#NO IT'S BECAUSE MONDO LITERALLY KILLED CHIHIRO.

[httpskarmaco-main]

CW/TW: Mentions of murder, incest, abuse, assault (physically and sexually) and stalking.

I genuinely hate how badly the DR fandom normalizes obviously toxic/harmful ships. "Oh stop trying to make a ship war-" It's not a ship war. You guys are out here literally shipping family members together and see no problem with it? Kanon and Kuwata, really? Korekiyo and his obviously abusive sister? I've seen some of y'all ship fucking Makoto and Komaru and post it like nothing is wrong with what you just created - it is so mind numbing how stupid some of you DR fans are.

Not to mention Murder x Victim. It's so stupid how much Ibuki/Mikan, Leon/Sayaka, are shipped or Chihiro/Mondo are. "Oh but my ship is in a non-despair setting-" I literally do no care. Your AU isn't canon, none of your guys AU's are - but you know what is canon? The actual universe where that person did kill the other. You AU's don't change anything about what's canon. I will say, with some ships like Nagito/Chiaki and Kaede/Rantaro are acceptable - 1, Chiaki didn't even know what she did kill Nagito and had no intent to ever kill Nagito and same with Kaede; she didn't even kill Rantaro, she was framed.

An honorable mention for this part is Ishimaru/Celestia. Holy fuck that ship pisses me off so much. Celestia didn't kill Ishimaru, I'll give you that, but that's the only good thing - she still planned out how to kill him but just got Hifumi to do so but you wanna know how she got Hifumi on board to do so? Lying about Ishimaru blackmailing her and assaulting her both physically and sexually. Not even that, she basically framed Ishimaru too for stealing Alter Ego.

You can see any of these Murder x Victim as close friends but for the love of god, do not ship them - it's toxic.

Lastly, a toxic ship that pisses me off so much; Toko/Byakuya. How the hell is this ship so popular and normalized? It's not only Stalker x Stalked but also Abuser x Abused. Byakuya literally gets physically sick from Toko just fantasizing about him and he can be miles away. Plus not to mention all the comments she makes about Byakuya to his face which he has shown great discomfort in and has told her to stop multiple times, but does she? No. "Oh but Toko has a mental disorder-" boo fucking hoo. You can't use a mental disorder as an excuse epically since it's literally only Toko doing this - Syo just wants to kill Byakuya and Syo doesn't make comments towards Byakuya like Toko does. And Toko has been told multiple times by Byakuya that he doesn't like it. Also may be wonder "oh, how is it Abuser x Abused? Toko doesn't hurt Togami physically." Yeah, PHYSICALLY. But she does abuse him emotionally - Byakuya would literally lock himself in a bathroom just to get away from her.

I'm just glad that I don't see Junko or Tsumugi ships normalized. They both literally made games to have people kill each other and Junko literally took over the fucking world.

Sorry, I just needed to rant because I've been seeing too many fanarts of toxic ships and it's pissing me off. Also hate me for this, I really don't care - it's the truth.

[bronze-and-silver-keys]

i was telling my sister about the ghost au and she said "i think it would be cool if everyone alive can see the ghosts of the people who were executed because they're the ones who voted for them and sent them to their deaths" and i think you mightve said at one point that the "killer" is a more literal thing but. thoughts on that

I actually had the loopholes of the ghost au on my mind since this post and there are definitely cool things I can do with it, SO I will be answering a lot of the questions brought up by that previous post because I think it would be sick as fuck and add to the uneasy atmosphere of the killing games themselves

Spoilers for THH, SDR2, and NDRV3 below

Can Makoto see Chihiro? (In one of the FTEs he reccomends training with Mondo)

I would imagine Makoto is kind of haunted by all of the people that died in the killing game, including Junko, both figuratively and literally. He'll catch glimpses of their ghostly forms out of the corner of his eye, in the bathroom mirror, in the shadows.

I want to see this boy driven insane by the constant reminder of all the people he couldn't help or felt so responsible for dying. I want more of that scene in DR3 where Makoto volunteers to watch the killing game video and sees everyone that died.

I love Makoto, but I love subjecting him to endless despair even more.

Can Aoi see Sakura?

Can Hiro/Syo see Sakura (because they think they killed her)

Similar to Makoto, Aoi sees Sakura everywhere as a ghostly figure that's not completely there. She'll see her at the end of a hall, turning a corner, and shout her name and bolt after her, only to find it empty as she breaks down from the guilt of not being able to stop her and essentially handing Sakura her own death.

For Hiro it'd be similar, because he believes in ghosts (as shown by his insistence in the 5th trial that Kyoko was a ghost), but he'd be more jumpy.

Genocider Syo wouldn't be as prone to seeing her ghost, but Toko would be the same as Hiro. Seeing her everywhere and being terrified to sleep at night.

Can Nagito see Twogami?

During the first investigation and trial, I think he would be able to see Twogami's silhouette when it hangs around Teruteru and passes silent judgment. I like to think he'd at least feel some guilt over it. Yes, he set this all up to start the killing game, but Twogami did this to protect him. He gave his life for him. How could that person who pulled you back from the fate you created with your own hands, only to fall victim to it himself, just fade away entirely?

After Teruteru’s execution, the sightings of Twogami became less frequent, until they disappeared altogether. Until he died, of course.

Can Sonia see Hiyokos ghost because she told her to go to the music venue to tie her kimono?

The guilt of that would definitely chase her, and only build more after Gundham's death (the betrayal and the thought that she could've stopped him [she couldn't. His fate was inevitable]) and the fifth trial (she knew the bombs were fake, and this piece of information eventually helped condemn Chiaki to her fate).

I would argue she felt partially responsible for Mahiru and Peko's deaths as well. It was her enthusiasm over Sparkling Justice that gave Peko the idea of her cover to be voted as the blackened, and just inspired a large part of the murder overall.

She loves to talk about her interests, but refrains from speaking about them, just in case someone used that information for a murder. She would see Hiyoko in mirrors constantly. Every interaction she had with the Devas hurt more than the last. Nagito and Chiaki are always just out of view.

I never thought about how haunted Sonia would be by just trying to help keep everyone safe, and have some kind of normalcy by making friends and talking about her interests. Huh.

Can Maki see Ryoma (<- Because they swapped Motive Videos and that gave Ryoma less will to live)

Ryoma would hang out a lot in his lab after he died, thinking about his life, what went wrong, why no one was left for him outside of the academy.

The night after the trial, Maki stops by his lab, posture stiff and shifting from one foot to the other, and start apologizing to the empty air. After Kokichi revealed her true talent, she doesn't want to be seen as just a killer. She feels guilty about giving him the motive video, even if she didn't know what was on it. She apologizes for killing him before Kirumi dealt the final blow.

Ryoma suddenly appears before her while she's finally starting to tear up and her throat is closing. There he is in front of her, clear as day, reassuring her that it wasn't her fault. He would've found out one way or another. He should've been stronger, he should've fought for the others inside of the academy and made an effort to be closer to them. He shouldve made them his reason to live. He just wasn't strong enough.

He tells her to live. Even if you have no one out there, live. Live for yourself. Live for the friends you will make in the future. Live for the days when the sun is shining while rain pours down on everything. Live for the trill a cat makes when disturbed by pets during a nap in the sun. Live for all the color in the world, for the music, for the intoxicating scent of sweets and fresh bread. Live, damn it.

Can Himiko see Tenko? (<- Himiko was supposed to die at the seance)

Sometimes, when she can't sleep, Himiko will sit up in bed, and see Tenko's familiar outline sitting in the chair by her bed, watching over her. Every time, she breaks down into a mess of tears and repetitious apologies.

Can Maki see Kokichi? (<- we still don't know if the poison killed Kokichi before the press)

Teehee I'm already writing a fic about this with canon divergence (it's in my pinned post, if you haven't read it please do I'm working on a new chapter) BUT if we stay with canon, with Kaito being the Blackened:

Maki would never see but always hear both of them. She would hear them bickering just out of sight nearby constantly. Both of them would greet her in the morning, wish her a good night. She would be sure she was going insane from the guilt.

If she hadn't intervened and fired the crossbow, maybe she wouldn't have had to go through the heartache that was the entire 5th trial.

Can Himiko see Kaito (<- Gave him the crossbow/weapon to fight Kokichi with.)

This is an instance where i don't think she would have as strong a reason to feel responsible for his death. I believe she would see it more that she did what she could to help him, but have no real power in the whole situation. That doesn't mean she doesn't miss the hell out of him. He was the last remnant of Tenko she really had. They acted so similar.

[funishment-time]

as a summer camp stan

i will say you are 100% Allowed to not like the writing (we're not going to talk about the "game" aspect) but always keep in mind that it's the nicest AU there is.

in this world, everyone has had three peaceful years together. Syojack is a Known Entity, Chihiro comes out without issue, people think it's funny Imposter walks around as Byakuya, Hajime is besties with everyone in class 77, Usami is real, Mukuro's made tons of friends in disguise as Junko, Kamukura exists but may not be Hajime at all, etc etc.

the Kumas are a nuisance at worst! this Chiaki is a beatific combo of DR3 and AI Chiaki! the v3 kids are happily attending! Junko hangs out on the sidelines being annoying with her little robo-bear! even Shuichi lacks his hat...

in-universe, this means that some characters are going to feel Different because they've never been backed into a Tragic Corner here. literally the worst thing that's happened to any of them is the stuff already in their main timeline backstories. that is to say, Mondo's still lost Daiya, Kyoko's still lost Yui, Rantaro's looking for his sisters, but there's been no Enoshima Brand Killing Game, ever.

so of course some characters seem Worse or Better! they've never had to show the sides of them we see come out in the main timeline. Toko's still kind of a brat because whatever she went thru with Komaru was way less dangerous than UDG. Tenko's still kind of a brat because she's never had to change or woman up, and Himiko only recently warmed up to her because there's no fucking scythe in Tenko's head separating them for eternity. Kyoko's had no reason to trust anyone, and Kaede has plenty of friends to make besides Shuichi...

it's a strange place. if, knowing this, the writing still feels off to you, that's Totally Fine. we all have our opinions and interpretations! but remember that a gentle world will bring some perhaps unexpected sides of our blorbos out. it may not necessarily be OOC, just a version of them we never got to experience because Murderdeath

[nerd-cat-rambles]

Tierlist!

My Danganronpa Opinion Tier-list (With rankings, EX./10 and reasons why they're ranked that way below.) (I've only played the first two games, so the V3 ones might not be accurate.)

SOME SPOILERS AHEAD

FAVOURITES:

Kiyotaka Ishimaru - AMAZING CHARACTER, I LOVE HIM SO MUCH, LITERALLY KIN HIM SO MUCH, love the VA, hated his death and trial. - 10/10

Mondo Owada - He's also the best, I love his design, his character, his VA, his motive, his trial, his execution was kinda.... BUT I STILL LOVE MONDO - 10/10

Sonia Nevermind - She's so funny and her ftes are great! So good and love her in trials. Great VA, sondam is awesome. - 9/10

Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu - Great Ch.Development after chp2 love him so much. - 9/10

Gundham Tanaka - I love him SO MUCH he's amazing and funny and his execution made me cry alot. Sondam for life - 9/10

I just realised Ishida wasn't on this list but Jill/Syo was, so I'm putting him below:

#. Kiyondo Ishida - Literally an icon. Wished he was in a trial with Syo. 8.8/10

Love:

6. Sayaka Maizono - I used to hate her lol, love this queen. - 8.7/10

7. Mikan Tsumiki - I might get hate for this one... - 8.5/10

8. Sakura Ogami - A sweetheart and a hero - 8.3/10

9. Chihiro Fujisaki - He's so cute I wanna pat him on the head - 8.3/10

10. Akane Owari - Underrated, love her. - 8/10

11. Hajime Hinata - Best Protag - 7.9/10

12. Kaito Momota - He believes in Gonta - 7.8/10

13. Shuichi Saihara - Pretty cool ngl I like him :3 - 7.8/10

14. Ryoma Hoshi - Underrated like Akane - 7.7/10

Like/Love:

15. Chiaki Nanami - Her FTEs are cute. Noble character. Love her. - 7.6/10

16. Nagito Komaeda - A TINY bit overrated but I still love him - 7.5/10

17. Aoi Asahina - Relatable Queen - 7.4/10

18. Genocider Syo/Jill - She's much funnier than Toko tbh. - 7.4/10

19. Byakuaya Togami - Why did I put him next to Syo lol - 7.3/10

20. Kazuichi Souda - Shark guy. Funny. He's pretty good :) - 7.2/10

21. Peko Pekoyama - Sweet character, AMAZING EXECUTION - 7.1/10

22. Nekomaru Nidai - SO UNDERRATED - 7/10

23. Kaede Akamatsu - Probably would put higher if I had played V3 - 7/10

24. Gonta Gokuhara - Super nice and sweet :) - 7/10

25. K1-B0 (Keebo) - He's actually a cutie patootie - 7/10

Like:

26. Makoto Naegi - THE CUTIE PATOOTIE - 6.9/10

27. Kyoko Kirigiri - Nice, but I couldn't love her character like everybody else tbh- - 6.8/10

28. Leon Kuwata - Chill dude, him and Ibuki probs good friends. - 6.7

29. Kokichi Ouma - He's pretty cool, good VA, cooked in his trial. - 6.7

30. Ibuki Mioda - Funny, sweet, a tiny bit overrated. My mum called her a furry once- - 6.5

31. Monokuma - How can you not like the mascot y'all- - 6.4 bc he killed my faves :,)

32. Rantaro Amami - He's cool, but idk him well. Wish we got to see his character more. - 6.3

33. Korekiyo Shinguji - Chill guy, interesting, weird subplot. - 6.2

34. Himiko Yumeno - Overhated tbh, cute, nice, cries a bit too much. - 6.1/10

35. Maki Harukawa - Not a big fan of the quiet brooding ch. but Idk her well so I won't judge too much. :) - 6/10

Neutrual - Like:

36. Celestia Ludenburg - She's pretty cool, trash motive, lied about Taka. That's the reason she isn't higher. 5.9/10

37. Toko Fukawa - A bit creepy, weird, but I still like her. Glad she survived tho tbh. - 5.8/10

38. Tenko Chabashira - Idk her charcater, I just know her "degenerate male" thingy, which is... interesting... no hate tho - 5.7/10

39. Mukuro Ikusaba - Wish she was in THH longer! OMG FAKE-JUNKO WAS SO COOL! Didn't see enough of her to rate higher. - 5.6/10

40. Izuru Kamakura - Cool concept, overrated tho- 5.5/10

41. Junko Enoshima - Cool ch. shit motive. Killed my faves- 5.3/10

42. Imposter/"Byakuya" - Good in SDR2 but didn't see enough of him :( - 5.2/10

43. Usami/Monomi - Cute mascot but I skipped her ALL of her dialogue because she annoyed TF out of me. - 5.1/10

44. Tsumugi Shirogane - GREAT VA but, I kinda don't know what to think about her. - 5.1/10

Neutral:

45. Yasuhiro Hagakure - A bit of a silly-billy, I dunno how he survived. He's closer to like than dislike tho. 5/10

46. Kirumi Tojo - She has the same VA as Hiyoko. HOW. Anyways, talented VA, cool execution, wish we got to see more of her tho. 5/10

47. Monodam - Apparently not as bad at the other ones? Byakuyas VA- 5/10

Neutral-Dislike:

48. Angie Yonaga - PRETTY DESIGN, GREAT VA, still not sure about her tho tbh... 4.6/10

49. Mahiru Koizumi - Boring, annoying, complains alot tbh, had great potential which wasn't used well. - 4.4/10

50. Teruteru Hanamura - Kinda... interesting. Surprisingly humane motive. I actually prefer him to Mahiru now... 4.3/10 (changed to 4.5/10)

Dislike:

51. Miu Iruma - There's alot to say about this girl... uh... 4.2/10

52. Hiyoko Saionji - Insufferable. I hate her, WHINY AND ANNOYING, I skipped all her dialogue. 3/10

53. Hifumi Yamada - I hate him, but I put him in this category bc why not. Skipped all of his dialogue, he annoyed me so much. I ignored him. He killed Taka for no reason. 2.5/10 because he was helpful in one trial.

HATE:

All the Monokubs, except I forgot their names. Incest weirdos, no point in the whole thing. 2/10

Anyway, my ranking is a bit controversial, so tell me what you guys think! <3

[silverraindropliliacsky]

I absolutely HC Chihiro as a Trans Woman. The whole "He was so brave to want to work out and be more mainly" plot line reads to me like desperation to not be perceived. Like literally stating, "he was happy as a girl, and good at it too." And then back tracking with uh oh everyone is gonna know your secret better beef up so no one makes fun of you... Or worse...

And then she outs herself to Mondo who immediately kills her. Like valid fear.

People don't want to admit Chihiro is legitimately trans because DR is so checking bad at representation and is in many cases actively homophobic (especially in THH). Admitting the nature of Chihiro's relationship with gender identity and expression asks some really tough questions about the rage Mondo felt that caused him to commit murder. Not to mention the clearly queer subtext happening between Mondo and Taka, can easily be implied as internalized homophobia brought on through social expectations and his role in his gang being brought into question.

Suffice it to say, I feel a personal pinch in my heart when people refer Chihiro as he. Although it isn't explicitly stated in Canon I feel like to continue to call Chihiro he actively goes against what the character is and is implied to represent

[livingdeadhorse]

A bunch of random thoughts after replaying chapter 1:

- After Sayaka’s death, Makoto separated the class into three groups based on what time they got to the dining hall.

The model high schoolers: Makoto, Sakura, Chihiro, Aoi and Taka (although Makoto notes that Sayaka would fit this category)

The average high schoolers/the ones with a more relaxed sense of time: Hifumi, Junkuro, and Mondo (yeah I was surprised lol)

The high schoolers who “don’t care about time or other people in general”: Kyoko, Celestia, Leon, Fukawa, Hiro, and Byakuya.

I just thought that was kinda funny.

- Mondo called Taka a “goddamned idiot” multiple times throughout the trial. Taka…is a lot funnier than I remember. I don’t wanna say he was dumb but he loved stating the obvious.

“The culprit was the one who killed Sayaka Maizono” like yeah man.

- Mondo did kinda sneak a diss towards Chihiro with that “you finally said something worth a shit” line. WATCH YOURSELF.

- Chihiro staying with Mukuro after her death because she didn’t wanna leave her alone. I love you Chihiro.

- If you knock on Leon’s door while investigating, he literally zooms over to Makoto, enraged/panicked, telling him that his room has nothing to do with the murder.

- Hiro paid 1 million yen (or USD idk if localization changed it) for a glass ball.

- Makoto gets weirdly poetic in his descriptions, Kyoko calls him out on it, he changes the subject. Cringe (affectionate)

- Mondo regularly annoys Mokuma/Junko, who in turn ignores him.

- Monokuma’s sprites are REALLY funny.

- I…don’t understand how Mondo accidentally hit Makoto. Where was he aiming? Did Makoto jump? I think the height difference between Togami’s face and Makoto is pretty sizeable right?

- Sayaka was literally never gonna get away with it because Hina and Sakura were witnesses. Hina noticed the knife was gone once she was done with her tea and Sakura noted Sayaka was acting unusual. That + the note Kyoko found thanks to the notepad indents. I love you Sayaka but you were doomed from the start.

- Both Makoto and Sayaka are conflicted on Mondo and can’t decide if he’s terrible or reliable. Makoto says that he doesn’t think Mondo is a bad person but he can’t say he’s a good person either.

- I really like the voice acting.

I think that’s it lmao

[stressed-depressed-andobsessed]

Listen to me sir/ma'am/whatever

I will CRY if i don't get more Hamilton 68s or just Théâtre Boy Mondo. (Btw if you can, can you do Heather...?)

Oh sweet, poor Emiko-Chan,

I've already done Heathers 4 times over in my mind. I sing 'Meant To Be Yours' in my best Mondo impression every time the song pops up in my playlist 🫶🏾

BTW I use They/Its pronouns and am non-binary so the 'whatever' part would be most accurate lol, I do accept Sir though! ^^

The huge Hamilton casting list took me about 4 days to make so I'm just gonna do a really simple, really quick list of who I think fits where:

Veronica Sawyer - Sayaka Maizono

I know I keep putting her as the Main Girl in these musicals, but she really is the most equipped for the job. She obviously has good vocals and knows how to lead a crowd, she's the best host!

Jason Dean - Mondo Owada

Y'know I had to make my main Bad Boy THE Main Bad Boy. He would kill all the JD main songs (Freeze your Brain, Our Love is God, Meant to be Yours, ect.) and he would have so much fun doing it!

Heather Chandler (Red) - Junko Enoshima

Obviously. She is THE Bad Bitch who likes to mess with people. She would have so much fun as a sarcastic ghost.

Heather Duke (Green) - Aoi Asahina

I have absolutely no basis for this. I just think it would be fun for her to take over the popular title after Junko-Heather dies. She has so much energy and I think she would be great at being fake condescending.

Heather McNamara (Yellow) - Mukuro Ikusaba

Another obvious pick. She's already pathetic (affectionate) in canon so why would it be any different in musical form? Having Sayaka encourage her not to off herself and to be more confident is an adorable thought.

Kurt Kelly - Leon Kuwata

I think Leon would love to be the 'Smartest of the Football Team' and the greatest FuckBoy in the musical. Plus how could he pass up singing a whole song about Blue Balls?

Ram Sweeney - Chihiro Fujisaki

This is so funny to me. Thinking about Chihiro humping a pig statue and begging Sayaka to sleep with them is so funny. Please re-watch the musical, but every time Ram pops up, imagine Fujisaki and I swear, you will love it.

Martha Dunnstock - Kiyotaka Ishimaru

Martha is bullied literally the entire musical and is naive. This reminds me of Taka. That's it, that's the whole explanation. I can't think of anyone else that would fit here. Maybe Makoto, but I don't know.

Pauline Fleming/Ms. Fleming - Yasuhiro Hagakure

I saw someone else put Hiro as Ms. Fleming and I don't know why, but that makes sense. I think him being an adult or teacher of some sort, especially someone as silly as Ms. Fleming, is the right choice.

There aren't many major characters so it was easier to sort, plus I personally don't take Heathers as seriously as I do Hamilton. I see Hamilton as a Drama with a fleck of humor while I see Heather's as the opposite. A story infused with humor with a fleck of Drama. (I mean there LITERALLY is a whole song about Blue Balls which is so funny to me) Because of that, I don't have to think as hard about categorizing which is so nice.

[danglovely]

Who was actually closest to graduation?

It's functionally the most difficult to graduate in THH because Makoto, Byakuya, and Kyoko are all there to sus you out. Hajime and Chiaki are less effective in GD. Nagito could find you but he's less likely to actually be helpful in exposing you during the trial.

Both Kokichi and Shuichi will work against you in KH. I still think that's less intimidating than the THH trio.

So who was closest to graduation? I have a hard time believing Sayaka would have gotten away with her frame job on Makoto had she lived through her attack on Leon. Seems like Kyoko would have sussed that one out.

Leon didn't actually intend to kill Sayaka, so his attempt was mostly just covering up the evidence of his own self defense. Seeing as Sayaka literally wrote his name on the wall, he wasn't particularly close.

Mondo just squeaks by Leon as a slightly better murderer. Like Leon, he didn't actually plan on murdering anyone. He did a base level cover up after he kills Chihiro, but he really only gets close because Byakuya decided to be confusing.

It may just be because Kyoko wasn't involved, but Celeste was pretty damn close. She only made one big mistake by putting her faith in Hifumi.

Teruteru came closer to graduating than you'd think he would. He saw what Nagito was doing and took advantage of it. He really only got done in by Mikan's unfortunate fall in the dining room.

Peko was trying to get Fuyuhiko graduated, not herself. Seems safe to say that had he gone along with the plan, it would've worked (dependent on a ruling from Monokuma). However, based what we know about Fuyuhiko, he was never going to go through with that plan.

I still don't really understand why Mikan asking about the camera angle of the video gives her away. That's a perfectly reasonable thing to ask Hajime, the only person who purportedly saw the video. She also had bad luck when Hiyoko interrupted Ibuki's murder. She was decently close to getting away with it, but no other suspects really ever materialized.

I don't know why, but I never really entertained the idea that Gundham would ever get away with murdering Nekomaru. Nagito is onto him almost immediately and the plan was just too convoluted to have a serious chance at working.

Nagito's plan to get Chiaki to graduate was pretty flawless and it's heavily implied that the only reason she didn't was because she went against her programming to reveal herself. Hajime does find her notebook and basically says he would have realized that Chiaki was the traitor if he hadn't been lying to himself, so who knows.

I think Kaede might have to be excluded for being framed. Kirumi would have gotten away with it if Shuichi wasn't there, but it wasn't all that clever a plan. I think, if she really reflected on it, she could have done a better murder. Korekiyo wasn't close. You're not close if you interrupt your original murder with another unnecessary murder, then go do the original murder anyway.

Gonta would have been close if Kokichi didn't know everything. Because he did know everything, Gonta was the least close. I don't even know how to evaluate Kaito because he wasn't trying to graduate. Top marks? I guess?

So, who was closest to graduation?

Kaito

Chiaki

Mikan

Celeste

Teruteru

Kirumi

Gundham

Korekiyo

Sayaka

Mondo

Leon

Gonta

Fuyuhiko

[stargloom]

hi. chihiro analysis post first time on the new blog. i dont wanna talk on my art blog much but i still wanna write this so. heart emoji

the entire tired used phrase of "making chihiro trans erases [her] trauma" is sooo fucking lame at this point . like please. i am not saying we slap a pride sticker on her and just say "shes a girl now its not problematic anymore yay" . i am literally obsessed with this girl and like trst me lol i heavily acknowledge her trauma and like. dont think that making her become a man will fix it. despite all her comfort and safety being percieved as a girl gave her, she hated herself and she was struggling with REAL bad misogyny. she believed that being a girl would mean she was weak, and that everyone who said she was weak would be right about her. i do nawt think that making her work out at the gym and hang out with mondo and cut her hair off and wear ugly pants will make her better she'd be infinately worse PLUS would get so much deeper in that pit of misogyny and self hatred. people act like her decision to "get stronger" was some deep thought out path to improvement when it was like. a panicked self hatred fueled attempt to make herself a cis man so she literally wouldn't get outed and fucking killed lol which . did happen !! because her corpse was literally violated....!!!!!! like . listen. okay. you can go that route if u want you can make her become a twink or mondos best workout masc buddy but like i dont think she would ever truly be healthy or happy or ever begin to process her trauma happily down that path. my interpretation of her future is like. her going to therapy and making meaningful connections to girls without feeling like a liar and working on her issues with bigotry and self hatred. i want her to take zoloft and learn that she's not weak for being happy as a girl and she doesnt need to force herself to change. i mostly draw her being happy and comfortable in her femininity because i like to inflict healing on my favs but like. sure. do whatever u want with her gender and her life, there's no *wrong* answer buts theres defiantly one that doesnt spit in the face of women and transfeminity and one that leads to a healthier chihiro.

[meetmydad]

long ramble about chihiro

trying to write my thoughts about ttyd remake making vivian canonically trans, acknowledging and improving her original transphobic (?) depiction instead of ignoring it, and how that makes me wonder what would happen to chihiro if thh ever got a remake, and i simply cannot come to a conclusion. the problem with ever trying to get to the bottom of how i feel about chihiro is that chihiro didn't live long enough to even get to the bottom of how they felt about themselves.

like ok if you take the game 100% at its word, ignore the transphobic trope that chapter 2 is rooted in and just accept it as a story, chihiro is a boy and all of his other mental issues stem from not being validated as male, and so he presents as female to escape that constant invalidation. and THAT reading is much closer to an allegory for being transmasc than it is to being transfem. this is so clear to me, i really don't know if i can ever personally internalize chihiro being a girl, because the story so strongly drives home that he's unhappy being seen as a girl. he's unhappy introducing himself as a girl, it weighs on him seeing other girls be confident in their identity because he CAN'T be, and the girls trying to include him as one of them only hurts him more. and if we read chihiro as transmasc whether literally or allegorically, the fact everyone switches to he/him pronouns for him post-mortem is now a gesture of respect.

so i don't think a modernized version of thh could or should make chihiro canonically transfem. it would mean changing absolutely every part of his writing, and like personally, again if you can just accept that the writing is problematic and engage with it anyway, i do really like chapter 2 and i love mondo and chihiro as characters and it's the most tragic chapter of the game to me. and i think that making chihiro canonically transfem would require so much rewriting that this chapter would need to be completely redone. so again what i'm trying to figure out here is, if we aren't completely scrapping what's there and are just trying to modernize the writing for a hypothetical remake, what DO we do with chihiro?

i don't know. i think personally i would keep the story the same but like, when the characters express transphobic sentiments (which they will, because they're all shitty teenagers) have there be pushback from other characters. like just give SOME of the characters a more empathetic understanding of gender identity. and just. make the transmasc allegory more clear honestly. that's what would make the most sense to me.

i want to say like 'and also make celeste canonically transfem to balance it out' (because she's the other character whose existing writing most strongly COULD suggest being trans with minimal changes) but that doesn't sit right because she. yknow. is the coldest killer we see. and also if she's trans then the plot requires deadnaming her. the thing about danganronpa is all of these people are kind of terrible and it's a terrible situation and probably almost any explicit queer representation you could make canon will end up being 'bad rep.' chihiro is bad transfem rep because she's revealed to be biologically male and then referred to as male post-mortem as if that's all there is to it. chihiro is bad transmasc rep because he was too used to presenting as female and was scared to come out. celeste is bad trans rep because she kills people. sakuraoi is bad wlw rep because one of them dies by suicide. there is no happiness here. obviously you can headcanon any of the other characters like makoto as queer but i'm focusing mainly on the ones who are already written in a way that implies it (within the actual game. there is also byakuya's whole thing in the togami novels. and honestly i think a lot about closeted transfem byakuya and closeted transmasc chihiro and... all the shit that happened and the shit byakuya says about chihiro. and again byakuya is such a terrible person in the game if he WERE canonically transfem or genderfluid it WOULD be considered bad rep. but like. i think about it)

in a way though that's part of what appeals to me about danganronpa. the characters are bad AND the writing is problematic and the result is like... weirdly human to me. and i kind of hope that if there ever were to be a modernized rewritten release, it would keep that quality of genuine human shittiness. i mean hopefully one day queer 'representation' will be so normal that we don't have to think of it as representation anymore. trans people being onscreen won't be that noteworthy, and we won't have to decide if a character like chihiro is acceptable or not, and we won't have to try and solve the question of chihiro's identity. they can just be a tragic hero.

anyway outside of this post i don't know how i'll refer to chihiro. probably stick with they/them so nobody gets mad at me. i just have a lot of thoughts. hope that all made sense

[northlight14]

Danganronpa V1 characters encountering a spider🕷️

Hiro: screaming like there’s no tomorrow, praying to whatever is out there and is frozen in place, refusing to move until the spier leaves or someone comes to save him

Junko: loves bungs because of the despair they bring to both her and other people. Was the kid who used to burn ants with a magnifying glass

Celeste: loves spiders. Has a pet tarantula. A truly unbothered queen

Sakura: calmly picks up the spider and places it outside

Hifumi: also screaming for help. If the spider goes on one of his anime figures, he will be going through the five stages of grief

Mondo: throwing anything and everything at the spider in an attempt to kill it. Fucking terrified

Chihiro: scared but will leave the spider alone and let it do it’s thing

Taka: terrified and wants it out of his room as fast as possible but also doesn’t want to kill it, harm it in any way or touch it really. It’s a real issue every time that usually ends in him calling for Mondo and him screaming at him to not kill it

Byakuya: “you’re all such babies. Who would be scared of a little thing like a spider?🙄” “there’s a spider in your hair.” “OH MY GOD GET IT OFF!!!!!”

Toko: either finds spiders interesting or hates them. If it’s the latter, she’s calling for Byakuya to get rid of it who just ends up joining her on the highest surface to try and escape it

Genocide Jill: loves spiders, thinks they’re cool as heck. Especially the poisonous ones. Her favourite spider is the black widow

Leon: grabbing his baseball bat and is going on a mission. Any property damage done in the process was a necessary casualty

Sayaka: jumping on the nearest table and screaming for help. However, she will also demand that the person who came to her rescue doesn’t kill the spider and just takes it outside

Makoto: shaking so much while getting it under a cup and a bit of paper underneath. If the spider moves, he will scream

Kyoko: literally touches dead bodies for a living. She’s picking it up and taking it outside while judging everyone

Hina: challenging that spider to a battle and going on a killing mission. Whatever was closest to her at the time is her weapon

[kiiromaru]

THH's Moral Alignement and Reasoning

[spoiler for danganronpa 1]

disclaimer: I haven't read the novels, also these aren't character analysis, just my reasoning for why i put them in this category, also please add onto it if you disagree or have anything to say ^^

Lawful Good

Sakura Ogami: She always takes decisions that she considers to be the best for the people around her : trying to proctect her dojo by accepting to work with Monokuma or committing suicide and making sure to write a letter explaining to everyone why she did it as to resolve the situation and create a more peaceful atmosphere among them.

Kyoko Kirigiri: She has good intentions and i feel like what pushes her to act is kind of a "i can do it therefore i should do it" mindset.

Chihiro Fujisaki: Cute baby sunshine, never did anything wrong in their life.

Ishimaru Kiyotaka: He's the Ultimate Moral Compass, pretty self-explanatory.

Naegi Makoto: A genuinely good person who tries his best to be kind.

Neutral Good

Aoi: We can see during chapter 4 that she put her personal beliefs above all else but even if she tried to kill everyone i still think that she is a good person.

Toko (Ultra Despair Girl): If we were talking solely about THH i would've put her in Neutral Evil since she doesn't care about anyone but herself and is pretty mean (also something that i find very interesting during the 4th trial is that even if throughout the game she seems totally devoted and in love with Byakuya + her obvious lack of self esteem she still chose to defend herself when she thought Genocide Jack had killed Sakura which could've led to his death), but the character development she gets in that game is golden so yeah.

Chaotic Good

Mondo: Feel free to disagree with me on that because of the fact that he killed Chihiro who very much did not deserve it but contrary to what Naegi says in the game it absolutely wasn't a cold blooded murder, himself stating that he blacked-out while killing them. I still chose to put him in good because otherwise he really tried to do the right thing (protecting Chihiro's secret by moving their body or even when in the anime he covered Mukuro's bldy with his coat it showed that he was a kind person) + we also know that he uses his influence to minimize tensions between gangs.

True Neutral

Byakuya: I feel like his god complex makes him kind of uncapable to relate to other people and consider their struggles on the same level as him so he doesn't care about anyone + we saw during the 2nd trial that he definitely can't be described as a good person. I truly feel like he couldn't care less about rules or moral implications as he considers himself above it.

Leon: His actions only seem to be motivated by what he wants in that moment without a lot of reasoning behind it, like changing from baseball to music or killing Sayaka when he could've totally ran away after she tried to kill him.

Chaotic Neutral 

Sayaka : I feel like she's morally neutral in the way where she's so goal-oriented that she doesn't care too much about the means to get to an end (which is also implicate in her backstory) but she's aware that what she does might bad : she was willing to let everyone die and pin the crime on Naegi but once her plan failed she still made sure to save everyone instead by writing Leon's name.

Yasuhiro : I hesitated to put him in chaotic evil because of the fact that he quite literally could have/tried to kill Sakura + he never was particularly kind to no one in the game and tried to steal money from us during his free time (tbh im still kinda mad at the wasted potential of making him a nice chill guy but well). In the end i went for neutral because i feel like its more a case of picking the worst possible choice than being a bad person, even if he is quite selfish.

Lawful Evil 

Hifumi: The reason i put him in "lawful" is because what convinced him to kill Ishimaru was Celestia accusing him of SA, which is an understandable reason especially paired with the chance to get out happy and with Celestia but he was still willing to sacrifice everyone to get out so lawful evil it is.

Neutral Evil

Celestia Lundenberg: It was pretty complicated but i settled on this alignement if we take the things she tells us at face value (since i've seen a few people saying that she wasn't actually trying to win the game and that's why her plan was so sloppy). I don't feel like she's a bad person but she doesn't care about doing bad things to get what she wants.

Mukuro Ikusaba: That's where me not reading the novels probably makes a difference because i know that she gets more development there but based on the game and the anime i have to put her here, even if she was obviously manipulated by Junko she still seemed to agree with her.

Chaotic Evil

Junko Enoshima: Do i really need to explain ?

Genocide Jack: I mean, she enjoys killing people and has no other reason for what she does.

Thank you if you read all of that, sorry for any typos/grammar mistakes, english isn't my first language and i wrote it all in one go. Please tell me what you think :)

[wallashoom]

guys i watched dead meat's danganronpa kill count and it honestly irks me that they considered chihiro a "they"

headcanons aren't canon!!!! chihiro is explicitly said to be male bc he was literally bullied into it to protect himself bc of japanese gender roles

if he was trans, he wouldn't have gone to mondo to be stronger- mondo was literally everything chihiro wanted to be from an outside perspective

and i don't think taichi would be the type to misgender his kid

canonically, chihiro is male. it's fine to have headcanons as long as it doesn't directly impede a character's story/arc. if you don't get that, you don't understand his character or story.

EDIT: (under the cut)

gender roles in japan are (or at least were) very strict. boys were supposed to be strong and chihiro was not, so he got bullied relentlessly for it. since he was seen as weak and feminine, he decided to pretend to be a girl to get the bullying to stop. and it worked. the only issue was that if he was ever found out, he’d be bullied even more for crossdressing.

chihiro never wanted to be a girl and only did it because he wanted the bullying to stop. he is quite literally uncomfortable at the others treating him as a girl.

chihiro looked up to mondo because he was a strong man and wanted to be trained by him- he even declined sakura’s offer because she was a woman.

the second motive made him motivated to share his secret- to be strong enough to let the truth out and finally be himself. a lot of his dialogue gives an insight on his insecurity of being weak and his desire to be a strong man. he wants to be a man.

if you headcanon him as trans, that is fine. that is your headcanon. my personal problem is that it feels like a lot of the takes i’ve seen undermine his story or it’s just people insisting he’s canonically trans. his character arc and over all characterization is very heavily centered around the topic of gender and gender roles/masculinity and i’m pretty sure it’s supposed to be a critique on those topics. and it’s important to keep in mind that these topics are seen differently between somewhere like the usa and japan. this game was released in 2010 and no game after has stated that chihiro identifies as anything different. alter ego- a program that chihiro created and i doubt he intended on sharing with anyone uses he/him pronouns for him. chihiro programmed something secret and gave himself he/him pronouns. the AI of chiaki that chihiro also helped create refers to chihiro as her and monomi’s father. it’s not supposed to be anything all that deep.

can his story be seen as an allegory? yes, absolutely. if you resonate with that, then that’s your comfort space. but don’t be one of those people that project onto the character.

my issue with dead meat’s kill count is that usually they follow canon and mention canon elements. to put chihiro as a “they/them” is just incorrect, no matter how much discourse it may create. this is my complaint. i know they took the safe route, but it is explicitly said that chihiro is a boy and identifies as such. i don’t remember if this was the japanese version only, but mondo refers to him using masculine pronouns and nicknames. chihiro is canonically a cisgender male and he always has been.

if you can identify with the trans take, that’s great- but please understand his character and the journey he goes through within the game. he’s not supposed to be trans representation so don’t look at it him like he is.

tl;dr - while i personally dislike the “chihiro is trans” headcanon, i don’t care if you do. my issue is that if you’re going to cover the game’s story and it’s characters, it needs to go off of canonical elements. acknowledging outside debates is fine, but don’t let headcanons bleed into your actual coverage.

[ultimateplaylistmaker]

Recently seen a comment on TikTok about how MonDo aND iSHimARu sHOulD adOPt CHihiRo, and that make me sour, since Chihiro is the same age as both of them and they literally changed the course of the Killing Game through their intelligence, and yet this is just another thing because fandom loves to infantilize short people no matter what.

I am at all times eye twitching about this kinda stuff, like Chihiros the same age! Chihiros just small!

Something something about the infantification of smaller woman or at least woman perceived people in fandom

[nerd-cat-rambles]

Can you slander Makoto? I hate him too tbh but I rarely saw slander of him

Waited my whole life for this ask /j

Aight let's begin:

He's average, he has no redeeming qualities and could literally be replaced by any character in the franchise.

He has no unique hobbies or interests at all, he would have nothing interesting or fun to talk with you about.

He gets no development throughout the franchise

He got in HPA as the Ultimate Luck but spends his time fucking getting punched and stuff.

He doesn't care about other characters, he didn't care about Taka when he went catatonic, he didn't try to empathise with Leon, he never heard Hiro out in the third chapter, he never says anything to stop people from being rude to Sakura.

All ships with him are super bland and annoying, they don't work because he's so average and boring.

His personality is only put positively, he has NO flaws and I mean NONE. This makes for a bad protagonist because he has no room to improve and that makes him uninteresting to the audience. I would've forgotten about him if he wasn't a placeholder.

He lets characters be mean and bitchy to him (mainly byakuya)

He never trains with Aoi, not even after Sakura dies. SHE WOULD HAVE BEEN TRAINING ALONE GUYS, ALONE!

he's not relatable or realistic at all (tf are "The Meat Teens")

He's super annoying especially around Maizono-Chan

Poorly written and kinda bland

He has the most BASIC VA making him super forgettable, his VA is in every other anime on the planet and so he's easily forgettable.

He did nothing to get granted the title of Ult. Hope???

Average ass design, bro your jacket is BOOORING even Hifumi has a better fit tbh

He has no personality and no FTEs (bc he's a protag) so he seems super 2D compared to the other characters.

He's given too much credit as a protagonist when literally Kyoko does all the work.

Every time he's on screen I cry /hj

I skip his dialouge in UDG bc I can't stand his voice.

Milk Toast kinda guy

His suit design makes him look like an offbrand Fuyuhiko

His "hopeful attitude" is there until Sayaka needs him for support, he never asks further about her issues??? Until Leon needs some empathy for his situation, he goes "YOU MURDERED SAYAKA YOU BAD!!!" he wasn't there when Chihiro had a complex, they could've bonded "hey you may think you're weak but I KNOW I'm average" wasn't there for Mondo to help him in his final moments, wasn't there for Kiyotaka when he didn't even eat. I DID TAKA'S FTES IN CHAPTER 3 AND HE DIDN'T EVEN TRY TO HELP ("..." "..." "..." "Taka and I stood in silence for some time") he doesn't stop Toko and Hiro from calling Sakura ogre, and is scared of her for most of the game even though she's a sweetheart! He never sympathises with Yasuhiro (they were both framed at one point or another). He never helps Aoi after Sakura died, he never hears Toko/Jill out in ANY situation!

He keeps being accused of lying and nobody trusts him (chp.1 trial, chp.5 trial twice - masked figure attack, and his execution-)

He never works for anything, information is always given to him

The cast should've killed him and used his ahoge as a radio antenna to call for help, or connect it to alter-ego and get a radio signal.

A virtually untouchable character

All of his superfans go "He's such a pure innocent baby who did no wrong he's so cool!" but this list exists...

He never had any reason to kill, his motive/secret could've been hella interesting, he could've tried to kill, but we got nothing.

He's dense and any fics with him in it are boring.

Any other character would be a better suited protagonist.

Yeah this isn't the full list but I hope the anon enjoyed the ramble!

This is a hate against Makoto, yes, but this is my opinion, take this as you will. Please refrain from hating because at the end of the day we're all entitled to our beliefs.

[a-student-out-of-time]

And to think that Chihiro was the most controversial character. Then again that character probably still is because at the very least the Hiyoko drama is limited to one person. Chihiro involves multiple people.

//Someone came to me about this a while back, about how their friend hated Mondo for what happened in Chapter 2, and I feel bad I never responded to them. I'll do my best to try and explain it here, since we're on the subject:

//Much of the controversy with Chihiro really comes from a misunderstanding about his personal identity, which I don't blame Western audiences for not getting, since it's a Japanese thing.

//Yes, how it's presented does come off as uncomfortably transphobic, especially now in 2024. However, nothing in the narrative ever suggests that Chihiro is trans. I have gone through DR1 several times, and I can tell you that everything points to Chihiro himself identifying as male.

//While it would be easy to dismiss that as poor handling of a serious topic, the fact that DR never even references Chihiro's gender outside of judgements about him not being tough and manly, and explaining to Makoto at the end of Salmon Mode that he's actually a boy, all lend credence to the idea. He never says he wants to be a girl, never uses different pronouns, and distances himself from other girls while they're trapped, such as turning down Sakura's offer to have them workout together.

//It's also important to keep in mind that the DR1 cast are all based on different Japanese subcultures- Junko's a Gyaru, Mondo's a Bōsōzoku, Sayaka's an idol, Hifumi's an Otaku, etc.- and Chihiro is no different. He's a reference to Otokonoko, a male who engages in crossdressing and presenting as female.

//This actually has a long history in Japan, even as far back as onnagata, where male actors would portray female characters in kabuki theater. Crossdressing is not seen as culturally strange in Japan, hence why it's also very common in manga and anime.

//Furthermore, Japanese has more of a loose relationship with gendered words than English does, and there's always going to be translation gaffs when something is localized and given a more literal meaning. That's why a lot of games from Japan can have such awkward line delivery when removed from their cultural context.

//And most importantly, Chihiro's story isn't about transphobia, it's about unreasonable expectations about him being a man. He was bullied because he was very weak growing up, told that's not what a boy is supposed to be like, and so to escape that, he started crossdressing. It's a bit out there, but DR is no stranger to ridiculous plot points and this is at least a more grounded one.

//Meanwhile, Mondo was subject to the same but from the other end. He internalized the idea that a man has to be strong, which means burying all his feelings of sadness and guilt over his brother's death, which only festered over the years and probably fed into his rage issues.

//Mondo doesn't kill Chihiro for being a boy who dresses like a girl, but because Chihiro being willing to confront his own perceived weakness with the desire to change made him feel weak by comparison. That set off a moment of blind fury and, without even intending to, he killed Chihiro. Both of them were victims of toxic masculinity, which was and still is a pressing issue in Japan and the West as a whole.

//I'm not saying it was presented perfectly, but in that cultural context, it explains that a western localization doesn't properly convey and has thus given people the wrong impression.

//I can understand anyone who still wants to assign Chihiro a status as LGBTQ as part of their headcanons, and that's totally fine. I personally like shipping him with characters like Makoto and Kazuichi.

//The problem is, when we don't examine the cultural context that characters like this emerge from, it can give us the wrong impressions. Impressions that have lead many to read Mondo's actions and Spike Chunsoft's writing in this Chapter in bad faith, which does far more harm than good when dissecting its flaws.

//I hope this at least manages to clear some things up.