer live that life. Ritsuko ran from home and decided to seek a life on the streets, even prostituting herself would be better than enduring another second in the presence of that hideous man. Since she looked quite mature despite her age, she was quickly hired as a showgirl, and that’s when her new life as Rina started. When she met Teppei, she saw on him the figure of her stupid father, and initially avoided him, however, seeking revenge against her father, she decided to pretend to be his girlfriend for a while, when he told her about his plan to get money she saw the perfect opportunity to leave her showgirl life and begin a serious career far away from there, when she finally would be able to gather enough money to flee, her plans ended up being ruined, and she was never capable of reaching the happy life she dreamed of.

[Seraphitic]

Team SleepingVerborum and RKW Berris’ submission:

Ushiromiya Hideyoshi

Hideyoshi is perhaps the greatest of characters in the entire WTC series. He’s big, he’s loud, he can smooth things over when they get rough. He is the very model of a family man and has a beautiful wife and son that he takes care of dutifully. One of the greatest criticisms of his character during the question arcs is that (anonymous quote) “A can of mackerel has more depth than he does!” This is a common misconception simply due to a lack of screentime, a regrettable oversight by the great Ryukishi-sama (bless his holy name) and it is because of this that he hardly gets the attention he rightfully deserves.

Now, I’m sure I don’t have to remind everyone how skillful a businessman he is, building his company from the ground up with budget-friendly tactics after the war, taking advantage of his natural charm and wit to win people over, and being undercut at the very end by some weasel-like partners who would tear his empire to shreds for a slice of the pie. He is stoic, well-reasoning, and above all, is a lover of fine foods. He also has a wonderful son, the eldest of the Ushiromiya family’s young cousins, who has received all of the opportunities that the money from Hideyoshi’s business ventures could provide, measuring him up to become the next family head if not for the terrible unforeseeable tragedy on Rokkenjima conducted by the Golden Witch…

Let us analyze his characteristics more closely, he wears a light brown suit, red shirt, and pink tie… but wait? Where have we seen these colours before? Why look no further than the great BEATORICHE! The Brown dress, the red err ‘boob coverings’ and the pink bow all tie together her outfit quite nicely… and is in fact a direct mirrorof Hideyoshi’s outfit. I propose, nay, I assert with all of my authority as the great Chef Gohda-sama’s furniture that this is the mark of the great Beatrice herself upon his form, and in fact they mirror each in more ways than this… they are both proud and plenty capable of turning the tide of a conversation in a single sentence, both expert social manipulators to the very core! HIDEYOSHI HIMSELF is just as competent as Beatrice and yet she gets all of the attention, why? For what reason? Well once again the answer lies in their dress…

Gold. Beatrice’s dress is draped in golden strokes, and the closest Hideyoshi comes is those awful brownish buttons on his suit, truly this colour is most often associated with magical power, and the powerful Hideyoshi lacks it, he is, after all, human… but what if he wasn’t? What if he suddenly gained magical power? Would he not simply mirror Beatrice herself? In all aspects? Truly, they would be on equal footing and it is a travesty that Ryukishi could not see the potential in this plump, strong, beautiful man. Hideyoshi is a role model, a hero, and above all is a foil to beatrice, truly the difference between them is a divide of power. Impactful stuff.

There is one final piece of evidence I would like to lay before the jury, and that is:

His blood type… is B

And I ask you a single question… B FOR BEATRICE!?!?

…I rest my case your honour. sits down

[Seraphitic]

Team Goatdatricers’ submission:

Asunaro, from When the Game Ends.

Asunaro, despite writing a lot of things off as jokes, is waging an internal struggle to convince himself that he is happy. He is struggling to overcome a self-fulfilling prophecy that he will be miserable.

Consider the scene where he comes home after buying the game. Pretty innocuous, right? But note. He highlights to no-one in particular the idea of the bottle being something that grants wishes, before quickly saying he was joking and then he opens the bottle anyway. Why? For what purpose?

Because Asunaro is the epitome example of the escapist, the fantasist! He tries to keep himself rooted to reality, he is aware of reality… But even so… He feeds his false ideas. As much as he tries to repress it, as much as he tries to hide it, his delusions are eating into his life. Impacting his life. He can’t restrain them, and they’re eating away at his happiness.

In a sense, he’s a psychological orobouros. He lives a reality he’s unhappy with, so he denies it through delusions, but he realises his delusions are stopping him from living in reality so he denies the impact of his delusions, thus forcing him into his unhappy reality, thus he needs the delusions, etc. etc. And before he knows it Asunaro is living a life where he’s caught between half-heartedly trying to convince himself that reality is fine and weening himself off his delusions and indulging in his fantasies. And the two wreck havoc on his mental state as he starts to take his fiction as reality (Pursuing a real girlfriend would be nothing but an obstacle to my immersion!) but reality intrudes on his fiction! (So why is it that… Even though I’m inside the world of my lovely delusion, I must restrain my tears…)

The best way to put it is a comparison of these two quotes: “Pursuing a real girlfriend would be nothing but an obstacle to my immersion!” and "I have no companions I can confide in, but it’s also not like I’m bullied or completely disregarded."
Asunaro is lonely, just barely scraping through the social sphere, but his delusions are holding him back from being able to interact with people. And thus we can conclude… Kohinata Asunaro! The portrait of a self-fulfilling prophecy of unhappiness!

[Karifean]

Thanks for all of your submissions~ Judging and scoring will be done within the next 24 hours.

[Seraphitic]

Character Conversion Challenge - Verdicts

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#4 goes to Team 5 Elements of Desire (+2 points)

Kari: I like the idea of her fate being basically her hopes and dreams dashed to pieces for the sake of our oh so great protagonists; I’d have appreciated tying it to her current personality as we know it a bit more though.
Sera: While I certainly appreciate that you made her sympathetic you haven’t really argued that she’s a good character so much as just added a tragic backstory.
Vyse: Well for me this is only a character that died off-screen at the beginning of Tatarigoroshi, so I can’t really comment on this one.

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#3 goes to Team Goatdatricers (+2 points)

Kari: Interesting analysis, really sells you on the character. Seems pretty much in line with what the character is intended to be though ^^
Sera: Although I didn’t know who this character was I am now really intrigued and I look forward to reading the manga
Vyse: You certainly sold us on the character, I am intrigued to learn more about him.

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#2 goes to Team Goldenslaughterers (+3 points)

Kari: Awesome writeup! Taking everything we know about Teppei and recontextualizing it in a natural way. Great work.
Sera: This kind of thing was almost exactly what I had in mind with this event. You made a unlikeable character deep.
Vyse: This really reminded me of the whole argument of looking at a character with love. Good job!

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#1 goes to Team SleepingVerborum and RKW Berris (+4 points)

Kari: If only Ryukishi realized the amazingness that is Hideyoshi Ushiromiya…
Sera: This was fantastic and I loved how it brought in some silliness
Vyse: I loved both your argument itself and how you presented it. I certainly had a hearty laugh. HIDEYOSHI-Beatrice when?

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Thank you one and all for your participation in this event. Congratulations and we look forward to seeing you in the days to come.