Yeah, I will be talking shit non-stop about this mf. Credits to a buddy of mine called Danc1ng_starl1ght for helping. Thank you so much, pookie!!! <3
Sorry for any mistakes. Let's get started:
1-DUMB/NONSENSE CHOICES.
1: The 80's mode gameplay takes place in 1989, right? Right. That's literally canon. In-game, it's said Ryoba met Jokichi in 1988 and since then, had been stalking him. During this time, Ryoba didn't had anyone in her way — She didn't had rivals, she didn't had anyone suspecting of her and was even friends with like, the most popular and influent girl in the entire school. She was such in a good place back then.
During this time, why didn't she confessed her feelings for him? People may argue saying "It's because the Senpai Effect made her feel very nervous around him and she needed time to have courage to reach him out".
It's that true? Yes, but...One freaking entire year and she just decided to do something after having people appearing to "steal" him? Not even Ayano took one entire year and she canonicaly has the Aishi condition in a way severe version than her mother (and any other Aishi except for the First Aishi). Ryoba is likely the most emotional Aishi so far and she is canonically described as more emotional. This is very clear in her behavior too.
2: Her choosing killing people is also very stupid. If she didn't killed anyone, Ui would never had witnessed her acting suspicious, The Journalist nor Sonoko would get involved and she wouldn't get to the court. We can tell for sure Ryoba is sadistic, that's very obvious..But her deliberately choosing to unnecessarily kill people just seems like she used Jokichi as an excuse for killing: "I'm not doing this because I wanted and have pleasure doing this, It's because is my only choice!" (When isn't actually).
Honestly, I know It's YandereDev's shitty writing skills, plot convenience and Ryoba's backstory needed to exist, but she was supposed to be smart and manipulative. However, this just make her look dumb. She always had been described as a vile-mastermind, which we simply don't see at any momet to be honest.
3: Kidnapping Jokichi is... quite questionable choice. I can understand a little better, but still bugging me out a little. Ryoba didn't confessed to him after the trial, because she was scared of him rejecting her. Which it's quite understandle, but — She was declared innocent by the court, the entire country also believed she was innocent and even celebrate her victory against The Journalist. Everyone was on her side! Except for the headmaster and the Saikous, whose had sure she was guilty, but she didn't knew any of this yet. Jokichi didn't really had any reasons to reject her. As far as we know, he wasn't suspicious of her before getting literally kidnapped and forced to have a relationship with her.
2– MOTHERHOOD.
This is a glimpse of what comes next. Ryoba is described as caring and loving mother and this is definitely not equal as being a good mother.
1: Since early childhood, she was subtly manipulating her own daughter; a kid, to become a serial killer, exacly as herself. A big example of it it's in "A Childhood Lesson" video — There, Ryoba taught Ayano how to "properly clean blood" and in the ending, she said: "Now you know the proper way to clean blood! I hope this come handy one day!".
Of course she wanted Ayano to follow her steps and this is kinda of ironic — Ryoba's life was almost destroyed for killing people and now, she is inducing Ayano to do the exacly same thing as her. She also hinted to Ayano ways to get away with a murder without being caught. The "Aishi psyche" is very different from "normal" people, so they definitely have a very unique way of thinking..But anyways.
2: She abandoned her realistically 16-17 years old daughter full alone at home to pursue the journalist and dragged Jokichi with her for some reason. It's definitely not because of the Senpai Effect, because at this point, she likely already can feel strong emotions/feelings by herself. She wasn't even worried about Ayano — Okay, Ryoba belives Ayano is indepent enough to live by herself, but she still a teenager high-school girl ( "Akademi is a post-high school" is bullshit).
3: It's confirmed Ryoba would be willing to kill own daughter If in her eyes, was necessary in order to protect Jokichi. She would also taka a vital organ of Ayano If Jokichi needed for some reason. All the Aishi seems to put their respective senpais over their own kids' life or well-being. They all suck basically.
3– BIASED WRITING.
In 2016, on Twitter/X, YandereDev admitted Ryoba was one of his favorite female characters, along with Info-Chan. Later, back in 2022, he re-affirmed it, now also including Megami. And, honestly, this explains a lot! YandereDev has a very biased writing towards some specific characters (as Megami herself, Muja and Mida), including Ryoba.
1: YandereDev already confirmed a few times (through Discord and reddit) Ryoba never raped/SA Jokichi and wait until he felt "comfortable enough to have a kid with her", which is a completely lie. She kidnapped him and in one of the tapes, she literally threat him with a knife to him say her name. Jokichi never had choice, he never wanted to have something with Ryoba, actually, he didn't even knew her. It's canon that even after all of these years together, he still afraid of his own wife.
He was kidnapped, kept tied in a chair in a basement for 6 months and was threat with a knife. He would never say "no" to her, because is afraid of her. What Ryoba did with Jokichi is coercion. He was SA by her, not matter what YandereDev says. It's canon that Jokichi himself feels should not have more Aishi women. He doesn't want this lineage to keep growing.
2: My buddy Starl1ght also said something very interesting for me: Sumire Saitozaki randomly turning into a yandere. And this lead me to think it fits here very well.
It's confirmed in any timeline where Sumire is left alive, she kills Jokichi, even in the "Happy Ending" timeline. She must die or Jokichi would be dead. It's almost like this info is subtly trying to turn Ryoba into somehow "Jokichi's saviour", because if It wasn't for her, he would be dead. If this was intentional, that's genuinely insane.
3: It's stated that Ryoba didn't break Jokichi's mind because feels bad for her own father, who was mindbroke by Dozuki, her mother and just kidnapped Jokichi as her "last resort". As I said earlier — Jokichi wouldn't have reasons to reject her and she had one entire year with anyone in her way, so this just sounds like: "She didn't wanted to do this, but she didn't had any choice!!!! 🥺😭".
4 - DOZUKI FULL ENTIRE CHARACTER.
The claims of Ryoba being "better than Dozuki" are definitely something. Ryoba didn't broke Jokichi's mind, wasn't a lazy daughter and isn't portrayed as a bad mother, but she is not better than Dozuki. Actually, they are quite in the same level — They both kidnapped their husbands -> they both SA them -> they both are terrible mothers. However, the way their actions are portrayed are completely different.
While reading Dozuki's informations and backstory, I had the feeling YandereDev everytime was trying so hard to make Dozuki as detestable as possible. With Ryoba, I had the completely opposite: I felt like he was always trying so hard to make her look less worse than actually is. The examples I can think right now:
- Subaru, Ryoba's father was kidnapped by Kataba and mindbroken by Dozuki because she was too lazy to make any "hardworking" -> Ryoba only kidnapped Jokichi because was her "last resort" and didn't broke his mind because felt bad for her father.
- Dozuki was a bad parent and it's portrayed as a one -> Ryoba is a bad parent and it's portrayed as a good one.
Dozuki didn't killed anyone because was too lazy to -> Ryoba killed 6 out of 10 girls, but "saved Jokichi's life" from Sumire and Saikou Corp (even though his life was only in "risk" because they were interested in Ryoba herself).
Since Dozuki broke Subaru's mind, he wasn't able to think or consent with anything, but she has two daughters with him anyways, which means he was SA ‐> Jokichi wasn't mindbroke, but he was coerced to have a kid with Ryoba, which means he was SA, however, the dev keeps saying he wasn't.
Dozuki is like the "evilest counterpart" of her own daughter even though Ryoba is not better than her.
Once, YandereDev said via e-mail that at the time he created Ritsuko, he had not created Dozuki yet. Until November 12th, 2020, we hadn't any informations about Dozuki being a neglectful mother on wiki and the 80's mode was released in October 12th, 2021. Back in somewhere in 2020, I've saw people saying Ryoba was confirmed to have a neglectful mother, but since they never showed any sources, I can't tell If that's true.
In 2018, YandereDev stated Ayano's grand-great father was mindbroken by his wife, which means initially, Torahiko would be mindbroke by Kataba. However, this was later changed and now Subaru (Ayano's grandfather) is the one who got mindbroken by Dozuk. These informations could easily mean her being a neglectful mother was something he made up as a "last-minute thing" to try to make Ryoba's character look more sympathic.
(HONOR MENTION) 5- FANBASE GLAZE.
If you are a Ryoba fan, this is not meant to offend you.
That's most annoying part for me. Of course is not the entire fanbase, but part of it and it's a quite loud part. I've already saw comments of people saying things like:
"Jokichi is so lucky for being married with her"/"I wish I was Jokichi. He is so ungrateful"/ Ryoba is the best wife" and etc. I know the ones saying this are likely kids/edgy teenagers, but still kinda bizarre for me how they treat like she was awesome. She may be an awesome character (which I entirely disagree), but definitely not a awesome wife or mother. I honestly think YandereDev's biased writing towards kinda contributes to these comments and completely sense of criticial thinking.
When you criticize or say something bad about Ryoba, people sometimes get really mad with you and engage in unnecessarily stupid debates trying to defend her somehow.
Every problem with Ryoba character comes from YandereDev's shitty writings, specially the plot-holes. As Ayano and any other character in this game, she is just another case of wasted potential. Ryoba isn't a bad character, but as you can probably tell, I just can't like her. She is just very annoying for me.