#turbo-tsun reply

[turbo-tsundere]

>:P

[turbo-tsundere]

Gng you MUST draw Kaito I am BEGGINGGGG gang 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

Do I? :D Who knows, maybe I might one day. I certainly do have some Kaitos lurking in my neverending wip-stash already.

(No context, but each image is its own thing. Wish I could share more but they're either too messy or half-done, but showing them would kinda spoil the surprise.)

His hair breaks my brain so much. And I keep forgetting his goatee and then wonder for an hour what's off about his face (I have the same issue with Gonta's eyeglasses tho lol)

[turbo-tsundere]

do u wanna talk about. gonta <3

give me ur small headcanons about gonta :3 the little details that u imagine about him!

Ah, I'm okay with stewing in my own thoughts, since I know headcanons are very personalized things that others might not be too interested in xD But since you're asking, I'll happily share some. Thank you! <3

I'll try to stick to what I consider pure headcanons - some serious, some unhinged - but I'll mix in some theories/interpretations/speculations or inferred stuff too (to me these are distinct from headcanons, which are made up). Anyway.

Gonta's not wearing shoes, because it's uncomfortable, if not painful for him to use those, and he's not aware orthophedic shoes or foot orthoses are a thing. This is kinda based on my own specific experience (due to my condition I'm advised to walk barefoot or only wear special shoes, anything else, esp flat and soft ones, causes my spine to hurt and affect mobility), but living barefoot influences posture, musculature and gait - and modern shoes *supposedly* can weaken our joints and muscles, or lead to contusion if badly fitted - they affect entire posture, so I imagine finding ones that'd be comfortable long-term would be very difficult for Gonta given how he's fully adapted to live without them.

His hair doesn't make sense to me in-universe. Shouldn't it be cut the moment he was rescued? No specific headcanon here, but I wonder if there's a story behind it. Was Gonta afraid of scissors? Is he simply embracing his wild-child origin? Is this a sensory issue? Or is this some proof of neglect on the side of his parents? Or maybe it's really just unruly like that...

I imagine Gokuhara residence to be built in traditional Japanese style. No reason other than to contrast Sonia's implied European princess castle style and Byakuya's modern corporate background. It's prolly not, given Gonta emulates the british gentleman stereotype, but if I were to include it in a hypothetical fic, I'd explain the contradiction with historic Anglo-Japanese style and mutual cultural fascination between the two countries, and depict his family home interior as mix of both styles.

Gonta's tie is made from golden orb weaver spider silk, and thus extremely expensive!

If Gonta wasn't lost in the forest, I like to imagine entomology would become his childhood hobby, while his actual ultimate would end up being something more, hm... conventionally and imposingly "serious" and "impressive", even if still somewhat adjacent to his initial passion. Perhaps neurobiology? Some type of bio-engineering? Dunno, but... He's incredibly academically smart. He learns so fast. Got lost for 10 years, still caught up to others, and by Hope's Peak rules, he'd have to already be in normal highschool to be able to get enrolled. This guy basically speed-runs 10 years worth of education and social adaptation in what I imagine would be 1-3 years tops. So imagine what could've happened if his education wasn't interrupted. What if he moved on (or was perhaps pressured by his family, bc prestige prestige legacy reputation prestige) to some other, "bigger" things? And what he'd be like, personality wise? Would he be... a bit mean, just like his parents? Or still sweet but broken, just in a different way? Maybe he'd be more outwardly cold and cynical, more indoctrinated into the whole Gokuhara mentality, but secretly unhappy about it... Definitely just as concerned about how others see him as he is now, but with a different undertone to it. I think about "Gonta who never was lost" AU quite a bit... (insert multiverse AU where both versions of Gonta meet each other, and see something they'd wish to achieve or lost in one another.)

Gonta's favourite music genre is heavy metal. No reason for this other than his side-interests are often surprising and it'd be really funny.

[ENG localisation assumption/theory] Gonta's much more eloquent in writing than he is when speaking. Reasons being, that in canon, unless he doesn't know a particular terminology, or misses subtext, he actually doesn't have trouble understanding anything people are trying to say, and even though his speech is broken, it's still packed with meaning and communicates clearly. Plus he wrote a book in DR:S, and said something about making it easy and basic for those who'd like to learn about bugs. Aka his passive vs active vocabulary imo has a gap. That's very common for non-native speakers, and could easily be his case given his situation. Tbh I love thinking about his relationship with language, and I don't begrudge localisation like many people do, even though I always stick to original voice-acting, so JP in this case. Learning or re-learning language isn't a linear process, and there can be a lot of unevenness and fluctuation between reading vs listening vs speaking vs writing, or even understanding vs pronunciation skills. Gonta's language skills seem uneven, too, as his longer sentences tend to be less broken than his short ones (my translator friend had interesting doylist opinion about it to my watsonian one), and imo that's cool show-don't-tell indication he's in process of learning. Oh, and realistically, I think he'd have to learn speech from scratch, like Marcos Rodríguez Pantoja did, which I think is the closest real-world example of Gonta's situation.

Gonta's secretly like Goku or Superman, a member of a super-strong alien race who, when he was an infant, was sent to Earth in a tiny space-pod. But due to his severe self-esteem issues he never realized this about himself. I mean, look at the guy, he even has an aura around him at one point. Also GON-ta and GOKU-hara? That's two shonen references within the big JoJo one.

Alternatively, Gonta is one of Rantaro's missing sisters, except now it's a brother (I can't get over how Rantaro's locks seem like short version of Gonta's hairstyle. Both are green haired rich kids too. Hmmm. Suspicious!)

(tbh I don't seriously subscribe to these two origin headcanons, but I DO find them amusing)

I don't really have settled on anything here, but it always fascinated me that Gonta speaks in third person. Why would he do that at his age, when he wants to be a respectable gentleman? Either way, sometimes I wonder if this isn't a form of distancing himself from... himself. Another expression of how little he values himself. After all, talking in third person, culturally, isn't always to appear cute, but also to show humility, selflessness, or distance from one's own ego. What if in his thoughts, he talks to himself in second person? What if he berates himself the way he was berated by others? To further dissociate, to further de-personalise himself. Not sure. But it does make me think, and I'd be tempted to include that motive somewhere.

Like with shoes, this is just me projecting due to my own conditions and experiences, but what if Gonta needs to wear glasses not because of short- or farsightedness, or for pure fashion, but due to mild binocular vision dysfunction? He does look slightly lazy-eyed in some sprites (left eye). Frankly, it's definitely just drawing imperfection, but hey, it's interesting to speculate about such things.

Gonta's reaction to receiving a sweater during FTE ("It brings bad memory"), his sleeping habits, and particular choice of underwear make me speculate whether he has difficulty wearing clothes. Maybe he even hated them at first. In my mind, there's this scene where he's recently rescued, still unable to speak much - he's forced to wear a sweater and things turn upsetting to both him, and the person who attempted to put it on him. Perhaps his mom? Maybe Gonta panics, thinking he'd be restrained, or hating the sensation of scratchy wool on his skin. Or maybe he was snuck up on. He ends up accidentally hitting, or pushing his parent (likely for him, remember the instances with Shuichi almost falling off stairs in FTE, being accidentally pushed onto bed in LH, or knocked out by being run into in Ch2? OMG AND YEETING POOR KIIBO TOO. Gonta has very consistent pattern of getting physically reckless when emotionally agitated). He feels so, so ashamed and heart-broken, when he realises she just wanted to take care of him in her own way. Things sour, and he ends up being looked down upon as feral or uncivilized. Dunno. But that's my headcanon for what this "bad memory" could be. I'd certainly write a scene like that for him, for that delicious angst.

Likewise, I don't imagine retrieving Gonta from the forest as some peaceful and idyllic reunion. It's hard for me to think it wouldn't feel scary, if not traumatic, depending on who would've found him and what methods they used to capture Gonta… or at least deeply confusing and alienating, even if seeing his parents again would make him happy (but would they provide the care and compassion he'd really need at this vulnerable time?). The forest was his home and the whole world at this point, for pretty much the entirety of his conscious memory. And then he's just brought back, and has to accept this is his life from now on, because everyone else acts like it should be. As human, this is where he belongs, doesn't he? And he just rolls with it. Maybe the wrongness of it doesn't even dawn on him, but the impact is there. Again, thinking about the Pantoja case.

I really love how Gonta makes references to FMA or Layton etc., or talks how he enjoyed spy novels, or comedies, and then goes 'oh, gentlemen should do this, or that!" based on those. To me that's a sign that he's mostly left to his own devices, when it comes to learning about social norms. He's trying to self-teach from where he possibly can, and ends up using insufficient or misguided means, in this case, fiction that he enjoys. It's one of the few sources of knowledge that wouldn't make him feel inadequate, so I wouldn't be surprised if he gravitated towards it. Extremely realistic imo, but also sad, as it might subtly imply parental negligence.

My headcanon/theory for DR:S is that Gonta's life is a bit better in this universe. Maybe his family doesn't treat him as badly or perhaps distance and boarding at Hope's Peak helps. But it stands out to me that he doesn't talk all that much about becoming a gentleman there, mostly about bugs. Barely calls himself stupid, too (I remember only one particular event when he does that).

I think that's more than enough. Thank you again!

[turbo-tsundere]

one million hugs and kisses for your gonta 😭😭😭

Bro needs a break fr but universe never provides

him and this cat have same energy don't u think. sure he wouldn't swear but the emotion is certainly there!

[turbo-tsundere]

i may have sent an ask like this before? i dont remember if i did and i apologize if i did, but i absolutely adore your concept drawings for that gonta survival horror game. i would absolutely love to hear more about it ^^ i hope you’re doing well also!

Ah, no, I haven't gotten anything like that before, unless yours was that invisible ask, that lingers in my inbox as an unremovable number. But either way, please don't apologize - it's really sweet that someone could be interested in reading about stuff like that.

Regarding the game concept: it started as a daydream to process my post-V3 blues. Bunch of ideas that weren't exactly polished with a serious gamedev effort in mind, though maybe I'll introduce it proper via concept sketches, in the undetermined future.

I can summarize it via text, even though I worry if it will be interesting in that form - visuals matter, after all - but I'll try.

Bullet point form, for, um, easier reading. Be warned, it's... it's about 7,2k words.

[GENERAL INTRO] (for context: the ask is about one of those sketches)

The rough title is "Danganronpa Another Universe: Giga Despair Triad", or GDT for short.

First, I'd like to clarify that while I said it's a "survival horror" game, in reality it's the prologue and later random scenes that fall cleanly into the "survival" sub-category.

As a whole I imagine it to be more of an *action* horror game, mixing fight and investigation mechanics, with some light environmental puzzles here and there. We're helpless at the start, and later on the horror is mostly existential and psychological. Though, of course, there are (mono)monsters and general horror aesthetics involved, as the world is going through an apocalyptic event.

It's not all angst and suffering, either. There are silly moments, as a nod to typical DR wackiness + my own morbid sense of humour.

It's meant to be both V3 as well as UDG sequel (very original, I know xD). And it's an indulgent thing, with references to other games or manga that I love (similarly how V3 did it with it's own homages), and my top faves freely put together, specifically Gonta and Tokomaru, so I can go wild with all of the psychological and interpersonal dynamics that could be explored between those three. Really dig into Gonta's brain especially, and dissect the behavioral and emotional bulIshit that plagues him, in a way that may deconstruct and challenge his character. At least... That's my main intention.

It's a result of wondering how to - in a way that's plausible within the lore of the DR universe - bring back Gonta and certain other characters... but at a hefty price.

[HOW IT STARTS]

At the very beginning Gonta startles awake to a flash of light. With his last memory being the stabbing, flames, sounds of buzzing, and a searing agony, he's shocked and disoriented, but soon realizes he's alone in a dimly lit room, lying in a pod of sorts, and he... seems alive and completely uninjured?

Despite the confusion, he stumbles out of this "infirmary" onto a ruined corridor. Water dripping from nearby broken pipes helps to quench his thirst, and to his relief, he finds fireflies there! The place where they concentrate would be your first save point - and with the help of their bioluminescence, Gonta is now able to explore and investigate the dilapidated facility he's stuck in. Judging from a glance into a narrow crack in the ceiling, and seeing the sunlight pouring down from many floors above, it looks to be rather deep underground. And while the place seems long abandoned, Gonta certainly doesn't feel alone, and it's not just because of bugs. He finds some blood-written messages on the walls that seem to guide him and then disappear; his own(?) missing glasses are unexpectedly tossed at him from a dark corner, yet he finds nothing, when he anxiously checks in that direction; and he senses and hears something terrifying and hostile lurking in the half-crumbled dark rooms just beyond the reach of firefly lights. In fact, to his terror, when one of them flew across a large hole in the floor in order to inspect the other end of a hallway, the light disappeared abruptly as if someone - or something - had grabbed... or eaten it. But, in spite of his searching, it looks like his friends aren't here, and this confuses him even more. There's lots of documents or recordings, that partially clue him in as to what has transpired after his death, almost up till 53rd killing game's end, there's even a morgue with what seems to be his own corpse (a discovery that pretty much messes up with his sense of reality and makes him question if he's not in afterlife. It's hard to sum up everything going through his head, but Gonta's sanity certainly takes a hit from seeing this), but no living people whatsoever.

Once his first objective to search for others is fulfilled, his next one is to escape the facility, by climbing the broken elevator shaft... He ends up using his own execution chain as a makeshift rope.

Oh and... While down there, he stumbles upon a futuristic server/computer room, where he finds his own Alter Ego. After a conversation, we'd get the first narrative choice as to whether you want the Alter Ego's memory to fuse with Gonta's consciousness via Flashback Light... or not. Tbh I'd imagine the game to be mostly linear, but choices like that would mostly impact some of his dialogues, his mental state (there would be a mechanic for that, actually!), as well as count to making some alternative/bad/early endings either available or not. He'd have the same information from 3rd party sources either way, the question is whether he wants to remember the events from Ch4 VR from "his own" POV or not.

"The world is okay" image is actually the end of this whole section aka the Prologue. Gonta climbs out of the dilapidated facility, and stews in all of the information he managed to gather while being trapped down there, including one that implies the world is supposedly perfectly okay. He catches some darker, defeated part of himself faintly hoping that the world is actually destroyed, because if it isn't, then what did he end Miu's life for? At least it would make his action not as senseless... He promptly pushes that thought away, internally bashing himself for ever thinking that, finally crawls out to the surface, and then sees a clear sky, unobstructed by the dome of the End Wall, which makes him notice he's outside of the Academy - cue crushing shame and layers upon layers of disappointment and painful realizations. About the 4th trial, about himself... about that intrusive thought he just had. "The world is okay, and you're still stupid", is how the whole line actually goes. But beyond that, there's relief and hope as well. Because if he's alive, despite his brutal death, then perhaps others are as well, no matter how... unreal it sounds? He now knows that Himiko, Shuichi and Maki survived, too, and he desperately wants to see them again. After Gonta gathers himself from his breakdown and rests, he tries to figure out just where he is - he uses his entomological and star knowledge to do so - and embarks on a journey, trying to find any nearest city, to then continue searching for his other friends.

Incidentally, as Gonta starts walking... he hears some cries of frustration (or perhaps cries for help?) and upon rushing to the spot he's heard them from, finds a particularly energetic and chatty bug, who reallyreallyreallyreallyreally wants to find her friend. Human friend, actually! Gonta decides to help her as well, seeing that they might head in the same direction anyway. And wow, that person the bug is talking about must be such a kind, sweet and good-hearted individual! They *both* even used to be friendless losers who befriended bugs as kids! Gonta sure would love to meet this kindred spirit, if possible!

[SETTING, PLOT BITS & CONCEPTS, yadda yadda]

The memories of V3 cast are false, but Hope's Peak is very much real. The killing game(s) organized by Tsumugi/Team Danganronpa were the copycat crimes Tsumugi alluded to at the end of V3. Personally, I feel that this combo offers most concepts and ideas to explore, so that's what I'm going for. Once V3 survivors escape the Academy for Gifted Juveniles, they manage to find Future Foundation, and while under its protection/employment, begin investigating their real pasts and Team Danganronpa as a whole, while dealing with other missions, if ordered to do so. When GDT begins, it's about 2-3 years since the 53th killing game has concluded.

After the Prologue, Gonta eventually finds Toko and Komaru, who are out on a field mission that day (he quite heroically saves them in sheer panic picks up a random manhole cover and yeets it at the monobeast that was facing them, interrupting and ending their fight). Thanks to Kameko's tearful reunion with Toko, and Gonta introducing himself and explaining his predicament in a gentlemanly fashion frantically BOMBARDING Tokomarus with info about him, Shuichi, Himiko and Maki, and whatever Kameko has told Gonta about Toko and her own ties to the killing games, all to convince her to pleasebelievehimandhelphimfindhisfriendsaaaahhhhhh, they hesitantly allow him to join them. They're not sure if this is a good idea, and this big-ass scary looking dude is still wearing some hospital-looking gown, so who knows where he's escaped from, but... it's worth checking out with FF. And Gonta translating Kameko's words to Toko, 100000% validating her feelings about Kameko indeed being a very special "friendsect" might've helped to buy into her good graces, just a liiiiiittle bit. She denies it though when Komaru calls her out on this :).

The three (four, if you will!) musketeers head back to one of the FF outposts, but since the road back is rather long and dangerous, at one point they get separated by horde of mono-monsters, and amids that chaos, Gonta has a surprise run-in with Miu who... isn't just very unfriendly, hostile even, but doesn't even feel fully herself either, and apparently for more reasons than mere anger over Gonta choking her. There's a goddamn Monokuma with her, too?! Suffice to say... Gonta doesn't exactly escape this situation unscathed and unshaken.

Some other things happen along the way, but luckily, as the night approaches, he's able to find Toko and Komaru again, and together with them reach the Future Foundation, finally reuniting with the V3 survivor Trio. And this closes Chapter 1 - while Prologue served as tutorial for stealth and investigation and puzzle mechanics, this one would teach fight mechanics and introduce core premise and plot elements, which is pretty much investigating the secret behind Gonta's revival, Miu situation, what it might mean about other deceased killing game participants... as well as Gonta trying to find his own place and purpose in FF.

The ones that are confirmed to be revived are Gonta, Miu, and eventually also Kokichi, in that exact order. Yes, the whole Holy Trinity gets their second chance, how nice!

It ain't no VR, actually. I'm saying this, bc I remember someone leaving tags "Oh, it makes me think of post V3 VR digital limbo", and I know this is a popular fanon, but that's not the case here. As a reader, even if I don't gravitate towards the trope, I like it when it's done well - Kodaka did do some cool stuff VR motives in his games, and so did the fandom - but as creator I can't think of anything inspired (plus at the time I had no clue it was such widespread interpretation). And I suppose my brain naturally prefers stories to happen within more material settings, even if they're warped and influenced by a mind, or reality-breaking phenomena? So, my point... everything in GDT is very much real. The killing game happened for real. People died for real… And some got to live for "real" again.

I'm making it all work by playing with and building upon certain elements and technology already established within canon. And this is mostly where I draw the horror element from.

I considered one of the first hints towards what's truly happening - aside from the body in the morgue - that every time you'd die as Gonta within the game, he'd find his previous body lying in that spot. Players would need to pick his things back up, such as glasses and items. Kinda like in Automata or the "bloodstain-retrieval" system in soulsborne? There of course would be a limit to how many would appear, as the oldest one would start to naturally disintegrate. There'd be some more of those hints in Prologue, but I'd make discovering them all except for the morgue optional and missable. Like, if Gonta didn't die in that segment, the player would never know they could stumble upon his old body, until that happened later in the game. Or if he didn't return to a specific place after something specific happens, then he wouldn't witness something curious. I just... like elements like that, that aren't vital but fuel the conspiracy and reward wall-licking XD. Of course there'd be an option for no-death runs, aside from those imposed by the plot.

Gonta fights with a manhole cover attached to the very chains he was tied with during his execution XD. I wanted to give him a wacky weapon that would fit what Toko and Komaru use.

[DRAMATIS PERSONAE, CHARACTER ARCS/DYNAMIC, ETC.?]

Things I'd like to explore the most are Gonta's compulsions, and whether he can grow to accept being seen in the wrong or negative way, without his self-worth falling apart. Whether he's capable of letting Miu heal on her own, without him in the picture, without insisting on desperately fixing things, or showing how regretful and sorry he is; how he can handle someone challenging his near-obsessive and self-destructive need for being seen by others as a good person, while ironically having zero self-preservation and harbouring so much self-hatred. Whether he can realise how insisting on helping everyone the way he does can paradoxically come off as self-centered, in spite of his inherent selflessness, earnestness, and genuine love for others. How there are some things that just can't be fixed... and you still gotta live and still deserve, no, have a duty to care for yourself. Just... ya know. A few examples out of an endless list of his personal issues that imo need addressing one way or another. Nothing is really easy for him, not even his integration into FF ranks, as no one here, not even Gonta, is exactly sure what is up with him coming back to life. He's given a chance to prove himself, though he's not automatically granted the freedom to do what he pleases. But he understands.

Truth is, the nature of his revival aside, Gonta in general trusts himself less. He seems to act like his old self alright, but there's an air of resignation and subtle hopelessness to the way he seems to perceive himself now. He's in a worse state, even if he keeps moving forward for other people's sake. The 4th trial, after all, felt like a thorough breakdown and "confirmation" of his worst fears and criticism he had about himself, or how others used to misjudge him. It's not something that wouldn't leave a trace on his already shitty self-perception. Thankfully, there are some compassionate souls looking out for him, like Himiko, for example. But it's not just her.

I didn't think I'd reveal it this way, I actually hoped to compile my old sketches of this in future… but it involves my very first Gonta ship ever.

Namely Gonta x Toko (or as I like to call it, gontoko). At the time, I didn't have it in me to delve into ougoku (wounds still too fresh to feel worth it yet, despite some morbid fascination) nor saigoku (somehow didn't click for me for over 3-4 months after finishing V3 despite the massive in-game fuel being present in there). In my eyes ship with Toko provided that perfect balance of cozy/healthy but still flawed dynamic, while still having some "tooth" to it (aka psychological f-ckupery and dysfunctionality between two people trying to make sense of each other and their inner demons, contrasts and parallels etc.) without me feeling like I'm tossing Gonta in a heartbreakingly and irreparably harmful to him situation.

With that in mind though, we're NOT interfering with Tokomaru in any way whatsoever. Tokomaru is *sacred*. Nothing will break it apart. It's a 100% "Toko has two hands" situation. That's her life now, and you bet she gets constant migraines over it. She now has to deal with two "but I'm too normal/dumb for this wahh wahh shitty self-esteem!" green-haired messes. Plus the thought that she's kiiiinda like her dad now, with tho partners, drives Toko up the walls. Thing is, this girl is doing this right, even if she doesn't currently see it this way. Meanwhile Gonta can fry her brain with kindness and deep respect she's so not wired to handle.

That being said, my goal with them isn't exactly touchy-feely stuff, but exploring their dynamic as two deeply self-loathing but sensitive and hard-working towards self-betterment people, who know how it's like to discover they're murderers, while having zero memory of the act - and how crushing it is towards any crumbs of positive self-perception and hope for being deserving of affection/validation they might've held onto until this point in their life. Different circumstances, motivations, and the ways it all transpired, but still, there are grounds for mutual understanding here. At the same time Toko seems like a perfect character to call Gonta out on his bs in a way no one else could: both in good faith with genuine, constructive support in mind, as well as due to her own flaws and current hangups causing her to lash out. Both options can create potentially compelling conflict. But frankly, it goes both ways. After all, Gonta does tend to make simple but startingly on-point observations, sometimes. They'd just be dishing reality-checks at each other, whether knowingly or not :D

Perhaps I could also touch upon Gonta's and Toko's (either conscious or not) tendency to gravitate towards individuals who are "evil-coded" (regardless of whether they're really evil or not, either personality or aesthetic-wise), or those who either talk down, insult, mistreat if not outright harm/use them. It's something that sadly many victims of abuse in the real world do - habitually ending up in toxic circles, since it's something familiar, while not reacting to, not "computing", feeling lost, confused or even stressed out in more healthy dynamics. And from what I see, both Toko and Gonta are different flavours of that in their own right...

I'd like to explore the parallels between Gonta and Komaru as well, from a friendship perspective. I do see certain similarities between them, how they were both set up to end up making drastic choices via someone else orchestrating everything with that exact outcome in mind, before Gonta/Komaru would ever know they'd be making such a choice... I truly think the only difference between Gonta and Komaru is that, at her lowest, after her spirits were broken upon seeing that video, there was someone by her side, who *actually* cared for her and prioritized her wellbeing; someone who would fight to stop her from making a decision driven by despair, as opposed to actively feeding into and enabling it. Then, there's of course the issue of low self-esteem, and downplaying one's achievements. Komaru in this story has of course mostly grown past this and in a much better place, but to an extent, she certainly could see some of her past self in Gonta.

Plus, on a lighter note, with Komaru wanting to be a manga artist, and Gonta thinking comic artists and book illustrators are "good people" (because it makes understanding complex concepts easy for him), I feel like they could become good buddies via that passion of hers. Also in DR:S both Gonta and Komaru asked Angie for art advice... they're both aspiring artists in a way!

Also I find it really damn funny that Komaru is very similar to "komar", which is the polish word for mosquito xD. That certainly would appeal to Mr Ultimate Entomologist!

Shuichi and Komaru are petrolhead friends, and they wish oh so badly to have a car vs motorbike race with each other. It'd be a waste of FF resources, but they can't help to get excited about the idea. And maybe they'd get a sequence dedicated to just that… with an extra bonus of escaping from a horde of monobeasts.

As you may have gathered already, Kameko is an actual character in there, she helps with espionage and exploration, and she indeed is the bug Gonta meets at the end of Prologue, that helps him find the (Towa?) city. She rightfully serves as the catalyst for the whole gontoko deal starting :).

The twist tho is… this actually ain't original Kameko, but one of her descendants, who took it upon itself to keep her name and live as "Kameko" and Toko's friend. Life of a stink bug isn't that long, after all, ranging between 6-8 months once it exits the nymph stage. Yes, it has thematic relevance to the overall story. :D

Maki finds herself busy with taking care of Monokuma Children (the helmet wearing kids from UDG), using her knowledge of living and working in orphanage... frankly, she's seeing a bit on herself in those kids, who had their hands stained, going as far as to orphan themselves due to brainwashing. Sure, her memories might not be real... but to her it feels real, and the empathy for their circumstances is still there in her heart. She's also a close friend with Nagisa.

Miu's out there, as we already know, dealing with her own problems, and seemingly in a way worse situation than Kokichi and Gonta are. Seems like Monokuma is keeping her captive, and wants to form her into the next Junko - and with Miu being completely alone here, she pretty much forces herself to comply out of fear. She's also developed trauma response to hearing apologies - as this was the very last thing she kept hearing while dying. Still, she's not exactly proud of what she did to Gonta in retaliation during their accidental "reunion". She feels like she's crossed a moral line she can't exactly come back from. And this, as well as the current state of the world she wished to make better with her inventions, would accumulate and make her want to fight against her cowardice.

Kokichi... is quite tricky to describe, not gonna lie, because a lot of his arc relies on mystery and working while in hiding. He's seemingly found everywhere, defying logical explanation, as to how he could even move between those locations. He's no doubt planning something though. Trying to defeat the evils... in his own way. Which is naturally making life harder for everyone around, both "allies" and enemies. He's seemingly alone, but extremely busy executing a certain plan of his.

There's one version of Kokichi though, that starts sort of hanging around the Gonta+Tokomaru team. I affectionately call him Fukushima Flower Kokichi due to the odd deformities of his body (there will be a concept sketch below). He seems more frail and quieter and even... sweeter? Than his normal self. Because of that, Gonta, in his compulsive empathy, finds it difficult to completely dismiss the little guy and not feel bad towards him, despite the anxiety he feels after the Ch4 events. He's cautious and tense, but can't help not to at least keep an eye on him. This particular Kokichi also assures that he's... Disconnected from the "main one", and therefore "safe". Whatever that means.

[MAJOR SPOILER/DEEP LORE TERRITORY + EXPERIMENTAL IDEAS?] (beware if you care for those, there's 0,0000000000001% change this might be made within next 30 years lmao)

Nanokumas, son. They mutate in response to despair! You can't get rid of them, Gonta.

After the end of the 53rd killing game, and the survivor trio escaping the Academy, with no Motherkuma to oversee and control their numbers, they eventually began to go rogue and self-replicate while executing their hidden self-preservation protocol and now bugged programming indiscriminately. And then they went on without anyone's supervision or knowledge for a very long while.

One of the by-products of their activity is Mono-beasts we know from UDG mutating into Eldritch Abominations, and certain individuals coming back wrong, but it's actually so much more than that, and the situation is pretty dire. The world is at the risk of grey goo apocalypse, and what's going around is pretty much the Mist meets End of Evangelion bs. And they might go "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream" pretty soon, considering that for some death isn't an escape any more. Despair and the concept of killing games has taken a new form, pretty much, and the horrible discoveries don't end here.

Knowing this, Gonta, Kokichi and Miu... it's not surprising to find that they're all literally infested with nanomachines holding their cells like glue, and of course their newfound existence comes with a catch.

The stability of their form is influenced by their mental state, self-perception, and to a limited extent, their own will, the last one allowing for introducing unique fighting or puzzle-solving mechanics later on. But, as a scary side-effect, they're at risk of physically manifesting their emotional distress... including exhibiting the symptoms of their deaths. Their bodies may lose integrity and simply fall apart on a cellular level if things go unchecked for too long.

For now the assumption is that Kokichi was the first one to revive (with Miu second, and Gonta last). Because of this, his form is the most flawed and unstable one out of all of them. There might be more than one of him, too.

Kokichi's revival was an accident, Miu's seems to have happened by Monokuma's design, but how did Gonta even came back to life? By whose will and design? Was it an accident, just like in Kokichi's case, or...? It's true, that when he woke up, it seemed like some things were specifically prepared just for him to find. Either way Gonta's in the middle when it comes to stability, but it can go either way, depending on how much he relies on special fighting mechanics, and on his arc/choices made.

Miu's arguably in best condition, since her body wasn't destroyed like the guys' were. She wasn't as much revived via complete rebuilding, but her original body was "simply repaired". However, at first, she's unaware that she truly died - being instead convinced by Monokuma, that she miraculously survived and ended up in a coma instead.

Even if they're technically immortal, it doesn't mean the process of dying or reviving wouldn't be traumatic, as they'd then wake up and remember all of the pain they've gone through, or remain conscious in states any other human being would perish from. There are also things suggesting their super-healing abilities might come with certain dangers attached to them, so... perhaps the "survival" aspect of the game doesn't ever disappear entirely, it's just that the repercussions for dying are recontextualised.

Either way, speaking of existential issues...

So, if you're a "clone" of yourself with your memories "reinstalled" via Flashback Light, are you still that person? Are you really different, if molecularly, functionally and psychologically you're the perfect recreation of the "original"? Or perhaps the body at the morgue was the fake one? Who knows? And does it even matter, considering that previously, your memories and backstory were a fabrication anyway? You're pretty much just an Alter Ego installed onto "flesh hardware", just like you were before. The only difference is that your previous body might've used a real human being - with their own life and history - as a base, and currently you're using a "blank slate" aka a clone. Or perhaps that old body was a clone, too, and the original is out there, somewhere? And if so... did he have a say in your/his participation in the 53rd killing game?

Was this how the Ch3 resurrection ritual was supposed to actually work? (In my mind, yes. With nanotech, imo cloning is also within the realm of possibility for this universe, but even without it Team DR could've just kidnapped an unwilling body double and slap fake memories onto him and call it a day)

Maki, out of all three V3 survivors, is the most sceptical of the idea of bringing others back the same way Gonta was. She worries about Shuichi and Himiko getting false hopes of saving Kaede, Kaito, Tenko and Angie, and getting themselves into danger by obsessing over this. She also doesn't exactly trust Gonta… Well, she pretty much doesn't view Gonta as Gonta, but an imposter, and perhaps a spy or something akin to a living Troyan Horse, even if unwilling/unwitting. Basically, she thinks there has to be a reason for him to come back to life to conveniently end up with Future Foundation, and all of this might be one big trap. It's only thanks to Himiko's and surprisingly Toko's insistence that she doesn't do as much about it as she normally would have. Plus, when it goes to Kaito... the idea of a """living""" "puppet" that emulates his behaviour feels like an affront to both his memory and her feelings for him. Gonta will certainly remember all that.

There's also a problem of how Gonta, Miu and Kokichi deal with the news that their past life wasn't real to begin with...

For Gonta... most of the things he was doing in his life were for others, out of genuine need to see them happy, but also because Gonta wanted to both be and be seen as a good and helpful person. So, if it's all fake, if all those people - who've shaped or inspired his goals and motivations, who were the source of abuse, neglect, of his insecurities - have never existed to begin with, then what did he work for so hard, what did he felt so stupid and worthless for? In his FTEs, Shuichi helped Gonta focus on himself a bit more, but it seems like a wasted effort now. Just what set of values should he even pursue now? He can't help but mourn the forest family, specific bug friends, and many other people in his life, that turns out he never truly had. What Maki said about him being just a copy that's convinced they're the original doesn't help either. He feels horrible about "stealing" the life of that original person. Like a parasite that got his host's life snuffed out, only to continue living in their body undeservingly. Something akin to Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, the zombie-ant fungus. Suffice to say... this whole thing is a source of a lot of anguish for him, and to no one's surprise, he feels personally responsible. He's even begging FF to help him find the real family of that individual, so that he can "atone" by living with them while pretending to be the"original" person before they had "Gonta mod" installed. That idea is very firmly and promptly shot down by Toko.

Kokichi, I imagine, could be pushed further down the unhinged territory... For all the lies he's ever told and the masks he's put on, he, at the very least, assumed he could depend on knowing the truth about himself, no matter how deeply it was hidden. But now it turns out to be a lie he's never signed up for, and he gets that extra layer of detachment from everything. Or perhaps it's the total opposite - he's glad to be "rid off" his "true" self, if it was something he wanted to bury or avoid - and the sense of losing touch with it is "no biggie", or so he insists. Still, it annoys him to no end, that it's a result of someone else's will, instead of his own. "Invasive" doesn't even begin to describe it. Underneath it all though, there's that persistent nihilistic thought of "I can do anything, create anything, I have no attachments to anyone and anything. I can shape myself into who I want over and over and over and over, and no one will stop me now." - and this revelation is both freeing and depressing for him. All he knows for sure is that Monokuma is still pissing him off, and he wants that bitch down. And he's going to make that everyone's problem.

Miu actually takes the news quite well. See, if I had to sum up her own arc... it's definitely the most shoneny one out of them all XD. The whole thing with Miu becoming Junko is basically her going from complying with Monokuma's plans out of fear, to deliberately pretending to do so, so that she can have an in depth access to his tech, come up with proper plans against him etc. etc.. She causes a ton of problems to the other characters, yes, because she has to put on a believable act, but I wanted Miu's endgame to be this wholesome twist with her dramatically undoing her pig-tails, as she announces she's *not* and *never* would be some Junk! She's the one and only golden girl genius Miu Iruma, and she's here to save the world with her inventions, not fuck it over. Monokuma retorts to this by reminding her that she's a fake, but her response is basically: "Oh, that "us being fiction" thing? So? I LOVE being me. It's fuckin' awesome to be Miu Iruma!". It probably helps that, in her made up backstory, she became an inventor after waking up from a coma episode, so the unreality and randomness of her identity was pretty much always part of the package. Plus, falsely acquired or not, her knowledge is still applicable and Miu *can* come up with and build things that work, and make tangible difference through them. If that doesn't make it real, then what does? So, what's the point of the angst, again? She concludes her old self would LOVE to be her. Tldr, I just want this girl to keep winning, okay?

At one point Gonta faces another temptation - if his personality, backstory, traumas, self-hatred, if they're all fake, and coming from nothing "real", no tangible experience, then what's even the point of sticking to his hangups, of... dealing with this mess? Of tormenting himself and failing because of who he is? Why not ditch it all and take a shortcut by rewriting himself completely, into someone better, smarter, more useful, someone... just perfect. What's the point of being the person he intuitively hates, if all of that can seemingly be changed at a whim and snap of a finger? The moment he's able to notice and verbalize those feelings, the mere possibility eats at him from the inside, especially since the technology IS there. He could spare everyone so much trouble, so much time spent on coaching him, on teaching him, on explaining the obvious, spare them from getting frustrated with his naivete or lack of knowledge... Sure, it might mean he will ultimately become a different person, effectively ending his current self, but isn't that a fair price for providing benefit to the world and his friends? It doesn't even dawn on him that some people might've already gotten attached to who he currently is, and the outcome of his actions might depend on several gameplay factors.

I'm thinking about the structure where there would be hidden counters for Affection (with Toko), Doom (based on narrative personal choices, character development and monitoring emotional state, the amount of deaths etc.) and Performance (based again on amount of deaths, reliance on special abilities in fights, objective completion rate, and damage healing), that could determine different endings for different combinations of those (like Low/High/Poor status respectively could result in a Bad End at one point), even if generally those would be interconnected anyways. The game would be, again, linear, but because of those counters there, a small branching in narrative leading to an earlier ending could occur along that path.

I did say I'm not really inspired by VR AU, but after stewing on it while writing this post, maybe there could be some slight elements of it. It could help introduce some trippier and more surreal segments into the mix, that I wouldn't know how to incorporate otherwise, aside from literally breaking their fabric of reality as we know it XD (not that it isn't broken already, but...). It would serve as no more than plot/scene enhancer, rather than a major component of it.

Nyeh. I wish we could play a segment as Himiko. Do some MAGIC. Or to put it simply, use stuff like sleight of hand and tricks to distract people in order to solve stealth puzzles or something like that.

Jfc I just found a scribble that Gonta gets shitface drunk on purpose at one point, I dunno anymore what his plan was, he wanted to poison nanokumas or something? XDDD Or maybe he was just so done with everything up to this point? dasjgdsaj I forgot about that bit but it's hilarious and it so stays if I ever make this game dajhgsajhgjsadgj I don't care what I will have to do to make it in-character, it's gonna happen xDDDD

Komaeda's here too????? Just... Happy to be there? Talking esoteric stuff? Enjoying the show not even from a front row, but putting his chair right on the damn stage? Taking in the view of the "great tide of human enterprise, coming to naught"? XD Rooting for Hope??? XD

[RANDOM TRIVIA etc.]

I'd like to expand on the references to the other media thing. Before V3 I used to be one of those assholes who would see fanarts as a waste of time and effort as opposed to just focusing on one's own original content. You know, the "why would you spend time on something someone else made, instead of making your own thing?". Turns out I haven't loved a fictional story strong enough to understand the drive until it finally hit. There IS merit and certain selfless dedication to pursuing fanarts and expressing love for something that isn't about you or your concepts. It is an unique and wonderful feeling with a different flavor of satisfaction, just like doing personal artwork vs commission work are activities that feel rewarding in a completely distinct way (happiness of self-actualization to see your inner world come to life vs pride of a professional who likes making happy clients. With fanarts I'd say it's... Sense of celebration and paying homage. And rotating the blorbo).

Either way, this was a considerable shift in mentality for me, and ngl, it felt huge. So now that I had my anime redemption arc, my change of heart, my heel turn, I wanted to go out of my way to actively make GDT a love letter to other games or manga that I liked. Just like V3 sort of did, with its characters and story being their own thing, while simultaneously being PACKED with references to other media.

For example, I listened a ton to this "Time and Tide" by Alan Price song from Plague Dogs while thinking of this story. A song about the ocean/waves and going home, just like "At the Bottom of the Sea", but whose message is a completely opposite one. I wanted it to be the theme for the Good/True Ending, and kind of symbolic for the character arc Gonta would go through.

One of the manga I want to reference a lot is Gunnm (or Battle Angel Alita). It's one of my all time faves and fundamentals of my art style, and I think it has a ton of motives than could mesh well, because of the motives it itself tackles: cyborgs, and their total opposite, humans with flesh body but chip instead of a brain; humans who sold off their biological tissue and rights to DNA and someone else ended up constructing literal monsters and mutants out of those; scientists who achieved near-immortality thanks to cloud of nanomachines; 3D bioprinters; people whose DNA was designed from scratch, and people who wanted to mass produce them for "bloody, killing sports"; quantum supercomputers forecasting future and dictating humanity's fate; an "Incubator", where biological brains dream of a fake world, while their energy is used as a power and processing units for said quantum computers; the concept of freedom, instinct and definitions of *True* free will and individuality in a world like that. I wouldn't go as extra on those motives in GDT, but I'd love to incorporate some of that into the overarching themes and plot elements as far as constraints of original universe could plausibly allow (and with nanomachines, full-immersion VR, big mechas, robots, and personality/memory rewriting machines I think there's quite a lot of that wiggle room for those elements to fit like glove). An artificial personality installed onto biological "hardware", and the whole Theseus ship dilemma as to whether they're still an individual is something that would fit perfectly alongside such homages.

I wanted to pay homage to Gentleman Dress Up, too, by making some collectible clothes for Gonta, but... I dunno, at this point this thing already turns into such an overambitious project XD... still I thought it'd be neat.

[SOME EXTRA DOODLES TO MAKE UP FOR THAT WALL TEXT] (at least those more legible ones)

(The three main sillies. And Kameko!)

(Poster sketches, Nuclear Flower Kokichi, Gonta hairstyle concepts - I was thinking maybe some choices could result in him having either long or short hair- etc.,etc... Oh, and about that Gonta & Kokichi sketch in the upper right corner... Remember that one wip compilation I posted a long, long time ago? This one? Well, I kinda sorta deliberately showed an edited out version back then. Now you can see how it's really suppossed to look like. Hopefully certain details are noticeable :) It's from a True Ending. Make of it what you will :D)

I wish I could post more drawings in the same style as the previous concepts for this game, especially moody environments/scenes (I specifically practiced a style that'd be quick, but give a vibe of a finished piece), but in reality the majority of those are either too messy to be legible, some I'd like to work more on (like Miu's new attire, more mono-nano-monster designs, etc.) and some are still in my head... I do hope to do so one day though.

[TO SUM THIS UP]

There are a lot of things I haven't ultimately talked about, and frankly, if I were to do this project for real, I'm not sure how many of those ideas would be left unchanged, or even make it to the final product... Reading my old notes, there are definitely concepts I'd do differently now, or ones that felt a bit embarrassing to talk about here... But that's pretty much the gist of it at its current form!

It's been a while, too... I haven't thought about GDT as much ever since I've got similar emotional catharsis by making Gonta in Code Vein and playing it while projecting his post-V3 arc onto it. But I had fun with it, and getting your ask... kinda rekindled those brain worms, haha. I dunno if actually making it into a game would be ever feasible for me, who has zero gamedev/coding knowledge aside from designing 2d assets for my friends/other people's indie games. Even if I had to make it much simpler and sacrifice most of the play mechanics... But concept artbook though... that would be lovely. And within the realm of possibility. But not this year. And very unlikely a year after that. There are other priorities, and more pressing artistic matters now xD.

Thank you for sending that ask and giving me an opportunity to talk about it. I hope at least some of it was interesting!

[turbo-tsundere]

Giga despair triad sounds so super cool, I'd love to see it turned into a real fangame!! It's got so much character and potential, I know the fandom would eat it up 💚🪲 If you brainstorm anything else, please post!!

T...thank you ;u; O<-< truth be told I'd definitely stress over actually making it (concept is one thing, but then you've gotta execute it well!), but I'm glad it sounds fun!

I'd love to see it in game form too! But games, even kinetic VNs, are incredibly difficult and timeconsuming to make, you can't ever overestimate the effort - and my 3D/scripting skills are sadly nonexistent...

That being said... something must've awakened inside me, bc I'm parsing through this Blender tutorial, and even if I don't wanna make any promises about the game... well, I'm happy I'm finally motivated to even attempt learning 3D.

And thank you, I shall! Definitely sketches, if I finish any.

[turbo-tsundere]

any songs that u think fit gonta? ive been looking but i feel like all the playlists that people make of him are just. really surface-level and while there are definitely more light-hearted songs that fit him i never see anything about the Self-Hatred and Guilt yknow

Oh, I'm so happy to get an ask like this! Not sure if these will be exactly what you're looking for, or suit your tastes, but I do have some sad/bittersweet songs I'd love to share! I don't have Spotify unfortunately, but I'll leave links to YT or wherever they can be found.

Hopefully self-explanatory lyrics:

Any "Bottom of the Sea" version, so Dhruva Aliman (original?), Gresby Nash, and Noisecontrollers covers This is literally THE Gonta song, as his execution theme samples lyrics from it.

Learn to be Lonely (Minnie Driver) I actually plan to draw something for that one 8D

Bulbel (Mili - Ender Lilies OST)

Weight of the World (NieR:Automata OST)

End of All Things (Jessica Curry) + lyrics

Cautionary Warning (John Sykes - Legend of Black Heaven) The choir could be Gonta's POV towards Kokichi, but as a whole mostly fits Gonta situation in Ch4 VR

Wings of a Butterfly (HIM) Also imo very fitting Ch4/Killing Game Busters Gonta-focused example. I actually drew something to this that I posted before as wip!

An Unkindness - A death

More obscurely or partially fitting lyrics, or instrumentals with fitting vibes/title + context, if necessary:

End of the World (Dot. Hack//Sign)

So Close (Ólafur Arnalds)

LONER, A 3! (Shunsuke Takeuchi) It's an uplifting song actually, but the fact that it's sung my none other than Gonta's JP VA, and represents an attitude that's his opposite yet plausibly achievable, had he have a chance to heal and reflect on his ways... Well, that makes it sad for me to listen to, in a "what could've been" kinda way.

Secret Betrayal (Yuka Kitamura, Dark Souls III OST) So there's this quest in DS3 that enables specific ending. You enter an optional area that looks like an alternative version of the place you know from your "normal" world. In this little dimensional pocket you find a pair of eyes. You go to Firekeeper, give her these eyes, and make her experience a vision of the end of the current world. Heartbroken yet allured by this, she asks "Is that what you wish for?". You may say "Yes". She agrees to form a secret pact with you, help you bring the end of the Age of Fire (a cycle the game indirectly implies is pointless to continue), betraying everyone's hopes and pretty much ending them all... But should you change your mind - "Kill me." - she says - "I shall return as I once was" (she sort of "resets", by ressurecting and losing her memory of the deal and of the world-ending vision she saw). If you go through this storyline, you can even betray her by the very end, leading to another variant of that ending. This music is what the default Firelink theme changes to once this storyline is active.

Mourning (NieR:Automata OST) So there's this sidequest in Automata. An android asks you to investigate her friend's murder. Turns out it was she herself who's killed said friend. She was an executioner following orders, who deleted her memories, because she couldn't bear living with the knowledge she took her friend's life. "Sometimes it's better to not know the truth" is being said, but it's not actually about that android's actions... more of a justification why executioners like her exist in secret, and why they eliminate those who might know or seek too many painful secrets. The song plays as the quest gets completed. It's written in fictional language, but there are fan interpretations out there: link

[turbo-tsundere]

Hi there :> I wanted to express that I am so proud of you. So proud. I read your "under the cut" life update and how you've been struggling but found a way to love making art again, and that's beautiful. I'm glad you shared your processing art, even the ones that are hard to look at. They're great pieces that evolve visceral reactions, and the colors and crazy styles in there are really fun! It's so nice to see a small part of your human journey from over here, and how Gonta plays into it. I'm wishing you all the best of luck, and am always grateful to enjoy your amazing work. <3

D...damn... ; u ; thank you. So much.

I legit don't know what to say when someone writes me something so nice. I'm floored and my mind goes blank - I had to think for a long while to even be able to verbalise my feelings in a coherent way. But... I just want to say, I'm really happy. And I'm grateful! I've turned into a puddle of melted butter for a while after reading this!

I think this is a good opportunity to also thank you, and everyone else, for being so sweet and enthusiastic about the stuff I post. Whether they're wips, doodles, or finished stuff, or ships, or more personal and embarrassingly emotional pieces.

There were quite a few that I was really worried about posting - like that last sketchdump - and yet, I'm always surprised with such positive reactions. Gonta seriously is... the most important fictional character to me. I can't underestimate the impact he had on me as an artist, and as a person... so when drawing him, I always want to do him justice. I'm elated, when my way of artistically exploring his character speaks to people, and to a point that... I dunno, like some people say they look forward to my fanarts. Or write their thoughts, and insights in tags, some so long or energetic, it blows my mind. It's so wild. Y'all making my days <3

I'm gonna go and melt in a corner for a little more, if you don't mind. Then imma get up to face the challenges of the baka daily life of turbo-tsun, but other than that... yeah. I plan to keep making as much Gonta-related stuff as I can. I might slow down my pace, I might disappear for a while, but this isn't the end just yet! D:<

---

On a side note, I noticed that there's an invisible second message in my inbox... whoever wrote it, and whenever it was sent, I'm sorry I didn't answer, I simply can't see it... tumblr be like that sometimes, and it isn't the first time it happened for me. OTL

[turbo-tsundere]

oooh that post about gonta being sanguine/phlegmatic made me curious, do you have any other headcanons for gonta in line with stuff like mbti, enneagram, stuff like that? (also very curious what you'd see gonta on the alignment system, both in a "salmon mode"-esque universe and in canon 👀) there have been some depictions of gonta being a mischief-maker in his own right which i find very interesting (with how apparently sometimes he helps with kokichi's shenanigans especially in summer??)

Hmmm, maybe a few, but none I'd be overly attached to; Gonta brainrot has very much missed the phase where I was into that sorta stuff, and even back then my interest was rather casual and selective. That sanguine-phlegmatic descriptor was a shortcut to quickly and loosely convey a broader idea, but I don't actively categorize characters, even if digging into their brain and inferring canon is fun.

With that in mind though, I could try elaborating or justifying those few assignments that do I have, or opinions on database entries like this one, if that's of any interest?

In that case...

That personality database entry seems good afaik (but tbh I don't know every single one of those terms). I kinda like that Gonta's stated as 9w1 instead of 2w1. Someone argued that he should be 2w1, but to me that's rather superficial reading (it takes Gonta's people-pleasing tendencies at a face value). I have OC that's very much 2w1, and imo the core vibe and thought process is subtly but fundamentally different. But then, depending on your focus, 2w1 still seems a perfectly valid choice for Gonta, so I'm not surprised it's there. ESFJ assignment seems also best, even if I might have some comments depending on online source.

I personally wonder if he might not be a pure extrovert, but ambivert with extroverted leaning. I'm fully open to the idea that this might not be the case tho.

I also find him being Aquarius very hilarious, but paradoxically could be rather fitting on some more obscure levels.

There's this curious thing called "the Neurotype Chart", and imo Gonta's an Externalist, aka slightly lateral but quite impressionic thinker. People type him as "Clearsighted", but dunno if Gonta really is so purely linear-thinking. There might be a lot of supporting it, but I'd argue it's partly fault of Gonta's desperation to be of use, while unfairly berating himself. It makes him prone to getting tunel-vision, outright give up on attempting intellectually demanding tasks without trying, auto-dismiss reasonable observations or inklings he might have, effectively stunting his natural insight and judgement (and really, I get how blinding, limiting, and self-gaslighty this can be, more than I'm willing to admit).

But linear-lateral thinking spectrum aside, he's imo definitely mostly impressionistic/visual thinker, given his preference for illustrated books; things like roughhousing serving as means of getting to know another person; finally, ability to communicate with animals.

As for that DND alligment, I dunno, somewhere here?

Not separating, because it's all the same guy in different circumstances. In my eyes, the potential for murder was always there xD (And Gonta's DR:S convos with Rantaro and Teruteru really validated my thoughts on him and his views on life vs death, sacrifice etc. but I digress).

And that would be it, really.

Sorry if my choices feel obvious, but this stuff is very easy to get stuck on and overthink for me. Even that alligment chart, like definitions of "good" vs "evil", and even the distinction between "bad" vs "evil", "right" vs "wrong", or even "fucked up", and how all these overlap, all that.

Other factors that make Gonta difficult to type for me is his mental health. That can really skew one's thinking or behaviour, and make one come off as a different person than they normally would be, not just during extreme situations, but on day-to-day basis as well. And emotionally, Gonta is in a very bad place, even before the killing game begins. I simply don't have enough detailed knowledge about these personality charts to find a perfect label that accounts for such nuances, and prefer not to spend much time on doing so, as opposed to understanding blorbo on his own terms. So these picks are best approximation I've got.

But yeah, in all truth, I think that... Gonta had very little chance to be fully himself in his life; he abides by many things, despite their negative impact on his mental health, only because he sincerely trusts other people's judgements on how the world works, wholeheartedly thinks their mistreatment of him is fair and justified, and his self-hatred and compassion effectively dismiss any sort of doubts he might have. He comes off to me as incredibly repressed in general, and thus we might've never experienced his true, undiluted self, more like flashes or distorted facets of it; Not to say that he's dishonest or inauthentic, no, quite the opposite. He's just... really, really unwell, and overly adapted to it. Tangled in the web of lies and misconceptions about his own self, that he's learned to accept as factual truth. And imo that muddles the picture of the real Gonta.

As for mischief-maker? I think I can guess which DRS or UTDP scenes could be seen this way, but I don't think that's what those moments were ultimately conveying about Gonta's nature or intentions. My understanding is that causing mischief needs to be a deliberate point in on itself to begin qualify as one, and I don't think this is where Gonta's focus lies, even if he ends up causing some troubles - but rather in enjoying the sense of togetherness and participating in fun activities with others. But I don't have the mental capacity or energy to discuss it, so you do you xD 👍

[turbo-tsundere]

i'm glad to see the positive asks coming up at great timing ;w; i hope you're doing okay! please take breaks whenever you need, and take your time. it's a strange question, but i was wondering if drawing gonta and kokichi has ever given you any practice at drawing a certain aspect of their character (anatomy, clothes, nature...?) i'm really curious!

Thank you, I'm trying my best (• 7 • ) Thought current issue is that I want to draw SO badly but caaaan't, because I'm too busy grrrrrrrrr wr I missedGonta'sbirthdayAGAIN. Oh well, maybe next time but ghhhh *frustrated cat noises*...

Regarding your question, it's not weird at all. I do hope though I understood it correctly, because the way I see it, drawing anything is always simultaneously practicing it, whether it's a warm-up sketch, or finished drawing... But perhaps "Did you have to practice/learn stuff to properly draw these characters or things symbolic to them" is more in line of what you wanted to know?

Then yes, absolutely, there was quite a bit of that!... So this is going to be a very long one.

When it comes to Gonta... oh boy. I'm not underestimating by saying pretty much every single aspect of his design is something I struggle with. Long and slightly wavy hair is the most difficult kind for me to draw, and I keep forgetting the exact shape of his quadruple ahoge. I've difficulty with narrow faces (and his wide neck doesn't make things easier in that regard xD), and I didn't draw that many muscular characters like him in the past (I did draw a lot of over-exaggerated, blockier fantasy characters, but somehow this wasn't helpful for my brain because ????? ...Well, they often have disproportionately massive joints and way different skeletal structure that doesn't exactly make sense tbh).

Drawing suits is my bane, especially lapels; if it looks good, it's because due to my stubbornness I redrew it 5-15 times. I generally struggle with kimonos, suits and certain types of uniforms - anything that's formal wear made of relatively stiff fabric that creates little to no folds and has to fit well and relatively snug, but still obscures anatomy...

Gonta's glasses gave me trouble, too: I didn't know I was drawing their perspective wrong until I studied photos, videos, or 3D models of people who happened to wear similar models...

(How I instinctively drew glasses vs how they're apparently supposed to look at specific angles. It feels so unintuitive and surprising for me to see the farther lens stick out so much... kinda funny, considering I wear glasses myself, albeit rectangular ones.)

Even his eyebrows turned out to be a challenge, because they start thin in inner corners, then get thicker as they spread outwards - this made me realize that I tend to draw my own characters with an exact opposite shape xD... It took a while to get a hang of how they'd look while expressing different emotions (but I think they are cool the way they split at the end!)

I pretty much had to actively practice all of the above. It was difficult but rewarding, and especially at the beginning of my brainrot I really dove into the research, studying details, collecting all sorts of references both realistic and stylized, and working on how to translate Gonta into "my style" (which imo ended up more like a hybrid between my own style and DR one) to represent him and his vibe as accurately as possible (it's generally my philosophy with fanart).

On a side note, imo Gonta has a great design. He combines simple elements and colour palette - wild long hair, brown suit, glasses, barefoot - and not too many small ornaments (bug box, lapel pin), but they result in something unique and distinct. I find that school of character design really clever, and oddly more difficult than designing overly elaborate ones.

Going back to the topic of the practice, it was beneficial even for subjects besides Gonta himself. For example, getting a hang of how to draw beefier, more pronounced anatomy helped me understand it better in general, and be able to draw more lean characters as well. (I do have trouble with subtle things like how a ribcage connects to the waist, then hips, or how shoulders look at specific angles etc.)

Or when I had to research bugs for some of the fanarts, it made me realize how much more complex their anatomy is, and how despite the infinite variety of species there is always a certain consistency to it. I started appreciating them so much more... my previous default was rather neutral leaning on slightly positive, but I was scared stiff of mantises when I was a kid. Now I find them genuinely beautiful, endearingly dramatic with their patterns and behaviour... And see bugs as so cute overall. I guess Gonta would be happy to know that?

Thanks to him I managed to return to more painterly and sketchy techniques, too (For a few years before playing V3, I used to draw a lot more lineart heavy works with anime-like shading, and I was worried if I'll be able to stray away from that).

In the end, every fanart is always an exercise in something, like "oh let's try those golden/metallic digital paints, let's try dark colours/hair underwater study, or high contrast, etc., etc..

Gonta was tough to draw, still is, and I'm definitely not done learning and making mistakes, but I don't mind... and I think it's a good thing to feel about something, when you want to keep doing it even if it isn't always a walk in the park. He's definitely a FUN variety of challenging. I only hope I will be able to keep finding time and energy to keep on going.

---

Kokichi on the other hand isn't particularly difficult to draw, even if it wasn't the case at first, though for mostly emotional reasons. On a technical level, he's nicely effortless, though there are some tricky aspects to his design, like how his hair works in a 3D space.

I even made myself a little "guide" in the beginning, to help me understand just that. I'd draw his "base" hair and add these signature strands.

Funny how... casual he looks without them? Fandom usually depicts all of his hair curled outwards, even I do that quite a bit, while in canon, oddly enough, it's just a few strands that seem longer than the rest of his hair. His hair is also simply black with purple tips, not all purple like he's often depicted.

(Behold, a wet cat Kokichi doodle from the depths of my fanart folder. YES, those are hair rollers.)

It's interesting how characters are often drawn the way they "feel", rather than by strictly adhering to their design, and how it leads to accentuating some design elements...

Oh right, I also had no clue how to draw Kokichi's face at first, how to interpret it into something more realistic; this character named Doa from Blade of the Immortal by Samura has served me as an accidental inspiration in translating his features into something closer to my own style. The checkered hat and big guy companion may or may not have contributed to grabbing my attention.

(panels from Hiroaki Samura's manga)

The way I draw Kokichi has changed since, getting closer to his original style, but it's thanks to her that things clicked into place, and I managed to finally draw the fanart that I was actually satisfied with, this one specifically. (Also it may or may not have inspired me to muse about BotI ougoku AU for like 54 seconds.)

But all in all, Kokichi is really pleasant to illustrate, and what I enjoy practicing the most is his baggy shirt and, again, his hair.

Also the scarf. I really enjoy drawing drapery and baggy clothes, but I specifically like to draw this checkerboard pattern by hand and merge it directly with the lineart and shadows - so it's more like a bunch of abstract shapes creating an object, rather than clearly separated lines, shadows and colours. It helps with accentuating the dimensionality of his scarf (which I always felt like is some sort of infinity scarf, since there aren't any ties visible on his concept design...). I know using a pattern would be much faster and easier work, but I just like drawing it, so I don't mind putting in that little extra work in there.

(I really love hatching, too. I actually don't like linearting all that much lol, unless I merge and structurally "support" it with hand-drawn textures or thicker brushtrokes - it's nice to test out different brushes just for that purpose.)

To sum it up: yep, I was given an opportunity to practice a ton of things thanks to those two lovely messes. I still am, and certainly still will - even if some of those might be simply re-learning stuff I got rusty at, bc no art skill is ever a static one, for better or for worse.

[turbo-tsundere]

tysm for giving my ask such a long and thorough answer 😭😭😭 i love ur stuff sm, it got me thinking about my own concept for a gonta horror game

Thank you so much for reading this and your kind words ;;; ___ ;;; (and not minding this overkill of a reply djsahgdhjsa)

And ahhh, that's so cool! I'm happy my brainworms could inspire someone like this... Then I suppose I can reveal that thanks to your ask specifically, and thinking about GDT so much bc of it, I ended looking up Blender tutorials XD Dunno if it will lead to anything substantial really, but I always wanted to learn 3D, even if just a little, but found it way too intimidating till now.

[turbo-tsundere]

have some bug pics gonta from our system took for morale ☺️ (also if u post this plz tag it as #bees cuz my friend follows u and he has a phobia of them ty 🙏)

Thank you, they're so cute. I adore the flowers, too!

And I'm so sorry for taking so long to reply, I had a lot of going on recently, on top of a drained social battery OTL But I really appreciate the kindness!

As for the tags, added, and since there were only 2 on my blog, I edited the past posts, too.

I want to take a moment to inform that when it comes to bug-related content warnings, I usually give #insects and #bugs as a general tag (sometimes also #entomology) and additionally a singular, generic-name word for whatever bug is on the photo/image (moth, bee, beetle, mantis, etc). But if using plural form (such as bees) is more common, let me know.

[turbo-tsundere]

hello! i've been a follower for a little while because of how beautifully you render gonta. i just wanted to thank you for the different ways you portray him- both the beautiful and the messy -and how it's helped me a lot with my emotional state. i don't know if this makes sense, but your art gives off such a sense of calm strength perfect for gonta and i just wanted to say thanks for all the good gonta contents. take care

Thank you so much, for seeing my stuff in such positive way, and also for sharing your thoughts with me - it really cheered me up. I had no clue my art can have such vibe and effect on someone… O<-< You take care, too!

[turbo-tsundere]

dont stress to answer this ask cuz i know u take a while to answer them but i just wanted to say oh my god i love ur pfp so much. fills me with joy

Haha, no problem, and thank you so much, it's a bit from one of my older Gonta sketchdumps that I posted here :D

Anyway yes, that previous ask of yours still needs a little bit of time, even just to sort out all of the stuff I wanna include, so it's clear and legible to someone who isn't me - But also, I dived into some really old sketches and notes that I haven't really thought about for a while, and oh boy, I guess I'm now accidentally getting back into fixating on it and reliving those old feelings and stories again. This is so unexpected and so not according to keikaku, but in a fun way XD. I might've gone a little overboard and ended up writing about 2k words so far, and there could be more... I'm so sorry if this is way more than you signed up for OTL. But I thought that perhaps this is a good opportunity to have one concise summary of the game concept for myself as well, and my friend encouraged this, too, sooo...

Anyway, I hope to finish it sometime this week. ᕦ( ಠvಠ)ᕤ

[turbo-tsundere]

amahoshi

Is that a name for Rantaro x Ryoma ship?

Sounds cool! I always loved both of these guys.

[turbo-tsundere]

Last Sentence Tag Game: Write the latest line from your wip (or post where you last left off in your art) and tag as many people as there are words in the line. Make a new post, don’t reblog.

I was tagged by @honeysucklebuttons​​! <3

Hmmmm, I’m not a writer, but I think anyone tagging me would propably expect drawings anyway + the rules seem to allow it - so I’ll toss the most recent sketch I have. I drew it shortly after making that post about how the mysterious “Master Detective nr 3″ from Rain Code looks like a saigoku lovechild. x’D

Here it is:

Basically, I had some silly ideas themed around family vacations, and this is one of them. XD

Sfx aren’t exactly a “line” - but it’s something, and there’s 2 of them. So I’m tagging @hydrangeatattoo​​ and @drowsie341​ if that’s okay - but feel free to ignore it!