Nirvana Top Laner, Reborn Tokyo Girl

Chapter 111, Section 108: Can League of Legends Really Cure Depression? (Part 3 of 3)

【Huh? What is that?】

【? ? ? ? 】

[Wait, both parents are deceased? I've never heard Shimamura-san mention that before.]

Yes, at this moment, most of the comments are filled with surprise.

The reason is simple.

Although Shimamura Yuna is now a public figure, many of her personality traits have been etched into people's minds like a persona.

People have a basic impression of her outward appearance.

But actually, people don't know much about the real her.

No one knows what kind of person she is in private, what her past is, or what her life is like.

What everyone sees is really only the most superficial part of her.

Based on this, no one would make preconceived assumptions about a stranger online, such as "she probably has no parents."

Although people may say they love to take away your parents' rights, curse your parents, and play some kind of game on your household registration, they may also say they love to do so.

But actually, that's all just talk, all wishful thinking.

No one can truly make someone else's parents disappear.

Well, guess what happened?

This Shimamura Yuna actually doesn't have parents!
The key point is, she's never mentioned this before!

Thus, the conflict between this ingrained perception and reality left everyone momentarily stunned.

Aside from a screen full of "???" and "Huh???", you could hardly see anything in the live chat.

But up to this point, the documentary has only just begun.

In the preceding minutes, the entire video's visual quality and filters were intentionally adjusted by Riot Games' editors to create an atmosphere somewhat like a dream.

High exposure deliberately created.

A deliberately applied high-saturation filter.

It gives people a wonderful feeling of being immersed in the past.

However, as soon as these words were spoken, both the editing rhythm and the filter used in the visuals underwent a dramatic change.

Everything that viewers could see with their naked eyes changed from that psychedelic, hazy texture to a more realistic, even somewhat BBC-esque, texture.

The camera then returned to all the places that Shiori Shimamura had taken the host to earlier.

That dilapidated, run-down, and old-fashioned commercial street, filled with a millennium-style atmosphere.

The school, once bustling with people and students, is now deserted, with the two sisters no longer residing there.

The front door was tightly shut, but through the shop window you could still see advertisements for new product discounts at the closed family restaurant.

All of these things that had previously appeared in the scene have now reappeared in the scene.

However, once the filters were removed, these things gave the audience a completely different, abrupt, and realistic feeling.

Shiori Shimamura then begins to tell her story anew under this lens.

"It was probably around the time her parents had that accident that her mental state suddenly started to change."

"You know, she used to be such a lively and adorable child, you know? But, ever since then, she's been... just like that!"

"She stopped talking much after a while."

Shiori Shimamura did not use overly formal or flowery language in the interview.

She spoke to the host with a down-to-earth expression and in a tone as if she were telling a friend about her past.

“I was really worried during that time, you know? I started working again during that period, and I couldn’t take care of her. I watched as her condition got worse and worse, and then I took her to see a doctor.”

"Then we found out that she had depression."

This is a very calm and objective account.

However, this very narrative brought a very strong psychological shock to the audience.

It evokes a powerful sense of shock, much like seeing a major character in an anime suddenly have their tragic past revealed.

At this point in the video, a segment of commentary from a Japanese host was inserted, serving as a transition.

"In our interview with Shimamura's sister, we learned that the sudden family tragedy was the biggest factor that caused the two sisters' lives to take a sharp turn for the worse."

"The younger sister's mental illness, the difficulties in life, and having to face the pain of losing their parents. For the two sisters who depend on each other for survival, all of this is an unbearable burden."

By this point, the audience was already a little confused.

No, man.

What is this doing???
Is it really that bad?
Is this game really going to be this hellish?
They immediately thought of many of the traits that Shimamura Yuna had exhibited in the past.

For example, she always seems very emotional during her live streams and is prone to muting her microphone and crying.

For example, there was a scene where she suddenly started crying halfway through a match.

Everyone knows she has depression, but no one knows how she developed it.

Or rather, no one thinks about this problem at all.

There are so many people suffering from depression these days. Some have severe cases and some have mild cases, but it's such a common mental illness. Who would bother to figure out how they got it, or what stories lie behind it?

It's just that I'm unhappy.

It's just a minor setback.

But at this moment, through Shiori Shimamura's narration, everyone understood.

This setback seems to be quite significant.

This is like the death of both parents!

This family's household registration book is almost empty!

When Shiori Shimamura said, "My younger sister was actually very cheerful and cute when she was little."
Thinking back to the somewhat reserved, always-crying Shimamura Yuna of today.

That contrast makes it even harder for people to process immediately.

Viewers felt that the complexity of Shimamura Yuna's character seemed to increase rapidly in a short period of time, to the point that they began to have difficulty understanding her.

After a brief halftime commentary, the video transitioned back to its previous state.

Then, it was Shimamura Shiori's turn to talk about what happened after her younger sister was diagnosed with depression. She talked about how much work pressure she was under during that time, and how her sister brought her very strong negative feelings.

She reflected on this, saying, "I wasn't considerate enough of her at the time. I didn't take her feelings into account, which made the situation worse."

In short, she just kept talking, and whatever she said made it seem like Shimamura Yuna was getting worse and worse, and more and more jade-like.

Then the whole family seemed to be in a state of disintegration, as if it was about to explode at any moment.

The atmosphere was so oppressive that it was hard to bear.

At this point, the audience paid a little more attention to the timeline.

What Shimamura Yuna's sister said was that Shimamura Yuna was still in a state of semi-death until the first half of 24.
She started live streaming around the second half of 24.

In other words, from the time when her depression was at its worst, to when she suddenly started live streaming, started playing professionally, and started behaving like a barely normal person.

It's only been six months!

What exactly happened in between?
Seeing this, many viewers left comments expressing their confusion.

Wait a minute, does that mean Shimamura hadn't played League of Legends until the first half of 24?

【Ghost, is this really not a made-up story? It's not that I don't want to believe it, but isn't this a bit too exaggerated?】

[My God, this guy's father died, he's a jerk, and he's depressed—he's got so many buffs!]

Holy crap, what kind of character is Shimamura-san?!

So he really only played League of Legends for six months? That's unbelievable!

[I feel like Shimamura-nee isn't in the best mental state right now, but it's not as bad as her sister described. What exactly happened in the past six months?]

Perhaps they anticipated what the audience would think when they saw this.

The video then conveniently begins editing in Yuna Shimamura's remarks.

"Actually, I don't know exactly what happened. But around the end of last year, I suddenly noticed that Yuna seemed to have improved a lot in terms of mental state. Although she was still very sensitive and vulnerable, I could feel that she was trying to improve herself instead of being as self-destructive as before."

"At that moment, I was still a little curious as to why she had changed like this."

"Then, after some time, I discovered that she had started playing a game called League of Legends frequently."

"After that, our lives began to change drastically. She started asking me to help her sign live-streaming contracts and to help her resolve cross-border payment issues."

"Before I could even process what had happened, she started talking to me about going to play professional games. Sigh."

At this point, Shiori Shimamura in the picture smiled and sighed.

She looked up and organized her thoughts.

Then, touching her hair, she continued speaking to the interviewer:
"You know what? For me, all of this was very sudden, whether it was my sister's condition improving, or her suddenly learning Chinese and playing games. These things were already hard for me to process, and then she told me that she was going to do live streaming, play professionally, and do many things that I never dared to imagine."

"I don't know what exactly changed my sister. But I think..."

"I think it might be the game. She found her self-worth and the meaning of her efforts in the game, and so she became happy and joyful. I think that's probably it."

"Therefore, I will always support her."

That concludes the interview segment with the older sister in the video.

The camera then cuts to footage of Yuna Shimamura playing a match, accompanied by commentary from a local Japanese presenter.

"To date, Shimamura still suffers from unresolved mental health issues, and her emotions remain sensitive and worrying."

"However, for her sister, and for herself, the greatest significance from the time Shimamura Yuna first encountered League of Legends until now is not that it has become 'perfect,' but that it has been transforming from nothing into something in a positive direction."

"She seems to be trying to find her value in this way, and she seems to be using it as a way to live a negative life."

"League of Legends seems to have rekindled her passion for life and the future."

"The world's first female professional player to reach the World Championship, 17-year-old Shimamura from Japan, also known as Yuna Shimamura."

"At this moment, she has officially stepped onto her first stage, and she will continue to pursue her own answer here."

The video ends here, and the background music also comes to a perfect close.

The League of Legends Global Vanguard Tournament's English logo appeared on screen at the right time, telling viewers that this was essentially a promotional video for FS.

At this moment, the first batch of viewers who finished watching the video were so shocked that they were speechless.

First of all, Riot Games put a lot of effort into the video itself.

Whether it's the filming stage or the post-production stage, including editing rhythm, background music selection, and so on.

They are treated with the highest standards almost everywhere.

Riot Games is a company that excels at off-field hype and marketing, but is not so good at game development; this is indeed their specialty.

With the right skills and attitude, the quality of the video itself is undoubtedly impeccable and of a high standard.

With its sophisticated video editing, the content itself is indeed quite sensational.

It revealed a lot of exaggerated information that the outside world didn't know about.

First, there's the character of Shimamura Yuna, who used to be lively and cheerful, but later developed a tragic personality after her parents' accident, which was already quite outrageous.

In the latter half, when everyone heard Shimamura Shiori say that her younger sister only started playing games in the second half of 2024, then suddenly cured her depression and even came to play in competitions, everyone felt it was even more outrageous.

Although, judging from everyone's perception, Shimamura Yuna's current condition is still a long way from being cured of depression.

but.
Please, if her sister wasn't exaggerating and her previous condition really was that serious, then compared to that, Shimamura Yuna is indeed relatively normal now.

So what if you cry halfway through a match?

Isn't it normal to mute the microphone during a live stream?
Isn't it just that she's emotionally sensitive, and everyone's a little afraid to offend her?
Compared to someone who constantly modifies their knife or contemplates suicide, isn't this just normal?
If Shimamura Yuna hadn't proactively revealed that she suffered from depression to protect her teammates, many people might still be unaware of her condition.

To be able to conceal one's illness to this extent
Isn't this already relatively normal?
So how did Yuna Shimamura make this change?
I play League of Legends.

The result is then quite obvious.

The top-rated comment in the video's comment section looks like this.

After watching the video, I am utterly shocked. And I have a thought that I must share: League of Legends really can cure depression.

This comment, with its unique sense of humor, quickly garnered thousands of likes.

Many more comments focused on the shock and complexity of Shimamura Yuna's experiences.

[This is truly amazing! I had no idea that Shimamura-san had gone through all this; it's unbelievable!]

[It seems like Shimamura-san never brought up these things in her previous streams. If she had said them back then, she probably would have gained a lot of fans because of it.]

After watching this video, I'm a complete fan of Shimamura.

(End of this chapter)