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Can you believe it guys? Asuga interrogation, just less than a week away! Asuga interrogation is in less than a week! Woohoo! I am so happy about this information. Asuga interrogation, just less than a week away. Oh, wow! Can you believe it? Asuga interrogation, just in less than a week! It got here so fast. Asuga interrogation, just l-

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if you see a certain account in the fanganronpa tag with the initials AGS, block it. it's clearly AI

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i can't wait to see kazo say this iconic line in english in a few days

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implied takiko interro spoilers

i may elaborate more on this in the update post but tbh, the overall meaning i got from takiko's suspicious seeming answers (as well as her overall characterization thus far) wasn't "takiko is secretly the #1 most evil prisoner", even if that's pretty obvious to anyone who isn't jumping to conclusions. it seems more like she's been given personality traits that are often stereotyped as evil ("control freak", great social skills, observant, etc) to fool the audience into suspecting her, possibly as a set-up to deconstruct that type of character

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"people should talk about asuga's lore more often" wait till you see what a certain tumblr user is going to drop within the next few weeks

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The Notes in the Prison

In case you're unfamiliar with them, the notes are flavor text scattered around the game's map revealing lore about the prison in the form of letters, diary entries and other kinds of text.

Info:

Spoilers for both LOCKDOWN and the beta

Spelling & grammar issues kept for informative purposes

Author: Alora

Alora's notes are in a letter/diary entry format. Almost all of them are addressed to "My Dearest", referring to Lillith (as you may recall from the fairytale post pre-ch1, I estimated that Lillith was represented by the "dear friend" in Alora's fairytale). Her letters reveal that she was once incarcerated during the time period in which the prison Lockdown takes place in was owned by the government according to one of the books in the library:

(A book about the founding of this Prison..?) (A lot of the information here is redacted but it appears to explain how this prison was founded initially by the government.) (…Apparently it was used as an 'ethical' human testing facility. As the public ruled that prisoners convicted with certain charges could ethically be tested on as punishment.) (…It seems abandoned now though, I wonder what happened.)

The following can be inferred based on both the notes and that book:

Alora was deemed as corrupt by the in-universe public before the events of the game, presumably for the crime hinted at in her fairytale.

Alora believes there was nothing wrong with her crime. This and the point above were also foreshadowed by a line in the prologue:

But you can’t guarantee the audience will vote purely on morality, can you? This doesn’t seem very operationalised, or fair… For that matter.

Contrary to her usual obedience, Alora defied her employers when undertaking her goal of finding immortality.

Alora was experimented on herself, which is an ironic punishment for someone who's implied crime is Unethical Experimentation.

The unidentifiable creatures in the vats have existed since the government owned the prison.

At some point the wardens started neglecting the prisoners, causing a food outage and overall worsened conditions, and eventually stopped engaging with the prisoners altogether unless it was to entertain themselves.

Following the point above, she and the other prisoners killed one of them to prevent a mass suicide. Ironically, this highlights her obsession with prolonging all life while she's taking one.

She was somehow led to believe Lillith died during her sentence, though the audience knows this is (probably) untrue.

The only oddity in regards to them being written by Alora is the letters having a romantic quality to them despite her canonically being aroace, but the evidence in favor of author!Alora is too overwhelming for this one contradiction to cause the entire theory to be written off.

Here, the notes are arranged in an approximate chronological order.

1: Common Room #1

(There's some papers here…) ('Try as I might. I must keep her alive.') ('My medical abnormality, my lily.') ('It's not simply for selfish reasons, the peculiarities in her could have world changing consequences…') ('The higher-ups wouldn't believe me.') ('So for now this must stay confidential…') ('But I fear I'm running out of time, it's terminal.') ('I hope I have the capability to perform this procedure myself.') ('She won't die.') ('If she died before me, I'd never forgive her.') ('…I hate being this emotional, I feel like a child.')

(note: this was probably written pre-incarceration.)

2: East Prison

(There's a note left here by someone…) ('Dearest, do not be discourged.') ('While circumstances may look grim, my innocence will become clear soon.) ('Do not waste any pretty tears on me, just promise you'll keep on fighting.') ('The Prison itself is… Strange. But there are many here like me.') ('It's like they loaded up everyone who didn't agree with them and shipped them off here!') ('Regardless, I will stay in good spirits. They won't break me.') ('So wait for me.')

3: Lab 2

(Some papers have been forced through the bars…) ('My Dearest, I'm writing to you so I can feel heard-') ('The guards chose me to partake in some sort of research…') ('I've been here for days…? Hours-?') ('I don't mean to sound insane but I keep being paranoid they'll turn me into one of those creatures.') ('Something was injected into me… I feel woozy.') ('But I'll keep my resolve.') ('I'll think of being in your arms, and the better future we can make.') ('That will bring me strength.') ('So wait for me.')

4: Shower Block

(A letter written seemingly in a hurry.) ('My Dearest-') ('I survived the experiment, but by the time I got released well…') ('Everyone has gotten very strange, I don't know how to describe it.') ('I don't have much time but I don't think I'm safe.') ('Still, I'm confident I will find a way. I have my head after all.') ('So wait for me.')

5: Lab 1

(There's ripped out pages from a diary here-) ('My Dearest, I'm sorry I have not written in a while.') ('The guards have been ignoring our requests aside from the occasional plea for food.') ('They seem strangely on edge…') ('Conditions have certainly gotten harder, but I have endured worse.') ('I'm certain I will be freed and we can continue fighting for what's right.') ('So wait for me.')

6: Canteen #1

(It's a frantic pile of letters, all addressed to 'My Dearest.') ('My Dearest, I confess I've done something terrible.') ('Circumstances had become so dire that a certain prisoner thought it best we all join in union and die peacefully together.') ('He cared little for our consent in the matter.') ('Despite being the only one left with half a head on my shoulders, I might have acted the most irrationally.') ('Since I believed the wardens were coming I got them all to help me hide him..') ('We shattered him like a mirror and put a shard in each of the dolls.') ('I've been trying to wash away what happened at the showers.') ('I'll be better when I come home.') ('So please, wait for me…')

7: Laundry

(Some letters on the ground…) ('My dearest…') ('When the showers failed to wash away the sin, I turned to physically washing away the evidence.') ('Fire proved more effective. I hope the wardens won't find anything.') ('…God forbid what I've done. Even if it's for the best.') ('I swear I keep hearing you, everytime I do I can't help but miss you even more..') ('Are you still waiting for me?')

8: Infirmary #1

(There's some more letters-) ('My Dearest,') ('I am ill. I am very, very ill.') ('The wallpaper keeps curling and laughing at me.') ('You are laughing at me, you are certainly laughing at me.') ('You are dead and laughing at me, they call it mania, I know what I see.') ('Do not mock me darling, I miss you dearly.') ('In death we shall meet.') ('So wait for me.')

9: Infirmary #2

(There's a letter here-) ('My dearest, I apologise for my previous lapse in judgement-') ('I was briefly hysterical but I have recovered.') ('The others… Have not though.') ('I hear sobbing, everyone seems broken.') ('I can't recall the last time I saw a warden…') ('The food is dwindling, some prisoners have resorted to eating the plants-') ('Others the pills… Which may explain their behaviour.') ('But they will come back soon, I am certain.') ('So wait for me.')

10: West Prison

(It's a set of letters…) ('My Dearest,') ('My Darling,') ('My Dear Dead Darling,') ('I no longer fear the death you endured,') ('Blood has stained my hands and hope has left this prison,') ('I hope they will see me as an example.') ('When the wardens return they tell us we will be the perfect examples.') ('By drowning in sin I have become a martyr, something for the whole country to look towards. But do not fear, I am still yours.') ('Yours, forever, always, no matter what.') ('You alone have the power to gift me humanity once more.') ('I will reunite with you on the other side.') ('So wait for me.')

11: Canteen #2

(It's a frantic pile of letters, all addressed to 'My Dearest.') ('I'm sure you'll understand.') ('Please, my darling, I'm not like the others, but we were desperate.') ('The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.') ('They were violent, so we sorted out the issue.') ('I was correct though, the Wardens did return… To take pictures.') ('My God, I think we might be doomed.') ('I know now, if I leave… I'll not be the person you love.') ('But please wait for me.')

12: Common Room #2

(It's a letter…) ('My Dearest,') ('The Wardens are most certainly not coming back. I'm certain.') ('At first we rejoiced, their cruelty would be over.') ('But hunger births cruelty.') ('A lack of authority births cruelty.') ('These men are not criminals, I am certain in that judgement.') ('But this place has made them monsters.') ('Day by day, my reflection changes too.') ('I love you, so monsterously I love you.') ('But when I leave, you will not love what I've become.') ('I intend to spend some time cleansing myself when I'm freed.') ('So please wait for me.') ('Heaven won't let me enter to see you, not like this.')

Author: Emilia

Most of Emilia's notes are letters addressed to "Sis", which may be a reference to Elodi, Emilia's sister from the old version (in case you didn't play: she was Emilia's much girlier older sister but their conservative father rejected her anyway because she was trans, even when she needed urgent medical assistance.) But unlike the old version, Emilia now seems to hold contempt for Elodi because the latter is responsible for her ending up in the prison. Interestingly, the letters reveal that she was once a prisoner herself and seemingly incarcerated alongside Alora.

The last two notes are funny responses to Krypto's complaints (see the section below).

Once again, these are in approximate chronological order.

1: East Prison

('Hey Sis, It's me.') ('The prison is shit, as I thought.') ('All these prisoners are mellow, soft, not like me.') ('They all comply to the silly experiments the wardens force us into.') ('Far too polite to be in a place like this.') ('…Not that I'm complaining, the Wardens seem to strangely prefer me to them.') ('I'm hoping that will help me get out sooner.') ('You know, so I can kill you.')

2: Medicine Storage

(There's some sort of diary written out here…) ('Hey Sis.') ('I'm trying to keep my wits about me here, but it's getting to be a little tough.') ('The other prisoners have definitely gone insane.') ('I know food is dwindling, but they shouldn't be turning to sustain themselves on pills…') ('I don't know much about this stuff. But I know that's NOT going to help their mental states in the slightest.') ('This room is easiest to lock, so I'm going to try to transfer a lot from the infirmary into here, for their sake. But I can't be solely responsible for treating them…') ('…I'll figure out what to do.') ('…I have to.')

3: Lab 1

(There's some fragments of a letter scattered about here-) ('Sis, I've got some wonderful news to report!') ('Given recent events in the Prison, I've been appointed some… Special priviledges.') ('They've basically given me Warden status in return for helping with their research.') ('Beats being a guienna pig anyday, so I'm not complaining.') ('We're trying allll sorts on these prisoners, it's giving me all sorts of ideas-') ('For when I get out and kill you.')

4: Infirmary

(There's a letter here-) ('Heyyy Sis, being a warden is pretty sick-') ('But things have gotten a little complicated-') ('Less and less real wardens are showing up day by day-') ('And when they do show up they don't do their fucking jobs.') ('They throw the dogs a bone and leave.') ('The prisoners are getting pretty desperate…') ('But don't you worry! I'm completely okay.') ('Can't wait to see you again, so we can have some fun.')

5: Common Room #1

(It's a letter…) ('Hey Sis…') ('It's strange to think the government owns this place…') ('If the shit going on here got out there'd be outcries, I reckon.') ('The prisoners have lost it, they've begun butchering eachother.') ('I try to save their lives, but by the time I get to them sometimes the body has already been…') ('The wardens only return to take pictures, I've tried to speak to them but they just say 'this is what must be done.'') ('This is like a show to them… They show no empathy as I bring them people I'm barely able to keep alive… They just rip off the bandages and take more pictures.') ('I understand now, why you framed me.') ('This is worse than the hell you're going to burn in.')

Canteen

(It's a letter written a while ago-) ('Hey Sis, I don't think the wardens are coming back.') ('I thought I'd be happy to finally be in charge of this dump but…') ('Something is very, very wrong here.') ('I can't trust any of these prisoners with themselves.') ('I don't know what those experiments did to these lot…') ('But one day I'll do it to you.')

7: Common Room #2

(Various memos pointing out flaws in the cleaning here and denying requests for improved accomodation…)

8: Common Room #3

(Various 'memos' making fun of someone for… Being Ginger?)

Author: Krypto Asshole

Aka the mysterious janitor from Ch1 Daily (check his name badge). In his notes, he calls out Emilia for being an abusive, incompetent boss (ironic for someone who's punishing Taka over something similar), expresses his disdain for the Anti-Ultimate movement much like he did in Ch1 Daily and reveals he was once a prisoner himself (though probably not in the same cohort as Alora & Emilia). It's also worth noting that some aspects of Krypto's background mirror that of his beta equivalent, Kiyoshi Ainara. In case you didn't play: Kiyoshi took pride in his Ultimate label to the point of pretension, which has been repurposed into Krypto's attempt to side with the Ultimate prisoners and his comically formal tone of writing in comparison with Emilia's, and he had a daughter like Krypto does.

Unlike the notes by Alora and Emilia, Krypto's notes don't really have a distinct chronological order.

East Prison

(There's a letter of complaint here-) ('Miss Carmine,') ('When I took this position you provided me with seldom instructions or guidance.') ('You instructed me to, I quote: "Clean up the nice shit and leave the traumatic notes or whatever."') ('Now, I've reviewed these 'traumatic notes or whatever' and I have a few concerns.') ('But when I brought these concerns to your attention you scoffed and told me to get back to cleaning.') ('Specifically: "Go Ginger boy, go. Get that bleach like you could never get bitches."') ('This paired with a plethora of other unprofessional activities on your end has made this work questionable.') ('I refuse to clean until you review my concerns.') ('Kind regards, K.A (Head of cleaning and Maintenance (Janitor.)')

Lab 2

(It's a memo notifying that the place had been cleaned…) ('Miss Carmine, you may notice there is still blood all over this room.') ('Due to my ongoing protest I REFUSE to clean up the blood.') ('However, I did remove the body that was stored in the cell.') ('…It seemed fresher than I had anticipated, who did you get this facility from again?') ('I know you 'anti-ultimaters' are against thinking too hard about anything but still-') ('I suppose it doesn't matter.') ('Given your attitude, I doubt you're the one behind this.') ('Still, I insist you listen to my concerns.') ('Kind regards, K.A (Head of cleaning and Maintenance (Janitor.)')

West Prison

(There's a memo here…) ('I went to disconnect the phonelines as you instructed, Miss Carmine.') ('However, I regret to inform you that they were never connected to anything. These phones were simply loaded with predetermined messages…') ('Still, I've disabled them. But good to keep in mind for later.') ('Sometimes I question if you even examined this facility before accepting it..') ('Kind regards, K.A (Head of cleaning and Maintenance (Janitor.)')

Canteen

(It's some pages of a diary ripped out-) ('I restocked the kitchen enough that they won't need a chef for a while-') ('I don't know if that brat was kidding about me wearing a pink frilly apron and serving the prisoners, but I don't want to take chances here.') ('Being a janitor is bad enough, it's simply below me.') ('At this point I think I'd rather be dead.') ('Well, whatever. It's better than my dirty laundry being aired and ruining my daughter's life.') (I just can't shake the feeling that something is wrong here.)

Common Room

(It's a letter…) ('Miss Carmine,') ('You told me to decorate the common room area but failed to provide me with any proper resources to do so.') ('In the absence of any direction, I pulled up plants from the courtyard and placed them here.') ('In my professional opinion, I believe this looks shit.') ('If you agree, I'd advise giving me resources to actually do my job with in future instances of exploiting my unpaid labour.') ('However, if I am to be egotistical for a moment- the cells are perfect.') ('Despite the fact their 'decorated' cells are specifically designed to torture them, I predict they will be having a breakdown as soon as their contents are removed within the hour.') ('I was wondering if I could perform similar rennovations on the broom closet you've so kindly 'gifted' to me as accomodation?') ('Kind regards, K.A (Head of cleaning and Maintenance (Janitor.)')

Infirmary

(There's some notes here-) ('Miss Carmine, I have restocked the infirmary as you requested.') ('But some of these pills are… Questionable, do you know what these are?') ('Since you've dismissed my previous concerns I'll make it clear now:') ('I was grateful you withdrew my status of prisoner.') ('I do not say these things to criticise you or undermine that.') ('As much as I disagree with your cause and resent your mocking of me-') ('I'm starting to fear this is bigger than even your boss is prepared for.') ('Please address my concerns.') ('Kind regards, K.A (Head of cleaning and Maintenance (Janitor.)')

Author: Lillith

I already addressed this in my first post about Alora's fairytale, but there are multiple damning clues tying this sole letter in the East Prison to Lillith. It alludes to her flower motif (a white lily) being present in Alora's earpiece and Alora's quest to find immortality and is written in the same edgy, teasing tone Lillith's tweets are written in (@/lillithna).

(These don't look like the other letters…) ('Don't you miss me?') ('The plastic flower you clogged your ears with is adorable.') ('I'm still here.') ('I promised, after all.') ('Immortality, no?') ('You're so funny.')

Author: Other

The remaining pieces of paper come in various forms: a building sign, data logs, letters with unnamed authors and a calendar. All are clearly leftovers from the era in which the government owned the prison and the incident in which the wardens neglected the prisoners.

East Prison

('Testing Facilities ahead!') ('As part of your sentencing participation in these psychological tests is mandatory.') ('Attempts to avoid them will be severely punished.')

Medicine Storage

(Medical logs listing inventory, seems very disorganised and unprofessional after a certain date. Just covered in reminders to lock the door.)

West Prison

(A letter of resignation…) ('I doubt anyone will read this, but I have chosen to resign from my position as head of communications at this facility.') ('I cannot continue to fool these men by connecting them to empty lines, burning letters relatives send them and crushing their connections with the outside world.') ('The wardens have yet to return and things are getting pretty dire…') ('I just pray these souls find salvation in their next life.')

(I can't make out any of the handwriting on these notes… They barely seem like letters. Someone was pretty desperate, clearly.)

(There's… Strange lines written out on the paper, they seem very repetitive.) ('I cannot see. I cannot eat. I cannot love. I cannot feel you. I cannot feel my soul. I cannot feel my heart. I cannot feel my brain. I cannot feel my blood. I cannot feel my toes. I cannot feel my spine. I cannot feel my nerves. I cannot feel my skin. I cannot feel the air.') (That's… A bit concerning.)

(Note: probably written by a prisoner other than Alora or Emilia.)

Canteen

(Various previous prisoners have marked their date of release on here.) (But we've not reached any of those dates and yet they're not here anymore.) (I wonder what happened.)

(Note: this means the previous prisoners left prematurely after the wardens stopped looking after them, either by escaping or dying.)

Infirmary

(There's some sort of treatment log here…) (It looks fairly unprofessional following the second half though.) (Various Prisoner names and what they were perscribed…) (Medicine supplies seemed to be dwindling, weird they're all restocked now.)

(Note: should say "prescribed".)

Lab 1

(…These seem to be experiment logs, but someone has written all over them-) ('REBIRTH.')

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hello antebellum fan. before you stands asuga saintil and directly above you hangs an anvil. your test is to describe asuga's appeal without reducing her to half a ship or their sexuality/gender/race or ignoring her negative traits or the anvil will drop. good luck.

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since some of my pre-ch1 daily takes are blatantly outdated and i've changed my mind about some unconfirmed takes, i hope to get a big update post out before ch1 deadly

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[WIP] Theory: The DR: LIVe Or Die series has its own tropes

The storylines of each installment of the DR: LIVe Or Die series so far are built heavily around the concept of reoccuring motifs within murder mysteries (or "tropes" as they're called in-game in Survivor's Guilt). Ironically, it has created its own tropes in the process, which seems to be very much intentional.

This post serves as a database for all of the tropes present in the first 2 games of the series. Expect it to be updated as new chapters get released and I refresh my memory. Spoilers for each game ahead, plus 1 spoiler each for DRDT and DRTA (IYKYK).

Prologue

The first character to meet the protagonist is the first to die LIVe Or Die: The first student Megumi meets is Yukito, who eventually reached his demise in Ch1. Survivor's Guilt: The first named character Rui meets at the Danganronpa Survivors event is Minoru, who ends up being assassinated a few minutes later in the prologue.

Chapter 1, Day 1

Meetup with the sidekick before first breakfast LIVe Or Die: Megumi meets up with Yukito. Survivor's Guilt: Rui meets up with Alicia.

The victim's pitiful lore dump LIVe Or Die: Yukito tells Megumi & Ryo about how he became almost unable to use his right hand. Survivor's Guilt: Shouma talks about his past toxic relationship with Haruo.

Someone takes up a leadership position and establishes themselves by hosting an introductory event. This serves as a red herring death flag as each character actually maintains their role well beyond Chapter 1. LIVe Or Die: Chidori Survivor's Guilt: Gumi

The first motive announcement LIVe Or Die: Monokuma offers $1,000,000 to whoever kills first and a colored knife to each student based on gender. Survivor's Guilt: Monokerfie gives no motive due to its confidence in the wolves' capabilities of killing again.

The protagonist's first pre-bedtime conflict LIVe Or Die: Megumi is told by Yukito that he wants to orchestrate a murder and she was his first killer/accomplice option. Survivor's Guilt: Rui enrages Aki by comparing her Hashimoto's Disease with that of another previous Danganronpa participant.

Chapter 1, Day 2

The first fun event LIVe Or Die: Megumi, Chidori & Fuu cook dinner together. Survivor's Guilt: The beach event.

The protagonist gets involved in a conflict with 2 other characters of the same gender LIVe Or Die: Megumi argues with Chidori & Fuu while cooking. Survivor's Guilt: Rui breaks up a fight between Kazuki & Takeshi.

The foreboding conversation LIVe Or Die: Ayaka tells Megumi she's going to wash her clothes in the laundry the next morning (i.e. the scene of the crime). Survivor's Guilt: Rui gets into an argument with Shouma about the latter's mental state, foreshadowing the motive behind his assisted suicide.

Chapter 1, Day 3 (Deadly Life)

The murder involves the victim organizing their own death LIVe Or Die: Yukito comes to Takeshi with the plan only for Takeshi to use it on him. Survivor's Guilt: Shouma constructs a trap that Yumi unwittingly sets off.

A character with experience in murder mysteries takes the lead in the investigation with the protagonist following along LIVe Or Die: Ryo Survivor's Guilt: Gumi

A shy character is suspected due to their involvement with the crime scene LIVe Or Die: Ayaka is found unconscious in the laundry room. Survivor's Guilt: Mamoru picks up his hockey puck when the others discover Shouma's body, then runs away from the crime scene.

Chapter 1 Victim

LIVe Or Die: Yukito Ishida Survivor's Guilt: Shouma Yoshida

The victim is suicidal LIVe Or Die: Yukito is apathetic towards others' lives, including his own. Survivor's Guilt: Shouma lost all will to live due to his trauma resurfacing during his second killing game.

The victim shows a disregard for others' lives LIVe Or Die: see point above Survivor's Guilt: Shouma decided to trick 1 person into killing him, knowing it'd put the others' lives in jeopardy.

The victim beefs with the protagonist shortly before their death LIVe Or Die: Megumi is the first person Yukito comes to with his murder plan, causing tension between the two. Yukito doesn't listen to Megumi's subsequent attempts to reason with him. Survivor's Guilt: Rui argues with Shouma about his declining mental health the night before the latter's death.

Chapter 1 Culprit

LIVe Or Die: Takeshi Kizuna Survivor's Guilt: Yumi Senuma

The culprit is somewhat people pleasing LIVe Or Die: Takeshi is an attention-hungry Youtuber. Survivor's Guilt: Yumi acts as a mother figure to the group.

Chapter 2, Day 1

Characters have trouble sleeping following the deaths of their peers LIVe Or Die: Megumi Survivor's Guilt: The entire cohort

Suspicious items found in new areas LIVe Or Die: Haruo finds files related to the killing game in the computer room. Survivor's Guilt: The medications of several "wolves" including the deceased Minoru are found in the infirmary.

The second motive announcement LIVe Or Die: Flashback lights. Survivor's Guilt: A siren that would only end once someone is murdered.

Chapter 2, Day 2

One of the deaths acts suspiciously at breakfast LIVe Or Die: Sayuri is late and acts absentmindedly, foreshadowing her reaction to the flashback light. Survivor's Guilt: Rika starts making coffee for everyone so they can cope with the motive.

The second fun event involves performing LIVe Or Die: Karaoke Survivor's Guilt: Talent show

Characters argue over the identity of the mastermind LIVe Or Die: Rin thinks a mastermind is within the group and Pascal cannot accept her idea. Survivor's Guilt: Takeshi accuses Gumi of being the mastermind or plotting a murder due to her suspicious recount of her boat ride.

The second foreboding conversation involves eavesdropping LIVe Or Die: Megumi encounters Sayuri & Katsuya talking, but doesn't interrupt them or concern herself with the topic of their conversation. Survivor's Guilt: Rui eavesdrops on an argument between Mako, Rika and Mamoru concerning Mako and Rika's foniasophobic thoughts.

Chapter 2, Day 3 (Deadly Life)

At least 1 suspect is found directly at crime scene LIVe Or Die: Ryo is positioned into holding Sayuri's neck in the dark. Survivor's Guilt: Gumi and Hayato fix Gumi's nameplate nearby Mako's room.

The murder involves a drugging LIVe Or Die: Sayuri invites Ryo to her room and drugs him with the intent of using him as a scapegoat. Survivor's Guilt: Rika kills Mako by spiking her coffee with Yumi's medication.

The group initially gets the murder weapon wrong LIVe Or Die: Ryo's hands instead of a cable Survivor's Guilt: A knife instead of medication

The victim is discovered to have died earlier than thought LIVe Or Die: Sayuri's scream was a recording created to fool the group into thinking she was alive when Ryo had his hands wrapped around her neck. Survivor's Guilt: Mako died before Hayato broke into her room and stabbed her.

The victim sacrifices themselves for the culprit LIVe Or Die: Sayuri plans her death alongside Katsuya, who she wants to escape. Survivor's Guilt: Mako doesn't realize Rika killed her until her last living moments and uses that time to cooperate with Rika's plan.

The execution's name involves cleaning LIVe Or Die: Automatic Laundry Survivor's Guilt: Always Clean Your Tools

A standoffish non-binary character announces their loss of cooperation with something post-trial LIVe Or Die: Alucard distances himself from the group due to them being unable to prevent murders. Survivor's Guilt: Aki starts a one-person protest against the killing game.

Cryptic scene involving the mastermind(s) LIVe Or Die: Monokuma chats with the mastermind, commending them for their performance thus far. Survivor's Guilt: A conversation between two presently unknown characters, one of which being bound and gagged and the other claiming to enjoy the killing game.

Chapter 2 Other

Both deaths become lovers at some point in the chapter LIVe Or Die: It is revealed that Sayuri & Katsuya are a couple on day 2. Survivor's Guilt: Rika & Mako announce their reunion on day 1.

Side note: Hayato establishing himself as a serious antagonist in ch2 of Survivor's Guilt follows a trend specific to the fangan community in which their antagonists are revealed in ch2 instead of the typical prologue-ch1 (David Chiem, Ryohei Seki, etc). Considering that the creators have admitted to consuming many other fangans including lesser known ones as well as the game's storyline, this may be an intentional homage.

Chapter 2 Victim

LIVe Or Die: Sayuri Kurosawa Survivor's Guilt: Mako Niwaka

The victim has unconventional personal values LIVe Or Die: Sayuri is passionate about old-school media and holds disdain for modern media. Survivor's Guilt: Mako despises men because of her past experiences with them during her first killing game.

Chapter 2 Culprit

LIVe Or Die: Katsuya Heyaboshi Survivor's Guilt: Rika Iwasaki

The culprit has a passionate temperament LIVe Or Die: Katsuya is a generally hot-blooded individual. One such example of him expressing this is his attack on Monokuma during the prologue. Survivor's Guilt: Rika is an outgoing, flirty, love-obsessed individual.

Chapter 3, Day 1

The rival stirs shit at breakfast LIVe Or Die: Alucard yaps about his philosophy, explaining that he believes everyone sees each other as enemies and will inevitably resort to murder to ensure their survival. Survivor's Guilt: Hayato flirts with Rui, comparing their dynamic to Hinata & Komaeda from canonronpa in the process.

The rival is excluded from the group LIVe Or Die: Alucard isolates himself by choice. Survivor's Guilt: Gumi shuns Hayato and makes the rest of the group follow suit.

At least 1 leader-like individual starts a movement against an antagonistic figure LIVe Or Die: Chidori starts a strike against Monokuma. Survivor's Guilt: Gumi sets rules for the group to avoid Hayato's wrath and Boleslaw tries to overthrow Gumi out of concern for her leadership becoming dictator-like.

A new area opens up, including a bath house (speaks for itself)

The third fun event involves copyrighted media LIVe Or Die: Movie marathon Survivor's Guilt: Gaming tournament

The antag disrupts the aforementioned event Survivor's Guilt: Hayato brings up Rui's murder from DR50.

Chapter 3, Day 2

The new motive vaguely involves the idea of certainty LIVe Or Die: Monokuma will grant a wish as long as it's humanly possible (i.e. it's certain that the wish can be granted). Survivor's Guilt: The night sky will stay up. This causes everyone to figure out they are in a simulation. They speculate on whether or not the connection is set to soft connection (death = waking up) or hard connection (death = vegetative state), breeding uncertainty within the group (which they believe is the real motive).

Chapter 3, Day 3 (Deadly Life)

The murder case involves a set of stairs LIVe Or Die: Pascal kept track of everyone who travelled up and down the stairs while he fixed the lamp, including Rin. Survivor's Guilt: Alicia travelled down the stairs of the bath house to find Sumire.

The killer acted on their plan right under the noses of other participants LIVe Or Die: Rin carried Nene's body downstairs and used her voice to trick Pascal into having her alibi established. Survivor's Guilt: Boleslaw used the search time to turn on the light switch.

The culprit committed murder for the sake of one person from their backstories LIVe Or Die: Rin wanted to find a cure for her sister. Survivor's Guilt: Boleslaw wanted to reunite with Alucard.

The execution involves being shot in the head (speaks for itself)

Cryptic scene featuring someone wanting to end the killing game LIVe Or Die: A phone call including someone who didn't want to allow another Danganronpa to happen (presumably Gumi). Survivor's Guilt: Two people talking about how they want to rescue the participants before they all die (I have a feeling they are Daichi and Haruo).

Chapter 3 Other

The ch3 double murder happens, but in Survivor's Guilt the second victim (Alicia) lives.

Chapter 3 Victim

LIVOD: Chidori Sato/Nene Amemura SG: Sumire Akiyama

Chapter 3 Culprit

LIVOD: Rin Fukui SG: Boleslaw Shusui

The culprit is level-headed, contradicting the archetypal crazy ch3 killer from canonronpa (speaks for itself)

The culprit abides by a strict belief system LIVe Or Die: Rin is a dogmatist, basing her decisions almost entirely on logic. Survivor's Guilt: Boleslaw has strong political beliefs, an example of which being his stance against capitalism.

TBC

[bigsissugi]

(mild ch1 spoilers)

it's very interesting how CGs of shinku's flashbacks and visions of akari depict her dressed as a prim and proper schoolgirl, which is a far cry from the nonconforming gyaru we saw in her bio card. almost as if shinku's rule-abiding values are causing him to only see her how he wants to see her

[bigsissugi]

Or not so secretly in Taka's case... (inspired by a 0308 meme i saw)

[bigsissugi]

what is it with me and prisoner 10s

[bigsissugi]

Analyzing the Prisoners' Fairytale Part 12: Maiko

Info:

Contains spoilers for LOCKDOWN.

Grammar issues within the official material will be retained for informative purposes.

If you're a staff member, please don't give me any corrections or hints. It'll be much more fun for you if your audience is wrong.

Triggers: Stalking, in-depth discussion of a mental disorder.

Her fairytale:

A story about a loyal dog. Who fell in love with a doe, believing them to be their master. They would do anything for this doe. But the doe held little power. For you see, they had no antlers. The Loyal Dog wished to bring their master power. So they hunted, deer by deer, knocking them out and taking pieces of their antlers. The Dog stitched the antlers together and put them on the Doe's head. When the doe awoke they were overjoyed, believing it was a miracle. They achieved everything they had sought. But when the loyal dog informed the Doe it was their doing… The Doe was horrified and ran away, vowing to never see the Dog again. Now the loyal dog patrols the woods, stalking and following their darling Doe. Ensuring nothing ever harms them.

How does the fairytale apply to Maiko?

So far, the love-sick dog is difficult to compare with the prisoners based on the main game alone. However, the doe can be identified amongst the hostages. Maiko's hostage Yui had a sudden success story just like the doe and her bio card implies that her success has something to do with Maiko:

A star who rose up with rapid success…

But just as quickly as she rose up, she burnt out and crashed.

Some idols retire with grace, some idols retire like Yui Apinya. Bitter, restless, critical, harsh and constantly trying to grapple back the stardom they once had. She seems desperate to prove something, mainly to herself. That's your fault, isn't it?

I'm not an expert on psychology by any means but when choosing words to use in this post, I initially opted to use the word "erotomania" in an unserious context. When looking the word up, I learned about an actual mental disorder in which someone believes another person is in love with them even when there is evidence for the contrary. Some of its risk factors and symptoms align with both Maiko's and the dog's characterizations so far:

Subjects of an erotomaniac's love are often of a higher social status than them. The dog believes the doe is above them (their master). Meanwhile, despite both of them being part of the Ultimate system at some point in their lives, Yui's talent is more likely to appeal to the mainstream than Maiko's and unlike Yui, Maiko hadn't made a public appearance in several years before the killing game.

Subjects of an erotomaniac's love are typically unattainable for whatever reason. In the doe's case, she completely cut contact with the lovesick dog after finding out about their theft.

Medical websites describe the average erotomania patient as a shy, dependent, sexually inexperienced female. The dog is heavily dependent on the doe while Maiko is shy and it would be reasonable to assume she is a virgin, considering her stereotypically loser-ish personality and the large amount of time she went without making public appearances.

Stalking is a common symptom of erotomania. It does not need to be explained why this applies to the dog.

Symbolism Explanation

Maiko is a dog: As stated in the fairytale, dogs are associated with loyalty & unconditional love. Maiko demonstrates these by reminiscing on her friendship with Yui in the prologue even though the fairytale confirms she cut Maiko off:

Maiko: Haha, it’s just like my best friend Yui used to say- ‘Sometimes the best way to say sorry is to leave’!

Calling someone a dog is a derogatory way of criticizing their improper behaviour, especially if directed at a woman (i.e. calling her a bitch). By portraying Maiko in such an insulting and rejectable manner, the fairytale reminds us of her insecure demeanour.

Yui is a doe: Yui being represented by an animal typically associated with gentleness and grace opposes her aggressive depiction from her bio (and what people might remember of her personality from the beta). Because of this, I'm assuming her assigned animal reflects Maiko's skewed perception of her rather than her true personality. Also, specifying the gender of the deer by calling it a doe draws attention to Yui's conventionally feminine appearance.

Other idols' songs are other deer's antlers: The fact that the dog's victims share a species with the doe but not the dog means Maiko's victims must have something significant in common with Yui. The most obvious answer to that based on what we know about Yui so far is them being fellow idols.

Initially one might assume their antlers represent money to fund a popstar's career, but there are a number of problems with this solution:

The item being symbolized by antlers means it must be exclusive to people similar to Yui.

Maiko is already rich from voice acting (and owning an Ultimate title if the fairytale takes place after she gained it), which means she can just as easily use her own funds to support Yui's career. One look at her luxurious design will tell you she's anything but stingy.

"Stitched the antlers together" would be a strange way to describe the combining of other people's stolen money.

There is hardly anything connecting Yui with money at the moment.

So what does one require in order to succeed specifically as a popstar? In the context of the music industry, which things can be stolen and combined in order to create something new? The answer to both is original songs.

Her deity:

12- Aphrodite: Bringer of overwhelming, overpowering love. Love so all consuming it becomes dangerous and corruptive, driving one to the point of mania…

Parallels between Aphrodite and the Dog

Both supply extreme love to others, but there is a stark difference in how they go about it. As the Goddess of love, Aphrodite is responsible for inducing romantic and violent passion in Gods and mankind alike. The most infamous instance of this is her involvement in the Judgement of Paris; she offered Helene's hand in marriage to Paris of Troy, to which he accepted. His abduction of Helene kickstarted the Trojan War, which Aphrodite also participated in. By contrast, the dog's self-imposed infatuation caused them to steal antlers for their beloved doe; they are more like the Paris to the doe's Helene than Aphrodite.

Parallels between Maiko and Aphrodite

Due to Maiko not expressing obsessive love in-game yet, there isn't much to discuss that wasn't already covered in the section above. All that's worth noting is the summary describing the violent passion of Aphrodite's admirers as "mania", which affirms my speculation of her clinical erotomania.

Symbolism Summary

Dog: Maiko Doe: Yui Antlers: Songs Power: Fame Other Deer: Other Idols

Retelling through the lens of Dog Maiko

A story about a terminally online loser who's in love with her conventionally attractive friend. Her friend wants to become a famous idol, but she doesn't have her own songs yet. The loser wants her friend to achieve fame but doesn't have any songwriting skills of her own, so she resorts to sampling other artists' songs and arranging them into something new for the friend. Upon finding the song(s) at her workstation, the friend is over the moon and promptly uses it to finally become a legitimate idol. However, some time after that, the loser confesses to stealing from other artists, causing the friend to cut ties with her. The loser cannot accept her friend's rejection, so she starts stalking her.

(Side note: I presume the line about the dog knocking the other deer out only exists to make it physically possible for the dog to chop the antlers without the deer noticing and has no meaning in regards to Maiko's crime.)

What is her crime?

Maiko's Frankensteining of the "antlers" can be most accurately described as Plagiarism while her second crime, Stalking, has been outright confirmed.

What will her verdict be?

Maiko's crime is the one I compared with Alora's in Part 06. Both harmed multiple third parties non-fatally with the intent of helping the person they are closest to. Unlike Alora simultaneously wanting to keep Lillith alive and make a difference for people other than her, Maiko's fairytale portrays her crime as a completely selfish, desperate attempt to earn love. Therefore, the only verdict currently plausible for her is Corrupt.

[bigsissugi]

Analyzing the Prisoners' Fairytales Part 11: Mint

Info:

Contains spoilers for both LOCKDOWN and the beta version.

Grammar issues within the official material will be retained for informative purposes.

If you're a staff member, please don't give me any corrections or hints. It'll be much more fun for you if your audience is wrong.

Triggers: Domestic violence.

His fairytale:

A story about a crow who would fly to a sick man's window every morning. This sick man desired to reunite with his wife, he was too sick for her to see him. And so the crow would provide him with a cure each day. A berry. But no matter how many times the man took the cure, he remained sick. Little did the man know, his wife was a Witch. Sending this crow to him to keep poisoning him with the berries. And the crow obeyed, determined to keep the lovers apart.

His confirmed crime:

Poisoning with Intent to Harm and Insurance Fraud

Symbolism Explanation

Mint is a crow: Crows are considered bringers of death and misfortune across numerous cultures. This aligns with Mint's crime on a literal level as he slowly brought his dad misfortune and a shorter life expectancy.

On a more positive note, crows are also associated with intelligence. Not only is it reasonable to assume the Ultimate Herbalist would possess a great degree of naturalistic intelligence, but Mint has also displayed insightful thinking with his decision to read the notes in the prison as revealed by his flavor text before Mononeko's introduction:

Mint: The rest of this place looks like a prison… But this is more like a classroom. This place confuses me… Shinku: Well, a lot of prisons have classrooms in them for those education programs focused on rehabilitating prisoners ready for release. Mint: That makes sense… But after reading some of the notes here aye… I don’t think there was much rehabilitation here. Shinku: …What do you mean? Mint: It’s awful, I couldn’t even say it… Mint: But if you’re curious uhm… There’s a lot of the old notes from when this was a functioning prison around. Mint: A lot of the things written on them are a little… Concerning.

Mint's mother is a witch: Mint's mother's role as a witch is reminiscent of both the type of witch Takiko's princess accused her guests of being (a saboteur) and the type Alora was (one who harms others' bodies using substances). The differences are that unlike Takiko's "witches", she is a real witch, and unlike Alora, the harm she brought onto the sick man was for a purely selfish reason and she got someone else involved.

The negative connotations of her role portray her as an abusive parent to Mint. Strangely, this is similar to Mint's old backstory in which his father committed domestic violence against the family, except a different parent seems to be the one doing so in LOCKDOWN. But based on Mint's deity assigment, this may be only a fraction of the truth.

Differences between Mint's fairytale and his crime segment

The motives behind Mint's crime are contrasted in each telling of it. His fairytale focuses on his family situation with his mother making him poison his father and Mint isolating his parents from each other, presumably due to at least one of them abusing the other. Meanwhile, his crime segment reveals that he committed insurance fraud alongside his poisoning, which wasn't alluded to in his fairytale at all, and disregards his mother's involvement in his crime outside his father not being able to see the family.

By framing Mint as having committed his crime by his own volition without any outside influence and greedily pocketing insurance money, Mononeko reinforces their penchant for presenting the prisoners' crimes in the most unsympathetic, melodramatic light possible as a means of motivating the audience to vote everyone as corrupt.

His deity:

11- Demeter: Goddess of the Harvest. Cares deeply for the earth, but even more so for her family. Will bring great destructive harm to anyone who dares to tear her family apart.

Parallels between Demeter and the Crow

The only connection between Demeter and the Crow is their tendency to bring deadly harm. Demeter's wraths typically involve her search for her abducted daughter Persephone, the most famous example being her imposing famine onto the world as revenge on Zeus for allowing Hades to abduct her in the first place. The crow also brought about wrath motivated by another person by poisoning the sick man

What differentiates the crow from Demeter is them not being part of a family with the man or his wife. Ironically, instead of caring for a family and enacting revenge on those who destroy it, they are destroying a family themself.

The only thing about harvests or the Earth that can be linked back to the crow is its use of the poisoned berries but even then, this is a stretch.

Parallels between Mint and Demeter

Both are responsible for caring for the Earth and their families. Demeter is the Goddess of agriculture and horticulture, but she is capable of disregarding her duties in favor of grieving for the kidnapped Persephone. Mint uses his talent as the Ultimate Herbalist for a multitude of purposes, including committing his crime for the sake of his mother. It's also worth noting that Mint turned to herbalism in the first place to aid his late terminally ill sister Lavender in the beta and judging by his bio card, he may have a similar motive in LOCKDOWN:

An Ultimate with rather bittersweet circumstances surrounding how he acquired his talent. Despite the tragedy of that event […]

He exhibits the same caring demeanour towards the other prisoners, such as when he took it upon himself to give Maiko a herbal remedy for her headache.

Much like Demeter's wraths to avenge Persephone, Mint has demonstrated an ability to harm those who are at conflict with his family. However, unlike the fairytale's implications of his mother being the malevolent half of her marriage, the summary hints at Mint's father being the one who raised a threat to his family and Mint committing his crime for the sake of protecting the rest of them. Either way, this means there are still unrevealed details of Mint's crime and home life that will have to be addressed in the coming chapters.

[bigsissugi]

Analyzing the Prisoners' Fairytales Part 10: Asuga

Info:

Contains spoilers for both LOCKDOWN and the beta version.

Grammar issues within the official material will be retained for informative purposes.

If you're a staff member, please don't give me any corrections or hints. It'll be much more fun for you if your audience is wrong.

Triggers: Mentions of the child pageant industry, manipulation of children.

Her fairytale:

A story about a little leapfrog who could bounce and play with their tadpole friends all day. This little leapfrog supported all the creatures of the pond. But they held a dark and terrible secret… The little leapfrog was actually a moth in disguise. They used their illusions to create a light they'd coveted their whole life. And made the tadpoles swim in spirals to create their own illusions to brighten this light. Folks came from far and wide to see this light the leapfrog and the tadpoles had made… Unaware it was all an illusion, a lie. They praised the little leapfrog and showered them in gifts to feed the light. The leapfrog, breaking illusion, would devour these gifts. And would slowly one by one, grant each tadpole moth wings.

How does the fairytale apply to Asuga?

For those who are new to Antebellum, the most obvious connection between the leapfrog and Asuga is their relationship with the tadpoles, which parallels Asuga's family-esque relationship with her employees. However, some more damning correspondences can be drawn between the frog and Asuga's portrayal in the beta version.

Firstly, Asuga was associated with frogs in both the game itself and promo material because, in Taka's words, her physical prowess made her "slippery and fast, like a frog". Said association was often lightheartedly reinforced - her favorite animal according to her bio card and FTEs was frogs, an Instagram post called her a "froggy lass", a tweet by the official Taka account revealed that she owns a cosplay outfit of Tsuyu Asui from MHA, etc.

The second, more important one is her backstory, many parts of which have been ignored by the fanbase for the past 4 years or so:

Asuga never had a proper relationship with her real brother Nikko because both of them were forced to compete in child beauty pageants. Asuga ran away from their mother at the midway point of her life, but left Nikko behind to continue being abused. Her estrangement from Nikko was one of the motivations behind her decision to start a circus with other homeless kids. The kids all idolized Asuga, but they didn't know the full picture. In truth, she had hired a few criminals due to her belief that criminals are incapable of change and their actions should be controlled to prevent them from committing more crimes. To hide this, she manipulated both her criminal and non-criminal employees and she convinced herself she was keeping her "children" safe. It's unclear why she allowed criminals to work with the other kids in the first place despite her fatalism or why she concealed her true beliefs, but knowing her core motives, it most likely involves her need to please as many dependent "little siblings" as possible.

Similarities between the fairytale and the old backstory:

The main character has a familial bond with a large group of children they are not biologically related to.

The MC uses their "children" to cultivate something they have always wanted.

The MC conceals their deceptive side from their "children".

Differences between the fairytale and the old backstory:

The frog manipulates their tadpoles purely to satisfy their desires while beta Asuga's manipulation is motivated by a hybrid of desire, security and moral obligation.

The frog has been deceiving the tadpoles throughout their entire relationship while beta Asuga is only known to have started lying after the formation of her circus.

The circumstances that led beta Asuga to create a family of her own are known to the audience while this isn't the case for the frog. Therefore, it cannot be said with certainty that reboot Asuga's circumstances will be the exact same as her old counterpart.

The audience knows what specific thing beta Asuga was hiding from the audience while her deception as depicted by the fairytale — the moth disguised as a leapfrog — only reveals something about her personality at most.

Symbolism Explanation

Asuga is a moth disguised as a leapfrog: Frogs are associated with fertility and harmony in Greek and Roman culture, both of which are compatible with Asuga's image. She is metaphorically fertile, playing a motherly (or in her eyes, sisterly) role to a large amount of children. This also conveniently parallels frogs' tendency to live in colonies. Her inclination to maintain social harmony is displayed by her sharing her Ultimate title with her little siblings and her contributions to the discussion about the Milgram experiment results. Symbolism aside, Asuga being labelled a "leapfrog" rather than just a frog alludes to her physical abilities and playful exterior.

Moths use natural light (e.g. moonlight) as a navigation guide. On the other hand, artificial light disorients them, causing them to fly in circles or sometimes even burn themselves to death, hence the saying "like a moth to a flame". Both types of light are analogous to Asuga's ambitions of gaining fraternal love; she uses it to navigate herself through life, yet her neurotic desire for it is a corruptive force.

Moths can also camouflage themselves as a means of self-protection. In the context of the fairytale, our moth camouflaged itself as a frog to protect its dreams of cultivating a light. Thus, it can be argued that Asuga deceived her employees to protect her own ideal.

Frogs and moths undergo metamorphosis as they age and because of that, each species is associated with transformation. Like them, beta Asuga underwent a change as she grew up, metamorphosing from a lonely and confined child pageant queen to a liberated ringmaster with a huge family. Therefore, she must've also been subjected to significant personal change in her backstory in LOCKDOWN.

Asuga's employees are tadpoles: Asuga's employees being represented by the same species as her outer self but in its younger form reinforces the parent-child dynamic between them. However, in truth they aren't really the same species as the moth; they are not a real family.

The phrase "swim in spirals" may sound ominous, but in tadpoles it is actually a natural response to touch. Based on the context, this most likely represents their response to Asuga's expressions of love (e.g. hugs, touching them on an emotional level). Therefore, we can also assume the tadpoles creating their own illusions represents Asuga's employees lying to themselves about the nature of their "big sis".

The gifts are the benefits of an Ultimate title:

Feel bad? You want me to feel bad? Haha, that's a good one! They can suck on their silver spoons for all I care!

The above line from the VA trailer references the saying "born with a silver spoon in your mouth", which refers to children who were born into prestige. Under the context of the fairytale, this suggests that Asuga's crime gave her troupe financial privileges. The concept of the gifts being money alone is pretty straightforward; audiences paying to see an adorable circus troupe, making Asuga rich and allowing her to distribute her wealth to her employees. But there are a few problems with this:

The folks specifically came to see the light, a symbolic representation of Asuga's familial love. Usually you would expect the audience of a circus to attend a show to see the stunts, not to learn about the performers.

The moth broke its illusion as it devoured the gifts. It's unclear whether or not they did so in front of the folks, but if they did, it'd mean Asuga exposed herself to her audience.

Those problems can be cleared up if we assume the gifts are the riches one gains as they become an Ultimate. It makes more sense for the UTP to visit the circus with the specific intent of meeting a potential Ultimate and for Asuga to make her corruption known to the organization infamous for covering up the crimes of the elite. This would explain why the moth consumed the gifts itself instead of using it to feed the light — Asuga's acceptance of her Ultimate feeds her ego — and the moth giving the tadpoles wings — Asuga shares her title with the rest of her circus, corrupting them alongside her.

Her deity:

10- Hera: Keeper of Oaths and promises. Protector of the family and the sactity of unions and households. Will punish those who violates or harms these units accordingly and will do anything to uphold these unions.

(Note: should say "sanctity")

Parallels between Hera and the Leapfrog/Moth

Both are defined by their familial relationships, which they maintain for the sake of keeping a promise. Hera stays by Zeus' side in spite of his constant adultery because of social pressure (a promise to others) and the moth bonded with the tadpoles under the guise of a frog in order to produce its coveted light (a promise to themself).

Both resort to drastic measures to maintain their relationships. Hera has an extensive track record of this behaviour in regards to her marriage with Zeus, even maintaining it after she had temporarily left him by preventing him from marrying his fake bride "Plataia". The leapfrog demonstrates a similar mindset by concealing its true identity as a moth.

The difference is that the leapfrog isn't known to punish anyone who threatens to destroy their fake family, unlike Hera, who infamously targeted Zeus' mistresses and bastards rather than Zeus himself.

Parallels between Asuga and Hera

Outside of the context of her crime, Hera's summary parallels Asuga's portrayal in the beta more prominently than her portrayal in LOCKDOWN so far.

Asuga had been figuratively married to her goal of becoming the ideal big sibling figure for about half of her life, much like Hera's eternal marriage to Zeus. She was also defined by relationships both throughout her normal life — her estrangement from Nikko and her "family" at the circus — and within the killing game — her friendship and romantic tension with Taka, which has caused her to often be reduced to half a ship by the fanbase. The same also applies to LOCKDOWN as of the prologue as she was introduced alongside Taka and both additional dialogue and her bio card confirm her beloved "little siblings" are important to her characterization.

Asuga occasionally set out to punish those who threatened her relationship with Taka, albeit unlike Hera, she did so out of vengeance rather than jealousy. There are two "blink and you'll miss it" moments in which she demonstrated this — her screaming at Maiko before the latter could kill Taka post-trial and her vow to give Taka's attempted killer (Yui) a fate worse than death before he regained consciousness.

Asuga exhibited the same desperation as Hera when it comes to keeping a friendship. For instance, she played along with Taka's plan to lock away the food & water while simultaneously working behind his back with the others, which she did for 2 reasons:

In Rei's words, "to prevent him from doing something even worse", that being a repeat of his old crime (tampering with evidence).

To maintain his dependence on her while not losing the others' trust, which she subtly admitted to Shinku, Emilia and Mint:

Shinku: Asuga… You know the code to all the locks, why can't you just tell us? Asuga: …Because then he'll lose trust in me, he'll feel betrayed and-… Asuga: …It'll be Maiko all over again.

Moreover, the supportive attitude she expressed towards Taka's futile redemption arc in Chapter 3 contradicts her cynicism towards criminals' potential for redemption as revealed in her FTEs, indicating that Asuga would resort to lying about her beliefs in order to keep a friendship.

Interestingly, the summary's focus on Hera's efforts to uphold her marriage hints at Asuga caring more about maintaining her "family" itself than the wellbeing of those involved.

(Side note: I'm surprised the summary didn't make note of Hera being the Queen of the Gods unlike Zeus and Poseidon being Kings. It would've aligned perfectly with Asuga's role as an older sibling figure.)

Symbolism Summary

Leapfrog: Asuga's public image Moth: Asuga's inner self Tadpoles: Asuga's employees Folks: the UTP Pond: Circus Light: Artificial familial Love Gifts: the privileges that come with an Ultimate title

Retelling through the lens of Leapfrog/Moth Asuga

A story about a young ringmaster who is beloved by all of her employees. They think of her as generous and endlessly fun, but in truth, she's been hiding how corrupt she really is. She presents herself as a loving familial figure because she never had the opportunity to connect with her blood family. Her "little siblings" fall for her act without a second thought, lying to themselves in the process. One day, a group of authorities visit the circus to meet the happy family behind its success. Not knowing the ringmaster's siblings are being manipulated, the authorities offer her a label that'd allow her the opportunity to enhance her career to its fullest potential. She accepts the label to feed her own ego. To retain her generous reputation, she shares its benefits with her employees, dragging them down with her.

What is her crime?

I'll give the dev credit here for making Asuga's crime the most ambiguous one by far. The closest way to describe her behaviour towards her employees would be Workplace Manipulation, but even then, that technically isn't illegal.

What will her verdict be?

Despite the opaque nature of her fairytale's symbolism, an argument can still be made in favor of a Corrupt verdict. The moth is portrayed as a completely selfish individual with full awareness of the consequences of their actions. The same can be said about Asuga, who lacks remorse for her crime as revealed by the VA trailer.

Even though Emilia is biased towards her, it would be pretty difficult for the audience to believe her manipulation was a necessary means of achieving financial security for her troupe, even when assuming her circumstances in LOCKDOWN are similar to her beta counterpart. Additionally, said bias would further motivate a corrupt consensus; the audience would defy the wishes of the person hosting a sadistic dark web killing game for a reason she considers morally justified.

[bigsissugi]

my asuga post might end up being even longer than my lyra post holy fuck

[bigsissugi]

Analyzing the Prisoners' Fairytales Part 09: Fu

Info:

Contains spoilers for LOCKDOWN.

Grammar issues within the official material will be retained for informative purposes.

If you're a staff member, please don't give me any corrections or hints. It'll be much more fun for you if your audience is wrong.

Triggers: Mentions of and allusions to real-world political concepts.

His fairytale:

A story of a grieving set of parents… They'd lost their darling son far too young and were scared he would be lonely in the afterlife. They went to Death and begged and pleaded for their son to have company. Death obliged and reaped a soul to be his bride. The two of them had a gorgeous wedding. United in Death. The parents were overjoyed and showered Death in gold.

How does the fairytale apply to Fu?

Admittedly, assigning Death to Fu was based on a process of elimination. Although it makes sense for the Ultimate Businessman to have committed his crime for money (gold), the same could apply to any Ultimate. But while trying to figure out the significance of the dead son's marriage, I found another reason to identify Death as Fu.

Posthumous marriage is a real practice that's recognised in various countries for different reasons (China, Japan, India, France, South Sudan, etc.) But out of all of them, only China's culture practices posthumous marriage for the sake of alleviating a spirit's loneliness.

The Chinese variant of posthumous marriage, called "ghost marriage" or "spirit marriage", is a tradition in which a marriage is arranged between two dead people (or in some rarer cases, one dead person and one alive person). This tradition came to exist due to a widespread belief that if a spirit wasn't married off, their loneliness would cause them to haunt their family. Ghose marriage usually doesn't involve murder, but there have been reports of its occurence:

For years there has been evidence of this ritual mutating in certain parts of China. There have been cases where a living person has been "married" to a corpse in a secret ritual, but more alarmingly reports of grave robbery and even murder have also surfaced.

(Source: BBC)

Obviously Fu himself is Chinese, but not all people engage in their own cultural traditions. Luckily for us, the VA trailer hints at Fu having some awareness of and/or close connection to his own heritage:

Heh, I've got a special place on the guest list for Dìyù, that's for sure.

(Note: Dìyù is the Chinese equivalent of Hell.)

Symbolism Explanation

Fu is Death: Fu's assignment as the absolute personification of death rather than just any old character who gets themselves involved in a murder implies that murder is second nature to him; it plays a significant role in his career. Furthermore, as the Grim Reaper is often portrayed as targeting people at random and without emotional bias, the same can also be said for Fu. This idea will be explained further in the sections below.

His deity:

09- Zeus: King of the Gods, can avoid justice on account of being emblematic of justice in itself. Acts upon this indiscriminately and indulgently.

Parallels between Zeus and Death

As the God of law & order, Zeus is known to observe and punish the behaviour of mankind from above in the Heavens despite his own misconduct, the most infamous example of which being his frequent adultery. Despite this, he has gone unpunished simply because no other deity is powerful enough to serve justice the King of the Gods effectively, even when combined (e.g. Hera, Athena and Poseidon's failed attempt to overthrow him). Correspondingly, many portrayals of the Grim Reaper cannot die because it is the symbolic representation of death.

Zeus' constant cheating, as mentioned above, was driven entirely by impulsive desire. A parallel can be drawn between that and Death's reaping of random individuals. However, it should be noted that Zeus' approach towards justice was much more deliberate than his approach towards cheating.

(Side note: Is Zeus' cheating really the only corrupt action of his the summary focuses on 😭)

Parallels between Fu and Zeus

The summary for Hermes compared his status as an Olympian with Lyra's status as an Ultimate. The same can apply to Fu; he is the oldest prisoner, hence being a 'king' amongst them. It can be argued that he is also a king amongst Ultimates due to the nature of his talent. As a businessman, his job is entirely centered around taking on deals in exchange for money. In other words, his job is the embodiment of the capitalistic ideology the UTP enforces.

Similarly to the adulterous King of the Gods, Fu's occupation makes him emblematic of the UTP's corrupt idea of justice in which they use their wealth and influence to cover up the Ultimates' crimes. Zeus' uninhibited approach towards his infidelity has a likeness to what little the audience knows of Fu's personality so far — he is extremely, transparently self-centered and will accept any shady deal because it's "just business".

Symbolism Summary

Death: Fu Gold: Money

Retelling through the lens of Death Fu

A story about a Chinese businessman with very low moral standards. One day, he is recruited by a grieving couple who wish to arrange a ghost marriage for their dead son to prevent him from bringing them misfortune. The businessman goes above and beyond with his request by murdering a woman chosen at random. The businessman is paid well for his efforts.

What is his crime?

It couldn't be clearer that his crime is Contract Killing.

What will his verdict be?

As he's been driven by nothing more than money, Fu's actions are undeniably selfish. It looks as though his promise to take his shirt off won't be fulfilled any time soon because there is no possibility for his verdict other than Corrupt.