These days, if you browse the internet, you might come across phrases like "So they're darkening now..." at least once.

Darkening? Originally, this referred to a cool scene in manga or anime where a character becomes darker and stronger, but nowadays, it seems like anything that feels bad is labeled as darkening, even failing an exam or having instant noodles overflow. It feels like the term is becoming too common and misused.

As a result, the original meaning has already fled far away, and now it feels like it has solidified into something like "a good kid gets angry and turns bad." In fact, darkening literally meant changing to a darker appearance or awakening to dark attributes. In Japan, they have specific terms like yami-ochi and aku-ochi, but we just lump everything together as darkening. It's convenient, but it feels a bit overused. Well, everyone seems to know this and still uses it, so I have nothing more to say.

If you ask why darkening themes are popular, the answer is simple. The thrill when a good character suddenly shows a cold gaze and makes an appearance. When someone who usually acts like a potato suddenly says, "Kindness? I threw that all away," the viewer's lips curl up. Especially when an ally turns into an enemy, the excitement explodes. Knowing all the internal circumstances, just throwing it out there becomes a critical hit. Basic stats suddenly skyrocket. The reasons vary from work to work, but strangely, when someone falls into evil, they all become stronger.

In reality, when stressed, it just leads to illness. And most of these darkening routes end in tragedy. They might change dramatically and exit gloriously, return briefly and die, or even disappear alone, leaving a bitter aftertaste. Usually, a true happy ending only happens in comedies or one-off events. If reality were like this, I wonder how many people would survive in the world.

Are dark heroes or anti-heroes darkening? That essentially has no meaning.

After all, if you're already half-dark, what more can you darken? The same goes for yandere. Even if they say, "I darkened!" it just feels like they are back to normal. So darkening should be used for characters who are kind and innocent to have the real impact. That way, there's shock, and people react.

When a character who always smiles and bakes cookies suddenly comes out with a knife, you can't help but shout, "Oh, this is darkening!" That strange taste. Ultimately, human psychology is quite simple. People want to see the moment when something ordinary gets shattered.

Interestingly, this has now become a meme. When feeling down or emotionally hurt, people say things like, "The darkness within me awakens..." and when a friend says something cringy, they tease, "Looks like the darkening middle school syndrome has activated." In the media, when a protagonist takes a betrayal route, they come up with titles combining dark + name. Everyone has probably had a thrilling experience with a fallen character at least once, so this meme resonates.

Moreover, in the fan art world, dark versions are often more popular than the originals. The revenge not obtained in the original work, unresolved wounds, such alternate realities stimulate the imagination. Ultimately, what people might want is the lonely coolness of a "once kind but now not smiling protagonist."

But thinking about it, it's a bit funny. When someone becomes a little cold in reality, and we say, "They darkened," it seems everyone secretly yearns for their dark side.

Even if they pretend to be good, there are days when they want to burn everything down, and when living kindly only leads to loss, the dark side becomes more tempting. The fact that the term darkening is trending is ultimately proof that we also have a longing for darkness.

Today, someone says, "Hehe... they're darkening..."

In reality, it's just something unpleasant, but they try to package it nicely.

This is the darkening of today. It has style but lacks realism, yet one can't help but be drawn to it.