why komaeda is gay: a thread about why its canon AND why it's narratively significant

lets get this out of the way right off the bat: im not tolerant of biphobia, and if anyone tries to say some biphobic shit theyre gonna catch my hands. i headcanon most of the DR cast as bi/pan. dont come @ me with that shit

now, i'll start with the evidence to say that he's gay and not bi/pan. first, and most obviously: he shows interest in guys (particularly hinata), and he never actually shows any interest in girls!

i'm sure someone could make the argument of him showing some interest in (insert female character) based on little things, but... komaeda isnt subtle. he uses "aishiteru" when confessing his love for hajime, and he is NOT subtle about his feelings for him throughout the game

(if you need me to walk you through all the times komaeda is blatantly, openly expressing his romantic feelings toward hinata, then im sorry but this isnt the thread for you. just go replay sdr2 and pay attention this time)

he never shows this kind of affection toward girls. he doesnt ogle them like hanamura and souda, he doesnt openly fall for one like kuzuryuu, he doesnt get all blushy around one like tanaka, or show interest in them like hinata...

and unlike nidai and the imposter, he doesn't seem just outright disinterested in romance. hes OBVIOUSLY not disinterested in romance! his attraction to hinata is one of the few healthy things he has left in his sick-addled head!

and for those of you who are fine with extra-canon content, when specifically asked about the kind of girls he likes in a magazine interview, komaeda dodges the question (src: https://niabu-chan.tumblr.com/post/172552290624/interview-about-komaedas-type-of-girls)

"but he uses people! thats gender neutral!"
sure, but he wasnt asked about who he was romantically interested in. he was asked about girls, and he refused to directly answer, opting to keep gender ambiguous. thats the exact thing closeted gay people have had to do for AGES

if he was bi or pan, he'd have to reason to be so dismissive. if he was closeted, he could simply lie by omission (something we see him do frequently) and not include the fact that hes also into guys.

and on the other hand, if he wasnt closeted, he'd have no reason to hide his attraction to men behind ambiguous language, either. he could just say outright that hes into girls AND guys-- after all, his shameless frankness is a huge, HUGE piece of his characterization

if he's not gay, he literally has no reason to dodge the question. this is the kind of response that only makes sense if he's not attracted to girls At All, simply because of the way we know komaeda is as a person

now, the better part of this thread. the narrative significance of komaeda being gay. there's a fucking ton of it, specifically regarding his relationship with ENOSHIMA JUNKO

"ha! thats right!" you say, "you forgot about junko! komaeda says he loved junko, and that PROVES that hes into girls!"

but thats where youre wrong, my friend. thats where youre so very wrong.

because komaeda's "attraction" to junko is actually MORE NARRATIVELY COMPELLING AND RELEVANT if he's NOT attracted to women

i'll explain. junko enoshima operates by making her followers completely dependent on her approval so they'll do anything she asks. to do this, she needs to strip them of their own identities so they can be replaced with her own despairing image

now consider: junko enoshima finds a gay man (who, most likely, isnt comfortable with his own sexuality yet). he's terminally ill, and his life has been completely hellish, so he hasn't had the opportunity to explore that side of himself yet.

but, as we see with his feelings toward hinata, his sexuality and romantic attraction toward men is one of the few normal, healthy things he has left!

so, of course, what would cause more despair than taking that away from him?

junko sees how desperate he is for ANYONES approval, and his devotion toward hope, and vows to make him defy one of the only stable parts of his identity in order to earn acceptance from the only person thats offered it to him for possibly his whole life

and komaeda, subject to constant abuse and gaslighting from the queen of despair herself, falls for it. komaeda hates junko enoshima not just because she represents the antithesis of hope, but because she stole something precious from him:

his first "love"-- or, the first thing he thought was love. something so devastating that when faced with the question of whether he really hated her, all he could do was frantically, desperately question his own perception of reality:

a first love that not only breaks him down psychologically, but also serves to make him question his whole sense of identity and reality just to serve her. she doesnt just make him question malleable things like ideology and morality

she makes him question whether IMMUTABLE FACTS about himself are true.

THATS despair. THATS the terrifying extent of junko enoshimas power. and THATS the reason (or, at least, the biggest one) why komaeda being gay is more compelling than the alternative.

komaeda is a gay character. komaeda is MEANINGFUL as a gay character. komaedas character is made MORE COMPLETE by being gay in a way that many others' characters just arent.

komaeda is gay, and thats so, so important.

specifically, komaeda learning to overcome the way he was forced to question his own identity and redevelop a healthy relationship with his own feelings after having his whole existence as a gay man thrown into question...

that's important.

anyway if u made it to the end of this thread thank u heres some cute komaeda i doodled a long time ago. stan komahina

also go read this thread! it links to mine at the bottom n it brings up some stuff i didnt cover here! https://twitter.com/coolermudkip/status/1185614607076995073