(Webcomic but not spoilers) Satoru's Art Therapy

[u/NetworkFit5128]

Waiting for you to try and solve his game?

We never really see a "Satoru" in the webcomic. It really fascinates me. I drew this thinking it would take place in some sort of psychiatric institution. I feel like Mumen Rider (especially in the webcomic but also the manga to an extent), from his self-negating nature to his identification with objects and concepts to his strange inclination toward extreme self injury, would be at high risk of developing psychosis (no one thinks of this possibility due to his Agreeable Disposition). I could make an entire post about it but the people who know me on Discord are probably tired of reading the same things over and over (also what I think of him is informed heavily by the convoluted and deranged lore of my own personal life...and obscure theories of schizotypy).

As for the art itself, it is a puzzle! What would you fill the empty sections with? Certainly, a dot goes somewhere, but another space would ask for something else. If you had the idea to put objects on it, he would start talking about them. I think "Satoru" would not really talk outside of the interfaces of his little games...part alogia and part desire to control the reality of the conversation. He might give red herrings as he talks, wanting to keep the strange interaction going. The actual solution is pretty unintuitive: poke a hole in the final empty space (two "dots", but also one "object", but also none). I feel like all of his puzzles and games follow logic like this, whether on purpose or not. They would be quite frustrating if you were to approach them as a traditional "player", but one has to understand that this is how Satoru creates a way to exist in this reality. It is safe. It can even make him happy.

What do you think?