Just some thoughts on the fandom and the characters.

[Lucky Seven]

No, someone is not "media illiterate" if they interpret the story differently than you do. You're not some enlightened esoteric person for interpreting that Anya was assaulted, and claiming that those who see it differently just didn't understand the game is extremely condescending and goes against the lessons of the game itself because all you're doing is attacking your fellow crew.

It's also not toxic or wrong to point out that the entire crew has flaws. The fandom, especially on social media, seem to love hating on JUST Jimmy so much that it's become like an art form for them. Some of them will go as far as to avoid using his real name when making serious posts about the game, even turning his name into jokes and puns. Imagine doing this with a real abuser's name when his victims might see it. It's hilariously out of touch.

Yeah, Jimmy isn't a good person, we get it. Neither are the other characters, aside from maybe Daisuke. But even he's a young guy who isn't really good at much of anything and instead chooses to spend his nights partying and getting drunk until his parents force him to get a job.

Swansea is a verbally abusive jerk who takes out all of his insecurities on the people around him and turned back to alcoholism the moment the going got tough. The way he treats Daisuke until Chapter 13 is abominable, and if my mentor at work treated me that way I would be mentally broken by the end of it.

Anya's entire characterization is clouded by the fact that you play either as her abuser or as her abuser's enabler, and yet somehow everyone paints this amazing picture of her as the perfect girl when they know next to nothing about her aside from the fact she was assaulted. Maybe she's a great person, maybe she isn't. She sucks at her job though, that's undeniable when she's failed medical school 8 times.

Curly is an enabler who allows Jimmy to get away with all of the heinous things he does because he believes he owes Jimmy a debt of gratitude and believes in the good in him. I'd argue that while Curly is clearly not a bad person, he personifies being misguided and optimistic to a fault and I'd argue his inaction is the real reason the events of the game unfold how they do. Jimmy is horrific, but Curly lets him get away with all that he does.

Also on the flip-side of my earlier mentions of the fandom, if you're "anti-woke" (honestly hate the term woke in general) and you let the ramblings of a developer influence whether or not you wanna buy a game, you're being a hypocrite. People who are saying this love to say stuff like "separate the art from the artists!" when it comes to literal racists like H.P. Lovecraft, or make jokes about buying Hogwarts Legacy to "own the libs" but then cry when a member of the development team says he doesn't like bigots playing his game. Was what he said immature? Yeah, but he's free to say it and you're free to play the game anyways, he's not the king of Earth. Play what you want and stop caring what people think about you or the things you like, who cares.

Anyways, I absolutely love this game so it's a real shame that it's become surrounded by a bunch of drama and infested with people who look down on people for interpreting it differently because I usually love interacting with fandoms but aside from this post I'm staying out of it.