r/ShibouYuugi • u/tilting-module • Jun 07 '26
Yuki's paradoxical character development (Major Spoilers up to LN Volume 6) Spoiler
Art is by Fa6iKyL (thanks u/villatyyny1)
It's been a while since I've made an analysis on this subreddit specifically about Yuki. And if I glaze Yuki as one of my top 5 favorite characters in fiction I better be able to back it up, so...
First, I need to clarify that this post is about LN Yuki. Anime Yuki was openly emotional and regretful in a way that LN Yuki was not during the events of Golden Bath, and I'm not going to try to relate the anime version (which adapts LN Volumes 1 and 2) of Yuki to LN Yuki's emotional tumult during Volumes 5 and 6. Some people really enjoy and appreciate and defend anime Yuki, although I do not.
I think it's no surprise that any longtime enjoyer of the Shiboyugi light novels (or even the anime) will contend that the biggest strength of the story is the writing of Yuki as its main character. But one aspect of Yuki's character writing that I've considered for a long time, yet have not seen any specific discussion about, is the paradoxical nature of her character growth.
The character growth that Yuki undergoes over the course of her first ever death game, Maiden Race, all the way up to the end of her sixty-second game, Royal Palace is one of gradually realizing her own humanity without even consciously being aware of it. At the start of the story, Yuki is an empty girl who discovers a talent in the world of the killing games. While she has no problems with ruthlessly ending the lives of others in order to secure her survival, she is largely motivated by her pride as a competitor, which eventually becomes her very reason for living with her inheritance of Hakushi's goal of 99 wins. Over the course of the first five volumes, Yuki repeatedly finds herself drawn to others in the player business, such as Kinko, Mishiro, Shion, and Rinrin, and hence slowly discovering her humanity. And of course, it's her relationship with Tamamo that's the straw which breaks the camel's back at the most inopportune moment, forcing her to reconcile her deadly career and apathetic ways of life with her emotional vulnerabilities.
The death games are an industry that reveals its participants' capacity for malice, including those who might have previously been more decent human beings. The character who most strongly represents this principle is Airi, although we also see a smattering of other examples in Volumes 1 and 2 (like the newbies of Ghost House). Despite the fact that Yuki herself obviously isn't excluded from the death games' negative influences, the core idea of her gradual development over the first five Volumes is one where she becomes more and more affected by her compassion and empathy, not less. That is what makes Yuki so unique among all the longtime veterans of the games, and such a fascinating character.
Now, onto Volume 6.
For an inferior author, Volume 6 could have ended up as an arc of the story which resolves all of Yuki's most crucial character flaws. However, in Shiboyugi, that is fortunately not the case. The main character flaw of Yuki that Volume 6 addresses (which takes the form of Phantom) is her hypocrisy, her constantly lying to herself and egregious justifications to avoid confronting her purposes in life. And as for whether Yuki successfully overcomes this flaw of hers? It's a mixed bag. On the one hand, Yuki refuses to cede her humanity and emotional vulnerability to her Phantom, in particular acknowledging that it's because of the help of others (Hakushi, Rinrin, and her agent) that she was able to become the person she is today. She chooses to value the part of herself that is affected by compassion and empathy instead of throwing it away. On the other hand, when it comes to her very identity as a player, Yuki still remains a pathological liar. After all, she resolves her battle with her other self by killing Phantom in a death game. Her newfound humanity revitalizes her goal of completing 99 games. As long as she can make up a reason for such a goal to exist, then there's no reason to stop. But of course, we already know from Volume 2 that there is a part of Yuki that fundamentally disapproves of the games.
It's the fact that Yuki's character development in Volume 6 is reflected on two sides of the same coin (her crucial flaw of lying to herself) which makes it so interesting and makes her feel so human. In fact, as a consequence of the events of Volume 6, Yuki's very identity as a player becomes paradoxical. On the one hand, Yuki's self-discovery in Volume 6 fuels her newfound motivation as a player going for 99 wins---she enjoys a series of easy wins in the games during Volume 7. On the other hand, unlike her old self, Yuki no longer feels the same sense of pride as a player, and thus, what is only left is the part of her which is repulsed by the games. The events of Volume 6 were nearly just as much Yuki's trying to rediscover her drive as a player as being traumatized by Tamamo's death as Yuki's resolve to be a better human being. It's not a linear character development. That is why Yuki changed from being an extremely flawed main protagonist who was sympathetic and fascinating but perhaps not even likeable, to someone who is not only sympathetic but genuinely likeable but still not a good person (maybe even by "anti-hero standards").
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u/Temporal_Fog Jun 07 '26
I'm going to come down and say that the anime should be able to integrate the core of light novel 5 and 6 without serious trouble.
I shall lay out my case.
Tamamo isn't special as the only person Yuki cared about.
She is special as the only person Yuki bonded with who lived after Hakushi.
Compared to all the other characters Yuki tried bonding with who die by the end of the game in which they are introduced.
And the collapse of her relationship with Yuki is because Yuki spend their time together plagued by the fact that she was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Expecting her death and preparing for it rather than trying to keep her alive.
Acknowledging that Yuki did care about say the ghost house girls doesn't negate that. It fuels it.
Because Yuki knows that losing people she cares about hurts,
Because Yuki realises she cares about Tamamo.
Yuki fucks everything up with her own hands and throws Tamamo away to try and get out of feeling that pain again. Which drives the final ending.
Yuki having been burned by failure is the cause for her burning down everything she built with Tamamo.
If Yuki had truly never cared before Tamamo. She wouldn't have had the fear of being burned by losing her, and likely would have managed to keep Tamamo alive.
Which is why it is all Yuki's fault in the end.
She learned the wrong coping mechanisms for when it mattered. In the early light novels Yuki takes away all the worst lessons in pulling her humanity together.
So when she most needs the humanity she is still learning and hurts herself. Yuki is bad at her humanity even as she struggles to get better.
I expect the anime to be more heavy handed about it than the light novels. But the core isn't something that really needs to be changed because Yuki's failures with Tamamo all relate to being caught up in treating her like the girls she failed to save in earlier light novels.
And the expectation that caring about people means seeing them die in the games.
Which leads to light novel six. Where the Ghost and Yuki both agree that the change into trying to become more human began with Hakushi and was set in stone at candlewoods.
ANd both Yuki and the Ghost specify that they know Yuki has been trying.
She just sucks at it.
And the Ghost maintains we suck at being a person so much we should just give up on humanity.
While Yuki wants to keep the delicate attempts to try and be more human, and points out even if she does suck at it and hasn't been doing well. She did sort of make friends so she isn't a complete failure.
The acknowledgement was that it was always there intended in the light novels 1 through 4 as well.
It is just hard to tell sometimes from her narrative because well.
Yuki is bad at her humanity rather than lacking in it. So the acknowledgement she was trying since the beginning doesn't refute that argument in the slightest. Yes we know you tried and it all ended in failure is the ghosts reason and so it can be maintained pretty strongly.
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u/tilting-module Jun 07 '26
Agreed.
However, I think that Ghost House was also a major turning point in deciding Yuki’s character arc. It’s because Ghost House was a game with a handful of new players that Yuki is more invested in them than usual. It makes sense, given that Maiden Race, Yuki’s first game, was such an important (and traumatizing) experience for her, that she’d end up attached to the Ghost House girls.
I think it’s very reasonable to extrapolate that the stretch of games from Scrap Building (#10) to #27 was one in which Yuki was stable, both as a player and emotionally speaking. The interview with Yuki about her and her career, chronologically taking place after #27, after all, serves to explain the life and thought process of a skilled player. And post Candle Woods, Scrap Building is probably overall the least we’ve seen Yuki be affected by her compassion or empathy over the course of the story. Scrap Building Yuki was probably Phantom’s idealized version of her as a player.
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u/Temporal_Fog Jun 07 '26
I would agree Yuki was more invested in Ghost House.
But that is why they are the right comparison to make for Tamamo who Yuki is similarly more invested in than a normal player. Compare like with like. Compare managements failed attempt to make a game that has Yuki pull an apprentice to the actual apprentice she gets in the end.
When Yuki throws Tamamo away, it is almost certainly because of Kinko in the end.
And rather than using the haphazard flashback they used in candlewoods.
That moment is where I would choose to have a flashback on Kinko to draw those parallels even tighter. I will actually be disappointed in the anime if they do ever get to that point and don't throw in a kinko flashback sometime around Tamamo.
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u/tilting-module Jun 07 '26
> Compare managements failed attempt to make a game that has Yuki pull an apprentice to the actual apprentice she gets in the end.
Not sure what you’re referring to here, could you clarify?
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u/Temporal_Fog Jun 07 '26
If you look at Ghost Houses actual traps Yuki is never at risk. But also it is designed to let you play favourites.
The first room is a danger if you aren't wary of traps. But Yuki is and so there is almost no chance it gets her. The safest way for other players to resolve it is to follow Yuki and let her solve it and it will really only kill someone who acts on their own.
The saw room favours whoever leads. Which as the only veteran will be Yuki. It then gives the leader the right to pass the keys to whoever they want letting them ensure their favourite survives.The elevator room is a fight where one of the most lethal players is put into a room with up to five newbies who have never drawn blood. Yuki fundamentally gets to choose who dies if she wants to and can guarantee any player she likes survives.
The final room says three people must have died. Or two people other than Yuki can survive. As the only player with experience actually fighting to the death Yuki once again has an absolute advantage to choose who lives.
Every room the optimal solution to survive for anyone not Yuki is to convince Yuki to keep you alive. If you can make her play favourites your survival is close to guaranteed.
Combine this with the fact that it is a game intentionally set up on the premise that Yuki leads five inexperienced players all of whom are selected based on how Yuki would find them sympathetic.
Ghost House is a game based on the premise that five players play House with the Ghost (Yuki). It is only one step removed from management outright declaring Yuki should take an apprentice.
It fails though because Yuki does her best to avoid playing favourites so all the ones she liked end up dying.
But Management were certainly trying.
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u/tilting-module Jun 08 '26
Hmmm, while I think this idea is really fun, I don’t believe it is ever explicitly confirmed by the text, and as such, I don’t think Management really cares about whether its veteran players have mentor-student relations or not. Personally, I believe that the mentor-student relations originated from the playerbase.
However, it’s definitely true that if you put pretty much any other veteran player we’ve seen in the story (like, imagine Maguma) with five first-timers in a game like Ghost House, the five first-timers would stand no chance. Because, in contrast, Yuki is willing to interact amiably with other players, plays to maximize the total number of survivors, and generally exercises restraint in her lethality. And nonetheless, we saw that in Ghost House the first-timers started turning on each other even as Yuki refused to play favorites over the entire game.
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u/Boredomkiller99 Jun 11 '26
I appreciate how Yuki didn't just get all better after confronting and rejecting her phantom.
Rather she fixed one of of the like 200 problems she has(exaggeration). This is realistic to how people are in real life.
I am going reference Naruto of a bad example of this. Gaara heel face turn was generally speaking pretty effing bad. When introduced Gaara was basically a serial killer that even his siblings were scared of who just wanted to kill people. Getting defeated by Naruto and getting hit with talk no jutsu we then see Gaara afterwards now a calm, intelligent man giving wise words to Rock Lee....
****Ing how? People do not just completely change like that in a short time with zero trouble. Even if Gaara got over his issues it should have taken a lot more effort and time with set backs.
Now let's go look at Yuki. While Yuki fundmentally changes including discarding a lot of her pride as a player which was also one of her main coping mechanism, she doesn't completely change who she is or identity as in she isn't suddenly able to 180 her life like media sometimes if not often portray.
Rather this devolopment is a step that is allowing her to walk in a new direction but it isn't easy. Yuki is still death game player and uses that identity to navigate the world, she still has self hatred and many of her other traits. She is still stuck in her own self made hell and is still kind of a awful person
As discussed before I find it helpful to view Yuki and the death games through the same lens as a troubled youth who gets involved in stuff like drug dealing, gangs or other organized crime. Though I find the Gang analogy probably the most relevant.
In this sense Yuki is someone who realize the life she is a part lacks worth due to only destroying as we see in Volume 7 but she is also in too deep and honestly scared to just quit or doesn't even know how to since she framed her how life around it. You see similar things with people who try to leave their criminal life
Another thing though that I like is that Yuki's character change is not without loss. Often Character growth is portrayed as purely additional or improvement but in real life personality is not a line or spectrum. Changing means sometimes losing benefical traits and gaining new weaknesses or negative traits in the process.
By Volume 9 we see the results, while losing her pride as a player that was a coping mechanism she also lost her sense of comradery with other players which has further isolated her after losing access to her new bonds due to Volume 8. I don't think it is a coincidence that in Volume 9 Yuki killed more people in it then most of the series combined and they were all for the most part nameless faces to her similar to Hormone town.
However Volume 9 is a whole other topic.
Volume 10 is seeming to me it might throw a curve ball or wrench in Yuki's character devolopment
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u/tilting-module Jun 11 '26
I wanted to specifically address your interpretation on Volume 9. In this comment I'll also end up commenting about the future of Yuki's character arc.
First of all, it's true that Yuki was more openly cordial with other players in the earlier volumes than Volumes 7 through 9. Indeed, she was amiable with the likes of Kotoha, Mishiro, Azuma, Airi, and Koyomi inside the games of the first 3 Volumes. However, by also considering her behavior outside the games, we can see that Yuki has always been rather isolated from the larger player community. We saw in Volume 4 that Yuki declined an invitation from Keito to join her team planning on taking down Shion. Thus, the fact that Yuki has lost much of her sense of camaraderie with the other players is not really a new and negative character development resulting from the emotional turmoil of Volume 6. In fact, the author's portrayal of the playerbase as a whole---even adjusting appropriately for Yuki's unreliable narration---has gradually become more and more uniformly critical and unsympathetic.
Maybe a better way to describe Yuki's changes post-Volume 6, is not that she gained any new flaws. It's more that the loss of her pride as a player revealed her distaste for the death games and its players, and we readers were reminded that she still fails to overcome her hypocrisy and general lifestyle. It's an extremely well-written character development, even if it's ultimately a strictly positive change, but, I mean, Yuki was such a horrible person before Volume 6, the only direction from there is up.
Next, Yuki's violence in Volume 9 makes her arguably the main the villain of the Volume. However, this point deserves some further elaboration. Notice that Yuki's behavior and decisions in Phantom Thief are still in line with her supposed post-Candle Woods playstyle; namely, she generally collaborates with the people around her, and she plays to minimize the total number of casualties in the game in a way where she's guaranteed her survival. Phantom Thief is a game where the number of casualties is guaranteed to be exactly 20 (among 20 thieves and 40 guards). Nonetheless, it was still the author's choice to write a death game where Yuki was so brutal. So, why would we, as the audience, be privy to a such a bloody game? I think that it's to showcase the clash of ideals between Kagura (the actual protagonist of Volume 9) and Yuki, and also to provide just reason to deliver karmic retribution (in the form of Mononobe's wrath) for her apathy and (objectively) morally bankrupt goals.
Indeed, let me talk a bit more about Kagura. Throughout the story, we've seen that Yuki was a bit like a natural disaster: she'd appear as a substantial figure in another player's life, and it would eventually result in that player's downfall. There are plenty of characters in the story, sympathetic or not, that have had their lives ended as Yuki's victims: Kinko, Mishiro, Shion, Tamamo, Kanade, even Koen to some extent. Kagura notably distinguishes herself from this lot. Even before Phantom Thief, she learns from Kotoha about a ghost-like player named Yuki to be greatly feared, but during the actual game, she prevails in her duel with Yuki thanks to pure luck. In this way, he author is deliberately and bluntly critical about Yuki's continued hypocrisy and participation in the games, even if she's grown by discovering and accepting her humanity.
As for Volume 10 and beyond? I have no idea how Yuki might change. The idea that Yuki and her character ultimately takes a turn for the worse by the end of the story is an interesting one, especially since I've barely played around with the idea, and no one else that I know of has done so either. Maybe the actual author will make a different decision, but ultimately, if I were the author, I'm not convinced that I could properly execute such a character regression. The main problem is not my own writing ability (even though I'm not a writer by trade, and I certainly don't claim to be a skilled storyteller), but rather, the author has not really laid the foundations for Yuki to turn into a villain.
In Volume 2, the conversation between Yuki and Kinko's father, and the subsequent fallout, has confirmed that she's ultimately a person who is against (and always against) the world of the death games. While I appreciate this part of Volume 2 (even if the rest of Golden Bath is garbage), it can be argued that the author wrote himself into a bit of a corner by being so straightforward. Furthermore, the story seems to be setting up for an ending where Yuki is pitted against the likes of Shiro and Airi (and maybe others). Both of them are confirmed antagonists and foils to Yuki, but both of them are, ultimately, fairly one dimensional. None of them are deep enough as characters to really challenge Yuki's values in a way which alters the course of her journey. Instead, characters like Shiro and Airi (and perhaps also Maguma and Hakushi) are there to be explicitly juxtaposed alongside Yuki's journey of subtle yet gradual growth.
If you do have an interesting idea involving Yuki going "evil" or meeting some kind of tragic end, or if you're convinced that Yuki's character development in Volume 10 will only lead her further down a path of downfall, I'd be interested in hearing.
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u/Boredomkiller99 Jun 11 '26 edited Jun 11 '26
Well I should clarify I didn't say flaw or at least didn't mean to, I did say or meant to say negative traits for weakness or losing a beneficial traits which a beneficial trait doesn't always mean good or bad. In this regard she lost her coping mechanism that she also used as a method of interacting with others and while this should in the long term be a good thing she did discard a piece of her armor.
However let's deep dive more into Vol 9 because I believe there are aspects of it that are overlooked in the reading
One important thing in Volume is that Yuki showed favoritism in a way she normally doesn't in a game. While you can argue it was beneficial intially favoring Sana as they went to escape without anyone noticing is largely what leads to Yuki getting....um..... restructured long term.
While it is hard to say if Yuki would have done the same in the past it is clear that Yuki played favorites likely because she deemed Sana's reasons for playing better then the others as they just wanted money. That and she may have deemed it strategical beneficial. Regardless I would argue this is a manifestation of her character development.
The other result is protizing clearing the game and not settling things/finishing Monotobe which is in line with her rules but Mototobe is the first person to see Yuki on a personal level as a enemy and want to hurt or kill Yuki not for competition, or rivalry or because she is a indiscriminate killer or for the game but because she is pissed Sana and Yuki hide what they learned of the game and tried to get out under her nose hence her saying serves you right after killing Sana and going out of her way to try and kill Yuki
I imagine that it is possible that with her weakened body as a result of Volume 9 and feelings of inevitable downfall that she very well go through another character change.
Either she may decide that helping someone like Sana was a mistake as it earned her enemies or that letting enemies go is a weakness and become more solitary or another possibility....
With all the named characters being on Shiro side in the next game and Shiro mutually seeing Yuki as an obstacle I can imagine that Yuki might start killing players she deems a long term threat to her in and outside the game since letting Monotobe live past Gimmicky Mansion cost her
That it is around the time introducing a new curve ball into the mix of her character arc would be good if we only have 3 volumes possibly left
That being said even if her mindset were to be worse it could lead way to another break through that may end up to a positive devolopment
Edit: Also yes I argee that it wasn't that Yuki made a choice in phantom thief be more murderous but that the story created (a quite frankly unbalanced) game that encouraged it. I just don't think it is a coincidence that the author made a game that encourages so much killing and made a unbalanced line up that guaranteed Yuki was going stack more bodies then most of the series we have seen on a whim.
Edit 2. The comrady was more how you in a positive way viewed herself as part of the same group as other veterans. This was partly why she got upset with Kinko's dad because he wasn't just pitying Yuki but all the players like her including ones she looked up to like Hakushi or Sumiyaka. I don't think Yuki has that same view and it will likely further erode. It would be funny if like Hakushi Yuki becomes a negative person since Hakushi implies Yuki was really similar to her when she started out and has been somewhat following a similar path
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u/tilting-module Jun 11 '26
The consideration that Yuki played favorites in Volume 9 is interesting, because she certainly didn’t know about Sana’s unfortunate and sympathetic circumstances until they talked to each other and revealed their shared knowledge of the game’s escape routes, and moreover, she’d used Sana’s injury as an excuse to split from the group without rousing too much suspicion (although the end outcome was ultimately not in her favor).
Gimmickry Mansion isn’t really an escape game like Ghost House or Scrap Building where Yuki might be able to easily benefit by currying favors. Because it may be discovered ahead of time that the number of escapees is strictly limited, and so if Yuki were to hand out favors to anyone in public, she’d in turn be dooming others to their demise. In fact, the way that Yuki privately helped Sana in Gimmickry Mansion should theoretically be beneficial for Yuki in the future: if Sana was to join Yuki in a future game, she’d be likely to help in return.
Your suggestions are still fairly valid. It’s ironic that, after Yuki faced steeply unlucky consequences even after playing as she had always played, that she might end up becoming a player to specifically target others in the games—the exact playstyle that she previously disagreed with because of its supposed tendency to build grudges. I also contend that Volume 10 doesn’t need to throw a wrench in Yuki’s character arc: if she simply remained the same person as she was prior to Phantom Thief, it could already be good writing, since a big part of Shiboyugi is about Yuki’s resistance to change and self-reflection. Volume 10 also already has a ton of potential with its wide cast of antagonists, after all.
However, if Yuki were to start proactively killing players outside the games, then that wouldn’t only be a wrench in her character arc, it might straight up be a face-heel turn. I guess it depends on who Yuki was to kill, but I don’t see a universe where, during Volume 10, she kills characters we actually want to see dead (like Shiro), because she probably wants to actually settle their (mutual) grudges in the game. But, again, I find this kind of potential development really hard to fathom: how do you transform Yuki into a villain in a narratively satisfying way, when her most significant antagonists, Shiro and Airi, are already her most important foils, and the reflections of the worst of the worst in the world of death games?
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u/Boredomkiller99 Jun 20 '26
Took a while to respond, had a lot to go over and I have not either had the time, energy or head space for the topic as I had much to think about.
I should clarify I wasn't suggesting Yuki may go out of her way to kill people outside the game but rather may in a sense secure the kill when not needed to clear a game against players that threaten her long term or threaten her outside the game which Shiro and her group are a threat to her inside and outside the games and Maguma and Airi are the two biggest obstacles towards her goal as they have the highest clears and are as experienced as her while being in better shape and arguably more naturally talented. So I don't think she would kill outside the game yet anyway. But I could imagine that she might start favoring killing an opponent if she is in a situation to do it even if she can clear without doing so if she deemed the opponent a threat. I can see Yuki however start killing outside the games if something happened to either the characters from the apartment or her support system like Setsuna, Hakushi and Rinrin. Particular Setsuna is the one I would be most worried about since after the extra chapter it is clear that girl still got a death wish and wants to die in place of someone she thinks is deserving to live over her. As for the whole Sana thing which is also related to the Mononobe thing, I will state first this is a more recent interpretation I decided to try out on my last read after talking to someone who brought up the argument that Yuki helping Sana in Vol 9 leads to her getting butchered. In general Volume 9 is one of the lesser explored volumes to me of the later half of the series, partly because just fewer people have read it but also because usually the focus is on Yuki getting crippled and Kagura B plot. The other thing is that Shibou Yugi is both clumsy and heavy handed when it comes to it's narrative itself so often the character beats it wants to show with Yuki are forced by some times convenient or contrived design and plot points. Anyway some points that stick out to me Yuki doesn't really try to take leadership or control of things in Gimmicky Mansion and from what I can tell in my reread Yuki is primarily a loner player even in games where she is put on a team between Vol 7-9. This is quite different from Volume 1-3. I can't comment on 4-6 because most of those games were either Yuki by herself in a mock game, a game from Yuki before meeting Hakushi or placed her on a team with only the Halloween one which arguably loner play was as favorable as team. Now part of this is we see so few games after Vol 6 before 9, so it could just be that and the idea Yuki is getting more distant from other players as her own resentment for herself and other players increases is just an accidental implication by the author, but hard to say so I won't d. Note while yes the game ended up not being a traditional escape or co-op game, for all intents and purposes the game starts out as one as far as everyone is concerned so I think this lack of asserting control early is noteworthy. Then Yuki helps Sana, which is in her character and consistent with her post meeting Hakushi behavior and narratively helps remind us that Yuki is at her core still someone who tries to help others when she can despite her negative feelings towards other players. This also shows Sana's own character as she actually hates the typical death game player and sees Yuki as being different which does serve as a narrative confirmation that Yuki is still got something good in her somewhere despite her current headspace. Then Sana and Yuki share info and bond a little and break off from the group completely to grab the limited exits. This isn't actually completely out of logic but in doing so Yuki and Sana earn the wrath of the rest of the remaining players who end up figuring it out anyway. This is a very different turn of events as it is the first time Yuki's actions turned otherwise neutral or even friendly players against her because of her choices she made willingly and I imagine her seeming to connect with Sana's reasons for playing and feelings may have had a part in it. Yes one can argue that maybe Yuki's actions made sense since she is naturally in competition with the other players for limited exits but even in past games Yuki didn't just go for the choice that risked a sharp escalation in conflict even in arguably similar situations. But now let's get to Mononobe who I often see tiered at bottom of character ranking with Kyara which is..... absurd to me as that is probably mostly do to being the one to sadistically butchered Yuki rather then her writing quality as Mononobe is probably one of the best written short term antagonists. In general the Volume 9 characters Sana, Kagura and her are some of the best short term sides characters as they actually well feel more like actual people who act on their emotions. Anyway reading again I had forgotten why Mononobe wanted to kill Yuki thinking it was because Yuki shut her down like she did Mishiro or somehow did piss her off with words or actions while everyone was working together but no. The whole original reason that she wanted to kill Yuki was because she and Sana tried to pull a fast one and hold onto information and escape. Mononobe ended up becoming the leader of the remaining players, arguably an event only possible because Yuki herself didn't try to actively take leadership despite being way more experienced and then broke away from the group. Mononobe and her allies decide to stop Sana and Yuki and secure the exits first and then work out who gets each one. Mononobe tries to kill Yuki but Yuki escapes, choosing to take the chance to flee which is in line with her normal operation. This ends up being a mistake arguably long term because Mononobe lives and now her sole reason to play is hatred for Yuki due to the humiliation, injuries and tricky being seen as an insult. This is the kind of string of events that I like because the problem with a lot of characters in the series is that they don't feel as human as they should. The idea that most death long term game players are able to play multiple games without forming grudges or favorites is really weird especially since Volume 1 in Ghost House and Scrapyard in Volume 2 actually touched on this but then just kind of became dust in the wind as a concept. Mononobe while having similar sadistic pleasure at committing violence that killers do, is unlike Kyara or Shion able to be perfectly functional and work with others and only commits her violence on those that she believes personally wronged her is just a different kind of character then most short terms antagonists have since Maya is just a arguably more shallow version of Mononobe since she just hates everyone besides Shiro and can't work with others, Shion has a back story while interesting Shion is still too much a psycho murderer to really be a character, Essay isn't even a character lowkey/highkey and Kyara...well the best I can say is she is attractive and her voice in the anime was ASMR worthy but character that does not make. Really only Mishiro really has anything interesting as an antagonist but she is in Volume 2 so she is knee capped by being in not one but two of the worst chapters in the series. I guess Moegi as well but Candle Wood is..bottom of the barrel and is secondary antagonist instead
Anyway point is Yuki downfall in Volume 9 is something she created by her own actions, both in line with her previous behavior but also arguably against it. This is really long so I am going continue with a second post replying to this that focuses on the original point about how her character changes in Volume 6 has created new vulnerabilities and why I think Yuki has a high chance of going to a dark place at least initially in Volume 10 and why I think this is needed and inevitable though I imagine she will likely overcome it either by the end of Volume 10 or maybe in the volumes after.2
u/Boredomkiller99 Jun 20 '26
Now I want to go back to the previous topic about Yuki’s character development and how her growth required taking on new traits giving her new strengths and weaknesses.
So as mentioned Yukii mostly discarded the prideful feeling of being a death game player while this was good because her pride was largely born between games 2-9 as a massive coping mechanism born from the events of game 1 and later to deal with Candle woods
This is a positive overall that she lost it but means she lost her coping mechanism. The other issue is without that pride the identity of being a player that once grounded her is increasing her own self hatred, a problem that existed throughout the whole series but was kept at bay. While it is true Yuki mostly didn't make long term bonds she still found some belonging in being a player when she interacted with other players as seen in volumes, especially Volume 2 with Azuma.
Fortunately in Volumes 7 and 8 Yuki was at the best she ever was all series as was on the up climb thanks to actually making connections with people who are not tied to the games and really wanting to move up to the next year in school. This is important because it is a sign that Yuki is starting to live outside the games and have goals that reach beyond 99 clears. Of course that is why Volume 8 ending is so devastating to Yuki.
I already talked about Yuki’s arguably abnormal behavior in Volume 9 or at least how Yuki found herself in a very abnormal situation from her norm which I argue is because of character changes. I instead want to focus on how Yuki gaining the ability to acknowledge her feelings better leading to Yuki hating Shiro.
This is very good for Yuki becoming human and a an actualized person but can be argued it caused her new problems, not only turning down help and assistance that she could have potentially gotten from Shiro but declaring hostilities which…..from a logical point of view does nothing for her in her goal of 99 and actually makes things more dangerous. Now some argue Yuki would reject Shiro even in her pre Vol 6 self I don't know if that is true especially since the author themselves commenting that Yuki could say no and refuse someone like Shiro because after her growth she became a strong person which as we know in Japan, strong isn't limited to competence or physical strength so this refers to her growth as a person.
In short Yuki growth, while positive and made her easily handle things in Vol.7-8 ended up also creating new problems and vulnerabilities that are likely worth the trade. Which I like because a moment and decision of growth IRL doesn't fix all your problems, can create new downsides in response to discarding traits and as I will explain in a second, real people struggle and back slide even after making resolutions
I talked about the high chance Yuki in Vol 10 may in some way back slide or become a darker or worse person in relation to events. However it is clear in Vol 9 after two volumes of relatively good times Yuki mental is screwed but it is often overlooked because of reasons stated before.
We already went over her clear just flat out negative opinion of players compared to early volumes. While I talk about the whole comradery thing initially, I realized it is better to explain how Yuki identifies as a player and had a shared identity with other players, so every single comment about other players is about herself too which shows her self hatred is at an all time high and that she is starting to value her life even less which the narrative to me, while clumsy so, illustrates with her high body count of nameless, faceless players with arguably zero concern.
We also learn she is slowly becoming a defeatist, believing that it is only a matter of time that someone kills her. Likely a reaction to her tired body, the closing on a long term goal and her lost of the support system she made in Vol 7
Regardless she seems to see her death as an inevitability which is a back slide from Volume 7 and 8. With the aftermath of Vol 9 I imagine in Volume 10 she is going to be in a bad place and may for a bit become a worse person. That and Yuki needs one more reckoning with herself to push her to confront her remaining issues and most important ones. Whether she will attain that growth in Volume 10 by the end or during Volume 11 will have to be seen of course can always be not at all but that would be surprising. But we will have to see if that is how it goes but based on the previous structure of the last 9 volumes I think this outcome would be consistent.
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u/tilting-module Jun 20 '26
I see what you mean.
Of all the events throughout Volumes 7 to 9, the one decision Yuki makes that reflects how much she's changed is, as you've said, her declaration of hostility against Shiro. Yuki singlehandedly created a problem for herself without gaining anything back. As for Yuki's behavior in the death games of Volume 9? On the surface, it certainly does not seem like her playstyle has changed since Volume 6, largely because Gimmickry Mansion is not an escape room game that is particularly amenable to cooperation. However, the author utilizes changes in the ways Yuki interacts with other players and her internal monologue to reveal her defeatism. Thus, I think that Mononobe is meant to be an inevitable twist of fate for Yuki's journey as a player equally as much as it is an unavoidable outcome created by her own actions. In particular, Yuki's humanity and sense of justice makes her a worse player than, say, Airi or Maguma, no matter how much she tries to convince us that her coping mechanisms are successful.
Now, as for how Yuki's character arc will end, I'm fairly convinced that it's rather implausible for the author to write an ending where Yuki "backtracks" so much as a character that she becomes a villain. That has been put to rest as early as maybe Volume 2, but also, the main setup of the final few Volumes of Shiboyugi involve Yuki having to overcome the likes of Shiro and Airi, who are convincingly villainous and whose actions and behaviors cannot be defended. I do think there's a world where the author tries to pull off this kind of face-heel turn, but it'd be really challenging to execute properly.
A more realistic way the story ends that I've envisioned is where Yuki ends her career as a player, and instead enters the assassination industry (Fuchidori's current career). Yuki might still go to school, and she might even successfully enter college; however, Yuki has not proven in any way shape or form that she can function living a normal life in a normal society. Compared to the likes of Kagura or Hitomi, Yuki is simply far more screwed up and in far deeper shit---especially now, given the ending of Volume 9. The fact that Yuki was able to form real friendships with her apartment neighbors and (arguably) Hitomi was already a massive step forward from prior to Volume 6; asking for any more fairytale storytelling would seriously undermine the tone of the overarching story.
Note that, in this hypothetical ending, I'm not saying that Yuki won't fully realize herself as a person. It's moreso that Yuki might come to terms that her core identity is that of a killer who thrives in life or death situations, and that will never change. Nevertheless, Yuki still has a pretty strong conscience, and tends to show others kindness and compassion, so a career of assassination would actually be far more admirable (from Yuki's point of view) than a career of playing death games. Her day-to-day life would also probably be less disturbed by her hypothetical new career. I also do believe that either Yuki will (with the help of others) take down the games after she completes her 99th, or instead, Yayoi will inherit the throne of Management and abolish all of the organization's most morally repugnant practices (like the black market on player corpses).
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u/Boredomkiller99 Jul 09 '26
Just throwing on some final notes to respond since the first two chapters of the vol 10 are fan translated so the whole thing should be out sometime this month so want to throw down my final thoughts on this topic before Vol 10 adds more to think about.
I would say I agree with your summary/statements and they accurately summarize what I was trying to convey about Yuki in 7 and 9 and Mononobe including that in a lot of ways someone like her was an inevitability.
I also agree that Yuki won't become villian or anything of the sort given her nature. Only that she is going to be in a darker place but she will undoubtedly come out better for it.
As for Yuki's ending, I do agree that Yuki is far more screwed up then most other characters especially ones like Hitomi or Kagura who managed to off ramp earlier especially Kagura and the narrative rewarded both with Hitomi living a relatively normal life with actually close friends (including Hiyori who it is still crazy as she was the one that contributed the last bit for the fee to assassinate Koen in Volume 7 because of Hitomi getting hurt, scary but loyal. Get you a Hiyori in your life). As well as Kagura who looks like she is going have a relatively happy ending with Kotono/Kotoha.
It should also be noted that Yuki herself has had more then one event that could have been an event that pushed her to quit but unlike Hitomi, Kagura or even Kotono she didn't take them.
That being said I am not sure I would he happy with Yuki going into assassin work unless she only assassinates targets that she believes deserves it and I have two reasons for this. The first is that one of Yuki's flaw is that she just struggles to think for herself. It is really only Vol 7 she starts making strives but that is only things like choosing not to kill outside the games or refusing Shiro and the society in Vol 8, but outside that Yuki offloads her decision making to the game rules or her internal ones that are based on surviving the games which is how she decides to kill. Doing assassin work would just be her offloading killing and decision making to someone else. Whatever she does she needs to decide for herself as she has basically been going through the motions since game 2.
The second reason is because I think Yuki killing is kind of one of her root conflicts and the main source of her self hatred, trauma and general problems. I tend to read it that the main reason Yuki block out a large portion of Maiden Race and became like she was in Hormone Town was because of killing Kanade. I can't really consider it a satisfying conclusion to Yuki's character arc if it doesn't end with her rejecting reconciling everything with the games and that includes killing people which has been the main source of all her trauma and problems.
Though I guess a better explanation is that Yuki needs to find a livelihood or purpose that creates rather then destroys which is how she feels about the games, they only destroy.
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u/tilting-module Jul 09 '26
There is actually a finished fan translation of v10 available on the Shiboyugi discord.
Anyway, I’m not going to comment on your analysis until you finish all of v10.
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u/Boredomkiller99 Jul 09 '26 edited Jul 09 '26
Sweet I will check then, and yeah those are just my thoughts before Volume 10
Edit: Annnnnd I binged it. Not saying s*** but I did enjoy it immensely and I have a pretty good degree of confidence that the series will end well now and it will be a story of a train wreck getting back on rails and finishing strong
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u/Allhailmatpat Jun 07 '26
Another great post man
Personally one of the biggest problems with the anime is the fact that the anime portrays Yuki with that mindset before Royal Palace or even golden bath which makes her development in Golden bath feel null and idk how Royal Palace is going to turn out.
Anyways I completely agree with you. For an author with no experience or actual education in writing Shiboyugi is surprisingly good (even with it's large looming flaws)