Official r/danganronpa Favourites Poll Results: Part Deux!

#20 - Kazuichi Souda

SD's Personal Ranking - #14

Average Poll Score - 5.555

Finally, someone in my top half of characters that I don't feel was egregiously robbed (coughCelescough). I'm pleasantly surprised to see Kazuichi outlasting quite so many people, and I think this is quite a good place for him, even if, of course, I'd like to see him a bit higher.

Still, part of the reason I concede that Kazuichi was fated to go out around here stems from his very idea. He honestly has everything to make him interesting, but, well, if I take one step back from my adoration of him and look at him again, I have to admit, the way he's portrayed doesn't show this very much. He's the so-called wild one, who wants to hang out with Hajime constantly (soul bros for life <3), has a one-sided crush on Sonia while she hardly ever notices him, and is the second choice of target for Hiyoko when she's not trying to bitch Mikan out. Sounds like your everyday butt monkey/comic relief character, right? But his problem is.... Even for comic relief, he's pretty useless in the grand scheme of things, especially considering he survived.

Okay, let me explain what I mean. One of the things in SDR2 that I consider the biggest improvement when we're talking about characters, was how the deaths of their fellow classmates impacted them. Now, let's take a look at the final five: Fuyuhiko lost his childhood friend/bodyguard/nascent crush/OTPmate/whatever you call it, Peko; Sonia lost her prince of darkness, Gundam; Akane lost one of the only friends she's ever had, Nekomaru; and, of course, Chiaki's death impacted everyone, but Hajime most of all. So, when they decided to leave the program instead of staying behind, there was a sacrifice for each of those four to make in the sense that they had to leave them behind, but with Kazuichi… well, his biggest obstacle was that he was a coward, and was scared to face the outside world (and pretty much everything there was on the island). So, well, he doesn't really stand to lose as much as everyone else remaining than if we had replaced him with, say, Mikan, who had to leave Nagito behind. To that extent, Kazuichi is actually kinda vanilla; too vanilla, in fact. He's not exactly divisive, but just… 'meh'?

But, of course, there's a multitude of factors that shoot him up to where he is on my rankings. He had a bunch of endearing traits, such as how awkwardly tryhard he was at trying to fit in with the rest (and this is for genuine reasons), and he really did feel genuine in his actions; he doesn't deny his love for Sonia, and bonds with Hajime because both of them are in the same boat of trying to reinvent themselves (of course, we know who was more successful between the two). But consider this: Kazuichi has been bullied and ignored for most of his life, even by his parents and especially his abusive father. He hasn’t had enough chances to learn good social skills, and admits that he acts the way he does in the hopes that it’ll make him some friends, not because of some entitlement complex, but because he has been and still is genuinely alone. He has every right to want to make friends and doesn’t even lash out at the people who ignore him. His crush on Sonia is genuine, not because of her title or looks, but because he is just inherently attracted to her (and who wouldn't be?). Which leads to scenes like this:

Sonia: There's no way someone could survive so long with such a long, thick object inside of them.

Kazuichi: …I'm sorry can you repeat that?

Sonia: I said, there's no way someone could survive so long with such a long, thick object inside of them.

Kazuichi: blushes And one more time, into this microphone, please?

Kazuichi made a conscious, concerted effort to pick himself up and shape himself into someone that could be liked. Not feared, liked. He wants friends, he wants attention for once in his life. And he modeled himself after the very bullies that hurt him, having come to associate brash, aggressive behavior with strength. And even if he can be “annoying”, he still isn’t a bad person. He doesn’t attack or demean anyone like Hiyouko. And he is actually capable of being serious, despite coming off as overdramatic when faced with crisis. After all, he’s held in his emotions for most of his life. The island is his first big chance to let loose, be expressive, and say what’s on his mind, and I friggin' love him for it.

Honestly, I guess it just felt like he was an extra tagalong instead of one of the Final Survivors, which is why most people don't have a high or low opinion on him, and his placement here is indicative of that. But SoulBros, though, that was the bromance I could actually get behind. Maybe it's to do with how they both got to the end instead of dying halfway, but I digress.

Also, has anyone mentioned that he has the most ridiculously lol-worthy awesome reaction faces of the entire cast? Hell yeah.

Of course, just like in the game, in this ranking, he just Never Wins the Ship War. Too bad, I guess, but at least you made the top 20, man, cheer up.

/r/danganronpa Thread