Another Entry

Entry 14 (Day 20)

Today I wanted to write about the character Michiru Matsushima from the visual novel Le Fruit de Grisaia. At first glance she is the most fake of the characters and the most static. She calls herself a “Tsundere” a character trope known  for deliberate two-sidedness. To complement her “tsundere” nature, she dyed her black hair to bottle-blonde, seemingly cementing her status as a shallow character. In a visual novel full of characters with a seemingly more solid and convincing outlook, Michiru stands out entirely. Despite appearances, she is one of the – if not the – best characters in the visual novel. On one occasion, Michiru notes that “the sky is [like] a giant lid.” Many people associate the sky with freedom or some other cliché about the world being your oyster. For Michiru the sky represents a cage; she is trapped in the world and without any tangible means of escape. Her “tsundere” character, though nonsensical and idiotic to those around her, helps her cope with and understand the difficult situation in which she finds herself.