villains written right, part three: Monika

This blog contains spoilers for Doki Doki Literature Club and briefly mentions depression, self-harm, suicide, and obsessive behavior.

 

Just Monika. Just Monika. Just Monika.

Recently, I watched one of my favorite YouTube let’s players, the Game Grumps, play a game called “Doki Doki Literature Club.” This game presents itself like a cute visual novel styled dating simulator. There are four girls in the game: Sayori, Yuri, Natsuki, and Monika.

Sayori is our friend since childhood. She has a tendency to oversleep, but she had an overall cheerful and carefree attitude.

Yuri is a timid girl. She loves to read and drink tea, and she has a passion for writing poetry. She also tends to be very careful with her words.

Natsuki is definitely the most stubborn of all of the girls. She refuses to show any sort of attraction to us, though she does enjoy reading manga with her.

Monika is the president of the Literature Club. She is a very popular girl, and also is learning how to play the piano. She is inviting to us since the very first moment we’re in the club.

As we progress through the game, we can write poems directed to Yuri, Natsuki, or Sayori. The next day, we get to spend time with the girl that we wrote the poem to. Sayori’s poem has, unexpectedly, a dark undertone. She claims that she loves poems that are bittersweet. Yuri’s poem is well-written and full of symbolism, and she clearly knows how to give us advice when she reads our poem. Natsuki’s poem is lighthearted and simply worded, which she claims is the best writing style.

The poem that sticks out the most is Monika’s. It’s called “Hole in the Wall,” and it references being stuck somewhere, being forced to look out without being able to escape. When we ask her to explain the poem, she just says that “not all poems need to have a meaning.”

Our friend’s behaviours begin to change. Sayori starts spending less time with us, and when we confront her about the issue, she tells us that she’s been hiding her deep depression from us because she feels better when people are happy. The next day, before the festival for the clubs, we find Sayori, a noose around her neck, in her bedroom. She’s killed herself.

The game restarts, this time without any mention of Sayori. This time, more of the focus is put on Yuri. The game begins glitching very so often, and Monika begins to show a more obsessive behaviour toward us and even messes with the game files so that we are forced to spend time with her. We discover that Yuri cuts herself, and she has obsessive behaviours. On the third day, she confesses her love for us, before killing herself by stabbing herself over and over until she dies. We’re forced to watch her body deteriorate for two days before Monika comes back.

She begins to mess with the very fabric of reality within the game- you’re sent to a world that’s just a small room, containing two chairs, a table, yourself, and Monika. She confesses her undying love for you, and tells you that it’s been a burden on her mind to be able to know that everything around her isn’t real. You’re the only one who she knows is real. She adores you and wants to be like you, and wants you to love her.

Unfortunately, the only way to escape her prison is to delete her character from the game files. The game reboots, this time without Monika. Everything goes normally, now with Sayori as the club president. But soon, Sayori reveals that now she’s gone sentient, and the game begins to glitch, Monika now interferring to keep you from Sayori’s wrath. She confesses that this whole game isn’t good- she was a fool to think that you could be with her. She sings as the credits roll- and then the game deletes itself from your computer.

This game brings the term “meta” to a whole new level, but what about Monika? I’ve seen tons of people talking about how her character brings awareness to the fact that her kind of “aware technology” isn’t so much science fiction than a soon “science fact,” but there’s so much more to her than just a “self-aware program gone rogue.” We’ve seen that trope, time and time again.

Monika’s character is interesting, to say the least. She presents herself as a normal character within the game, so well that she is able to fool most when they first play the game. Only looking back do they realize the hints that were there. She keeps herself hidden, but she slowly loses her sense of caution due to her affection for the player. She sacrifices the lives of her friends just so that she can get closer to you. And she does show an eventual remorse for her actions. That’s the most imprtant: she comes to terms with reality, not her own but the reality of the real world- she can’t force the player to be with her. So she does the only thing she can: delete everyone in the game, including herself.

She sacrifices herself so that the only one she loves can be happy. And that’s the true reality of it all.