Oh A Fellow Rika Lover! Any Thoughts On Her As A Whole? Everyone Views Her Differently And She's Certainly

Oh a fellow Rika lover! Any thoughts on her as a whole? Everyone views her differently and she's certainly a very complex character with lots of layers to her (another reason why she's one of my faves!). Maybe how would you interpret her own happy ending?

Hello, fellow Rika lover!!

I'll put my thoughts under a "read more", partially because I fear this will get lengthy and partially because I know Rika is a sensitive subject for many people!

Also putting a TW for SA and general abuse!

Honestly, I find Rika to be an extremely relatable character, at least from my perspective. She's a good (albeit exaggerated) example of what can happen if people who need help are abandoned.

A rough background is never justification for crime, but it can help explain it. This is a girl whose earliest memories are in an orphanage, who only had one person she could rely on. When she was stripped away from Mika, she at least thought she would have a happy, loving family.

Instead she lived a life where abuse came at her from all angles. Emotional and psychological abuse by her mother, physical and sexual abuse from the priest. She was treated like she was worthless--no, worse. She was treated like she was evil, a scourge upon the earth, devilspawn that would plague everything she touched.

She didn't want to be evil. She genuinely wanted to be a good girl and just have someone love her and be proud of her. But she turned to that "devil" that everyone made her out to be as a defense mechanism. If it kept her safe... how could it be a devil?

She genuinely strove to be a good person. She took in Sally, a stray, because she saw her own loneliness and neglect in that dog. She did originally want to use charity to help others. She went to a different church from the one she grew up attending, so that she could have a fresh life where nobody would judge her from the second she arrived, and she could actually help out.

The problem is that she still was missing that love. By the time she met V, she was... 18, if I recall correctly? 18 years of being unloved. By then she figured she had to be someone else, put on a mask in order to be liked, let alone loved.

And V was her sun. V, who could capture beauty and warmth in photos that Rika could have only dreamed of. She saw light and love and passion in his work. Truly, Rika at her core is a romantic, because V was genuinely surprised to hear her explanations and theories of his photos. He was the one who said, "Huh. It wasn't that deep for me, but part of the charm of art is that it means something different to everyone who sees it. I'd love to hear more about your beautiful, romantic visions of my pieces."

She saw his sunlight and wanted it for herself. But just having the sun in her arms wasn't enough. When V started calling Rika his sun, too... she wanted to become the sun. Because she saw the sun as a mother who gave a warm embrace to all of her children on earth. Rika had never known that warmth, and she needed it. Physically, mentally, emotionally.

Of course, we all saw how everything spiraled when Mika was dying, when Sally died, when Rika turned into a black hole that began to suck up the sun. V didn't--and couldn't--give her what she needed, and she snapped.

Candidly, I don't think that's too unrealistic. Growing up in an environment of abuse, and reaching out desperately to be loved but everything keeps falling apart around you. She went into survival mode, and that meant relying on her "devil." The darkness inside her protected her, and she couldn't give up on it entirely when it had saved her time and again. She didn't want to give into dark desires, but she felt that she had to. She genuinely wanted to be the sun.

And I think that's something people miss in Another Story. In casual & deep, she's too far gone. But Another Story, she still has a tiny fragment of hope of being able to love and be loved. That's why she's so desperate to form her "happy family", and why she goes off the wall when Ray disobeys her. She doesn't know how a mother is supposed to love. She never had that love. It's not good, it's not excusable, and it's not pretty.

But it's all she knew.

Rika is someone who had more masks than she had names (and she had three of those). She never was able to just exist as herself, always trying to fit a mold someone made for her (i.e. her mother), or to become someone else who lived a life she wanted (i.e. V). She lost herself along the way.

I think she genuinely loved the RFA, and to a certain extent did believe she could "save" them. She advertised Mint Eye as a haven for other outcasts, as a place where those who'd been scorned by the rest of the world could find solace and love. She had to become their sun, their Savior.

But Rika never had anybody to save her.

Now, common critiques are that she should've gone to therapy longer. And let me tell you, if you have a bad therapist? You don't want to go back. There is nothing more emotionally taxing than pouring out your heart and fears and insecurities and troubles to a stranger. Sometimes you get lucky, and you get someone who's patient and understanding and willing to work with you.

Sometimes you get a horrible person who invalidates your feelings, talks over you, and flat-out tells you, "You're too unstable for me to handle. Go get on medication then come back to me." (Speaking from experience, here.)

And that hurts! Having someone spit on the very essence of your soul! Picking yourself back up to find another therapist and pray things go better is... it's one of the toughest things a person can do. I can't blame Rika if she had a terrible therapist.

Plenty of people like to blame V, and let's be honest, he has his faults too. He couldn't give Rika the love she needed because he was so focused on fixing her. No, seriously, he went, "I can fix her. I can help her." But he's someone else whose intentions were pure. He saw how his father abandoned his mother, and he never wanted to do that. He saw a woman in need, and he thought of his mother. He had to help her. His conscience told him to, and he didn't want another ghost on his hands. He's self-sacrificing to a fault, and he's also insanely stubborn. He decided he'd follow her to hell and back to save her. It wasn't love, it was obsession, and he didn't realize that until it was too late. It was a moral fixation.

They both needed help. They weren't right for each other. But they clung to each other and fed off each other, and that's why V has a tragic end in every route but his own. Rika doesn't even get that.

So, I don't condone Rika's actions. But I can say that it's easy to see how someone with pure intentions and a will to do good... can lose themselves in a world that is so vile and full of malice, hate, despair, and suffering. I see Rika, and I see my own struggles to stay afloat in a world that wants me dead, as a queer Jewish AFAB person living in Florida. I see my own struggles with narcissistic parents and how I'm constantly second-guessing my thoughts and feelings. But I digress.

Anyway, a happy ending for Rika? Cottagecore lesbian. I'm not even kidding. Gosh, she's so lesbian-coded. Don't get me started. Nope, I'm starting, but I'll keep it brief.

Basically, oppressive Catholic upbringing telling her she's a devil who's going to hell no matter what and she has to take the abuse if she wants to be saved. She clings to the first person who shows remotely any interest in her well-being and thinks it's love. Rika is a lesbian who had to suppress her feelings or else damn herself further, and she clung to a man in a serious case of compulsory heterosexuality because he was kind to her and she was not accustomed to that. Look at the V bad ending where she seduces MC. She has way more chemistry with MC than she ever did with V. That's a comphet lesbian with gender envy of her ex, your honor.

Let her live in a cottage in the woods, far from the hustle & bustle of the city. Let her live alone with a woman where they bake pies and cross-stitch and read and just exist peacefully. Get her another puppy. She needs peace, fresh air, and grass.

Oh A Fellow Rika Lover! Any Thoughts On Her As A Whole? Everyone Views Her Differently And She's Certainly

Screenshots to show that I'm not just pulling my Rika analysis out of thin air, lol.

She's extremely insecure and has horrible fear of abandonment. But she was failed at so many levels: the orphanage, the church, V, therapy.

I want nothing more than to see Rika be happy.

More Posts from Nazusuki and Others

nazusuki

5 months ago

funny. it's so quiet here.

the noises in my head've died down.

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nazusuki

10 months ago

I think not nearly enough people comprehend just how messed up Rika's and V's relationships truly was, actually. It is so easy to get hyperfocused on the big climax of their toxic obsession: the cult, the physical violence, and the secrets. But, like... You ever actually sit down and think about the sheer fact that V looked at Rika: a hurt, traumatized girl, terrified of being her true self, desperate for love she didn't even have a clear idea of in her own mind, safe for some very vague feeling she deemed to be 'love', and... He saw beauty in it. He was never malicious about it, nor did he even realize it fully, not until MC came into his life and pushed him into reevaluating his own worth as well as his views on what love truly is. But, at the time, he saw all that hidden pain and trauma in her, and he saw beauty in it. He was intrigued by it. It fascinated him. He desired to transform it into something even more stunning with his own two hands, analogous to an artist fixing his next big masterpiece. And she was his masterpiece. One he would paint and bend and mold into something he knew he wanted to achieve. It wasn't even a want, it was a craving. Not really knowing that he was just so racked with guilt and self-hatred after his mother's death, that he was merely trying to prove himself to no one but his own troubled and scared mind. To prove to himself that he could be an artist, and that he really could love like the sun. That he could save someone this time around, instead of losing them. Because, truth is, he could never be an artist, not in the way his soul truly longed for.

Rika was both his muse and his creation at the same time.

That's why he never encouraged her to get the help she desperately needed if she didn't want to do it herself. That's why he never got involved in any extreme ways until it became far too difficult for him to handle. That's why he told her time and time again that she was beautiful and perfect just the way she is, even when she herself would doubt and be deeply disturbed by his eager willingness to sink into the deepest of lows for her.

In a way, neither of them truly knew each other. It's a fact that they cared for each other at one point in time. But they didn't see each other as equal individuals to grow and change alongside. For Rika, V was her sun she adored and loathed all the same. He was not a person, he was just an anchor that kept her steady and a cruel reminder of all she could never be. For V, Rika was his canvas to pour his locked away feelings onto. She was not a person, she was a living proof of his ability to create and love in a way he desperately craved.

And in the end, that destroyed and scarred both of them. Not only them, but also many completely innocent individuals who were caught in the crossfire.

What a big, complicated, and horrible mess these two are.

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mystic messenger rika kim kim rika jihyun kim kim jihyun they made me ill

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nazusuki

10 months ago

"You are the sun, I am the moon.. and my love is the ocean as I swoon. Let's eclipse and become one for a moment that lives on in our memories with bliss.. let the stars watch, I will love you in front of them all. Each night I rise, every morning I fall.."

We are a part of the universe, you and I.. the same stars birthed us, the very stars that I look up to every night and think of you - eUë

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quotes

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nazusuki

10 months ago

That Anon made me go back and glance at Saeyoung’s After Ending since I don’t really go there that much. Most of the time, i just head into the Secret Ending to replay that content, but I had to do a double-take because I forgot about this detail. Apparently, his dream Toy Shop is unbelievable to look at… This isn’t located near his bunker, but it might as well be according to Jumin. What the hell does this Toy Shop look like, Saeyoung?

I don’t even think I could draw a model of this! Hey, Saeyoung MCs, do you have an idea what this man would create this building to look like?

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saeyoung choi mysme mystic messenger analysis choi saeyoung

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nazusuki

9 months ago

kith

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mdzs mdzs fanart xuexiao

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nazusuki

9 months ago

How do you feel Wen Ning's arc was handled? Was him leaving Wei Wuxian at the end too sudden?

I loved Wen Ning’s arc! I actually think his arc is among the best written. It’s about learning to be alive, with a motif of relying on connections to people but also realizing self-worth (he parallels Wei WuXian in this!)

If I can recommend this meta by @thisworldgodonlyknows about Wei WuXian and Wen Ning’s relationship, I think it explains Wen Ning’s arc well.

I think Wen Ning came to his own the moment he was spurred by his love and loyalty for Wei WuXian to defy Wei WuXian and tell Jiang Cheng and Lan WangJi the truth about Jiang Cheng’s core. He’d promised Wei WuXian he wouldn’t, but he realized that not telling Jiang Cheng was only harming Wei WuXian by allowing him to sink deeper into his martyr complex tendencies. Which, keep in mind, is something Wen Ning understands well, considering that he and Wen Qing tried in vain to sacrifice themselves to save Wei WuXian, which only resulted in Wen Qing’s death, Wen Ning winding up as a puppet of the Jin sect used for further villainy for thirteen years, and Wei WuXian still got killed. Oh, and the rest of his sect got killed. Which isn’t to say Wen Ning was wrong to sacrifice himself for Wei WuXian but is to say there is definitely a narrative question about whether his lack of self-worth played a role in him sacrificing himself (just like it did for Wei WuXian sacrificing his reputation). Side note: I’d say MDZS condemns society for forcing them into this position, not either of the characters.) But the reason Wen Ning breaks apart from Wei WuXian is because he’s realized the limits of protecting people and tells Jiang Cheng the truth.

The reason Wen Ning winds up as a puppet is because he’s had no belief in himself or belief in his strength, so he winds up as a super-strong zombie. But he would never have committed a murder of an innocent on his own–he did not as a Wen, even going so far as to save Jiang Cheng and Wei WuXian at great risk to his own life–but when he gives up his agency, this happens. Him turning himself in to the Jin Sect could only ever have resulted in tragedy because he was giving agency not to Wei WuXian, who truly cared about him and who was not nearly as corrupt as society was (and the Jin Sect at that point is representative of power in society).

His sacrificing himself (but surviving because he’s already dead) for Jiang Cheng and Jin Ling completes his internal need to atone, and so after that, he can truly live (though he’s dead). He does that again not because someone ordered him to do so–no one did–but because it is his own choice. He finds the one member of his family still alive—Wen Yuan—And they got to honor their family and build a centotaph for his sister. He then in extra chapters helps the juniors night hunt. He is not alone, and he’s able to live freely making his own decisions for the first time in his existence, unfettered by any guilt.

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mdzs wen ning mdzs analysis

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nazusuki

3 weeks ago

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oyasumi punpun

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nazusuki

3 months ago

Cocteau Twins: Head Over Heels (1983)

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sick

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nazusuki

10 months ago

it’s time for requests!!

Jaehee deserves all the love I agree anon!! I hope Jaehee’s beauty is saccompanied with the outift I’ve chosen for her - I imagine them strolling through the city like this… maybe they’re looking for new tableware (I now decided they own a collection of aesthetic cups lolol)

More requests will follow~ Thank you for requesting 🧡

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wlw mystic messenger mystic messenger fanart jaehee

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nazusuki

10 months ago

Collected Reading List for Hello Charlotte

I have collected every book either directly referenced (character names or bookshelves) or thematically relevant (that I can find. I am sure there are more.) in hc! Books marked with an * are the most relevant to the game/my personal recommendations. Notes under the cut.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest - Ken Kesey

The Kingdom of God Is Within You - Leo Tolstoy

Golden Apples of the Sun - Ray Bradbury

Physics of the Impossible - Michio Kaku

Physics of the Future - Michio Kaku

The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins

The Selfish Gene - Richard Dawkins

Bad Science - Ben Goldacre

Flatland - Edwin Abbott

On Aggression - Konrad Lorenz

Lullaby - Chuck Palahniuk

*Childhood’s End - Arthur Clarke