#linuj is a master of plot twists

[sdra2writer-imaginesandhcs]

I honestly don’t know what to think anymore. Chapter 6 was,,,,,,,very questionable in my case. Honestly, i feel weirded out from writing ships after learning most of the cast’s actual ages and stuff they did in the real world, but it’s fanfiction, so i can still continue doing what i am doing-

and if you’re still upset about chapter 6, here is this beautiful sora cg with her hair down that might cheer you up. (spoilers to those who hasnt watched the chapter 6 stream)

(i almost baby cried during this scene snsiekndoswjsjk-)

[0w0tsuki]

My take for the Main Theme of SDRA2

I know I said I wanted to talk about Syobai or trans Yuri first but I feel like in order to write my future kinda long post analysis essays I will first need to talk about this. Because it ties into a lot of how I view the characters designs.

And the thing I need to talk about is the themes that are the driving message. Dr1 had hope vs despair, Dr2 had the future, and Drv3 had Doubt vs Belief and Logic vs Emotion. But as SDRA2 is want to do it does the same but with a bizzar twist. Instead of sending a message it instead sends a question. "What makes you...you?". The equivalent of this is asked in the Mastermind Mikado's only FTE and he proposes a couple answers, though they will not be all of the answers look into this post. The answers I will be looking into are your genetics, your memories, your surroundings, the people close to you, fate, and finally yourself. And these answers are shown throughout the individual stories of each of the characters.

Let's begin with the initial 3 Mikado mentions in the FTE. Genetics, memory, and surroundings. The odd one out is has the most obvious correlation. Now I say genetics but it's more or so your body. But Mikado uses genetics as a reference for the Okononji twins, who have genetically the exact same bodies but are two and complete different people. Now with this is where we get to the faults in the logic of the Mastermind. He uses this example as a reason to discard the idea. To him it's plain and simple that your body does not affect who you are a person but it does. Just not to the extent that satisfies him. No matter how many times your memories are reset or your surroundings are changed there are just some things that will remain with you as a person because your just BUILT that way. But what little idea could an AI have of how the body effects you when he has none.

With the odd one out of the bunch out of the way let's get into what I believe are two sides of the same coin. Memories and Surroundings combine together to make a greater core theme of "The Past" in a way to spiritually Mirror the main game it's based off of whose main theme was the future. Memories I believe are a more solid form of how the past effects you as a person. They are specific. Things that your mind is able to pull up for you. Positive life changing experiences or in the case of our characters trauma. Mikado also dismisses the because as in the case of the former answer, it does not personally effect him. Mikado is an AI created to be an exact replica of the real version. Even his memory was deleted he would remain the same person. It's why Mikado's "backstory" are played by a robot Yomouri. A robot aproxamation of someone you know who's dead gives backstory on the motivations on a man who's dead and this info is actually if I'm correct doesn't even come up in the trial. And then he destroys because the backstory of the man who created him has no effect in his master plan.

Instead he suggests his answer. Your surroundings. Surroundings are morso how your past affects you in way you don't remember. Things that just sort of happen over the day to day and imprint themselves onto you. The things you do without thinking because that's the way you were raised. And with this we can begin to understand his thought on his own identity but also for creating the killing game. You see Mikado the AI had a completely different surrounding than the real one. A digital one. One no human could not experience. This is why I think while linuj said that the real Mikado would have gone down the same path that AI Mikado goes out of his way to make himself look so different. I also believe they have different end goals. Mainly because AI Mikado specifically destroyed and made irrelevant any motivation would have for seeking out Usturo. Now maybe one the the Mikado stans who have watched chapter 0 ten times over can extrapolate what the original's end goal might have been but that's not who were here for. What was Mikado's plan? It's one of two parts. First is to create the surroundings that led to "creating Utsuro" in the first game. Create a killing game, have each trial vaugly keep some of the elements as the representatives in the original killing game, and have a Yuki stand-in to experience it and ba da bing ba da boom. You got yourself an Utsuro....ok let's get into the secret ingredient that makes all this work.

FATE! The divine will of the cosmos! DESTINY!!! Or in the context of this story a plot device known as "The luck of the Heavens". Now I would kind of get into the mechanics of the luck but it was done some wack and contradictory bullshit. I'm at this point it just does whatever it wants. Because sometimes its working against his will but still pull of some crazy bullshit to fulfill the dying wish of his. And Mikado is kinda banking on the Ultimate luck to make everything just work? Like him being brought back is a good thing as the luck has thought in the past then the mere act at an attempt of resurrection should work. It's why he always says "The Outcome has Already been Decided" because even though he's not aware Sora posseses the luck he will believe it's still working in his favor. Funnily enough it works not out of Utsuro's will to live but out of Akane's desire to be with Utsuro. That horny fuck is still working her magic even when removed of her memories. You see I believe the way Akane received the luck from Utsuro is because he wished "that she would find someone who loved her in her next life and not someone like him". And now here she is in this new life. But now the luck is in possession of Akane the idea of someone to love her was different. The luck of the heavens was now following two different wills for the same goal. This is why we have Yuki, the one who will eventually become Utsuro, the one who Akane desires most. And also why we have Yoruko, Utsuro's last will, someone for Akane in her new life as Sora, someone who Sora latches onto not because she was saved from any pit of despair but out of the genuine kindness and caring she gave to her. Yes I'm going to say it. Soruko is the entire reason for the killing game but I will get more into that in my Soruko essay.

But while we are talking about Utsuro let's talk a bit about how we let others define ourself. This one affects more on an individual level than it does a narrative level so I'm just going to list some examples. Akane let's her obsession with Utsuro define her. Nikei let's his hatred of Mikado define him to the point where his little void card focused rather than it did his actual trauma that led to him becoming a void like it did with the others. You learn that in her past Yoruko changed a lot of how she looked and lived in order to get closer to one person. Sora is affected in many ways affected by Akane. Someone who is like with the twins the same as her but not her. A wholey different person that lives on through her. All of the voids let their desire to see Utsuro define them.

And we get to our final answer. And remember none of these are to be the definite answer but all of these inform who you are. But the final most powerful thing is what Yoruko beats into Sora's head in chapter 5. You. It's a little bit cheesy but no one is better at knowing or defining yourself than you. Sure your past can affect you but you can understand it as a part of yourself and something you can live with rather than letting it overcome you. That yeah she does share the same body and past as Akane but she does not have to let that define who she is but she can decide that for herself.

And that's one of the things I like about the ending when you look past some of the more wack shit. It wasn't a good or a bad ending. It was just an ending, a mixed bag of tragedies and the good things we have left. Yeah the masterminds dead but so is everyone else who died. Sora is trapped in the program but hey! Try is working on getting out. Because life is just like that. The happen to you good or bad, they affect you but ultimately time passes and your story continues. I think it's why Sora told everyone to "live" as her parting words. Because yeah the situation sucks but they are now on the other end of the tunnel so the best thing they can do is to live on.

But yeah anyways those are my takeaway of a bunch of ideas I had bopping around in my head. If it's a little incoherent I'm sorry I kinda free wrote this while high. Hope this all makes somewhat sense and I'm not just talking out of my ass.

[princeasimdiya12]

What you think of the SDRA2 ending?

I liked it. I felt it was pretty great and I thought the plot twists were clever in their own right. I do like how each of the characters were revealed to have played an important part in the story overall. The concept of ‘Hopes of the Next Generation’ and having everyone being older was really cool. Although I felt it was a little ‘much’ how most of the participants were involved with Alter Ego!Mikado’s master plan. It felt a little much with how more than half of the cast were traitors of some variety. 

And I do like the resolution of several of the survivors. I personally don’t mind if Sora ended up dying in the virtual simulation. She got to live through the game as the main protagonist and it was her decision to do so to give her friends a second chance at life. And I’m kinda interested with Syobai and Iroha becoming an outlaw duo. But given how Syobai thought of Iroha as annoying, it makes me wonder how long their partnership will last. Plus I’m interested to know how Yuki/The New Lucky Student will do with their life after everything. But I’m a bit sad that we don’t know what Yoruko decided to do after she left. I just hope she has a happy ending wherever she is.

I really did love it and I appreciate how much hard work and dedication LINUJ put into his series.