#drv3 theory

[pottedplant53]

Kokichi's Name Is Pretty Interesting, Actually

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Most people already know this, but for those who don't, 'Ouma' (王馬, or オウマ) translates to King Horse, and Kokichi (小吉, or コキチ) means Small Luck.

What never made sense to me was why 'King Horse' was chosen as Kokichi's surname. 'King' sort of makes sense as he's the Ultimate Supreme Leader, but what did horses have to do with anything? Other than his laugh in the JP, 'Nishishi', and the horse's head in his room, there was virtually nothing in the text that linked him to horses in any way whatsoever. These are both very small aspects of Kokichi's character as it is, and it feels weird for him to be named after them - they've always read more like little puns included because of his name, not the origin of the name itself, so what was the actual reasoning?

It goes without saying that there's a lot of chess symbolism in Kokichi's character. He's always planning ahead, places his faith only in logic (famously the most important element of chess), loves games, wears a checkerboard pattern, etc etc, but something less often discussed is that his name plays into this theme too.

'King' and 'Horse' are both pieces you find on a chess board. The King is the most important piece, with the game ending if it's taken by the other player, and the horse, while technically called the Knight, is a pretty recogniseable piece in its own right.

Kokichi sees himself as the King. He straight up says as much; "This school is mine, I am the King."

He had it in his head that if he was killed by Miu in chapter 4, all would be lost, because he's the specialist princess in the entire world the group's saving grace. If he dies before he can properly execute his plan, the plan (which he believes is the key to saving the others and ending the game) dies with him. The game that Kokichi is playing - the one directly opposing the mastermind, not the actual Killing Game itself - would be over. And so, he sacrifices Miu and Gonta, much like you'd sacrifice pawns in a game of chess to protect the King.

Not only that, but a King is nessecary for a Checkmate, which is exactly what Kokichi was trying to create in Chapter 5.

The mastermind takes the role of the other King on the board. Kokichi wanted to trap Monokuma, and by extension, the mastermind, in a situation where there was no comprehensible answer, breaking the game's structure and in theory, forcing him to end it prematurely. Whether or not this would actually work is up for debate.

Kokichi Oma is one big chess reference.

That's all.

*drives away*

[lifes-line]

You know I don’t know if this has been theorized or confirmed

But you know how miu was always correct on her guesses during the trials on who killed who

Well

If you rewatch her murder plot

She puts a poisoned bottle next to Kokichi and attempts to frame Kaito.

Successfully guessing that the next chapter Kaito will kill Kokichi

[templegate]

Unlocked the chapter 3 extra scene without knowing what it was. But i made an interesting observation about ms. Tsumugi here. i think i might've found the mastermind guys

[liarvibe]

Analysis on: The Executions of Danganronpa V3: Kaede Akamatsu

Good god this took me literal hours!

Anyway to sort of jumpstart my new blog, A NEW THEORY FOR YOU ALL! That's right, I'm dropping the UnweavingLies professional shtick and being absolutely batshit insane.

I'm just kidding xD The theory itself is (mostly) serious, I'm just so brain dead from working on it for so long today that I'm gonna just fall over now.

Anyway, enjoy!

[inmyowndelusion]

I made a tier list on how gay I think each character is

[doodlebug-writer]

What would be a sure fire way to actually kill Makoto Naegi in a way where his luck wouldn’t interfere? Specifically, if Junko were to succeed in killing Makoto in any way, how would he do it?

(some things to consider:

In SDR2, Nagito is able to be killed because his death WAS the desired outcome, and his good luck enabled it to happen.

another ultimate luck talent can sometimes cancel out another’s, as seen in the DR3 anime in the Kamukura/Komaeda confrontation

In the DR3 anime, the brainwashing video almost causes Makoto to kill himself without any interference from his lucky talent. In retrospect, you could argue Sakakura’s arrival counts, but I really don’t think this was intended to be “just lucky that Sakakura was there!”)

[your-dear-memmy]

I think Kokichi must've been in the middle of a manic episode or smth after the 4th trial tbh, like, he's all calculative and stuff but Miu's betrayal + The Guilt ™ + not being able to trust his memories (AKA knowing DICE probably never existed) + the concussion + general paranoia + other things were sending him off the rails for suresies.

This man is NOT mentally stable dawg ain't no way😭😭 It wasn't all JUST a conniving scheme, it was a last ditch effort, a desperate fuck you to the real mastermind. I think he knew in the first place that his main plan (pretending to be the ringleader) would fail, though technically that could also count as a contingency plan since he tried to get the others to work with him first?

But yeah he was just desperate and spiteful lol he wasn't a calm and collected actor like I see portrayed sometimes. I think he tried to be by detaching his emotions away and make hard decisions (something that does fit into his title of Ultimate Supreme Leader!) but he's still just a teenager, an angry hurt child who happens to be a control freak, so uh yeah didn't work 100%😭

[rubberduckyrye]

"Who are you, really?"

@jabbajacks' had a birthday recently, and I managed to do a more detailed sketch for them before my shoulder decided to crap out again :'D

Happy late birthday, have your angsty twins!

(One of these days these two should meet my twins, that would be CHAOTIC.)

[simaenagadayo]

sorry if i'm MIA i finally bought the the witness (game) and i want to throw myself at a wall

[unweavinglies]

This isn't meant to be a full analysis or anything, but there is something interesting about V3 that I don't think anyone's ever really talked about--and that is how strange the First Blood Perk is.

While I personally don't subscribe to the "it's all fiction!" interpretation of V3, if this interpretation was the truth and Tsumugi wasn't just saying nonsense at the end... then why does this motive exist at all?

Fandoms like Danganronpa are all about the tropes and thrilling murders, class trials, and executions. To deny a class trial is to also deny an execution, which are two of the three main components that fans of the franchise adore so much. Why rob them of one case's worth of content? It would just leave fans disappointed.

If you are like me and don't subscribe to the theory that it's all fiction, then this motive is still strange. Why allow someone to escape after killing someone? What is the point of that? You could argue that if the Secret of the Outside World is real that the motive just leads the culprit to their doom anyway, but... I always found it strange, considering that in the previous games, it was always imperative that a murder be punctuated by a class trial and then an execution. It was basically essential to DR1, as it not only showed the world that their final bits of "hope" were killing each other, but to also show the mastermind torturing them to death.

In V3, however, they just casually offer to throw it away--of course alternatively they don't actually do that for the sake of the actual franchise, but the question remains:

Why does it feel like V3 just wanted the killing game to start? It's almost as if the game is meant to kill these particular students.

[sketch-twentytwo]

Tch, how dare you. I’m supposed to be the one who takes the lead….

[g0nta-g0kuhara]

My friend is taking a human rights course right now and all of a sudden we started talking about Tsumugi's claim that the outside world in V3 is completely at peace. I tend not to believe her on this, because what peaceful utopia has a killing game where young adults throw away their lives as the most popular piece of media? And then she suggested that it was utilitarian, and that the killing games were needed to keep the peace. Which has the interesting implication that previously, many of the conflicts and societal problems were due to Boredom... kind of like what Junko pushed for during the tragedy, huh?

What I'm saying is, let this be fuel for "v3 is part of the dr1 and dr2 universe and is a consequence of the tragedy" theories

[jacksmusesdrv3]

Your twin theory stuff has been going on for quite some time, have you considered making a run down on it because it’s a bit hard to find all your points and information on it because of how long you’ve spent on it and I’m very curious but struggling to put it all together

(Alright, take two since I got stuck for a loooong while)

This is a basic explanation of the Ouma-Monokuma twin theory! I will do my best to condense the concepts down in a way that flows simply and is easily understandable, but it will be hard to cover everything while keeping to the most relevant information. So if this doesn't do the job, I might finish the much longer meta on ao3 at a later date, in which I will cover… everything I possibly can, no holds barred and without the blog links. Which will take considerably longer and need very careful execution. (Yeah, this is the short version…)

General disclaimer: this is a view informed by at least six years of trial and error, ruminating in canon for patterns and their meaning. Through all this, I recognise that it is still a theory, and it doesn't make others’ ideas less meaningful. All the same, I need you to understand that this theory and its analysis is fundamental to my view of Danganronpa as a whole, not just my feelings about Ouma. And in my opinion, the presence of bad writing in DRV3 does not negate that view, either. So if you believe that it does, I hope we can agree to differ on our reader responses instead, after all is said and done. Thank you.

Alright, with that out of the way, dropping this under a cut as it's lengthy. Though rather than a lot of detail on what this means for Ouma's character right now, I'm going to dig through the surface with the basis of reframing, roles, academy history, psychology, narrative style for the mastermind, and the broader consequences, with feelings from my perspective to wrap up. I hope that will help give a perspective of the theory world, so that any evidence I give should fit easier in the future.

⚠️ Reader discretion is advised- this content details abuse further on and will be marked like this! ⚠️ 

[‘Then this story's not over.’]

The way I see this situation is basically like a 3D sculpture with two different pictures- ‘the fiction’ and ‘the conspiracy’. That is to say- in the ‘fiction’, there are things that are effectively motifs or throwaway remarks (such as, Ouma's comment about having a brother in his FTE), but in the ‘conspiracy’, they become clues to a hidden interconnected situation. A puzzle in the meta, essentially.

To begin, I’ll outline components of this framing, as these are necessary to understand how this turnabout works.

Catbox world: the question hanging in the air, 'is HPA fiction, or is it real'? What would the consequences of the latter be for the game and outside world of DRV3? In order to begin answering this, I think this way:

Domino effect: 'when you learn a new fact, you learn something else along with it'. Ex: if HPA is real, a very large and clandestine organisation may also be real, since one was connected to HPA's library. With that possibility opened, there are… a lot more potential threads coming from it.

Unreliable narrator: is there something Shuichi is missing? In Ouma's lab, along with the complete history file there are monitors and a hatch, and in his dorm room there’s a whiteboard with pictures and notes scrawled on, the latter two Shuichi doesn't even notice. There are things he cannot verify too - such as Rantaro's odd memory of the forgotten Prologue - which is left up to us, the players.

Contextual reframe: with the new information, we can infer for example that record keepers of the past are made obsolete, and since the HPA history was in Ouma's lab, this could make him a viable record keeper. If TDR's agenda is with historical record, its identity may be the secret society involved in conspiracies. This can greatly affect some of Ouma's comments in hindsight- one relevant to this is his FTE remark about ‘tricking the entire world’.

With doubt already on the most basic aspect of the 'fiction' narrative (that is, ‘HPA is fiction’) we can apply this principle to the Flashback Lights and by extension, the idea that the cast must also be fiction, too. 

Ex: Shuichi and Kiibo were made to see the Flashback Light panel in a way that was rigged up to be seen- it should not have been visible to multiple persons, so it's likely to have been tampered. We know Shuichi to be helpless with computers, so he would not be able to verify if anything else is amiss (ex. Kubs Pad and other options being withheld). What's more, with ‘fiction things’ - such as the Shukuchi method for Ryoma - being relevant in both the ‘weird backstory’ and in the main narrative, there's a possibility that some of the Lights are real memories or at least closely based on their real experiences.

[‘A liar like me knows their own kind.’]

When you reframe the context in an excessive manner like this, it can also affect known roles, even events and relationships. I reason it beginning like this:

Tsumugi becomes a patsy for Monokuma. Just like the fake Makoto in DR2 led the narrative to trap Hajime, Tsumugi misled others similarly, with incomplete knowledge of her own cospox. That is, her cospox being real in the sense of the effects on her person, doesn't necessarily mean that HPA is fiction, because it's about her perception

Kiibo becomes a patsy for Monokuma, someone whose true (military) nature was obfuscated to himself on a metaphysical level, via code-hijacking. This means that high-powered functions he has are strange to him, and he’s easily manipulated into believing lies about his function (such as ‘strength of a senior citizen’, and the ‘audience surveys’ that he cannot verify) 

Ouma becomes Monokuma’s double, like Mukuro taking the identity of Junko, as the monitors and hatch are a direct parallel to Junko. This means that Ouma has a deeper relationship and notably intrinsic connection to Monokuma as well as less freedom from him, likely has extensive knowledge of everyone, and has his own memories. And from that, an incentive to guide people he considers his friends, to minimise himself and his own struggles while working against Monokuma subtly, even to manufacture his disappearance in ch5 to take the fight to Monokuma alone

Shuichi becomes the ‘shadow mastermind’, like Izuru- the ‘traitor protagonist’ who sealed and sabotaged the group’s will to live, while losing his memory of that. This is reflected by Chapter 1's case, wherein he had created the perfect setup for Kaede to enact her own plan to kill, and had conflict over his actions that he had tried to shut away. It also provides context for Ouma being especially wary of Shuichi, noting on the whiteboard to ‘be cautious’ of him, especially if he has a relationship with Monokuma as well.

These are the big four as far as the mastermind agenda is concerned, but another interesting role-reframe is the Monokubs. Remember that Shirokuma and Kurokuma were fragments of the mastermind, and Shirokuma’s role in UDG is to deceive the player? What if the Monokubs had such a situation, split up into comedic personality fragments? Were the melodramas telling some sort of story as well- the story of Monokuma?

If so, there may be some clues from them. But first…

[‘Designed like a school’]

As to the academy’s lost mystery, it’s possible it was originally an experiment. Rantaro’s hunch was that there was ‘someone behind Monokuma’, and in Salmon mode he points out that Monokuma could have ‘taken over the facility’. A bunch of files in Shuichi’s lab suggest that the culprits of the scenarios were noted for their ‘tricks’, likely pertaining to their Ultimate talent. 

A concerning matter is that the details of the Gopher Project’s plans were crossed out, with us unable to see why youngsters of Ultimate status were required. Doubly concerning is that Ouma himself appears to have amazing, even supernatural ability, demonstrated in ch5 with his scripting- a talent such as that is in line with Junko’s abilities. 

Speaking of that, it must be said that Junko's true ability was left a mystery by the game's end. It was also a subject of much curiosity by HPA, so if Ouma is a supernaturally talented person, that could speak volumes as to his own position. His status as an 'invisible Ultimate’ alone raises questions as to why it has to be hidden, or rather, why he has to obscure it. It could be that he is oppressed by the talent system itself, and if that's the case, perhaps he is its guinea pig along with V3's Monokuma. But it's not just about Ouma's ability- if Monokuma too had a similarly strong supernatural talent and/or circumstance, that could explain not only his posing as a ‘god’, but Angie’s mysteriously intimate knowledge of others' personal ideals through such a ‘god’. That is, if she was possessed by someone with knowledge of the cast's ideals, and who was exploiting them in the Love Hotel. 

Moreover, if Ouma and Monokuma were supernaturally gifted, there's a good possibility that if the vault clues were a layered clue symbolic of them- the ‘light’ and ‘dark’ Monokumas depicted on the ‘twins’ clue for the vault - then they were not only siblings, but twins- identical twins. This allows for another ‘report card misidentification’ a la Junko-Mukuro, while the Flashback Light panel refers to the ‘Gamemaster’ rather than ‘ringleader’ (meaning an identical double could interact with it), and from a lore perspective, twins were known in Danganronpa Kirigiri to be the subject of (highly unethical) research, and identical twins would be the most sought after for genetics reasons.

Such research could eventually wind up creating Ouma and his brother - seemingly the highest of any known talents - through a form of eugenics, not unlike Byakuya’s backstory. From there, there's no telling what could have happened…

[‘Eh…?’]

Now I can get to the psychology behind the bear. If a person behind Monokuma had such a past with this academy, traits can be speculated:

⚠️ Content: incest, child abuse, sexual abuse, psych torture/institutionalisation. ⚠️ 

Vengeful: in ch2, Monokuma suggests he may hate the cast for something, and tells them to ‘work for the answer’. Interestingly, Monotaro (leader persona) makes note of ‘red lies’ in the Salmon mode, and red lies are for revenge. 

Extremely traumatised and mentally ill: if it is Ouma’s brother, and he’s wearing a straitjacket, this could imply institutional abuse. Monokuma’s behaviours in ch3 (a mental shutdown) and ch4 (depression) could denote severe mental damage, and having the academy cleared of bugs gives credence to him having an affliction with bugs like Ouma ( foaming at the mouth and passing out).

Depraved: in ch4, Ouma noted he would ‘strangle the one he loves’ to ‘keep his eyes on him’, and appears to play a similar threatening, possessive role in the Love Hotel. Implied in the Monokubs’ melodrama, Monokuma may have coerced his own sibling into having relations- though he may have forgotten his sibling entirely due to trauma.

People pleaser: Ouma says that he ‘lies to entertain people’ in his Salmon mode ending, which could reflect his persona (Monokuma)’s desires. It may be that his desire to ‘not be boring’ feeds into this persona, too, as it's something so serious to him that it was shown as basically a dying wish.

In this sense, the mastermind can be similar to Monaca- as she took control over the city (while Monokuma stated to have taken over the country), became mentally ill as a result of the abuse inflicted on her, lied (about an injury) in order to make her abusers nicer to her, and became depraved in a way childish and sadistic (in how she toys with Kotoko and Nagisa, for instance). There's also the narrative effect of obscuring her trauma with unreliable narrator, and even Monaca’s own warped sense of humour that obscures it in tandem.

[Twin with supernatural talent (Junko Enoshima), a result of experimentation (Izuru Kamukura), childishness complex (Monaca Towa) and all combined (Kokichi Ouma)]

For narrative styles, DRV3's Monokuma is a culmination of approaches to make the game’s mystery truly warped to its core. Taking the masterminds’ actions from the past games:

Junko selectively picked photographs to sow discord about the group’s reality

AI Junko (a plant by Izuru) tried to lead Hajime into making a choice without proper context

Monaca led Komaru through a growth journey to use her for impact at the end

These can be attributed to: 

the Flashback Lights- some real, others ‘rotten apples’, but overall context is dubious 

the ‘It is fiction’ declaration- may be a leading question, again with dubious context

Shuichi’s ‘confidence growth’- that makes him more credible to those watching outside

(As for ‘context being dubious’, it should be noted that the Twilight mystery has a similar vibe in terms of how it is chopped up and misrepresented on the first viewing. This is particularly interesting when you factor in the mixed Kubs Pads giving other characters information.)

Speaking of ‘using’, Monokuma talks about how someone could be used by expressions of gratitude. In parallel to this, Shuichi is talking about how he was happy to be ‘useful to others as a detective’, and regards their gratitude personally. But it’s concerning that Shuichi and his history is a topic for ‘Monokuma Theatre’, when you factor in what Monaca did in UDG.

The basic concept is: with Monokuma’s agenda towards the end being to throw out foreshadowing and mystery - to deny its purpose - he wants you to make the decision of ignoring the heart, discarding the mystery and the path to the answer. In this sort of vague and unnerving way, a ‘hidden mastermind’ is like a progression of Monaca’s style. Symbolically, Shuichi’s journey seems to be one where he is on the fringe of going astray the entire time, and in this reading, he ultimately does with the loss of the game's mystery. 

What follows is the player's re-examination of the canon context and in this case, a ‘salvage effort’ of what was lost. And ultimately, in the quagmire of broken context, Ouma's mixed relationship with Shuichi is fuel for thought, because his cryptic behaviour - like the game he plays in his FTE - keeps you guessing on what he's been trying to say.

[Members… of what?]

So, factoring in earlier recontextualisation - of the large organisation likely spanning the world - is the idea brought up during Ouma's FTE, that I question like this: could Shuichi have joined a nefarious organisation after all, and following in Salmon mode: is there any indicator Ouma has concerns about Shuichi’s intentions in general (that is, regardless of whether or not his past self would have been capable of less-than-moral decisions)? 

What about others in the cast- a Prime Minister who had run away from her post, a military robot, a super inventor, an assassin? An artist with odd brainwashing powers, a musician with the ability to connect to others’ hearts through music? Because given that the DR2 group had affected the world with their talents after being manipulated, it's possible that the V3 group’s talents had a similar part to play, too. For instance, Kaito’s FTE detailed the possibility of communicating with aliens, and trading technology with them- and as it happens, there is notably a very weird technology in the academy, capable of ridiculous feats. This kind of unknown in the narrative speaks of a whole world that we barely know, even now. 

If this kind of world is what Ouma is burdened by, something beyond the protagonist's understanding, that too is a story waiting to be told. And his strange interactions with Shuichi could be at the heart of this story…

[‘Just hit the reset button on your feelings’]

As for the relationship with Shuichi, that is particularly difficult to give in evidence- partly given the culprit in his backstory, and how if Monokuma was that culprit - someone with a strong agenda against Shuichi - that might link to both twins. But due to the death of one of the siblings in that backstory, it warrants a supernatural idea such as resurrection, that has yet to be proven viable in-universe. If we remember Angie having a weird supernatural air about her though, and that she was implied to be in a cult, you could still infer that cults were involved in the supernatural. It’s entirely possible that a high-profile cult had come to the point of using resurrections, although that’s very much deeplore, as is the supernatural in general.

So while I can’t say too much about technical lore, like with the organisation, I can talk about the vibes I have with the theory, to focus on a sense of grounding in character instead: 

“Ouma and Monokuma are both sidelined by the narrative. A not-insignificant part of that was caused by Shuichi in his past, even if he was led into the cause unwittingly, and the actions of Shuichi’s present self in missing memories. As a result, Ouma is in a nerfed position during the game despite his supernatural talent. Unable to say anything without surveillance, he is under a great deal of stress and pent up, ambivalent feelings - not least towards Shuichi and Monokuma -  that he tries mostly to deflect. After all, it would not do to give too much away, and ruin his own plans.”

I have a detailed ‘song lyric analysis’ of sorts to tie to this, as a way of exploring feelings. Part of the reason I’d go this far, is Ouma as the designated ‘narrative scapegoat’ has always just fit well for me, given that the cast is shown to struggle with their treatment of him. Even leaving analysis aside, I feel it would be very satisfying (cathartic, even!) to explore an angle where he was suppressed, and that his position was legitimately the consequence of others actions right from the start, making the whole ‘pretending to be a villain’ situation even more painfully ironic. 

Plus it would be a welcome change from the notion of ‘misguided morally-grey antagonist who needs to change’, in my opinion, as Ouma’s unchanging self is something I hold particularly strongly. So instead of the arc of drastic change, the thing to explore would be how he functions and struggles with others (in mundane as well as grand ways), and also gets them to change, to understand him. It would also be interesting to expand on the theme of talent abuse, to have a Monokuma who was a product of the corrupt talent system- rather like Izuru was, but this time fully present in the narrative, and in tandem with someone else connected to him.

Overall, I feel that a situation where the protagonist thinks he’s won, while a mysterious someone has been struggling in the sidelines to affect change, is a real goldmine for a mystery situation. Especially from replaying the game, and picking up odd signs that something may not have been what it seemed. There may not be much to go from there (as things stand right now, at least) but the palpable frustration means that through this perspective, I can - at times very viscerally - imagine Ouma’s frustration and powerlessness. That alone colours the game and the interactions in a whole new light for me.

I hope this helped clarify at least some of what the heck is going on- and why I would even see Ouma this way at all, if it’s so convoluted. I have struggled to put it into words all this time, but with the pieces flying in my face from every direction, it’s hard to not try putting them together. I usually don’t game on Hard Mode like this, but something about Ouma compels me- whatever Kodaka’s intentions, I believe him when he says Danganronpa V3 is without end.

Thank you for reading!

[shsl-hubris-guy]

Anywho while it's fresh on my mind, I don't think Keebo got erased by the audience at the end of V3

Don't get me wrong; I'm sure his personality was wiped. The game makes that very clear. But that doesn't mean Keebo the identity left with it. When Hajime was wiped and became known as Izuru, he was still a person. An identity. The same is true of Keebo, I think

Keebo is in reference to both Makoto and Hajime in the final case. Like Makoto, he's renamed as ultimate hope, taking the reigns to push for hope and fight against despair as a figurehead. Similarly, like Hajime, there's an attempt made by the corporation responsible for him to wipe his personality to make him a better puppet. But in that same vein, we still see Keebo respond to his name, and speak to Shuichi, Tsumugi, and the others after the trial. He may have been emptied of his personality traits and quirks, but the AI is still there and still functioning, even after allowing the audience to temporarily speak through him. He's still responsible for his actions.

In the final execution of Danganronpa, it opens with him using the same actions and techniques as he did at the start of the chapter in an attempt to destroy the school. The audience isn't voting in his every move; he's still there, and we even get a glimpse of him when we watch him ensure that his friends live. Keebo may not be as lovely as before, but it's still him, and it's his decision to self destruct and give his friends a chance to break out of Tsumugi's world of fiction.

If Keebo is still present, then he can still defy the audience. He can still choose to abstain against the words of the inner voice. And in that potential choice, one final lie becomes the truth- the truth that the audience turns its back on Tsumugi's work. Keebo claims that abstaining and destroying the game was the audience's will that they voted for. But if he ignored the vote, that would make the audience give up regardless, and we watch them switch off their screens one by one as his lie becomes a prophecy. The game is broken now. Why bother playing?

And Tsumugi, a mastermind who insists she knew everything that would happen, that she wrote all these characters and planned out their arcs and was in control all the time, dies to a lie that she couldn't see through, a choice she couldn't predict. She loses. Her replication of an ultimate analyst fails yet again as yet another player deceives her

[aparticularbandit]

Pre-Game!Shuichi: I think it'd be really cool if I could play a detective! But one that's the Blackened! :D

Tsumugi: ....

In-Game!Shuichi, later, to Kaede: ...I didn't even really want to be a detective.

Tsumugi: :)

[wackpedion]

I MIGHT just have figured out why Kokichi outed Gonta in Ch 4

I was on some japanese translation blog and Kokichi states even he doesn't know who the true mastermind is, which isn't so surprising.

Anyway as I read that I thought, if he doesn't know, its likely to assume he can't tell when the mastermind is lying when amongst them (I'm not actually sure if Tsumugi lies in regards to her being a mastermind, but maybe the general fact that Kokichi couldn't pick up on any lies, whether the lies were actually there or not, was something he noticed)

So what if, during the trial when Gonta was saying things that Kokichi knew were false but Kokichi couldn't pick up on any tells that he was lying, made him think Gonta might have been the mastermind?

IN FACT it would explain why he does it after Shuichi lies, as Gonta in response says he believes Shuichis claims. Gonta saying that, and Kokichi not being able to pick up any tells of a lie, would explain why it was at THAT specific moment he comes to a conclusion and outs Gonta as blackened

It could also loosely explain why he talks about ruining "the mystery solving fun". He verbally directs his so-called revenge at Shuichi, but him ruining the "fun" makes more sense when hes talking about messing with the mastermind and any audience thats watching them.