My Take On The Mischaracterization Of Rui

my take on the mischaracterization of rui

ok lowkey i sent this to a pjsk hot takes blog but it was so long i feel like i need to just make it my own post. im so sorry for this yapfest but i am very passionate about rui kamishiro. tldr at the end

this probably isnt even a hot take. cold take even. but the mischaracterization of rui in this fandom is actually wild, especially among rui fans. as someone who has had a lot of similar experiences to his past experiences it's really upsetting to see.

rui is a very nuanced character and (at least in my opinion) far more subtle than a lot of the more tropey characters in the game. and my guys. he is patently NOT insane. he has NO will to hurt people. hes just very passionate about his interests and he's actively incredibly kind to his friends. but so many people in this fandom misread his passion as a will to hurt others or like. literal insanity?? which makes me really mad because guys!!!!!! THAT'S THE SAME THING THE PEOPLE WHO BULLIED HIM DID!!!!!!!!!! THAT'S MISREADING HIS PERSONALITY AND USING THAT AS AN EXCUSE TO WRITE HIM OFF AS THE "TOKEN CRAZY ONE" BEFORE EVEN GETTING TO KNOW HIM!!! this is the EXACT kind of behavior rui's story is supposed to preach AGAINST. reading comprehension! please!

"but it's just a joke otter it's not that deep" heres the thing it stops being a joke when its repeatedly being used to flatten rui's character. especially since he was bullied for the exact things the fandom likes to "joke" about (him being "crazy"). and also if we cant respect the struggles of a fictional character who was bullied/ostracized im not sure how we'll be able to properly respect real victims of bullying!

"oh but he's always trying to hurt tsukasa with his crazy stunts" im not even addressing this one because theres literally an entire rui event on it. and its literally the FIRST one. the FIRSTTTTT one. go read wonder halloween

i really dislike that people are saying the exact same things as rui's classmates who ostracized him as a "joke." i feel like if we're fans of rui its our job to properly understand at LEAST what is arguably the biggest conflict he dealt with as a kid and to be sensitive to his struggles. i could go on for DAYS about the way the struggles of neurodivergent people who present more "hyper" are constantly trivialized and how commonly theyre villainized but thats only tangentially related so. guys. lets PLEASE be better

tldr: in my opinion. the jokes about rui being "insane" have LONG crossed the line from being just jokes to being lowkey insensitive mischaracterization