Criticism on the Bullies (and how to improve them)

This post is basically what works about the bullies, and what doesn't. It's going to be relatively long, so there's a tl;dr at the end. Feel free to give feedback or start a discussion in the comments about anything here. I'm open to criticism.

To start, why is there 5 bullies? In every "bully girls in High School" movie like The Plastics in Mean Girls and the Heathers in Heathers (I'll be using these two specific examples in this post), there are three bullies since they sort of resemble a "Mighty Triumvirate". It's a uniform number for a special clique or group. Having 5 doesn't make sense, especially when Kashiko and Hana are boring and are just filler characters. More on that later.

Musume Ronshaku

The almighty. She's The Mythic B*tch/Queen Bee/Apex Predator. However, she doesn't really come off as one. She's popular, but doesn't do anything. She constantly keeps to herself. Wouldn't she maybe go looking around for targets? In Heathers, Heather Chandler forces Veronica to forge a note as a sick prank. In Mean Girls, Regina doesn't really do anything, but she makes it abundantly clear she's in charge - through wearing trendy clothes or social sabotage/plastic and fake interactions.

"Oh my god, I LOVE your skirt! Where did you get it?"

"U-uh..it was my mom's in the eighties..."

"Vintage! SO adorable!"

"Thanks!"

"...that is the ugliest effing skirt I've ever seen-"

I mean..we KNOW Musume is the leader. But she doesn't do anything to SHOW that. If you're the most popular girl in school and have dozens of friends, Musume doesn't gaslight you into backing down, or force you to join her clique, being threatened by a possible new leader. She overall does nothing. Let's say you never gossiped about anyone in your entire gameplay. So...10 weeks and no drama? No bullying? Nothing...????

Hoshiko Mizudori

The next trope in line is the "Jealous/insecure one", or the one who's always being crushed by the leader. Examples are Gretchen Weiners, who has lost her sense of belonging until she's practically a slave to Regina, and Heather Duke. In Heathers, Duke is often being told to "Shut up, Heather!" and doesn't really get to have a say in anything. Since Hoshiko is easily the cruelest bully, I can see how this can come into play. Maybe Musume puts Hoshiko down in order for her not to get too "sadistic" or "power-hungry". She's being crushed and verbally harrassed by Musume so she doesn't show her real self. Maybe Hoshiko secretly resents Musume for not letting her be herself and restricts everything that does. In terms of Gameplay, this would be easy. Make Hoshiko the leader of the bullies after Musume is gone. (Funny enough, Heather Duke and Hoshiko both share the same colour - Green. For envy and evil respectively.)

Heather McNamara. A girl who's in the Heathers just to "float above it all" and not "When I say the wrong thing, or I wear the wrong outfit - they'll throw me right over the side!" and be cast into the "raging black ocean" of high school. She doesn't really do anything too cruel; maybe one or two harsh jabs or comments but not any physical harassment or threatening. Once the bullying is directed at HER though, the "cruel" facade drops. She instantly breaks, falling into depression and attempting suicide, but thankfully failing.

This. Is. Kokoro.

I only have two things to say. Since Kokoro is supposedly nicer than the rest, here's some simple gameplay additions you could make. Pick any of them. 3, 4 and 5 seem the easiest, so I recommend doing so. (I actually made a Pose Mod cutscene on 2, 3 and 5. Expect a post tomorrow or something~)

1. In terms of bullying, why not make Kokoro's "bully laugh" animations tamer, or make her write the least cruelest things on the victim's desk? Or maybe not write anything at all?

2. Maybe after a bullying session, she goes to the bathroom and cries.

3. Or maybe she might think/sulk to herself on the rooftop like Miyuji does?

4. Make Kokoro talk to the victim once the other bullies are gone.

5. Even simpler: Make Kokoro's walk animations the "Bullied" walk for the rest of Lunchtime.

The other thing is, why not make Kokoro revert to her old self once Musume (and/or Hoshiko) dies? The leader, or the glue, is gone. The bullies could easily break up then. However, if Hoshiko becomes the leader, Kokoro is the one being put down since Hoshiko finally gets to have power - and doesn't want anyone else to have it. If Hoshiko is killed THEN, maybe Kokoro will decide enough is enough, and becomes her old self. I don't see why killing 4 specific students just to see one change their appearance is something you want. Maybe just kill the Leader and the next-in-line.

There. You've got the three perfect bully stereotypes.

Hana and Kashiko

Let's face it: They're forgettable. We've already got the Leader, cruel one, and kind one. These two are just filler that don't really matter. You could toss the "instigator" aspect to Musume (Again, repetition: leaders LEAD stuff and start drama. I don't see why some random clique member has to do it.) The "inferiority complex" thing...isn't that technically Kokoro? If you were to look at it THIS way, Kashiko is a watered-down character cut from a part of Musume's personality, and Hana is the same but for Kokoro. If you kept Kashiko and Hana, they'd just seem like robotic clones of Musume - just with different accessories and hair.

My solution is to remove Hana and Kashiko from the bullies. If one/two of the three main bullies disappear, they might change their appearance and try to join. Maybe they're just "desperate wanna-be's" that don't make the cut to join unless something drastic happens.

Lastly, their clique names. We've already acknowledged how "The Bullies" is simply a fanbase nickname for them. But what DO the students call them?

"We call those three 'The Plastics' - they're shiny, fake and hard." Why Regina, Gretchen and Karen are called the Plastics.

"Aah, Heather, Heather, and Heather~ And then there's the 'Heathers' - they float above it all." Heather Chandler. Heather Duke. Heather McNamara. All three of their first names are Heather. So they're called "Heathers".

tl;dr: Only have Musume, Hoshiko and Kokoro as bullies. Make Musume act like a leader. Make Hoshiko leader after Musume dies. Make Kokoro revert to her old self after Musume (and/or Hoshiko) dies. Also make Kokoro ACT nicer in-game and showing real remorse from bullying. Remove Hana and Kashiko from the bullies, but allow them to join if any of the three existing bullies disappear. Also, give them a real clique name the students call them.