"It is fucked up that Bloodborne only has two and a half black people and Yamamura" is one of the most bewildering comments I've ever heard on Bloodborne tbh. Like, it had me genuinely stare into void for six minutes.

It is true that there aren't many people of color in Bloodborne, but Yharnam IS inspired by Victorian times Czechia, so it makes sense majority of characters are white? Still! We have Henryk and Suspicious Beggar, both with very brown skin and implied Loran descent (Loran having strong Egypt vibe too!). Yamamura is Japanese, for sure! We have a Yahar'gul Hunter found in the same underground prison as Yamamura that is a black man, and there are other Yahar'gul hunters who are black/brown that seem to be similar to Henryk's descent. Simon is lighter brown and shares face data with Djura's Apprentice! Djura's Ally is brown. Bestial Hunter has been transformed with.. well, beasthood, but from his face data we can get a hint he used to be a PoC too.

It is not that they're all suddenly "not important" except for three either! Not a fan of "this character doesn't count because no one cares about them uwu" mentality. From the looks of his fate, Yahar'gul Hunter from underground jail was a detractor from Yahar'gul like Antal, and might have helped Yamamura to run! You definitely remember the trio that ambushes you in Yahar'gul, each fighting in a unique way, where did the "they're polycule" takes go all of a sudden? Besides, over half of Yahar'gul hunters use Church weapons, they could have been the victims of starting repressions against foreigners, and unfortunately the ones visually foreign were the most vulnerable. Forced to work with the one guy that accepts EVERYONE as long as they're useful. (Also yes, a potential much more dark explanation for lacking PoC in Yharnam than it being inspired by Middle and Eastern Europe). Djura's friends are certainly important, they stayed by his side, and one of them even continues protecting the beasts after his death! Djura's Ally is even mentioned in Bloodborne's official guide as the one that aids Djura! Bestial Hunter is implied to have been the member (if not owner) of Oto Workshop that was BETA Powder Kegs! Soulsborne characters are often as interesting as the fans WANT them to be!

That's like 12 people of color, not 3! I think the thing we can agree on is absence of women of color. Yurie is a misinterpretation since Zullie datamined her (simply blonde with grey eyes) face data late and her name actually being Julie is not exactly a viral knowledge. With Eileen, she doesn't have face data and voice actors do not bind to any specific interpretation, but even if they did it would not explain why specifically English VA should be crowned as "canon" one. Why not French or German or Italian or Portuguese then? Why not Japanese original, after all? We weren't given female characters of color as far as canon goes, unfortunately, but personally I think Bloodborne is not THAT devoid. You just need to look beyond just the characters who have more evident dialogue and story, Soulsborne games like to tell their stories I silence!

One thing I love with the seven Princes of Hell in Helluva Boss is that, so far, each of their "song" perfectly reflects what their sin is about. (I put "song" like that because I will count Mammon's stage-apparition at the beginning of "Mammon's Magnificent Musical")

Asmodeus' song at Ozzie's is very clear - the demon-lord of Lust is all about sex, depravity, debauchery, carnality, and abhors, disdains, rejects love in its romantic, sentimental, "pure" way. Of course we learn later that this is not true - but the song in itself, outside of the character, perfectly reflects what "lust" is in the logic of the seven deadly sins (while Asmodeus' personal healthy approach to lust is more about what "lust" is in a more general, broader sense, a play on the various meaning of the words). But the song is clearly depicting what lust is, as defined by the Christian religion and ideology/mindset - "Hump 'til your junk turns to dust". Extreme, auto-destructive sexuality. But more importantly - a sexuality devoid of love.

Due to the Christian teachings great exaggeration of "All sex is bad", a lot of people today remember (or perceive, or preach) lust as being just "Enjoying sex" or "Having too much sex". It was true for certain times, certain eras and certain areas of the world ; but when you look at the old theological texts, at the well-informed Christian teachings, and replace things in their wider socio-cultural context (lessons about love, marriages and sexuality in the Middle-Ages enlightens a LOT of Christian religious texts of the time) you very obviously get what lust was supposed to be about. In Christianity, the divide is between love and lust. Long story short: Christian minds (especially in the Middle-Ages, which was when the seven deadly sins got their true "final form") conceived love as a feeling, an emotion belonging to the mind and the soul, and opposed it to the carnal and material love - romance versus sexuality. Lust as a vice was about enjoying purely the materiality of sex and only knowing carnal relationships with others, without knowing, sharing or caring for actual love, as in romantic feelings. While this whole division went REALLY awry throughout the ages and the continents and turned into the massive "SEX IS EVIL" propaganda of the Christian churches, the original idea behind it all resonates extremely well today if you accept that a good relationship is one with a sexuality motivated by love ; while a bad relationship is one where sexuality is devoid of any love in any shape or form. The "core sin" of the vice of lust stays to this day, rape, the absolute apex of lust in the Christian sinful sense: a selfish, uncaring, harming form of sexuality devoid of any kind of love or care. One's desire imposed onto another simply for the sake of personal gratification and without any empathy, bond or attention towards the other. (Originally, the "core sin" around which lust was shaped, was prostitution, because it was also seen in this optic of being an emotionless and harmful relationship only motivated or justified by money)

If we move on to Beelzebub, sorry, Queen Bee's song, we have again a pure definition of what gluttony is. It is in the catchphrase of the song, a sentence that I personally firest understood while reading Terry Pratchett's books where he makes a clear divide about this: "I'm what you want, not what you need". Again, a lot of people don't get that the seven deadly sins (or seven cardinal vices, or seven evil thoughts, call it as you like) are not evil in their subject - but evil in the way they are done, in their intensity and intentions. The religion's fanaticism and extremes did turn a lot of these into crimes (from "Sex should only be with love and care" we went to "All sex is evil" ; from the sin of gluttony we went to "Enjoying any piece of food is evil"), but again, one needs to look at history, social evolution, and the original texts (plus modern ones) to get it all. What is gluttony about? Gluttony is about excess, not about the food. Gluttony is about eating when not hungry just like lust is about having sex when not loving ; gluttony is about waste the same way lust is about debauchery and depravity. Remember the traditional divides of gluttony (can't recall right now who made this division first): eating too much, eating too early, eating a food that is too costly, demanding a food that has too much sauces or spices, eating too ravenously... "Too much", "too costly", "too eagerly" - gluttony lies in excess. And this was most exemplified (to the point people forgot about the other ways of gluttony) by the idea of "eating too much". Aka eating when you are not hungry, eating when you do not need it, eating not to nourish your body... But because you want it or feel like it. "What you want, not what you need". What Beelzebub proudly claims she embodies.

There are subtle nods here and there about the sin throughout the song number - such as Beelzebub using her magic to make food too big for one's mouth or changing one glass into a giant drink that gets people instantly drunk. But remember what this song is about? "Cotton candy sky ; sweet as apple pie", all in a debauchery of sugar and rain of candy. The choice of these sweet, sugary food and other desserts couldn't be more perfect to embody the sin of gluttony - because this is what all these things are about. They are supposed to be little treats and enjoyments at the end or the side of the meal ; and yet here they form the feast. They are not nourishing in themselves, they just taste good and are comforting and pleasant to look at, yes, but a whole diet of them would be unhealthy and dangerous, as they are not what the body needs... But sugar, like alcohol, being a very addictive product, it is what people "want". And thus we enter the realm of gluttony. Whole feasts of un-nourishing food. Sweet and pretty addictions. (Though I personally do not like much the idea of treating addiction as being "gluttony", because an addiction is a disease while a vice is supposed to be a trait of character, a willful decision, a conscious choice to do something bad - but gluttony definitively leads to the disease of addiction when you go down this path of thought - in fact one of the main things theologian repeated is that gluttony always leads to the most physical diseases and illnesses out of the various deadly sins)

And what about Mammon? Well we do not have any actual song for Mammon - even in his introduction episode, despite being on stage for a very long time, he does not sing, it is just the others that sing. Already we see both an attack on how greed uses others to gain wealth and profit (making others sing for him), and how greed is ultimately a sterile place from which no true art can come out (Vivziepop's criticism of greed and the artistic process is more than clear in Mammon's character). But more fascinatingly is the "non-song" of Mammon when he appears on stage during the flashback to Blitz and Fizzi's teenage years. He is on stage, he has a musical instrument, he is here to perform a concert... But all he does is hype up the audience for a show we ultimately never see or hear ; a lot of decorum for nothing ; a long and complex advertisement and promotion for a very different project (the clown contest) and ultimately just Mammon "bitchin' about taxes" and angrily denying exploitation. Again all of greed is here - selling things that do not exist, using your stage to promote other, more exploitative projects instead of giving what the audience paid for, literaly being distracted out of your own show by monetary topics completely out-of-context like taxes or exploitation accusations.

So yeah, while two of the princes subvert what their sins is about (Asmodeus and Beelzebub seemingly not being as overtly destructive as their sins are supposed to be ; though Beelzebub's benevolence can be put at doubt by the fact she seems to feed off the emotion of her parties, and worries about Blitz because he gives "bad vibes" to the whole thing), so far each introduction song (or non-song for Mammon) clearly perfectly depicts what their sin is about, in a fun and clever way.