Yuri

**Yuri** is one of the two tritagonists (alongside Natsuki), as well as the secondary antagonist of the 2017 visual novel *Doki Doki Literature Club!,* one of the five members of the Literature Club, later replacing Sayori as the vice-president in Act 2 after she was deleted by Monika in Act 1.

Yuri is Popo and Natsuki's best friend and former rival. She joined the Literature Club out of her interest in fantasy and psychological horror novels. As of Act 2, she became the game's secondary antagonist, as well as a posthumous antagonist in Act 3, before becoming one of the two deuteragonists in Act 4, although she is not actually a villain, just a victim. Yuri and Natsuki are typically playing together and sometimes Yuri can abuse Natsuki on some occasions, or vice versa. However, Yuri thinks that Natsuki is perfect and that she is a good friend.

## Physical appearance

Yuri expresses both maturity and sophistication in everything she performs. She is an 18-year-old girl who has waist-length dark purple hair and light purple eyes, and she wears purple barrettes on both sides of her head, positioned upon two prominent strands of hair beside her bangs. She is of above-average height.

While in school, she wears the standard-issue female school uniform consisting of a warm gray blazer fully buttoned and untucked, brown sweater vest, white shirt slightly unbuttoned at the collar and tucked, red ribbon, dark blue pleated skirt, white knee-high socks and white uwabaki slippers with sky blue tips.

While out of school, she is shown wearing a beige, long-sleeved turtleneck-sweater with black leggings. Yuri has a more mature figure than Sayori, Natsuki, to a lesser extent, Monika and Mr. Game & Watch. The protagonist describes her movements as surprisingly elegant due to her long legs. She is also the most physically developed, adding to her traits of maturity and insecurity.

In Act 2, her face often appears scrambled. Her eyes, typically a bright orchid, will widen upon undertaking extreme stimulation, and sometimes turn a duller shade of purple, possessing a hyperrealistic appearance and moving independently of the rest of her sprite. One of her early glitches in Act 2 gives her a "dragon" form, where her hair is black, her uniform blouse bright red, and her eyes a darker red with slit pupils.

## Personality

As the shrinking violet and/or dandere of the Literature Club, Yuri is portrayed throughout the majority of the game as being shy, generous, polite, apologetic, very intelligent, mature, eloquent, and passionate about topics she is interested in, although she is also very insecure, awkward, and has a tendency to act slightly condescending and patronizing to mask her self-doubt. Her façade of passivity and level-headed nature occasionally breaks, however, as Yuri does argue passionately and aggressively with Natsuki over their differing opinions on writing techniques and kinds of literature, but this is immediately stopped by the Ice Climbers, Mr. Game & Watch and Cuphead. Yuri has a deep desire to be liked by others and is afraid to speak her mind on certain matters as she believes it will make her seem unlikable. Due to her social ineptitude, she can be innocently insensitive, but once she realizes what she said could be considered rude, she almost immediately apologizes, repeatedly saying it was unintentional. As stated by the protagonist, Yuri likes to think before she says something.

Yuri prefers to blend in with the scenery than to attract unwanted attention. The attribution is also because of being shy to discussions beyond her category of interest, her interests being literature, horror, and general surrealism, which she examines and articulates expertly and encourages others to follow as well. During Act 1, Natsuki and Yuri get into a debate about their different writing styles. Choosing to side with Natsuki will cause Yuri to shy away from the player, and if the protagonist attempts to read their poem to Yuri, she will not respond, which will cause the protagonist to decide it is best to leave her alone. If the player calls for Sayori to diffuse the situation, Sayori will compliment both Yuri and Natsuki on their writing, appearance and capabilities. This strategy will satisfy both girls, but also leave them embarrassed.

Yuri's love of surrealism seems to be foreshadowing further events of the game, with Yuri's surrealistic eyes and the game's sudden shift to horror after Sayori's suicide. Yuri prefers poetry that uses metaphorical symbolism and enjoys collecting unusual ornate knives, which are implied to be used for self-harm. Mr. Game & Watch, however, notices this and prevents her from using it recklessly. The detailed summaries of the *Portrait of Markov* in the first and second act, when also taking the scattered dialogue references into account, all end up tracing back to her unstable nature and unhinged personality. Popo and Nana both foreshadow that the *Potrait of Markov*, the novel at the top of Yuri's list of favorite books, is the reason the Literature Club is transitioning into a psychological horror.

Yuri takes great pride in her poetry and perceives her poetry as being superior to that of the other club members, especially Natsuki. According to Dan Salvato, this is a coping mechanism for her deep insecurity and self-doubt, convincing herself that she is the sophisticated, mature one and that her critics or rivals are immature and childish. This can make her seem arrogant and patronizing to those unfamiliar to her. This desire to seem intellectual is reflected in her poetic style. Her poems are so full of metaphors and advanced language that the meaning is often obscured, or even lost. During Monika's talk, while talking about Yuri's habit of drinking tea while reading, Monika wonders whether Yuri is as passionate about certain topics as she makes out, or whether she is "just concerned about appearing sophisticated to everyone else."

Yuri has trouble making and retaining friends, as she tends to come on too strongly, due to her intense desire to be liked. She used to be judged for her appearance and mannerisms, providing another possible explanation as to the reason she secludes herself to her introverted lifestyle. She is, however, a generous and giving person, exemplified by her giving a copy of *Portrait of Markov* to the protagonist and for bringing tea to the Literature Club to help soothe the mind and help remain focused during reading.

During Act 2, Yuri's negative traits are amplified, causing her crush on the protagonist to become an unhealthy obsession, at one point Yuri admits that she touches herself with the pen she took from him, and her already-existing hobby involving knife collecting becomes a love of self-harm, to the point where Monika suggests that Yuri cuts herself due to a fetish. This also causes her to become invasive and condescending to the other club members, asking Natsuki "Why don't you look for coins under the vending machine?," which causes Natsuki to cry and run away. In one occasion, Yuri shows a poem to the protagonist with blood and waste stains on it, telling him that she has 'put her scent on it.' Yuri will then realize what she has truly done and leave the club, stating that she is going to vomit. Given Yuri's unorthodox description of and reaction to *Portrait of Markov* in Act 2, it is possible she might derive sexual gratification from blood, knives, or sadomasochism (in other words, sexual feelings from sadistic and masochistic situations) in general.

Personalizing self-awareness, Yuri recognizes that something is wrong with her and that her comments and behavior are inappropriate, enough so to feel something bad will happen despite her happiness. She is ultimately unable to control her obsessive outbursts, no matter how hard she tries. It reaches a point where, after she confesses her love to the protagonist, she stabs herself to death, regardless of whether the player accepts or rejects her love. Yuri's body is left decomposing for three days, and is then discovered by Monika and Natsuki, with the latter immediately vomiting and fleeing. In the first page of "Loss of a Friend," Natsuki becomes terrified, then vomits after she and the Ice Climbers discover her decomposing corpse after the weekend, but then bursts into tears instead of fleeing the school, as Natsuki blames herself for Yuri's death due to the intensity of her backlashes against Yuri during their poem fight in Act 2.

In *DDLC Plus*, Yuri retains most of her personality from the original *DDLC*, albeit with major differences. Yuri is presented as a timid and hushed introvert, as she was reading by herself in an empty classroom when Monika first invited her to the newly-formed Literature Club in Trust. Upon joining the literature club in Understanding, she is shown to suddenly switch from shy to direct when discussing about her interests (books), which catches Monika and Sayori off-guard. Yuri later misinterprets Sayori's attempts to follow her fantasy-themed novel and make her happy as pity on Sayori's part, and reveals that she often struggles socializing with people, finding it hard to accept their gratitude. After gaining a mutual understanding with Sayori, Yuri requests her to teach her poetry.

When Natsuki joins the club, Yuri sides with Monika over her concerns about the new member, and later advises Sayori on how to approach Natsuki. In Reflection, the differences between Yuri and Natsuki come to a head as the duo get into an argument that, despite Monika attempt to mediate it, ends with Natsuki believing Yuri sees her and her interests as immature. The day after the argument, Monika finds Yuri sitting at a disused stairwell and suggests Yuri to write a letter to Natsuki if she prefers to write than to talk. Monika assists Yuri with writing the latter and delivers it to Natsuki on Yuri's behalf. In the final side story "Self-Love," Natsuki and Yuri interact over several days at Yuri's spot at the stairwell. Yuri assists Natsuki when she goes through a panic attack over cutting off her former friends, grounding her and offering her comfort. She tells Natsuki that *"*From now on, you'll never have to do anything alone again,*"* in a show of kindness.

In "Flat Reflection," it is revealed that Yuri and Monika are Mr. Game & Watch's biggest fans, specifically by PAC-MAN. During the story, Monika and Yuri write a "love letter" for Mr. Game & Watch, in which the latter reads the poem much to his amazement and impress, with PAC-MAN assisting the two, stating that he will love it and responding "After all, you girls are his biggest fans." Despite her tall height and maturity, Yuri is also seemingly a crybaby, like Sayori, as shown in the side story "Understanding" in *Doki Doki Literature Club Plus!*, but is relieved after her friends comfort her. This is demonstrated in Flat Understanding, where Yuri bursts into tears after realizing her misinterprets against Sayori's welcoming to the club to Yuri, apologetically collapsing to her knees in guilt and overwhelmance. Nevertheless, Yuri is immediately relieved by Mr. Game & Watch, Rayman and Sayori. In addition, out of all the club members in the Literature Club, Yuri seems to show ministration for Mr. Game & Watch. In Three-Dimensional Love, after Natsuki questions about Mr. Game & Watch's wellbeing after referring him as the "silent queen" during her and Yuri's hangout with him, the latter admits to Natsuki and Yuri that he never lives a "three-dimensional" life as a reflection of his two-dimensional figure unique to humanity, along with stating that he lacks cheerful expressions and referring himself as a "shadow of his former self." Natsuki and Yuri brush this off and cheer up Mr. Game & Watch, as the latter responds that "Nobody cares how much of a two-dimensional glass cannon you are, how much of a featherweight you are, or how much you are flat as a sheet of paper. We'll always be happy and love you just the way you are, and you should be happy with yourself right now," in which Mr. Game & Watch is relieved from the two, responding that Natsuki and Yuri "fill the tip of his mug."

## Powers and abilities

* **Writing**: Yuri has extravagant and fantastic handwriting, which is applied to be more aesthetic than the other club members. Her writing technique is positioned at odds with Natsuki, who has more simplistic writing techniques.
* **Knifemanship**/**Knife urge**: She equips at least one of her knives on her person, and it is implied that when she visits the protagonist's house in Act 1, the full-length sleeves she typically wears is potentially hiding evidence of self-harm. In Act 2, she admits to cutting herself with her knife collection, and claims to make usage of all knives in an equal amount, so that none of them are "lonely."
* **High intelligence**: Reflecting her personality of maturity, Yuri is notable for possessing a heightened level of intelligence.
* **Left-handed**: Confirmed by the side story "Reflection," Yuri is left-handed, similar to the Ice Climbers.
* **Self-awareness**: Throughout Act 2, Yuri sometimes becomes self-aware, recognizing that something is happening to her and that her comments and behavior might be inappropriate, such as when she mentions masturbating to the protagonist's poetry using his pen, but is ultimately unable to control her obsessive outbursts.

## Trivia

* On the second day of the game, Yuri describes the book she lends to the protagonist, "The Portrait of Markov," which also happens to foreshadow the dark psychological events that will happen in the game. However, on the second day of Act 2, her description of the book changes drastically, becoming more and more of a horror novel, much like the game itself.
	+ A similar circumstantial point occurs in the second page of Markov, where Popo and Nana discover the same book, and Nana foreshadows that it is "the book that started it all... the book that changed what this literature club was."
	+ Another circumstantial point, on the same page of Markov, upon Popo's interaction and regards with the book that Nana showcased him, Popo's foreshadowing takes a much darker turn: Nana discovers the Portrait of Markov in the closet and proceeds to showcase it to Popo in fear, and Popo becomes shocked and intimidated at the book's sights by responding "That was the book she was carrying around everytime we see her around school. No wonder she loved reading that book... she even told me to read it with her. I was so smart to refuse!" The final words that Popo quotes "I was so smart to refuse!" indicate that Popo denying to read the *Potrait of Markov* with Yuri made him so intelligent, potentially because reading the same book would make Popo lose his sanity and turn him more negative to the same degree as Yuri in Act 2.

* As the one to indirectly amplify Yuri's obsessiveness and negative traits, Natsuki blames herself for Yuri's death near the end of Act 2. This is due to a number of indirect and circumstantial reasons:
	+ Natsuki's responses to Yuri during their argument over their writing kinds, such as "I wasn't the one whose boobs magically grew a size bigger as soon he started showing up!" and referring her as an "wannabe edgy bitch." The jab by Natsuki, although Natsuki herself is unaware of such cause, indirectly amplifies Yuri's obsessive nature and insanity, drastically to the point that she commits suicide by stabbing herself with a knife after the protagonists responds to her love confession near the end of Act 2. This further alludes that the concept of Natsuki's "tsundere" character encourages herself to become an abusive intimidator against **Yuri**, as a result of her abusive father giving her the feeling of high arrogance and insolence against those who attempt to interfere with her own personality.
	+ In the first part of Loss of a Friend, even with the intensity of Natsuki's bullies against Yuri, Natsuki nevertheless sympathizes for Yuri's death after discovering her decomposing corpse in the clubroom. Unlike in *Doki Doki Literature Club*, where Natsuki immediately discovers her corpse and becomes frightened, vomits and leaves school right after, Natsuki becomes worried about Yuri's whereabouts after the weekend, becomes nervous, then becomes horrified when she discovers Yuri's corpse before Popo and Nana do, and although she vomits after Monika makes her presence in the room, she does not leave in the first page of Decomposition.
		- Instead, Natsuki falls into tearful depression and bursts into tears, suffering from not only the tragedy of the loss of Natsuki's best friend, Yuri, but also because she states that her behaviour as a "tsundere" have caused such scene of horror. Although she blames herself for Yuri's death, this is alluded to the possible fact that Natsuki's abusive father initiated this and thus encourages the concept that Natsuki learned such behavior and actions from her father in complex. This is further alluded as Natsuki states that "What if I done the same to Sayori as well, and she'll end eventually end up like Yuri too, huh?"

* Despite possessing a considerable collection of knives, Yuri stabs herself with a large, simple kitchen knife, rather than an intricate and exotic one, like the one she shows to the protagonist during Act 1. Dan Salvato confirmed in a Reddit AMA that this is an artistic error.
* Yuri's file is written in Base 64. It can be decoded to a story.
* Yuri's version of the song "Okay, Everyone!" features a significantly different tone compared to the rest of the Literature Club's. It features a harp and cello to symbolize her sophisticated nature and poetic kind. Her version is also noticeably more withdrawn, also reflecting her personality as a "shrinking violet."
* Yuri is known to suffer from frequent back-pains. The protagonist assumes the cause to be her "bad reading posture." Previous conversations with Yuri, as well as her awkwardness leading up to his assumption, imply that it is revealed to be due to her large breasts.
	+ This is indirectly alluded by Natsuki stating that "I wasn't the one whose boobs magically grew a size bigger as soon he started showing up!" during their poem fight in Act 2.
* A piece of evidence leads to the assumption that Yuri is one of the two characters, the other being Monika, to have a voice associated with them, but also be the only character in the game not to have an explicit connection to the individual credited, Jillian Ashcraft. During Yuri's confession to the protagonist in Act 2, "**`10-yuri.ogg`**" would play, which contains giggling from a female representing Yuri's unhinged state of mind. Since the connection between the vocals, Yuri, and Ashcraft are not explicit, it cannot be determined if it was from Ashcraft or a free-stock sound effect.
* In the artwork for the game's main menu, Yuri seems to have a pair of right feet. This is likely an artistic error.
* In the scene where Yuri is stabbing herself, the knife’s handle is black, but when the protagonist sees her corpse on the ground later on, the handle appears to be brown. This is either an artistic error, or because the handle became covered in dried blood.
* Yuri and Sayori are the only characters to actually die in the game, while everyone else (specifically Natsuki and Monika) were deleted from the game (although, Yuri and Sayori were also deleted from the game after death).
* Most of Yuri's glitches/corruptions have something to associate, ironically, with her eyes. Examples being her bleeding from her pupils, possessing hyper-realistic eyes (with and without pupils), one of her eyes floating away from her face, etc.
* In Self-Love, Yuri’s favorite flavor of ice-cream is revealed to be a combination of chocolate and raspberry.
* It is confirmed, in Reflection, that Yuri is left-handed. This distinction is shared with the Ice Climbers, who wield their hammers using their left hands. Although they appear to be left-handed in their *Super Smash Bros. Ultimate* artwork, however, they are actually ambidextrous during regular gameplay in *Ultimate*.
* Yuri's favorite book genre is Fantasy.
* Yuri’s favorite flavor of cupcake is Green-Tea, which was revealed in *Self-Love*.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.deviantart.com/mickmick247/art/Three-Dimensional-Love-980931608
2. ↑ https://www.deviantart.com/mickmick247/art/Catfight-Clammed-985654339
3. ↑ https://www.deviantart.com/mickmick247/art/Coldfight-Pt-3-Wobbling-Time-992620205
4. ↑ https://www.deviantart.com/mickmick247/art/A-sharp-inexperience-968343962
5. ↑ https://www.deviantart.com/mickmick247/art/Markov-Pt-2-1001676727
6. ↑ https://www.deviantart.com/mickmick247/art/Loss-of-a-Friend-Pt-1-996216823
7. ↑ https://www.deviantart.com/mickmick247/art/Three-Dimensional-Love-980931608
8. ↑ https://www.deviantart.com/mickmick247/art/Loss-of-a-Friend-Pt-1-996216823
9. ↑ https://www.deviantart.com/mickmick247/art/Decomposition-GORE-WARNING-989629085

Monika • Sayori • Natsuki • **Yuri** • MC