#roman revisits the ronpa

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Prologue is done and omg yeah our boy Makoto’s actually a bit slick with his inner thoughts 😂 dude is hilarious. The whole “pushover” thing some folks do with him (and, by extension, the “crybaby” topic Ovid was talking about the other day) is like… way off base.

We all know Makoto’s power comes from inside—like his resilience, bottling up his own fears and negative thoughts for the sake of The Whole, etc. etc. Lil man can be just as savage as Hajime when he wants to be… just most of the time, he tries to be the bigger person lmao!

[digitaldollsworld]

God there’s just so much to unpack about the first trial alone. We as the audience already get to see Makoto’s strength and resilience—like even if though it’s hard, he’s going out of his way to NOT forget them.

Even with the inherent tragedy of Sayaka’s betrayal and feeling naive, or like a fool (and ofc everybody trying to frame him 🙄) not once does Makoto ever point a finger and say like “oh I hate Leon OR Sayaka”. Like they’re all just playing the game and that’s what makes it so heartbreaking.

Do you know how strong of a person you have to be to grapple with all of that and still find love and forgiveness in your heart?

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He kinda popped off with this

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Before I get deep into Chapter 3 I will say that Hiro gets shat on by so much of the fandom when I love him :(( whilst Taka is in shock and completely depressed, Hiro says as the oldest one there, he wants to take a leadership role and keep everyone’s morale up and the investigations going! He’s soooo so good

[digitaldollsworld]

Okay I hate this trial and I forget how long and convoluted it is but before I go to sleep I will say that there are a lot of things I like about this chapter. Celeste’s major reveal is really good (even tho it is a bit convenient for she and Hiro to have the same name; but now, in hindsight, it makes total sense for her to go for Hiro and to push for him specifically/try to frame him, etc. When I first got into DR, I legit had no idea why she would try to frame Hiro of all people until the very end the trial. Very interesting.)

I love the buildup to the 4th trial, which is my second favorite of this entire game. We’re already getting the very cemented character foil of Hina & Byakuya; it’s already made itself apparent just by the way they carry themselves, but it’s particularly starting to become more obvious in this trial (Hina crying and being v v rattled by the bodies, vs. Byakuya not only initially calling the investigation boring, but also then turning around to laugh and say that they would be better off without Toko. Which Hina calls him out for as well. She says something along the lines of: “How could you say something like that?”) EXCELLENT foreshadowing. Ahhh god their whole character foil and dynamic is just so so good.

I love the fact that nearly everybody instantly accused Hiro, bc that’s where the evidence obviously initially pointed, but from the jump Makoto never did that… perhaps bc he knows how it feels to be instantly accused of being guilty without anybody pulling out any fucking evidence, doing any investigation, or using any critical thinking. I think that he empathized with him.

The naegiri’s being cemented here too. I don’t think they’ve gotten into their little spat yet, right? But Makoto straight up asks her where tf she was for like, 90% of this investigation, and asks her to tell him? And she’s like “no lol” and gets v defense. When they do have their little spat, iirc he’s like “how the hell are you gonna get mad at me for keeping a secret when that’s all you’ve been doing this entire time, is keeping secrets?” And ofc I’m sure he’s referring to this whole investigation as well.

Celeste as a whole is such an interesting fucking character to me. Her mindset, her coping mechanisms, her motives and her backstory. The way she went about this trial. The way she slowly loses grasp on her facade and composure the more and more the trial drags out. The way she reacted to her execution Really, all of it is really good. I like her character. Even tho this trial… ugh I just don’t like it for the most part. It just drags out forever and ever. But it’s good for what it is.

(Last thing but this is just something stupid. They find Hifumi’s Princess Piggles glasses cloth and Makoto’s like “oh it has to be Hifumi’s. He’s the only person that would use something like this” and everybody points out that the only other people who wear glasses, that it could even possibly be, are Toko and Byakuya. And Byakuya straight up is like “I wouldn’t be caught dead using a tacky piece of garbage like that.” Please he’s so fucking funny 💀

Okay that’s it enough rambling I’m going to bed goodnight aklfjsdjfjsd

[digitaldollsworld]

Okay I’m further than I thought (I’m legit up to the trial and watching it now) and here I am already running my fucking mouth. But dude this is so so interesting to me. From the very beginning, Byakuya’s trying to lead the conversation, lead the trial, and goad Makoto into this whole Genocide Jack rhetoric. That’s all he’s been talking about. Even now I can’t tell if, up until the reveal, he 1.) genuinely thought that Jack was the culprit, 2.) he knew that she wasn’t and literally just wanted to put together this great big mystery and display to prove to everybody (but especially Makoto) how cunning and smart he is, or a mix of both.

We all know the nature of the Togami Competition; Byakuya’s used to extremely cruel and harsh competitions like this so ofc he would lean into it and also think it’s completely normal (before he starts deconstructing his own upbringing, and also being physically shown that it is indeed NOT normal and that you can actually deviate from the “norm”) [which, to him, is cruelty]. And y’know this entire trial is just really fucking pivotal for his character development, and Makoto’s, because their arcs and growth are intertwined. And you can really see the mirror between their characters here.

Just this entire trial. The way it handles morality, sexuality, gender, just the very essence of people’s base ideals and it strips them down and shows them what they’re all about. The way that the character arcs are looped into each other, Mondo into Chihiro into Byakuya into Makoto—the way that Byakuya, of all people, seeing his backstory, is the one that really instigates the discussion of all of this (which I’m sure wasn’t 100% his intention)… god it’s all SO GOOD.

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“Omg y’all were so scared bc Byakuya hasn’t shown up what if something bad has happened to him!!!”

This motherfucker:

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There He Go!!!

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My ass fell asleep so I’m not even up to the investigation or the trial yet 🤦🏾‍♂️ maybe 2nite

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Okay so it’s like cold as shit outside so scratch the whole knitting outside thing (I already done tried skjfjd). I figure that none of us are going to work tomorrow bc we’re in an ice storm warning so the mall is prob gonna be closed. But you know what I can do….. 😏

[digitaldollsworld]

Byakuya seemed real real uncomfortable during the whole Chihiro AMAB reveal… ofc I’m going to go absolutely apeshit talking about the ramifications of this tomorrow, but it’s late so I’ll spare all of us that bullshit for now 😅

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Hey, Byakuya… did you just… did I just catch you off guard? 😳

[digitaldollsworld]

Okay so this means nothing at all coming from The Dude With The Byakuya Profile Pic, but these folks really cannot blame Byakuya for being so standoffish and only thinking of preserving himself. Especially when you take his backstory into play. He’s been thru this before.

None of this is novel or new to him; it’s simply just a way of life due to his horrific upbringing. And also he’s just… unfortunately, he’s right tho. You really Can Not trust anybody. And it actually is foolish to do so. But ooooh Makoto foils him so well in that regard bc having that unwavering hope is what got them all thru I’m!!!

Don’t even get me fucking started on the long ass dissertation I’ve got on the trial/chapter itself. Oooh I’m feral

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FIRST TRIAL

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Did Byakuya really just look at his motive video and think something like “oh. This shit again?” God y’all know I’m going to have SO MUCH to say about his ass

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“If I’ve got you on my side, I guess I don’t need a weapon after all” the foreshadowing….