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shsl-hubris-guy · 2 days ago

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Analysis Tanabata for Sayaka Bday ! + Drawing

Here’s the drawing I have made ! For Sayaka Bday! It’s a drawing of my two favorite characters in Danganronpa !

In addition to this drawing I have made for her birthday, I also made a new analysis on Sayaka but also Makoto. As Tanabata is on the same day as Sayaka’s birthday, this analysis will be on Tanabata and how it parallelized the relationship between Sayaka and Makoto! So let’s start

Indeed Tanabata is on the same day of her birthday and of course it is relevant to her character but also to Makoto’s character as well.

This isn’t a coincidence if her birthday is at this date as it illustrates well the dynamic between her and Makoto. Their relationship is meant to look like star-crossed lovers. The fact that both were interested in each other but didn’t know that the other was interesting in them. The fact that they thought that neither of them looked at each other.

Sayaka thought that because when she looked at him, he never looked at her back and deduced that he was simply not interested in her. But that’s false as we know that he was interested in her, it’s just that she was around too many people.

Makoto also thought that as, who would look at him? Especially someone like Sayaka? Impossible. But he did watch her music show when they were in TV as shown in his short novel “Makoto’s Worst day ever file”.

We also must talk about how obsessed Sayaka wanted to talk to him. When meeting her for the first time, face to face, she said that she looks forward to getting to know him and wanted to talk with him more, before the killing game even happened, showing the genuine affection but also want that she held. Indeed, she had him in her mind for 3 years and yet she remembers his name and face easily.

The moment that Sayaka and him talked to each other a second time, they glued themselves together immediately. They had each other and it didn’t seem that both had interacted with other people much. They seemed interlinked from the beginning as if they had a crush for each other.

What’s also interesting is how both are linked to the stars.

For Makoto, he is linked to the stars directly in his design with his former high school’s emblem being starlike and how through his other talent, the ultimate hope, he shines brightly and serves as a guiding light to others. We have seen this in chapter 6 where he plants seeds, bullets of hope inside his other classmates so as to make them break out of despair. Him being the ultimate hope is important, showing again that he is that star who shines upon the devastated world of Danganronpa. Even Sayaka and Kyoko considered him as a guiding light before he became the ultimate hope

As for Sayaka, her link to the stars is direct by her birthday’s date sharing the day of the festival which surname is also “Star festival”.But the link can be seen also in her talent as the ultimate idol. When she was little, she was almost always alone, in her house alone and so grew with TV. It’s in that TV that she saw idols which was the one thing that reduce her loneliness and inspired to become an idol

So Sayaka’s birthday,July 7th, is also the day of Tanabata. It’s a holiday that’s literally dedicated to the story where the phrase “star-crossed lovers” originates from, is interesting. The Tanabata festival was originally inspired by a Chinese festival based on the legend of the celestial lovers – Hikoboshi (based on the star Altair), a cowherd and Orihime (based on the star Vega), a cloth weaver.

“Orihime (the star Vega) was the daughter of the Emperor of the Heavens. Because of her remarkable diligence and talent for weaving, her father finds for her an equally diligent and hard-working husband, a cowherd named Hikoboshi (the star Altair), who lives on the other side of the River of Heaven (or Milky Way). It is love at first sight for the young couple, and they completely forget their responsibilities in their enjoyment of each other’s company. Orihimé’s loom is soon covered in dust, and Hikoboshi’s cattle wander aimlessly along the banks of the river. What is the Emperor of the Heavens to do?

He decided to forbade the lovers to be together, but Orihime pleaded with him to allow them to stay and so he decreed that the two star-crossed lovers could meet once a year--on the 7th day of the 7th month if Orihime returned to her weaving. On the first day they were to be reunited, they found the river (Milky Way) to be too difficult to cross. Orihime became so despondent that a flock of magpies came and made a bridge for her so as she could cross river.”

And so this story parallels their relationship, with Sayaka being the popular girl with Makoto, the plain and ordinary boy being reunited in HPA.

Futhermore, Makoto’s arrival in Hope’s speak is fated. It’s y was not just luck but a predestined luck like divine intervention. The same day that the mailman were to give the letter to the one who won the lottery to be among class 78, the bad luck of Makoto prevented him to do so.

in his novel, he had astronomical bad luck to the point that it is said that his bad luck overrode the luck of the thief named Jutarō Akafuku but it is thanks to that luck that he was able to go at Hope’s speak Academy as the bike of the mailman has been burned including all the mail that the bike has been carrying. Even Kyoko thought that Makoto was destined to come here:

”So, Makoto... I don't think you wound up at this school because you had good luck or bad luck... I think you came here for a different reason entirely...”

Showing how important fate and destiny is important to Makoto but also how he is fated to encounter Sayaka who did wished to see and talk to him one day, like how wishes are written for Tanabata.

The fact that before truly meeting each other, they were indeed separated like Hikoboshi and Orihime as she is the daughter of the Emperor of heaven in most versions and Hikoboshi a simple cowherd. As talented people are seen almost as ”godlike” in Danganronpa, we could say that Sayaka lived in another dimension, like Orihime because of her being those who are highly talented whereas Makoto was simply an ordinary man as he describes himself to be ”average among the average” and is then similar to Hikoboshi.

Not only that, Like Orihime with her incredible talent for weaving , Sayaka has an incredible talent with her singing, considering that she had 100 millions of Sayakers, not fans but Sayakers who are her ultra fans. That number is said in UDG by Komaru:

”Sayaka has over 100 million fans! That's what we call ourselves, Sayakers.”

She is also diligent and hard working and definitely cares for her idol’s career like we have seen in the first chapter. The reason she even came to Hope’s speak is the same of Makoto:

“Well...they say that if you graduate from here, success is basically guaranteed.”

“Which means I could keep on performing with my best friends, for ever and ever.”

And Makoto’s reasons to come into Hope’s speak:

”Honestly, I probably would have been better off just declining their offer. But after hearing how graduating was a "guarantee for success" later in life, I just couldn't say no.”

As for Makoto, he is also like Hikoboshi not because of his talent but because of his ordinariness and normalcy. But it goes deeper when we know that Hikoboshi was a cowherd. Though Makoto didn’t take care of cows, when he was in middle school, he did took care of animals as he was part of a club. So, even if it wasn’t cows, he handled animals and even a crane which was the moment where as we know, etched in Sayaka’s heart forever. We can go even deeper as the name Hikoboshi is ”male star” which is very fitting to Makoto due to his various symbolisms with stars and how tied he is to stars in general.

All of that displays how symbolically important is Tanabata to their dynamic but also how their dynamic mirrors the two main characters in Tanabata.

But I’m not finished yet. In the killing game, both viewed each other as their hope. During the first chapter, they were glued together, and Makoto didn’t really talk to someone else.

”Having you by my side really makes me feel a lot better. If you weren't here with me, I just don't know what I'd do. I'd be lost...”

“I hate that we had to meet again under such awful conditions, but...I'm relieved you're with me.”

You could argue that she wasn’t being genuine but like I have said before, she genuinely wanted to talk with him before the killing game before being interrupted by Taka. It’s difficult to see through her different masks but one thing certain is that she was genuine when she was talking with Makoto until she decided to prepare her plans, so after the motive video.

“Huh? Hey, by any chance... Yeah, it must be. I'm sure of it. Hey, Makoto. Did--“

And Makoto also considered Sayaka as his hope as well, someone that he can hold on.

”I...know how you feel. You being here is what saved me...”

Showing how important they are to each other.

However, just like the fate of star-crossed lovers, they were destined to fall. Unlike the story of the star festival, where Orihime chose her love for her husband over her love for her job at the end, Sayaka chose her talent and her work over her affection towards Makoto.

This is the twist here. And it’s normal as Sayaka while having a crush on Makoto, only was with him in four days while she was on her idol’s career since she was young with her childhood friends that she considered as family. Moreover the fact that she has been put into this state of despair intentionally by Monokuma with the motive video, showing her close friends unconscious and surely in danger made her snap and fall into the abyss of despair. But that doesn’t justify her act, of course, just that we must understand where she comes from.

It’s also there where the other folklore crosses the path of Tanabata, that folklore being “Tsuru no Ongaeshi” (a story from Japanese Folklore about a crane who returns a favor to a man. That story was mentioned by Sayaka in her first FTE based on the events that made Sayaka discover the existence of Makoto).

At the end of that tale, the man discovers his wife true identity and realizes that his wife was the crane that he saved which ends up by the crane flying away and not coming back. That event can be likened to how Sayaka deceives Makoto despite her will to return the favor.

Even then, she never tried to kill Makoto though she betrayed him in trying to pinpoint her possible murder into him and written Leon’s name because of her guilt over what she had done to Makoto. In addition, it is said by Kyoko, the ultimate detective, that Sayaka was uncertain:

”She was...uncertain. She wasn't sure she could kill someone...or deceive you. Which is why her plan failed. Her hesitation attracted failure.”

Though we have seen the fall of Sayaka during the first chapter, we have also seen the rise of Makoto during chapter 1, where he decides to go against the mastermind and to trust that Sayaka’s last action was made because she thought of him. Despite Sayaka betraying him, Makoto decided to guard his connection with her through remembering her death and through his grief. She did return the favor at the end of her life.

Moreover, this fall and rise are once again parallelized through the characters of the star festival. Orihime is supposed to embody Vega and Hikoboshi Altair which both are stars (showing again how close these twos are to stars). What is interesting about those stars are their etymology. Both came from Arabic.

Vega in Arabic can be understood as “An-nasr al-wāqi” meaning “falling eagle” or ”swooping eagle” illustrating how Sayaka felt from grace throughout chapter 1 to the point of trying to kill someone.

Whereas, Altair in Arabic can be understood as “an-nasr aṭ-ṭāʾir” meaning “flying eagle”, displaying the growth of Makoto during this chapter and how he turns in direction of hope. Though this piece of analysis is something that I am sure that Kodaka didn’t think about but I found it based on Tanabata so I guess it can count, right?

Bonus: School mode

Ironically, the folklore of Tanabata is realized in school mode. If we consider the main story as reality, meaning that Tanabata couldn’t be possibly realized, then the ending of school mode should be considered as a fantasy.

It’s only in this mode or in a fantasy world like Nagito’s perfect world in Danganronpa 2.5 that we can see Sayaka and Makoto being together as a couple. We don’t know what happened during their time at Hope’s Speak Academy (HPA) so we can’t speak on it though we virtually know that both had feelings for each other during their time at HPA.

We know that thanks to Sayaka’s FTEs or by Sayaka's Japanese voice actress, Makiko Ōmoto, who said in an interview (in Danganronpa THE ANIMATION Official Complete Book) that Sayaka's character song,

Monochrome Answer might hint at her relationship with Makoto before the Killing School Life. Ōmoto also mentioned that when Sayaka's "ghost" appeared to Makoto in Danganronpa 3, she was told not to speak in a scary voice, as she was supposed to represent "a guy thinking of his first love right before his death".

Well let’s come back to the point. The fact is that Makoto and Sayaka can only be together through a powerful miracle that can surpass their fate as star-crossed lovers and that’s what happened at the end of school mode. I’ll pass about Sayaka being possibly a psychic, it is a whole can of worms.

But that powerful miracle can be likened to how severals conditions must be met before that Orihime and Hikoboshi can be together. As we know Orihime and Hikoboshi can only met on the 7th day of the 7th month and for Orihime to cross the river to let Hikoboshi, magpies must create a path thanks to their wings. But magpies can’t create a bridge if it rains due to the rise of the river and so the star-crossed lovers must wait another year to meet.

At the beginning of the end of school mode, Sayaka begins to said that “It's finally time...But it took so long just to get here.”, implying that reaching this end, where her and Makoto could leave HPA together is nothing but short of a miracle, especially for her.

She explicitly said so here ”feel like…so many miracles had to happen for me to get out of here. I can't explain this sensation, but... Why...?”

Or here: ”In this here and now, we had to defy all the odds, pray for so many miracles, to reach this point...That's how it plays out in my head. But I also feel what happened to me.”

As she said, this ending is a miracle, something that shouldn’t be possible but it happened. But it’s not only her who wanted to each this point, Makoto always wanted to go out of this Academy with her but like she, in the main story couldn’t see that future. It’s what she is referencing here.

”But that's not quite it. It's more like...a certain future could have come to be, but it didn't. But I couldn't see that shape myself...”

She also expresses how she couldn’t see that shape for herself, how she couldn’t see a future where she and Makoto can get out the academy together. But due to her psychic shenanigans and faith into Makoto she was able to go through it. Well I won’t talk about this, like I said it’s not important to the main point here

What’s important is that both characters feel that to reach this ending, the waiting had to be very long as Makoto said:

”No, I did. I made you wait for so long... I definitely have to apologize for that... I'm sorry for making you wait!”

So there is that idea of waiting long enough so as to reach the adequate ending which mirrors how Orihime and Hikoboshi have to wait long enough to meet (1year), with other conditions as rain not being there, the day the lovers meet again. That’s why I have said that this ending is essentially the good ending of Tanabata.

Therefore Tanabata is an important thematic symbolism to understand better the dynamic between Sayaka and Makoto. It displays the the different themes of love but also loss and remembering which are all significant themes throughout not only THH but also in GD and in danganronpa 3.

For those who have read it all, thank you so much! Feedbacks or comments are appreciated, I want to know what did you think about this analysis!

#I love everything about this #I knew her birthday was a reference to Tanabata but I never caught the parallels between her and Makoto to the story specifically #very cool stuff #sayaka maizono #happy birthday sayaka!!!#also love the art

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