Analysis of Video Series "Denko"

Videos here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw-ID3eMcEw&list=PLpNAl5zLZSMUcMfsUrHFGR_avA6Jql2bl

ANALYSIS OF VIDEO SERIES “DENKO”

Part I: Timeline of Events

·         2Chan poster identified only as “OP” solicits advice in dealing with female object of affection, alias “Denko.” Claims to have “gone out drinking” with “Denko,” who now has refused to respond to emails and/or phone calls for three days.

·         Other 2Chan posters offer tepid response, mount brief effort to redirect thread toward the subject of ramen noodles.

·         “OP” demands assistance, reveals himself to have composed over 600 emails in three days. Other posters judge this to be “creepy” behavior. “OP” cedes the point, insists on being advised anyway. Reveals desire to “make [‘Denko’] respond.”

·         Other posters request samples of email correspondence. “OP” obliges. The content of such exchanges is such that “OP” is immediately judged to be a desperate and awkward person. “OP” eventually takes advice of thread posters to call “Denko,” claims to have hung up due to nervousness.

·         Thread poster advises “OP” to “invite her to look at the cherry blossoms,” to which “OP” agrees, albeit over email rather than telephone. Thread posters demand that “OP” call again, over which he confesses serious trepidation.

·         Thread posters begin to verbally abuse “OP,” claiming to be “fed up” with his bullshit.

·         “OP” claims to have called “Denko” and invited her to see cherry blossoms. “OP” claims that she “said some other time.” He announces plans to buy new clothing, claims that he had told “Denko” of his excessive sweating.

·         On being told by thread posters that “Denko’s” response is a veiled rejection, “OP” quickly recites backstory of his/“Denko’s” relationship, whose chief elements are borrowing school supplies from her and “making lots of eye contact.”

·         Thread posters begin to insult “OP” and suggest his attempts to contact “Denko” have been excessive and most likely off-putting. “OP” leaps to defend himself, largely ineffectively.

·         Thread poster makes sincere attempt to explain to “OP” that his behavior is socially inappropriate, and that “Denko” is most likely trying to spare his feelings by not directly stating that she is not interested in him.

·         Thread posters begin openly mocking “OP,” to which he apparently remains oblivious.

·         “OP” claims to be in the process of making plans to “go drinking” with “Denko,” her friend, and “OP’s” brother, whom “OP” identifies as an actor.

·         Thread posters imply that “Denko” is only trying to insinuate herself to “OP” in order to get to know his celebrity brother.

·         Thread gradually resolves into a pattern of posters giving “OP” ridiculous advice, “OP” failing to discern why said advice is ridiculous, and overly-sincere posters attempting to dissuade him from his obsession.

·         “OP” observes that many posts have been abusive toward him, expresses hurt.

·         Thread poster writes clearly sarcastic post in praise of “OP.” “OP” fails to discern sarcasm.

·         “OP” expresses frustration at the female sex’s failure to respond deterministically to stimuli, demands “What makes girls happy?”

·         Thread poster suggests ceasing email exchange. Other poster sarcastically suggests that a sudden cessation of emails would be a frightening change of pace. “OP” fails to discern the sarcasm.

·         Thread posters discuss among themselves. One poster suggests that “OP” has played too many “dating sims,” and lacks the ability to distinguish between reality and video games. “OP” confirms this interpretation, confesses a lack of facility with “three dimensions.”

·         “OP” posts the text of an excessively florid and “poetic” email, largely revolving around the image of a blooming cherry blossom as a symbol for his/“Denko’s” relationship. Posters’ responses are divided between sarcastic approval and outright mockery.

·         “OP” reports that “Denko” has requested he no longer email her, apparently suffers dramatic emotional breakdown, asks if this “is the fickle heart of a woman.”

·         “OP” seems to lack fundamental capacity to understand human interaction.

·         Thread posters encourage “OP” to call “Denko,” taking gleeful pleasure in his total lack of communicative skill.

·         “OP” espouses belief that he and “Denko” are now “dating,” wonders whether or not “Denko’s” silence and request not to be contacted are a “test.”

·         “OP” reports having ridden his bike to “Denko’s” house, having been allowed into the house by “Denko’s” mother, being invited to wait for “Denko” to return.

·         “Denko” fails to appear, leading to “OP” leaving her home. “OP” is apparently still confused by “Denko’s” obvious lack of interest.

·         “OP’s” persistent tendency to refer to his lack of “experience” in “romance” suddenly spikes.

·         “OP’s” desperate requests for help lead to yet more sarcastic advice, as well as open questioning of the supposed “dating” relationship.

·         “OP” reveals that he has sent seventy emails over the course of the previous day.

·         Discussion on thread turns toward open abuse of “OP.”

·         “OP” reports on his activities, which constitute stalking and/or espionage.

·         The majority of thread activity now consists of baiting “OP” into criminal stalking.

·         “OP” reports having returned to “Denko’s” home, leaving a note in the mailbox.

·         “OP” receives an email from “Denko” inquiring whether or not he had been at “Denko’s” home. He continues to seem oblivious to the fact that “Denko” is not his girlfriend.

·         “OP” returns to “Denko’s” home, where “Denko’s” mother threatens to call the police. “OP” solicits advice.

·         Once again, thread posters begin openly baiting “OP” into self-destructive and/or criminal behavior.

·         “OP” confesses to sobbing into his computer screen, proclaims resentment/anger against “Denko’s” mother.

·         “OP” announces plans to return to “Denko’s” home once more.

·         “OP” reports having seen “Denko” through a window, at which point “Denko” shouts for her mother. “OP” claims to have “instinctively fled.”

·         Thread posters sarcastically suggest that “OP” ought not to have fled, as this will have made “Denko” feel bad. Other suggestions include drafting a letter written in “OP’s” own blood.

·         “OP” posts content of an email from “Denko,” desperately requesting that he stop trying to contact her. “OP” claims not to know “what it means.”

·         Open mockery and sarcastic advice follows.

·         “OP” claims to think that “Denko” wants to meet “face to face,” is apparently convinced that he might still be able to salvage his “relationship” with “Denko.”

·         Some thread posters begin openly calling for “OP’s” arrest and/or surrender to the police.

·         “OP” posts contents of email to “Denko,” insisting that he has no plans to kill or rape her and professing his love.

·         Thread posters alternately sarcastically praise and openly criticize and/or mock said email.

·         “OP” reports that “Denko” has changed her phone number and email address her and that people at school are “ignoring” him.

·         “OP” claims to have purchased “Denko’s” contact information from a friend for 60,000 yen.

·         Thread posters bluntly question “OP’s” strategy of sending hundreds of emails. “OP” blames this on his lack of “experience.”

·         “OP” reveals that he is now posing as a friend of “Denko” over email, attempting to discern “Denko’s” state of mind.

·         Thread posters ask about “Denko’s” character. “OP” describes her in terms suggestive of an anime love interest.

·         Upon being told in blunt terms that “Denko” has never been interested in him, “OP” insists that their relationship is “hard for a third party to understand,” and is only accessible to him and “Denko.”

·         “OP” confesses to waiting for “Denko” at a train station, but suspects that she has changed her usual route.

·         “OP” continues to refer to the entire scenario as a “misunderstanding.”

·         “OP” announces plans to spy on “Denko” “from afar” while she and her friends go to see the cherry blossoms. When questioned, he reveals that he has purchased this information for 3,000 yen.

·         When a thread poster points out that the fact that “OP” finds himself forced to pay for information regarding “Denko’s” movements, he says that he finds it “unthinkable” to give up in his pursuit.

·         A large portion of thread chatter is now about the possibility of “OP” stabbing “Denko”/rooting for him not to do so.

·         Most of the thread now consists of mockery of “OP.” “OP” does not rule out the possibility of stabbing a potential rival.

·         “OP” reports receiving an email from “Denko” asking whether or not his proxy email account is, in fact, “OP.”

·         “OP” recounts having seen “Denko” at the flower garden and having “hugged her” from behind. He waxes rhapsodic about the feel of her body. He says that “Denko” attempted to run away, but that he refused to let her, and that her friends finally warned him to stay away from her.

·         “OP” starts a new thread referring not to “Denko,” but to being “bullied” at college. He is quickly identified.

·         Thread posters advise “OP” to ignore the bullies. He confesses his desire to yell “Stop it!!”

·         “OP” claims to be “mentally exhausted” after “[his] girlfriend broke up with [him].”

·         After various mostly pointless exchanges, a thread poster reveals himself to be (apparently) an acquaintance of “Denko,” at which point “OP” becomes highly agitated, ultimately threatening the poster.

·         Upon being subjected to further questioning, “OP” grows increasingly erratic and aggressive.

·         “OP” relates some bullshit story or something about “Denko.” It is honestly getting difficult to continue to follow this story. I hate “OP” with a blazing passion. It sounds like it’s about “OP” getting his ass kicked by a girl.

·         The girl is “Denko.” I mean, that should have been obvious, right?

·         Some posters begin questioning the veracity of “OP’s” various stories, as well as the motives of his supposed informant (now identified as “A-ko”).

·         “OP” claims to have been informed by “Denko” that she has a different love interest/boyfriend. He claims to have been devastated by this revelation.

·         “OP” announces his intention to purchase information from “A-ko” respecting with “Denko’s” boyfriend/whatever.

·         “OP” starts a new thread, this time claiming that he is unsure whether he now has feelings for “A-ko” or “Denko.” He furthermore reveals that “Denko” was lying about the other man.

·         “OP” claims that he thinks “A-ko’s” willingness to sell him information is a function of her being attracted to him.

·         Thread posters immediately denounce “OP” for being self-absorbed and oblivious.

·         Posters bait “OP” into sending an obscene email to “A-ko.” She replies with a brief but dismissive message.

·         Posters bait “OP” into sending a florid confession of love.

·         Posters openly mock “OP,” to which he mostly remains oblivious.

·         “OP” reports that “A-ko” has replied with a message asking if “OP” means that he “want[s] to date.” He replies with the same question.

·         “A-ko” supposedly replies in the affirmative. Thread posters respond with incredulity.

·         “OP” expresses reservations related to his delusional belief that he had been dating “Denko.”

·         “A-ko” supposedly sends “OP” a list of stringent rules for their prospective relationship.

·         Thread posters imply that “A-ko” is simply trying to get money from “OP.” This pretty quickly appears to be obviously true. “A-ko” makes it clear that she has no interest in sleeping with “OP,” who is too stupid to realize this and gets himself worked up into a lather over the idea of her being a virgin.

·         “OP” now claims that he slept with “A-ko,” in exchange for 350,000 yen worth of clothing. “OP” is a moron.

·         He reveals that he has been stealing money from his “rich family,” up to about 700,000 yen, according to his count.

·         “OP” expresses worry over “A-ko” potentially being pregnant. In response to being criticized as a potential husband, “OP” angrily insists “I CAN COOK SPAGHETTI.”

·         Everything just sort of… ends.

Part II: Psychological Profiles

“OP”

“OP” presents serious signs of mental illness/imbalance. Possibly a mid-functioning autistic, or else possible paranoid/delusional with severe social anxiety. “OP” appears to have an obsession with anime/Japanese media tropes, as evidenced by his repeated references to “H[entai] manga” and Japanese-style video games, such as “dating sims.” Most prominent among these are the female archetypes known as “tsundere” and “Yamato nadeshiko.” The former is a common character type in anime and manga, displaying a bifurcated personality with a “sweet” (deredere) side and an aggressive, fierce side (tsuntsun). “OP’s” obsession with the possibility that “Denko” is “testing” him by appearing aloof is clear evidence that this archetype is central to his thinking with respect to her. His belief that she is secretly deeply in love with him is, in essence, the missing “deredere” component. However, “OP” also seems to think of “Denko” as a “Yamato nadeshiko,” a term meaning, in essence, “a domestic beauty who embodies Japanese femininity.” “OP” describes “Denko” as “timid” but hardworking, and ascribes to her a love of “justice” and hatred of “twisted” (presumably meaning “wrong” or “evil”) things. He is also passionately committed to the idea of her as a virgin, as he also believes of “A-ko,” despite the obvious evidence that she is functionally a prostitute.

“OP’s” apparent inability to distinguish between ironic or sarcastic advice and genuine advice, as well as his apparent confusion over others’ perceptions of his actions and near-total lack of self-awareness point to an underlying sociopathy or moderate autism. He expresses frustration with the entire female sex, and appears to think of them, or to wish that they were, automatic or mechanistic in their responses to stimuli. “OP” readily agrees with a poster who comments that his courtship strategies seem to be based on “dating sims,” in which constant interaction is necessary to raise the abstract “strength” of a relationship. The very fact that “OP” does not recognize this as an insult is indicative of his general social ineptitude, but it is also a troubling sign of his expectations for romantic relations: “OP” expects to be rewarded for his “contributions,” without recognizing that his incessant attempts at communication may be seen as irritating, intrusive, or even threatening. “OP’s” repeated references to his lack of “experience” (and the corresponding wealth of “experience” he ascribes to the thread posters) further underscores his mechanical understanding of relationships: he thinks that the manipulation of women is a skill which can be developed, and that what works in the experience of some will apply to “girls” in general.

In a sense, “OP” is a sort of narcissist. In his world, he is the only mind with real, positive content, and all other persons are simply objects presented to his attention. Thus, when “Denko” fails to respond to a few emails, the explanation that occurs to “OP” first is, “Denko is hurt or in danger.” The idea, “Denko is busy or indisposed or does not wish to interact with me” is more or less inconceivable to him. Perhaps more to the point, “OP’s” deep-seated belief that “Denko” loves him back is most likely simple projection of his own feelings. He loves “Denko,” and she is merely an extension of his own subjective mind—how, then, could she not love him, too? “OP’s” obsession with the virginity of his love-interests appears to be a similar phenomenon: he is a virgin himself, and so presumably identifies the girls as such since he relates them to himself, and, what’s more, since they exist for his purposes, why should they have had anything to do with other men? What’s more, “OP” is ready to praise virginity as a virtue up until it becomes conceivable that he might be able to sleep with a girl. Events or actions that would almost certainly seem incidental to others are invested with great weight and significance by “OP” (e.g., “making eye contact” with “Denko”), who appears to be starved of human contact. For this reason, he seems to be unable to distinguish between the perspectives of different minds, indicative of an entirely self-centered worldview.

Despite this narcissistic bent, however, “OP” is a fundamentally insecure and effete personality. As the thread posters point out, he lacks the basic self-confidence to openly state what he wants to “A-ko,” refusing to answer her question with the straightforward, “Yes, I want to date,” and instead throwing the question back to her. Similarly, he is unable or unwilling to invite “Denko” on a date, instead trying to make himself a fixture in her life through an enormous volume of irrelevant, milquetoast emails (e.g., “Drinking jasmine tea, thinking about what to eat for dinner,” “Do you know if the new teriyaki burger at McDonald’s is good?” etc.). This is further evidenced by “OP’s” interminable use of ellipses and a particular emoticon (identified by the narrator as “stupid fuckin’ hamster face”) apparently meant to imply shyness or “cute” reticence on the part of the speaker. And, of course, “A-ko” finds it incredibly easy to manipulate “OP” and push him around through sheer insistence on having her way. He lacks the spine to refuse her terms, or even to avoid paying (indirectly) for her favors and, eventually, for sex. The fact that he has become a “john” apparently does not occur to him at all.

“Denko”

            The difficulty in assembling anything like a useful sketch of the personalities of the figures in this story other than “OP” lies in the fact that “OP” is our interpreter of all the events and, quite obviously, a terrible judge of character and at least borderline-delusional. “Denko” as presented by “OP’s” descriptions is rather more like a character in an anime than a real, flesh-and-blood person. Even attempting to read her character from her actions is difficult, at best, because “OP” is confused even by simple and blunt acts like insisting that he stop contacting her. In consequence, any profile of “Denko” will be incomplete and sketchy, if not downright nebulous.

            However, it seems that “Denko” (if “OP” can be trusted whatsoever) is a fairly “nice” girl in a conventional sense. She at least tolerates the presence of an obvious sad-sack like “OP,” even if for not-wholly-disinterested reasons (i.e., access to “OP’s” famous[?] brother and/or wealthy family). She furthermore appears to want to spare his feelings to some degree, rather than crushing him underfoot, as she would be able to, more than likely, if she were to choose it. She is not above a certain degree of manipulation and deception (witness her claims to be “too busy” for various meetings with “OP,” as well as her [according to “OP”] lie about having a boyfriend or “crush”). She appears to have a rather high degree of patience or toleration of intrusiveness, but a definite limit, as shown by her supposed attack on “OP” (what the thread posters call the “Shining Wizard,” in what I can only assume is a reference to some Japanese bullshit).

“A-ko”

            Again, accounting for “OP’s” almost utter lack of interpretive ability, “A-ko” is somewhat difficult to describe accurately. However, due to her integral involvement in more of the story (as well as the fact that “OP’s” obsession with her does not occur until later), more of her actual behavior is described in a way that might be described as “intelligible.” She has an obvious mercenary tendency, being willing to sell information and, eventually, her body, as well as being cool and businesslike in her interactions with “OP” after their agreement to “date.” She is manipulative and has an eye for weakness (to at least some degree—“OP” is hardly a difficult mark to spot), and is, moreover, ruthless in exploiting it. She appears to have little loyalty, given the fact that she continues to associate with and even assist “OP” despite the fact that he is seriously disturbing her supposed friend, “Denko.” Since “OP” is, however, “OP,” it is difficult to feel that she has wronged anyone of real significance.

“Denko’s” mother

            Probably the sanest character in the story, at least as “OP” tells it. Her characterization is extremely sparse, but she threatens to call the cops on him, which is a pretty solid move, I think.

Part III: Analysis of “OP’s” Courtship Strategy

            “OP” practices a form of “wooing” that could be described variously as “inundation,” “stalking,” and “death by a thousand cuts.” He seems to have no ideas beyond the basic one, which is, “Make her aware of me.” “OP” seems to hope that, by being constantly in the awareness of “Denko,” she will invariably begin to love him. He is, after all, so great—how could she not love him, given enough exposure? The flaw in this plan is that: A.) He actually sucks and is terrible; B.) She finds his level of persistence frightening and irritating; and C.) He literally becomes a criminal in the course of things. He mistakes her apathy/attempts to shake him off, however, as interest or veiled invitations to continue because, again, he is a delusional narcissist and probably at least midway on the autism spectrum.

Part IV: Writing This Much About This Bullshit is Making Me Angry

            Fuck you, Alex, this is the worst thing I’ve ever had to write about, and I’m including in that prompts like “Write about three women in your life who have been significant to you” for a class at my bullshit high school. Fuck you, man. This is the worst. Pretending to take this seriously is giving me a fucking aneurysm, and I’m going to die here at this desk. I hope you’re fucking happy, you monster. I’m dying because you promised me some money in exchange for being psychologically tortured.

Part V: Analysis of the Veracity of the Story

            I would currently put the odds of this being a true story at about thirty-five to forty percent. “Chan” boards are notorious haunts of trolls and other pranksters, so it is not a priori implausible that someone with a ridiculous, slow-building troll story would be lurking on a message board like that. Furthermore, the sheer amount of effort and doggedness required to produce six hundred emails in a matter of days (let alone how much inane horseshit he must have had ready to go to make up his weirdly passive-aggressive/needy emails) is staggering, and I am unsure that even an obvious fuckwit like him would have been able to do it. What he describes as the story progresses is also criminal, and I feel like it is at least as likely that “Denko” or her friends or her mother would have alerted the authorities and had “OP” arrested at some point.

            Additionally, just as the “plot” of this whole thing starts to get incredibly wearying and dull, a mysterious poster arrives claiming to have insider knowledge of the whole affair, triggering an aggressive and (hypothetically) more interesting response from “OP.” All of which smacks of deliberate planning. (For comparison, one might see “My Immortal,” and the supposed real-life drama relating to the author and her friend/ex-friend/friend-again, which plays out in the chapter headers or author’s notes or whatever.)

            I am also viscerally upset at the thought that a person like “OP” can really exist in the world, with a combination of social and ethical blindness so intense that it leads him to act like, well, him, but also possessing just enough cognitive function to do things like operate an email account and write all this shit on a message board.

            Finally, I am doubtful of the idea that his family would be unaware or indifferent to the loss of the amounts of money “OP” claims to have stolen from them. According to my cursory Google search, it is in the neighborhood of seven to eight thousand dollars. Apparently in cash, too, considering that “OP” describes simply “taking it” from his home. I don’t care if you’re rich as fuck, how do you misplace seven thousand fucking dollars in cash?

Part VI: Fucking Shit, Man, Why Am I Doing This?

            Am I really in this much need of money? I fucking hate doing this, it’s almost as bad as my regular job, which is mostly just standing around like a dumbass doing nothing and having no one to talk to and being pissed that I can’t just fucking read a book or something, but that’s against the rules because grocery stores typically employ people who cannot be trusted to do their work without constant supervision and, even though I would do my work even if I were allowed to fill the time between having actual tasks with diversions, it’s not like they can make an individual exception for me. I don’t understand how my manager fucking stands it. He’s fifty-two fucking years old, and he spends the majority of his day standing around doing nothing or moving boxes to and from shelves. And it’s not like he doesn’t have other options, for fuck’s sake, he has a degree and he used to own his own business. Shit.

            I can just picture you there, Alex, laughing smugly as you drink some fucking Scotch or your pansy-ass French wines and whatnot (don’t even lie, you told me you like Bordeaux, and that’s French as FUCK, man). You did this shit to me. You did this to me, solely because you like torturing me and because you have money to waste. This is the biggest fucking waste of money I can imagine, and wouldn’t it serve you fucking right if I became a Marxist after this shit? Like, what if I told you, “I now see that capitalism is nothing but wage-slavery. You leveraged your superior power afforded you by WEALTH, by FILTHY LUCRE, and used it to exploit my subordinate status as a PROLETARIAN. I will rise up against you, oppressor! All of us, all the whole international fraternity of the worker, will rise against you and cast off our chains, and you will be trampled underfoot in the glorious progress of HISTORY, against whose FEARSOME VISAGE and INEXORABLE PURPOSE no man can stand! The blood of the oppressor, the blood of the bourgeois, these are the AXLE GREASE that will smooth the way for the great LOCOMOTIVE OF PROGRESS!”

            What if I said that shit? Would it have been WORTH IT, asshole? Turning your friend into a filthy fucking COMMIE? It’s lucky for you that I don’t actually think that. Damn lucky. YOU’RE THE REASON SO MANY PEOPLE ARE LOW-KEY MARXIST, DICK.