Sakura Shouldn't Be Popular

Hey, this blog is a part of Tag Team Debates. We've decided we're going to have little mini debates over smaller topics between two people. If you've seen the whole "was Togami justified" debate on the front page, then you should get the gist of this. The topic here is "Should Sakura be Popular" to which I have the negative side. Check out this person for the opposing side to my argument. You might also want to read until the end because I just figured out all these sections are more like evidence towards a certain point instead of individual points.

Anyways, let's get started.

Is it Wrong to Say a Character Shouldn't be Popular?

I feel like I can hear this coming from the far corner of my mind slowly eating away at me. Obviously the answer to this question is going to be no since that's what this blog is about. I'm not necessarily trying to say that Sakura doesn't deserve any love that she gets or that she is a character you're supposed to despise.

The debate here stems from Sakura being a character that you don't see talked about too often. She doesn't have a huge fanbase, people don't hate her but they don't really love her either. Thus, the question comes up on whether she should be popular or not. Again, the approach I'm taking to this will not be that she deserves hate and what not. Perhaps the point I'll make through this won't align with the argument Oli is making, but my answer is still a response to the question. So, it should be argued as such.

The argument exists so it should be elaborated upon.

Her Character

Now, Sakura is neither well-liked nor is she hated. Thus, she is perceived as very neutral but not in the sense that she is a mix between both good and bad qualities. If there was a noticeable problem with her character, then people would talk about it. For instance, people may dislike Teruteru for his distasteful perverted jokes but they might like him for the moments before his "death", thus they feel neutral about him. However, I see more people talk about how they dislike Teruteru for his pervertedness rather than any trait they may like about him. They may say his situation with his mother was nice and made him somewhat redeemable, but it's not enough.

Basically, people want a good character. If they weren't expecting anything horrible or amazing, then they're expecting to like these characters you're (supposedly) supposed to like. From there, they can either be disliked or they can excel beyond expectations. This is finally where Sakura comes in.

The character of Sakura Oogami isn't one that grows to be a fan favorite through her personality or backstory, and there's nothing really offensive about her character either. She lacks a reason to dislike her, so unlike Teruteru, people don't have a reason to talk about her. She meets expectations and there's nothing done with those expectations.

Sakura's character seems to be one of the most inoffensive and straight forward characters I've seen in Danganronpa. She's the gentle giant trope. She looks scary and angry but she's actually really kind and friendly. Sakura's bond with Asahina and essentially the entirety of chapter four exaggerates these traits. During chapter one, she allowed Asahina to sleep with her for the night. In chapter four, she committed suicide because she didn't want to harm anyone else, she placed everyone else's lives above hers and she knew killing another person would only make Monokuma happy. This is despite the fact that her classmates labeled her as a traitor, outcasted her and attempted to kill her twice.

Imagine if Sakura killed someone else instead or if she had even had murderous intent in the first place. People's reaction to her would be completely different, heck, the point of her character would be completely different, the entirety of the chapter would change. Whether that would be for better or for worse, we'll never know, but in of Sakura's character, it would add so much more to it.

However, with the way her character turned out, why would you hate her? The act of initial distaste is supposed to be apart of the gentle giant trope, you're supposed to think she's this large, loud "bully" character when she's not in reality. She's presented as being so noble and so kind that you're not supposed to dislike her. The trope is not changed, but it's emphasized. However, we already stated before that her type of personality isn't all that eye catching. She's neutral in and out to the audience.

So, then the question becomes, "Was it intended to be this way" and "Were we supposed to care about her overall?"

Lack of Focus

Of course the previous questions can't be completely answered, but there are factors in the way her character is presented that contribute to these questions.

It's no shocker that Sakura isn't a main character and that main characters tend to be more popular. By default then, Sakura is automatically less popular than whomever is a main character. In the case of THH, I'd say it's safe to assume that Naegi, Kirigiri and Togami are main characters. A clear focus is put on these three characters. Naegi is the protagonist, Kirigiri has a "mysterious" aura around her and she helps with class trials, and Togami's a douchebag that just won't stop being a douchebag (and that's why we love him).

A character doesn't need to be a main character to get focus. All murderers will have their moments before death to , and characters like Ishimaru were placed in the spotlight for a little bit while he cries out in pain at the loss of his friend. In cases like Chihiro, it's what we learn during the trial that puts focus on them. It's a completely new idea to the audience (supposedly) that Chihiro's a guy, so the player has time to think about Chihiro and how this new information relates to their character.

Sakura seems to fit some of these roles somewhat. She technically was a murderer, heck, she got focus all throughout chapter four because of the whole traitor business along with her suicide.

So why wasn't enough focus put on her in chapter four for people to care about her?

Aoi Asahina

Chapter four was supposed to be Sakura's chapter (in of her character alone). The victims as victims in Danganronpa don't get too much focus. You spend the entire trial talking about their corpse, but that's just it, their corpse. Sakura is a bit different. She was both the victim and the killer, and everything seemed as if she would get a lot of focus. You see the moments before her death (as a victim, although this does fill in the hole left of these moments as a killer) and you get an explanation as to why she killed herself. However, the way these were presented is what pulls her back from focus, and that is all due to Asahina.

Aoi was the more centered character in majority of these situations. She plays the would be killer in this trial, and in trials it is towards the end that all focus gets put on the killer. It's similar to Ishimaru's sorrows at the end of the second trial, but she's way more involved since she oh idk, did that thing where she wanted to kill everyone. When we experience Sakura's moments before death, it's in the context of Aoi being upset about it. It is viewed as more of a reason why Aoi is in such distress as opposed to what Sakura did before her death. Sakura's suicide note appeared to be less of a reason why she committed suicide and more of why Aoi planned to kill everyone in her moment of despair.

In the trial, Sakura was overshadowed by Aoi. Her important moments are always in the context of why Aoi is doing this or why she is feeling that. She ends up being more of a secondary character in all of this, just a stepping stone for Aoi's development as a character. You could compare this to how Chihiro was a gateway for Mondo's inner conflict of envying those stronger than him. However, like I stated earlier, we learned something new about Chihiro in the trial and that causes the player to think about their actions with this new information. We already knew Sakura was the traitor, and while we didn't know exactly what caused her to become the traitor beforehand, it's no surprise to us that it wasn't because she wanted to work with the mastermind.

Like I stated earlier, Sakura's personality doesn't take much of a turn throughout the game, it's only emphasized. There's either nothing new here or if there is anything new, then it's pretty expected. The fourth trial didn't want to focus on the dead, it wanted to focus on the character who could still grow because they were alive. This normally works but because Sakura's case is very different, it takes away from Sakura what shouldn't have been taken away. Aoi's kind of like a magnet attraction any attention from Sakura in this trial. Thus, Aoi can actually be considered on of the reasons for Sakura's unpopularity.

So Why Shouldn't You Like Sakura?

As I stated in the beginning, I was going to answer this question at the end of the blog. So, what's my answer?

Sakura shouldn't be popular because of why she isn't popular. All the reasons I've listed above contribute to her unpopularity, and that is why I believe Sakura doesn't need to be popular. It's not because she's a bad character, it's because the basics of her character and the events that play out in the story aren't what a character needs to be popular. Perhaps this wasn't on purpose, but the point still stands that these are factors implemented into the game. For every action and character in the game, there are consequences among the fandom. The way Sakura was created and presented doesn't mimic that of a popular character.

Sakura should not be a popular character because of the factors that contribute to this unpopularity. I'm not saying she deserves hate, I'm not saying you should dislike her. I'm saying that she shouldn't be popular because that's just how her character is.

Conclusion

That's it for the debate portion of this blog. It was nice to work on this and I hope Oli (that person you should toootally check out) feels the same. I knew that taking this side of the argument is like treading on thin ice, but I thought that trying to do something different with the perspective other than "this character should die in a hole, they shouldn't be popular" would both represent my own opinion more and sort of turn the meaning of this topic. That's also why I said at the beginning that this might not align with Oli's argument very well because I figured they were going the "this character is good and you should think so too" route.

I do have a question I would like to off to you guys along with this topic of debate.

If Sakura was not buff and she had more focus put on her, what would you think about her then?

I believe that is all, have a nice day!

#TTDv3