#based on stuff junko says

[theamityelf]

For my last ask I think it would be funny if it was all the different soulmate ways so makoto is going through a bunch of stuff and is also maybe trying to hide it and if you include Izuru it could be something he finds interesting about makoto as maybe no else has had so many soulmates

(previous post re:Makoto and his class)

(original Makoto soulmates post)

Oh my gosh, then I definitely think Makoto would be shy about showing skin.

He walks into Hope's Peak discreetly checking the timer on the back of his hand, which is now down to less than three hours until he meets one of his soulmates. On the back of the opposite arm, there's a sentence he's had memorized for years now: "So, we arrived at the same time!" It's hidden by his sleeve. He has the image of a microphone on the back of his neck, hidden by his hood. The image of a Yoshi (or Galaga sprite) on his bicep, hidden by his sleeve. The image of a half-peeled orange right beneath his collarbone– or maybe there used to be a half-peeled orange there, but now it's just an oddly-shaped scar. That change happened within the last year.

He can't see colors (and he's been told his shoes don't match his hoodie?). Last night, he had a dream that he was a girl named Kyoko, meeting her dad for the first time. This morning, he saw through Junko's eyes while she was getting dressed, and he's barely stopped blushing about it.

He's trying to live in the moment and appreciate the amazing place and all the amazing people, but in truth, he's pretty stressed about how he's going to explain his situation to anyone. Based on his timer and the glimpses he's seen of Junko's letter, he's going to meet at least two of his soulmates here. He's never heard of anyone having as many soulmates as he apparently has. When someone turns out to have two or three soulmates, it's considered unusual and potentially problematic, but usually they meet at different points in life. One in youth, one in old age. Something like that. But two at the same school?

"So, we arrived at the same time!"

Three?!

Makoto turns to see the person who just reached the gymnasium door at the same time as him.

"Nice to see someone else who appreciates the value of punctuality," the tidy young man commends.

Makoto clears his throat. "Uh, yeah. I guess I was just...worried about being late."

And the young man's expression changes to one of astonishment, because as expected, he has Makoto's first words to him on his arm, too. The timer on his other wrist still says a little over two hours, and he can suddenly feel Junko looking through his eyes.

Makoto levels with his new...friend. "Listen, I'm really glad to meet you, and we should definitely have a conversation about this, but maybe not...right now? Can we talk at lunch, maybe?"

The guy remains astonished for a second before he recovers with an affirming, "Of course! School comes first. If we're in the same class, might it be prudent to introduce ourselves?"

And Makoto smiles. "Yeah. I'd like that."

His first in-person soulmate is Kiyotaka Ishimaru. Taka.

As more of their classmates start arriving, Makoto feels more and more of a complicated mix of excitement and anxiety. He introduces himself to a well-dressed, bespectacled guy named Byakuya, and the second they make eye contact, Makoto can suddenly see in color. Byakuya's expression of snobby disinterest drops into one of ill-disguised shock, and Makoto hasn't explained the situation to Taka yet, his timer says he has like an hour and a half until he meets another soulmate, Junko isn't even here yet, and now he has to get used to colors!

And wow, his shoes really don't match his hoodie.

He definitely needs to explain things to Taka and Byakuya before Junko gets here, because despite never having met her in person, he knows that she's a lot. And he'd hate for anyone to learn that he has multiple soulmates from anyone but him.

"Well?" Byakuya says, having returned to snobby disinterest. "Tell me your name already so we can be done with these ridiculous introductions."

Okay, rude. But that's fine. "I'm Makoto Naegi. I'm the Ultimate Lucky Student, and...I hate to tell you this bluntly, but I think I kind of need to hurry, so..." He draws in a breath. "I have multiple soulmates...here. Kind of...a few...here."

Byakuya loses his facade of indifference, looking at Makoto again with narrowed eyes. "Excuse me?"

"I know, we should definitely discuss this, but I need to tell Taka, too, before he finds out in a worse way."

And Makoto runs off and explains the situation to Taka (WHOA! Taka's eye color! He is going to have to get used to eye colors.), who is surprised and maybe (almost definitely) disappointed, but he's very polite about it. Makoto promises that they'll talk again at lunch.

He checks his timer again. An hour and twenty minutes.

"Hey."

He pulls his sleeve down to cover the timer, looking up to see who's addressed him, and Oh, you've got to be kidding me. Kyoko?! From his dreams?!

"Makoto, right?"

"Y-Yeah. Kyoko?"

She doesn't say yes or nod or anything. "How many?"

"Huh?"

"How many do you have? I saw the timer on your wrist, and your reaction to Togami. Ishimaru keeps glancing at you. How many do you have?" At least she doesn't seem upset. Though she has completely busted him.

"I don't...know, for sure. I have a few soulmate marks, I just saw color for the first time, I share dreams with you and see through someone else's eyes occasionally, Taka's first words to me are on my arm..."

"Is that your talent? Are you some kind of soulmate anomaly?"

"Oh, no. I'm here as the Ultimate Lucky Student."

"I don't know that I would consider your situation here a lucky one. If breaking things to Togami and Ishimaru has you this nervous–"

He sees a flash of the school from outside and knows that Junko is here.

"I'm sure it'll be fine," he says, with forced optimism. "I mean, once I explain the situation to everyone, I'm sure we can all get past how weird this is. I'm glad to finally meet you, Kyoko."

"Hm. Don't worry; I'm not here to socialize anyway."

She slips away before he can say anything else, and then he hears the door open, and Junko's here!

[ultfan]

MY DESPAIR DR3 IDEAS LFG

firstly, i just wanna say that i am basing everything here based of info we get in dr1, dr2 and dr0. i'm just wiping the actual anime itself from my brain. so anime exclusive editions are just gonna be scrubbed. i may be able to fit them in somewhere, but they're not my focus. this is origin story centric.

kick off during the first year of the dr2 cast. i think rather than showing how unified the group is it would actually make more sense if everyone was kinda struggling. obviously some people would form their close bonds, like nekomaru and akane, gundham and sonia, etc. but i don't think it makes sense for the cast to have as close a bond as they do in dr3.

hajime and chiaki were huge pieces when it came to keeping the peace/unity between the members of the dr2 cast during the game. they would not be present in class 77-B. because hajime is in the reserve course and chiaki is an ai.

if their first year of school was all sunshine and rainbows i don't see why they would erase memories of ALL of their time at hope's peak academy.

narratively it makes the most sense for their first year to be setup as to why these people would fall for junko. they shouldn't be having a great time at hope's peak. fuyuhiko's sister is killed, sato is killed, people have health complications, people are dealing with family troubles... even if they try to keep together there is a lot boiling under the surface.

nagito, as a known troublemaker, would 100% fucking make the problems they are facing worse. because on god you know komaeda would tell fuyuhiko to his face that his sister's death was a "stepping stone" and he could overcome it. — he is definitely a disrupter of unity, even if he's not trying to be.

hajime's deal is likely a seemingly disconnected b-plot until the izuru stuff happens (at least if you're watching without any danganronpa context... which would be stupid... but narratively that's how it would look). ——— he's separated from the rest of the cast, probably often witnessing things form the sidelines. the focus on hajime should be on his worsening mental health, going from being excited to be going to hope's peak to learning what it really means to be in the reserve course.

he strikes me as someone who would at least TRY to get involved with the main course students. i think it'd be interesting to see him all hopeful and trying to make ultimate friends or act like he's on the same level as them. only to get completely shut down and rejected by the people he does end up reaching out to.

really use him to show just how poorly reserve course students are treated by the school. the disparity between the two kinds of students — the fact that the reserve course are ONLY there to give hope's peak more funding and nothing else.

highlight how badly he wants to be part of that world. how desperate he is. how he'd be willing to do anything to feel "special." like he's worth something.

yasuke has to be important as the ultimate neurologist. he helped with the memory shit, he's implied to have helped on the kamakura project, and he is also said to have his research used in the neo world program. not including him in all of this would honestly just be a crime. he ties everything together in a neat bow.

given that they're both entering the school in the same year, and nagito got his diagnosis this year too, there is no way he wouldn't see this as fate. he is going to hope's peak at the same time as the ultimate neruologist! that has to be a sign. i can easily see nagito offering up himself to yasuke so he could study his illness and monitor his brain activity. yasuke, who has a past with this kind of disease, would probably be more than willing to as well.

in the middle of the year the school, being impressed with his work, yasuke is reached out in private to assist in the kamakura project. he accepts and gets on it ——— in the background hajime is scouted and accepts to participate out of desperation, not entirely aware of what he's getting into.

enter class 78 — and junko and mukuro — who, thanks to yasuke, are able to easily integrate themselves into the plot and where they need to be.

junko's relationship with yasuke allows her to learn about the kamakura project early on into the school year. she learns about it's progress, it's purpose, and where izuru is being kept (for future reference).

by coincidence — or perhaps thanks to bad luck — she is able to meet nagito through yasuke. this is a guy who's brain doesn't function normally. simply put, he is an incredibly difficult guy to predict/truly understand. i imagine he would interest junko — and his hope fanaticism would be something of note that can be taken advantage of. it is via nagito that junko is able to get an interest in class 77-B and learn about the misfortune they faced last year (when she wasn't here). this will eventually domino into her turning them into ultimate despair. this makes a lot more sense then randomly running into a guy and deciding he's important to the plot, imho.

izuru would get "rescued" by the despair sisters. with a combination of the information they got from yasuke, mukuro's skills as the ultimate soldier, and junko's ultimate analyst ability they are able to avoid trouble and smoothly get to him. this is the real start of her plan.

in dr2 it is said that junko "broke izuru's spirit" — which implied he had a spirit to break. in dr3 he was already dead inside, but i feel like it would make sense if the scientists really tried to make him incredibly loyal to hope's peak and the idea of hope. you know — actually attempt to make the ultimate hope. make that his entire identity.

izuru, incapable of remembering anything that has ever been told to the contrary, is given an entirely different view of the world through junko. izuru, given his little reaction to being on the boat (his excitement at the rocking) strikes me as someone who is surprisingly ignorant and impressionable. which makes sense. they took away all his memories/feelings/personality. and so, when junko gives her philosophy to him, he asks for her to prove it.

he doesn't initially believe her, thanks to how he was created, but then the idea of the first mutual killing game comes up. izuru participates out of sheer curiosity to see where junko is coming from — to see if there is anything at all to this. and given that is the incident that leads to the inevitable fall of hope's peak... it seems to izuru that there is. THAT is what breaks his spirit.

izuru learns that everything he went through, that everything he thought he knew, was a lie. and that the concept that he is meant to embody and put forth into the world isn't... really... anything. "hope" — what is that? it's such a vague idea and it's different for literally every person. it's just an empty promise. there's no hope for someone like him. and there's no hope for this school — or this world. not really.

the events of dr0 happen. most people actually know that ryoko is junko and that she lost her memories (at least class 78 and people who knew her beforehand were aware) — and we know the school is also covering shit up too. izuru goes into hiding. the reserve course students start rioting. kyoko goes to investigate the killings of the student council and is eventually told to stop by her dad (because if she got any further she'd learn about things the school couldn't risk getting out). mukuro tests out her junko disguise here and there, but probably not in public often (mostly just with ryoko). and yasuke is killed, his death covered up by the school.

if kyoko is able to investigate, i think it is logical that nagito also investigates. i mean, his beloved symbols of hope are dying! he is pretty close to kyoko's levels of deduction in dr2, often having solved the cases before everyone else and just watching things progress as he drip feeds hints. i have no doubt kyoko would've been able to uncover everything if she wasn't stopped, but nagito also has an advantage: knowing yasuke.

he would know yasuke wouldn't suddenly drop out and stop their research — he's the ultimate neurologist, after all. it's also likely that he knew he was treating junko (ryoko) for a while. and if he were to investigate his lab/dorm he could be able to find the research papers on memory that were stolen by the despair sisters for their future plans.

with this knowledge, as well as seeing that junko SUDDENLY regained her memories after yasuke's disappearance, i think it's reasonable for him to confront them and figure out what they're doing.

junko takes advantage of the kind of person nagito is. we know from monokuma's behavior in dr2 that it seems he really trusts nagito to go above and beyond when given the opportunity to challenge his symbols of hope. monokuma was supportive of komaeda in the first killing and even actively helped him a little bit when it came to setting things up for the investigation (hajime even mentioned it seemed like nagito had trained monokuma). and i've already talked about how the final dead room's highest difficult setting was likely made specifically with komaeda in mind — knowing he would do something extreme upon finding out about their identities of ultimate despiar.

what takes place is a proposed battle against hope and despair. junko would know enough about nagito from yasuke to know about his love of hope, as well as his abberant behavior. and, with mukuro around, she's not in danger if she spills some stuff to nagito. if he threatens to spill things before they're ready to be spilled, he'd get killed. luckily, nagito is 100% the kind of person to side with his enemies.

this school and the ultimates here are basically komaeda's coping mechanism. he believes that hope can overcome any despiar. and so he fully believes junko's plans will fall flat and that the symbols of hope will easily overcome her despair and be stronger for it. junko is able to egg him on — get him to prove it  — and he agrees to help her spread her despair just to prove her wrong. he doesn't believe his assistance will do much. because he believes himself inconsequential and irrelevant.

it is through nagito that junko is able to learn more personal details of class 77-B, and through him that she is able to manipulate them directly and indirectly. she is able to break each of them down one by one — really dig in and target them in ways that would break them specifically. and eventually brainwash them (in the culty sense, not the mind control sense) into accepting her despair mindset.

junko works a lot like a cult leader in my mind. she is able to perfectly analyze and predict others, and has great charisma. after breaking them down she could easily offer them despair to give them some "meaning" back into their life. and we know from mikan and nagito that "just despair" isn't always the reason for the members of ult despair to do what they do. mikan was doing it out of love and devotion for junko, for example.

as nagito sees each of his classmates fall over to junko's side and begin to add fuel to the fire of the tragedy, he starts getting a little nervous. but he managed to convince himself that they were just surprisingly weak in the end, and holds onto hope that the school itself and the majority of students would be fine. unfortunately, that's not the case.

the new members of ultimate despair manage to push the reserve course students over the edge — and start pushing the world towards the edge as well — leading to the mass suicide and the complete collapse of hope's peak. class 78 being "coincidentally" the only class to survive. this would end up getting nagito fully despair-pilled, even if he is still fighting for hope. and it would end with all members of ultimate despair (aside from mukuro and junko, who agree to be locked up in the remains of hope's peak) going somewhat into hiding to spread despair from the shadows (i say in hiding because we know that they didn't know the identities of the remnants, and didn't even know there were 15 other survivors).

i imagine part of junko's motivation for getting all these extra members into ultimate despair was to ensure that things wouldn't die down in the outside world without her directly involved. and, of course, to get help with the things she needed help with (building monokuma, for example).

EXTRA STUFF I WAS VAGUE ABOUT

how junko would get each individual member of ult despair is up in the air. i have nagito and izuru clear in my mind because i think it makes the sense for them to be the most directly involved in the plot, given their overall significance in the series. but i do have some ideas:

she probably preyed on maihiru's guilt involving the twliight syndrome murder case.

mikan is obvious — she preyed on her need for love/acceptance and gave it to her.

fuyuhiko and peko were probably targeted together, preying on the death of his sister and peko's role as a tool.

took advantage of ibuki's loneliness after leaving her girlband.

etc etc etc.

however she did do it for each of them, i believe it was a matter of ensuring they got to their lowest point (probably even with nagito's help, given his skills of manipulation and complete willingness to be a fall guy), and then swooping them in and being the person that they need in that moment. her true colors probably only really being seen/felt by the time they were all despair-pilled and it was too late for them.

at some point treating each other horribly is part being ultimate despair, yeah? like... kind words aren't used between them. it's similar to mukuro in danganronpa if ——— when she realized junko is cutting her off because she's being super kind and speaking about how much she loves her. for ultimate despair verbal abuse becomes a love language, it feels. hence why i think junko was pretty mean to the remaining remnants in the last dr2 trial. that's just how they interact! they make fun of each other, they're mean, they're abusive. so they can feel despair. because that's all they have at that point.

[desire-mona]

dead poets society chars but i assign them random things ive seen happen on the internet / random videos or posts i remember (not based on anything it is genuinely at random):

neil - tony crynight's fnaf animation series which i dont entirely remember the plot of but i'll try to describe. so basically its fake mangle lore to say that mangle is the way they are (all broken and shit) because Mangle kissed Foxy and Chica got jealous so she took a Machete to Mangle to Mangled them. and then the gang tries to save mangle or whatever

todd - fluffle puff, someones pink fluffy mlp oc who was in lesbians with chrysalis (i think thats her name, i never watched mlp). mosy notably known for the animation to pink fluffy unicorns dancing on rainbows. also the creator is a pedophile i think

charlie - sorrow tv and his entire existence. sorrow tv was a youtuber who made videos reading out reddit videos in silly voices. there was a whole posse of youtubers who did this, and he was the most popular just bc his voice acting was rly good. i still watch him every couple months even tho he hasnt posted since 2021.

cameron - does bruno mars is gay? i think about cameron man door hand hook car door every day, so i obviously need to point to my third favourite silly trying to be serious sentence. most ppl know this from game grumps but im not linking a game grumps video on here. rumour come out!

knox - venturiantale, the youtube channel usually consisting of 4? siblings playing gmod together usually. the channel itself was ran by this guy named jordan i think? and his siblings has their own channels. i knew them best for their fnaf gmod videos and their fanmail videos. turns out they were all very christian? and the whole family was abusive and way deep into said christianity if i remember correctly, one of the siblings who left first made a video on it. the venturiantale channel hasnt posted in like 2 yrs and the slow death was kinda sad to see bc he (jordan) blamed it all on The Algorithm.

meeks - that one nagito komaeda kinnie back in Whenever it was cutting off their finger to. i guess prove that they were a nagito kinnie frfr? if u dont know danganronpa lore then nagito gets his hand cut off and replaced with junko enoshima's hand because sheeeee got... executed? i wont lie i dont remember this part of the games story sorry. but essentially that one person was like I Gotta Do That........ anyway im jk the audio was faked and nothing actually happened + the person is fine LAWL

pitts - the key of awesome's parody of tiktok by kesha called glitter puke. theres no lore to this the key of awesome is / was ? a silly little song parody channel. this video was made in 2010 and it kinda shows in some moments but other than that it holds up. just checked and the key of awesome is Not still going, it ended 6 years ago and the last video was actually rly good and genuine

keating - onma island is buried a treasure chest. ok so basically mr beast made a video talking abt a private island and he buried. a treasure chest for a viewer to find. during the video he said "on my island is buried a treasure chest" but it sounded like "onma" which this one youtuber (pinely) found rly funny. it became an inside joke with his friends (one of whom got a tattoo) which then became a lowkey meme. mr beast even tweeted it so. good lord thats a lot of links sorry there isnt a know your meme page or anything

chris - i dont have any links for this one sorry, im just gonna tell the story and u have to believe me when i say i swear it happened (its very a believable fandom story im sure you will). so back when the genshin impact was still in its fairly early days (late 2020-early 2021) the phrase "hear me out" to refer to characters n stuff started becoming popular I THINK at the same time. so people in the genshin fandom were like hear me out with increasingly more heinous shit. started with characters, then npcs, then enemies, then bosses, then weapons, the stamina bar at one point, etc. a lot of these were jokes or straight up bait but back then (maybe now too - i havent been part of the genshin fandom for a LONG time) people took bait far more often than they didnt. so it became a "genshin fandom bad" gotcha to point out That One stamina bar post.

ginny - $300 junko enoshima wig! sorry for double dipping with danganronpa it was just the first fandom i actually started like. on purpose noting fandom happenings with + a lot of shit happens in that fandom. this one cosplayer who at the time was called snowthesaltqueen / badguyincorporated started selling pre-made (and styled) junko enoshima cosplay wigs for $300. which WOULD be fair (i think? idk how cosplay commissions work) if said wig was styled well or quality at all, but what was ACTUALLY provided was a rly basic wig base and few clips with no note or no nothing, and rly flat. like on purpose. like that was "the styling". also you may recognise this cosplayer for 1) getting in trouble when they did a cosplay photoshoot (danganronpa cosplay funnily enough) in a graveyard, posing ON a gravestone. 2) KILLING SOMEONE. they were screwing around with a firearm and fake pointing it at someone and then they accidentally shot them.

i could do this forever like actually. i have SO many internet stories in my brain its actually bad.

[themattress]

Kodaka.

Kodaka. My MAN.

I love all of these statements from him because they reinforce and validate all of what I've said about Celestia over the years, stuff that's more widespread among fans now but used to not be and led to some egregious misunderstandings of the character. Going point by point:

1. From Dengeki: Kodaka confirms that Taeko Yasuhiro is not a clever, strategic mastermind that she tries to make herself out to be as Celeste: all her victories came from her luck-based talent and she feels embarrassed about it, and jealous of Makoto for having a luck-based talent he can be open and honest about and unburdened by. He also states similarly she "wasn't able to be a complete villain": signs of a conscience clearly slipped through especially at the end where she gave the key to Alter-Ego back and didn't sell out his existence to Monokuma, implied more vulnerable reasons to her villainy than just greed, and sincerely wished her classmates well and that they could meet in another life. She genuinely attempted to play a cold, murdering sociopath, but never fully became it no matter how hard she tried.

2. From Twitter: Alternatively, the last part can translate to "And she's fascinating", which reinforces my view that she's one of the most interesting characters in the game since she herself is a mystery you have to work at uncovering much like Kyoko, Byakuya and Junko.

3. From Twitter: Related to the above. Kodaka liking Celeste's FTEs the most goes hand in hand with "you're supposed to try uncovering the mystery that is Celeste", sifting through the truth and the lies until you determine what kind of sad, insecure person Taeko Yasuhiro is.

4. From Twitter: Again related to the above, as the radio drama in question was fully voice-acted FTEs. Kodaka is saying that the nuances in the VA's delivery increased the intrigue.

5. From Twitter: Talking about Danganronpa the Animation and commenting how well it shows Byakuya, Kyoko and Celeste working off one another with their similar yet different personalities. Also, I will shamelessly take it as an endorsement of any ships with them.

6. From Twitter: Referring to this, where the lyrics paint a more vulnerable picture of Celeste.

7, 8, 9. From Twitter: Birthday messages from Celeste, displaying her good and bad traits.

10. From Bsky.Social: He says that Celeste wants to "create a world similar to Interview With a Vampire" for herself. The phrasing validates my read on Celeste's ultimate motivation: she is scared and miserable living in the world as Taeko Yasuhiro so she wants to create a world where she can live as Celestia Ludenburg (the European castle). She wants an escape from reality, a full-on retreat into delusions and lies. It's so twisted and tragic and I love her for it.

[a-student-out-of-time]

Now we have this forced break, I will voice a concern. The good news is you have made Tsumugi a very hateful character. The bad news is now you have trapped yourself. Any attempts for Tsumugi to have a sympathetic backstory, or for her to bring up valid points are gonna fail because when you hate someone that badly, everything they say will be ignored. And as such the big message of this arc won’t be registered by the audience.

//Yeah, I figured this was going to be brought up at some point, and now's a good time to address it. I said over and over that this was going to be a heavy arc and this is why.

//I'll start off by dissuading a common concern I've seen. Guys, Shirogane is the villain, and good villains try to break heroes using their actual flaws. The whole "We're not so different, you and I" bit fails 98% of time because the villain is pulling that from nowhere, which makes it even more devastating when they actually have a point. It doesn't even need to be comparing the heroes to themselves, but instead deconstructing them and their mistakes.

//The problem is that some are assuming just because Shirogane's points have merit, that equates to her being in the right or me trying to make sympathetic. I'm not, because she's not. Shirogane is an evil bitch and you are completely justified in despising her. I haven't even gotten to the real vile stuff with her, and that's not a joke.

//The problem is that so many of you are focused on insulting her and trying to dunk on her that you're ignoring what's actually being said, even when it's critical information. Not to mention I can't actually progress the story if I just have 20 asks that are the same insults over and over and over again. I literally can't build a story on that ^^;

//I'm trying to give you this information, and you actually need to read it. But I'll try and tone down the villainy if it's actively making it difficult to focus.

//Ironically, where I got cut off is going to be more proof of why you need to pay attention.

//Please bear in mind, I don't want to railroad or metagame, I really, REALLY don't. That made everything with the Puppetmaster Arc incredibly taxing to write and I don't want this arc to drag into 2025.

//Instead, let me offer some details based on the information we have, and maybe that'll help:

Shirogane is not Junko or the Joker. You can't treat her as if she has the exact same motivations as them. She's her own villain with her own goals, and insulting her isn't going to get you new information.

Just deciding not to play her game won't work since we have a deadline. You can't simply pull a Shuichi twice. Calling her boring will also not work.

She's not trying to make Hajime like her. She claims to admire him because he's a hero, and dismisses Masa because she's a "side character."

She IS a complete hypocrite, but she's not a bald-faced liar. In fact, as the latest scene as shown, this is about harsh truths instead. The "game" is about finding the truth outside the lab.

She's a wannabe entertainer and wants to be seen. Perhaps you can her to give up some information by playing into that.

Instead of focusing on being contrarian to her because you hate her, instead consider what information she gives that can be used to help with the investigation. That's our big ongoing plot and it requires some piecing together within the 5-day deadline.

Succeed in piecing it all together and I promise she will get the beatdown she deserves. It will put Emina's defeat to shame.

//And because I know there are still concerns, I'll also ally some fears:

You guys can give out information freely and nobody will die or get hurt, I promise. I regret ever having that one incident in Puppetmaster and I don't want to do it again.

I'm not waiting to pull a GOTCHA! moment on you all, I promise and swear. I want you all to help me lead this story to its intended conclusion, and I never want to be the sort of writer that tries to outsmart the audience.

I would never in a trillion years suggest someone like Shirogane has a point. Someone can be factually correct about things and still be morally full of shit.

//Above all, I need you guys to work with me here. Help me help you get you to what you want to see: Shirogane's crushing, ruinous defeat. It's what we ALL want after all this, I'm sure.

[nerd-cat-rambles]

DR VA Tierlist:

I made a Daganronpa Tierlist based on their Voice Actors performance, (THIS IS NOT MY OFFICIAL RANKING FOR THE CHARACTERS AND NOT HATING TOWARDS THE VOICE ACTORS AT ALL!!!) this is probably quite biased, and I haven't finished V3 so I don't have too much to say about that game! :)

SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT!

Here we go! (quick notes bc alot of characters)

I COUNTED WRONG THERE ARE ONLY 50 BUT I'M NOT BOTHERED TO CHANGE THE NUMBERS SORRY GUYS.

Did not hear you talk once blud:

51: Twogami: did not hear him talk once. Probs same as Togami.

50. Mechamaru: Same as last but with Nekomaru.

49. Kiyondo: Augh bb they gave you nothing before killing you off...

48. Rantaro: Not many voice lines, but his voice is satisfying when they are delivered. Ult. Wasted Plot Potential.

Nothing too noticeable:

47. Peko: I love her, but tbh her voice was quite bleh. Suited her character well though.

46. Sonia: I love Sonia but she was kinda mid tbh.

45. Keebo: Nothing much other than "ROBOPHOBIC!" but that might change I'm not sure.

44. Chiaki: I love her, her voice suited her, but there were no powerful lines.

43. Akane: I love her sm, one of the best DR girls, but she didn't have much going tbh.

42. Hifumi: I like how his VA portrayed the otaku thing e.g "booblust" which was funny, but honestly nothing noticeable.

Overrated:

41. Sakura: I like her, she's okay, I just don't think she did too much yk?

40. Toko: When she stutters she sounds like that one mf from "It" and that kills me every time I hear it.

39. Makoto: I dislike Makoto anyway, but saying "SHIT!" once is not a worthy performance Bryce.

38. Kyoko: Eh, her VA is good, but didn't do it for me ig

Wait I just realised I forgot to put Mukuro in the last section oopsies. And Junko should be in decent performance, mb guys don't come at me.

37. Mukuro: LOOK THIS IS WHERE SHE'S SUPPOSED TO BE OKAY? Cool concept, good lines from what we heard, meant to put her in "didn't hear blud talk once"

36. Byakuya: Cool VA, nice delivery of the lines, I just think it's overrated.

Didn't Cut it For Me:

35. Yasuhiro: He was in 6 trials... and what did he give me? "OH NOOOOOO" sorry, he didn't cut it for me.

34. Chihiro: I like him (her, them? UGHH CHIHIRO GENDER DISCOURSE SUCKS BRO) but it didn't GIVE yk?

Decent Performance:

33. Ryoma: Very talented VA, but that's his normal range (a bit lower) and not many POWERFUL lines were delivered (unlike Tanaka's.)

32. Kazuichi (bc I alr did Mukuro): Ay I love Kazuichi, his performance was nice, just not the best yk?

31. Tsumugi: Haven't finished V3, I love Tsumugi but her performance is like her catchphrase. Just "Plainly-Plain" (might change later idk bro.)

30. Maki: I've grown to like her, (I'm up tp CHP.4 yippers!) but I'm WAITING for her to have her MOMENT where she's crying and screaming. I know she will. C'mon DR LET HER CRYYY-

29. Mahiru: She's decent, I like her, just not much giving yk?

28. Ibuki: Very talented VA, amazing and fun range, nice energy. Nothing jaw dropping, I enjoyed it.

27. Hajime: He drops some banger ass lines bro like goddam lil bro chillax buddy. I quite like it... I like when he realises it's Nanami and is in denial. Good job VA.

26. Mondo: AUGH HIS VOICE IS SO SATISFYING IMMA BE REAL- It's not the usual stuff his VA does but I enjoyed his performance.

25. Gonta: Ay better performance than his counter-part (same va) Hiro. He's pretty good so far, innocent too.

24. Aoi: I don't really remember trial 4 that well tbh... I didn't like it though. But I do kinda enjoy Aoi. She has nice pitch, and when she gets mad her VA puts alot into it, almost top of her tier gj.

23. Same VA as Aoi, I enjoy her performance. Her voice is fun and different, contrasting the rest of the cast with her accent. Bonus points for going from Aoi to Angie in 5 seconds.

NOT TALKED ABOUT ENOUGH!!!

22. Teruteru: Augh I love this stupid litte man for his stupid little voice. Even though he's a creep his lines are delivered VERY well, and even his accent is great. That's some talent that we NEED to talk about more often.

21. Sayaka: Babes talked three times in official-art moments and does NOT get enough credit. I enjoyed her scenes and wish that she was in a class trial.

20. Leon: Omg leosaya order?! /hj. Y'all sleeping on Grant George, like goddam. When he gets mad, he gets mad. Talk about Leon more, give this man some credit his performance was excellent!

19. Miu: Augh I don't know how to explain the itch Miu scratches whenever she speaks. Even her "VIRGIN WHORE" moment voice lines just AUGHHH. The VA was picked SO well here, it suits her perfectly and I'm tired of pretending Miu = Hifumi because they're both pervy characters. GODDAMIT MIU WAS USEFUL!

18. Hiyoko: I do not care what you say, she ATE. She fucking devoured that second trial bro, my respect went up when she did all'at. God bro I find Hiyoko mid, one of my least favourite characters, but god her VA is so talented.

17. Shuichi: I don't think I need to explain too much, but god SHUICHI!!! When Grant George is given the time to develop... augh. "Kaede... that's just so cruel..." YOU CAN HEAR THE PAIN. TALK ABOUT THIS MAN MORE!!!

16. Jill/Syo: I know she has tiktok sounds, but she did so well. She ate every single line up, she used all of her screentime so well! I genuinely love her performance, and I don't even like her!

15. Tenko: So talented... you guys please hear me out (I'M NOT BIASED AT ALL.) but when she gets official art and moments in trials that's when she flourishes. "QUICK! OPEN THE CURTAIN, ALREADY!" like so satisfying Idc what y'all say she ate it up.

14. Himiko: After Chapter 2 she just... utilised the rest of her screentime. SHE CRIED, SHE SCREAMED, SHE USED HER EMOTIONS LIKE TENKO SAID!!! I love Himiko, and she is super underrated.

13. KOREKIYO: <- THIS DUDE IS THE REASON I MADE THIS TIER LIST. GOD HE IS NOT TALKED ABOUT ENOUGH!!! I don't care about the incest plot, his FANTASTIC voice acting lets him off the hook.Not just when he snaps, but when he screams!

Listen to this exact moment. HE LITERALLY USES SO MUCH OF HIS VOICE, YOU CAN HEAR HOW WELL HE DOES IT OH MY GOD. "THERE WAS NO EVIDENCE WAS THERE, SHUICHI?!" LIKE PLEASE CAN WE TALK ABOUT HIM???

He can also speak like a girl he gets bonus points for that. Holy shit. I just love this so much. "No. I will not acknowledge it." like yes bbg u ate.

*Chefs kiss!*

11. (I KNOW I SKIPPED A NUMBER I JUST NEED IT TO BE CORRECT!!!) Nagito: He goes insane, there's no reason for me NOT to put this here. He does so well, he went from Mako-Hoe to NAGI-HOEEE!!! He ate, I fear.

10. Mikan: WHEN SHE SNAPS AND GOES INSANE, OH MY GOD SHIVERS. SHE DID SO WELL. "WHY DOESN'T ANYBODY FORGIVE ME?!?!!?!?" LIKE I CAN HEAR IT SO CLEARLY SHE DID SO GOOD BRO AUGHHHH.

9. Nekomaru: "THIS IS NEKOMARU NIDAI'S FINAL FIREWORK!" "AIR CONDITIONERS?!?!?!?" "SHIIIIIIIITTTTTT!!!" He put so much power and energy into every. single. line. EVEN HIS SINGLE-FILE VOICE LINES!!! He made it sound so natural like he talks like that every day, and props to the VA for such dedication. Respect for Neko-Nation.

8. Gundham: Augh he delivers every line so beautifully in his trial. "THIS IS FOR THE TANAKA EMPIRE!" the power behind his voice and his hero-complex make me so happy. Every time he lost it in his trial I got LITERAL CHILLS. A fantastic perfect performance oh my goddd.

7. Kaede: I don't care what y'all say she WAS SO GOOD. "I'm nothing but a cold-blooded killer!" and that scream at the end of argument anament was FIREEE! I love her sm, and her VA did so much better as Kaede then as Kyoko.

6. Celestia: I dislike Celestia, but oh my god she did so well. The quiet reserved character snaps is definetely a chapter 3 trope favourite. I hate Trail and Chapter 3 THH, but that just shows how well Celes performed, her VA went INSANE for this role, and I love that she ate it.

5. Kokichi: He deserves this spot, he does so well, every single trial, every single performance, every voice line, every interaction. It truly embodies the spirit of "chaos" yk? (Just finished trial 4 and he deserves to be 3rd on the list.)

4. Kaito: LUMINARY OF THE STARS! I don't need to say more do I? (I'm lazy pls send helppp)

YOU POURED YOUR HEART AND SOUL INTO THIS PERFORMANCE!!!:

3. Fuyuhiko: AUGH SO SATISFYING, ESPECIALLY IN THE SECOND TRIAL. He does an amazing job, has fantastic range and AUGHHHHH HIS VOICE IS SO SATISFYING.

2. Ishimaru: The amount of sheer power in every voice line astounds me every time he speaks. From "I assert that the one who was murdered was Miss Sayaka Maizono!" to "Why are you all trying to frame him?!" and everything in between, he deserves this spot on the list.

Kirumi: All we see of her is calm and reserved until she snaps. She KEEP FIGHTING until the very end. You can hear the pain in her voice, how she IS BREACHING HER LIMIT during her "I WILL NOT DIEEEE segment." also, YOU CAN HEAR HER SCREAMING IN HER EXECUTION, let me show you.

This exact moment is where you can hear her scream. JESUS CHRIST GIRL I CAN'T EVEN-

[nite-puff]

And God, that's what I love about the stage play. It has the limitations of time and what practical effects can be done live on an assumedly small budget, which breeds innovations like the wrong vote execution giving probably the best send off for Ishimondo in the canon Killing Game context, Celestia's "murder" of Sakura playing into her talent as a gambler, and now this simple but effective execution. It really is my favorite version of the THH story for that reason.

Ask referring to this.

Yeah, the people in charge of the story changes for the thh stageplay were so based for their decisions.

They gave us not one, but TWO mondo executions better than the actual game. And as much as I love my guy Ishida, the way Taka was executed for voting for himself is a much more satisfying and thematically appropriate way for him to die. And Celeste as well actually using her ultimate for a trial. The first time she ever loses a bet is the thing that costs her her life. I’m sure Celeste enjoyers have other reasons why it fits better because they know more about her, but I think it’s a very good change.

Oh yeah, and didn’t Makoto let Junko live in the stageplay version? It wasn’t even a change made for timing purposes. I think the writer’s thought that Junko having to live with the fact that she failed and all that fun stuff was genuinely a better fate for her. Either that or they couldn’t figure out a way to give her a more heightened execution than the spears with all their restrictions so decided to omit her death altogether.

Also, the stageplay has little character moments that the game didn’t. Which isn’t really a writing thing, but I’m sure it comes down to some of the dialogue and the actors being a able to y’know act and add some flavor to their characters, physically. (Something that comes to mind is Taka saying smth about not running in the halls and then proceeding to speed walk across the stage with a big smile on his face. It’s so funny and makes him endearing to the audience right off the bat.) This is something that the game couldn’t do because it’s a VN and the anime could’ve done but… well we know what happened there.

All of this to say, I agree. The stageplay is so good. It’s one of those rare adaptations that actually manages to make changes to the source material that builds and adds more to the story rather than takes away. Ironically, it does this by shortening the story by a ton. But yeah, story-wise, the stageplay is the the best version of thh. In my opinion.

[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

NaeJunko is a ship I can sorta understand why people like it, but I could never enjoy myself simply because I don't really enjoy the "enemies to lovers" trope.

//I actually love that trope, but again, there's certain stuff you've got to consider if you're going to make it work. And I will give credit, it's a hard trope to pull off because of how many steps there are.

//Both characters should be well-rounded with their own strengths, weaknesses, and motivations to make the journey from animosity to affection more believable; but at the same time, you need to make sure that the reasons for the hostility between the two characters are compelling and understandable, and should have real consequences for both.

//Naejunko automatically fails step one because at their purest, Makoto and Junko, as much as I love them both as a hero and villain, are incredibly simple characters. There's not an awful lot of depth to Makoto in the first game because he's supposed to be more of a fill-in protagonist, and Junko is just fucking cartoonishly nuts. And the conflict between them is simply based on how Junko victimized him and his classmates for some backwards reason.

//But yeah, that's not to say I don't think Junko and Makoto are a cool duo, but the reason they do is because of how much they parallel each other.

//For instance, both of them know what it's like to be cursed with luck and talent. For Makoto, in canon, his Ultimate Luck has always felt like something that weighs him down and invites more trouble than it's worth (especially in the Worst Day Ever novel), and even when it's not working against him, it's pretty useless compared to the abilities of his peers. Then when you get to Survivor, even being the Ultimate Hope becomes a burden for Makoto, because the title makes him feel special, heroic, and like the fate of the world rests on his shoulders, when it really never should have.

//In contrast, Junko's talent is the opposite, but an equal burden. Her Analytical Prowess is so powerful, she's capable of predicting and estimating the outcome of basically everything she does. It's because of this that she is the way she is, because her powers leave her in a perpetual state of boredom. One of the most interesting things about Junko is the crazy psycho bitch gal personality that she usually displays, as well as every other personality, isn't who she really is. In actuality, she's a complete blank slate like Izuru or Utsuro, because she's incapable of feeling anything other than the surprise and astonishment brought only by Despair. And that actually kind of sucks.

//Again, as of Survivor, Makoto respects Junko as an adversary, but at the same time, he's also somewhat sympathetic of her. He's saddened by the fact that Junko couldn't have been born normal or had a normal life because of her innate abilities.

//One of my biggest hopes for Survivor is that in this final phase, Junko's character arc and what we get to see of her, will parody Makoto's own story, as it always has been. And to do that, I fully intend to give the two characters MULTIPLE scenes together; more than they ever had in canon.

//But I think aiming for a potential enemies to lovers arc, even if Junko somehow becomes more sympathetic (which is hard enough on it's own) because it really just wouldn't make sense.

-Mod

[cannibalisticdespair]

kodaka

🔥

Frankly? Don't hate him like much as the rest of the fandom seems to. Sure, he's imperfect. He's human. But like... I'm one of the only people who's sat down and done the math to figure out that Hope's Peak is a Unit 731 + Japan being in the Axis Powers reference. We have three numbered classes, one from one year and two from the other. The numbers are in order, and the extra class is marked with a B. Class 78, Class 77 and Class 77b. Which means class numbers are in order of since the school was founded and additional classes in one year do not increase the number.

Which means we can MATH! Class 78 is admitted in 2010, so we just get a simple subtraction problem out of this. 1932! Hope's Peak was founded in 1932 to foster and promote people who are naturally superior to everyone else and create the perfect human who is over all others. The Ubermensch. In 1932. Using fucked up evil science. In Imperial Japan. And they've always been government-backed for this reason. He stealthed that past all the censors. Japan really doesn't like to talk about shit like Unit 731 and he directly made a plot which is "Yeah, the Japanese government was doing evil eugenics science with human experimentation during World War 2 and never stopped, it's directly tied to the culture of talent and superiority in Japan, and that's evil." Like, literally, "our culture never actually moved on from the atrocities and the government is still fuckin evil". That's the core of Danganronpa!

And then, the social media landscape makes people go "I don't like this character as a person" = "This is a bad character", which is fucking stupid moron behavior. Wheatley ass motherfuckers. Haiji Towa. Oh, you mean to tell me that the billionaires funded both sides of the war and were complicit in genocide in order to keep and amass power, and are also child molesters? Wow, where have I fucking heard that before?! Like literally, "the world ended not just because of Junko, but because the predatory rich and powerful would rather commit genocide than lose power and wealth". Go fucking off!

Are there other things that are problematic? Sure. But like... the main one people get mad about is from 2010. I don't know how to say this without ripping off the bandaid. 1996 was 14 years before 2010. 2010 was 14 years ago. Sometimes, shit ages poorly. It was 14 years ago. You're judging 1996 writing by 2010 standards and expecting it to be to 2024 standards. I'm sorry, but that's unreasonable.

And also? I have some friends who know Japanese. Y'all ain't blaming NIS America enough. Japanese gendered pronouns are a bit different from English ones, and you know what nobody does in Japanese? Use masculine terms for Chihiro. NIS America are fucking hacks, y'all. "Genocide Jill" anyone? Gonta?! Yeah, the whole caveman speak? NIS AMERICA, THEY DID THAT. Also, they censored Komaeda's aborted love confession in SDR2. In the Japanese, that whole "I am truly in love with the hope that sleeps inside you"? Yeah he explicitly starts a love confession, USING FUCKING AISHITERU LIKE A FUCKIN MADMAN, and then chickens out at the last second from anxiety. Here's a literally decade old post translating it. Did I mention how goddamn old these games are? NIS. FUCKING. AMERICA. I could go on about hating them, but I think that if everyone knew they pulled that censoring gayness shit, y'all would start hunting them for sport by default.

As for V3... listen, Japan didn't even fucking know about the antis until a year ago. People tying it to that are just centering their own culture. What you actually have to do is know about Kamaitachi no Yoru, one of the popularizing works of the entire Visual Novel genre. In 1994. Well, technically you need to know about the sequel and some rerelease stuff.

See, the first game is a standard murder mystery VN. Nothing too remarkable there. The second game? The actors who played the characters in the based-on-a-true-story (in-universe) work of fiction of the previous game are invited to an island and events heavily mirroring the plot of the original murder mystery happen. Did I mention Chunsoft published this? Later they'd merge with the company Spike, forming Spike Chunsoft. Hmmmmmm.

Oh, but that's not what you need to know. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW IS THE EASTER EGG WEIRD SHIT IN KnY2 YOU GET FOR 100% COMPLETION! YEAH, IT'S THAT SORT OF SHIT! What is it? A lot of weird weird shit, but there's one really really really important part.

The Easter Egg takes the form of a secret message placed in the game by the writer of the games. It states that the franchise contains secret brainwashing programs to make people worship and venerate Chunsoft so that Chunsoft can take over the world But wait, there's more! It also claims, get this, that the fictional characters are actually somehow alive and suffering through the entire plot of the games, which is needed to make this brainwashing program, and the murder mystery games are created by just inflicting the plot on these living fictional characters.

Team Danganronpa is literally Spike Chunsoft. Danganronpa V3 is a sequel to a 100% completion easter egg from a different franchise that was extremely massive in the 90s and early 2000s in Japan and completely unknown in the west. YEAH. What. The. Fuck. It has nothing to do with fanpol, it has to do with a mindfuck horror story. Oh, and fun fact: that easter egg? Also the first known instance of a horror story involving the fictional characters coming out of the horrifying cursed video game and killing a person irl. V3 is a sequel to the very first gaming creepypasta, which was written and included in the very game it is about. Isn't that fucking insane?!

Oh, and the blue silhouettes from UDG and DR3 also come from KnY. And the boat scene at the end of DR3 is a reference to KnY2. Like, they end the same way. And of course, the brainwashing program stuff should sound familiar.

[khattikeri]

would kinda like to see you toss a set of dr ships on that diagram just out of curiosity

I ended up having so many ships that I split it into three different charts LOL

dr 1 2 and v3 ships below! i did not bother with udg or the dr3 anime but just know that i care quite little for any ships in those latter two titles

starting off with DR1 - I hold naegiri (& their respective ships with ikusaba + poly) in highest regard personally, and if i had to choose a least favorite pairing it'd be togami/naegi. just. doesn't pass my personal vibe check lol

i don't talk about it a lot but i am compelled by kirigiri/junko and naegi/junko, but only in very specific ways... the rival dynamic with kyouko and especially the dynamic with naegi as enemies who hold a certain level of fear or unease for the other. nobody ever really writes this dynamic though, so i have to content myself with my own imagination...

moving onto dr2...

this one is interesting because i just... cannot bring myself to ship most of the cast with anyone. i just don't see it. forget making sense, almost none of it compels me. i didn't even bother listing more common het pairings (think akane/nidai) bc it just doesn't even register to me. those two are beards at best.

probably the most interesting ones to note here are kuzu/hina (compels me bc of their FTEs) and komanami (which i love a lot in a qpr way, placed in "doesn't make sense" based off my perception that neither of them view each other in a romantic or sexual way, they just... are both Kinda Weird.

and finally v3! i find this cast most shippable personally... big fan of ou/mota in particular (or anything in the ou-sai-mota triangle). i like tenko/angie way more than tenko/himiko... personally don't like sai/matsu.

i'm not a fan of pregame in general. hoshi and kirumi don't even show up once on this list bc i just... don't really ship anything that strongly with them? oof

i read amami as sex and romance repulsed aroace and you can't change my mind, any ships with him are just a massive squick to me LOL

tsumugi/anyone is mostly a joke, but i am very compelled by messed up complicated (platonic, but if i'm in the mood for Very messed up stuff romantic works too) relationships involving her and others-- especially the ch 1 and ch 6 folks!

and finally: my most special ship hot take is that people largely ship ou//.meno because she's the only girl in the cast who's shorter than him, and even without them having any actual meaningful interactions outside of ouma occasionally being snide or rude to her, Girl Shorter Than Boy is enough for some people /shrug

[danganronpa-obsession-hell]

Mondo Owada with a reader who picks at scabs

I wanted to write something but there’s been no requests so have this one that’s been floating around in my head for a bit, this is kinda based off things I do myself so yeah -Mod Junko

TW warning: scab picking possible self harm and blood

• You were sitting at a lunch table alone in the Hope’s Peak dining hall, for whatever reason, you let your eyes drift to the scabed up wounds on your arms you got from either your animals or just being clumsy in general.

• You didn’t do it because you wanted to hurt yourself, it just happened when you were bored or anxious, that’s all.

• It was then that mondo walked in the room, carrying some lunch with him he got for you and him to share

• “hey sweetheart, sorry I got a bit held up- hey, whatcha doing there?”

• you tired to gently swipe the scab to make it stop bleeding but that didn’t do much besides spreading blood on your hand.

• “whatcha hurting yourself for?” Mondo put down the food on the table and he gently took your arm in his hands.

• you explained to mondo that it wasn’t a self harm attempt, you were just bored/anxious, it never really hurt.

• if it’s anxiety bothering you, mondo sits with you and gets you to get whatever it was off your chest while you have lunch, assuring he’ll listen and help as best he can.

• if you’re bored he reaches into his pocket and grabs his phone, saying you should distract yourself instead of giving into urges like that. He offers to show you some videos he took while biking around with his gang while you two eat your food, him grabbing some napkins to wipe the blood off your arm.

• either way, afterwards he stops by the anxiety ridden purple haired nurse to pick up some bandaids to cover up those scabs you were picking at, hoping to help you if you ever get these urges again.

• “if you feel like doing this again, tell me alright sweetheart? I’ll try to help, even if I’m not really good at this stuff”

[theamityelf]

My mind is full of thoughts of a Percy Jackson Danganronpa AU.

Here's an organized brainstorm.

Parameters: Danganronpa universe, Riordanverse characters. This means no one is a demigod, which I would ordinarily find a bit boring, but Ultimates are pretty superhuman anyway, so it's fine. Hope's Peak in Japan still exists; this is an imitation school in New York. The plot of Danganronpa is still happening in Japan. Junko and co are still responsible for the Tragedy and their killing game, but there is someone in the New York Hope's Peak who helped her cause the Tragedy and, separately, someone in the New York Hope's Peak acting in the role of "coerced traitor".

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Percy Jackson- Ultimate Swimmer. Most of his backstory gets to stay pretty much the same, except the weird traumatizing things that happened throughout his childhood that in canon were the result of his godly parentage are now just regular people mistreating a kid. He gained renown as an Olympic swimmer, mostly so that he could give the money that came with that success to his mother, so she could stop being financially dependent on his abusive step-dad. She was able to leave him, and optionally put a hit out on him? If we want a Medusa equivalent.

In the killing game, his classmates are weird about him. A lot of them act like he's not smart, no matter how often he's right about stuff. He gets extremely defensive when he's the one being accused of murder, because he's used to having to defend himself from unfair accusations, so it's already a sore spot for him. This makes him come across as hotheaded and suspicious, but he never hurts anyone.

He survives. Also, he's probably the POV character.

Annabeth Chase- Ultimate Strategist. Backstory is, she ran away from home when she was seven and ended up in the "care" of some kind of army or mercenary group, and she became their best battle strategist at a very young age. When she became old enough to object to what the group was doing, she plotted out the tidiest way to end them and escape (physically) unscathed. Once she was free, she pretty much lived as a drifter until Hope's Peak scouted her.

In the killing game, she channels any fear she has immediately and directly into defensive rage. Because she can see so many potential strategies in the the things people do and the way everyone else behaves, she tends to float on the slightly confrontational side. Ironically, despite Percy being one of the more cunning participants, and despite everyone else accusing him of stuff constantly, she almost never expects him to be up to anything. Like, she'll sit next to him during meals specifically because she does not believe he has it in him to successfully plot her death.

She might kill. She probably wouldn't be killed. Her execution might be chess-based! Maybe a cruel subversion, where she's winning the chess game and then gets crushed to death by a giant checker piece, or something like that.

Grover Underwood- Ultimate Environmentalist. He's a famous activist for climate change and pollution. And unfortunately, Danganronpa Law might dictate that he gets placed in the coward role by default. Someone's gotta have the outrageously out-there fear sprites. I'd say he leans more "easily-startled pacifist" than "genuine coward", though. He might get a moment where he throws a tin can at Monokuma.

He folds in the face of teasing of any kind, so if Monokuma or his classmates make jokes at his expense, he does not banter back. Percy backs him up, since he refuses to defend himself. But he is reasonably vocal in the trials.

He's the character you're sure is going to die every chapter, but he makes it to the end.

Nico di Angelo- Ultimate Gamer. Everyone who hasn't already heard of him is surprised by this, because they find him irrationally eerie and it seems like his talent should have the same vibes. He's had a hard life, partially due to family stuff and partially because these game companies target him whenever he makes them look bad and sometimes they send mercenaries to intimidate or harm him, so he has to live on the run and off the grid- while also being a notorious gamer. He's still Hazel's half-brother, but he has to be careful about acknowledging their relationship in public, lest she be in danger, too. (The game company mercenaries would hold her hostage! They've already done it with a different sister before, and it did not end well.) But he does favors for her when he can, and they manage to keep in touch. Now that they're both attending the same school, they still keep their sibling relationship a secret for a while.

He's very reserved, both socially and in the trials. Sometimes he hangs out with Leo, since Leo focuses so hard on his own work that they don't have to talk much, and that's honestly the only reason he ever has an alibi. He still often gets accused of stuff just based on sheer vibes.

He might kill someone for Hazel. Or he might be killed. Most likely, he dies somehow. One of them has to die for the other's character development, per Danganronpa rules, and I'm choosing him. He would agree with my choice. The group finds out that they're siblings either during the trial or between the verdict and his execution.

Rachel Elizabeth Dare- Ultimate Heiress, but she really really doesn't want to be! She tries really hard to have a different Ultimate, like Ultimate Artist, Ultimate Activist...

In the killing game, her role in the dialogue is mostly to be the one saying obvious things and explaining the joke that was just made. (Look, it's okay. Some of my favorite Danganronpa characters get saddled with that job. It's not a slight on Rachel.) There's a running gag where she tends to correctly guess things ahead of time, culminating in her excitedly saying "Hey! Maybe I'm the Ultimate Psychic!" This annoys Octavian tremendously.

Socially, she kind of cycles between the friend groups. She says very little in the trials. When people tease her, she very much does banter back.

She might kill. Or she might be killed. I think probably the latter, and they can have some line like "She didn't see it coming." Maybe Nico kills her because she was going to kill Hazel? Eh, maybe not. She does get killed, though. Although her execution could be interesting if she murders instead; it could be based on the title she hates, or it can be based on her yearning for another title/identity.

Luke Castellan- Ultimate Traveler. He runs a very popular travel blog or vlog, centered around how he's been to every state, territory, and almost every country. He speaks a lot of languages. He's older than his classmates, because he missed a lot of school while he was traveling.

"I've visited the Hope's Peak in Japan a few times."

"There's one in Japan?" Percy says, immediately interested.

"The first Hope's Peak is in Japan!" Annabeth chides.

He became friends with Junko Enoshima a while back. He had a role in causing the Tragedy to also happen in America, but he thought it was for a different reason. He never wanted his classmates to kill each other! (He was fine with millions of other people dying, though.) Junko said they were locking themselves in for their own safety, so he convinced Headmaster Chiron. His memory was erased along with everyone else, so he doesn't know anything except that he was friends with Junko.

His presence in the killing game is very charismatic and caring and somewhat leaderly.

He might be the first one killed. He probably doesn't kill anyone. All the information about his role in things comes out after his death, but maybe he gets a moment right before he dies where he remembers everything but can only say a cryptic sentence that everyone misunderstands.

Carter Kane- Ultimate Egyptologist. Attended many lectures and archaeological digs with his father, pretty much from infancy. (Yes, Professor Kane giving a lecture with a baby on his chest!) Very well-versed in Egyptology, and took over his father's work and expert status when he tragically died in a freak accident. If New York Hope's Peak has a reserve course, Sadie might be enrolled there as a backup Ultimate Egyptologist.

In the killing game, Carter's place in the social web is to kind of be the quieter Annabeth, in that he's smart and somewhat suspicious of the others but doesn't express it as openly as she does. Also, his particular brand of had-to-grow-up-too-fast is of a more social bent than most of the others', due to the nature of his work, so he's a lot like Reyna in that he'll be the one trying to calm people down and get them to work together. In fact, he and Reyna will have a casually-established trust for each other, where they generally agree about things, side with each other, support each other's alibis, etc.

In the trials, he isn't all that vocal, but when he speaks, he always has an astute point.

He doesn't kill, but he might get killed.

Jason Grace- Oh boy, there are so many funny answers to this. I think it would be most on-brand for him to be the guy who wakes up with no memory of his Ultimate. But, this would necessarily mean that his talent must be significant in some potentially-game-breaking way. Ultimate Wolf Trainer would be great, but maybe a little out there? I'm thinking he'd either be Ultimate Wolf Trainer or Ultimate Survivalist. Either way, his backstory still involves wolves because the wolves are the coolest things about him (in my own personal opinion).

He is killed by Monokuma for rule-breaking, because he does not want to engage with the game on Monokuma's terms. He's used as an example for the others. It's a very heroic death.

Piper McLean- Ultimate Trendsetter. (A really superficial-sounding title that she hates.) She's been in the public eye as the daughter of a famous actor, and she's known for being utterly subversive in her fashion choices and broader lifestyle stuff; she single-handedly reshapes pop cultural trends, and no one can quite put their finger on why she manages to be so...persuasive? Without even saying a word. It's like, just by being herself, she makes people want to "agree" with her. Her social media presence has a significant impact on social justice movements and political campaigns. She also met Junko Enoshima before attending Hope's Peak (because it's not hard for a super influential "fashionista" to engineer a way to meet a super influential "trendsetter"), and Junko identified her as a valuable asset. Piper is the coerced traitor. She confesses after a close friend (probably Leo) dies.

Her behavior in the killing game is kind of guarded, for a while; she's guilty about being in contact with Monokuma, so she isolates herself out of guilt. It comes across as the standard "aloof ice queen" character archetype, especially if the POV character is Percy, who she doesn't soften toward until late in the game when they understand each other better, but she shows her kind side when she's defending those she perceives as underdogs, like Leo and Hazel. She doesn't trust Grover (Another thing that places her at odds with Percy.), because she thinks his pacifist thing is an act, partially because she considers him a celebrity and she has a lot of baggage around the concept of celebrity.

After she confesses to being the traitor, people get back to trusting her surprisingly quickly. It helps that a lot of the late-game participants are more on the trusting side, and also, in true Danganronpa traitor fashion, she didn't actually do anything to anyone; she just is the traitor. Once the cat's out of the bag, it's like a weight has been lifted. She gets along with everyone way better.

She survives.

Leo Valdez- Ultimate Mechanic. Once again, same backstory except he can't create fire with his hands.

In the killing game, he leans SUPER hard on sarcasm and humor as a defense mechanism, causing him to butt heads with some of the more earnest in the cast. Characters like Frank genuinely believe he doesn't care or thinks the situation is funny, whereas characters like Piper understand pretty quickly that Leo is just unable to deal with his fear any other way.

He dies, because his talent is game-breakingly useful once the group at large is focused on game-breaking and not surviving each other. He builds something useful to the rest of the class and then dies, rendering the thing he built far more valuable for the fact that they won't have any more inventions or machines from him to help them.

(If we want to go Danganronpa-style cruel irony, Annabeth could be the one to kill him, since she's the strategy person and his loss would be the most strategically problematic to the group. Like, we could discover that if she just hadn't killed Leo, he was this close to building something that would get them free.)

Hazel Levesque- (I would love to incorporate her love of horses, but that simply can't be relevant here, lol.) Ultimate Witch. She has pretty strong reservations about her title, but essentially she's a talented illusionist with above-average luck. Also she can sometimes see ghosts; it's a genetic thing. (Because if Danganronpa says that's on the table, then why not.) She would prefer to be called the Ultimate Illusionist, but New York Hope's Peak wants snappy, clickbait-y names for their Ultimates.

In the killing game, she gets along with everyone. Frank is protective of her, because she's physically small, kind-hearted, and pretty. Nico is protective of her because she's his sister. All the other girls are protective of her, because she's the least athletic out of all of them (since this AU doesn't require her to have been fighting monsters). Leo makes lighthearted jokes about her talent that Frank takes too seriously. The only person to ever directly accuse her of anything is Octavian, though she's not above suspicion when she doesn't have an alibi.

And for her own part, Hazel's skill set comes into play because she has a keen eye for smoke-and-mirrors, as it were. Like, as soon as the killing game starts, she becomes curious as to where Monokuma is appearing from and determined to find out. Things like that. She discovers secret passageways based on her familiarity with optical illusions, sleight of hand, and hidden compartments.

She survives. Obviously, having a strong personal connection to a character who probably dies means she has to survive to say some line towards the end like "It's what they would want," or "I remember what they said to me..." Monokuma meant for her to die because she was a little too persistent about finding stuff, but it didn't work out that way.

Frank Zhang- Ultimate Archer. Once again, functionally the same backstory with the Roman gods swapped out for human stuff.

In the killing game, he assumes the position of "We would never kill each other! Why would any of us kill each other?!" He's at odds with Leo (and by extension Piper) because of Leo's need to joke about things, and he's at odds with Annabeth because he doesn't want to suspect anyone. His insistence that they shouldn't suspect each other makes Annabeth (and to a lesser extent, Carter) suspicious that he's playing them. He trusts Reyna because she's a team leader, but she is aggressively neutral toward him. Like:

"Reyna, tell them this had to be Monokuma's doing!"

"It could have been him, or it could have been one of us. We don't have all the facts yet."

I'm going to say he kills, and I'm going to say that his motive is a hostage thing with his grandmother. This is also character development for Hazel. Sorry, Hazel. Also, sorry Frank. His execution hearkens to St. Sebastian (shot with a bunch of arrows while tied to a tree or post).

Reyna Avila Ramirez Arellano- Ultimate Team Leader. Raised by a now-dead older sister, she led a lot of professional athletic teams to victory. She is great at seeing others' strengths and weaknesses, and she is a champion for team synergy.

Ironically, she's not great at creating or maintaining friendships, but she loves her classmates in her own way. She only speaks up in class trials when she notices someone is being talked over, in which case she makes sure the others quiet down and let them speak. Also, when Octavian is making it impossible to progress, she gets him to shut up. Other than that, she mostly listens.

She's probably killed, and the characters have a bunch of lines sadly reflecting on how they didn't expect someone like her to be killed.

Octavian [Last Name]- Ultimate Psychic. He's famous for his whole gimmick of divining a person's future by cutting open a beloved stuffed animal of theirs; for the hardcore superstitious types, it's considered a show of how serious you are about your beliefs to say you've had your future read by Octavian. (It's also a demonstration of financial status, because he charges a lot.)

In the killing game, he is hugely distrustful and obstructs the group from collaborating at pretty much every turn. Like, Annabeth is cautious, but he is straight up tearing the group apart constantly.

He kills or is killed for sure. Most likely, he kills; no way any self-respecting Danganronpa game would miss the opportunity to make him angrily defend himself in the trial room and get a gruesome execution that probably hearkens to him gutting stuffed animals. I'm going to take it a step further and say he's the one to kill Carter, since its too obvious to have him kill Rachel or Reyna.

Also, if they get to open up Monokuma late in the game, they're going to mention how Octavian would have loved to be around for this.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

So, to recap, in no particular order:

Murderers: Annabeth, Nico(?), Frank, Octavian

Victims: Rachel(?), Luke, Carter, Leo, Reyna

Killed As An Example: Jason

Survivors: Percy, Piper, Hazel, Grover. They are all best friends at the end.

[blossomxlush]

Now that I'm fully decorated (ignore my horrible puns)

I can work on my new series Called problem child there will be 3 parts

And in honor of this I shall declare some stuff

So we all know this story is An izuru Kamakura story notice how I didn't say ízuru Kamakura x reader

it's cuz This story is called problem child for a reason now lemme clarify this story is sorta based of the game called The child and Y/N will be like ana from the child

she looks like this

Soo anyway Ana was a child who was born with a gift that gift was some magical powers per say but for this story the plot is different

the plot is Y/N was still born with magical powers but unlike in the original plot Y/N was sent to a lab to be tested on like some lab rat because (even in the game) Her parents thought she was a monster but anyway (I'm not gonna explain everything a lot of stuff is still a surprise) it just so turns out it was the same lab that ízuru Kamakura was created in and because Y/N is a curious child after escaping her cell one time she sees a locked door only able to be opened with a certain scanner but because of her abilities and curiosity she can break down the door easily catching ízuru but surprise on how a child can be so strong he finds this little girl interesting they meet more often and sometimes have little conversations but once Junko comes and wants to take ízuru with her things will get a bit... complicated... and messy (for that part I'm going to use a certain scene that happened in the game where the MC leaves but since Ana likes her she throws a fit and litterly causes complete choas by uh making a toy clown and bear come to life to try and kill u as Giant monsters and even making knifes levitate towards you)

So hope y'all will join my choas roller coaster and how y'all will like the story first part will be coming soon!!

Shoutout to all my ppl out there who actually played the game y'all are the reals ones ~𝘊𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘥𝘪💙

[aparticularbandit]

Actually, I think you can make the case that emotional shut off numb IS Junko's primary state of being. That it's not so much I can only feel despair ever but that, as a trauma response, she shuts herself off.

Like...that's base Junko, separate from the other personalities she switches through. (And, yes, this happens in DR0, too, in her conversation with Matsuda in Book 2 Ch. 6. He specifically calls it out in the narrative: Enoshima changed her personality with no warning, as if she were trying on clothes....) The personalities aren't her; they're her...doing something else. In DR1, I'd say base Junko is that final argument when she talks about the air thing being connected to her, when she's most clearly her - but there's a specific point in the dialogue earlier where you can see it shift to that. For, like, one character beat, I think.

But that's not the point.

The point is that Junko presents the emotional numb as an extension of her boredom and hyper analysis, but the book in Ryoko presents it as a trauma response. And given what we can glean about Junko in terms of what she says in DR1 (that she cried out in despair when she was born, that she should never have been born (someone clearly told her that, although she might have started thinking that, too, at some point)) and how Monokuma talks about big brother/little sister stuff in DR2 (so far, anyway) (not just about causing pain, but particularly that Usami was the little sister who got separated at birth - taken in conjunction with never should have been born and everyone always asks why we have different names and it's not important - that very much suggests that Junko and Mukuro were separated at birth and that Junko was not supposed to be born)--

Look, when I say I'm building up backstory and am waiting to get through the games and the book to see if I'm proven wrong, this is basically it.

[gluttonemporium]

⚠️ Kyoko dug too deep into Junko's crimes, and ended up getting her body remodeled into being the mastermind's immobile belch factory and hammerspace storage. Don't be like Kyoko.

A treacherous story indeed... and what landed Kyoko in the position she was in now - strung up, almost like a decoration, in the masterminds main base of operations! Totally unable to move, she could only glare fiercly at the grinning face of the woman responsible...

"Oooh, you look like you have something to say. But that'd be weird. Garbage disposals don't usually talk! Course, they don't belch like a foghorn when I stuff them full either, so I guess you're a special case~"

Junko smirked as she eyed the bare stomach of her classmate, made visible on purpose by tearing open the detectives outfit. Giving a little window into the groaning, mass-mulching job Kyoko now had-

"You... horrible... ghn-! BHOOOUUUURRRK!!" Kyoko couldn't help but belt out massive belch after massive belch, thanks to what Junko had done to her! Only a few minutes ago, a great deal of equipment and items had been hauled into the room, and... fed straight into Kyoko's gut! Apparently, the fashionista had been searching for someone to take up the role of "infinite storage space"~

"Snitches get stiches, babe. Be happy I'm feeding you all this junk... you're a hell of a lot more useful to me like this than you were snooping around~..."

[kaz3313]

Ranking Danganronpa Protag Ships. Starting w: Trigger Happy Havoc (< all main student characters will be discussed~) Idk my brain suddenly wanted to talk about Danganronpa:

Makoto/Kirigiri: A pretty safe ship. Great dynamic. Can be angsty. Can be fluffy. Overall a pretty great dynamic. Prefer it w/ a multiship but enjoyable on its own. I’d say a good 5/10 on its own, 7/10 depending on the fic/art/concept.

Makoto/Togami: It’s antag/protag + it’s the mlm ship people pick up on so it’s pretty popular. Of all the antag/protag in the main games it’s underrated But also pretty much accepted by most people. I prefer it with a multiship if I’m to enjoy it- to be it’s just “eh” But I def understand the appeal. Another 5/10 just based on games but a 7/10 depending on the content people make on it

Makoto/Sayaka: I will confess did cry at this one. Yes I watched the anime first. No I didn’t know what was going to happen. Fell in love with Sayaka. Hated Sayaka. Understood and then Accepted Sayaka. I like her arch more in game (for obvious reasons that it was just more time and detail). Slept on a lot- mostly people making Sayaka completely evil Or ignoring their chemistry in general. 7/10 both in game and w/ own hcs/other people’s stuff. Love the betrayal aspect just don’t like her being plain evil.

Makoto/Leon: Never quite got this one, but never disagreed with this one(since my main Leon ship is based on “vibes only” I can’t really say shit can I 😂). Kinda up in the air for me. Been awhile since I did Leon’s FTE/watched them so I can’t say too much. I’d say a 3/10 in game But with all the interesting fanmade stuff it goes to a 5/10. Love the name LuckyStrike if I’m being completely honest

Makoto/Chihiro: Oh Absolutely. Just Absolutely. Not getting into Chihiro discourse but I see some Enby/Enby for them. The FTE are pretty cute, I feel even not for relationship they could hang out together. 6/10 for in game 8/10 for stuff I could think up for them.

Makoto/Mondo: EXTREMELY SLEPT ON. JUST IGNORED. THE FTE ARE GREAT. MAKOTO IS OFFERED TO RIDE WITH MONDO ON LIKE THE FIRST/SECOND FTE. WE GIVE RELATIONSHIP ADVICE. IT GOES NOT SO SMOOTHLY. ITS GREAT. 8/10 in game and my own concept- sadly underated (And for the Ishimondo lovers Why Not Ishimonoto? Think about it. Think about it).

Makoto/Taka: AS WITH MONDO’S SLEPT ON COMPLETELY. HE COMES AND WAKES US UP, IS UNOFFCIAL LEADER OF GROUP (until Mondo’s death ofc) AND MAKOTO KINDA HAS TO LEAD TRIALS. WONDERFUL TEAM THEY HAVE GOING ON. ONCE AGAIN- MY BIAS- 8/10 both in game and my own concepts

Makoto/Hifumi: Not really too much canon cuteness BUT I LIKE IT. 3/10 in canon but 7.5/10 IN MY HEART

Makoto/Celeste: Here me out,,, Gamblr+Lucky Student. I loved the FTE. A decent 5/10 in canon and I’d say a 7/10 in the potential. Thank you all for listening

Makoto/Sakura: I’m a simple Enby Lesbian. Small, tiny little thing. Plus Absolutely Ripped But The Sweetest of Sweethearts. I may be projecting on Makoto but I’d try to do training w/ Sakura (my unalthetic self) just for FTE. In game there’s not much vibes so I’d say 3/10 but on base of what I like 8/10

Makoto/Mukuro: Didn’t understand until Danganronpa If. Definitely think it’s rather cute. 6/10 in both ways. Didn’t particularly catch my fancy- If people made it much darker probs an 8/10

Makoto/Junko: HOLY MOLY HOPE VS DESPAIR. THE IMPOSING IDEAOLGIES. THE YIN TO YANG IF YOU WILL. WHAT I STAND FOR IS EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE OF WHERE I STAND. TO ME THE BEST ANTAGONIST/PROTAGNIST DYNAMIC 8/10 in game 9/10 if done right. PLEASE I NEED THIS MESS OF A SHIP MORE

Makoto/Toko: Cute! Can be a little spicy?! Not much on it and I don’t think too much about it. Made hcs on them once and it was fun. The FTE’s are sad/sweet- a good 5/10 all around

Makoto/Syo: I can see a bit more pizzaz. Dynamic though in game and in fandom isn’t really utilized all that much. 3/10 but I’d say concept wise a 6/10. Need more ideas on it

Makoto/Aoi: Bad End (beloved and loathed- I find it rather funny)- In all seriousness not my thing. Think the FTE’s can be cute but not exactly a dynamic I look for? More friends then anything for me. 3/10 overall but I bet something cute can def be made with these two

Makoto/Hiro: I love any Hiro ships so it goes up just on that. I think they are hillarious- and I think him dragging him to the Hot Baths are like some of my favorite moments. 6/10 in game stuff But the potential is a good 8/10.

Honorable Mentions of Polyships:

Togami/Kirigiri/Makoto makes their score of 5/10’s+ 7/10’s immediately go up to 9/10 or 10/10’s. The Poly dynamic is just ✌️✌️

Mukuro/Junko/Makoto: Gives me the spice I need. 9/10 or 10/10 depending on how it’s written.

Anything w/ my friend and I’s Polycule with Makoto is 10/10 (basically most people in the game 😂). Everyone together did just the best because it’s a complicated Mess That I Love.