I'll just say this immediately: as I went along, I did a lot of rejiggering of the scores. Kaede, Claire, and Sonia were each #1 at some point. As far as I'm concerned, they're all perfectly valid options, as are most of the waifus in the top 10 to top 20. This probably goes without saying, but any waifu whos gotten this far is top tier, so theres no shame in only getting third.
By the way, the clue referred to Kaedes last name, which means passionate red maple tree. Was I cheating with that? Yes.
Before I go on, I just want to complain about Danganronpas official height and weight translations. The Japanese games list Kaedes height as 167cm, but the English translation is 58, which I know is 173cm. I know this because thats my height. Translating height numbers is the easiest thing in the world, how do you screw this up?
Lets just get Kaedes looks out of the way. Obviously, she hits every thing I like in a waifu, except shes got purple eyes instead of blue or green which I will allow, since purple eyes are technically real. I also very much appreciate how she wanted to establish that shes the Ultimate Pianist, so she wears music note bobby pins and a music note short skirt. Thats dedication. Actually, why does almost every girl in this series wear such short skirts? The only exceptions are Toko, who has a long skirt, Hiyoko, who has a kimono, and Aoi, who has short shorts. I mean, I know the real answer is sex appeal, but there are so many girls in this series who should logically be wearing pants. Ill allow it this time, because at least Kaede doesnt have some kind of really active skill (Im reminded of Chie from Persona 4 flipping around with her short skirt), but its still suspicious. But look, in all seriousness, what youve got here is a waifu with long, deep blond hair, a light color scheme, lots of cute, silly sprites, and not quite generic anime cuteness going on, which is everything I like in an anime waifu.
Kaedes personality is a little more complex, though. If shed been exactly what you think shed be, if thered never been a twist at the end of chapter 1, then shed probably be in the 90s. She could evern have been #1 on the list. Because Kaedes smart, capable, optimistic, empathetic, has a ton of presence and charisma, is canonically into introverted weirdo boys who like dark colors, and has a super take-charge personality. Imagine being such a natural leader that you can convince everyone not to kill each other even if it means theyll probably die, including a serial killer.Thats Kaede. So, if were talking purely about strength of personality waifus, Kaede is probably #1.
But Kaedes also the first person to crack under pressure, isnt she? Among all of the Danganronpa waifus on this list, shes the only murderer. I guess Maki and Miu tried to kill people, though. Anyway, point is, Kaedes a giant ****ing hypocrite. And worse than that, shes also kind of manipulative? Its one thing to snap under pressure and kill someone without thinking, but she invents a whole complicated plan well in advance to trick a boy who likes her into being an accomplice to murder. Like, I get it, shes under a uniquely bizarre circumstance and needs to do something, but she goes about it in basically the worst way imaginable in a way that reveals really nasty things about herself. And yes, she kills someone on behalf of everyone else, to try to save fourteen other people, which is a pretty compelling mitigating circumstance, and she just admits to it to save everyone else instead of trying to save herself, but her judgment is just the absolute worst. Which is a problem, since shes so damn charismatic that she can talk you into doing basically anything. Like, the only time in the game the others turn against her is when she tries to convince them to enter the super death trap maze four times in a row, and even then, they're just like 'no, but you're still our leader.' And she's devoted enough to doing the right thing that she'll even get down on her hands and knees to beg Miu for help, the second most annoying person in the universe.
And yet, the fact that Kaedes actions legitimately are (intended) for everyone elses benefit, and she legitimately never does anything greedy except wildly overestimate her own abilities goes a long way in redeeming her. Like, within the context of the game, its extremely easy to see why everyone is still obsessed with her after her death, and shes still talked about until the final case. No ones lamenting the perverted chef's death five cases later. So, Kaedes perfection cracks and her judgment falters when other peoples lives are on the line, and while a wacky bear-themed killing game is unlikely to come up in day-to-day life, she just has such a sense of justice that doesn't really allow for being talked out of things, and combined with how she knowingly manipulates people, even when it hurts her to do so... I guess I'm saying that it's possible to see Kaede do other morally questionable things when placed in extreme circumstances, so I dont know. Kaedes a really interesting corner case as far as waifus go, and you can really justify wildly varying Personality scores for her.
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Not changing this sig until I decide to change this sig. Started: July 6, 2005
