Happy Friday, peeps!  Borealis here!

It's time for the next exclusive devlog, and the first one in the mini-series of exploring the main characters of Venus: Improbable Dream in more detail!  Today's character is our protagonist, Akane Kakeru.

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When you take away all of his issues, Kakeru is naturally a laid back kind of guy, armed with a somewhat dark sense of humour, and a penchant for witty sarcasm that makes people laugh.  He's also an avid gamer, and though he has a tendency to be quite introverted, he does enjoy having friends that he can just kick back and chat with in a relaxed environment.  That's Kakeru at his core, but unfortunately, there's also something else that he was born with that's given him a terrible insecurity - his birth defect. 

The dark spot you see on his face is a hemangioma (he-man-jee-oh-ma), which is a benign tumour that appeared a few weeks after he was born, and slowly grew bigger over time.  This is a very real condition that affects many people worldwide, and while most hemangiomas disappear of their own accord, some don't, and surgery is not always an option.  Thanks to Kakeru's being quite severe, he's had to accept that it's going to be a permanent feature of his appearance, and that's something he feels has ruined his life.

When he was a little child, he was less hung up on what he looked like, as his more happy-go-lucky side was still intact back then.  He never particularly bonded with anyone at school, but had hopes that he'd make proper friends once he got older.  However, high school brings a lot of social pressure, as well as bullies and gossipy cliques, and the shift caused Kakeru to start fixating on his hemangioma much more closely.  Not only did he hate being bullied for his appearance, but he also noticed that the nicer people were still uncomfortable around him, as though they'd get bullied too if they spoke to him.  This awful, day in day out trauma eventually caused Kakeru to forcibly change his outlook, and resulted in the Kakeru you see at the beginning of Venus: Improbable Dream's story.

Now incredibly fearful of being seen, thanks to the repercussions it may have, Kakeru has developed a wish to be ignored so strong that it borders on a phobia of people.  It comes with a deep anxiety that affects everything in general, from speaking to his parents, to walking the school corridors, and just about everything in between.  In an attempt to help himself get through his life, he's developed a way of going about his school days almost like a ghost, hiding from everyone and refusing to speak.  He knows that it's not a helpful coping mechanism, but he doesn't know what else to do.  This complete, self-imposed alienation from everybody else has also caused him to feel a lot of depression, due to the fact that underneath it all, he does still want to make friends and enjoy the last of his teen years, but his fear of being judged means that he doesn't dare to try to make any connections.

This is the mental place that Kakeru is in when our story begins, and thus, his inner monologue is very pessimistic and negative, using his own dark humour against himself often.  However, as the game progresses, more and more opportunities for Kakeru to choose to take a timid step out of his comfort zone and make a positive change appear, and it's up to you, the player, to decide how he shapes his future.  There's a whole world out there waiting for him - can he bring himself to reach for it?

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That's all for today, and I really hope that this more in depth post helps you to understand Kakeru in more detail, and really put you into his viewpoint to understand his feelings in Venus: Improbable Dream.  Monday's episode will focus on the game's leading lady, Fujiwara Haruka, so stay tuned for that!

Have a great day!

Borealis