Survival Of The Fittest

Name: Kyoto Takeshi Aizawa
Gender: Male
Age: 18
Grade: 12th Grade
School: John Endecott Memorial Academy
Hobbies and Interests: Mechanics, Exercise, MMA Fighting, Anime, Cartoons

Appearance: Kyoto is a Japanese-American student, standing at the above average height of 6’ 3” and weighing 185 lbs, giving him a strong and imposing figure that he's worked years to attain. His short black hair is slicked back and styled with a fade. His eyes are a dark brown, to the point that his pupils are only barely visible. His eyebrows are bushy, and there’s a notable break on his right eyebrow, a quarter closer to the right, clearly from a scar. His skin has a light tan, and his rectangle-shaped head is complemented by a Roman nose and his strong jawline, which Kyoto does believe makes him appear more handsome. He keeps his face stubble free, finding it more preferable to be clean shaven.

Kyoto tends to dress in rather intimidating ways, showing off his muscles or advertising some rather frightening groups-mainly motorcycle gangs-when out of school, all to dissuade others from trying to mess with him or interact with him in general. From tank tops that show off his biceps to leather jackets imitating classic Greaser style, if it makes others less likely to approach him out of fear, he’ll wear it. Most notably, he owns a faded blue denim vest, the arm holes frayed, a Hells Angels logo on the back.

On the day of the abduction, Kyoto was wearing his vest over a form fitting white short sleeved shirt, dark blue jeans, black knee socks with dark blue accents, and black combat boots. To keep the teachers from punishing him for his vest, he wore a dark blue leather, big enough to completely cover his vest. Out of habit at that point, he also wore a homemade dark blue face mask, and had a black, grease stained bandana tied around his neck.

Biography: Kyoto Takeshi Aizawa was the first child born to Ryūnosuke Aizawa and Mao Aizawa née Moriyama, a mechanic and a personal assistant respectively, on August 1st, 2003. They were a first generation immigrant couple from Kyoto, Japan, who fell in love after their parents set them up together, and they moved to America after after Mao was offered a promotion to work under an American executive in Boston. After some deliberation with her husband and their other family, it was decided that the couple would move, though taking residence in Salem instead of Boston. They believed that real estate would be more affordable in the smaller town, and Mao did not mind the commute that would be necessary. They chose to name their son after the city, as a reminder of what they left behind.

Kyoto had a good life in his early childhood. Mao and Ryūnosuke made a good living off of their respective jobs, but made sure not to spoil their son nor neglect him. They made sure to be caring, but also made sure not to be push-overs. They wanted to give him an even upbringing, not too much or too little of anything. Even emotions were kept in check; the two made sure Kyoto knew they loved him, being affectionate and caring at home, but were somewhat distant when in public, acting more more stern when out, specifically trying to teach Kyoto to be more in control of his emotions when out in public. They explained this reasoning to Kyoto to keep him from becoming upset over these differing attitudes, and while he did find it strange, he believed his parents knew what they were doing and trusted them. In turn, he did grow into the attitude his parents wanted, being a very well-behaved and obedient child, especially when out in public, always asking his parents or later his teachers for permission before doing things and being generally polite and kind to those he interacted with. He did well in school, never got in trouble, made some friends, was helpful whenever he needed to be, and was an all around pleasant child. The only unnatural thing he did that his parents did not like was ask for a little sibling, as he noticed other kids in preschool had older and younger siblings, and he wanted to know what it was like. As it was a minor thing, though, Mao and Ryūnosuke did not make a big deal out of it and kept on with their normal lives.

For several years, not much changed. Kyoto continued through school, getting good grades and receiving extra praise for being so well behaved. Mao worked hard under her boss, and had received a raise from the woman more than once as a reward for all her effort. Ryūnosuke was given a raise for his work with the local mechanic, and was given approval by his boss, Warren Thompson, to bring some cars home to work on them there. Ryūnosuke decided to take this advantage to teach Kyoto how cars worked and how they could be fixed. He hoped to spark an interest in cars within Kyoto that would eventually lead him to follow in Ryūnosuke’s footsteps and become a mechanic as well. If the plan failed, then at least Kyoto would know how to fix cars and could use it whenever he needed it. Lucky for Ryūnosuke, Kyoto did become very interested in cars, and whenever his father brought one home to work on, he would go to his side to watch, learn, and occasionally assist him.

It was when Kyoto was nine years old that his life changed. Mao and Ryūnosuke decided that they would have a second child, and Kyoto was elated. He didn’t care if it was a boy or a girl, so long as he could play with them and show him the things he was interested in at the time, mainly consisting of cartoons and anime that his parents had brought with them from Japan. He also planned to take part in whatever his new little sibling enjoyed, whether they were pretending to be knights that slay a dragon, or enjoying tea parties with stuffed animals. He could not wait for his sibling to be born.

Tragedy struck the night Mao went into labor. During the drive to the hospital, the family was in a car crash. Ryūnosuke and the other driver, a drunk man that had recently left the local bar, died on the scene, while Mao and Kyoto survived the initial crash. Witnesses to the crash responded quickly, retrieving the unconscious Kyoto, and doing their best to help the heavily injured Mao. An ambulance was able to arrive quickly, and while they were able to save the child, a baby boy named Toshiaki, Mao died not long after he was born.

Unfortunately for the boys, the closest relatives they had lived in Japan; a cousin and aunt that Kyoto did not know very well. However, Warren Thompson felt pity for the two orphaned boys, and chose to offer his assistance by becoming a foster father. Despite having only his own income to live off of, Warren proved to the foster system that he could support both boys, and was given temporary custody of them, with potential full custody if things went well. Things did go well, as Kyoto quickly bonded with Warren, already comforted by the man’s willingness to take both of them in, and appreciative of the care he showed both of them while they lived with him; helping Kyoto with the process of grieving, and treating Toshiaki incredibly well. Warren was able to convince his retired mother, Sandra, to help look after the boys during work hours, especially Toshiaki. When the social worker checked in again, she deemed the house fit to raise the boys in, and Warren was given full custody. Kyoto and Toshiaki kept their last names, however, as a way to honor and remember Mao and Ryūnosuke.

Despite not seeing the aftermath of the crash, Kyoto was greatly effected by the accident. His grades, which had previously no lower than a B, had slipped to C's or lower. His previous willingness to be social had disappeared, replaced with shyness and what even he knew was irrational fear of losing friends after getting close to them. The social worker had taken note of these changes, and suggested he see a psychiatrist, or at least a therapist, to help Kyoto properly deal with these issues. Wanting to help his son, but also being forced to abide by a budget, Warren agreed to set up appointments with a therapist. While the therapist was unable to definitively say if Kyoto had PTSD from the accident, she was able to determine that he had suffered trauma from it, and was able to inform him, Warren, and Sandra of ways to help him deal with the stress from those memories, mainly by taking deep breaths, giving him social support, and using distraction. These efforts would help with his grades and behavior, bringing his grades up to B's and C's and by age twelve, making him feel more willing to interact with his classmates again.

Unfortunately, the first classmates he tried to interact with happened to be bullies, who did not hesitate to tease and insult him for his shyness and generally different attitude. The only one that notably spoke differently was Stephen Fields, who insulted the other driver from the crash for driving drunk, but said it didn't change Kyoto being a 'grease monkey' and not trying to defend him from any of the other insults.

Warren, concerned further about Kyoto, asked about the incident shortly afterwards. After explaining, Kyoto couldn't help but question if the world was always this cruel, to which Warren responded that it sometimes was. He was honest with his son about his opinion of the world-while it could prove kind sometimes, there would be many times it would just show more cruelty. He also said that he should not let that cruelty break him, though, and still try to be a good person despite what life throws at him. Kyoto asked if there was a way to make things easier, and Warren offered to assist him in toughening him up.

From that point on, Kyoto trained to be tougher physically as well as mentally. Doing work-out routines that consisted of treadmill runs, cycling on a normal bike as well as an exercise one, and lifting many different weights. His diet had a lot of protein, from eggs to meat to a large amount of protein shakes, all to help create muscle definition. Additionally Warren aided him by helping him by helping him create a persona that was more aggressive, meant mainly to be used in situations that may really need it, such as dealing with especially rude tourists, bullies from school or, once he began officially working in the garage, unbearable customers. Unbeknownst to Warren, Kyoto would independently choose to use this persona more often than not, fearing that more cruelty may come his way if he wasn't always tough-his parents' previous teachings making him worried about how he appeared in public. He would never go too far, usually giving well timed threats to avoid the teacher's attention, and would tell people who actually wanted to fight him exactly where to meet him if they wanted a fight.

At age thirteen, it was during said physical training that Deciding that it wouldn't hurt to have him learn self-defense, Warren signed Kyoto up for nearby MMA classes, where he would excel in both defense and offense. Kyoto even found it somewhat cathartic, as he was able to take out some of his frustrations while in the class, usually by beating up a training dummy, and he especially felt elated when a former bully happened to see him while training, and quickly spread the information to the rest of the school. While things wouldn't always go smoothly, such as a time where he was accidentally punched in the face while he wasn't wearing head gear and giving him a scar that broke his right eyebrow, he refused to let that bring him down, and would go on to be one of the more favorable students in the class, despite recent events forcing him to end them.

Additionally, as Warren was proud to hear his son had an interest in mechanics, it didn't take long for Kyoto to earn a job at the garage, his learning having been taken over by Warren once he heard. While he wasn't allowed to do much as a fourteen year old, he did what he could with great effort, and over time became the second in command in all but name. Though he didn't always have the best attitude, he would almost always get the work done for the car in the garage.

Kyoto has noticeably changed when it comes to his social life. Once being perfectly sociable, he went from hesitant to closed-off, being careful of who he allows in his social circle, specifically using his tough persona to distance himself from some people. He does not have many friends, but those that he does have are similar outcasts, as he feels that he himself is one, he can't help but feel a need to help some who struggle socially, and at the very least, they are unlikely to turn on him, if only because they don't have many other options when it comes to friends.

Kyoto gets along well enough with the family he has. While he calls him by his name, Warren is his father. He’s eternally grateful for him taking both himself and Toshiaki in, and he’s the one person Kyoto feels like he can say anything to and not be judged. While he and Sandra never really became close, they never really came to dislike each other. They both know she came to take care of Toshiaki, and while she tried to help Kyoto, he was reluctant to become close to her. Even after he mostly got over the crash, he never really put in much effort with interacting with Sandra. He appreciates her for taking care of Toshiaki, but doesn’t think about her other than that. As for Toshiaki, he is the one Kyoto is closest with. Being the only blood relative he has left, not only does he feel obligated to be close to Toshiaki, but Kyoto wants his brother to be as happy as possible during his life. Like he planned to when he was younger, he participates in activities his brother enjoyed, which mainly consisted of watching cartoons and the anime from their parents. While Toshiaki was already a cheerful child, seeing him smile from watching cartoons like Steven Universe or anime like Pokemon, it gave Kyoto a warm feeling in his chest. Kyoto would do anything for Toshiaki.

Kyoto has a part-time job at Warren’s mechanic garage, and plans on getting a degree in automotive mechanics at Salem State University before being officially hired full-time there. Warren has already promised Kyoto the job once he graduates, and he’s gotten a good amount of money saved up from the job, so he feels prepared for the future for the most part.

Kyoto has not found any interest in having any romantic relationships, at least during high school, and while he has found himself feeling attracted to some of his male classmates, he hasn’t acted on any of them. He talked with Warren about his attraction to men, and while he didn’t understand it fully, he gave Kyoto his support in being with whoever he wanted.

Kyoto is aware of the Anthro Taskforce and SOTF, having heard about it while browsing the internet, and decided to look up what it was. After the discovery, he decided to keep himself up to date with news of the incidents and who got out of them alive, partially out of a morbid curiosity towards it, mainly out of genuine concern about the entire situation. He feels that he doesn’t have to worry about it harming him directly, but still thinks the entire thing is vile, and finds himself hating both the people behind it, and some of the students forced into it, as he feels that some of them go too far with certain deeds when trying to survive.

The last year has been a bit harder on Kyoto and his family, as the quarantine resulted in tourism in Salem coming to a stand-still, and causing their income to become noticeably smaller. Though they managed to get through the situation without too many problems, the family did have to make some budget cuts, most notably ending Kyoto’s MMA classes, which he did feel upset over, but understood it well enough that he didn’t object to the action.

While still sad about the fates of his parents, Kyoto has had time to heal and is mostly over the crash itself. His ongoing therapy sessions as well as support from his family helped him cope with the incident, and though he still has trouble watching movies with deadly car crashes in them, he is usually able to handle it with a couple of deep breaths.

Advantages: Kyoto has an incredibly athletic body, built from years of training, and has experience with hand-to-hand fighting. Additionally, he has a strong motivator to win with how devoted he is to his younger brother. Finally, he has a general lack of attachments to the majority of his classmates, and will likely have few emotional issues when fighting with them.
Disadvantages: Kyoto’s general attitude will most certainly cause problems for him, whether that be general distrust from his classmates, or his temper leading him to make bad decisions, things will go wrong for him if he doesn’t try to change demeanor. Other students are likely to notice his chance to be a threat, his aggressive nature and skill in fighting being fairly well known, and target him specifically for that. While he might be able to fight his classmates, it is harder to say that he will kill any of them, given his disgust at previous students who killed.

Hello AnimeNerd! I'm Paige and I'll be critiquing Kyoto for pregame. On this pass he's temporarily DENIED with the following notes:

It’s clear to anyone that sees him that he’s worked for years to achieve his muscular form.

His eyebrows are bushy, and there’s a notable break on his right eyebrow, a quarter closer to the right, clearly from a scar. His skin has a light tan, and his rectangle-shaped head is complemented by a Roman nose and his strong jawline, giving him a surprisingly handsome appearance.

This first quote and the underlined portion of the second don't fit the tone we aim for with profiles. We're shooting for a detached, just the facts sort of approach in the profiles. It's best to imagine them as being written by an intern who has over a hundred more of these to finish about kids they've never met; obviously some details must be included that only an omniscient narrator could know, but we try to keep the overall feel neutral and not too complimentary or derogatory. I don't think either of these sentences are necessary as is, though if they are reworked into sentences about how Kyoto feels about his physical appearance they would be acceptable.

What qualifies as "rather frightening groups or companies?" I'm aware of this style as a trend in media but I can't think of any relevant modern day examples and none are given in his abduction outfit. I'm not sure this would achieve the effect the profile implies it would in 2021, people don't tend to be intimidated by clothing and something like the greaser aesthetic is likely to be more of a meme than the sign of a dangerous individual among average high schoolers.

They were a first generation immigrant couple from Kyoto, Japan, who fell in love after their parents set them up together, and they moved to America after they both became disgusted with the Japanese court system, Mao already being frustrated with Japan’s Guilty Until Proven Innocent system, and Ryūnosuke became appalled after a good friend of his was arrested and sentenced to death on murder charges despite how little evidence there was against him.

This is factually dubious at best. While Japan has a famously high conviction rate and is often talked about as having a Guilty Until Proven Innocent system, structurally the issue here is actually the opposite of what you present: prosecutors have a high amount of privilege on what cases they present in Japan's adaptation of the adversarial system and thus strive to present cases where the evidence presumes conviction. While approx. 99% of cases see conviction, approx. 70% of cases are dismissed without ever seeing court. So while it is common in media for the Japanese court system to be depicted this way, it is actually extremely unlikely that a prosecutor would risk their career in this way and even more unlikely that they would obtain a conviction. If you feel friction with the courts is a necessary aspect of Kyoto's family history then I would be happy to provide you with some studies that expound on these issues further, but I think it would be easier to drop this aspect and find a less dramatic reason for them to immigrate.

Kyoto had a good life in his early childhood. Mao and Ryūnosuke made a good living off of their respective jobs, but made sure not to spoil their son nor neglect him. They made sure to be caring, but also made sure not to be push-overs. They wanted to give him an even upbringing, not too much or too little of anything. Even emotions were kept in check; the two made sure Kyoto knew they loved him, but did not show that often, most notable when they were in public, where they acted as guardians, but not much more.

How does this balance work? The only example you provide is that they don't show him affection in public, which by the standards of an American community would seem distant. If this continues in private as well, how does Kyoto feel about the difference in dynamics he would observe in his family and others in the community who are more liberal with shows of emotion?

Feeling pity for the children of one of his best workers, and with the closest family to Kyoto and the baby, named Toshiaki, being in Japan, the two were taken in by Warren Thompson.

This sentence is a bit difficult to read. I would separate it into two sentences; one explaining that the children's closest family was in Japan and expand upon their relation. Are they a grandparent? An aunt or uncle? A cousin? It's unclear at this time. The second sentence then can address them being fostered by Warren Thompson.

Warren goes on to be a shady businessman at best in his tutelage of Kyoto. Was he engaging in these tactics when his father worked for him? This seems at odds with his family's commitment to fair justice and extremely risky when his mother is an attorney. It is also the sort of fraud that would likely be turned out when the foster agency is examining his financial records. Overall I'm not sure what purpose this serves for Kyoto's story since these are not tactics he takes up himself in your later discussions of his mechanical ability. I feel this part of the profile could be lost, otherwise it will require extensive rewrites to justify why Kyoto's family was okay with it and why all this fraud goes unnoticed in the fostering process, and I don't think the juice is worth the squeeze there.

The whole section on Kyoto learning from Warren and his life experiences feels somewhat scattered, the paragraphs often repeat information and jump back and forth in the timeline. I would like to see this section streamlined into chronological order. Kyoto's increased aggression would be very worrying during observation for fostering, as would Warren encouraging him towards violent reprisal. Fostering takes on average four to twelve months so Warren would still be in a probationary period when these behaviors begin, and it seems likely that if Kyoto develops the way you've described here foster care would pull him and his brother from Warren's home before that period has elapsed. This is especially true if he develops a reputation of threatening others with physical violence, doubly so if he acts on those threats. Has Kyoto gotten into fights at school? Has he ever assaulted someone in another public setting?

Kyoto's final advantage clashes strongly with his expressed opinions about SotF. He is aware of the program and finds it vile, even feeling that some students go too far to survive; that suggests a level of empathy for total strangers who have been victimized by the game, so how can he then have zero attachment to his classmates who have been trapped in this same system?

Additionally, because of his neglect to professionally deal with his trauma from the accident, any undiagnosed PTSD is likely to come back in the environment of SOTF, and could lead to him becoming mentally unstable.

Undiagnosed PTSD has not been mentioned anywhere in his profile before this disadvantage. Mental health issues are sensitive topics we want handlers to be extremely careful with so I'm going to need a lot of expansion if this is a direction you want to take with him; I find it difficult to believe that after a traumatic accident like this his initial evaluation by the foster system wouldn't involve psychiatric review that would continue with his escalating aggression, or that other symptoms of PTSD would not be prevalent in his life. We have a lot of work ahead of us if this is the route you want to take him and I would encourage you to consider whether doing so sensitively is pressure you want to add to one of your first characters here.

That's all I have on this pass! Post in this thread when you have made these edits and I'll give him another look.

Alright, edited, hopefully to your liking!

Hello again! Kyoto is looking much improved though I still have a few concerns that leave him temporarily DENIED, primarily with the relationships you have added on this second pass.

The timeline feels unclear on fostering to Kyoto's poor experiences with Stephen and Tristana to him becoming more closed off in general; his parents die when he is nine or ten based on the pregnancy, you note that Stephen and Tristana are the first people he tries to open up to, then the next notation we get is that he starts helping out at Warren's shop around fourteen years old. I'd like a clearer picture of when these other events happen since as written these interactions with Stephen and Tristan happen at ten, maybe eleven, which strains their credibility for me.

How open is Tristana about this seance situation? This this not her critique so I don't want to dig too deep here, but it seems like a situation that would lead to a lot of sympathy for Kyoto and a lot of social ostracization for Tristana if anyone else heard about it. Had they even met prior to this? Unless this is happening years after the accident I can't see the school keeping them in the same class due to the trauma they are both dealing with and it seems a disquieting suggestion from a ten year old. I would suggest that the bullying from Stephen(with perhaps some unnamed background bullies) would be enough to fuel Kyoto and Warren's mutual concern about the cruelty of the world and the need for him to be strong for his new family and that if this interaction with Tristana is necessary it should be moved much later in the timeline, say high school at the least, and should probably have some social repercussions for both of them if it happens at school.

During said physical training, Warren noticed Kyoto's interest in the MMA fight he enjoyed. While he flinched away at the blood at first, he always came back for more, always wanting to see who would win each fight. Deciding that it wouldn't hurt to have him learn self-defense, Warren signed Kyoto up for nearby MMA classes, where he would excel in both defense and offense. He even found it somewhat cathartic, as he was able to take out some of his frustrations while in the class, and especially so at the one time he convinced at least one middle school bully to join, if only to have a fight that quickly ended in his favor. He would get some injuries while there, most notably the scar that broke his right eyebrow, but he would go on to still be one of the more favorable students in the class, despite recent events forcing him to end them.

This does not sound like an MMA class that would stay open very long. At a young age like this sparring is done with protective gear(including head gear) and they would not be training with strikes to the head or anything else that has a high chance of causing the multiple injuries you describe. I'm also curious how Kyoto convinced a bully to join the class with him as he is still actively avoiding people and is not presented as a persuasive speaker anywhere else in the profile, so it seems out of character for him to attempt this plan.

I like the overall development of Kyoto's advantages and disadvantages but feel his last disadvantage is still skirting the same issues with different wording. Whether we're outright calling it PTSD or just referring to it under the vague blanket of trauma the threat that undiagnosed mental illness might manifest because of SotF still makes me cautious. Additionally this makes less sense now that Kyoto has attended therapy following his parents' death and still carries a lot of obvious trauma. As long as Warren can continue to afford his appointments(which as a successful businessman who undoubtedly has his own insurance plan) I can't see why Kyoto would not continue therapy up until the current day if he found the initial sessions helpful. It feels like you're setting up previously undiagnosed/unpresented mental health issues to be a core strain on Kyoto's island story and that's not something I'm comfortable approving. At minimum I want more detail at the end of the profile about what symptoms Kyoto has been dealing with and what behaviors triggers for his trauma present along with a reason why he has stopped attending therapy. I would prefer to see him still in therapy coping with these issues with a clearly defined diagnosis and understood risk factors if that's an avenue you are committed to pursuing in his story. Otherwise I would like to see this element dropped if that is not a level of detail you're interested in pursuing.

That's all I have for now! Post here when you've made these edits and I'll give him another look.

Two Reasons Why I Am A Clown:

1. I took an MMA class was younger and completely forgot how the fighting stuff worked, why am I like this

2. I forgot this boy is no longer a Dangan Ronpa OC and doesn't need to have PTSD

Anyway, finally updated, sorry it took so long.