tomoya infodump turned into an accidental wttm mini essay

from may 5, 2020

tomoya's character archetype is that he's too "ordinary," "normal," etc etc. pretty common trope, cg uzuki and sm hayato are this. however, his personality represents an imas blue more than an imas red. it's honestly hilarious how he still considers himself to be too "normal," when a majority of his actions can be considered "abnormal" and how he used to have a distorted view of things until he Finally sees the reality

with those character archetypes, they're usually positive and such. having lots of friends (well, tomoya does have 友 in his name), basically often bringing a happy mood in the room. er, tomoya isn't so much like that. he's much more pessimistic, has lots of self-esteem issues. he views himself as someone with no talent and can never change no matter what he does (wrong)

oh, those archetypes are typically deredere, right? he's 100% a tsundere. he's like the only sane person in the groups he interacts with, but even then that can be broken easily (cue: screaming)

he enrolled in yumenosaki bc he was in absolute fucking awe at wataru's performance (to the point where he refers to him as his "goddess"). he then applies to join the theater club... and is met with wataru's non-acting persona (a literal clown). yeah, their relationship is a bit of a rollercoaster in the beginning, but i promise you that it's such a refreshing thing to see develop

he's often forced to cross-dress by wataru, but that does have reason. actually, tomoya does have one particular important talent. he's quite good at acting. think of this: if you don't have any talent, you can be anything. no special features? make them up. wataru putting tomoya in those roles is so that tomoya can have a future after retiring from idol biz, bc with how tomoya is, if he remains "one persona" then he can't really do shit. wataru's pretty much the same thing, he hides behind multiple masks bc he doesn't have anything beyond them

these things are the reason why tomoya's like the only person who is able to see past wataru's masks bc he's also similar to him, despite being complete opposites (extraordinary vs ordinary). at core, they are both plain. wataru makes up for that plainness by acting for others. tomoya keeps that plainness bc he doesn't know how to utilize his acting to the fullest yet

it's quite a refreshing development. from tomoya putting him on a pedestal, to standing on the same stage (almost). wataru shows tomoya the light, while tomoya gives light to wataru. tomoya has a place to improve, and then wataru has a place where he can be true to himself. it makes me happy, seeing things develop like this. they're too underrated tbh