#that’s including danganronpa writers in that statement

[strawberri-draws]

Blorbo posting again

[gilmesc1]

Do you have any thoughts on fictional portrayals of DID, like danganronpa, spl!t, and others?

Yes, I usually would take time to do research but lucky for you I already did XD

I looked into Danganronpa a while ago since we have 1 or 2 system mates from it, and in that case, prepare yourselves for a hot mess of my opinion and facts I got from a google fest.

So, to start out, I guess I might share spoilers?? So you hath been warned. Additionally I’m not going to sit here and rephrase the entire story so, honestly why am I even explaining this. Anon at least knows what’s going on XDD

So Danganronpa is a psychological mystery anime that focuses heavily on the themes of hope and despair, where in most versions of the story characters are forced into a killing game where they have to kill each other. Bet you couldn’t have figured that one out on your own XD

One thing I like about it is that the characters overall are written fairly well. Many of them are complex multi layered gems of writing with good development and story arcs. One thing that I found interesting is the semi accurate portrayals of mental illness and how it impacts the characters in this insane situation.

So, let’s break into that. I focused on the portrayals of NPD and DID specifically, and I could go back and look into others, but we’ll focus on those for this post. And just going to throw this out now, I think it’s interesting and also kind of a bold move to tackle those kinds of things in an anime.

So let’s look at the DID portrayal. The character’s name is Toko Fukawa, and she is a fucking wreck. Confirmed emotional abuse gives a lot into her character, and we see her as this timid, deflective, honestly broken shell. Later in the series we are introduced to her alternate personality, I know, exciting.

However it’s a literal serial killer. So like. Yeah.

I don’t love that part. I mean, out of all of the portrayals for this alter, you had to go with serial killer? And not only that, but a really famous, generally acknowledged as insane serial killer. Thaaaanks writer.

To recap what a lot of tumblr says, this kind of portrayal is dangerous because the majority of DID portrayals are of crazy violent stereotypes. It was quite honestly disappointing, and I wish that the writers hadn’t used this as their big reveal.

But hey, neutral standing here, let’s look at why he did do that from a different perspective. Since the theme of the game/anime is killing, it does make sense plot wise to have a serial killer. Additionally, it’s a clever way to get said serial killer into the game in the first place. Plot wise and with a few things I’ll mention in a second, it does make sense in a twisted way.

But let’s get the bad out of the way first. One thing I really don’t love is her appearance. It’s like someone took the original character design of fukawa, took some drugs, and then drew a nightmare creature. Seriously, there’s crazy eyes, hair flying everywhere, and this freaky inhuman tongue that the alter has out no matter what she’s doing. Like whaaaaaat the fuck.

Firstly this spreads misinformation that we can change appearance at will. Like don’t get me wrong, I wish I could, but the best I got is changing clothes if I have the time. Also the tongue I really hate because it gives the impression of the alter being this inhuman monster. Also again with the impression that we can morph stuff when we switch. I mean, if I had that, I’d be having a lot more fun in my day to day life than I do now.

Do what you will with that information.

Additionally we do see Fukawa’s tongue, and it’s not a weird demogorgon kind of thing, so, yeah, the tongue thing is weird.

Finally her name. It’s Genocider Syo/Jack/Jill. Not a normal name, no the only name we have for her is her serial killer name which I feel serves to continue to show her as this inhuman thing where we all go, Oh god oh fuck time to be afraaaaid.

But hey, let’s look at what they did right.

The backstory of how genocider came to be is really accurate to how it works. Fukawa has a history of abuse at a young age, and genocider eventually comes into the picture to protect her.

Let me explain: So this is a theory on my part (Check out Weeby Newz’s youtube video, that’s where I got this) but Fukawa was revealed to have suffered massive emotional abuse at the hands of a boy who she had romantic interest in. Since he was moving away, she decided to confess her love to him in a letter before this happened. Turns out the boy pinned the letter in her classroom so everyone would make fun of her. Dick move.

I think genocider formed after this specific event, firstly because this is a huge defining experience for Fukawa. Additionally, the way genocider acts serves to prove this. Her target victims are boys, and her first victim was the boy who hurt Fukawa. I mean yeah, killing was waaaay extreme, but bear with me on this next part:

I’d say that genocider is a protector. A lot of her initial actions were to protect Fukawa from getting hurt in the same way, and protectors do have a history of going to the extreme to protect their hosts and systems. Even though she seems like a persecutor, I don’t think any of her actions have been directed at herself and Fukawa, they actually seem to have a decent relationship, and to end this theory that is completely non canon and just me pretending I’m smart, I’d call her a protector.

Next, looking at the relationship they have. Genocider at one point tells the protagonist that they have a “non disclosure policy” when they switch when the other is in the middle of something. (like murder??) And I personally really liked this, as it was a kind of realistic DID humor in my eyes. Take it or leave it, that’s my opinion.

And that’s really all I have on that behalf. Genocider really isn’t shown as a “normal person” often, which I guess is the point but also leaves me with nothing to evaluate. (Side note, this is only V1 of the series and I’m aware she changes but dear god go easy on me)

Finally, here are a few things that I find a little weird tbh.

At first glance when they switch, it’s a touch accurate, if over dramatic. Losing consciousness and coming to as a different alter is possible so I do like that, however they also have her constantly switching when sneezing, which is a little out there.

I mean, I think I’ve done that before, but for it to be a consistent theme, idk. Maybe overdramatized again.

Secondly, there is a voice change, which is accurate, but it really just serves to fit the crazy image, so I’m conflicted on that.

So that is really all I can say on that specifically, to end things I’m going to talk about one other character Fukawa has interactions with, Togami. (He has a first name but I can’t spell/remember it.)

So I gravitated towards him while watching the series because he reminds me of me, hence me saying that he seems to be a dead ringer for npd. Let me explain.

He’s very cold and distant from others and obviously feels superior, additionally he is willing to fight tooth and nail to consistently be on top and win in any situation, leading to him doing some fucked up things.

But like I feel for him. It’s like watching me XD

His past was a very competitive cuthroat environment, where he was taught that losing is worse than death. Additionally he was almost groomed to be this untouchable figure so it’s no surprise that he believes that. I might make a second post about him because there’s a lot more I can say, but I’m going to double back to Fukawa now.

So Fukawa gains a very unhealthy obsession with Togami, despite him wanting literally nothing to do with her. He’s verbally abusive to her and does go out of his way to attack her, but she thinks it’s a sign of love. Poor Fukawa.

This also kind of fits with NPD, because we can have some pretty gravitating personalities. I think the attraction has a lot to do with Fukawa’s mental state, but I just found it interesting that the emotional abuse victim gravitates to Togami of all people.

So I brought him up for that above thought I had, and also to compare this last point. So Fukawa was confirmed to have DID, like it was specifically stated. To my knowledge it was never stated that Togami has NPD, but I strongly assume that he does. (key word assume, I could be wrong.)

So I found it interesting that Togami has this very accurate portrayal of NPD without ever confirming that he has NPD, while Fukawa is specifically confirmed to have DID while having a semi accurate portrayal. I think the writer really wanted to include mental illness in his story line and I doubt he intended anything to be intentionally harmful.

Writing mental illness into a story is very very very tricky, and it’s practically impossible to satisfy everyone, but the fact that he did do it is in my opinion, very bold.

He made good and less good choices, but overall he did make very compelling characters. Genocider admittedly fits better in this plotline as a crazy killer than she would as a realistic alter, but this is fiction.

So final statements: Toko Fukawa is not a bad character. I like a lot about her and overall I think she is very well written. Genocider is very less developed and more of a surprise plot twist than a character, which is unrealistic. The writer made some very awkward choices from a realistic standpoint despite it fitting well with his story.

So overall, she really isn’t a good portrayal of DID. You can enjoy her character like I did, but the main takeaway here is to not take her as a realistic portrayal. I know it seems obvious but this is the kind of thing that forms unhealthy ideas in viewers.

I’m not hating on Danganronpa or Toko, I actually really loved both. I’ve tried to stop ranting about fictional works that I hate. I used to be a loose fucking canon but I realized that I had been bashing a few autistic friend’s special interests, so now I try to be hyper aware that a fictional work might mean everything to someone even if I personally disliked it.

But that isn’t the case here because again I loved Danganronpa XD

So friends, that about does it for me. I liked doing this kind of analysis so if you want me to do more, send them my way XD

My next post will probably be the syscourse analysis if I can get that done before I get an easier topic. So thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed, thank you for the ask anon.

And I’m now out of words. You all should be happy. XD

[an-apocalypse-of-magpies]

Some thoughts on Korekiyo Shinguuji

SPOILERS FOR NEW DANGANRONPA V3, AND THE OTHER ENTRIES TO A LESSER EXTENT

tl;dr version - Korekiyo has the potential for a complex character squandered at every turn to make a caricature we’re supposed to find physically and morally repulsive

I don’t think I’ve seen a male character done so dirty by his own writers than Korekiyo Shinguuji. Like, so much of this guy is just unnecessary creep factor. He’s already a creepy-looking person, in fact he’s probably the Danganronpa character who most screams ‘I’m a murderer’ by appearance alone and it would be an accurate statement. He’s a serial killer, who’s killed close to 100 women by his own confession. He exclusively targets women of good character, under the twisted belief that hey can be friends for his dear departed older sister, and only makes an exception for Shuichi when they become closest of friends, and despite admitting that he considers the class his friends he also admits he would kill literally every girl there for his mission apart from like 2. He’s into bondage in a big way, and in a possibly non-canon Love Hotel scene he basically sexually assaults the protag. He’s also got a sister complex, and they were sexually involved before she died. He either created a tulpa based on her as a coping mechanism or literally channels her spirit, making him come off as a villain who is simultaneously queer-coded, trans-coded and neurodivergent-coded (outside of any further evidence either way), and is the only murderer in the game who is not written as remotely justifiable or sympathetic apart from the mastermind, as well as the only one who accomplishes multiple murders. Even out of the ‘actively-illegal’ territory, Korekiyo is generally seen as creepy and unstable. If it weren’t for the fact Shuichi’s constantly musing how intersting and intelligent the man is, and his perceptiveness in trials, Korekiyo would basically be written with no redeeming features.

Compare the most despicable and villainous characters up to this point, not including the masterminds. Mukuro oscillates wildly between ‘unwilling pawn of evil’ and ‘just as cold and vicious as her sister’. Genocide Jack is a fan-favourite for her wacky personality, for Touko’s character development in UDG, and for, notably, never killing anyone in the entire series apart from backstory. Celestia is still well-loved by fans for her aesthetic, even though she is cruel, manipulative, and shallowly motivated by greed. Komaeda and Kokichi are both more morally abstract than actively evil, are redeemed by their Free-Time Events and for committing suicide to try and catch out the traitor in the party, and the arguments about whether they are good or bad people will not change that they are both among the most popular characters in the series. Fuyuhiko turned from Token Evil Teammate to the Jerk with a Heart of Gold, and his story with Peko is deeply tragic. Angie is disliked for starting a cult, but also liked for her quirky charm and kookiness, and as such is more neutral than disliked. Juuzo Sakakura earned his redemption by ending his killing game, Ruruka Andou was legitimately nice before slipping into paranoia and subterfuge, and Tengen is still generally seen as a cool old guy and a hardened badass even if he orchestrated the Final Killing Game. Kyousuke Munakata was manipulated into a draconian Anti-Despair who would rather kill everyone if it would end despair. And, of course, the actions of the Ultimate Despair can be traced back to manipulation and brainwashing by Junko Enoshima. I would argue the only characters written as being as evil as Korekiyo Shinguuji are the nebulous evil of the Hope’s Peak Steering Committee and masterminds like Junko (incidentally, doesn’t it strike you how Korekiyo and Junko both are cool with murder, incest dynamics, S&M play, and are not too phased about dying when their schemes are revealed?)

It gets worse when you realise that we can’t trust any of these characters’ backstories because of the Flashback Lights implanting false memories into them. Which means that, in a very meta sense, someone (probably the Tsumugi) literally wrote this into him. It’s like they wanted a melting pot of everything awful they could think of and dumped it all into one person. What if Korekiyo had won? He’d have to leave, go back into the real world, with no recollection of who he was and only this twisted homonculus of a personality to go on. And this has been televised, so he’d probably immediately get arrested for murders he never committed.

It’s not that everyone’s got to be good and pure. It’s that Korekiyo seems like too much of a villain sink. Other people have killed twice (Mikan), other people have abused complicated traps that required special architectural assistance that would have been impossible to know without mistakes revealing privileged insight (Gundham, Kirumi), other people have bloodstained backstories (Touko, Peko), others killed in cold blood to silence a potential witness (Celeste, Mikan), others have conducted sexualised abuse (Junko), but few have composited all of these sins into one person. It just feels like lazy writing, is all.

[commentaryvorg]

Danganronpa V3 Commentary: Part 2.3

Be aware that this is not a blind playthrough! This will contain spoilers for the entire game, regardless of the part of the game I’m commenting on. A major focus of this commentary is to talk about all of the hints and foreshadowing of events that are going to happen and facts that are going to be revealed in the future of the story. It is emphatically not intended for someone experiencing the game for their first time.

Last time in chapter 2, it was Kaito time all the time (my favourite kind of time), kicking off Shuichi and Kaito’s soon-to-be-epic friendship by hanging out with him all day and learning about astronaut training, communication, and the overactive imagination he had as a kid and hasn’t really lost. Then, thanks to his motive video showing up, I discussed the merits of the “Kaito’s parents died” train over the alternative, and how simply “living” is only an effective motive for murder in this killing game when you’re dying.

This time, we’ll continue talking about the motive videos but in a less Kaito-centric way, as Shuichi rushes to discuss them with everyone else.

Shuichi:  “Ah, I’ll think about that stuff later! I should hurry and tell Kaito!”

It’s pretty adorable how Shuichi just immediately jumps to thinking that Kaito deserves to know this information about his most important people, not even considering that knowing might make Kaito more inclined to murder someone and maybe it’s better not to tell him.

I’m a little surprised Shuichi doesn’t also wonder about his own video, though. On my first time through, I thought this was actually the point of mixing them up – that watching anyone’s video and seeing the format of “here’s the most important people in your life, oh no something bad’s happened to them” would make everyone think “but what about my most important people? Surely they have to be okay, right?” and be desperate and potentially willing to kill simply to see their own video and confirm whether or not their own loved ones are safe.

Bahaha, if you examine any room other than Kaito’s when Shuichi is trying to find him…

Shuichi:  (This isn’t Kaito’s room! Come on, calm down, get a hold of yourself…)

I like the game justifying the player goofing off by trying to play it off as part of Shuichi’s frantic mental state.

Shuichi:  “Hey, has anyone seen Kaito!?”

Kiyo:  “You seem in a panic. Over the Kubs Pad if I’m not mistaken.”

Good job making it obvious to everyone in the dining hall whose video you have, Shuichi.

(Man, I wonder who got Kiyo’s. You’d think that his would have raised some red flags about him. Makes me think that it has to have been Tsumugi, because she’s the only person who wouldn’t have tried to act upon that and warn everyone about the fact that he’s a serial killer. Or he got his own too.)

Important thing to bear in mind from now on: Kirumi has seen her own motive video and is now plotting murder.

Kiyo:  “Kaito and Keebo went to gather everyone else so that we may discuss our plans.”

Of course Kaito would have been one of the people who’d volunteer to do that. This is about co-operation, after all!

(I bet Kaito was the one who went to drag Maki here from her lab.)

Maki:  “I ignored it because I figured it was something stupid.”

This is so wonderfully Maki. Of course she’d think it’s dumb and not want anything to do with it, especially if it seems related to the Monokubs. It’s actually a somewhat-necessary plot point that she never watches Ryoma’s video, but the writers didn’t even remotely have to force it for her to not do so.

Gonta:  “Y-Yeah! Why Gonta get Tsumugi’s video—”

So either the videos’ creators put more effort than was necessary into Tsumugi’s video given that they were supposed to only be seen by their intended recipient anyway, or Tsumugi’s video was kind of suspect but only in a subtle way that went over Gonta’s head. (Then again, Kokichi’s going to see it too eventually, so probably not the latter.)

Ryoma:  “Why not? They’re videos of the most important people in our lives.”

Aww, Ryoma. Look at him being desperate to see if he has any people like that.

Keebo is the most adamant out of anyone that exchanging videos would be a bad idea. I wonder if that was his inner voice telling him that, since the people behind that voice obviously have experience with motive videos in other killing games.

Ryoma:  “I’m against that.”

Tsumugi:  “Huh? Against it? Why? If you see that video, it’ll turn into a motive, right?”

Ryoma:  “That’s why I want to see it.”

Ryoma wants a motive to live!

Kaito:  “It might not matter to you whether you get killed or not, but… We’re different! We all want to live! Wake up already! You’re like some zombie wandering around with no will to live!”

If this were anyone but Ryoma, Kaito would be trying to figure out why he’s acting this way. But because it’s Ryoma, seeing him like this in the first place makes Kaito angry and he gets stuck on that and can’t see beyond it.

Ryoma:  “No will to live, huh? Hmph, if that’s how you see me, then so be it.”

Ryoma’s reaction here rather implies that he thinks Kaito’s judgement of him is wrong – after all, he wants to see the motive videos so that he can find the will to live, which in and of itself is will to live. It’s interesting – but fitting, given how he is – that Ryoma doesn’t really care what Kaito thinks about him and isn’t going to go out of his way to correct him.

Ryoma:  “But I’ve got no plans to change my opinion. That’s just not cool.”

So presumably by this, he simply means he’s not going to change his mind about wanting to see his videos, and not about having no reason to live, since he very much is hoping his video will change his opinion about that and give him a reason to live.

Kokichi:  “Don’t get the wrong idea. I’m not saying we shouldn’t care about killing or dying…”

For once, this is a true statement.

Kokichi:  “But I think it’d be better if we didn’t cooperate with each other. Actually, we *definitely* shouldn’t cooperate with each other!”

Tenko:  “We shouldn’t cooperate? Why not!?”

Kokichi:  “Think back to all of Monokuma’s actions so far. Whenever we tried to work together, Monokuma would retaliate with a plan to make us suffer. It happened when Kaede wanted us to cooperate, and again with these motive videos, right? Which means, the more we try to cooperate, the more he’ll try to make us suffer.”

This is true, but Kokichi is completely missing the point. Obviously Monokuma retaliates by inflicting suffering every time people try to co-operate because everyone’s co-operation is really bad for him! If everyone co-operates fully, there’ll be no more killings and they might manage to escape, which is exactly what he doesn’t want! This means everyone should co-operate more, not less! Sure, Monokuma will continue to try to make them suffer, but that suffering will be worth it if they keep co-operating anyway and manage to escape. Kokichi is too caught up on the fact that the initial suffering inflicted by Monokuma is bad and not focusing on the end result they’ll reach if they push through it anyway because he is a gigantic coward. This is one of the most transparently cowardly opinions Kokichi ever expresses. It’s also very similar to his mindset in chapter 1 when he discouraged everyone from continuing to try the escape tunnel (shoutout to the anon who brought this up and made me realise that they’re related) – he got hung up on the initial pain and suffering it caused them to the point of ignoring the fact that it would have been worth it in the end if they managed to get through it anyway.

…And it’s honestly a little frustrating that nobody else actually picks up on this and explains how drastically Kokichi is missing the point here. I’d have expected Kaito to potentially do that, at least.

Also remember how Kokichi hinted at this opinion of his before, after they saw the Flashback Light, and this is him now explicitly spelling it out in order to be, arguably, helpful. But the thing is, Kokichi hints at so many things he’s aware of that would be potentially helpful to everyone if he spelled them out and explained why he thought this way, but this is the only time he ever does so. Which rather makes it seem like the only reason Kokichi is spelling this out is not because he cares about being helpful to everyone else but because he’s trying to protect himself. Because even if Kokichi pointedly doesn’t co-operate, if everyone else works together and Monokuma decides to make them suffer for it then he’ll make everyone suffer, including Kokichi, and Kokichi doesn’t want that.

Kirumi:  “You are saying that if we do not rally together, we will not be made to suffer?”

Kirumi, at least, is probably semi-agreeing with him because her priorities now are to make sure her murder plan goes off without a hitch, having seen her own motive video, and the less wrenches Monokuma tries to throw into the mix, the better for her.

Kokichi:  “That’s why I had no choice but to screw with you guys.”

Yep, because you’re a huge coward who’s just terrified of what the big, bad Monokuma might do to everyone (especially you) if they actually try and fight back against him.

Shuichi:  “And you’re not lying to us right now?”

Kokichi:  “…Whether I’m lying or not, what I’m saying is still true.”

Surprisingly enough, Kokichi’s statement does make sense. He’s saying, “whether I really feel this way or not, I’m still making a valid point”. Which is the case about a lot of the things he says, really… at least insofar as his points are ever valid, which is frequently debatable, including right now.

Kokichi:  “Anyway, we shouldn’t force ourselves to co-operate. Let’s just all do our own thing.”

Co-operation is not something that people have to force themselves to do, especially not in a dangerous situation like this; it’s just human nature to do so. The fact that Kokichi thinks of it this way is pretty telling about how he really feels about co-operation, in a way that doesn’t have anything to do with how Monokuma may or may not respond to it.

Shuichi:  (It’s *because* we’re trying to co-operate that Monokuma is making us suffer…? But what about… everything we went through…? What was the point of Kaede sacrificing herself…?)

I’d ask why Shuichi hasn’t figured out how obviously Kokichi is missing the point either, but his questioning the point of Kaede’s sacrifice indicates he sort of gets it. Monokuma retaliated to Kaede’s co-operation by leading her into a trap that got her killed. But if they just agree with Kokichi here and never co-operate again, then Kaede only ever existed as an example of what not to do rather than as motivation for the rest of them to keep being brave and trying their best to escape. Kaede would have basically died for nothing.

Kokichi:  “Let’s just exchange our motive videos instead of cooperating with each other.”

Considering that Kokichi got his own video, he knows that Monokuma was not trying to make it so that nobody sees their own video and that mixing them up was an accident. So given what he also just said about co-operation, most of the reason Kokichi wants everyone to see their own video is probably because he knows that’s what Monokuma intended to happen, and he’s afraid that if everyone keeps preventing each other from seeing their videos then Monokuma will do something even worse to them to force this next murder through. He wants to prevent Monokuma’s wrath by giving Monokuma what he’s after – which is to say, another murder. (So much for him saying just a few minutes ago that it’s not that they shouldn’t care about killing or dying – there was a part of him that meant that, but here he goes, being willing to let another murder happen anyway so long as the victim isn’t him.)

But also, look at how he worded that like everyone agreeing to exchange their motive videos wouldn’t also have been a different kind of “co-operation”. Both everyone sharing and everyone not sharing would count as “co-operation”. The only thing that wouldn’t be co-operation is if only some people secretly share their videos without agreeing it with everyone else. I think that’s also partially what Kokichi’s afraid of and why he wants everyone to exchange the videos even if he’s insisting on not calling that “co-operation” because he’s allergic to the concept. He’s afraid of the idea that everyone has to trust on the surface that nobody will share the videos, when anyone could break that trust at any time and then secretly be out to kill. If everyone shared the videos, there would be no more trust necessary from anyone once it happened, which is probably why Kokichi doesn’t think of that scenario as “co-operation”.

Kokichi feeling that way about people secretly seeing their own videos is also pretty hypocritical of him given that he received his own motive video and hasn’t told anyone, giving him currently the second-most reason to kill someone without anybody else knowing that he has that. Not that he would act on it, because he’s already certain he’ll get caught and executed if he tries that, but.

Kokichi:  “C’mon, Gonta, let’s go.”

Gonta:  “What? Gonta, too!?”

Kokichi:  “We promised to think of a way to get everyone to exchange their motive videos, remember? […]”

Gonta:  “W-Wait! Did Gonta make promise!?”

No, you didn’t, Gonta! LEAVE HIM ALONE, KOKICHI.

(This kind of thing is exactly why Gonta needs to be more sure of himself.)

Kaito:  “Quit screwing around… ‘Our sake’? Yeah, right. I’ve had it with his lies.”

Kaito knows what’s up. Because you’d think, given Kaito’s extremely keen intuition regarding people, that if Kokichi really did secretly care about doing things for everyone’s sake, Kaito would be able to pick up on that even though all outward signs say otherwise. Just like how he’s going to pick up on the fact that Maki is a good person despite all the evidence to the contrary.

Kaito:  “Wait up, Ryoma! Don’t forget. We’re all struggling to get out of here alive. So don’t get in our way…”

Ryoma:  “I’ve got no intention of getting in your way. I’d never do something so uncool.”

Kaito is probably saying this because he’s worried Ryoma will also try to get everyone to swap videos and therefore increase the chance of a murder happening. But of course, Ryoma only cares about seeing his own video, and he’s very much not the kind of person who’d deliberately endanger everyone else just to get something he wants (unlike someone else here). Someone with no reason to live, but who still cares about everyone else around him, wouldn’t ever be that selfish.

Kirumi:  “My workload has increased significantly… This calls for a more tactical approach.”

Yep, on top of all the requests everyone’s just given Kirumi, she’s also got to come up with a whole murder plot now.

Really, though, let’s respect Kirumi for the fact that she continues to try and fulfil everyone’s wishes right up until she commits murder. She still cares about everyone here and doesn’t want to have to sacrifice them all to escape.

Himiko:  “…”

Tenko:  “…Wait, what’s wrong, Himiko? Are you hungry?”

Himiko is clearly too depressed to feel hungry, what with the newest motive having made the situation even more awful again. But I can understand why Tenko might assume this, since she’s probably the sort of person who gets in a bad mood when she’s hungry and she’s projecting that onto Himiko.

Shuichi:  (I wish I could do something on my own, but that’s impossible… If I screw up, it’ll be just like Kaede all over again—)

Shuichi is still beating himself up and being afraid of making the slightest mistake.

Shuichi:  (I can’t stand around doing nothing! I… promised her!)

But since he’s still desperate to try and do something, why don’t we say he’s going to do so by trying to pry Gonta away from whatever nefarious plans Kokichi has with him? By which I mean Gonta is my other free time target in this chapter, because it’s at least vaguely plausible that Shuichi might be worried about him in particular after Kokichi dragged him off like that at breakfast. (And because I really like Gonta, okay, shush.)

Ryoma:  “Since the motives were swapped, as long as we don’t sort them out, no murders will happen… Or so Keebo said, but… Somebody might take action because they want to see the motive…”

Hah, Ryoma’s having the same thought that I did first time around. Of course, he’s thinking this because he wants to see his own motive video more than anyone else. (Except… you really don’t, Ryoma. Trust me on this.)

Himiko and Angie are hanging out in the same place. Oh, dear.

Kaito:  “How in the world did he end up like that…?”

Kaito is still hung up on Ryoma. At least now it seems he’s progressed to the point of wondering why Ryoma feels this way. I’m… not sure if he knows about the part where Ryoma slaughtered a whole mafia. You’d think he’d have heard that from the news? But even if he did, it’s not like the news would have mentioned why, so.

Sorry, though, Kaito, I’m going to leave you to brood for now. Shuichi has a Gonta to try and pry away from Kokichi. He’s hanging out with Kokichi right now, of course.

Gonta:  “Oh! Shuichi! You here to help Gonta think of way to get everyone to trade motives?”

Unfortunately it seems that Kokichi has already convinced Gonta that trading motive videos is the correct course of action.

Gonta:  “Huh? You wanna spend time with Gonta? But Kokichi already invite Gonta…”

Kokichi:  “Oh, it’s fine. Let’s hang out later.”

Gonta:  “O-Okay! Then what should we do, Shuichi?”

There’s an exchange like this whether you hang out with Gonta or with Kokichi for each of the time slots when they’re plotting together. It’s a neat touch.

Gonta:  “Gonta very, very happy! This maybe first time Gonta spend free time with anyone!”

…except for Kokichi just now. Let’s assume Gonta doesn’t think that counts in the same way. After all, Kokichi’s spending time with him for a specific purpose and not because he just wants to hang out as friends.

But, aww, poor Gonta not having had anyone want to hang out with him before just because he looks scary.

Gonta:  “So Gonta will work hard! Treat Shuichi like true gentleman!”

Shuichi:  “Ah, it’s okay, Gonta. You don’t have to be so… intense. Just talking is fine.”

And he’s so desperate to make sure he shows Shuichi a good time so that Shuichi won’t regret hanging out with him. Gontaaaa, just getting to spend time with someone as lovely as you is more than worth it.

Gonta’s idea of a good time is racing.

Shuichi:  “Race?”

Gonta:  “Gonta good at running! Running full speed through forest so much fun! Plus, feel good to run like wind. Maybe nice change of pace.”

Because it’s the kind of thing he always used to do for fun in the forest and he doesn’t realise a lot of people in human society maybe don’t find it as fun as he does.

Shuichi:  (Gonta grabbed my hand and pulled me firmly, and I ran along behind him.) “G-Gonta! You’re running too fast!”

I’m picturing Shuichi being dragged along so fast that his feet are barely touching the ground any more as he flails behind Gonta like a banner. I keep vaguely wanting to draw this.

Shuichi ends up so exhausted that he almost trips and falls down the stairs to the basement, but Gonta catches him.

Gonta:  “No thank Gonta… Gonta make Shuichi run… This all Gonta’s fault… Sorry… Gonta not very fun after all…”

Here’s more of Gonta apologising because he’s so unsure of himself – he wasn’t sure what the best thing to do while hanging out with Shuichi was, but he picked the best thing he could think of, and yet now he’s ended up convinced that it was a terrible idea and he should never have done it. Poor Gonta, always desperately trying to do the right thing but never knowing how.

Shuichi:  “Why did you invite me? Kaito looks like he’d be better at running…”

Gonta:  “Invite Kaito? You sure? Gonta not wanna make trouble…”

This is me picking not-the-nicest dialogue option again just so that I can have a chance to say: oh man wouldn’t it be great if Gonta and Kaito did actually hang out more, though. They’re both adorable and very similar in some ways but very different in others and I’d love to see them become better friends than they do in canon.

Although really the problem here isn’t that Gonta invited Shuichi – since after all it was Shuichi who invited Gonta to hang out in the first place – but just that Gonta suggested an activity that wasn’t the most appropriate for Shuichi, because he wasn’t able to see that not everyone would necessarily enjoy it as much as him.

Shuichi:  “Ah, um, Gonta… I had a lot of fun, running with you. I’d like to do this again sometime. The next time you need another change of pace.”

Shuichi still says this, though, regardless of which dialogue option you pick! So yay. Having a change of pace and moving his body instead of using his mind is exactly the kind of thing Shuichi needs right now, even if Gonta doesn’t realise it.

Gonta:  “Gonta do anything for Shuichi! Gonta protect you! Like gentleman!”

Shuichi:  (Gonta is brimming with positivity. …Gonta really is pure.)

Exactly what I was about to say, Shuichi! He’s such a good.

Tenko:  “I can’t stop thinking about it… Who’s in my motive video? N-No, I can’t! I would be falling right into Monokuma’s trap!”

See what I mean about how I thought the real trap was people wondering about who’s in their motive video and be potentially willing to take drastic action just to see it?

Keebo:  “I also want to know what is contained in my motive video… But…”

Keebo’s video almost certainly contains his father, the professor who created him. Keebo probably already knows this and is thinking instead about what bad thing may or may not have happened to him according to the video. This is exactly what’s so dangerous about knowing your video exists and roughly what it’ll be like but not its exact contents.

Himiko and Angie are together again, this time in Himiko’s lab. We all know where this is going.

Himiko:  “Angie’s been talking to me non-stop…”

Yeah, brainwashing you. It doesn’t look like Himiko had much of her own input in the matter, either.

Gonta and Kokichi are also still together, of course.

Gonta:  “Oh, Shuichi… Kokichi say stuff that hard to understand… Make Gonta feel sleepy…”

Poor Gonta. Let’s imagine Shuichi assumes from this that he did enough earlier to prevent Kokichi from manipulating him. Totally not just because I still want to hang out with Kaito once more in this chapter or anything.

Interestingly, Ryoma is hanging out in the corridor not far from where Maki is guarding her lab. He doesn’t know she has his video yet, but he has seen hers, so he’s the only one right now other than Maki herself (and Tsumugi) who knows why she’s guarding that lab.

Meanwhile, Kaito is hanging out inside Ryoma’s lab, which means that he’s apparently still brooding about Ryoma on some level even though this time he manages not to voice it to Shuichi.

Kaito:  “Oh, Shuichi. What’s up? You wanna talk about something?”

Shuichi:  (Should I hang out with Kaito for a while?) [Yes]

Kaito:  “Yeah, that’s fine. I… was just thinking I wanted to talk to you.”

This is a little hint that Kaito is already thinking of starting to train Shuichi! Honestly it wouldn’t be surprising if he just up and started doing it now. Let’s assume he decides to wait until nighttime anyway because he prefers to train outside when the stars are out, since, you know, space. And maybe some other reasons that we’ll get to.

Besides, we still have the rest of his ridiculou – I mean, very exciting and definitely true story to hear, right?

Kaito:  “Hey! If you’re back, that means… Haha! You really want to listen to my stories, huh!? Well, if you say so!”

It’s pretty interesting that Kaito’s idea of “how to make friends with someone” appears to equate to “telling them (completely exaggerated and made up) stories about how cool and heroic he totally is”. He does not know how to have normal, down-to-earth interactions with people at all.

Shuichi:  (*You* were the one who said you’d finish the story next time…)

Again with Shuichi sounding mildly annoyed, putting this scene probably before the training. That said, Shuichi still came to hear the rest of the story, so he can’t be that annoyed.

Kaito:  “Umm, what happened after that…? Oh, I remember! Something amazing happened before I got off my boat!”

Shuichi:  (You say it was amazing, but you forgot it? …I’ll keep it to myself.)

Yeah, that wasn’t Kaito almost forgetting his made-up details or anything, because it all definitely happened.

Kaito:  “I got caught in a storm. I thought I was done for, but right when I was preparing for the worst… My boat was eaten by a whale!”

Shuichi:  “Ah. I see.”

I love how deadpan Shuichi is about this whole thing.

Kaito:  “It was a whale, man! The second smartest thing in this world after me! It probably saw my greatness and hid me in its stomach, away from the storm.”

So the whale wasn’t even a greater danger – it was a deus ex machina magically saving him from the danger of the storm without him having to overcome it himself, because he’s just that much of a hero that of course he got out of trouble effortlessly, right?

(Also please take note and appreciate that Kaito is the smartest thing in the world. Clearly.)

Shuichi:  (I didn’t expect this kind of tall tale from you, Kaito.)

…I mean, after the first half of it, what else were you expecting, Shuichi. Although I suppose this whale part is the most implausible part yet.

Next, tiny Kaito decided to conquer the land by entering the jungle.

Kaito:  “I came across something. A giant anaconda that could swallow a man whole!  […] But that was just the beginning… Defeating him opened a gate…”

Aren’t we going to hear about how you defeated the giant anaconda, Kaito? That sounds like a more exciting story to tell than simply the fact that you did defeat it because you’re just that awesome.

Kaito:  “There was a whole civilisation in a giant underground cave! I invaded their empire and made the emperor my sidekick, but…”

Apparently Kaito’s tendency to make literally everyone into his sidekick even extended back to his “heroic adventures” when he was younger. Although given that this emperor was almost certainly imaginary, it seems that back then, his definition of “sidekick” was maybe a bit closer to the normal one. This is probably why he started using that word for the actual people he made into his “sidekicks” later.

Kaito:  “But the time limit came so fast and I had to go back to my gramps’ house.”

Shuichi:  “The time limit?”

Kaito:  “Well, yeah. My summer vacation was over, duh.”

…And there we go: the actually true part. Man, tiny Kaito really knew how to entertain himself during a summer vacation, though.

Kaito:  “Huh? Why I wanna be an astronaut? Was that what we were talking about?”

Shuichi:  “Yes! That’s what we were talking about!”

I love how Kaito got so excited about telling his ridiculous story that he completely forgot the reason he started telling it.

Kaito:  “That’s simple! The universe is the final frontier for me to conquer!”

…I mean, really, Shuichi, you should have been able to figure this out yourself from the story. He conquered the sea and the land, so obviously the next step would be space!

Kaito:  “And it’s sorta cool, isn’t it!? Aren’t astronauts the best!?”

Shuichi:  “…” (So essentially, ‘because it’s cool’ was your reason…)

At first, at least. We’ve heard more from him in other FTEs, including the ones with Kaede, about why he wants to go to space now, which there’s a lot more to than just because space is cool. He probably looked into being an astronaut first because he thought it sounded cool, and then got more serious about it after learning exactly the kinds of things astronauts do that he wanted to be a part of.

---

[Next post]

[luxexhomines]

S

Ahhh, thank you guys so much for asking!! I just compiled them all into one post so I don’t clog up your dash with several posts. Here we go! I’m going to tag this as discourse and put a cut because my answers to the letters might not please everyone, aha. It’s long, too. Major spoilers for NDRV3.

S: Any fandom tropes you can’t resist?

Honestly, I’m not super sure at this point. Surprise, surprise, I only just recently finished watching the rest of NDRV3 and started writing for it. And I haven’t thought about tropes that much, though I’m sure I’ve written plenty of them into my writing at some point, even if not posted on here. 

If we’re going to go Danganronpa-centric, as this is my side blog for Danganronpa writing, I’d say that I fall in love with characters that are contradictory and with seemingly bipolar or gray morals despite probably having morals as straight as an arrow myself, i.e. Nagito or Kokichi. The characters playing “straight man” and relating to the reader’s perspective are also my favorite; in a wacky situation, they offer reason and normal reactions, which I would peg Hajime as (maybe Kazuichi, too, although he’s more of a crybaby). In fanfiction, I just love hurt & comfort fics, especially involving–you guessed it–Kokichi. I am particularly partial to the Oumota chapter 5 and chapter 5 trial rewrites, which, lucky for me, both of which are quite often rewritten by spectacular writers.

If we’re going in general, I always end up reading manga with an independent, strong and decisive character that crosses worlds and/or bodies by accident or death and becomes incredibly powerful/influential in the world and dominates over other characters with skills ranging from cooking to fighting. I guess I read a lot of manhua with martial arts or other manga with game aspects to it.Writing-wise, I love reading slow burn fics, even if I haven’t read one in quite some time. 

T: Any fandom tropes you can’t stand?

I have a feeling this is going to go into highly controversial areas, so if you ultra ship Kaito x Maki, please turn away now...

I just hate that “man saves woman” from herself or traumatic past trope. Don’t get me wrong, I love hurt/comfort like I mentioned, but to specify, what I mean is when a strong and independent woman needs saving by a man. I realize Maki has a lot of issues from her past as an assassin and that Kaito is a viable, good option for helping her out and facing those issues, but the fact of him being a man and the way he just swoops in and fixes things forcefully by pulling her along for training just irks me. And before you ask, yes, if Kaede did it instead as a woman I would have less of a problem with it, even if I don’t like that somehow after a couple days of training together Maki somehow is better able to get along with others and most notably Shuichi despite having spent the previous entire time cooped up in her Ultimate room alone, is willing to use her experience as an assassin to help out with the investigation when she just walked out in the past, etc. Problems from a past like that would never be so easily faced in reality; people and their minds are much more stubborn than we’d like to think, too. 

In general, I am also highly averse to the Women in Refrigerators trope. To some extent, I feel that Kaede fits this trope, as a.) she is an important, pivotal, incredibly fleshed out female character and even the initial protagonist of ndrv3, b.) she dies arbitrarily for a murder she did not commit, c.) a big part of her death is written into Shuichi’s character development for making him grow as the protagonist (he sheds the cap, faces the truth, and the memory of Kaede’s last wishes serves as his support to reveal the truth several times in trial), and of course, d.) her death in the execution is grotesque as befitting of a Danganronpa execution. Kaede deserved so. much. more.

There are probably more out there, but I won’t mention them for the sake of length & time. 

U: Share three of your favorite fic writers and why you like them so much.

Okay! So don’t hate me for this, but I haven’t been really keeping up a bunch with fanfiction writers or specific ones that much. It just hasn’t ever been a habit of mine in the past to follow one writer–ironic, I know. There’s one that immediately comes to mind, but she’s not part of the Danganronpa fandom, so unless someone asks, I’ll leave her out of it. However, there are a couple of writers that I recently discovered through the Oumota weekend event and which I follow on my main blog, and I thoroughly enjoy reading their work. Their work also contains mentions of NDRV3 spoilers!

1. @kirastrations

I recently reblogged her work on this blog because I have so much love for the Oumota fic she wrote (which deserves more love!). It’s called One by One, One After Another, and I simply adore the way she writes Kaito’s character and experiences with the other characters throughout the game and the overarching feeling that comes across as a result of the situation and what ensues. The diction choices she makes is absolute art; I see the imagery so clearly in my head, and not a single word of hers is wasted. It’s concise while being aptly and most beautifully descriptive. Even though I’m not a huge fan of Kaito, the way she writes him and his actions make me love him. I would describe the work as a futile yet desperate and exquisite struggling, an embodiment of angst that is so beautifully painful that it appears to be an illusion. I haven’t had a chance to check out other works from her just yet, but that’s on my to-do list!

2. @golden-redhead

I love, love, love their work too. They recently posted Lavender, a Kirumi x Kaede (Tojomatsu? Kaerumi? Kirumatsu?) work for femslash Feb, and it is a post-reality Virtual AU short fic. The way they write the interaction between Kirumi and Kaede offers such a delicate, carefully constructed image and story while creating some tension between the two. They also format the story with Kirumi’s thoughts in a simple and straightforward way that is just so delicious to read. Aspects of Kirumi explored are small things that unravel into a bigger statement about her character and the nature of the killing game and the impact it has left on her. It reminds me of the way a player might gently stack up a house of cards–attentively, with a sharp eye and feel. 

3. @starlightwritesalie

They wrote these two Oumota fics for the weekend that I fell in love with, especially the one for Day 1: Heroes/Villains. Sometimes when living in the world of Danganronpa, you forget that these tragic situations and the killing game are experienced, in essence, by children. You can argue that they’re older than high schoolers for the first two games, but mentally they are still high schoolers, and let’s face it–a couple years above the legal age of being an adult in America, 18, can hardly be counted as an adult, either. They reminded me of that sickening fact so poetically yet bluntly, and the story they write only serves as a further reminder of that fact. They write statements about the situation and how the pair act in the situation that are so agonizing yet irrefutable–as is the situation that they’re both trapped in. The ending is so unbearably cruel, packed with pain, but the way they create it is so decisively soft and snatches away my breath with the truth at the heart of the game, the situation. 

So there you have it! Sorry that my answers are so long... I have too much to say, and especially about the people whom I adore. Since it said to pick 3, I didn’t get to include these two, but I also love aroseandapen and mystic-mints dearly. If you ask, I’ll write a whole paragraph on why I love them, too, although I suspect by this time you all are getting rather tired of all my talking, haha. I also didn’t include imagines blogs, but if you’re curious, feel free to ask about that since I am still kind of a imagines blog! I guess at this point I’m kind of a fusion of an imagines blog and normal fanfiction writing blog.

Thanks for asking, and if you have any more questions, feel free to shoot an ask!

[fuyupekozine]

Interest Check Q&A

Answering some questions from the interest check, thank you to everyone who responded!

Do you have an idea of a schedule yet?

You can see the current schedule on the zine Caard page! After the interest check closes, I’ll go over it again to finalize the dates. Nothing will be shortened but some dates might be extended for breathing room!

In the case of paid physicality. How will you ensure trust, as you are currently one person with I assume not so much zine experience? Also what is the source of the Profile pic of the zine?

Based on interest check results so far, it’s very unlikely the zine will opt for a physical release. That being said, I can say that I’ve participated in multiple zines in the past (Bats ‘N Fangs, Days Off, CCS Tarot Project, and others) and have organized Written in the Cards, a digital zine. So regardless of what form this zine takes, I’ll make sure to give it my all!

As for the second question, the current profile pic is drawn by me, Arbit, while the one that was briefly used on Day 1 was a crop from the Danganronpa 2015 calendar.

What will be required for writing applications?

For both artists and writers, you’ll be asked to provide a link to your portfolio and up to 3 works that represent the style you’ll use in the zine. Your portfolio can be a social media page (Tumblr, Twitter, AO3, etc.) or a Drive link, as long as it’s publicly viewable. The same goes for the 3 works!

Would it be a fuyupeko only zine or are other pairings allowed? (Fuyupeko obviously still being the center of attention but are other ships being implied allowed?)

Exactly as you say, other pairings are allowed but Fuyupeko should be the focus! At the beginning of the creation period, contributors will be asked for a brief pitch/idea statement where you can note down the other ships included.

These are all the questions that have been asked so far! If you have any other questions, feel free to ask them in the interest check form or CuriousCat!

The interest check ends on the 22nd so make sure to get your responses in before then!

[horrorbutgay]

NDRV3 Demo Analysis w/ Full Game Spoilers!

(My friend Elfi/Apri made this and jesus fuck shes a fucking genius please love her)

First off, let me mention that I immediately went into sleuthing mode while I was playing the demo for about 4h (both English and Japanese), because I'm aware that even DR demos have a decent difficulty level to its case writing (judging by suspicion not necessarily incriminating Hifumi The Harmless in the demo until the manga came into the picture with the full story) and this demo seemed too easy if you don't give it some proper thought like most of the unspoiled fandom is still not used to doing. From what I managed to piece together with the clues shattered throughout the demo and based on the knowledge of the full game's content, I'm convinced Naegi is the correct culprit vote like we all thought, BUT (huge but) paying attention and giving it some thought grant you the speculation that he could've actually had an accomplice outside of the protagonist room. And that accomplice is no less than the scheming mastermind of the game: Shirogane Shirogane Tsumukweeeen. (Yes, that Despair Arc dub meme never gets old) Let me start my explanation with the clarification that this demo is clearly another in-universe promotional method for V3 like the Maki, Kaito and Ki-Bo poster. It's like a popular show treating its fanbase with the kind of sneak peek preview to let them know what to expect. I also want to clarify that people were indeed able to enter the protagonist room before the gym announcement, because how else would you explain Tojo being able to clean the whole dormitory? This leads me to the conclusion that Tojo likely got her hands onto a master key from Monokuma with Tsumugi's aid and she locked the doors of all the rooms after cleaning them. Yes, Hoshi was there too, but so was Yumeno for a bit and that still doesn't mean they entered the dormitory later. Considering how Ultimate Dedication Kirumi is able to afford wasting time on introducing herself if she was supposedly in the middle of cleaning when you just arrive at the dorm, it's quite safe to assume the job was already done at that point and that is why the protag room is already locked if you do try to open it before going to the gym. In fact, all the rooms are locked. Kaede clearly was the last student to wake up, and Tsumugi being the only one with the ability to confirm Kirumi's alibi - despite Hoshi and Yumeno presumably being at the dorm as well - is a major hint that the clean-up was pretty much done waaay before you awoke, got past all the other students from the AV Room onwards to the dorm, and finally listened to the introduction of those three. I say three because I honestly think Yumeno was in the kitchen at first and only appeared in the dorms once the body discovery announcement was made. Anyway, Kirumi obviously locked the doors for safety and privacy measures once the clean-up was done. I believe Hagakure's "corpse" was already in Kaede's bathroom at this point, and here's why Tojo probably neglected to inspect and clean ALL of the bathrooms: As someone who comes off on the surface as a trustworthy and supportive person, not to mention that she acts as a huge fan of a maid's work, Kirumi is inclined to believe her if Tsumugi simply insists for example that Monokuma told her that all the bathrooms were taken extra care of to be spotless. As I've established, there is no breathing room for the player after the gym announcement, so Tsumugi had to be the only character present while Kirumi was cleaning the dormitory. Because she simply admires Kirumi's work as a maid due to how much of a geek she is, so she had to keep watching and this doesn't seem suspicious to you at all without fullgame spoilers because they always made Tsumugi out to be a bland motherly "heart on her sleeve" nerd type of girl. It is entirely understandable that Tsumugi - as the MM getting her lifetime dream of a writer debut on TDR come true - wants the killing game to start as fast as possible, and this is emphasized in the full game by how she gives them a two days time limit right off the bat to commit a murder or else they'll all be mass murdered. In the full game, this doesn't work out so well and she doesn't like how Kaede gets so well along with Amami in that bonus scene (explaining why Kaede believes in his innocence to be the MM in Case 1) without even knowing about his impressive SHSL Survivor status as the only survivor of V2. And Rantarou also turns out to be better at nail painting than the Ultimate Cosplayer thanks to living with twelve sisters at home, making her outraged with jealousy. To push her over the edge, time is running out and a mass execution would be a boring and way too quick end for the season, which would affect the ratings. She can't allow that, so she goes with the two characters she passionately dislikes so far to get them out of the picture and continue the show. Arguably, she would've even been fine with any vote that wasn't her because the MM being executed would also end the show too early. Kaede and Saihara were the prime suspects, so even though she framed Kaede for also trying her hardest to expose her due to the same reasoning and she conveniently set a death trap with a similar method to how she decided to kill Rantarou (remember, the heavy iron balls were in the warehouse available for anyone to grab), Saihara would have been fine too. Kaede works better though, because she is legitimately convinced of her guilt. Shadowing her as the demo first culprit is a nice nod to the full version and it makes perfect sense in context, and I'll explain why right now. No, sadly enough, there are no chances of that but that info is (preferably?) not spread through the fandom and only on the wiki. Turns out that when you enter Amami's research faculty, you discover a recording of himself before the memory manipulation process (there's a vast difference with that and brainwashing :')) in which he reveals that he is from the previous killing game and he was the only survivor there. That likely makes him more worthy of the SHSL Survivor status in the fanbase's eyes. Especially Tsumugi lmao She's a full-on critic Anyway, I liked clearing that up for the people here, but now onwards. I'm almost 100% sure that Kirumi would vaguely hint towards this exchange of words happening between her and Tsumugi if the player voluntarily approaches her after she decides to stay behind with Hajime, but that's something I'd have to check with a replay. Hajime and Makoto actually being in the demo/in-universe preview episode is also a great treat to hardcore fan Tsumugi. Especially Makoto, the protagonist of her favorite cast. We already established before that Tsumugi is going back to the original and she wanted to recreate the DR1 cast & killing game whilst simultaneously criticizing the flaws of her favorite game/season (the reality tv killing game started with reboots of the original fictional material with real actors, as evidenced by the collage sequence if you manage to read through all of them.)(edited) I initially thought of them possibly being Tsumugi's cosplays, but that ended up being too far-fetched for my taste and some of the 53 seasons do involve aforementioned reboots of originally fictional source material. It's just a little too fastly skipped on in the collage for the most part after the first ten entries.(edited) And just who from the cast do you think even Tsumugi would detest despite being a DR1 stan? That's right: Yasuhiro Hagakure. This passionate hatred is even further emphasized by there not being a Hagakure parallel in her fanfiction. She likes her casts well-rounded. But that doesn't explain the revealed fake death at the end, so let me continue my theory. Tsumugi invited Hajime, Makoto and Hagakure along to the live preview of her writing and acting debut on Team Danganronpa. Because she arranged the perfect protagonist who's like no other and ideal to keep milking the series, on top of that that person is also female, the actors for the OC leads (who obviously also survived in their portion of a reality tv killing game to stay faithful to the omnipresent motto of keeping the MCs alive, despite the vast differences in the rest of the  survivor sets for DR1 and 2 which I'll tackle in a bit) are brought back to their roles to guide Kaede and introduce the nostalgia Tsumugi is going to include in the upcoming season. Ah, and before anyone comes up with a "Rantarou" rebuttal for the sake of completing the DR1 parallel, keep in mind that his personality mainly stems from the previous season and there are some characters (like Gonta) that even Kodaka admitted he has never written before because Tsumugi managed to give a sense of uniqueness to the cast.(edited) And the remaining students also managed to drift apart from the character arcs she so thoroughly planned for them, but that's meta for another day. Remember the "fake" AU leaks that I eventually explained to be V3's version of the (either tv or game) outcome for the events for 1 and 2 in their universe? Well, Hagakure dies in that. Probably also the first victim, explaining Monokuma's fourth wall breaking comment that this is actually his second time dying. It's a double-sided statement that you won't catch up on if you haven't practically finished the game. His character was basically recycled with a look-alike actor in order to fool the audience with that pretense of Danganronpa just being a cool TV show (more on that in that ending meta I plan to discuss here some time) - I assume they do this with all previews of new seasons once the audience started doing some digging on the real people behind their beloved characters or perhaps the real names were initially not even included in the credits (like when they did the reboots) until they started with new storylines to not run out of ideas, keep profiting and take the thrill a step further) - and because he therefore wouldn't have experience with acting like Hagakure, Tsumugi left him out of the preview until it was time for his body discovery. Being the comic relief character he is supposed to be, Hagakure's actor was fortunate to be able to be used as a fake death with the plot convenience of Ultimate Detective not entering the crime scene in the demo. All this clearly explains the black screen ending scenario where the returning characters all wonder if their acting was good, and Hagakure suddenly rushing in to reveal it was a fake death. TDR is teasing and deceiving you, the unspoiled viewer anticipating their announced renewal for another season, because deception is what it's all about with V3's Truth vs Lies theme. A neat manner to let the world know what to expect. TDR probably also uses these previews to test the results of the memory manipulation used on the cast and the audience's reaction on seeing this cast in action. The company wants to know if Tsumugi's adjustments are sufficient or if there's anything left to mold their personalities for in order to appeal the whole cast to the audience, explaining the pleasant surprises like Tenko initially being hyped up as the discourse character yet actually being the most morally good female of the cast. Seriously, the best part about V3 is that it all (even the promotion) comes full-circle if you give it some proper thought. The entry is filled with a never-ending cycle of full-circle moments which are able to blow your mind when you finally connect that cycle. Spoiling, fourth-wall-breaking game promotion before the game is even out. It's incredible how far they planned ahead, honestly Anyway, let's continue. There's some necessary details left to make the full picture. So basically, Tsumugi arranged this whole scenario with the three of them, and considering how safe it is to assume how passionately Tsumugi despises Hagakure, they might as well have even had to resort to a compromise to give Hagakure's nobody actor a planned fake death as long as Tsumugi makes sure nobody enters the protagonist room. The fake crime scene they set up must not be exposed. There's obviously frozen blood bags in TDR's various morgues from all the reality tv killing games, so they used the dead Hagakure's blood to shroud the new actor in. This is all done to make the timing so fresh and in case they cannot prevent the Ultimate Detective from investigating the crime scene. Saihara would definitely catch up on fake blood, after all. You can supply blood in a fresh manner by sustaining them in frozen blood bags. Common scientific knowledge. And it makes sense to supply their blood because TDR started these behind-the-scenes kidnappings and schemes up with running out of ideas and the reality TV reboots of their original source material. No way would the ratings - which are so important to them because they're making a good living off of this show and it can't end in their eyes - stay unaffected by a simple reboot, hence the new survivor sets that I will headcanon as being part of the TV reboot from now on. This indicates that they kept the strengths of the original entries, but they twisted the story of the games like we already were informed of by Tsumugi. They're greedy and huge perfectionists, so those previously fictional characters really had to be brought to life. That's where the development of the futuristic technology comes in. More on TDR specifically in my ending meta though! :P Well then, let's further detail how this off-screen plan worked so well in case the realization is not hitting someone yet. The knife is actually just twisted in a gaping hole from his shirt being stabbed in his abdomen non-fatally, so I suppose it makes sense that it looks so real once he plays dead and they add real blood on him. Implying that the fandom or the in-universe audience will spend that much doubt to it with how legit it looks, but Saihara definitely would inspect the corpse more as it's his duty. It's a huge plot convenience that Saihara does not bother to do so, likely because he's already made up his mind on who the culprit is like all of us did from the start: Naegi Makoto. And while he is not exactly wrong, he's dense to the major foreshadowing of an accomplice due to a lack of evidence. A nice mirror to the real first case. Tsumugi truly is a master puppeteer, and I still view her as a controlfreak because the term means that she is obsessed with maintaining her control of something. And that is emphasized in the game multiple times once Monodam, Angie and Korekiyo turn the planned pattern for the killing game around in chapter 3 and so onwards. Back to the demo: after the preparation process is done, Hagakure is left alone in the bathroom waiting for his scene to act like a corpse, not allowed to make a noise.(edited) Tsumugi and Makoto split up; former approaches Kirumi to start cleaning as soon as possible (probably convincing Monokuma to give the SHSL Maid a master key) in order to avoid anyone meeting Hagakure; the latter goes to check on Kaede in the AV Room in order to continue the plan "smoothly" as he mentions later in the class trial. Wanna know why he had to part ways with Kaede when all the students are demanded to go to the gym? It's simple when you've gotten this far. Since Tsumugi cannot possibly ignore this order from Monokuma and come out of the shadows with her real personality, Makoto is the one who needs to proceed with the last phase of the plan: splashing the actor playing dead in freshly kept blood from the frozen blood bag for his original predecessor. Hagakura is the one who got the kitchen knife and might as well have been the one to non-fatally stab himself, but that's just a small detail and it makes sense that the cast without the detective (thus inexperienced with murder cases) would legitimately assume his death to be for real just upon the sight of a drenched murder weapon and the excessive amount of fresh blood.(edited) And this is exactly why the blood confirms the time of death being a few minutes ago when they were all at the gym. Lastly, this also explains Makoto's hair dropping at the crime scene. Stuff like that commonly happens, especially when you're in a rush and they probably had to fake a convincing struggle in the short period of time they had. He was obviously able to access the room because he was the first one to receive the keys due to likely being the only person not to be infected with sleeping gas alongside Hagakure.(edited) I can't connect where Hajime's part comes in though, so maybe he wasn't involved - which I can understand cuz a fangirl prefers cooperating and interacting with her favorites - or perhaps his only contribution was (unknowingly of Tsumugi's elaborate scheme) aiding Tsumugi and Kirumi with his confidence and experience in order to convince Monokuma to hand over that master key for the maid to do her job. I really believe Hajime's actor was kept in the dark because unlike a personified Naegi, the personified Hajime wouldn't be lured to a route as corrupt as the former took by being willing to do anything to keep living off of TDR's unquestionably high salary if you survive AND return to the show. No, this actor only thought he was hired again for nostalgia's sake, because that's what we all assumed as well. And Hajime was the most intended as a returning lead to guide Kaede on the road of leading her group and passing the leadership onto her, despite not being her instructor like Naegi but that's all according to plan, of course. This is my demo headcanon. This is my conclusive interpretation of the demo

[comiconverse]

Game Review: Danganronpa 1-2 Reload

Danganronpa 1-2 Reload is a collection of two murder-mystery interactive novel games, out now on PlayStation 4. An older version of the collection is available on PlayStation Vita. The original games appeared on the Sony PSP, IoS and Android systems. Alan Stock dusts off his detective skills for this ComiConverse review.

Game Review: Danganronpa 1-2 Reload

Danganronpa 1-2 Reload. Not the most catchy name, is it? I’d never even heard of the Danganronpa games, but when I investigated the series after seeing the colorful box art, I discovered I might like them. 1-2 Reload is a remastered PlayStation 4 collection containing the first two games in the series: Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havok, and its sequel, Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair.  Danganronpa’s popularity in Japan has spawned a host of manga, novel and spin-off games. Continuing the main story – Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope’s Peak High School is already out in Japan and coming out in the West later this year. In this review, we’ll be looking at 1-2 Reload – i.e. the first two games in the series. This remaster includes improved graphics, full Western localisation and some extra game modes.

What’s Danganronpa then? It’s a classic Japanese horror setup, best described as a crazy mix between Battle Royale, dating sims and the Phoenix Wright murder mystery games. These are heavily stylised “interactive novels”, similar to the Zero Escape games I’ve reviewed on this site – where you follow the main story trying to uncover the truth. Meanwhile, you interact with other characters and solve convoluted murder plots.

The premise is inspired by movies like Battle Royale and Saw. The first game sees a group of 15 high school students all start their first year at Hope’s Peak Academy for children with incredible talent. On entering it for the first time, they fall unconscious and awake to find they are all trapped in the academy by a malevolent stuffed robotic bear called Monokuma (yes, really). No rescue is apparently coming. The crazy toy, who seems indestructible and has deadly powers, is in control of their fate.

No one can leave the school until one condition is met – to escape you must kill another student, and get away with it. If a murder occurs, a class trial is held, when the students get a chance to identify the culprit. If they guess right, Monokuma kills the murderer and life continues on for the survivors. Fail to find the correct murderer and everyone except the murderer is killed and then the murderer is free to leave. Although life in the school is safe and they are provided for, Monokuma provides plenty of “incentives” to encourage the students to kill each other off. Meanwhile, the students try to escape, unravel the mysteries of Hope’s Peak and discover Monokumas identity.

  You play as one of the male students, Makoto. In between narrative segments you have free time in which you can explore the halls of Hope’s Peak and chat to the other students. During this time you can hang out with them or give them gifts to learn more of their back stories similar to a Japanese dating sim. When a murder occurs, you investigate the crime scenes and interview witnesses. The class trial is similar to the Phoenix Wright games – using what you learned to point out contradictions in people’s testimonies and using logic to determine what really happened.

Danganronpa has a vibrant and distinctive style, with colourful anime characters appearing as 2D cutouts against 3D backgrounds and high octane, visually arresting trial sequences. The music is off the chart (literally) – ranging from the whacky to the dramatic. Whilst the game’s premise is pretty grim, the whole experienced is laced with humour and a crazy, eccentric tongue-in-cheek vibe.  There are jokes a-plenty here, the sharp writing and translation job bring a surprising amount of wit and chuckles to the drama as characters interrupt proceedings with silly asides and exchanges, but Monokuma is the star of the show.

The robotic bear, although initially a bit grating, quickly grows on you. He is constantly entertaining and unpredictable – tormenting the students with glee and is always coming out with great lines. He happily breaks the 4th wall and makes self-referential nods as well as appearing in bizarre monologue interludes during breaks in the story. His executions for murderers are as harsh as they are ridiculous and over the top – the game’s intro sets the tone with a man fired into space in a rocket before crash landing, reducing him to a skeleton whilst Monokuma splits his sides with laughter.

Despite the game’s wacky tone, the characters are still surprisingly likeable and entertaining. Yes, they are mostly cliches – each member of Hope’s Peak is an “Ultimate” – the best in their field, whatever this may be. There’s the Ultimate Pop Star, the Ultimate Writer, the Ultimate Moral Compass, to name a few. But they are well written despite their overwhelming personas and as you learn more about them you begin to feel attached – which makes it all the more distressing when you know they could well be next on the kill-list (or the next potential murderer).

The game follows a cycle of imprisoned school life, murder and school trial, whittling down the student’s numbers whilst they try to uncover the secrets behind their situation. The pace of the school life sections are slow and allow some breathing time for the plot to develop and character relationships to deepen between murders. You can wander the school in 3D during this time, examining objects and chatting to the others. The dating sim elements, however, are unwelcome – to unlock backstory you need to present your chosen student with an appropriate gift. These can only be won from a random toy capsule machine which you pump coins into (found around the environment as trial rewards). The more coins you put in, the greater your chances of getting something new. This gets tedious really quickly, not helped by the unskippable animations of opening capsules and with over 100 gifts to find, lots of them being duplicates.

Murders ramp up the drama, and the crime scene investigations are fun, although it’s impossible to fail at finding everything – the game won’t let you progress until you uncover all the clues. The class trials though completely change the game’s dynamic, the action played out through fast-paced mini-games of all varieties. The main part of the action is in dialogue, where characters shout out statements in real-time – and you must “shoot” your objections with “truth bullets” using an aiming reticule at highlighted words which contradict the facts you’ve learned. Hence the game’s name, translated from Japanese: “Dangan” meaning “bullet” and “Ronpa” meaning “refute”.

There’s some decent logic involved here if you whack the difficulty up to Hard – where you have more evidence options to choose between to refute your opponent’s arguments. Other mini games include a hangman clone, a musical rhythm action button basher and a comic book sequence where you place panels to show the true sequence of the murder events. The quality varies, some get pretty frustrating but at least there’s plenty of variety on show. It’s definitely true that Danganronpa trials feel unlike any murder mystery you’ve ever seen.

Tight timers and health bars in trials can cause Game Over quickly, but you can simply restart the current segment of the trial with no penalty – so there’s no real sense of urgency. This inability to fail also applies to other key choices like presenting evidence, or pointing out the real killer, but to be fair most murder mystery games (including Phoenix Wright which it feels most like) suffer from similar issues. Like other games in this genre there’s also times where you essentially know what happened – but can’t find the right thing to say (or do) to progress, which can be annoying.

The mysteries themselves are pretty great though. Each one is significantly different and suspicion bounces between different characters throughout the trials as new facts come to light. There’s twists and turns you won’t see coming and unravelling these complex murders is a whole load of fun. Even though trials last for a long time, the constant back and forth between differents arguments, Monokumas rantings and new plot developments keeps them really engaging.

The overall story is also pretty intriguing, after each trial you get access to more of the school, uncovering yet more mysteries. You always want to keep on playing to find out what it all means, what Monokuma and the deadly game’s purpose is, learning more about your fellow students, as well of course wondering who’s next to get murdered! It’s compelling stuff. The plot does get even more outrageously mad towards the end, but by this point you’re so used to the general craziness of Danganronpa you won’t really bat an eyelid.

  Danganronpa 2 follows much the same formula as the first game with a new set of students. The big difference is that they’re trapped on a set of islands instead of a school. The murder mysteries are arguably better in this one and there’s some good plot twists along the way. The dating sim elements are tightened up with faster toy acquisition. In the trials, some mini-games have been tightened up and others added. Unfortunately, the new entries aren’t all very successful but do keep things fresh. Danganonpa 2’s plot eventually goes off the rails even further than the first game, perhaps a little too much, but overall it still matches the quality of the first game – and arguably even funnier.

Although these are thoroughly entertaining games with great mysteries full of colourful characters and witty dialogue, Danganronpa does have flaws. Aside from the trial minigames which can annoy as much as entertain, the slow pace of some of the school setting and exploration of the school can drag. Gender stereotypes are unfortunate, particularly the insensitive way a transgender character is treated. Sexual innuendo and jokes throughout the game are usually pretty amusing, but are overused and although may be intended as a poke at sexualised Japanese games, at others times are obviously fan service or just plain creepy. Sleazy characters and dodgy dialogue can mar the atmosphere and examples such as the girl who continually falls over in a spreadeagled position, and receiving panties as rewards for unlocking all background stories are not uncommon – occasionally giving Danganronpa a bit of an unsavoury taste.

There’s not much extra content in this 1-2 Reload edition – a few mini-games without much depth. The School Mode with a non-canon narrative allows you to befriend students and learn their backstories without worrying about them being murdered. Obviously on PS4 graphics have been spruced up with the main attention paid to the character art, but it’s hardly a great looking game overall – it’s handheld origins are pretty clear. Not that it really matters, you’ll be playing for the story and the mysteries rather than its looks,  and the vibrant art style is eye-catching enough.

Aside from some failings, overall Danganronpa 1 and 2 are engrossing and entertaining, crazy and unpredictable. There’s nothing quite like them, the style is fresh and the writing quality. Monokuma is accompanied by a host of great characters – some of whom you want to see survive… even if it’s just to see how they’ll eventually meet their fate. If murder mysteries are your thing, or you just like entertaining stories with funny dialogue, then I urge you to give this series a go.

  The post Game Review: Danganronpa 1-2 Reload appeared first on ComiConverse.