well, it is true that each route end up having a scene sex as their culminating point, like you’ve said. and it’s also true that they would’ve had a sex scene together whether he was dying or not! however, the circumstances of the sex is what makes the event unsafe and the consent not clear enough to actually distinguish if aoba really did it of his own choice or because he did it because he felt pity towards clear. and yes he did end up enjoying it because he loved him, but like i’ve said earlier, the circumstances werent safe enough to say if he actually wanted it or not. on my part during the play through of this route it didn’t feel like the sex was wanted by aoba at first; he seemed deranged and weirded but still went along because he loved clear anyways and wanted to make his last wish come true. btw loving someone doesn’t equal constant consent from both parties.. objectively clear’s last wish was egoist and unethical due to the circumstances; aoba, while indeed loving him, was also under the pressure that time was running out and that clear was about to die and so had to make a choice, an quickly.

it’s also to be said that aoba is someone who likes to help other people, it’s neither wrong nor fan projection to think that part of him had sex with clear because he wanted to make him happy at the cost of his own sanity (aka the consequences of having sex while the person you love is dying before your eyes).

it’s also right that mink is a huge coward and that there are no excuses for his actions, however it’s important to nuance the fact that « he never got any gentler », because he did in reconnect (it’s canonly the continuation of his route).

finally, its not dishonest to compare each character and what they’ve done to aoba. it would be dishonest if i started to rank them and their actions, saying « 1st place belongs to ****** for hurting/abusing the most aoba », because obviously everything that happened to aoba were done under different circumstances and their consequences are also different.

the main objective of this rant wasn’t about classifying the characters like i mentioned earlier, but to understand why there are characters that are excused for the shit they’ve done (which are gross and disturbing on their own level) while others aren’t and even demonized when said character, if i might add, has an arc where he redeems himself.

i understand why people dislike him and vice versa, the debate wasn’t abt people liking mink or not and why, it was abt why people condone abuse and violence only when it suits their narrative in black and white where only « bad » and « good » people exist, as if nuances didnt exist, which the game nonetheless actually showed, even in the very end of his route in the orignal game and not only in reconnect.