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toxicpineapple · 5 years

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tsumugi was right about one thing.

danganronpa was only ever a television show.

fifty years before "danganronpa v3" was created, the pilot of a tv show called "danganronpa: trigger happy havoc" aired, where teenagers were trapped in the prestigious hope's peak academy and forced into a killing game. the pilot ended with the execution of leon kuwata, the culprit everyone saw coming, but left a wide audience of people wanting more.

the first season ended with the defeat of junko enoshima, and that was going to be all, but there was such wide demand for a sequel that season two, "goodbye despair", was produced. it was acknowledged as much better than the first season, and fans were pouring in from all over the globe. it resulted in a spin-off series about the original protagonist's sister being made, called "another episode", as well as a large variety of side content, touching on other characters and other parts of the danganronpa universe.

the actor who played makoto naegi was enthusiastic about his role, but he was ready to move on to other things, so when the demand became strong for a third season, they made it the last one. it had three arcs, to be watched interchangeably, and told the story of hope's peak before, during, and after the tragedy. it wrapped up loose ends and gave the audience what they wanted: closure.

and then, the series was over. the actors who played main characters like naegi, kirigiri, and togami moved on to other roles. the danganronpa craze had ended. the world continued on, for everyone.

except for a select group of fans.

these fans were obsessed with the danganronpa series. they wrote fanfics, did art, created plushes and figurines and cosplayed (and made tiktoks) of all their favourite characters. they were standard fans, basically, except also? they weren't.

they wanted more. they wanted more killing games, more hope versus despair, more betrayals. they wanted to see more of the heart wrenching closing arguments, the panic time battles, the executions. what they wanted was more danganronpa.

(you can see where i'm going with this, right?)

what these fans wanted was for the show to air again. but what they wanted, perhaps even more than that, was for danganronpa to be real. they wanted to test if the formula would work. they wanted to see real executions, and real murders.

it just so happened that several of the people within this tiny, dark corner of the internet were extremely wealthy. they had scientists working for them who had the ability to create the technology to make such a thing possible. they had the land required to put the game. most importantly, they had teenagers, nameless and faceless, who would be perfect for a thing like this, because if they disappeared, well, nobody would notice, really.

in the beginning they were extremely hesitant to do it, but after a lot of debate, they decided they valued their killing game more than they valued human life. it had been this way from the beginning. none of them felt guilty for it, anymore, because they just viewed it as kinning. they, like junko enoshima, were just hungering for despair. it was all that mattered.

they had to go through several trial runs to perfect their technology. developing things like "flashback lights" and "exisals" and most of all, monokuma- well, it was impossible without a couple test runs. a lot of kids died in the process. but one of them, one of the first kids they took (the child of one of the sponsors, to tell the truth) kept surviving against the odds.

the name they chose for him was rantaro amami. after a couple failed attempts they decided to save him for their perfect game. there had never been an ultimate survivor before. amami would be the first.

their project gained traction in the dark web. humanity was, in their opinion, every bit as beautiful and ugly as they thought it was. they started to be contacted by people who wanted in-

(the one who came to be called tsumugi shirogane)

-by suicidal teenagers who wanted to be test subjects-

(the ones who came to be called korekiyo shinguji, himiko yumeno, and kokichi ouma)

-by teenagers who wanted to be a part of the game.

(the ones who came to be called kaede akamatsu, kaito momota, and shuichi saihara)

they suddenly had a wide variety of people to choose from.

and shirogane, well, she was the perfect mastermind. so plain she blended into the walls, but when she got passionate her eyes sparked and nobody could calm her down. she was as enthusiastic about danganronpa as any of them, perhaps even more so. when they offered her the opportunity, she jumped at it.

people like saihara, momota, akamatsu... they wanted to be in the final game. the polished one. they loved danganronpa so much, it didn't matter to them how, they just wanted to participate. they were even willing to die. excited about it, in a way that both disturbed and delighted the fans who had been a part of this project from the beginning.

those three were given main roles, promised they'd have part.

the ones who volunteered to be killed in testing? some of them were just so interesting, so attractive, so unique, it was hard to put them in a setting where they would most certainly die. they had no need for another survivor, amami would do just fine. but the ones who caught their eye (shinguji, who always wore a mask, ouma, who lied without thinking about it, yumeno, who was adorable in the exact way fujisaki and saionji had been while still reminding them of nanami) were put to the side too, because they were too valuable to sacrifice.

as for the other eight students, well, it turned out that japan had a high population of kids who didn't belong anywhere. who nobody loved.

kids from abusive homes, kids whose parents disowned them, kids who were rebellious and threatened to run away, kids who were so quiet they tended to disappear into the walls... it wasn't hard to find eight

eight teenagers who were perfect for the roles they wanted.

this danganronpa was to be mind blowing. it was to be better than anything the tv series had put out before. it was bigger than the tv series. it was real. everyone was real. nothing was scripted. they had a formula to follow and they knew how to make it happen, what props to use, but otherwise, everything was going to be raw and unedited. no one knew what would happen, and that excited them.

they put in a secret talent, a cult leader, a muscle character with a heart of gold. there was a maid who was secretly the prime minister. a tennis player who used his talent to kill. a misandrist aikido master. a selfish genius with a mind for dirty remarks.

for the sixteenth student, they wanted something extra special. a way of saying "thank you", to everyone who worked on the project. the solution? a robot, through whom the rest of their community could participate too. they created him specifically for the game, a vessel of sorts that had an endearing personality, something to use as a participation piece.

and after testing everything over and over again (over fifty kids died in the final tests) they were ready. their killing game began.

the first chapter was a bit rocky. shirogane (unfortunately) had to get a bit more involved than they wanted to, and then they had to sacrifice their golden boy, amami, which sucked because a lot of them had grown attached to him, as well as their protagonist, akamatsu, which was pretty terrible as well because they really did want her to live for a lot longer.

the rest of the game went without a hitch, though. toujo's reveal in chapter two and the subsequent indifference with which hoshi's death was regarded broke hearts everywhere. shinguji's face reveal did not disappoint, and yonaga's ritualistic body discovery (as well as the tragic sacrifice on the chabashira's part) played out perfectly. everything was perfect.

here's where we backpedal a bit, see. because even though these teenagers were invisible, there were a lot of them. and for them to suddenly disappear off the face of the planet? plenty of people were confused. plenty of people wanted answers. one journalist was brave enough to look.

smart enough, too. see, it all boils back down to the golden boy, "rantaro amami". he was fairly high profile for a time, having such a rich father. then for him to suddenly vanish, just as the other teens had? it was strange.

even weirder was that his father didn't seem to care. that was normal for billionaires, but the journalist thought he should at least pretend. he wasn't, and that was suspicious as hell! so she did some digging.

some digging turned into the discovery of all these genius scientists and other rich people he was affiliated with. some digging turned into the discovery of a plot of private land that nobody could get into, that was for some reason covered by a big blue dome, that was for some reason bought by the very billionaire whose son disappeared.

the journalist dug deeper. she found out about internet forums that required intense applications and surveys to get into. that required scans of her web history, her identity, even. they were so fishy, and no one had ever found them before. the billionaire was one of the people maintaining the servers.

he'd been mia, as of late, though, so it wasn't hard for her to hire someone and hack in. what she found was utterly depraved. she threw up four times discovering it.

thread after thread discussing the murder of children. real children. the ones who were missing, in fact. pictures of bodies. speculation about their deaths. jokes and theories and shipping dedicated to these children who were dead with a capital d.

all of this was happening, and it was being streamed at eight o'clock that night. so though she didn't want to, she watched the live stream, and she bore witness to the murder of the genius, iruma, after she had attempted to kill ouma.

(no way, a comment read, were they gonna kill ouma so soon. he's too popular!)

after a night of fitful sleep, she decided that she was going to infiltrate. and it was ironically quite easy.

a fake identity, bleached hair, a new haircut, contact lenses, and a southern accent disguised her plenty. she played the role of a murder obsessed college student brilliantly. she gushed about how much she wanted to help with chapter five, theorised about who was going to die and how, wrote extensive shipping posts and discourse blogs and-

of course they let her on. there'd be no account of this if they hadn't.

she spied and collected information through the entirety of chapter five, and when she had solid evidence of the murder of two teens, who were named ouma and momota within the series, she got out as quickly as she could, and went to report it to the police.

the police didn't buy it, though. they thought it sounded ridiculous. some kind of secret cult from the deep web that all these huge, rich names were a part of, that was reenacting an old television series? danganronpa hadn't aired in almost twenty years! she had to have been insane.

she was a journalist, though, and she wasn't going to let it end there. when the police rejected her report, she did what she did best: and wrote an article about it.

the "real" danganronpa television series was about halfway through their chapter six when somethijg was finally done.

see, after finishing danganronpa, the actor who played naegi moved on to a wide variety of roles. he enjoyed depicting the villain most of all. he thought it was loads of fun, and it never got old. he kept in close touch with his co-stars, even after all that time, because danganronpa shaped his acting career. he was successful and rich. extremely comfortable and happy with his life.

he had a good heart, too. so when he opened twitter one morning and saw that he'd been tagged in a post, he dropped his coffee.

a fan of his tweeted him saying:

"@[redacted]-- what the fuck, why are you letting this go on? this is fucked up"

and linked the article. after reading the whole thing several times over, scanning descriptions of the premises where the killing game was taking place and swallowing hard over pictures of the dead teens, the actor who played naegi retweeted it with a comment of his own,

("what the fuck. this is the first time i'm hearing of this. what the fucj.")

@/ed all of his co-star friends, and promptly called the police.

that night, the finale of the real danganronpa, which was called v3, aired.

the journalist, who was still very much involved with this case, logged on to her account, had the hired professional hack onto the news, and streamed the episode live.

people. went. crazy.

the cast of all the danganronpas were calling the police (and their agents, and their lawyers) to figure out what the fuck was going on.

they were also tweeting like mad.

hinata: "what the fuck is this??? holy shit this is so fucked up, why would you ever use danganronpa like this?"

enoshima: "WHY ARE THEY USING MY FACE THAT IS MY FUCKING FACE THIS IS MESSED UP"

fujisaki: "oh my god... oh my god."

komaeda: "says in the article she told the cops... bruh."

kirigiri: "those are real fucking kids. look them up theyre all in missing person reports. what the fuck."

naegi: "where the hell are they? im going there and busting them out myself. no cap."

he was a man of his word.

it didn't take long for the journalist to reach out to him, and when she told him the location, he hopped in his car, picked up the actress who played his sister (as well as all of their bodyguards) and broke traffic safety laws all the way there. they were followed, unquestionably, by police, but it didn't make a spot of difference to either of them.

on the tv, meanwhile, saihara was having the final battle. the very same kid who emailed them all those months ago, trying to see if he could take part in this game, was screaming at them about why they couldn't. he argued with such fervour, with such genuine pain, that something shifted in the hearts of the people in this community. they revoked their support, logged off the forum, sat back in their desk chairs and contemplated what they did.

shirogane didn't get the memo, though. remember earlier when i said she was more enthusiastic about danganronpa than any of them? she would never give up on it. on any of it.

and when kiibo destroyed the school...

around japan, people held their breaths. praying as hard as they could that saihara and harukawa and yumeno had survived.

outside, the actor who played makoto naegi swerved to a stop, and he and the actress who played his sister ran to the dome. he pounded on it with his fist while the police yelled for him to step back, but it was too thick to get through.

fortunately, in killing himself, kiibo (the robot who was designed as a puppet) blew a hole in the very top. he did it to save them. just as nanami exposed herself to save her friends in the second season.

the police brought in a helicopter, and minutes later, saihara, harukawa, and yumeno were free. when they saw the actor who played naegi, their initial thought was that it was all real- all of it, who they were, what they knew, but-

it wasn't. they weren't who they thought they were in that game. they were other people, different people.

and later, at the hospital, it was discovered that the neurological damage done to them with those flashback lights was permanent. which meant they would never be who they were, never again.

(startlingly, they were okay with that.)

a manhunt started, for everyone who was in some way involved with the atrocities that had been committed. they were thrown in jail, all of them, for the rest of their lives-

except, that is, for one of them.

the billionaire father of the one they called amami, with all of his money and his power, he managed to escape arrest. the public outcry was unbelievable, but that was hardly the worst of his problems.

no, the worst of his problems was the multi-billion dollar lawsuit he was stuck with from every. single. actor. who participated in the danganronpa project. leading the lawsuit was, naturally, the actress who played enoshima, who was disgusted at the use of her name and image in committing such disgusting acts. he was left billions in debt, bled completely dry, and after that, there was really nothing else he could do but lie down and die. (so he did.)

as for the three teenagers who survived the ordeal? well, harukawa's parents had never been good people, and nobody knew if saihara and yumeno even had parents, because nobody was stepping forward and obviously neither of them remembered, so in the end the three of them ended up being adopted by the very actor who played naegi.

it was hardly a happy ending. they were kidnapped by a massive cult that used its power and wealth to torture and kill hundreds of teenagers. it was a messed up operation from start to finish. and the three of them would never be the same people they once were.

but there was nowhere to go but forward, and saihara knew in his heart that his friends, each and every one of them, would want him to continue on. so he decided that that was what he was going to do.

despite everything that had happened, danganronpa was over. for good. it was the only reassurance going into the future, but for what it was worth... it was one hell of a reassurance.

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noddytheornithopod · 4 years

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Watching a Danganronpa stream recording, some interesting stuff discussed especially about V3.

Kodaka had Junko constantly switch her personalities to avoid exposition getting boring.

The idea for V3 came about the idea of “why do we believe the mastermind? how do we know she’s not lying?” Kodaka intentionally wrote Tsumugi in a way that anything she says could be lying, so you can never know the truth. That just fuels even more Tsumugi theories. The same apparently applied to the protagonist, we assume everything they say is true and the characters have no way to confirm if they’re lying, so they basically went and added lying as a major feature (I think this applies both to the lying mechanic in trials and also the Kaede twist).

Kodaka only wrote DR3′s story, he handed the scripts to others (I’m pretty sure the credits list a different writer so yeah).

They worked on DR3 and V3 at the same time but because the former was all the previous characters all coming back in this all star story while the latter is completely new, it was hard to switch between them.

Apparently Keebo was the first character created for V3 because they wanted a robot, then followed by Kokichi because they wanted a character themed around lying.

They compare DR1 to a pop up book and V3 to a watercolour painting in terms of art direction. They also say something like that “psycho cool” is basically “psycho pop” matured.

The Monokubs creation is reiterated and it’s amazing. The game director I think really liked Monomi so he and the rest of the crew wanted another mascot type character. Kodaka didn’t see the need for a foil but went and added them into the scripts anyway. Problem is, there was no point for them to be there, and yet they outright said “the more, the merrier”. Kodaka outright says you can skip them and you’ll still understand the story. Honestly, the satirical element with them never ceases to amuse me.

Junko’s Japanese VA voiced Mukuro as herself for the first time in the anime, and she found the direction really confusing because even though her lines seemed all cool and badass, she was asked to make her sound cute? Weird.

They didn’t make a DR2 anime because they felt the story only really worked as a game, but they still wanted to make another one so well yeah, DR3.

Producers on V3 actually rejected the ending originally, and thought it was going too far, even Kodaka wasn’t sure if he was going too far. What got them to change their minds was that Danganronpa ALWAYS goes too far, as Kodaka says, “it doesn’t pander.”

Kodaka describes V3′s themes of lies and fiction by giving the example of loving a character like Junko, but she isn’t real, but you still love her anyway. As he says, “if you love something then that feeling is real.”

#danganronpa #danganronpa V3 #danganronpa 3

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thedang25 · 5 years

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Mukuro x Touko Fukawa! (And genocider Syo!)

Not a complete softball to start, good, this would be an odd and awkward courtship indeed.

What they first thought of each other: Toko would probably largely write off Mukuro as the creepy girl (lol) with the annoying sister and start out paranoid that Muku was as mean as Junko, but since she keeps to herself she’s alright. Mukuro also probably wouldn’t think much of her but she has a high bar for weirdness and rudeness so she wouldn’t mind either, and she’d immediately know something was up with Toko, soldier instinct and all that, wouldn’t know specifically but... just has a feeling. Syo probably likes Muku more at first if only because she takes the whole thing relatively in stride and isn’t that weirded out by her.

When they realized they like the other: Oh with these two it would take a while, probably just hang out because Mukuro is not judgmental and quiet and Toko probably wants her to read more than just military handbooks and magazines if she’s going to hang out all the time and Muku lets her talk about whatever. I actually think Toko goes first, probably in complete denial, ya know, just asking Mukuro about Fenrir and stuff for research, and the fact that she’s writing a character that’s a mercenary with freckles, black hair, and a great ass is a coincidence, I mean Mukuro doesn’t even have a great ass, not that she looked or can’t help but wonder how kinky she’d be as a former soldier. Muku is simpler, just the simple comfort and relative peace is enough for her and she largely sees the best in Toko.

How they got together: Syo, Syo all the way on this one, despite Muku accepting her Toko starts to hide Syo because she might spill the beans on the crush she totally doesn’t have on Mukuro. But a study not date, a dusty book, and a little wrestle with an energetic serial killer split personality later and the first date

First Date and how it went: Days and nights of thinking, several scripts of potential scenarios, sleepless nights... movie date... there’s a military movie out... that’s all Toko can come up with. Doesn’t exactly go to plan, movie gets sold out, they get rained on, and they pretty much end up curled up together, despite Toko thinking it went completely wrong Mukuro still loved it and is just too cute and happy

Who initiates contact most: Mukuro, Syo would if she were out more, Muku is a big cuddlebug

Best/Weirdest gifts for each: Mukuro really loved the time Toko wrote a little story as a personal gift for her it was very heartfelt but still honest... the time Syo got a similar tattoo to the one on her hand and Toko only giggled lewdly when asked was a bit odd. Muku tries her best with expensive pens, standard romantic fare like roses and in the end it’s just how earnest she is that makes it work.

Favorite couple activity: Quietly cuddling up, Toko writing as Mukuro reads or watches TV

What the others thought of them: Generally happy but a bit weirded out by the pair, like no one would call it but it seems to work

How often they kiss Muku’s freckles: Not that often at first but more as time goes on, Syo is all over them.

Vague night activities description (maybe): Let’s just say Toko has many thoughts and Muku is pretty accepting

Daily routine as adults: Pretty chill generally, Toko makes good money writing but Muku insists on getting a job in security and does some magazine writing for survival and military stuff, and some fun, neither is super extroverted so it suits them

Other: Weird couple but I kinda like it, plus I asked for weirder Mukuro pairings, hope it was still kinda cute and if anyone has any others I’d be glad to try

#dangan ronpa #ask meme #mukuro ikusaba #toko fukawa #fukamuku?#Ikukawa?

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danganronpaheadcanons · 6 years

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Theory: Tsumugi lied about the personalities of the DRV3 characters being her creation and that they were a part of the Killing Game by choice.

Reasons: 1. Both Shuichi and Kaede remember being kidnapped in the prologue, BEFORE getting their first false memory. They don’t remember being kidnapped AFTER getting their first memory.

2. Shuichi, Kaede and Rantaro introduce themselves AS Shuichi, Kaede and Rantaro BEFORE getting their first memory, even though Tsumugi claims she has created their characters and even blurs out their names in the audition tapes.

3. Even though Tsumugi claims that they all have been big fans of the Danganronpa Series, no one recognizes Rantaro, an apparent participant of the previous game BEFORE getting their memories wiped.

4. Besides Kaede and Rantaro no one also seems to know anything about what’s going on beside Danganronpa being such a big thing in the outside world according to Tsumugi. (Rantaro knowing what ’16 students being trapped’ might mean, Kaede recognizing the Monocubs, but also sounding fearful and not happy how it was later portrait by Tsumugi.)

5. As far as we see the characters in the prologue before getting their false memories, they are exactly like they are later, after they get the wrong memories.

6. Tsumugi claims she isn’t able to cosplay real people because she gets cospox when she does it, she also claims that ‘Kaede Akematsu’ is a fictional character she’s created. Still, she gets cospox when she tries to cosplay Kaede which means it is either the opposite, that she can only cosplay real people or she lied completely about the cospox.

7. The floor in the audition tapes is the same as one of the stages in Tsumugis Cosplay Lab, hinting she had faked the videos and it was herself, cosplaying the characters to create the videos.

8. Keebo also might not be completely created by Team Danganronpa. If that would be the case, there is no reason for him to be in the prologue, BEFORE they get the false memories, in a different outfit, without the metal caps on his ears and also without the antenna. (Because there is no way he could hide THAT long antenna underneath a hat like that.)

9. Overall, there are hints that Keebo is not a Robot at all. He gets a backache in one of his Free Time Events, he didn’t had any robotic attachments in the prologue (like the antenna, the metal caps in his ears, the black lines on his face), he faints like everyone else when they open the door to the outside world, even though, as a Robot, he shouldn’t need any oxygen, he can sweat and blush (sprites), the flashback lights work on him, even though it doesn’t make sense to work on a machine. Which means he could’ve been a normal boy who was later transformed into a Cyborg by Team Danganronpa. (Yes, the hydraulic press safety function doesn’t work on him, but it was also never tested on anyone else besides Keebo, so there is no way telling it actually works at all.)

10. Tsumugi also claims that everything went that way because she wrote the script for it. But there is no way she planned Kokichi to plan a murder where Monokuma couldn’t know who the culprit was.

11. Some of the talents simply can’t be completely fake. It may be possible to make someone the Ultimate Anthropologist by adding false memories, because that talent is simply about knowledge, but even though your brain remembers how to fight, there is no way to be an actual Assassin or Aikido fighter when your body isn’t used to doing things like that. The same goes for talents like Ultimate Artist, Inventor or Pianist. It’s like writing with the opposite hand. Your brain might know what to do, but the handwriting still looks like shit.

12. Tsumugi claims that the Hope’s Peak Arc is just fiction, but also calls herself a ‘Cosplay Cat Criminal’ as a hint to the Copy Cat Criminal term, which is used for a criminal who copies the work of another, real criminal, in other words, Junko. (Apart from that, Shuichi hint’s at the end, that Hope’s Peak might actually have existed.)

13. Even though Tsumugi says that everyone is watching Danganronpa in the outside world, the viewers stop watching it pretty fast at the end, hinting that it might’ve been just some illegal underground event and only watched by some few people who, after that, might also realize it is wrong to cast such a show.

#Tsumugi Shirogane #Shuichi Saihara #Akane Akamatsu #Rantaro Amami #Keebo #K1-B0 #Kaito Momota #Kokichi Ouma #Danganronpa #DR #New Danganronpa V3 #NDRV3 #Theory

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detectivesplotslies · 5 years

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Mean girls musicals world burn fits tsumugi so goddamn well (especially if you consider the burn book the v3 script and the chorus “who wrote this” being the audience getting annoyed with the plot holes and rushed writing)

Ok sorry for how long it took to reply! This is another musical I haven’t actually listened to yet, but knowing the Mean Girls movie I don’t DOUBT that it fits. Regine George needed things to work the way she wanted, was always manipulating things, even if they didn’t effect her overall.

Buuut you didn’t mention which song had that chorus by name so I had to hunt that down oof. BUT now that I found it, yeah this is a cool take! It also fits well with some of Tsumugi’s more vengeful and retaliatory choices she makes later one like with Kokichi. It suits her trying to embody Junko hard too, but at the same time, it’s very her, because she takes things very personally I find. Bitter, taking her last chance to lash out with flashback lights and it coming to light in a mess in that last trial and haaaa the audience having those reactions makes sense. Thanks for the ask!

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#ndrv3 spoilers #tsumugi shirogane #asks #musicals #rambles #Mean Girls #World Burn #song #lyrics #my mugi

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hakurion · 6 years

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The secret organization, D.I.C.E

I have rewatched Kokichi’s FTE to see if he revealed any specific about his organization and why his motive video says he has 10 subordinates but the video shows the group only has 9 subordinates.

I just think this is a possibility, so I wanna share this.

“The ‘Ultimate Supreme Leader’ Kokichi Ouma…”

“He was rampaging around the world as the leader of the secret organization ‘DICE’.”

“’DICE’ repeats pleasant offenses with the motto [Do not kill people] and [Laughable crime]…”

“Ouma-kun had 10 excellent underlings working with him.”

“These underlings were like friends and family… more important than anything else in his life…”

As shown in the picture above, Kokichi is the only one holding his mask with two different sides on both eyes. His underlings are most likely wearing their masks with two sides are the same. Let look at the next picture for more details.

“But then, a terrible event befell those precious people…”

D.I.C.E members are being tortured in this, which must be the cause that makes Kokichi suffering all the time and hid his real feelings behind a “liar” mask… Except the girl in between and the guy from the second of the right side, we don’t see their full face, most of them wearing their one-face mask. I just made an assumption so since Kokichi is their leader so his mask is suitable for his duality personalities. Furthermore, Kokichi is the second one who received his own motive video beside Kirumi, it is possible that the mastermind want to twist his mind, to spice up the game. Kokichi actually shows the expression of sadness and hurting whenever his friends died in font of him, and he has a deeply hateful feeling towards the killing games toying with people’s lives, so his pacificism is real. D.I.C.E’s wounds have nothing to do with harmful things, the best change is they were kidnapped and being tortured.

We also know Kokichi can be truthful and lying at the same time, so it’s hard to tell his true nature but that is how Kokichi’s character is, its similar to his mask showing its two emotions on each side. He had to lie to himself to survive the death game, in contrast, to throw the mastermind off guard, so his lies are white lies (as white as his costume). If you ask how far in his lies, I think he lied about enjoying killing games and being the mastermind. Everything he does all have a specified purpose.

It is said Kokichi is the Ultimate Supreme Leader. He said he is the leader of an evil secret organization with over 10,000 members, but in fact, this group only has 10 members and causes ‘mayhem’ over the world. And in his FTE, he says he want to ‘trick the entire world, to make it become the truth’. So in reality, his group just wants to make the world believe they are truly evil, who belong to a secret evil organization with over 10,000 members, but that is just a harmless prank, non-existence, leading by their leader. In UTDP, Nagito isn’t able to find where this organization is, despite of his extreme luck, likely it has…no existence. Of course, how such a large organization like that gets no single one know about it? Kokichi’s prank is what misleading people into believe he was some kind of evil, nowhere in his lab contains a single murder weapon. The motive video can’t be a lie, we’ve Monokuma’s words confirming he never lies about motives.

Speaking of the hat and the cloak. We don’t see those things while Kokichi receiving his Ultimate wardrope in the Prologue, which means it isn’t originally a part of his Ultimate Supreme Leader’s wardrope that given by the Ultimate Initiative. Maybe they were the extra stuffs Kokichi added to his wardrobe to make it looks like an evil dictator. He only wears the hat and the cloak while playing with D.I.C.E, that seems like a kid disguising himself to be a tyrant, to play the game of how a villian should be. But due Kokichi wasn’t willingly playing the part of the killing game, he didn’t wear those things, because it is not like he playing a game with D.I.C.E, the group prefers non-violent games.

Perhaps in among of those 10 subordinates, them including Kokichi as well, so in general, he considers himself to be their Ultimate Supreme Leader and also one subordinate as well. Let’s look at his FTE.

He indicates that he hates lies and jokes but he could also lying about that, and he states his organization doesn’t need a leader, they would be happier with their boss gone. So what I meant is Kokichi in the motive video put aside his identity as the Ultimate Supreme Leader to be D.I.C.E’s boss, to make himself become the 10th subordinate and commit “laughable crimes” with them, in contrast, his true identity as the Ultimate Supreme Leader rules over D.I.C.E at the same time. His group might doesn’t like his role to be their boss but his role as a friend to them. That makes sense to me how D.I.C.E has 10 members but also 10 subordinates, including Kokichi at the same time.

About Kokichi’s talent, Ultimate Supreme Leader sounds massive to you but he is just a leader of a small group. Let’s consider his motive video says “he caused mayhem the world over as the leader of D.I.C.E”. We know Kokichi is pretty smart as though he has an Ultimate Analyst’s skill like Junko, like he could predict everything that is gonna happen, what people gonna do and who the future culprits are before Shuichi exposing them, he even wrote the script and gave it to Kaito because he knew what everyone would say. His talent is related to his intelligence to read through people, his leadership’s skill can drive people to do as his plan, Kokichi actually helps Shuichi a lot in collecting clues and discovering the true culprits from Chapter 2 onwards. He is good at manipulating people, and detecting lies. All of these abilities make him being a great leader, this part is true, he just lied about its core, I don’t have to say much, his motive video tells you his organization is all part of pacifist pranksters group, and his Ultimate Lab expresses Kokichi’s chair is too cliche although he named himself being an “evil leader”, the entire room feels like an elaborate prank with all comical objects around, all of this gives you the straight answer Kokichi lied about his evil organization with over 10,000 members.

So what makes a Supreme Leader? According to some researchs, I’m gonna make some list :

- Have Faith in Their Beliefs

D.I.C.E can’t consider Kokichi being their leader if everything he does is purely “pranks”, he has to be something more than that, Kokichi must have a solid faith in his ideas. And build on it by being a good communicator, listening to others, setting examples. Leadership is all about being passionate about what to do, and having confidence in themself and their followers whom they have to motivate and inspire.

- Make the Hard Choice

There are times when Kokichi makes the hard choice, and self-sacrifice in order to enhance the lives of others around him. As in Chapter 4, Kokichi manipulated Gonta to kill Miu, he didn’t want to die, he wanted to do something more to help everyone, so he had no other choice but sacrificing Gonta for this task, because if he died, his friends might never find out Miu’s actions since she’s intelligent enough to deal all with this. Also, he decided to hide the truth behind ‘the secret of the outside world’, so this secret must be something else terrible more than the ruined world he showing them in Chapter 5, which he meant to control Gonta to give them “mercy kills” without letting them know about it. And he has to sacrifice himself by pretending to be the mastermind, being hated by his friends, to end this tragedy, to stop the killing game with all cost. Finally, sacrificing his own live for the sake of all. That’s how it makes him being a great leader.

I recommend you read a good analysis of Kokichi’s talent here of someone for more info about ‘what makes a leader?’

Just like Junko and Izuru, Kokichi seemingly hates boredom because his talent makes him easily predicting at people, but unlike them, he doesn’t meant to cause anyone in harm. Lies are things he could use for some extreme entertainment and stirring up people, make him overcome boredom in life. He hates despair and killing, as he confessed “a game you’re forced to play can’t be fun” and “the ones who enjoying to toy with our lives pissing me off”. That’s why he had to prevent the killing game even if it costs his own life. Kokichi is a pacifist, this part is for sure.

How are his pranks harmless? By his words “Trick the entire world, and it will become the truth, the real truth isn’t that great anyway” and “Why do you guys hate lies so much? There’s only one truth, but endless possibilities for lies, y'know? And some of them are only white lies, or lies to be kind to people…” Kokichi’s subordinates lied to a victim in his terminal illness, that they were the culprit in that long case, so it’d become the truth to him. Kyoko exposed this lie and Kokichi accepted that was a lie. In other words, Kokichi meant to help this victim so he won’t leave any regret behind. He lies to help people. He talks about danger and death as if he’s involved a lot in dangerous cases but in the end, it doesn’t have a slightly harm behind those words. For example, Kokichi’s FTE, he threatened he’d take Shuichi’s life, but did he do it for real? NOPE. He stated “I made your heart *die* with worry, didn’t I?” and “I stole your heart, so I’m satisfied! I don’t need to steal your life anymore!”. That’s the different meaning behinds his deadly words and that’s why his motive video’s established his crimes are non-violent and harmless, he never kills people, D.I.C.E explicitly forbid murders.

Izuru is a genius with multi-talent who easily getting bored with predictable things, just like Junko, his Ultimate Analysist’s skill makes him boring with the world. He’s explicitly claiming this evil secret organization is absurd cuz it isn’t as it sounds, like it isn’t “real evil”. Kokichi’s motive video is a testament to that, nowhere states his organization is “evil”, it’s just told to be the secret organization. Although the “evil” word seemingly describes his trickish personality, like confusing and threatening his friends, lied about enjoying them in suffering (Ch4). Only someone as plastered in lies as Kokichi could look at a cruel thing like the killing game enforced by Monokuma and call it “not boring”. He hid his real feelings behind this lie to survive in such situation, he had to play along the game to make himself being hate by others, motivating them trust him being the mastermind, playing the mastermind’s part to confront the real mastermind. All of these doings just for ruining the killing game, he said he wants to win the game, in other words, whatever dangerous situations he’s in, he always think that he’s just playing some game. Izuru knows Kokichi’s organization involved in tough situations but he still finds it’s boring, this links to the high possibility of non-violence exists in this organization, cuz Izuru’s normally interested in escaping boredom from despair and chaos, things that cause unpredictable outcomes. Kokichi’s organization can’t make him seeing that.

If my words aren’t enough, read the articles link 1 and link 2, Kodaka actually confirmed Kokichi is a trickster and his case is completely different from Genocider Shou, Junko Enoshima or Nagito Komaeda. He is NOT a sicko or a murderous fiend.

Just a thought on why Kokichi collected all the evidences from the past incidents to his room :

The hidden camera from case 1 : How did the culprit turn off the sensor on the top of the bookcase without letting one photo of them being taken? Unless they hid their photos after developing all the film from the cameras. Also, the camera takes 30 seconds for the next photo… how was Rantaro’s 2nd photo near the bookcase taken while the interval he reaching to the camera can’t be that long? Or… did the culprit was hiding on the top of the bookcase, touching the sensor to make it taking Rantaro’s 2nd photo?

The inner tube from case 2 : one end of the rope tied on this tube suddenly came loose after Kirumi done with her crime, and made the tube dropped into the pool. But how can a perfect maid who can complete any task without a scrape likes Kirumi made such a huge mistake?

The Caged Child book from case 3 : Kiyo said he memorized the magic circle without seeing the book. However, the magic circle on the book is different from his memory, but why there are some short lines on each side of the circle on the book? It looks like… those lines had been erased from the book. So did Kiyo draw his magic circle wrong or the book did?

The helmet from case 4 : no need to say much cuz you know its error was set up by losing memories if you mess up the cords. Someone had to know what they should do with this… they know Gonta would mix up the cords and lose his memories from the Virtual World in order to extend the class trial.

With all of those evidences in Kokichi’s room, it is safe to think Kokichi got his doubt on those evidences because he realized that the mastermind did tamper on those evidences. Why did the mastermind do that? Cuz they know Shuichi couldn’t solve the cases if they don’t let those evidence presenting at the murder scenes and they had to make sure the killing game working well. They can predict everything.

Addition to this : Kokichi’s group is a secret organization, which is why his lab is burried in the underground and not shown on the map in Rantaro’s Monopad. However, I think they would have a method to go to his lab, it just hasn’t been finished since Keebo was in rampage at the end of Chapter 5.

There is a faint light radiating from above Kokichi’s lab here, so aside the staircase that is used to go to his lab, there is another way to getting in the lab from the ceiling above.

Chapter 6

There is a pillar in the garden at the prologue, but it was revealed to be an evelator hidden inside the pillar later in Chapter 6, there is a green and a red buttons on the door as well, so it’s mostly like an evelator. This evelator might have been built for Kokichi’s lab as the killing game started, but was not accessible until Chapter 6. And its likely to be the entrance going down to Kokichi’s lab, maybe the column and the interior of the evelator have some spaces allowing light to pass through, well, you might say no answer to it, so it’s just my deduction.

The Hope’s Peak History Book was buried along with Kokichi’s lab, which hadn’t been accessed until the last chapter, it’s very likely the Book was put there intentionally from the very beginning by the mastermind and Team Danganronpa. However, the Book has nothing to do with Kokichi himself, as you all know, Kokichi doesn’t get a slightly idea on who Remnants of Despair and Junko are. Otherwise, he should have known about Future Foundation and Remnants of Despair for at least. So Kokichi never touched that Book, it was the true mastermind. Kokichi was just set up to be a fake mastermind from the beginning after the killing game started, the mastermind is someone Kokichi got a lot trouble to figure out their identity, as you all know, he took all the evidences of the previous cases to his room and secretly investigated the mastermind’s motives alone, because, sadly, he got no one to trust him. But in the end, he failed to reach that goal, he couldn’t figure out the mastermind’s motives, that’s why he totally unexpected Maki trying to kill him.

So Kokichi can predict “Hope” but it is useless when comes to “Despair”, the fact that Kokichi never knows how a despair person should be, that causes him falling into a stalemate, because he can’t understand an Ultimate Despair. One more reason for him being a Pacifist. And it’s also why he had to leave the last message because he knows his plan could be failed (you know what I’m talking about if you read my post on it) but they never found out the truth behind that message, unfortunately. And because Tsumugi is just too plain to be suspicious but she’s still the Ringleader of the game show. The best guess Kokichi got is that there is an audience in this show, because he knows Monokuma can’t break the rules whatever he wants, that is pretty much unfair. Monokuma prefers the killing game to be interested, which is why Monokuma agreed on his plan to put the motive in the Virtual World. The whole audience is real, they are an integral part of the Reality Show, the game was meant to be shown, just like Junko’s killing games in the past. The Hope’s Peak History Book was put in Kokichi’s lab from the start for the shocking revelation of the final trial at the end of the game, it is the evidence responses to “your memories are all fake” and the whole fiction twist that they’re all the part of the show after Tsumugi revealed herself to be the Ringleader.

The Hope’s Peak History Book is unrelated to Kokichi, it was the intention of Tsumugi and Team Danganronpa all along.

#NDRV3 #Kokichi Ouma #D.I.C.E #spoiler #motive video #theory #submission #analysis #Shuichi Saihara #Kyoko Kirigiri #Izuru Kamukura #New Danganronpa V3

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tobiasdrake · 11 months

Text

Alright, that brings us to what may be the biggest plot hole in V3. You know what I'm talking about.

People have gone back and forth a lot on cospox, because it makes absolutely no sense within the "true" metatext of V3.

It's presented here in the form of Tsumugi dressing up as Kaede, to demonstrate a horrible rash that spreads across her body as an allergic reaction to cosplaying a real person.

We're not going to talk about how patently silly that is because this is Danganronpa and Danganronpa does not give a shit. There is no ceiling for zany magical bullshit. If Tsumugi says cospox is a thing then sure, why not.

She literally wrote the script. She knows better than you or I do about whether this is possible.

No, the problem is that how it's introduced and how it's ultimately used are at odds with one another. If this is a real affliction that Writer Tsumugi suffers from, that's fine. If this is purely a quirk that she wrote for Character Tsumugi, that's also fine.

It would be entirely possible for Tsumugi to fake this. We see later in the game that her Cosplay skills are so advanced that she has super-speed quick-changes, able to swap wardrobes and even body types near-instantaneously. She could absolutely be fucking with Kaede right now.

The problem is that this becomes a critical plot point for revealing the truth of V3. Her cospox is central to revelations of the middle reality. We learn that the Danganronpa universe exists as fiction within her universe because she can cosplay as Danganronpa characters without triggering her cospox.

But. That. Doesn't make sense, does it? Because in this scene where she reveals her cospox, she's dressing as Kaede. Kaede is no more real than Makoto Naegi or Ibuki Mioda or Junko Enoshima. You can't even bullshit around that problem by saying that she's wearing the actress's clothes, because the actress came here in a different outfit. These clothes were provided to Kaede during the False Start opening as her character's costume.

Some people have taken this as undeniable proof of an even more hidden truth buried beneath the hidden truth that's buried beneath the lies masquerading as the truth. The ending even suggests as much, with the characters speculating that maybe the reality show and LARP was itself a lie and that the TRUEST TRUER true story of V3 has never been revealed.

But I don't truck with that shit. That's just mystery boxing. Deliberately not answering the questions that the story raises to trick the audience into making up their own explanations, which they will then project onto the original lazy story so they can convince themselves it's clever.

What exists within the text is a massive plot hole. Maybe Kodaka couldn't be arsed to notice that he wrote himself into a corner because he was actively burned out on Danganronpa when he was making this, or maybe it's an elaborate writing prompt. One that you can absolutely spin 50,000 pages of fanfic out of if you want to. But either way, it's my opinion that, as an audience, the main plot of the story shouldn't be your responsibility to fix.

One way or another, the way V3 handles Tsumugi's cospox is terrible.

#danganronpa #danganronpa v3 #revisiting drv3 #tsumugi shirogane #kaede akamatsu

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ryouverua · 6 years

Text

Trial 5 - Pre-Execution

Investigation 1 / 2 - second half is where I put my own theories that I penned before playing the trial.

Trial: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8

HOW MANY TRIALS ARE GOING TO END WITH A CONFESSION ANYWAY

Hnngh - okay, this is actually happening now. We’re having a post-trial talk with Kaito before we send him off to the gallows. Cool. Cool. Cool cool cool cool -

marvels again that on the most basic detail I was right but as a whole I was very, incredibly wrong about what went down

This is going to be a weight for her to bear for a long time, huh.

He’s trying so hard to stay positive and cheer everyone up - how can you be so upbeat right now???

well I guess there’s the fact that he’s had plenty of time to come to terms with his own death since yesterday’s events but -

get this man an Oscar

Kaito is low-key impressed just saying.

I’m sorry when the fuck between the extreme muscle spasms, seizures and general shut down of his body was he supposed to have written this? Was this something he started before all this happened? Was this a contingency plan? omg - was he thinking of Shuichi when he originally wrote the script and came up with a ‘in case something happens to me’ trial plan, then filled in the details up until he died to match the exact circumstances of what actually happened? He did ask Shuichi to be his partner last chapter... how long has this particular plan been in his head for???

How hard was it to swallow his pride and ask Kaito for help instead of Shuichi?

going for those Beatrice vibes even beyond the grave, huh

PLEASE ELABORATE PLEASE -

DAMN IT -

okay I see what the game is trying to do here. And I appreciate it going and highlighting how clever Kokichi is for his foresight, his planning, and his general awareness and understanding of the people around him. That is coming through loud and clear.

But can we talk about Kaito’s ability to ad-lib on the fly, in character, and react to all the situations he was presented? Because Kokichi could not predict the exact future. He clearly planned things, not just in the general sense, but there is only so far a mere mortal could go.

“When Shuichi brings up these points, counter with those.”

“Flatter Himiko to throw her off. Here are some sample lines. Push it as far as you need to to make her flustered.”

“Play on Tsumugi’s ‘everyday boring girl’ syndrome.”

“Here are all the insults I’ve come up with to use at K1-b0 to distract him. Choose the ones that fit the moment, or use them to come up with your own if needed.”

“These are turns of phrases I use to project my incredibly important image.”

“Here’s a 20 paragraph speech I’ve prepped as a giant SCREW YOU to Monokuma, you can break it up as you need to but you have to make sure you get through all of it at some point because I want to rub this in his face and if I’m not there to do it you NEED to do it for me.”

I’d laugh if he had scripts and script notes denoting possible variations, but there’s just a bookmarked page partway through the script and it’s this long anti-Monokuma manifesto

Anyway, I want to admire Kokichi’s planning, absolutely - but I also want to appreciate Kaito’s own skill along with it, because I don’t think they should take from each other at all. Even if he broke character a few times (which is even more hilarious in hindsight), he was utterly convincing in full acting mode!

.... does K1-b0 power off his eyes when he wants to look incredibly depressed... sorry, utterly distracted for a moment...

(Himiko looks depressed too - I’m just trying to not literally upload every single frame of the scene already and it’s HARD.)

Fucking hell Kaito, with all of your self-aggrandising talk why is it now that you can’t understand why everyone is upset?!

Well... I mean, I do kind of get it. Trying to make everyone around you happy - in general, and with themselves - is practically your raison d'être. And right now, you’re the reason everyone is so upset. But still, it’s only because everyone cares about you so much!!!

Kaito put on a pedestal and pushed off of it - check.

How?? Like, how did he phrase it??? Did he decorate it with his normal sureme leader talk? Did he lay out that Kaito basically owed him a debt now? Or did he leave it with just ‘Maki will be the blackened if you don’t do this’?? I have a feeling that whatever I get from the flashbacks, it still won’t be enough 8′D

In the last chapter? Or longer? ... It must have been longer, right? He was writing on that stone since at least chapter... 2? 3? and was talking to Monokuma in Chapter 4.

LMAO WHAT A CASUAL WAY TO DROP THAT PARTICULAR KNOWLEDGE BOMB

“Oh shit really? Wow, go figure.”

i enjoy kaito’s mildly shocked face here

HOW MUCH GEAR DID YOU GET MIU TO MAKE FOR YOU??? Am I going to have to pore over all of your interactions after all??? You guys gave each other so much crap during the trials and outside of them??? You had that ridiculous black-and-white scene in front of the computer??? How close WERE you two before she lost herself to paranoia?!

I can’t help but think everything with Gonta was improvised based on how events were unfolding around him. Would he have still tried to do the same thing if Miu hadn’t been making an attempt on his life? Or did he know that at some point down the line he would have to orchestrate a murder to convince everyone that he was the mastermind? Was this something he had to steel himself to do, or was that always in the back of his mind as an option from the beginning?

I’m sure that last bit upset Kaito the most - he was Gonta’s most stalwart defender in the last trial.

I haven’t seen this sprite in a while, jeez. Or... have I seen this sprite before??? It’s definitely similar to the ones he showed in Gonta’s trial, but I don’t recall him being so, erm, sweaty then.

#calledthat

That has to rankle more than anything. He highlighted Maki’s talent repeatedly and continuously called her out about it, and then this.

The fact that he’s framing it as ‘the true mastermind is at fault’ and not putting it all on Maki is interesting. I wonder if Kokichi just sees Maki as a weapon as opposed to a person? Accurately in this case, perhaps...

Frowning/serious Kokichi is so strange?!?! Not that there’s any reason for him to be smiling here, but it’s really telling that he can’t even bring himself to do it here. This is probably the closest we’ll get to seeing his true feelings and thought process, huh...

Whelp I just went back to this part after writing a whole blurb a few screenshots down and the ‘mastermind doesn’t remember they’re the mastermind’ theory I concocted for fun just died an unceremonious death. I did enjoy those brief few minutes of my oddball ‘Maki doesn’t remember she’s the mastermind’ theory while it lasted so I’ll leave it up for you guys to laugh at enjoy! Unfortunately Monokuma being in time-out debunks it unless there are two masterminds.

If we tie this to the funeral scene... I proposed the idea that the flashback lights give their brains scenes to work with - aka that they aren’t necessarily actually their memories, but perhaps someone else’s, for example - and that their brain works to interpret them and make sense of them, and generally fit them into their own world view. I think it’s becoming accepted now that memories themselves are somewhat pliable and can even change during each ‘recall’. So if they were given the flashback light that said, ‘hey, there’s a cult working to destroy you all and it’s led by the traitor in the group, X’, their brains would fill in ‘X’ with Kokichi based on the context at the time. It also gives room for the idea that I originally had, aka that the talents and perhaps even memories they all have aren’t necessarily their own - that they could have easily had their talents switched between them in the prologue, and the fact they landed like this was just a coincidence - and the one known as ‘Kokichi, Supreme Leader’ could have easily one of the other classmates in a different timeline. The mastermind would be able to have the ability to adapt to any scenario, if that was the case...

lmao yeah that was pretty obvious

So even Kokichi never figured it out in the end? That’s pretty significant - the kid is basically a living lie detector. That leaves four possibilities that I can think of:

1) The mastermind isn’t actually among us. I highly doubt that - we’ve been building to a reveal from the beginning, even as far as having Shuichi find the door in the library.

2) The mastermind is among the dead - someone Kokichi never got a chance to ‘read’. The best candidates for that would be Rantaro and Kaede. Rantaro would be the almost too obvious choice, between his memory loss, the video where he tells himself ‘you wanted this’, and his general intelligence and knowledge of the proceedings - and, hell, his lab door. Alternatively, this would be a good way to bring Kaede back into the game - we did see a shot of her wearing that helmet too, and also it would be nice to see her again tbh

I just... don’t think this is the case though. Not only because we’ve done that with Junko already, though that’s a bit one, but because everything was set for DR1′s twist from the beginning - 15 students and 16 stands, the ‘odd one out’ murder aka Mukuro, etc. Rantaro’s video is certainly hinting at something, but I’d be shocked if it was leading to his reveal as the mastermind.

DEBUNKED :( 3) The mastermind doesn’t have their memory. Now, we’ve already done this with SDR2 so I really, highly doubt this is the case but if it is this way the best choice would be for it at this point in the game to be Maki. I mean, Shuichi would have been viable too... if he wasn’t the protagonist, because then we’d really be retreading old territory. Anyway, here’s the fun ‘what if’ for why Maki!mastermind could potentially work - it would really add onto Kaito and Kokichi’s conflict. Kokichi never liked Maki from the start, and antagonized her repeatedly - what if it was he sensed that potential in her? What if she was sent to infiltrate the mission by the cult and have everyone killed like this? And on Kaito’s side, he spends big chunks of the game trying to redeem her. What if it worked? What if it turned out that both Kaito and Kokichi were right, as a follow-up to this chapter where they both set aside their differences and work with each other (and, well, are killed by Maki). What if Kaito turned someone who had the capability to set up this game into someone that wouldn’t? There’s so ground that could be covered in this direction - I mean, I doubt it’s true which is why I said from the getgo that I highly doubt it’s the case, but it would be a fantastic reason to have highlighted her character so much and really give depth to, well, ‘tsundere assassin learns to love’. I could go on about this tbh...

4) The one I’ve been partial to for a while now... the mastermind is someone who specializes in lying. In putting on a mask. In breathing life into a persona, inhabiting it, becoming it, until it’s indistinguishable from their own identity - perhaps becomes their identity in those moments, to the point that Kokichi wouldn’t be able to realize they were lying. Oh, Kokichi was incredibly adept at it, sure - but he was recognized for his leadership skills, as unorthodox as they may have been. There’s someone else still alive, however, whose talent addresses the concept of ‘becoming another person’ has not been showcased much if at all to this point.

now mind you other than the proclivity for cults shown in chapter 3 and references to escapism, I still haven’t gotten a proper motive in mind but at all but hopefully that’ll come next chapter??? anyway I’m getting distracted again

kokichi has the heart of a gamer

You just know that’s Kokichi’s game face. I mean, Kaito has his ‘optimistic!’ face on right now to give him the strength to face his own execution - maybe this is Kokichi’s way of comforting himself too?

THAT MUSIC CUT!!!

“ALSO HOW THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING THAT WITH YOUR EXPRESSION, IT’S JUST THE TWO OF US, CAN YOU PLEASE TELL ME BEFORE YOU DIE -”

Could it have worked the other way around? If Kaito let himself die, Kokichi pretended to be Kaito in the exisal and it was left decide whether ‘Kaito’ mercy-killed ‘Kokichi’ via the press or if he died by poison first, would that have been viable? Probably not as effectively... it would be a lot easier for them to believe Kokichi was pretending to be Kaito, less believable that Kaito wouldn’t show himself in the exisal, and a whole host of other factors. Maybe not, then.

And of course Kaito asked Kokichi that, because if he’s going to be committing to a plan this wild he needs some assurance.

Then there have to be people alive, right??? But they saw the burning ruins around them when they tried to leave, and even collapsed because of the air quality - so what, did they crash land in an area that was wiped out or something? But there are still places where people are alive?

It was a test, then.

... Gonta... has to have been a heavy weight on his conscience. I think we can officially say his breakdown over him was real if he would go so far as to try and end the killing game like this - and if Gonta was a necessary sacrifice, it was one Kokichi was pushed to make when he had few options left.

I think the chess analogies I’ve been associating with him are accurate at this point, and it would even be fair to say that if you were to think about Kokichi’s strategic thought process, the allusions are almost necessary - the whole game is about exchanging pieces in order to get a more powerful position on the board and eventually corner the ‘king’, and at some point Kokichi looked at the board and his available moves, as well as the ‘piece’ Miu Iruma putting him in a ‘check’ position, and realized that his only option was to intercept her with ‘piece’ Gonta. I also like using chess here too because there’s duality in that too - there’s the side of Miu that Kokichi can and clearly did use for his strategies, and the side that the mastermind used by way of motive.

Ah, and of course I’d be remiss to not mention that Yu-Gi-Oh! the card game works well too here (hell, it comes up in his FTE) even though it’s less accessible; it’s a game where more powerful moves require sacrificing lower level ‘monsters’, and there’s a literal graveyard they’re sent to. Also, unlike chess, playing from the graveyard is a legitimate strategy in YGO . I’m sure, especially after this trial, Kokichi can relate to that strategy in particular.

Or maybe as they’re suddenly starting to imply it’s more like the ‘Black Book Club’ ala YYH? There must be people alive then, right? ... So maybe... people who survived through unscrupulous means and sheer force of wealth and need some sort of entertainment??? They remembered being kidnapped at the beginning of everything, right? Were they intercepted before the gopher project had a chance to play out and now they’re being kept in an isolated facility somewhere meant to replicate the ship, but it actually isn’t the ship at all? Wait, when did I start wearing a tinfoil hat - ?!

Kaito is defending Kokichi, everything is right in the world

Shuichi: Please don’t redirect the spotlight at me - ah, shit shit damn it shit

“It’s just like Kokichi said!”

mm thank you game, keep feeding me merci beaucoup

Himiko just gobbles up any bit of positive attention thrown her way with the obvious and incredibly glaring exception of Tenko??? man I really need to do her FTEs or something - does she just not know how to handle straight-up affection or -

i n h a l e s

KOKICHI OUMA

IS NOT

A REMNANT OF DESPAIR!!!!

K1-B0 YOU’RE KILLING ME HERE!!!

This just makes me wonder if betting and big money in general is wrapped up in all of this. “Who is the mastermind? Now gentlemen, place your bets before the reveal!”

MAKI IT’S THAT ATTITUDE THAT GOT US IN THIS SITUATION IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!

tsun

dude he found a way to save Maki and potentially stop the game, I would hardly call it ‘evil’.

“I mean, I was hoping we could cut straight to the chase, but you’re actually a decent guy at the end of the day, and unlike most of the rest of the class don’t actually want me dead. Damn it.”

Fucking hell, between the music and his faces it so so easy to frame him as eeeeviiil!!! And yet just looking at the text in isolation, it reads:

“But are you sure you’re okay with that? Because if this poison kills me, then Maki would become the blackened. And her crime would be exposed so easily.

If that happened, then Maki and I would’ve died for no reason, right? Which is just what the true mastermind expects...”

And yeah sure it still has a bit of an edge to it, but it’s way more ambiguous when presented outside of his “Supreme Leader” aura which apparently can warp both his face and music.

Kaito is still trying to filter this through his ‘hero vs villain’ narrative, bless his heart. Either that or this is a heavily edited version of events - it would be interesting, even if it’s unlikely, if we found out that Kokichi made Kaito promise to tell everyone a different story than what really happened in the event of being found out.

There are gears turning in Kaito’s head right now, you can’t tell me there aren’t.

even if some of them are just him thinking ‘no seriously how are you doing that with your face’

NO!!! NO ‘D’ WORDS IN THIS HOUSEHOLD!!!

FUCK I want to have a montage of Kokichi doing incredibly kind-hearted and generous things and just doing his damnedest to spin it all in the most scary, ominous way possible!

“To answer your question, it’s really hard for me to hold my face in these expressions and the muscle spasms beginning to wrack my body are making it that much harder.”

But you can see shades of yourself in him, can’t you? That’s the scary part. Their goals aligned. This whole time, they’ve just wanted to help their classmates survive. They assigned themselves bombastic personalities in order to take the pressure off of those left in the class and damn it, they both prepared themselves to die alone in order to make good on their wish to save everyone left. Kaito made references to Kaede’s last wish - I wonder if Kokichi took it to heart as well?

No you were, Kokichi! No you fucking weren’t! Fml I don’t know how much solace that gives you at the end of the line, but...

Okay I nearly ended the post here as a tribute to Kokichi’s efforts but I have a rule of doing a single post-trial, pre-execution post and I must resist that urge -

LMAO IS THAT WHAT YOU GOT OUT OF THE EXCHANGE

I-It’s going to take you a while to warm up to the idea of ‘Kokichi actually wasn’t the dick he pretended to be’ huh. 8′D

OH REALLY

IT WASN’T BECAUSE OF MAKI OR ANYONE ELSE

IT WAS BECAUSE YOU TWO AGREED ON SOMETHING

SO YOU WEREN’T ULTIMATELY BLACKMAILED OR COERCED INTO THIS, EVEN IF THAT’S WHAT GOT YOU LISTENING INITIALLY

YOU CHOSE TO DO THIS FOR THE GREATER GOAL OF RUINING THE GAME

just. just want to make sure that point was clear for myself. Seems like it’s important characterization-wise, that’s all.

This seems like a good time to note that I am 99% sure Kaito had those swirly despair!eyes DR is known for in the last image with him coughing up blood. That was definitely the turning point for the chapter.

Also, Kokichi didn’t just swallow his pride - Kaito did too. He’s wanted to be the hero who swooped in to save the day for how long??? And here he is, admitting that this was fully Kokichi’s plan, and acknowledging that Kokichi was correct in a lot of ways even if he didn’t agree with him on everything. Beautiful.

nO IS IT FINALLY HAPPENING WE’RE ACTUALLY TALKING ABOUT THIS NOW

‘THAT WAS A LIE.’

OKAY THAT’S IT, WRAP IT UP FOLKS, WE’RE DONE HERE.

“Ha ha yeah I could probably drop dead at any moment tbh ha ha why are you giving me those looks huh ha ha ha hrk -”

I’m guessing the medical exam took place before all of these events happened. But wasn’t the whole point of selecting these guys that they were immune or something??? I mean clearly it wasn’t true - I guess it was dormant or - ?!

... which Monokuma then brings up himself. Cool, thanks.

How dare you say that so cheerfully. >:(

L M A O

he’s so bloody casual about the whole thing

I mean I get that it’s because he’s come to terms with dying but

damn it Kaito

A chance to end the killing game and save everyone, knowing he was on his way out either way, and a way to save Maki specifically - it really was the perfect storm, huh?

Well damn it I know it’s implying this all happened after Kokichi died, but the idea of Kaito visibly fangirling over the plan in front of Kokichi, giving him a bit of external validation for the first and last time since his miserable life started here, makes me feel a little better. If nothing else, he would have at least felt good about the chances of success before he died.

FUCKING DAMN IT IT’S LIKE KAITO LINED UP HIS DIALOGUE STRAIGHT AT MY HEART AND PULLED THE TRIGGER

MERCILESS

DAMN YOU KAITO I SEE THAT SMILE YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU’RE DOING

my BOYFRIEND

I’m not sure if he’s trying to comfort Shuichi after messing up Kokichi’s plan or not but if he is, he’s incredibly good at it.

Was it????

again, more praise for him -

Kokichi, beyond the grave: NO YOU DUMBASS I GAVE MY LIFE SO YOU COULD END IT IN A SINGLE TRIAL as soon as you join me in the afterlife I am going to KICK YOUR ASS -

AIBOU

Oh you big hypocrite. Wait - no - let me check -

*takes off shipping glasses*

Nope, I still don’t buy it. Kaito has a tendency to go to an extreme with his words - he’s shown that time and time again. The fact that he’s already started layering praise on Kokichi at this point - that means something. The idea of him as a whole still rankles Kaito and he still has their clashing viewpoints and outlooks on life to work through, but his opinion on him has already turned so much at this point. If he had more time to think on it, I bet it would change that much further. And again - pointing to that love hotel scene - Kaito loves a challenge, and people that challenge him. Kokichi was a fantastic rival for him, and the fact that he knows now that he never meant any true harm to them is important. He also hasn’t been given a chance to really digest the importance of everything Kokichi revealed to him - he basically got the script and plan thrusted into his hands, spent whatever time he wasn’t sleeping and recuperating studying it and preparing for the trial, and now, well, we’re here. Kaito has been shown to be very good at reevaluating people once he’s cooled off, and he hasn’t had a chance to really do that!

.... If only he had more time to reflect. 8c

!!!!! g o d ........

The darkened face sprite...

Insert Himiko parallel here.

WELL COOL THAT WAS PRETTY UNAMBIGUOUS

“NO DAMN IT! I HAVE MY ROCK-SOLID VIEW ON HIM! STOP MAKING HIM LOOK SYMPATHETIC!”

If you really thought that, would you really share those words with everyone? In fact, just the fact that you said that in reference to being a ‘lying sack of shit’ in regards to his supposed feelings during the game and acting like everything happening was fun - that, uh, kinda speaks for itself!

Thank you K1-b0!!! I officially forgive you for calling Kokichi a Remnant of Despair again.

don’t you pull this shit on me game

just because you have the class split down the middle doesn’t mean you can pull the wool over my eyes

WAS HE.... THOUGH....

No seriously, what an odd thing to say. I... I don’t know what to make of it. Do actions not speak louder than words? Am I the crazy one here??

!!!!!!!

HE’S ACTING ON HIS CLAIM OF ‘COMMUNICATION BEING IMPORTANT’ AAAAAH

OH MY GOD WHAT AN EXCELLENT APOLOGY

Seriously I could probably learn a thing or two from it, damn.

Chapter 5′s entire mission is to make me cry, I see, I see.

Even now, three chapters later, I am still incredibly impressed by that move on Kaito’s part. He just knew exactly how to alleviate the pressure Shuichi was under.

?!?!

AH NO NOT COOL WHAT THE FUCK NOT IN THE MIDDLE OF THEIR HEARTFELT APOLOGY DAMN IT

as;dlkfj Kaito you and Kokichi are tied in having the most horrifying sprites in the game. Congratulations! You did win at something after all!

ANOTHER FUCK YOU FOR MAKING ME LAUGH WITH THAT ‘YOU SURE ARE, BUCKO!’ BULLSHIT

speaking of sprites that denote great terror!!

I-It really is the Kaede scene all over again D: including them being willing to fight Monokuma and Kaede/Kaito protesting!

I hope you do little man!!!

This was the strength Shuichi desperately wanted but didn’t have in chapter 1 - and man oh man it’s nice to see him showing it now, in full force!

but as usual Monokuma is off thinking about his own thing

DOES

THAT

ARE YOU SAYING WHAT I THINK YOU’RE SAYING

THAT YOU RECYCLED LIFE

THAT THESE GUYS ARE NOT JUST REPLACEABLE, BUT PERHAPS REPLACEMENTS

DID YOU RECYCLE MEMORIES AND TALENTS, PERHAPS -

oh NO APPARENTLY NOT DON’T YOU DO THIS

...........

Okay they all introduce themselves here but you know what? No. No. I’m not dignifying you guys with your opening screenshots even if I do love your theme song. sorry monodam I like you but I’m lumping you in with the rest of them

YOU ARE DEFINITELY MAKING SOME SORT OF STATEMENT ABOUT THE ACTUAL STUDENTS HERE

PERHAPS ABOUT HOW YOU GATHERED UP SOME NO NAME KIDS AND FORCED TALENTS, MEMORIES AND ABILITIES OF DEAD STUDENTS FOR SOME REASON, OR THAT YOU HIJACKED THE ORIGINAL PLANS OF PEOPLE WHO DID THAT

perhaps to make sure those that were immune to the virus were what humanity needed to survive or something???

I JUST -

I JUST DON’T KNOW IF I’M RIGHT ON MY CURRENT ASSUMPTION OR IF THERE ARE OTHER OPTIONS I’M MISSING BECAUSE WHAT I’VE COME UP WITH FITS PRETTY WELL

oh jeez okay we’re making a direct comparison then - I guess that’s fair at this point of the game, but I guess I just wasn’t ready for it?

THAT’S. THAT LITERALLY GOES AGAINST THE WHOLE ‘EVERYONE IS DEAD’ THING. YOU KNOW THAT, RIGHT?!

YOU’RE REALLY NOT

Except you. Only you. so basically the opposite of monokid. whatever i really don’t care about the kubs tbh

........ oh fuck

Sadly I’m on Kaito’s side in all of this.

It really did grow on her, huh. When was the last time anyone showed her any sort of affection outside of that ‘childhood friend’ hinted at in her FTEs? :(

I didn’t keep all of the interspersions of Kaito reacting in surprise to Maki’s statements but the fact that he didn’t realize his impact on her, that he was really getting through to her, is sad to me. Makes sense - the only indication he got that she was starting to respond to his ‘training’ was from Shuichi in the hangar bathroom scene, and then just a few hours later she busts in, completely throwing away everything he said about her being more than her talent, and basically acting as the mastermind’s weapon. It is incredibly interesting that he’s so shocked by all of her outbursts here - that he didn’t realize how much she actually cared about him.

Aaaah she’s crying D: Those sound clips, man...

And here’s the confession that was pretty much inevitable at this point.

For once Shuichi knew a matter of the heart before Kaito. That’s significant - in fact, it may actually say more about Kaito than Shuichi. You brag so much, but when it comes down to it, you really did underestimate the power your positivity had on people - or perhaps, more likely, your own self-confidence was shaken that badly in the last chapter?

Figures you’d only let us see you bleed is when you physically can’t hide it anymore and are actually about to drop dead.

KAITO UNDERSTANDS PEOPLE

INCREDIBLY WELL

AND KNOWS HOW TO SUPPORT THEM UNTIL THEY CAN STAND ON THEIR OWN

You - are you not going to address her confession at all??? omg I... I think Kaito may not feel the same way about her. Oh. oh jeez this is awkward...

Seriously though, what a smart way for him to take that confession and use it to help her. Whether he likes her back or not, it doesn’t matter - he won’t be around much longer anyway. What’s most important to him right now is that his friends will be okay when he’s gone - and in this moment, that they stand down and live.

I mean. Come on. He’s literally dripping blood from the mouth and smiling through it. Kaito, you’re absolutely ridiculous and I love you.

easy for you to say, you can’t see yourself right now

whatever Kaito you can’t fucking stop me I’m on the other side of the screen

WHOA DAMN WHERE DID THOSE COME FROM

Wait, that’s a reference to Ishimaru, right? Uh, Ishida?

.... does that mean this is him speaking for both him and Kokichi right now???

“Like I did. Like Kokichi did. Learn from us. Grow in our absence. Thrive. And take that sonuvabitch down.”

YES ONE LAST SAIMOTA BRO-TALK FOR THE ROAD!!!

OH GOD OKAY SPEAKING OF THINGS ‘FOR THE ROAD’, ANOTHER DEPRESSING SPRITE

Man, you just weren’t ready for this game at all. Physically you were stronger than everyone else, but mentally...

And just like that, he backs down. There’s probably some pretty valid criticism levelled at Kaito about being persistent and not always taking ‘no’ for an answer, but he does when it’s most important to, I think. And he knows to back down here because damn it, she needs to get this out of her system.

You’re not just some hero, Kaito, and that’s okay - you’re not some larger than life Ultimate Astronaut, Luminary of the Stars, just as Shuichi isn’t just the Ultimate Detective and Maki isn’t just the Ultimate Assassin -

You’re Kaito Momota, Shuichi and Maki’s friend. <3

THE FIRE IS BACK!!!

YOU TELL HIM, MY MAN!

Just so you know, when I played this through initially I just. I just paused the game a few screenshots before this because it was late and FUCK THIS SHIT I’M NOT WATCHING HIM DIE BEFORE I SLEEP TONIGHT

not sure if delaying the inevitable was any better but anyway, that’s where my head was at. I was incredibly Not Ready either way.

THIS IS ALREADY INCREDIBLY ‘NOPE’

NOPE IS AN EMOTION RIGHT

fuck it it is now

holy shit it’s the execution that started the whole series off

Also I’m mad about how pretty the whole thing is. Is that the planetarium that we can use as a gift???

Nice new threads, Monokuma.

NO HE’S ALREADY IN SO MUCH VISIBLE PAIN THIS IS NOT COOL AT ALL

NO FUCK YOU

I KNOW I SHOULD BE IN AWE OF THE CALLBACK BUT NO

Usually these are ironic though??? His whole thing is about how he wants to go to space, though I suppose the irony of being killed with what you love always fits like it did with the others...

OH FUCK YOU AGAIN

I didn’t notice it until I looked at this still, but aren’t those the headmaster’s bones???

HE’S COUGHING THE WHOLE TIME.... FFF

I-Is he still alive at this point??? The headmaster was reduced to bones at some point during the trip, right???

!!!!!!

HE’S TRYING SO HARD TO CLING TO LIFE...

KAITO!!!

KAITO, YOU MADE IT!!!!

oh god he

he smiled... for just a moment....

Kaito, on his way to hell, at Monokuma: ╭∩╮(︶︿︶)╭∩╮

OH COOL HE DIED SMILING

I’M DEFINITELY NOT CRYING OR ANYTHING

He died amongst the stars....

Wait so does that mean they didn’t see any of this happen??? Or was it projected on a TV for them or something -

oh jeez -

WAIT HOLD ON WTF?!

OI NO COLLATERAL DAMAGE ALLOWED!!!

AHOGE DOWN, AHOGE DOWN?!?!

Despite the smiling, despite him finally reaching space, there ultimately isn’t any happiness be found in death. He never wanted to go out like this. :(

GOOD FUCK YOU MONOKUMA

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