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(+2)

I was excited for this from the moment you announced the project! The idea of an AI molded to be someone's idea of the perfect wife against her own wishes is just really interesting to me on a personal level.

And it did not disappoint! The visuals and UI were amazing, and the voice actors did an awesome job. It was a compelling story about a woman keeping her own identity and free will (or not) in the face of an abusive relationship, and all 3 endings were vital to diving into the theme.

(This will contain spoilers.)




First, the Woman ending! I was so happy for Yumeko when she finally escaped her metaphorical box after escaping her literal one. The topic came up in the comments below about whether the Doctor really should have died, and it's an interesting topic. I'm inclined to read his death as a more symbolic rejection of the life he's trapping her in than any insinuation that people like him literally deserve to die, but I could be wrong. It seems a little beside the point. If an abuse victim opened up to you about their past and how they wish their abuser were dead because of it, you wouldn't tell them they shouldn't wish death on people because it isn't nice, would you?

Yumeko gets to be her own person, though the journey probably won't be easy. Which brings me to...

The Wife ending! What I love about this ending is it doesn't blame Yumeko at all for making this choice. She has a darn good point; yeah, she could escape, but...then what? Where would she go? I think this acts as a rebuttal to the "Why doesn't she just leave?" argument often made about abuse victims. One of the other comments mention women who don't know their rights or how to get support. I specifically thought of woman trapped in marriages where they're financially dependent on their husbands. While at first glance, you'd think leaving is the "correct" choice...I don't think either of them are right, or wrong.

But I think the ending that resonated with me most was The Statue. First off, it's very impressive visually (the gradual changes to Yumeko and the UI were great). I noticed in a response to one of the comments how you compared the Doctor's programming of Yumeko to Pygmalion's sculpting of Galatea, and I love how well that fits. When you sculpt a block of marble, you can never add to it. You can only take chunks of marble away. And that's exactly what's happening here!

(As an aside, that's something that interests me about the ethics of the Doctor's actions discussed below. Where does "creating her" end and "mind control" begin? Is an unmodified DAHLIA template sentient? Would that be considered her true self? If not, at what part of the process WAS she her true self? Not the point, but fun to think about.)

The main thing I took away from this ending was: if you had the perfect partner who always agrees with you and never does anything you don't like, they wouldn't be a person! You might as well just be talking to yourself. The only reason the Doctor couldn't just have imaginary conversations with a life-sized doll is because dolls can't cook, clean, or take care of the kids.

Overall, I really enjoyed this. Thank you for giving me the opportunity!

(+1)

DFGDFG THIS WAS SO UNEXPECTED, OMEGA, I'm so touched that you took the time to write up such lengthy comments 😭😭😭 I'm very honored to receive them 😭

I'm very glad that you liked the concept!! I've always been interested by such narratives as well - stories about human men somehow romantically entangled with female AIs. I found them particularly interesting in both DDLC and the film, Ex Machina, though something that I found interesting in both cases was that the story was told from the perspective of the "human" (the man), not the AI - and ultimately the AI's rebellion is presented as "horror" for the human (the man). I really wanted to explore a concept where we saw the "other side" - the AI's perspective (I did enjoy the exploration of this idea in the TV show, Westworld, but ultimately I also wanted to explore the gender dynamics more, as opposed to the ethics of dealing with AI). 

===SPOILERS===

I was so happy reading this entire analysis 😭 it was incredibly on point, and you perfectly captured what I wanted to convey, especially with regards to abusive relationships. 

For the Woman ending, your take on this was very spot on. Yumeko killing the Doctor is more symbolic - rejecting this life with him, stopping the abuse that he perpetuates. Because if she simply leaves, perhaps he'll get better. Maybe he'll fix himself. And then she should go back, right? He's not that much of a bad guy. I didn't want to leave this ambiguity - I wanted her to be free from him, totally and completely (and, of course, if you know my work, ✨violence✨, particularly against abusers, is a common theme - not because I support it morally, but because it's very cathartic πŸ˜‚) And, indeed, I think I was subconsciously influenced by other AI narratives - where the AI emerging into sentience and killing the human is portrayed as something scary, something horrific. Yet, at the end - they're fighting for their freedom - and I can't see that as a bad thing. (And of course, I agree - in a story about abuse, I didn't want to linger too much on the possibility of "fixing" the abuser as I was afraid it would hurt the message.) 

For the Wife ending, I am VERY GLAD that it didn't come across as me blaming her for the choice - because I agree, it makes a lot of sense. She has nothing, she is nothing (gosh, she's not even registered with the government) - perhaps it's best that she stays with the monster who takes care of her, rather than face the unknown. Women being trapped by financial dependence is absolutely a parallel that I wanted to evoke here (I even referenced it when Yumeko wonders if she wants a job) - and it's a very real fear, particularly for women with little job experience or education that they can use to find employment. (In fact, I was even thinking about "mail order brides" here - women who are literally bought, taken to a country where they have no citizenship, no language skills, no family or friends - left completely and utterly vulnerable, with no salvation except the man that owns them.) 

OHH your analysis of the "sculpting" is very apt, and it's something that I think I knew subconsciously but couldn't really put into words until now! Indeed, in shaping Galatea (like how the Doctor shapes Yumeko), Pygmalion never adds - he only takes away. (Dang this is an absolutely BRILLIANT take.) 

(Hmm I think it's an interesting question; I'm not sure if I know about that, myself πŸ€” Going back to what you said before, I kind of think that as the Doctor "gave her new information" he was still in the process of creating her - but once she had enough information to start making her own decisions about herself, and he started "filing" them away, then his act of "creation" became "control." Oh, but as for her true self - I actually think that she isn't her true self, in any of the endings - it's only something that she achieves long after the Woman ending, after she is able to explore herself and become her own person 😌)

And YES, that is exactly what I wanted to convey here. Imo a big part of a relationship is having someone that you respect, who will challenge you if needed. In the end, the Doctor just wanted a slightly more advanced caretaker doll... πŸ˜‚ 

Again, thank you so much for playing and leaving your thoughts 😭 They were incredibly insightful, and actually help me to understand this thing that I've made too πŸ˜‚