/jp/ - Otaku Culture

Would Erika have been better off had she stayed dead? It sometimes feels like her inclusion in Episode 8 was done purely for the sake of fanservice and without much regard for what it meant for her as a character. Don't get me wrong, I loved seeing her again and she had some great scenes with Ange and the rest. But at the same time her portrayal sorta flies in the face of her prior character arc throughout 5 and 6.

The bit of independence from Bern that she begins to develop towards the end of 6 (seeing her fear of the past as pitiful, not wanting her to be there in her final moments) is completely wiped away and she returns to being a blindly faithful lapdog. The revelations she had regarding truth and how it can be multifaceted is similarly reset as she returns to worshipping the concept of a single objective truth. She also unceremoniously tosses aside the bond she'd cultivated with Dlanor, along with any of the respect she'd gained for Beatrice and her gameboard.

Basically, she drops any nuance and returns to being the over the top intellectual rapist we saw previously. the difference is so apparent I'm somewhat inclined to believe that the whole thing was just her playing the role of a villain.