I'll put some basic questions here. Check my kudos page for resources & links.
01. Why Korekiyo?
I have 99 mental illnesses.... Hm, no.. I like his personality a lot, passion and dedication for Anthropology, intelligence, beautiful appearance and mysterious edge. He combines a lot of traits I'm attracted to at once and is really special to me.
02. What is a shrine?
Hmm... I guess my way to show how important Kiyo is to me? Or something like that... it's fun to make and work on and keeps my mind busy. It's also fun to share with others. In general though, shrines are made to show adoration and love for a character, person, fandom or other passion. They can be a true testament to how much you care.
03. How can I make a shrine like this?
It really helps to know the basics of coding / html but if this is all too much gathering a large amount of merch or making an itabag could be your "shrine" in a way - there are many ways to show your love and appreciation. Drawing the character a lot, scrapbooking, writing collections...
04. Can I add you on social media?
I don't see why not so long as you are an adult... I often forget about a lot of my social media or just use them to lurk, though. I'm mostly active on Discord.
05. Do you have a "do not interact" criteria?
I don't talk to / befriend minors under 18 and usually block them. I do not respect people big into terminally online shipping discourse / fandom wank. I guess if you had a lot of triggers or come off very sensitive we might not gel well as I have a darker sense of humour and rarely TW. I will block anyone who self-identifies as "radqueer" which is basically some weird pro-MAP and pedo-zoophile cover name that is part of the new pedophile into LGBT acceptance movement (srsly, google the shit they spew and the fact they make pedo pride flags). I also really feel uncomfortable due to personal past interactions with Korekiyo kinnies/identities unless I know you already, because the vast majority of people I have met who do the Kiyo kin thing either flirt with me innapropriately on the basis "he is me" or want to push their projections onto how I view and interpret Kiyo's character and make it all about them, so I do have to put that boundary down even though this is not affecting 99.9999% of people.
06. Are you a waifuist?
I usually avoid most communities as I have a IRL boyfriend which is frowned upon / not allowed in most spaces so I feel a bit like a black sheep at times but I would say I'm adjacent to those subcultures in many ways and find it pretty interesting... I generally would consider myself a digital anthropologist and find small niche subcultures fascinating, passive participation and even active is an enjoyable experience. I probably don't have the "intensity" to commit to it and don't use r/waifuism or anything like that anyway. Sort of? Not really? I'm also not casual enough to be a "selfshipper" which tends to veer on the multiple F/Os per week mix-and-match kind of deal and find that community more riddled with drama and fanwank.
07. Why waifuism-adjacent? Is it from mental illness?
While I am neurodivergent (diagnosed with borderline personality comorbid with npd) I don't think so? I mean, I've been actively in therapy since my late teens and pretty much was discharged because I'm stable and coping well and when I brought this stuff up my therapist didn't seem concerned about it.
I have always from a young age felt attraction more to fictional entities than real people most of the time, though not exclusively... and as said, it's not really stopping me from making friends, having a career, raking in money and doesn't impede with my IRL partner.
I think a lot of people have something they're really passionate about so it's not good to judge people for it especially if it's harmless and not bothering anyone even if it's deemed "weird". It makes me happy and doesn't hurt anyone around me, therefore I do not see a reason to stop. Plus, as someone who is already trans and gets plenty of actual comments and bigotry in my direction, being seen as a little weirder is not an issue. I will live my life how I want to do so until I die.
08. Do you have any ships for Korekiyo?
I like Shinsai (Korekiyo / Shuichi) and usually roleplay Shuichi or Kiyo myself in spaces. I don't care / really enjoy any other ship and avoid them.
09. Which Danganronpa games have you played?
I've played Danganronpa 2 and Danganronpa V3, obviously. Also have the Summer game. Haven't touched Ultra Despair Girls yet and mostly know what happened in the first game because I watched bits of the anime. Will get around to watching the rest.
Are you aware he isn't real?
Of course. Still, fiction does affect reality and that was kinda one of the core themes of DRV3. If we all didn't care about fiction or fictional characters and reduced everything to just lines on a page, there would be no reason to discuss or get passionate about shipping, or fan theories, or discussions of the games, etc. Just because things like video games, movies, tv shows etc. aren't real doesn't mean they don't personally impacted our lives in some meaningful way or make us feel a certain way.
I, at least, can recognise that I can't talk to Koyo or anything like that but he is still important to me. Also because I'm wary of my disorders and management and have important things going on like work, I usually ensure I'm focusing on my IRL duties above all else. I think people tend to imagine anyone who does this as totally engrossed in it 24/7 to an unhealthy degree... but, no. I would stop if it did impact me in a negative way.
11. Favourite other Danganronpa characters?
Oh..? You dare to know? Do you have a DEATH WISH, mere mortal..? Heh.. You should be honored... a mere human such as yourself will be present to witness the beginning of the end! Now, bare witness to the SUPREME OVERLORD OF ICE! (It's Gundham, obviously). Also Tenko, Imposter & Miu.
12. This is stupid!! [Vile slurs ommitted]!
13. Are you into any other subcultures?
I like to make my own original characters (OC)s a lot and would like to make a website for my OCs eventually.
I find otherkin fascinating to look into and research from the perspective of being interested in niche online subcultures. I want to make more websites in the future and really enjoy oldweb design.
14. HE'S A MINIOR!!! MINER??!?! MOONER?!
1. Due to the unreliable narration of Danganronpa V3 the ages of the characters are up to interpretation, 2. the inclusion of lewd plot elements ie. the Love Hotel and Korekiyo's bondage scene with Shuichi would lead to the conclusion they are adults if bordering-dubcon is just being shown in its entirety even in the localised versions outside of Japan.
Including such content if they were minors would break many laws especially with the English localisation release of the games which could seriously get people arrested especially in my country and others such as Australia which has very serious laws against depictions of minors in media to the point of arrest warrants and banning of material outright - here is a video of a real Australian senator discussing anime in court, they take this VERY seriously. Now unless you're going to imply the companies don't care about being prosecuted, I would tread carefully.
I would probably estimate Korekiyo as 19-21, given he is well travelled which is not something teens generally have access to (requiring funds, time, etc), sexually experienced more than his other peers (with regards to him having many women who were "fans" of his bondage) and the Danganronpa V3 lore in that all the students were active participants who signed up to participate in the killing games pre-memory altering. It is extremely unlikely you could sign your own life away if you were under 18. In essence, being active participants in the Killing game and being given new "memories", talents and "identities" makes them no different from actors who often portray younger characters. Reality Games always have a minimum age participation of 18 years old.
Also if you want to tell me Kiyo looks like a child, acts like one, and has the proportions of someone like Kanna from Maid Dragon I would laugh at you but since this is a discourse topic I am covering it to stop the spreading of misinformation.
15. Korekiyo is a creep! He's incestuous and weird!
Villain does villainous things that breach the realm of normalcy; more news at 10. I can understand disliking him but you know people can enjoy messed up villains without condoning their actions..?
16. What do you think about headcanons for Kiyo? [rant]
I think speculation on if he was an abuse victim at his Sister's hands is interesting but the way fandom pushes this as a fact is really annoying when there's no confirmation on it. The main point of Danganronpa v3 is Truth vs. Lies and a lot gets left up to the viewers to decide, hence if Sister even exists at all or the true nature of his relationship with her is dubious. Due to his increasing fragile mental health and instability, it is entirely possible (and likely) that he has severe mental health issues that cause delusions which are largely untreated / unaddressed.
I'm more or less for canonical Korekiyo in his purest form, not some wubbified babygirlified mess the fandom loves to come up with and shifting the blame entirely to his Sister for his actions just screams wubbification to the max.
If I had to accept that he could have had an incestuous relationship with his Sister that was consensual I'd rather stomach that disturbing reality than cope by pushing unconfirmed flimsy fan theory as canon personally because I love Korekiyo that much and as such hold him accountable for his own actions. He's already a killer with 2 girl's blood on his hands (and if the serial killer part is true and not a fabricated memory upwards of 80 girls dead), you can't really excuse that and making him the victim of abuse doesn't justify what he did and is a bit disrespectful to abuse survivors. It makes me really question the people who seem to think "abuse survivor serial killer" is a good narrative to push when it's actually, well... more problematic for victims of abuse to be associated with that.
TL;DR They're headcanons for a reason. I prefer to confront facts and not idolize or enjoy some wubbified watered down version of Korekiyo that's consumable. At that point, you're more in love with the IDEA of fanon Kiyo than how he actually is.
Remember when headcanons and fan analysis was just that and not pushed so hard people think it's canon? Kiyo's got that treatment for years. While I strongly understand people wanted Korekiyo to be treated in a different way I don't think it's a good idea to conflate your fan theories with the actual Korekiyo in canon and how he is actually presented. K I'm done ranting about it, it just annoys me because I obviously love Korekiyo a lot and hate to see him sullied and treated like a baby who did nothing wrong.
17. I have more questions not answered here...
You can contact me on my discord I've linked in the "admin" section or maybe ask me in the guestbook / shoutbox thingy.