I’ve thought about removing her for a while but I wanted to make sure with the community first, so here we are.

What’s the work and who is she?

Danganronpa is a Japanese franchise where teenage students with difference are force into death games where they kill eachother and have to kill eachother and get away with it to escape, using manipulation and other tactics. Sayaka is the ultimate pop idol who is prominent in the first game and the first victim, the protagonists childhood friend and potential crush. Who ends up manipulating him.

Reason for removal

Sayaka is very much indeed a divisive character and has load of people arguing about whether she’s a sweet innocent girl who was forced into her circumstance and regretted it or a manipulative snake who deserves her death since she manipulated the main character and tried to frame him for murder. Good lord, there are lots of fights about her.

So what’s the problem exactly? Well here’s the thing. The controversies are completely intended. Sayaka is MEANT by the writers to be a divisive character and the game purposefully leaves it up to you if you want to empathize with Sayaka or hate her. It even leaves it vague on purpose if she wrote her killer's name because she wanted personal vengeance on her killer or she wanted to spend her dying moments helping Makoto. Either way, the narrative never tries to push you into completely forgiving her or completely hating her.

The point is Sayaka, like Cho Sang-Woo and Endeavor (who we recently removed from here), is meant to be divisive and never hated in a since that she’s “poorly written” unless I am completely missing something (which if I am, feel free to correct me. And a reproposal can always be done later.)

The rest of the reasons on the page look too petty to be valid criticisms:

• The page also talks about how she "doesn’t have enough screentime to develop", but I don’t really see how that’s a criticism. Low screentime isn’t a valid criticism imo unless it’s poorly written and most agree Sayaka works well as the first victim.

• Also I never see her getting criticized for being "bland" despite what the page says, which even then would be a super minor criticism at most.

• The page also talks about how she comes off as unsympathetic in the manga but practically nobody actually bothers to read the manga or talk about it so I don’t think that’s enough detraction. Even then this sounds like it could be intentional, either way who cares about the manga.

Verdict

I am a cut but it’s up to you.

With Sang-woo having been cut for being too well-written/hated for the right reasons, and us having to wait for season 3 to see if characters like Myung-gi or Min-su count, let's get down the one character from this show who 100% DOES count.

What's the work?

Do we really need to introduce Squid Game? Okay whatever. The biggest Netflix show of all time, Squid Game focuses on hundreds of player's in massive debt that are forced to play children's games in order to earn money... with lethal consequences.

Who is Han Mi-nyeo?

Han Mi-nyeo is a manipulative fraudster/con artist. A loud woman who claims to have a child she hasn't even named yet, Mi-nyeo is willing to do anything to survive the game's, even briefly starting a relationship with gangster and PE Jang Deok-su. After being betrayed by him, she joins the protagonist's team and promises him she'll make him pay for his betrayal.

What do people love about her?

• Some fans felt she succeeded in her role as a comic relief and was funny, especially during the bathroom scene with Sae-byeok and her catchphrase, "I'm good at everything except the thing's I'm not".

• Her moments of stepping in before Deok-su attacked Sae-byeok and later covering for Sae-byeok in the bathroom had people applaud for her being useful.

• Some consider her a complex character, as even her actress confirmed she's actually quite scared and insecure and is using her personality (and looks) for survival.

• Her sacrifice where she takes down Deok-su and saves everyone else from elimination via time-out was applaud as one of the show's coolest and most satisfying scene's, with some considering it redemption.

What do people hate about her?

• Some found her annoying/obnoxious rather than funny, due to her constant screaming and whining.

• She makes some xenophobic insults to Ali in episode 5, which some fans still hate her for.

Final verdict?

I'll give her a yes.