u/Hour_Trade_3691

I'm not really sure what kind of title I can give this post without it being a spoiler, because I've seen a lot of hate about Nao claiming: 'We Won!'

Now yes, I can see how that's a bit pretentious, and it would have made more sense if she just told Akiyama: 'You Won!' because that is how it worked out on paper anyway. Akiyama is technically the sole winner of the Minority Game and put in the most work.

But I think it's incredibly unfair to give Nao no credit whatsoever.

Firstly, Nao was the one who went and talked to the other Players. She also figured out the most likely safe Players to form their team and actually recruited them.

She also came back to the game location the next day and actively gave Akiyama valuable information that allowed him to Win.

But above all else- She was actively trying.

I'm not saying that she did a better job than Akiyama. But she wasn't Useless.

Sure, she was wrong when she suspected No. 15. She was technically wrong to bring in the people she did as well. But in doing so, she allowed Akiyama and X to have a one on one confrontation that caused the cheque to be returned.

And at the end of the day, even if you don't end up accomplishing anything, the fact that you're still trying to win is amazing.

Since a lot of Liar Game haters seem to love Cote, I do honestly have to ask, when you compare the first 7 Episodes of Cote to the first 7 Episodes of Liar Game, is it even comparable in terms of the mind games?

And do you honestly prefer Kouneji- Someone who CAN win but chooses not to and is an annoyance to the Class because he seems then as too weak to even try- To Nao- Someone who Might not do well under pressure, but is doing an amazing job at putting in effort and doing her absolute best to try and help herself and Akiyama Win and actively save as many Players as she can.

You're not trans.

Yes I am.

I believe God made you perfectly.

Then why are you acting like I'm imperfect?

Because you think your body is wrong.

I never said that. You're the one acting like there's something wrong with me.

I believe you're a man if you have a d**k and a woman if you have a v****a.

You think that's the Sole thing that makes someone a man or woman?

Well, periods and stuff too.

So you think the only things that make men and women different are physical?

Yes.

So what's the problem with me using the other gender bathroom then? They both have toilets which can be used by any genitalia.

Because it's inappropriate to use the wrong bathroom.

Why?

Because you could be a pervert.

So you Do think there's another difference other than physical characteristics?

No.

But you just Said that you think it's inappropriate due to a reason that had nothing to do with physical body.

END OF TRANSCRIPT

Sigh.

You know what really bugs me? It's the smug smiles people give. Like they view me as a lesser inexperienced being even though I've probably lived more in terms of discrimination along than they ever have.

It's literally lose-lose no matter what. If you don't get gender reassignment surgery, they act like you're not really trans. But if you DO, then you're asked why you need to change anything if you're already a different gender.

Spoilers for Year 3, but I'm pretty surprised with how tame everything is so far. We've had 3 Special Exams with basically zero stakes. Only the latest Special Exam allowed for an expulsion and even then, it wasn't guaranteed, and it would only be 1 Student (and since said Student had a Protection Point, it didn't even matter in the end).

Compare this to Nagumo and Manabu talking about how Students were being Expelled left and right from their Years.

And then in the light novel, it seems that the School actively doesn't Want anyone in this Year to be Expelled. Any time a Special Exam featuring an Expulsion comes up, it's looked at with dread by the teachers, with the only exception being Year 2, Volume 10.

When people first complained about the animation, I thought that they meant how you could kind of see the frames. But I've checked out a few other anime releasing this season, and I don't really see anywhere that it's any better.

I think it was a really nice touch to have the >!Downsizing Game start with a bunch of wind and crap going on. The Minority Game started with it being nice and sunny outside, but now the weather is awful, and menacing, mirroring how this Game is gonna be tougher than the previous, without Akiyama and taking place in a broken down bowling alley with no food or water in sight.!<

I honestly don't know how I would improve on this Anime other than very minor things. I love how the people behind it very clearly. Read the manga carefully and are trying to do every part right.

There's a church group I go to. I don't go to that church on Sundays, with the main reason being that I don't like the pastor. When I visited the church, he didn't seem to take my questions seriously. The moment I told him my name, I think because he realized that I'm trans. Anytime I tried to ask about the various groups the church had going on, he deflected by asking me how my walk with God is going, and when I said it was going fine, he didn't seem to believe me. He invited me out for coffee and we literally ended up talking for 2 hours and probably one of the most awkward discussions I ever had where it's very clear that he has a lot of internalized, homophobia and transphobia. I made an entire post about that encounter on this subreddit months ago, and a few people replied suggesting that I just leave the church.

Thing is, I'm always looking for something to do, and the church group that they have going on on Friday evenings seems better than anything else on Friday evenings at the moment.

The group is technically led by a married couple, But it's not really a contest that the wife is clearly putting more effort into it. She's doing her best to be charismatic and trying to make sure everyone gets along, while the husband makes weird comments like how a guy he knew who committed s*****e is apparently a bad person for abandoning his family.

The wife leading the group seems to be respectful of my pronouns... Can't really say the same for anyone else.

It really hurts to say it, because I kind of need this group to be working right now. I'm in a pretty rough spot and I can't really afford to just not go to this. I need it for my own social sanity.

But it is clear that there is some sense of gender division here. A lot of the young adults here are couples and they're definitely playing the classic trope that they're a perfect couple that doesn't have any problems, with the girls acting like stereotypical girls and the guys acting like stereotypical guys.

It's one of those groups where there's a girl or two who tries to play a sort of tomboyish act, like they're able to get along with the guys, and they're probably used to feeling like the most radical people in the group. So when someone like me comes along, who's literally a trans girl, It completely catches them off guard and they don't know what to do with it. They act chill of course, but you can just tell something is off. I told one of them explicitly that I prefer she/her pronouns and she said oh okay, but... Well-

Just last Friday we had a meeting but someone referred to me by he pronouns. I know that this guy also goes to another group that I know is definitely not affirming, so I didn't have the courage to speak up about it, because I felt he would just say that he didn't want to respect my pronouns. So instead, I shut down, putting my earbuds and started listening to a video. Then I made my way to the gender-neutral bathroom, and didn't come back for a little bit when they had switched to another activity.

The main activity that we ended up doing that night was apparently us praying for people that we don't usually think about. Apparently it was about asking God to remind us of people that we're supposed to be praying for, but aren't necessarily people that we see everyday.

This was fine by me. And I think it had a good motive. I personally prefer activities where we can actually talk about our personal experiences, but I take this silent prayer activity where we can basically do whatever we want as long as we're quiet, over something like a worship night where it's so loud.

So I found a little spot in the room just like everyone else, prayed for a bit, checked my phone a bit, walked around the perimeter of the room three times and then came back to my spot.

Then I left the room and just started to listen to some music outside the area with my earbuds.

There were three people though who came to me specifically quietly. They said that they felt that God was asking them to pray for me.

I appreciated it, but I also was sure not to take it too. Seriously. I've had more than my fair share of experiences of Christians who act friendly and act like they're my friend, but it turns out they're not, and when they realize that I'm not going to conform to their way of thinking, they just abandoned me.

I did appreciate it though. I'm not spiteful enough to say that I wish they didn't approach me, because I'm honestly glad that they did, and I'd rather them pity me than ridicule me. One of them prayed for me and asked if it was okay if they touched my arm and I said it was fine, and then they just kind of kept talking. She was the same person who I made clear about my pronouns, but it was clear that she didn't really feel comfortable referring to me as she/her. She kept trying to guide her sentences so that she would just refer to me by my name, but eventually, for whatever reason, she started speaking directly to me.

For instance, instead of saying-

"God, I feel she feels the need to isolate herself when she doesn't feel seen, which may come from previous experienced of being misjudged or ridiculed even."

She would Day-

"I feel you May have past experiences of being misjudged or ridiculed even and you feel the need to isolate yourself."

At one point, she did slip up and accidentally refer to me as he, and she hesitated, I think she was genuinely worried that I was going to get angry, but I just stayed quiet.

The thing that I don't get though is that these people will go out of their way to say that they feel I've closed myself off to God's love, and that I just need to take his hand.

But what exactly are they getting at? It's not like they personally asked me if I feel like I've strayed away from God's love.

I would bet money that they genuinely just want me to turn cis and straight And then somehow accomplish the impossible task of finding a partner who would genuinely love me for who I am that I could settle with.

But they know it would be literally way too much work to actually "help" me do that, so instead they just try and shift the blame on me, and say that I'm not open enough to God. Acting like if I just accepted God (which I've already done), then my life will just magically get better.

When we were talking about how the activity was for us, I said I thought it was fine, and then someone across the table, one of the guys who approached me and said that he felt the need to pray for me, asked me if I asked to feel the Holy Spirit, and I said yes. He then asked what I felt the Holy Spirit was saying, and I decided to just go ahead and be authentic.

I said that I felt that the Holy Spirit just wanted me to keep trying, and even if people think that the way I want the world to be is nothing but moralistic idealistic bulls**t, I should just keep fighting for the world that I want, because even if I don't get to see it achieved in my lifetime, my actions will make things even just a tiny little bit easier for the next person who comes along.

No one said anything in response, and the guy who asked just said thanks for sharing and they moved on.

I don't know. Like I said, I don't really have intention of leaving this group anytime soon. Unless if something falls into my lap that's way better, but I just wanted to share that.

When Episode 3 came out, lots of people were trashing on Nao's decision to >!return the money to Fujizawa.!< I called it, but still- That scene moved me to tears, and yet other people weren't moved at all?

Even if you didn't like the scene, the way it was edited and the music SURELY would make ANYONE realize that they were SUPPOSED to find the scene moving... Right?

But people were talking like it was just any ordinary scene. It was like they watched a version of it without music or something.

I left a comment on someone's video saying that Fujizawa wasn't going to change by being punished but WOULD be changed by Nao's extreme kindness.

And someone responded, literally starting their comment with-

"If everyone in the world thought like you, the world would be a much better place."

And then went on to explain why I was still wrong in a way that I didn't really pay attention to because that first sentence stuck with me so much.

And that's the thing that I really don't get. Even though they hate Nao's decisions, they still acknowledge that she's a good person. They just consider that to be irrelevant when I would argue it's literally what her character is all about. And that's why I say these people are literally Fujizawa- Someone who also acknowledged that he was in the wrong morally, but just didn't care.

And hey, I would never say that I'm as kind as Nao. I definitely am not as forgiving as her, but I can aspire to be, and can admire that aspect of her. Only this show can demonstrate how forgiving someone can genuienly change them.

So, it's safe to say that the >!reviews of the next episode are f****d. But I don't really care. And I remember when I first read this part of the manga, and even though you could see betrayals coming, I still wanted to hope that everything would be okay, because you know, I was actually invested in the story and really wanted to see Nao be okay. And yet, other people will just see her as stupid and not find any in entertainment at all.!<

Minor Spoilers below.

Alright well, I made a post and it got deleted almost immedeately, so I gotta make another post to redeem myself.

So- If Reverend Insanity comes back and gets to finish itself, and assuming the Author doesn't dumb it down so it doesn't get banned again, how would you want it to be concluded?

There's really 5 ways I could see it going down-

>!#1- Fang Yuan wins completely.!<

>!This could definitely happen, and the way people talk, it seems like it's what a lot of people want, and I'm curious if this is actually what people are expecting.!<

>!I see a lot of people saying that they love Reverend Insanity Because it's not like other stories that eventually rely on the power of love or friendship or whatever. It's just pessimistic the whole way through and it's unsettling. It seems like in order for Reverend Insanity to keep that reputation, they would have to let Fang Yuan win, which leads me to my 2nd potential ending.!<

>!#2- Fang Yuan loses completely.!<

>!Pretty obvious, but what if this Actually happens? What if Fang Yuan finds out his opponents are simply too much for him? Or what if even, a character far lesser than him manages to just get lucky and take him out, possibly even unintentionally and it just completely blindsides him?!<

>!I know that would tick a lot of the fanbase off, but that is kind of how life just works. Yes, the world can be very crappy and sometimes it seems like pessimism is the only way to live, but there's also no such thing as a person who always wins. There's always going to be something that it turns out that they can't do, and often when they hit a brick wall, it's not because they were up against a problem that was too complex, or a person that was just more intelligent than themselves. Most of the time it just comes down to luck and... Well, ironically- Fate.!<

>!Fang Yuan losing could go either way in my opinion.!<

>!#3- Fang Yuan has a Redemption Arc.!<

>!This seems to be the one that the fanbase is dreading the most. Do you think a Redemption Arc could work? Or do you think the very concept is one that should be brought outside to the back of the barn and shot?!<

>!#4- Fang Yuan loses on purpose.!<

>!This is one that I could see happening, and is sort of a mix of most of the other ones, but it's possible Fang Yuan might not actually achieve immortality, but would quit in a way that would still feel true to his character. Not a Redemption Arc, but him purposely losing in a way that makes him feel he has earned his freedom and he bails out to prove some sort of a point.!<

>!#5- Fang Yuan wins, but it sucks.!<

>!This is the only other thing that I can see happening. Where Fang Yuan defeats Fate and achieves immortality, only to realize it sucks and he had more fun out there in the world Without freedom with obstacles to overcome.!<

>!Out of all the potential endings that I said so far, this is the one that I would hate the most, because I honestly hate ant the concept that humans actually like struggling. I just don't believe that. I think promoting the idea that if we actually got what we wanted, we could become bored, is toxic.!<

>!But... You know, Fang Yuan is toxic, so maybe it would fit for me more than I figure.!<

I haven't read past Chapter 1 yet, but is Chapter 4 coming?

J Drama and K Drama both have 2 original Games each. Thought I would just rank them. Obviously, minor Spoilers for both Dramas.

#4- The President Game (K Drama)

I just couldn't really get into this one. I think I need to watch it a couple more times to really understand what was happening, because it definitely does get complex, but I just found myself more bored than amazed. It also straight up rips off a tactic used in the Pandemic Game from the manga halfway through, but it's done in an effective way. Since this Drama was clearly hoping for a Season 2, I wonder if they were just planning to go a new route and not include that Game at all?

As for the President Game itself though, I find it to be a pretty interesting three-way battle, even if one of them is not exactly in the same league as the other two. Straight up, one of his strategies is to just privately forfeit and tell the guy who invited him here to suck up to one of the other two candidates.

Akiyama also has borderline character assassination at the beginning, with Nao coming up with an impressive, but pretty basic strategy at the start, only for Akiyama to genuinely be impressed. Granted, he's able to understand it well enough once he hears it to explain it to the clueless guy, but I just love that his face literally goes: 'Oh, dang! That's a good idea!'

People seem to like this more for the Coin Game played by Akiyama and Yokoya partway through.

#3- Last Man Standing (K Drama)

I feel bad for putting both K Drama Original Games at the bottom, But I just can't really justify putting this higher. I definitely think it's a better Game than the President Game, but I just can't help but feel like something is off here. Firstly, it's set up as a 5 way battle, but it's not actually done that way, because it's literally just everyone against Yokoya. And then, they don't even play it that way, because they have this whole kidnapping subplot happening in the background where characters are literally just quitting to go have that to deal with.

There's a reason why neither of the other versions of this Story (Manga and J Drama) randomly cut to something going on outside of the Games. The appeal Is the Games, but for some reason, the K Drama Just had to throw in this whole mystery subplot which I'm sure is great and entertaining for a lot of people, but for me it was just whiplash. I think I really need to re-watch this again with a clearer mindset, and now that I know the kind of thing it's going for.

#2- Taboo Game (J Drama)

For a one off one hour Special, This is actually really impressive. I honestly wonder what it was like in the writers room when they came up with this, because it's straight up. Feels like something that the manga would do, which is crazy because it's literally a one-on-one battle, and the manga only did that for its first arc.

There truly is no catch here. It's just a raw battle of wits as these two chest Masters try to exploit the rules and think outside the box. I think it escalates perfectly, and I would even argue that it Rivals the Contraband Game in terms of complexity. I've watched this quite a handful of times, and my mind still checks out part way through because it just gives up on following what's happening.

#1- Garden of Eden (J Drama)

Kind of fitting. I guess that the original Original Game is ranked First. Also kind of funny, since this was literally pitched as the finale for the J Drama. I honestly think this was quite the gamble. There isn't really any behind the scenes information about either of these Dramas to my knowledge, but it was kind of crazy to me how this whole thing worked. Season 1 Was clearly prepared to just stand on its own, but they managed to get Season 2 renewed, and then clearly the plan was to wrap it all up with a Movie at the end since its foreshadowed throughout Season 2.

But that's such a bold move in my opinion. The Manga was still ongoing, and yet they were planning to just end the J Drama on an Original Game. And yet somehow, they managed to pull it off.

I can't deny how impressive it is, because this was essentially the pitch to prove that the J Drama executives could write Liar Game without the author. And it's just like any other Game. Even when I try to explain the rules to someone, they don't know what I'm talking about, but the Drama the does such a good job with the visual demonstration, and what's crazy is that even though a lot of the different possible outcomes seem irrelevant at the start, they end up all coming into play. That's good writing. Compare that to Classroom of the Elite where the rules are often overly complicated, and there's so many potential outcomes that literally never come into play and are just meant to throw you off. Heck, even Death Note has quite a few random rules that seem pretty fascinating, but never end up coming into play.

Also, it just works so well as a final Game to Liar Game. The fact that the version of Liar Game with the most satisfying Ending Is the one where all the characters act like they're crackheads is amazing!

Since the Anime seems to be covering 2-3 Chapters per Episode, it is likely the next Episode will end with Akiyama >!announcing his intent to move forwards with the Liar Game, find out who's running it, and dismantle it.!<

There is likely going to be a wave of people saying they hope the show will ditch Nao, and That's Okay!

I remember in some of the comments for that chapter, they would say similar things. One comment specifically just said-

"He means... Without her. Right?"

It's part of the process 😅

(5/15/2026)

Officially at 10K! Just a reminder that when the Anime started, this Subreddit was only at about 1K and now that's been multiplied by 10!

While think the slow curve towards positive reception is partially due to the episode's overall just getting better at mind games and the people who genuinely have no hope for it having already left (if you Genuinely believe a show is wasting your time, there isn't really a reason to stick around for 6 Episodes).

But I also think it's partially just to do with the fact that humans and naturally like to be contrarians.

When the anime was announced, everyone who read the manga was quick to praise it to the High Hills and say that the peak of psychological crap was about to be blessed upon the anime community.

Naturally, this catapulted the average Joe's expectations to unreasonable heights, and when the anime naturally didn't change their way of life within a week, they were quick to jump on it and say that the show actually sucked, As well as taking advantage of common criticisms of the first few chapters such as Nao being: 'stupid,' and stuff.

But now, because the debates have become so vocal, now, people are naturally wanting to swing the other way. People hear about Liar Game and see the debate and get interested, and since the majority of people who aren't already fans are claiming it sucks, new people are watching the show and deciding that it's not that bad at all, and thus are defending it.

Look basically anywhere, whether it's IMDB, MyAnimeList, or any random YouTube reaction video, And there are quite a handful of people who seem genuinely new to the franchise and actually like it. Saying it's genuinely fun to watch, that they didn't see stuff coming, and that Akiyama is the new Light Yagami. They're all fun Comments! :)

Second post in a row, yeah.

So, there's the obvious pulls that Contraband acts as a good finale in general and >!Revival Round 2!< acts as a glorified warm up where we get to see our 3 main characters shine before the return of Yokoya.

But, I also find that >!Revival Round 2!< marks the start of an overall different vibe than what came before.

For instance, violence officially starts becoming a penalty in the Games. Minority Rule and Contraband Game both have instances of Players getting violent with no penalties, but Season 2 would mark the end of that.

Season 2 would also feature a shift of the Masked Dealers in the back officially getting way more screentime and explaining more things to the audience as many of the Strategies have now become incomprehensible without them. Funny how Yokoya's first Strategy in Musical Chairs, which really didn't need to be explained, was explained very clearly to the audience by Yokoya Himself and not the Dealers. 😆

Season 2 also famously would make the start of >!Fukunaga embracing her more feminine apperance.!<

Season 2 also >!literally ditches most of the cast. I think people often forget that you kind of grow attached to the people who we have for Downsizing Game and Contraband Game. And then they're all just abruptly kicked out at the end and we're left with Nao, Akiyama, Fukunaga, Yokoya, his fickle minions, and Akagi.!<

But also, I find that manga itself just has an overall different vibe from that point onward. It focuses a lot more on Nao's ideals and Yokoya's hatred for her purity.

Of course, it's not like Liar Game was Unknown before this anime came along. The manga was popular enough, and it had a J Drama which spawned 2 Seasons, 2 Movies, and a handful of Specials, as well as a K Drama.

But still, I feel having an anime gives something some: 'Stamp of approval,' in the eyes of the public.

And even still, lots of the supposed greatest manga ever- Vagabond, 20th Century Boys, Billy Bat, Oyasumi Pun Pun, Usogui, The Climber- None of those have anime.

And yet Liar Game has somehow beat them.

Cooler still, lots of anime literally get 12 Episodes and that's it. Battle Game in 5 Seconds for instance Is considered a pretty underrated manga, and yet it just got 1 one cour Season and that was it.

Hi, I made a post a couple days ago where I talked more generally, but I want to focus on one specific moment during the final sessions with my therapist that has still bugged me to this day.

Of course, I'm not saying that my therapist asked me this question and that alone made me decide to stop seeing her. There were a lot of moments that proved that she wasn't really understanding who I was anymore that led me to make the decision to stop seeing her, but this specific question was basically the Pinnacle of it. The ultimate example of just how little of an idea she had as to what I was going through.

The question was probably pretty simple and entirely innocent and well-meaning on her part, but it was-

"How many friends do you have?"

I genuinely don't understand how she could possibly think this was a good question to ask me. Up until this point, I demonstrated that I had extreme levels of social anxiety. I am constantly in a state of worry about losing friends. I've been betrayed by friends, abandoned by them, deserted by them when I needed the most, however you want to put it, I've experienced it.

And the thing is, my brain is constantly in battle with itself. I'm simultaneously trying to juggle remembering who actually are the friends that I can reach out to, while also simultaneously trying not to actually put too much emphasis on it, because anyone can leave at any point.

What made it worse was that my therapist didn't just ask that question, but followed it up with:

" { X } is one."

She was naming one person who I had talked about quite a bit, but what blew my mind was that I don't know how she got the idea that I genuinely saw that person as a friend. On the contrary, I saw that person as kind of overly abrasive. Every single time I ever brought up this person, it was in the context of them stressing me out, so I genuinely don't know how she got the idea that I would consider that person at the top of my list of friends.

It was like my therapist was genuinely trying to promote the idea that I should spend more time with this person who was toxic and not good for my mental health.

I'm making this post because I honestly just almost had a panic attack this morning. There is someone who I considered one of my close friends, and I still do because there's not enough evidence to prove that they've abandoned me yet. They are in another city and we were calling each other roughly once a month. There was absolutely nothing to indicate that they were uncomfortable with any of the calls, and on the contrary, when I expressed that I was worried they were uncomfortable, they assured me they weren't.

But we were supposed to call each other last Saturday, and they haven't responded to my messages. Over the last week, I've messaged them five times, trying to keep it as low pressure as possible, and I messaged them once on Instagram too just in case if something happened to their phone number. But nothing. I genuinely have no clue what is happening to them, but obviously I'm fearing the worst which is that they might have just ghosted me, which has happened to me before lots of times.

As I was making myself breakfast, my brain started to try and count the friends that I still could reach out to, and I literally just dropped everything I was holding and fell to the ground screaming, because I genuinely just can't handle that stress of trying to keep track of who is still my friend and who isn't.

And every time I think about this crap, that question keeps coming back to my head, haunting me.

"How many friends do you have?"

It's nuts.

Minor Spoilers ahead in terms of the names of arcs and some characters.

This is all just speculation and I just want to remind people- Even if Season 2 isn't announced, that's okay- Trillion Game also only got 1 two cour Season. And Kakegurui, while it had a hit of popularity, has died down and its fans are eagerly awaiting a Season 3. Animes just kind do stuff sometimes.

Anyway, the way Season 1 is formatted is honestly brilliant. To end on the Contraband Game makes total sense with it acting as the Finale to this whole psycological warfare.

Also, >!Nao giving her talk to Yokoya will be a brilliant way to end the Season and show her potential.!<

>!Then, you get Season 2 with Revival Round 2 acting as a refresher and glorified warm up and showing the potential of our 3 main characters, before we get the return of Yokoya, and Musical Chairs acting as the Finale.!<

... But then what?

>!The next logical step is to adapt the final 2 arcs to wrap it all up, but they're kinda considered bummers. Musical Chairs is kinda infamous for setting up another big 3-way showdown only for it to... Never actually happen. (Then again, Classroom of the Elite is also infamous for setting up Conflicts that never actually happen, so who knows?)!<

>!It feels almost like a potential Season 3 could just tick off any Anime only fans who view it, because it would be like Season 2 delivered Peak and then Season 3 just did some bummer stuff and then wrapped it all up with a big: 'That's all folks!' If they throw in: 'The Last Game,' though, it could deliver.!<

It's hard to live in this world that seems to constantly beat me down. I'm fortunate in some ways, but not in others. I constantly feel belittled, ignored, excluded, and misjudged by people.

And I constantly have to remind myself that there are so many people that have it so much worse.

Sometimes though I sit back and wonder- Could this be a genuine sign of reincarnation being real?

Don't get me wrong, I know it would be easy for anyone to respond to this post and say that life just sucks sometimes.

But I find believing his in literal Karma and reincarnation actually has things make a lot more sense.

The basic kind of deal is that you'll live your current life, and then when you die, you'll be reborn as a different person, and correspondence to how you lived your previous life.

If you bullied someone in one life, you'll be bullied in your next.

If you helped someone in one life, you'll be helped in your next.

And then the idea that while you don't directly remember any of your previous lives, it's possible that your conscience is literally the memories of your previous lives leaking in. The gut feelings you have. The times when you want to do something but your brain keeps screaming at you that it's wrong. That's your previous lives desperately trying to break through and put you on the right track so that you don't end up having a worse life next time.

I must have done a lot of bullying in my previous life. I must have ignored and excluded a lot of people. Made them feel worthless and unlovable...

And yet, my conscience is pretty strong. Sometimes I feel like I have so many voices in my head telling me various things. You know, not like literal voices, but just feelings. I wonder just how many previous lives I might have lived.

One thing's for sure, in my next life, when I'm giving more opportunities and this current version of me is locked away on the other side of the door and forced to watch whatever my next self does and I simply act as a voice in their head-. I'm going to be very loud.

Hello, and welcome to another defence of Arthur's most critisized and misunderstood Episode.

I'm a certified So Funny I Forgot to Laugh defender. I've heard all of the criticisms and I believe that they're all misplaced.

The main criticism people use is that Arthur is: 'Out of character.' that a completely good and perfect person like him would never stoop so low as to bully someone else.

And yet here are two episodes where Arthur is completely insufferable.

In Prove It, Arthur is absolutely refusing to accept the idea that D.W. is an intelligent kid. Seriously, the first half of the episode makes it literally impossible to root for Arthur, unless if you're already riding the D.W. hate train. D.W. the is just trying to be included, and is trying to learn, but Arthur literally does everything he can to sabotage her attempts at this, labeling her as just an annoying little sister.

Say what you will about other episodes, but D.W. is completely justified in everything she does and says here. Even if she completely lashed out and cried, I wouldn't have blamed her, but she didn't. She rose above that, remained calm, and actually did some incredibly impressive scheming, especially for a 4-year-old. Heck, I would be impressed if a fully grown adult had this level of planning. And yet, even by the end of the episode, Arthur is only barely able to register in his head that D.W. that did something impressive.

In Francine and the Friendly Feline, Arthur is equally as insufferable. In fact, I would argue that he's even more insufferable in this episode, because at least in Prove It, D.W. in manages to get him confused at a few times throughout the episode, escalating as the episode goes on.

Here though, Arthur is just completely convinced that literally all cats are evil. Straight up.

Arthur is literally just the bad guy of this episode. There's literally no other way to interpret it. I know that obviously he's supposed to just be a regular guy, and there are other episodes that like to poke fun at the fact that our babies and pets might be more intelligent than we make them out to be, and us not understanding their emotions might have to do more with us not paying attention than them not being able to talk.

The fact that Pal is so upset that he doesn't get to see Nemo, and Arthur interprets it as him being scared to even be near Nemo is beyond a face palm moment. It also makes me feel incredibly bad for Pal as it must be incredibly frustrating for him to not just be isolated by someone he gets along with, but to be isolated, specifically by his own owner, who remains completely clueless as to how he actually gets along with Nemo.

I dunno. I've always said that So Funny I Forgot to Laugh is meant to represent how people who are often seen as well behaved can often be oblivious to the bullying that they receive.

I stand by that. I've been on both the receiving and and giving end of that. When I was in elementary school, I was often seen as the well-behaved kid of the class, and on those rare times where I did do something that was a little bit too far, it was hard for me to accept it, because I genuinely wasn't used to being told I was wrong.

On the other hand, now I've grown up, and I've seen TONS of people who have treated me poorly, or treated others poorly. And yet, they simply can't register in their head that they actually hurt someone's feelings, largely because they're surrounded by people who are constantly praising them, telling them that they're and amazing person and essentially can do no wrong.

These two episodes kind of prove that. Arthur isn't essentially a role model. Yeah, his name is in the title, and he's in most of the episodes, but he doesn't always get it right.

So, my mom and dad split up when I was about 12. It didn't really affect me. My dad got together with someone new who became my stepmom, but honestly I believe she was very toxic. Me and her have sort of managed to reconcile after I made it very clear how upset I was with how she treated me being my teenage years, but it's clear that like her personality is still the same. She's still someone who just doesn't seem to think about things. It's just now I know to keep my distance and not invest that much into her.

Back when I lived with her and Dad (I would alternate between weeks of living with them and living with my mom), when I was like 13 years old or something, there was a time when my stepmom did a complete and makeover of the house, changing all of the furniture and everything. I'm someone who hates change, so I didn't take this very well, and I was pretty upset. My stepmom did apologize for it, but it wasn't like a sincere apology where she said that she didn't realize how much that original layout meant to me or anything. She said it almost passive aggressively, out of annoyance. And to be fair, it was her house, and she's allowed to change it however she wants. I just felt weirded out that she didn't give me any sort of warning.

For pretty much the entire duration that I lived there, Me and my step brother would share a room. My stepsister had a room of the same size, and my older stepsister basically got the entire basement to herself. Me and my step brother brought up a few times that this seemed unfair, as we were both two people being expected to share a very small room, while my little stepsister got a room of the same size all to herself, and my older stepsister got the entire basement all to herself.

I didn't expect my dad in stepmom to take this criticism seriously, but it turns out they did. One time I came home and it turns out that they had completely switched our rooms.. without telling me again.

This time, I didn't make any complaints, and simply kept a smile and was grateful. Technically, this is what we had been asking for. Although inside, again, I couldn't help but wonder why they had such a habit of wanting to do these huge makeovers without giving me any sort of warning, especially after I had made it so clear previously that I didn't like that.

About a year later, once again, I came to their place and went down into the basement, my new room that was now shared with my step brother, only to find that once again, a huge makeover had been done.

This time, I wasn't nearly as passive. I had a stressful day at school, and I was becoming more and more discomforted at being in that house with every time I visited it, and I just hoped to be able to escape into the basement and just have a little time to myself, only to find that now I had to deal with literally all of my crap being in different places.

The thing is, I know that my stepmom was just trying to make the room better for us... But honestly I don't really feel like that's it. The fact that she kept doing this without asking our permission, and then acting like this was a gift that I had to accept or else I was a bad person, was just so bizarre. She was very clearly just doing these makeovers for herself, and them pretending like they were a present that I had to be grateful for.

So, I refused to be grateful this time. I was already exhausted that day, so I just asked out of genuine distress where my various things were, and once my stepmom got the picture that I was very clearly not happy with what she did, she left the basement angry, yelling that I can just put everything back the way it was.

I didn't say anything back to her. I simply just sat on my bed and continued to sulk.

My Dad seemed to understand my discomfort, and there was one point where he did say that he understands that it can be difficult when someone does something to try and help someone else, only to find that they don't like it.

When he said that, I felt kind of bad for my stepmom. But again, I don't understand why she kept changing everything around without giving me any sort of warning, let alone asking me if I even wanted anything to be changed.

Honestly, I kind of wonder what would have happened if I did talk back to her that day. But when she left the room declaring that I can just put everything back the way it was, part of me kind of wishes that I chased after her and demanded that She put it all back. After all, she had changed everything. Why should I be the one to put it all back?

In previous times I've brought up this Theory, people have often shot it down saying that it goes entirely against Kouenji's character.

But I want to remind you, that while everyone wants to see Kouenji get serious, THAT in itself would be against Kouenji's character, regardless of the context.

So I feel it's important to consider every Theory, and not just dismiss them because it doesn't fall in line with what we know of characters so far. Remember, good stories actually have their characters grow, change, and do unpredictable things. And when you look at it, the Theory the I'm about to present would have Kouenji only doing the third of those things- Doing unpredictable things- Which has been his character built up this whole time.

Now- The Theory-

Kouenji is planning to take over as Class Leader.

I know, scoff, spit, claim. I know nothing about this franchise or this character.

Okay, now that that's out of the way-

What we are seeing out of Kouenji doesn't make sense no matter how you look at it. We know that his dad has placed a bet that his current Class will graduate from Class A.

And yet, Kouenji has yet to actually Do anything.

But I feel this isn't necessarily bizarre. After all, if Kouenji just decided to actively start helping his Class just because of a bet with his dad, that would definitely weaken his whole representation as a character and worldview. He would just come across as some scared kid who doesn't want to follow anybody's orders, but will cower and fear at the face of his own parents.

Thus, to protect his pride, but also win the bet and obtain his freedom, Kouenji is planning to let his Class fall and Then step in.

As of now, Horikita's Class is Still Class A, so Kouenji Technically doesn't have any reason at all to do anything. If this were the end of the Year, he would win the bet regardless.

But for now, Kouenji is planning to let Horikita's Class fall As low as he can let it while still being able to obtain a victory at the end.

Then, once of the Class has fallen, Kouenji will step in with the ultimate argument to de-thrown Horikita.

He will point out that Horikita had been working under Ayanaokoji's shadow.

So far, Kouenji is the only member of his Class who is aware of this, and fine with this.

Once Kouenji exposes this, the entire Class would turn on Horikita. Not just for keeping this a secret, but it will also make Ayanaokoji look entirely justified in Switching Classes.

Suddenly, Ayanaokoji's betrayal wasn't because he's a traitor. It wasn't because he was a bad or selfish person. It was because he felt unvalued. It was because he was constantly putting in the work, I never getting the recognition, so he defected, to escape the dictatorship of Horikita who never let him be seen.

Of course, this isn't actually what happened, but it would definitely be how it would be perceived, and that would be the perfect opportunity for Kouenji to de-thrown Horikita.

After that, I'm not quite sure what would happen, but I'm fairly certain that it would involve Kouenji taking a victory at the next Special Exam and using that to promote himself as Class Leader.

I'm not quite sure what the end game of this would be, or what kind of Leader Kouenji would be, and again, I'm not saying that this Theory definitely will happen, but I feel it's a possibility.