#this was the first time i hated junko. it was so unnecessary

[baltharino]

@animangacreators ☠︎︎ Challenge 25 Graveyard Challenge: Character's death that affected you the most

[ambonexus]

As requested by my Bestie™️, here is my Sayaka Maizono hate post (/silly) (I don't hate her) (I'm just not fond of her).

I wanna say firstly that I don't harbour any distaste for people who like her character, and I don't want anyone to feel like they're wrong for liking her either. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions about things. That includes people liking something (or someone) that I don't.

I have a lot of reasons for not liking Sayaka's character and writing, the first of which being her overall personality. Being that she's the Ultimate Pop Star Idol, it makes sense that she would feel a little fake and procured. Idols have to keep appearances when interacting with parasocials, so her being smiley and generally soft isn't bizarre. However, the way she's written irritates me a lot.

She's overly talkative. An example would be the first time everyone gathers in the dining hall to share their investigative findings. She admits that she's been talking a lot, and that since Makoto and her have already spent a lot of time together, she'd let the others talk for a while. However, Immediately after saying that, she continues to talk for the entirety of the meeting via the Reaction function and her own personal commentary. It's unnecessary filler.

One of the most prominent and memorable things about Sayaka's personality is her repeated use of the "I'm psychic!" joke. While it's used at the very end of Chapter 1 for a final punch to the gut, it seems like that's all it's used for in the end. Plus, it feels ill fitting for someone like her to make a joke like that. I would expect such a joke to come from Celeste as a sort of mind game, or even Kyoko if she was in a good mood, not Sayaka. Double plus, there's no explanation for where the joke even comes from. Is it an inside joke she formed with a friend/bandmate? Is it a reference to something that happened during her career? Is she just a quirky popular girl with blue hair and pronouns?

Another thing I dislike about Sayaka is just how much the game seems to force her and Makoto to be compatible. While it was annoying at first for the game to use her to hold your hand and pit her at every narrative corner, the joke about Makoto getting a hard on while he's trying to comfort Sayaka was the final straw.

Sayaka and Makoto's interactions felt uncomfortable to sit through the entire time because their romance feels manufactured. What a coincidence that Sayaka has had her eyes on Makoto for several years, ever since she saw him help a bird?? You couldn't have come up with anything more genuinely compelling? And we learn that bit of information because the game forces you to participate in her free time event, therefore manufacturing your interest in her. (Not to mention this is a parasocial relationship from the very get go, which in a lot of cases can get uncomfortable very quickly for both parties.)

Something that I do want to talk about is Sayaka's murder attempt and death. While her attempt to frame Makoto for murder is a common reason for people to dislike Sayaka, I actually find it to be a likable part of her character. I reblogged a post some time ago talking about how Sayaka trying to graduate was an example of a good person doing a bad thing, and I still agree with that opinion. If put in any other situation, Sayaka wouldn't have created a plan to kill someone and get away with it via framing. However, because of her distress and desperation to leave the school, she played right into Junko's hands and started the killings.

All in all, I don't hate Sayaka because she was psychologically manipulated and motivated to take a life; I dislike her because she's a stereotypically upbeat popular school girl idol who has unprecedented romantic tension with the stereotypically talentless yet lucky male protagonist. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

[djzbasement]

🔥

WOOOOOOOOOOOO! I HAVE BEEN AWAITING THIS DAY FOR MANY MOONS

right so.. TW for something sexual being mentioned.. plus what happened with Korekiyo.

okay, okay, buckle down for this one. I wanna point out, this might not be an unpopular opinion, buttt given the fact that everyone I’ve told started threatening me- I’m seeing it as one.

You can’t defend a characters actions when they’ve done bad. simple.

Now, seems easy to understand doesnt it? Some people don’t get that for some reason and it’s just like.. huh??

Eg- Mikan. The things Mikan did (like that one scene with ryota). People just say “Oh, but she was brainwashed!!”. but that’s like saying “The remnants didn’t meannnn to cause despair and whatever, they were brainwashed!!!”. You see how dumb that sounds? Brainwashed or not, it still happened. She still did that, no debate.

Like, I don’t defend any of my favourite characters for the way they act, not at all. With Kazuichi- I find his obsession with Sonia to be gross and an unnecessary part to his character. I feel like he’s only got a crush on Sonia (while being creepy about it) to be the joke funny character since the first joke funny character (teruteru) was killed off. But yeah, gross unnecessary part of kazuichi. Plus, him being a remnant and building the first casts executions. All of that. And Gonta- Insect meet and greet, albeit he thought he was helping his friends (both human and insect) but the way he went about it.. eh. Even if Kokichi lied to him and it was his idea, Gonta still did it anyways. Plus, the whole thing with CH.4.

But do I go around saying “Oh, Kazuichi has trauma from something so that’s why he acts like that with Sonia… 😖” or- “Gonta didn’t know any better, he’s not to blame- OUMA IS!!!!”? no. I don’t. Because they can’t be defended when they’ve done something bad. Like, if like I don’t know, your dog misbehaves. Do you say “well.. it doesn’t know any better.” No, you don’t. Shouldn’t be the same with these folks, even if they’re fictional.

What just tops this all off, people find the fact that I much prefer Ryota over Mikan to be the reason that I want to point fingers and be like “SHE STILL DID DONE DO IT!!” when in reality, if i don’t know, Ryota did (what she did) to her, I wouldn’t defend him on that. And would most likely heavily dislike him. And I guess the fandom would too. Because it only matters when it’s not a popular character doing it. Mikan, Miu, Hiyoko, Nagito, Junko, and more. Whenever they do something HORRIBLE the fandom brushes it off as “them being cunty” or the iconic “it wasn’t their fault! It was ___”, and then be the type of people to dislike ryota not because hes annoying- but because he made the brainwashing video. The video that their “queen Junko” ‘asked’ him to make.

Which brings me to another opinion- well, more of something that annoys me- but you can’t love Miu for doing what she does.. but then hate Korekiyo. Now i know, I know, you can hate/like a character based on their personalities, valid. But when a person says “OH MIU I LOVE YOU!” but then says “Korekiyo is disgusting!! Ew!” for what happened with his sister.. you’re being stupid, to put it simply. Miu purposely shoves her chest up against Keebo (who despite being a robot, should still count imo), makes horrible disgusting sexual remarks and all of that- aka purposely just.. being gross- Korekiyo didn’t know any better, he was manipulated and groomed by somebody he looked up to practically his entire life. But it’s still “disgusting” because it’s not the cool character who insults people from 2020 that had monster cans as earrings that everyone would cosplay. Like….? I understand Korekiyo is a bit deranged. And the relationship with his sister being sexual really just felt unnecessary. In fact .. his whole deal with his sister. But, just like every other character, I don’t defend him for anything bad that he’s done. But.. Miu. Miu was simply hit by a car and was in a coma for some time and was just.. smart when she woke up. That’s it, really. And then became the most infuriating character to walk this PLANET.

Now, please don’t get mad. This is an opinion of mine. Opinion. Not everyone has the same ones. If you’re upset that I insulted your favourite character or spoke what I think is right or wrong then just.. shoo. Toodles. Farewell. goodbye. Opinions are opinions, If you dont agree with mine don’t start throwing a tantrum and sending death threats. Peace and love🫶.

Also im not sure if I have strong opinions on this shit because I’m just severely sex repulsed and I just don’t like sexual things but.. you know.

SUMMARY-

Just dont defend a character when they’ve done something wrong.. just don’t. No matter the reason. It’ll make the fandom (and even other fandoms) so much more tolerable to be in.. and don’t throw a fit when somebody has a different opinion than you.

Anyways, this is LONG. Like this is more of a rant atp. But.. yeah. That’s my opinion(s) on the whole… everything.

[a-student-out-of-time]

//Honestly the only thing i didn't like in this arc was Makoto saying he was turning into Emina like?? That came out of nowhere and doesn't even make that much sense imo? Like yeah, taking Harumi's place was bad but I feel like the main reason we hate Emina is because she is an abuser who ruins everything and in a previous timeline a straight up murderer. Besides it's not like Makoto ever intended to take someone's place, he didn't even know about that when he received the letter. Overall this bit felt unnecessary to me and it would have been much easier and more sensical if the comparison was drawn between Iroha and Emina, since that gets picked up during the climax as well, rather than Makoto and Emina.

But that aside, this is easily my favorite arc in season 2. While the subject at hand was a very serious one the arc never felt too dense and gloomy like the puppetmaster arc (don't get me wrong, i love the Puppetmaster storyline and it had many memorable moments, but it's an arc i would not read again. Not necessarily because it's huge but because every second of it felt so serious that i felt tired reading it in some points), and the serious moments it did have were balanced by something sweet, funny or Ayato and Emina getting owned by whoever was around them.// (1/2)

//Yeah, this arc was a lot of fun to write ^^

//It was really cool not only getting to explore an area of DR that I feel like we haven't gotten nearly enough about- the classes that came before and what their environment was like- but also getting to see how the people from that class have changed.

//If I can offer some elaboration on what happened with Makoto, his concern wasn't meant to be fearing that he would end up like Emina, but that he did basically the same thing- taking someone else's rightful spot at Hope's Peak due to circumstances outside their control- but while Emina felt like she deserved it, Makoto didn't.

//Makoto, who I really enjoy as a character, is someone I feel like people tend to misunderstand in a lot of ways. For one, he never really wanted to be the Ultimate Hope, and people just kind of assigned that title to him. He's not really a humble hero so much as he is someone who has a lot of pressure exerted on him from above.

//Second, and this is something a lot more people overlook, it's that Makoto is capable of looking down on others and on himself. Sure, we see a lot of him as the happy optimistic hope boy in times of crisis, but we also see everything from his low-key passive-aggressive thoughts on everyone at the start to him telling Junko she's full of shit.

//Plus, Makoto was feeling more disillusioned by Hope's Peak than he ever was in the games when he learned the truth there. That, and being surrounded by knowledge and complaints about Emina and Ayato, it made him have a moment of crisis and insecurity over the idea that he'd be taking someone else's spot if he went.

//Mod Poi, Mod Honey and I have talked a lot about how people in-universe have this tendency to put Makoto on a pedestal, when he really doesn't feel like he belongs up there, nor does he want to be. That's something that I think would be interesting to explore more in detail from here on out.

//Although I do admit maybe it would've been stronger if it were more focused on Iroha, or maybe I could've presented it better, but that's what the aim was there. Hope that makes more sense.

//And yeah, Hitoshi being the one to beat Emina was something I don't think anyone was expecting at first, but setting that up was fun too : P

//As for the musical aspect, I tried to include them only at points where it made sense for the characters and offered elaborations. It was part of the initial idea for this arc and I really wanted to make it work, which I think I did pretty well ^^

//The best musical numbers are the ones that let you into the minds of the characters and help you understand and move things forward, rather than just being excuses for songs to be included.

[mizumi-kahago-writing]

I know the algebraic expression of L-O-V-E [Kamunami/Hinanami & Yandere!Chiaki] - Chapter 9

Disclaimer: This is an AU in which the Chiaki AI got at least partially infected by the Junko Virus. This is what makes her become a Yandere and a bit out of character. This AU also entails Hajime and Izuru becoming more of a DID-System, instead of fusing into one person. The main difference, compared to the real illness, is that they can switch out consciousness at will. Also, major spoilers and canon divergence ahead. You have been warned.

﹀﹀﹀﹀︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶﹀﹀﹀﹀

Chapter 9

The boy didn’t have a chance to stick to his words, as she pressed his body down on the ground. The struggling body within her grip, desperately gasping for air, her creepy grin from earlier returned. Yet she wasn’t fully satisfied.

Simply getting rid of him was too easy, she had to enjoy that victory. That sadistic virus turned her pink eyes into a spiral in deep dark despair. Eerie laughter echoed through the island, yet only Nagito was able to hear her.

First his legs. She wouldn’t allow him to try and run away a second time. Cutting them clean off gave her a sadistic thrill and his painful screams filled her whole body with trembling despair. Next, cutting off his arms. Once this was over with, he was nothing more than a disfigured body. Blood spewing out of him, tainting the ground fuchsia.

Soon enough the blood loss would knock him out, but she wanted to make sure he’d hear her last words. What she had planned to do with him, was much more despair-inducing than any physical wound she could give him.

Moving her bloody hands over to his head, she cupped his face and with a gentle stroke over the cheeks, leaving a bloody trail of his own blood there. This is what satisfying despair felt like. It made her artificial heart race, as she’d finally be able to get rid of the person, she loved and hated the most.

Admiring her work for a few more seconds before he’d eventually pass out. Whispering sickly twisted words into his ear. “Don’t be sad. Death won’t be the end of you. I’ll let you live, in my world… under my control.”

His eyes shot wide open, his mouth silently screaming of pain. He didn’t have the energy anymore to fight back. His expression, a crude mixture of pain and desperation. Blood, sweat and tears all over.

He wouldn’t make it any longer, so she decided to yank his head off, as she still had use for that. Grabbing his hair, pulling it off his neck, a few nerve endings dangled out. And with that his fate was sealed: He was finally dead for sure.

Now what to do with the rest of the body? Enticing in the thrill, she turned the rest of the body into a mushy mess. Blending the remains of his flesh with the dirt underneath, until only a slimy puddle was left.

With that her job was done, and she returned to the main path. Making her way to the control room. All that was left to do was connecting his brain to the machines. They’d do the rest.

 Dawn of a new day and Hajime woke up in his empty cottage. Last night’s encounter still had him puzzled.

“Chiaki? Chiaki, where are you?”

Looking around for the girl, but she was nowhere to be found.

“Huh? That’s strange…”

This seemed so oddly suspicious, so Hajime turned to Izuru for advice.

“Oh, now you’re asking for my help. Didn’t you confidently declare that you don’t need me anymore?”

He sounded so salty, despite his monotone voice.

“Yeah, yeah whatever. Shove that passive-aggressiveness up your ass. We might have a serious situation at our hands, so I don’t have the time nor nerves for unnecessary banter. Just straight up tell me, why Chiaki isn’t here.”

“Are you worried that something happened to her?”

Izuru asked in return, despite already knowing the answer.

“Maybe you should be more worried that she happened to someone else.”

He unkindly scolded Hajime.

“You know I’m worried. What’s your problem with that?”

“My problem is, I told you what she is capable of, but you decided to ignore all my warnings.”

Biting his tongue there, he shoved Izuru away.

“Fine! If you don’t wanna tell me, then just shut up.”

Hajime was fed up with lectures, as the strain of worry only increased.

“The only logical place to look for her would be the computer room.”

Izuru unexpectedly answered .

In hand-sight, that was an obvious the solution. Why didn’t Hajime think about that first? Maybe she went there for an update. Or…

A little shudder went down his spine. Remembering the offer she made last time, maybe she was preparing the virtual world for them.

But as he stepped outside his cottage, barely dressed, barely awake, something way more terrifying greeted him. In front of his door, the putrid smell of blood and death burned away the inside of his nostrils. And beneath his feet, he saw a horror, he thought he had left behind long ago.

Never again did he think he’d have to see a corpse again. Never did he think, he’d have to witness another killing happen. In front of him, laid none other than the separated head of the Ultimate Lucky Student: Nagito Komaeda.

﹀﹀﹀﹀︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶﹀﹀﹀﹀

« Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 »

[idontblushsrry]

Got the Aux hcs||Jujutsu Kaisen

A/N:  These hcs are prolly gonna vary from general artists/genres to general chaos towards the end :D also gonna do some for the kyoto school...eventually. Didn’t incl. Yuuta because he’s not here yet but tbh he prolly listens to MCR or smthng let’s be real. I apologize for Maki’s being so short, I know her fanbase is starving for content and I’m sorry I was unable to provide it this time.

Word Count: 1123

Plot Synopsis: Some dumb music taste headcanons for the tokyo school. ((I only included characters that have appeared in the anime like fully, onscreen w lines not just mentioned, and I also only did the main ppl from the Tokyo school so that’s why there’s no Yuta or Nanami.))

Itadori

First and foremost

The man is a barb (Nicki Minaj fans) and a hottie (Megan thee stallion fans)

No I don’t take criticism

Aside from that, Yuji listens to pop and some rap (mostly megan thee stallion)

His pop taste is also not limited by generation, he definitely listens to artists like Anri and Miki Matsubara

Other artists he listens to are probably; Rihanna, Post Malone(he just does, idk why), Doja Cat, Brittany Spears, Shakira, Kesha, Lizzo, Ariana Grande

Fushiguro

Fushiguro unironically listened to wake me up inside in middle school, again, I do not take criticism

He also listens to artists like Mother Mother

Fushiguro is kinda embarrassed of his music tastes though so he’ll lie about what he’s listening to

“Fushiguro what are you listening to?”

*cue panicked Fushiguro struggling to put his phone away* “N-Nothing why”

Also this man listens to Lady Gaga and probably some Panic at the Disco

But for sure panic at the disco

Also he makes playlist named after his friends and what not

Now one might say aww, how sweet

Which, yes it is, but also, Fushiguro refuses to let anyone know his true music tastes so adaptation is necessary for survival

If Fushiguro has the aux, it’s a good day, he knows everyone’s music tastes and probably already has a playlist tailored specifically to everyone’s taste, there’s never a single song that everyone hates

Kugisaki

She listens to Avril Lavigne and Kesha

Her and Yuuji have pretty similar music tastes (himbo/lesbian solidarity)

She also listens to songs like Jenny(by the studio killers) and Youth(Troye Sivan) and just stares at the ceiling pining

Her playlist reflects this

From pop to pining and then back again

Also she hasn’t stopped streaming Driver’s License(Olivia Rodrigo), her and Yuuji listen to it and every time she just falls out (when it first came out, she got so invested in the drama of it all)

Genres she listens to are rock ballads, pop, and any playlist with words including but not limited to ‘wlw’, ‘girls are pretty’, ‘how to not have a crush on Maki-senpai’

Artists she listens to incl. Kali Uchis (stumbled upon Dead To Me and hasn’t ben the same since), Queen, pop girlies like Brittany Spears, and Troye Sivan

Maki

Maki mainly listens to workout music or indie/chill beats

 Like her playlists are lowkey dry

And she refuses to use spotify premium, even though Gojo’s paying fo it

I can also see her listening to an occasional orchestral/instrumental piece like Ushiwakamaru

Inumaki also kind of put her onto listening to video game soundtracks, she probably listens to the soundtracks of games like Persona tbh

She does allow herself the small pleasure of listening to Hozier from time to time

Inumaki

Inumaki is a menace

His music taste, while there are bangers, mainly consists of music found in memes/tiktoks/etc.

((He also listens to video game music, but more of the Mario Kart sort))

I’m thinking like Vengaboys, Aqua, etc.

He does listen to other artists like Junko Ohashi and Rina Sawayama on occasion, the majority of his music taste exists to make him laugh as he thinks of all the random jokes made to the songs

Whenever, Inumaki has the aux cord, everyone in the car just mentally prepares themselves

With Inumaki, they feel bad telling him to stop because he’s really sweet and nice, and, maybe he just doesn’t know 

But he does know, he just doesn’t care

Panda

Panda listens to 80/90s rap

Tbh he’s got the best music taste out of everyone sorry not sorry

He mainly listened to whatever Yaga put on growing up so that’s why his taste is older than he is

Artists for Panda include Biggie, Pac, Outkast, etc.

Principal Yaga is black I just know Panda grew up listening to Ice Cube and the like while he was training I just knowwww

Panda’s playlist choices though usually aren’t too egregious

While Panda’s no Fushiguro in terms of adaptability, who’s really gonna be opposed to listening to bangers from the 90′s

Gojo

Gojo’s taste in music exists solely to torture Fushiguro

Now does he necessarily like any of these songs he plays? No

But does his desire to antagonize out rule his dislike? Yesyesyesyesyes

Gojo, unlike Inumaki, does not get the same sympathy

When Gojo syncs up his Bluetooth (bcus let’s be real that man does not have a car with a physical aux cord) everyone in the car just lets out the loudest groan

Just for that he’s gonna make 3 extra unnecessary turns

In actuality though, when he’s not bothering his students or Nanami, I imagine Gojo is a fan of 90′s rap as well as classical music

I think he also likes rock too, he discovered it back in his student days and it never really went away

He also definitely has a playlist called something like ‘my main character music’

General car shenanigans(imagine this as a class trip to some place that’s about 2 hours away)

Gojo and Inumaki team up to antagonize everyone

Like they will play 10 hour loops of caramelldansen with absolutely ZERO remorse

Fushiguro and Kugisaki slowly just go insane during the course of this

Although, Kugisaki will be a lot more vocal about it, cussing up a storm by the 4th loop.

This will then lead to Gojo and Inumaki being overthrown; Gojo being replaced with Ichiji at the wheel and Inumaki on thin fuckin ice

When the inevitable silence becomes too much to handle, Yuuji will tentatively offer to play his music

It’s all good, California Girls and Toxic instant hits

Yujji’s reign will end in one of two ways; 1) eventually, a Megan Thee Stallion song comes on a Gojo’s like “whoa kid, that’s not very family friendly” or 2)The sound of Kugisaki, Gojo, and Itadori singing poorly on purpose pushes Maki to take over out of frustration

Either way Maki takes over and they all kinda doze off because of how chill and soothing Maki’s music is

This ends when Ichiji gets a little too relaxed by the music and almost swerves, causing them to abruptly cut the music off

Panda just puts his paws up non-defensively like, “Don’t ask me, my music isn’t family-friendly either

At which point they all look to Fushiguro to save the day

And he does... until his phone battery dies

(Bonus) Sukuna

Sukuna probably tunes out all the miscellaneous stuff that Yuuji listens to

But one day he was minding his business till he heard Yuuji playing a Nicki Minaj song

Now, whenever Yuuji falls asleep, Sukuna will pop out every once in a while just to turn on Nicki.

[bullshittierlists]

Spoiler Warning!!! - This review will contain spoilers for all of SDR2 and the first chapter of DRV3 as well as slight spoilers for DR1. You’ve been warned.

I see no god up here other than me

Gundham Tanaka- His name is GUNDHam TaNAKA

Sonia Nevermind- This is my third time typing this rant. I literally don’t know why people hate her so much?? There are two main arguments that I’ve come across. The first is that she is boring and shouldn’t have survived, but that’s the same as Asahina and everyone seems to love her. (Don’t get me wrong, I also love her, but all she had were donuts and her relationship with Sakura) She’s just a cute girl with some occult-ish quirks and I don’t see why that has to be such a bad thing. The other, more prevalent, argument is that since she’s at the center of the infamous love triangle, she must be the root of all its problems. It’s really frustrating when people blame her for Kazuichi’s faults. I’ll talk more about Kazuichi later, but his terrible qualities are a result of his own actions, and Sonia shouldn’t be blamed for being the object of his affections. It’s honestly blaming the victim and I’m sick of it. Obviously, she hasn’t treated him perfectly and I understand why people are frustrated with it. The only example of this, though, is in chapter four when she goes back-and-forth between treating him coldly and praising him when she should’ve just rejected him a long time ago. However, I think I can understand where she’s coming from in this chapter. I think it was kind of a Shuichi/Kaede situation. She had already figured out that Gundham was the killer, but didn’t want to admit it to herself, and definitely didn’t want to tell everyone else even though he was more than ready to admit it. Therefore, she treated Kazuichi coldly whenever he was getting close to the truth (or treating her poorly) and praised him whenever he was leading the group in the wrong direction. I don’t have any evidence that these were the times she treated him this way, but that’s how I remember it. Anyway, Kazuichi should stop being a creep, and apologists should stop rationalizing it. Her one slip-up in this case when she was panicked and worried for her closest friend does not make up for all of the other times Kazuichi treated her terribly.

You’re the best

Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu- Boss baby boss baby boss baby. Also, he’s a fantastically fleshed out character and his relationship with Peko makes me cry literally every time :)  I just wish his character development had been a bit more stretched out, instead of on-the-spot like it was. I also kinda wish his sudden development had been a result of the despair disease, but you can’t have everything.

Nagito Komaeda- Recently, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about how SimpleFlips calls softlocking in SM64 “gay baby jail” and Komaeda makes me think of that.

Chiaki Nanami- I’m not quite as attached to her as everyone else seems to be, but I totally see the appeal. Cute girl, cute backpack, and plot-relevant??? Incredible.

Ibuki Mioda- She’s just so fun. I don’t typically like characters who are loud for the sake of being loud, but I can’t help but love her. This was the first game I fully voice-acted for fun (the girls, at least) and Ibuki was definitely one of my favorites. It just feels good to yell sometimes, you know?

Hey, I think you’re pretty cool, I like you a lot

Peko Pekoyama- I’m a simple woman. I think of chapter two, I cry. At least, the epilogue of that case. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Twilight Syndrome Murder Case and I definitely didn’t like the, albeit fake, serial killer twist. It didn’t feel natural and just felt bad. Loved hearing Sonia say “Sparkling Justice!”, though.

Hiyoko Saionji- I totally understand why people hate her. I get it, I do. But I just can’t bring myself to hate her. She’s obviously not a good person, but I have shit taste. Byakuya and Kokichi aren’t good people, but everyone loves them anyway. I just think she’s so funny and terrible, I can’t help but get attached. I’m not usually the type to like little sister characters, or even bullies, but she’s just such a perfect combination of the two that I can’t help but love her. I also obviously am not the biggest fan of Mikan (I’ll explain, I swear) so the bullying didn’t really affect me too much.

Hajime Hinata- He’s the protagonist. I don’t really know what to tell you. I used to believe in Hajime supremacy, but I’m starting to understand the Shuichi supremacy now, so idk, Hajime might end up lower after I finish V3.

Byakuya Togami/Ultimate Imposter- He’s just such a good guy. I know that the real Byakuya is an ass, but the imposter is so nice and supportive. I can’t even take him seriously as Byakuya anymore because of how supportive he is. The real Byakuya could never. I just finished his last free-time event and he really feels like his own person now, which I can imagine is all he’s ever wanted. He isn’t Byakuya to me anymore, he’s himself. I just don’t have a unique name to call him by.

I remember you

Mahiru Koizumi- Her photography thing was cute, I liked it a lot. I don’t know the basic stance people take on her crush on Hajime, but I thought it was really cute and believable. I don’t know if I ship it, but I can see it in canon. It makes sense and works well.

Akane Owari- She’s a jock. I feel pretty neutral about jocks unless they have another prevalent thing that fits my interests.

Nekomaru Nidai- Again, a jock. I’m just not the biggest fan. I know that his backstory makes up for a lot of his inherent jock boringness, but I just can’t get into him as much as some other people can. I definitely see the appeal, though.

Usami/Monomi- She’s a mascot. Cool. Honestly preferred Monophanie.

You are literally the worst. Actual scum. Leave this planet and never return

Mikan Tsumiki- I told you I’d explain. First, I need to explain some personal reasons I didn’t like her, rather than objective characteristics. Like I mentioned with Ibuki, I voice-acted the whole game with each of the girls. Never before has a voice physically affected me as much as Mikan’s. In order to make her voice so high and quiet, I have to close my throat and tighten my jaw. It makes my throat, jaw, and head hurt all at the same time and it feels awful. The only time this wasn’t the case was during her breakdown and that’s because I couldn’t make her say those things with that voice, it didn’t make sense. Which brings me to my next point: her breakdown. I didn’t like it. At all. It wasn’t interesting and it didn’t make sense. I know that everyone else was sad because she was bullied a bunch and began to romanticize it, and yeah, I feel bad, but it wasn’t enough to make me like her. Her breakdown made a little more sense after watching the anime, believe it or not, but it was still not great. She could’ve been easily redeemed for me if she had a different motive for killing Hiyoko. I don’t really have an opinion on whether or not Ibuki should’ve lived longer, or even survived, but I definitely agree with Hiyoko dying during the third case, I just wish the motive had been different. It would’ve been so powerful if Mikan’s despair disease had made her remember her past with the bullying, and then she realized how much she hated it. She started to notice how Hiyoko was treating her and finally snaps. She kills Hiyoko in cold blood on purpose, instead of on accident, and covers it up in a more reasonable way instead the literal impossibility that we actually got. Then, in her breakdown, instead of pleading for forgiveness, she tries to rationalize her actions and convince everyone else that she was in the right by killing her. It would’ve been much more interesting and would’ve made much more sense. I also wish she had made use of Ibuki’s despair disease (which made her gullible) and commanded her to hang herself instead of staging the other thing, because it was a lot of extra work that was really unnecessary and it would’ve made more use of the despair disease other than a plot contrivance for Junko’s entrance. This kind of turned into my review for the third chapter, but still. Killers are always more fleshed out in their respective chapters, so their existence is often pretty much tied to the events of that chapter, since everything typically revolves around them. I might as well add here that her execution was really basic and underwhelming, but as far as I’ve seen, I’m not alone in that opinion.

Monokuma- It’s kind of an ironic hate with Monokuma. Sure, he makes me laugh, but he’s also fuel for the killing game, so... I don’t know. He pisses me off sometimes, but he’s also pretty funny at other times.

Kazuichi Souda- This is basically a continuation of the Sonia rant, so here we go. I would like to preface this by saying that in the context of Kazuichi’s free-time events, he’s one of my favorite characters. However, in the main story, I placed him here. I would normally average out my opinions of his different forms, but his optional events don’t make up for his actions that are required to be experienced. While some of his quips toward Sonia made me laugh, they still made me uncomfortable to some extent. It’s honestly frustrating to see him try so hard when she obviously isn’t interested in him. Some people choose to see this as an underdog story, but I think it’s just annoying and low-key creepy. He’s constantly fetishizing Sonia and keeps making moves on her even after she treats him coldly. He isn’t brave or cool for doing this, like the media would like you to believe, he’s creepy and persistent, and not in a good way. While I do agree that Sonia should’ve just turned him down from the very beginning, I still don’t put all of that blame on her. I’m sure she’s had her fair share of creepy guys making advances on her and she’s just had to take it, since she’s a princess and it would hurt her noble reputation. Kazuichi should also be able to think for himself and see that she’s not interested. It shouldn’t be completely up to her to get him to stop. He should be able to take a hint and back off, whether she tells him directly or otherwise. She definitely hints to him that she’s not interested in some of the later chapters, but he completely ignores it and keeps trying anyway. I wouldn’t have such a problem with him if he didn’t represent a very real issue that we are facing in the world today. Nice guys will, unfortunately, always be plaguing our society and it doesn’t look like they’re getting any better. It doesn’t help that the media continually raises them up and convinces them that they are in the right, even though they definitely aren’t. No man is entitled to any woman and people need to stop sympathizing with men who are rejected and keep pushing. In almost every post I’ve seen from Kazuichi apologists, they explain that Sonia should’ve given him a chance. Really? She did give him a chance. She gave him several chances, in fact, more than she was entitled to. The first time she acted coldly towards him was at the end of chapter 4. That’s four entire chapters, plus a prologue, of chances that she gave him. She was always polite and talked to him when he approached her. Maybe she saw this as her noble duty, but either way, she didn’t reject him outright the first time she saw him. She tried to be friends, he was creepy, and then she started to hint that she wasn’t interested. This is a natural progression for her character and is in no way wrong of her. He is not entitled to her attention and should learn to back off when he’s not wanted. The other big reason I see that people don’t like Sonia is because she basically ruined any chance of Kazuichi and Gundham having any sort of relationship other than rivals. Again, it’s not Sonia’s fault that they both liked her. It’s also not her fault for choosing Gundham over Kazuichi, since he treated her respectfully and they also shared interests. She also didn’t need a specific reason to choose Gundham over Kazuichi, because she is free to make her own choices based on anything she wants, including nothing. Even though I said all of this, I do actually wish that Gundham and Kazuichi could’ve had some kind of relationship. I think it could’ve been very interesting, but it didn’t need to be devoid of Sonia. I think it would’ve been just as interesting for Gundham and Kazuichi to talk with Sonia as it would’ve been for her to introduce them to each other more formally and get them to become friends. I think it could’ve been fun for Kazuichi to have a little playful resentment towards Gundham for getting the girl, but instead, he went completely off the deep end. If he had just backed off like I suggested earlier, maybe they could’ve had that relationship that everyone longed for. I am also obligated to say here that I think all of his free-time events were absolutely adorable and the fact that he gets motion sickness is the single best piece of comedy every written.

Teruteru Hanamura- I’ve been doing a lot of rants and I’m kind of tired of it. You know why I don’t like him, I don’t need to explain it. He’s shitty, blah blah blah. His tiny bit of plot with his mother didn’t really do anything to redeem him for me and I just plain don’t like him. Sorry, not sorry.

Wow, this took way too long. I forgot I had so many opinions on these characters. I would’ve said a lot more about Gundham, but it’s kind of my thing here to say more about my second favorite characters and characters that I don’t like than my favorite characters, and I knew there were going to be several rants, so I decided to keep his very short. My definitive favorites list is Gundham and then Sonia, with a pending Fuyuhiko in third. The four dark devas are the best characters and I’m so upset they weren’t on here. I would apologize for my Kazuichi rant, since it had two parts, both of which were very long, but it all needed to be said because I’m sick and tired of Kazuichi apologists. They keep coming across my dash and I would like to be rid of them. If you like Kazuichi, that’s fine, I actually quite like him, too, you just need to acknowledge his faults instead of just rationalizing them in a bad way. If someone wants to send me reasons why Sonia is terrible, I’ll listen, because I’m sure I’m probably being a bit of a Sonia apologist, although I feel like her actions were a lot less impactful. Sondam supremacy, thank you, goodnight.

[igirisuhito]

Title: Out of my mind Relationship(s): Kamukura Izuru/Naegi Makoto Rating: Teen Summary:  Naegi goes to confront Kamukura Izuru, based off their scene in dr3. For Kamuegi week Day 5: Scars/Future Foundation Trigger Warnings: Medical Trauma, Medical Abuse, Broken Bones, Dr0 References/Spoilers, PTSD

[Ao3 Link]

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Future Foundation were kind enough to disclose all information that led to the Tragedy of Hope's Peak to its survivors. Naegi read through the files of the Hope Cultivation Project, the project that was being funded by the school's reserve course. The same event that led to its downfall. 

It was utterly petrifying to him. 

The fact that a talentless student would volunteer himself for such brutal experiments was unfathomable. He saw the logs of Hinata Hajime's descent into inhumanity, becoming a creature nobody could ever hope to perceive as a regular person. 

There were 3 surgeries in total, all additional operations were performed through electrical stimulus or injections of medication. The first one was a whole two days after Hinata had signed that contract, the aforementioned contract that had disappeared from the Biology building before it could have been recovered. Which was unfortunate, but they were already so lucky to have been able to obtain the Project's logs that nobody really cared about what had been lost. 

The first surgery was the one that scared Naegi the most. The severing of the connections between the prefrontal cortex and parts of the frontal lobe from the rest of the brain. Kirigiri had explained this to him simply, "They performed a leucotomy. You know what that is, right? A lobotomy?"

They'd learnt about it in highschool, surprisingly their years of education were the memories most easily recovered. Naegi never really paid attention to lessons in psychology. Perhaps he should have, as a knowledge in brain ablation somehow ended up being something he actually did need later on in life. 

The fact remained that this was the first step in inducing Kamukura's apathetic outlook towards life. This was where the despair began, the despair he wanted to reverse. But how can someone reverse the effects of permanent brain damage? It's impossible, right? 

Things seemed to only get worse the more he read. The thing Naegi hated most was how positive the post surgery notes were, as if what occurred was a miracle. 

The subject is responding well, his aggression has reduced and he has become more passive towards his doctors. The subject's anxiety seems to have been quelled and he has been dissociative and nonverbal. Fortunately, he is still able to use his vocal cords and form words, as evidenced by his reaction to pain stimulus.

He could only gag. The school Naegi admired so deeply was willing to do this to a human being? He couldn't force himself to imagine the student identification photo of Hinata bearing those same lifeless eyes of Kamukura. 

It was all so so fucked up. Enough to make him groan and slam his head down onto the desk, as if giving himself brain damage would fix Hinata's.

Naegi recalled Munakata placing a hand on his shoulder, interrupting the break he was taking from cross-examining the files. He had jumped on instinct from the sudden contact. Flushing in embarrassment at the fact someone has seen him act so childishly. 

Munakata hadn't seemed phased. He just looked over at the papers scattered on the desk, skimming, scanning. He spoke up in his rather gruff voice.

"They wanted you to read up on the destroyer of Hope’s Peak, right?" 

"Uh, yeah…" Sheepishly, Naegi nodded. "This guy had to be awfully messed up to volunteer for something like this."

With a loud click of his tongue, Munakata removed his hand from the boy's shoulder. He backed himself up to the table in which Naegi had been reading at, before lifting himself and sitting on the table. "No person would volunteer for this. He was manipulated by Hope's Peak and allowed despair to swallow him whole." 

Naegi sat up in response, awaiting elaboration from the Council President. 

"Hope's Peak obviously omitted the full details of what would happen to Hinata Hajime when he signed the contract." Crossing his arms over his chest, Munakata met Naegi's intense gaze with a sigh, sounding almost mad that Naegi couldn't read his thoughts. "Of course, most of the Future Foundation doesn't want you to think that. Hope's Peak academy was never the shining beacon of hope it pretended to be, it's platitudes were just worthless lies told to deceive."

"That's terrible!" Naegi cried, slamming one hand down on the table for emphasis. "Though, now that I think about it it makes a lot of sense that Hinata didn't know everything. But he still orchestrated the first Killing game, right? Why would he have done that?" 

"Actually Kamukura Izuru was framed by Enoshima Junko." Munakata sighed in a pompous manner that reminded him all too much of Togami. "Unfortunately, he woefully succumbed to despair, though it was indeed Enoshima who led him down that path. The sheer amount of murder he did go on to later commit proves that in reality he isn't redeemable."

"Framed…? So it wasnt Kamukura who orchestrated the first killing game?" 

"Of course not!" The older man hissed. "Do you seriously just believe anything anyone tells you?" 

Naegi's breathing hitched in fear as the other slammed his hand down onto the desk with much more intensity than Naegi had earlier. "N-no… I'm sorry…"

Munakata slid back off the table, causing it to groan beneath his weight. "You should be more careful, Naegi Makoto. It's purely luck that that blind trust hasn't gotten you killed yet."

Next thing he knew Munakata was gone with a loud slam of a door. God that guy was hot-headed. 

But he was wrong, about Kamukura, that is. 

For some reason that experience was all Naegi could think about as he looked at Kamukura's back. Stiff shoulders hidden beneath the black fabric of his uniform, dark hair billowing in the wind. He created such an eerie silhouette against the golden sunset in the background, beautiful, yet filling the other with a sense of trepidation and fear.

The man Naegi had spent the whole day searching for, of course he was in the last place he looked. He could almost sigh at how awful his luck could be sometimes. His feet ached from searching all around Hope's Peak, between all the different labs and even that freaky hidden room beneath the statue of the founder.

"Naegi Makoto. The Super High School Level Hope, also known as the former Super High School Level Good Luck." A monotone voice that sounded too close and too far away all at the same time suddenly broke the silence. "You've come on orders to kill me."

All that trepidation was causing Naegi's hands to shake from how tightly wound up he was. The sound of someone else's voice made him flinch. "H-huh?! You know?" 

"Of course I do." Kamukura spoke again, now tilting his head to the side to glance back at Naegi. "It's not that I'm omniscient, I just bear the talent of the Super High School Level Analyst."

It was strange to have his mind read before he even got the thought completely through. Naegi squashed that feeling down, opting to focus on the task at hand.

He cleared his throat, attempting to still his nerves. "If you knew this, why aren't you running?" 

"Hm?" Kamukura turned himself around, now offering his complete attention to Naegi. 

Naegi shivered under those piercing crimson eyes, they bore an even brighter colour than that of Ishimaru or Celeste's eyes. They seemed to target him and lock on like a rifle, loaded and ready to fire at a moment's notice. 

"Do you honestly believe that you can kill me?" 

The breath seemingly disappeared from Naegi's lungs. He drew his hand over his mouth to muffle the faint whimper that escaped his lips. Kamukura's aura was overwhelming, an aura of pure superiority and death. 

This whole situation reminded Naegi of his own execution. The pure despair coursing through his veins. The way Monokuma grinned at him. The loud pounding of the press behind him that shook his body from head to toe. 

Ah, that was the sound of his own heart beating uncontrollably. 

"My presence is bringing back unfortunate memories for you. I apologise, I am aware that you are not here to actually kill me." As if sensing Naegi's fear, Kamukura spoke slowly and clearly.

The other boy nodded slowly, refusing to take the hand from his mouth as stinging tears threatened to spill from the corners of his eyes. His blood was rushing in his ears, drowning out all sense, overwhelming him with the pure power that was Kamukura.

Kamukura stepped towards him, a move that startled Naegi more than it probably should have. He stepped backwards in turn, but quickly set his foot down on a small and unstable piece of rubble. Instead of Naegi launching off to run, his ankle rolled at an unnatural angle.

Naegi yelped as he fell forward, his forehead barely grazing the dirtied ground. He quickly rolled over, desperately shuffling backwards and away from the older man whilst attempting not to hurt himself any further. 

"Hey, listen to me! Calm down."

His body froze completely upon hearing the command. Kamukura touched his own lips in thought, a little confusion at his sudden break in character. He briefly pondered if his past emotions were through from standing in the classroom of 77-B.

But he deemed the thought unnecessary, for now, instead focusing back on the boy in front of him. "You're here to offer a compromise, are you not?" 

Naegi sucked in a quick breath, grateful for the reminder of what he was actually here for. Unfortunately the pain from his ankle was really beginning to set in, he needed to make this brief. Nodding quickly, he attempted to regain his composure. "Yes. I know I couldn't kill you even if I wanted to. But I don't, you deserve a chance at redemption."

"I cannot be redeemed. I was created to be a tool, I have no free will and only act on the orders of others." Kamukura spoke bluntly, tilting his chin up a little. "Your redemption means nothing to me."

Naegi paused. He was expecting this kind of answer, the kind Togami gave him when Naegi said he forgave him for his actions in the killing game. 

"Huh? I don't want your forgiveness. My actions are always justified." He had said. The memory brought a little smile to his face. 

"Okay then." Tilting his head up, Naegi showed that smile off to Kamukura, as if showing him a sign of peace. "Would you like to know more about Hinata Hajime?"

"The previous inhabitant of this vessel? Why do you believe he would mean anything to me?" It was phrased less like a question, and more like an expression of confusion. As if Kamukura didn't really care about the answer, that he already knew the answer, he just didn't quite understand why Naegi Makoto, of all people, would have any interest.

"Because you're here." Raising his right arm, Naegi gestured vaguely around the room, before wincing and putting it back down. "Why would you come to a classroom full of students you didn't know to replace the flowers for Nanami Chiaki? The girl who was Hinata's best friend, the girl you murdered."

Kamukura's brow furrowed. He began to move in large calculated strides, right up to where Naegi sat, before leaning over him in a display of authority. "So you are smarter than you seem."

It was difficult to tell if it was Kamukura or Naegi who had let down their guard, perhaps a mix of both. But a small detail like that didn't bother Naegi, as his smile only widened beneath Kamukura's attempt of showing power. He had him, that much was obvious.

"Well, Kamukura-kun? Why are you here?" 

Kamukura pursed his lips for a moment, thinking to himself for a second, before answering the question. "Because being here makes me feel despair."

He curled his fingers into fists and glanced away briefly, sighing as he realised he would have to answer the inevitable question. "There are a few places in this world where I feel emotions. The classroom of 77-B, the Reserve Course building, and the third floor of the biology building."

"The third floor of the biology building?" As he thought to himself, Naegi unconsciously brought his hand to his chin. "That's oddly specific."

"The neuroscience institute." Kamukura elaborated. 

"Oh…" Naegi moved his hand up to his mouth again, feeling a mix of sympathy and horror. 

Of course he would feel despair there. After all, that's where Kamukura would have been made, where he would have been tortured and experimented on. Had his brain destroyed and enhanced over and over to produce the perfect hope. 

Where Hinata Hajime… died.

"It's an odd feeling, emotions. The emotions I experience from being in these places are perhaps the only reason I'm still here. That and the fact I have nowhere to go, no purpose left in a world without Enoshima." Kamukura began to mumble somewhat as he rambled on. 

Jeez, at least let Hinata rest in peace. 

Naegi bit back the thought, shaking his head and reminding himself of what he was really here for. "Come with me then. If you want to experience more emotions, then I can show you the Neo World Program." 

There was a slow blink as Kamukura processed the offer. "The Neo World Program?" 

"Yeah! We put it together using research from the Super High School Level programmer, therapist, and neurologist." Naegi grinned excitedly as if he was talking about how proud he was of his own child. "It's a simulation that allows people to live out peaceful days filled with hope." 

Kamukura blinked again. "The Super High School Level Neurologist, Matsuda Yasuke?" 

"Yes?" 

Those crimson eyes narrowed to near slits. "The childhood best friend and love of Enoshima Junko?" 

"...yes?"

"Who developed the method that was used to wipe your highschool memories prior to the Killing Game?"

For a moment Naegi paused, unsure of how to answer that one. "I…guess so?" 

Crouching down onto his haunches, Kamukura leaned in even closer to Naegi. "So you are using memory erasing technology then?"

Naegi leaned back a little, uncomfortable as Kamukura's hair brushed against his face. "...Yes." 

"And, assuming you're placing all of Enoshima's protégé's in this program, you'll have about 15 students?" 

"Yes, if we manage to convince them all..." Naegi's a voice dropped a little, finding himself suddenly a little more insecure about his plan. "I don't mean to interrupt but… where are you going with this?"

Kamukura was almost shocked at how naive Naegi was, especially considering he had been the one to end Enoshima. Or was he just stupid? "I'm merely baffled that you would sacrifice your own health for the sake of people you don't know. People who are murderers."

It wasn't a complete lie, most people would not have such considerations for criminals, people who had committed crimes as heinous as the ones the remnants had committed. 

Naegi noted the lack of emotion in his voice. "You don't sound baffled…" 

Ignoring his comment, Kamukura nodded. "I'll participate. I'll make sure the others do too."

"Wait, you will?!" Whilst sitting up a little too excitedly, Naegi put pressure on his ankle, sending pain shooting up his leg. He winced and laid back again. 

"Don't do that. Your ankle is broken." Letting out a bored sigh, Kamukura straightened himself back up. 

"B-broken?!" Naegi's eyes widened to near saucers in shock. "I thought I just twisted it… Am I seriously that unlucky?" 

Kamukura began unbuttoning his black uniform jacket, earning a strange look from the other as he slid it off his shoulders. He then proceeded to fold it in half and kneel back down next to Naegi's broken ankle. 

The other boy watched in awe as he tied it tightly, using it as a makeshift splint to prevent Naegi's ankle from moving too much. "Y-you're too kind Kamukura-kun… much more so than I anticipated."

"I'm doing this purely out of necessity. Nothing more." Kamukura muttered as he tightened the knot, causing Naegi to hiss in pain. He then proceeded to slide his left arm under the boy's knees and right arm under his back, nestling snugly at the base of his spine. 

"Wait wait wait wait wait what are you-?" 

Kamukura lifted Naegi up, causing him to wrap his arms tightly around Kamukura's neck in alarm. "Y-you're carrying me?!" 

"It's not as though you can walk." Kamukura sighed exasperatedly. He was having no issues with Naegi's weight, his panicked yelling, however… 

"B-but I'm heavy…" Naegi refuted, loosening his grip a little when he realised Kamukura wasn't going to hurt him. 

"You weigh less than most girls, in accordance with your height." Kamukura spoke bluntly, scanning his eyes over Naegi's form. 

"H-Hey!!" 

"You're easily flustered."

"Don't tease me!" with the heat rising in his cheeks, Naegi buried his face into Kamukura's chest in hopes of hiding his embarrassment. "I get enough of that from Togami-kun!" 

Kamukura shuffled Naegi in order to give himself a more stable hold before walking out of the classroom. Naegi grumbled into Kamukura's chest, pulling himself even closer.

"You're also easily placated. I do not understand how you've managed to survive thus far." Kamukura muttered, seemingly more to himself than Naegi. 

"You're not the first one to say that to me." Naegi whispered, voice muffled by Kamukura's shirt. 

As tempted as Kamukura felt to further tease Naegi, he decided against upsetting the boy any more than he already had. An emotional fallout would be annoying. 

They walked in silence for a few more minutes as Kamukura traversed the stairs of the building, holding Naegi tightly in order to keep him safe. 

It was near impossible to speak up over the overwhelming presence of the other, so Naegi remained still and quiet. Kamukura, however, was unafraid of breaking that silence, and suddenly piped up with a question. 

"Would the Neo World Program allow me to become somebody else?" 

"U-uh...I don't see why not? It might affect the results, however." Mumbling in thought, Naegi tilted his head up to look at Kamukura. "Do you wish to become a different person, Kamukura-kun?" 

"Well, I'm assuming you'll try to reverse the despair by reverting us to our pre-despair selves. However, I do not have a pre-despair self." Kamukura dug his fingers slightly into Naegi's shoulder, not hard enough to hurt, but enough for Naegi to see he was distressed. "Well, except for… him." 

Naegi pressed his lips together, trying his best not to be too creeped out by Kamukura's ability to predict exactly what was going to happen. "Well, that is what we planned to do. But I thought you were turned to despair by Enoshima?" 

"I was turned to spreading despair by Enoshima. However, from the moment I was created, I have been despair. There is no joy in an existence so boring." Musing to himself, Kamukura closed his eyes for a moment, still walking perfectly straight as he did so. "When a human is an expert at everything, there is nothing left to do, no goals left to accomplish. I can predict anything and everything just as it is going to happen. Nothing surprises me, nothing brings me joy. I no longer have the ability to feel human emotions."

"I see, that makes sense… even though it is really sad." Pressing his head closer to Kamukura's chest, Naegi pondered how it must feel to live such a life. He was finding himself rather upset by the prospect. 

Even if Kamukura didn't feel any human emotions, and his strength was beyond human, Naegi could hear his heart beating softly in his chest. There was no doubt about the fact he was human beneath that cold exterior. 

"You pity me?" Kamukura's tone was rather confused, even curious. 

No matter how much he thought about it, Naegi couldn't understand why exactly that warranted such confusion. "I… guess?" 

"Even though I bear every talent known to man?" 

Naegi shrugged. "It's lonely at the top."

Looking away, Kamukura took a moment to turn the phrase over in his mind. "You're quite intriguing, Naegi Makoto. Taking pity on terrorists and murderers. I wonder, what exactly led you down this treacherous path?" 

"H-huh? It's just common human decency…" As he stammered away, Naegi found himself fiddling with his hands against Kamukura's back. "You guys were normal teenagers once, it's not fair that you have to die just because your lives also got ruined by Enoshima."

"Many innocent people have died at both our hands and Enoshima's." It confused Naegi how Kamukura could confess such a thing so casually, so stone-faced. "It is only just that we pay for our crimes."

"That's why it should end here!" Naegi said that a little too loudly, too passionately. He adjusted his tone to be a bit more quiet. "A-And you guys should be allowed to have normal lives too."

Kamukura merely stared blankly ahead, lost in thought. "…You really are just like your sister."

Naegi suddenly gripped the fabric of Kamukura's blazer tightly, pulling himself up a little. "You've met Komaru?!"

"No." The words were curt. "Stop moving."

Naegi was confused enough by the response to decide it was best to stop talking. It seemed his weariness from being on his feet all day was starting to catch up with him, and the warmth from Kamukura's body wasn't helping his situation whatsoever. He allowed his eyelids to rest, relaxing to the tune of Kamukura's heartbeat against his ear and the rock of his movements. 

Kamukura found himself most unimpressed by this new burden. This boy had the audacity to not only break his ankle, but was now steadily shifting into REM sleep in his arms. The worst part was that ridiculously soft expression he was making, blushing slightly even in his sleep.

As Naegi mumbled sleepily, he relaxed his arms, opting to move them away from the other's neck and instead have them wrapped around his torso. Kamukura could rouse the boy, but he wouldn't dare. 

"Napping in the middle of the apocalypse in the arms of a terrorist?" Kamukura whispered to himself. "You truly are strange, Naegi Makoto."

[lunaslashsea]

Crossover Fanfic Recs

The Addams Family/Harry Potter

'Family Values' by Ishtar Petunia Dursley discovers that taking care of two small boys is too much for her, so she passes the guardianship of Harry Potter over to a distant relative — Morticia Addams. With Harry growing up in a very different type of Family, Dumbledore desperately tries to get him back. But the Harry Potter who finally arrives at Hogwarts, along with his "cousins" Pugsley and Wednesday, will be nothing like what Dumbledore expects.

The Addams Family/Rise of the Guardians

'Nightmares for Christmas' by Neyiea Not all children are happy that their nightmares have disappeared, and as such North finds himself receiving a very unexpected letter several days before Christmas.

Big Hero 6/The Martian

'Big Hero Martian' by althor42 There would have been no rescue for Mark, if NASA had not noticed he was still alive. Unless of course, a certain Big Hero noticed instead.

Big Hero 6/Marvel

'Magnets for Trouble' by PitViperOfDoom Months after Callaghan's downfall, Hiro receives a surprise in the mail: a special invitation to this year's Stark Expo. With Fred for company, he leaves the protection of the city temporarily in the hands of the rest of the team and flies across the country to meet the man with twice the brains and bank account of Alistair Krei and several times the infamy.

But of course, it can't be that simple, can it? Really, after how his last expo went, he should have seen this coming.

Bleach/Free! Iwatobi Swim Club

'Teamwork for Hire' by junko After the defeat of Aizen, Ichigo has lost his superpowers but not his skills so he's been hiring himself out to any sports team looking for a strong player. When Nagisa Hazuki approaches Ichigo to join the Iwatobi High School Swimming Club, something piques Ichigo's interest…

Bleach/Harry Potter

'Crazy=Genius' series by blackkat Minerva McGonagall isn't about to let Harry go back to the Dursleys after his first year. She finds an alternative, and along the way, Bazzard Black finds that he might have more family left than he'd ever thought.

'Lost Boys' by glacis After the Triwizard fiasco, Harry leaves Britain behind for a new life. Uryuu befriends Ichigo at a much younger age. Sirius escapes. Points converge and lost boys find a family. Isshin fails. So does Ryuuken. Kisuke finds a friend. Ukitake covers and cleans up. Fate changes.

'There May Be Some Collateral Damage' by metisket Ichigo's been ordered to go undercover at a magic school to bodyguard a kid named Harry Potter, and this would be fine, except that he's about as good at bodyguarding as he is at magic. And he considers it a good day, magic‐wise, if he hasn't set anything on fire.

Bleach/Hunger Games

'Storm the World with Reckless Abandon' by SSAerial So due to one of Urahara's failed experiments that Ichigo unluckily got a full blast of (because life hates him and trouble is attracted to him like a clingy fangirl he could do without), Ichigo ends up in a dystopian universe where people take perverse pleasure in watching kids fight to the death. Which just, no. So Panem now has to deal with a pissed of Ichigo who's determined to stop the Hunger Games and pummel Snow to the ground. And Panem doesn't have a snowball chance in hell in stopping him.

Bleach/Lord of the Rings

'Behold the Flowing Years' by Straight‐Outta‐Hobbiton Ichigo escapes his dimension to start anew, away from the memories of death and friendships past that he can't seem to put to rest. Rohan is a beautiful country, and Théoden is a good king, but evil only grows stronger within the borders of Mordor, and Ichigo finds himself once more forced to protect those whom he has grown to love.

Bleach/Marvel

'Foreign Recruit' by SSAerial Ichigo doesn't know where to start. He has no friends, no family, no personal attachments to the world he got dumped into. The Soul King never specified what he was supposed to do in a world where technology is ahead of its time and aliens and secret governments exist. As for the people he has to deal with… Well, it isn't like he hasn't dealt with colorful personalities before.

Bleach/Naruto

'All My Ghosts are at Rest' series by Zakad An older Ichigo and Uryu leave Soul Society and all its problems behind to search for the near-mythical homeland of a particular Shiba ancestor. They find the Elemental Countries and one little boy who is desperate need of a family.

'Bite' by blackkat Orochimaru and his sons crash‐land in Karakura. Soul Society is most definitely not prepared for what's coming.

'A New Home' by Rain1701 In an effort to save her life and freedom, Hitsugaya Toshiro winds up landing head‐first in the Naruto universe two months before the start of canon. Not much stays the same after that.

'Soul of Fire' by Zeionia aka Disturbed After being betrayed by Soul Society, Ichigo and his sisters leave Karakura behind to find shelter with the remains of their grandfather's clan in the Land of Fire. Instead of the peaceful life they were hoping for, they reach Konoha just as a new danger appears to threaten the Uzumaki. Heart‐broken and tired of fighting, will Ichigo be able to protect his sisters and his new home?

Bleach/Stargate

'Stardust' by Vathara What if some Alterans found another way to survive the Wraith? Five thousand years before the Stargate opens, contact with creatures of energy changes the way of life for an Alteran colony…

Card Captor Sakura/Harry Potter

'Cardcaptor Harry' by LunaStorm In which both Albus Dumbledore and Clow Reed would have done well to remember that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in any philosophy… or predicted by the most imprecise branch of magic…

Doctor Who/Marvel

'Alien Taskforce' by TheSovereigntyofReality Just because S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers didn't listen to Tony after the Battle of New York, it doesn't mean no one did.

Downton Abbey/Marvel

'Tony Stark Meets an Extremely Unimpressed Time Traveler, or, Thomas Barrow Makes a Surprisingly Good 21st Century Butler' by Alex51324 In which Tony Stark ditches a boring party, makes an addition to the household staff, throws a much better party, and tries not to sexually harass his new butler.

Or, In which Thomas Barrow has a little trouble getting home from the pub, is generally unimpressed with many aspects of the 21st century, never thought of himself as a conservative dresser before, and may or may not be falling in lust with his new employer.

Gilmore Girls/Stargate

'Physics of the Spin' by Mhalachai Rory Gilmore always thought she was Christopher Hayden's daughter, but things are a little more complicated than that…

Good Omens/Supernatural

'Misfire' by VivatRex Crowley finds himself in another universe; Aziraphale goes to fetch him. In the meantime, Team Free Will has to figure out what to do with the 6,000 year old demon that won't stay in a devil's trap and keeps rooting through Dean's vinyl collection. Shenanigans ensue.

Gundam Wing/Naruto

'Worlds Apart' by Mieren Something went horribly wrong and Duo and Naruto are in the wrong worlds. Ninja vs technology. How could this possibly go wrong?

Harry Potter/Marvel

'Behind the Shield' by GeeEs It was a good thing the new scientist, Dr. Harry Evans, was working out so well. Because nothing else was going Fury's way. And that was before Loki made off with the Tesseract and some of his people. Maybe AU to Mortem Cantor by Kyandua.

'How Harry Failed to Conquer New York' by Impossible_Insanity

'I See The Moon' by hctiB‐notsoB While on the run, Bruce meets a young man who speaks to the moon. He's probably not quite the sanest friend Bruce could have made, but, well… beggars can't be choosers.

'Mischief's Heir' series by mad_fairy Mostly Harry Potter with the addition of Loki in the first parts

'Mortem Cantor' by Kyandua After losing everything he holds dear, Harry Potter is thrust into a new world; one with Superheroes and evil Villains that make Voldemort look like a kitten. Struggling to survive in this new world - and, meanwhile, gaining the attention of S.H.I.E.L.D. - he attempts to live a NORMAL life. But, he is Harry Potter after all... what could possibly go wrong?

'On Punching Gods and Absentee Dads' by Enigmaris Harry finds out that his dad is alive, has been the whole time. Instead of being overjoyed, Harry's disgusted. His dad left earth and abandoned his friends. Every painful thing he's ever gone through can be traced back to one man. Now Harry's got super strength he can't control and an almost unnecessary amount of magical power. His dad might be living it up with the Avengers now but not for long. With the help of his friends, Harry comes up with a plan for revenge. Get ready Avengers, Harry's out to punch a god.

'Safeguard' by esama The Chitauri invasion launches a whole new age – for everyone.

Inuyasha/Yu Yu Hakusho

'Devoted' by Ookami‐chan Loving someone means seeing to it that they receive nothing but the very best of care. In all things.

'Healing Soul' by Trelweny Rosephoenixwolf Canon, IY slightly alternate ending, BG blend but more manga than anime; YYH boys' last year of school but otherwise through series, anime only.

'By Any Other Name' by Deviant Nature Kagome's return after an unexplained, prolonged absence leaves her family with questions she refuses to answer except to assure that it's over. While she attempts to readapt to the present, Kurama is feeling the pressures of human society's expectations. But the solutions to his troubles aren't as straight‐forward as he had hoped. Note: Unrated version is on MediaMiner.net as 'Par Tout Autre Nom'

Harry Potter/Ranma 1/2

'Harry Hibiki and the Philosopher's Stone' by USA_Tiger On the night Voldemort attacks the Potter's home, a completely different person finds Harry before Sirius Black or Hagrid. Harry is found and adopted by Nerima's very own eternal lost boy Ryoga Hibiki! Soon Harry will be joining his classmates at Hogwarts but how will Hogwarts handle this kind of Harry? And how does it affect the prophecy, what is the 'power he knows not?

Harry Potter/Sherlock

'The Avalon Seven' by sifshadowheart Major Non‐Canon A/U, Harry is treated for abuse and massive injuries by John Watson as a John Doe. To help solve the mystery of the battered boy John calls in his partner Sherlock — whose father has much more information about his patient than John ever thought possible. Turning to an old acquaintance, Siger Holmes contacts the Lord of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Wallace…Harry's rightful guardian.

First several chapters will be covering Pre‐Hogwarts years, story starts with Harry at age four so it'll be a while before any sort of slash or real conflict happens. Very political fic with lots of twists and turns. Because the plot‐bunnies won't leave me alone!

'Magnificent' by esama The birth of the Ministry of Magic and his relationship with the British Government.

'Whispers in Corners' by esama Everything started with a stumble — his new life in a new world as well as his surprisingly successful career as a medium.

Harry Potter/Sherlock/Star Trek

'Harder Choices' by sifshadowheart Post‐Avalon Seven A/U…a.k.a. This is what happens when plot‐bunnies start mating and multiplying.

Hadrian saves Earth…at a cost

Hetalia/Naruto

'An Englishman in Konoha' by pupeez4eva Itachi Uchiha is a strange child, who regularly converses with things no one else can see, drinks far too much tea, and has a strong and unyielding obsession with being the best big brother ever (or, in a world where England is reborn into the Naruto universe, Itachi ends up a little…different).

The Hobbit/Sherlock

'All Things Old and New' by teacup_of_doom All around the world, people are remembering past lives. Bilbo Baggins discovers that Tookish streaks can span lifetimes — and can have unintended, hilarious, consequences.

Katekyou Hitman Reborn!/Naruto

'Force of Nature' by Ramabear (RyMagnatar) He had died— honorably, he'd like to think, despite living as a villain and an assassin for over half a century— and that, as far as Xanxus had ever figured, would be the end of that. No heaven. No hell. Just life when you were breathing and nothingness when you stopped.

Except that it didn't, quite, turn out that way. Except he came back as the son of the kindest, sometimes saddest father in the world. In both worlds. A father that he knew, without a doubt, to be his flesh and blood. All at once, Xanxus had everything he'd wanted as a child. A home. A family. Stability. And he was going to fight like hell and beat down anyone who tried to take it from him, no matter what his age.

(In which Sakumo raises a son who speaks multiple languages from birth, all of them gibberish to the poor single father jounin, spits vulgarity with the same ease as he does his praise and burns with an unshakable determination to build himself a family that will not fall, no matter who or what is thrown against it.)

'Uchiha Kyōya' by Tsume_Yuki In a world where Fugaku has three sons, he wishes he'd stopped at the one. There's nothing wrong with the youngest, it's just…

The middle child.

Marvel/Sherlock

'In Which Neither Coulson nor Sherlock are Dead' by TheDullYellowEye … and John sort of joins the Avengers. While Coulson's recovering from being stabbed in the chest by a magical spear, Fury is rapidly running out of Agents willing to play babysitter for the newly founded Avengers. So he calls in Captain John Watson, late of the British Royal Army, and blogger and best friend to the infamously antisocial presumably deceased Sherlock Holmes.

Naruto/One Piece

'Lost Uzumaki' by Silver Dragonfly (lillikira) Shanks was used to strange meetings on the various islands of the Grand Line. However, this one was unusual even for the Grand Line. A Lost Uzumaki is found and Naruto has no plans of not becoming part of his family. (A Series of Snapshots about the finding of lost family.)

Naruto/Pern

'One World's Tragedy is Another World's ...Gain?' by Foodmoon Pern goes to hell in a handbasket. Ir'ca tries to rescue the future of dragonkind by being a thief and somehow ends up in the Land of Fire. It's probably a good thing Kakashi handed over the Hat a while back...

Naruto/Sherlock

'Deduction in Shadows' by GremlinSR Shikaku just wanted to finish his paperwork before lunch so he could squeeze in an afternoon nap. His plans are derailed by a six year old orphan when she sneaks into his office with proof that somebody has been kidnapping the children of Konoha and covering it up.

He never does end up getting that nap.

Or: A Holmes is reborn into the ninja village Konoha. Chaos ensues

Rise of the Guardians/Marvel

'Constellations of Old' by kuroi_atropos When the Man in the Moon recognizes Thor as a representative of Asgard, he decides to send the Guardians of Childhood to ask for help vanquishing the last of shadows, as well as a few other things he could use some help with.

'Winter Gods' by avearia The Guardians discover that, outside of Earth, many races actually worship Jack as a God. Meanwhile, the Avengers deal with the implications that come with an almighty spirit, otherworldly religions, and the revelation that Santa is real.

[princeasimdiya12]

That anon is an asshole. Why do you hate Shuichi? I think he fits the theme of truth and lies, but his character development is a complete joke as he has zero struggles after his waifu dead. He never once second guess his actions in class trials and doesn’t even think of major consequences (killing the de facto prime minister and not noticing a serial killer is amoung them). His stans over analyze his actions and try to justify everything he does.

They were quite a jerkhole. I can imagine that most stans would be protective of their favorite characters if anyone were to express disapproval.

And thank you for giving me the opportunity to express my personal feelings on the matter anon. And those are some interesting reasons to dislike him but I have some other reasons.

My answers will be hidden under the “Read More” because they’re long answers. But these are my thoughts and reasons for why I hate Shuichi Saihara.

Reason 1: The Protagonist Switch was Lackluster

Right off the bat, I personally dislike that we were promised a unique and compelling protagonist like Kaede only to switch her with a generic insecure protagonist like Saihara. The use of the protag switch isn’t a bad plot twist and it can be clever, it’s just that the result of switching Kaede for someone like Saihara left a bad taste in my mouth.

I loved Kaede because she was unique as a DR protagonist. Along with having a colorful design and talent, she was assertive, confident and willing to take charge. She was actively involved in the story by stepping up as the group’s de facto leader and trying to motivate them. She was also flawed in the sense that she was quick to butt heads with others and she didn’t completely trust others or practice her own beliefs of trusting in friends. And personally, I’m not even upset that she tried to kill someone. It’s still considered something different for a DR protagonist to do, especially if it was for the greater good. 

But when we get Saihara, he continues the trend of being a generic sad boy who feels insecure about his talents and wants to be stronger. Most of his screentime is spent moping about his problems and how he doesn’t feel good enough. He doesn’t have the same presence as Kaede and just stays in the background while the rest of the cast move the story as much as they can.

In all honesty, if they had introduced Saihara as the new protagonist, or at least make it so that his predecessor wasn’t as compelling as Kaede, then I wouldn’t have been too upset. At the very least I wouldn’t have gotten my hopes up for a protagonist who was actually different compared to the past protags.

Reason 2: Waifus In Refrigerators 

For those that don’t know, fridging is the concept of (brutally) killing off a fictional female character in order to create an emotional impact for her male love interest and his character development.

Kaede’s death and how it impacted Saihara is textbook fridging.

I strongly detest fridging since it robs a female character of her agency and role in the story. It treats her as a tool meant to motivate her male love interest to either avenge her death or grow as a person. Kaede’s death along with her final wish is what pushes Saihara to try and beat the killing game. And from then on, Saihara will take the moment to reflect on Kaede’s tragic end and how he inspired him with her kindness. Kaede loses her identity as a complex leader who was willing to commit murder for a greater good. Everyone just remembers her as Saihara’s innocent dead love interest who inspired him to keep on fighting. It’s also worse in the 6th case when it’s revealed that Tsumugi took advantage of Kaede’s trap to kill Amami which further pushes Kaede into the image of an innocent angel that did no wrong.

And it’s also frustrating since this isn’t the only time that the Danganronpa series has killed off its female characters in order to develop their male love interests.

In SDR2, Peko dies trying to save Fuyuhiko which in turn motivates him to stop acting like a jerkhole and be more cooperative with the group.

In DR3 Future Side, Chisa is the first victim of the killing game which pushes her boyfriend Munakata to become a more direct antagonist towards Naegi for protecting the Remnants.

In the same series, Kyoko allows herself to be poisoned in order to protect Naegi. It’s through her death that Naegi decides to confront Munakata in a final showdown. And while Kyoko does get brought back to life at the end of the show, it should be noted that she was only brought back just to be part of Naegi’s happy ending package. She loses her agency and is brought back just to be his newly revived girlfriend.

In DR3 Despair Side, Chiaki is brutally killed in order for her classmates to become Remnants of Despair. But it’s her final heartwrenching moments with Izuru that inspire emotion inside of him aswell as deciding to turn against Junko.

So Kaede being killed for Saihara’s development is the fifth fridging example in this series and it sucks that Kodaka and his crew rely on this trope throughout Danganronpa.

Reason 3: The Narrative Forces You To Like Him

Another issue that I found irritating about Saihara is how everyone began praising him.

Just after the first case, everyone constantly praises and coddles Saihara for being such a great detective and for growing so much. For me, that praise feels undeserving since he barely did anything to earn it. Thinking back to each of the past protagonists, they didn’t have everyone’s respect in the beginning. They each had to work had and face adversity throughout their stories in order to earn their praise and respect. Even Kaede, who despite being a confident leader, had to deal with people frequently judging her leadership and actions. So I find it questionable that Saihara already earned everyone’s respect after solving only one case. 

By having all the characters praise Saihara, the narrative pushes you to accept him as the new protagonist and recognize how awesome it is to have him. But for me, it just makes me dislike him even more. I refuse to like something just because everyone else does and it won’t take away my admiration/love for Kaede.

It’s also jarring since anytime a character has the spotlight, it somehow has to involve Saihara.

“Wow Himiko! You’re much more expressive now than before. Just like you Saihara!”

“Man, it sounds like you had a harsh life growing up Harumaki. Just like you and your detective work, eh Shuichi?”

The narrative can’t help but force Saihara to be around and praised by the people around him despite the spotlight not being on him in that given moment. 

Reason 4: He’s Not a Good Detective

While Saihara’s role as a detective may fit the theme of Truth and Lies, that doesn’t mean he was good at the job. My issue being that he was unproductive and biased for the role.

While he did set up that trap in Chapter 1 to catch the mastermind, he doesn’t do anything as proactive in the later chapters. He spent most if not all of his time going to training with Kaito and moping about his problems. It goes on like this for 4 chapters and it takes Kiibo threatening to blow up the school before he actually gets to work on solving the mystery of the killing game. As a detective, you’d think he would put more effort into actually solving the mysteries of the killing game or try to put some thought on who the mastermind could be.

The biased part comes with how he interacts with others and how he’s more critical of people based on how they treat him. Saihar has a tendency to be very judgmental towards the students and doesn’t look at the entire picture. 

He writes off Ouma as the embodiment of lies and doesn’t bother trying to learn more about him or his true motivations. 

And on the opposite side, he openly praises his friends while blatantly ignoring the problematic things they’d done throughout the story. 

He considers Kaede to be an inspirational role model despite how she betrayed him and wanted to commit murder behind his back.

He worships Kaito and treats him as a perfect hero despite never noticing his ongoing illness or the fact that Kaito didn’t trust his friends enough to reveal his own insecurities.

He deems Maki a reliable friend despite the fact that she went behind his and everyone’s back in order to kill Ouma and was willing to gamble everyone else’s lives if it meant taking revenge on the supreme leader.

Shouldn’t a detective be more persistent when presented with a mystery while also acknowledging all the sides (both good and bad) of a given person? If his personal bias was treated as a flaw by the narrative, then that would actually give his character significant depth. Especially if he worked on managing his biases and learning to acknowledge all the sides. But it isn’t treated as a bad problem.

For me, the fact that he’s supposed to be a detective who “grows stronger” and is so good at his job despite all of this really rubs me the wrong way. If anything, it shows me that he’s really bad at the job.

Also, I would like to bring up that I don’t count him investigating the murder cases as being a good detective. Why? Because Hajime and his class in SDR2 were able to solve their class trials without a detective figure. Being a detective, or having one, doesn’t make solving the class trials any easier.

Reason 5: An Unnecessary Cliche

Personally, I really see no reason for why Saihara’s character needed to be the generic insecure protagonist for this particular installment of Danganronpa. It’s the same cliche storyline featured in a grand majority of anime and light novels. It’s repetitive and irritating knowing that so many stories focus primarily on a sad generic boy who doesn’t feel good enough and wants to be stronger. 

It’s also worth mentioning that in comparison, the past protagonists at least had narrative reasons for why they were generic and insecure in the first place.

For Naegi, he was the first protagonist of the installment and his normalcy was meant to contrast the extremely talented and radically different students he’d be involved with. As the game progresses, he uses his normalness to bond with the students and rally them together in the name of hope.

For Hajime, he’s treated as a deconstruction of the generic insecure protagonist. It’s because his feelings of inferiority and longing to be special that he decides to accept Hope’s Peak’s experimentation and become Izuru Kamakura: an incredibly talented super-being who lost his humanity.

For Komaru, she was regarded as an ordinary girl that had the potential to lead others which is recognized by the adult resistance and Monaca. So throughout the game, both sides were pushing her into becoming either the next symbol of Hope like Naegi or next symbol of despair like Junko. But she ultimately decides to be neither of them and wants to be her own person.

There were reasons for why each of these protagonists were considered generic and insecure as it contributed to the narratives. But for Saihara, there’s really no solid reason for why he’s the only normal one of the V3 cast. And everyone is more than happy to praise him as the best one out of the cast despite doing so little to earn it. At most, Tsumugi reveals that Saihara being an insecure boy who grew stronger thanks to his friends was for the sake of a fictional storyline. Obviously it was meant to mentally break him but it honestly feels like a weak reason to keep the trend of a generic insecure sad boy. Not to mention there are other reasons for why I believe this doesn’t work.

The setup for the “Danganronpa is a fictional TV show” twist didn’t have enough buildup so it doesn’t make the cliche that strong.

Saihara still continues the role of the insecure boy who grows strong and saves the day. While Tsumugi states that his role was written for him, Saihara still continues the tropes of his archetype by saving the day. It’s ultimately because of him that he’s able to convince his friends and the viewing audience to give up on Danganronpa. It was the writer’s way of having their cake and eating it.

If the reveal was meant to be a shot at how it’s become a cliche, then why not live up to it? If they wanted to show how Danganronpa was running for too long or how it’s cliches were getting old, then why not commit to those ideas? Instead of having everyone praise and worship Saihara, make them question if they’re really going to depend on a generic guy to save them. Instead  of being just a cute quirk, actually show the negative sides of Saihara’s anxiety and depression and how they would hinder him from participating in trial discussions. Maybe even have Kaito lose his temper at Saihara because of how much he mopes around.

There’s so many ways they could have gone with deconstructing Saihara’s stereotype or showcasing how it’s become old and stale. So it feels disappointing that they never went that far.

And another reason for why I dislike his characterization is because it brings to mind Ryota Mitarai from the DR3 anime. Just like Saihara, Mitarai is a main character who’s described as generic, insecure and spends most of his time whining about how useless he is. Despite this, he manages to survive the killing game since the other more unique characters are killed or move the events of the story. I personally found Mitarai to be a frustrating character. I detest characters who constantly whine about how useless or miserable they are as a means of getting sympathy from the audience. So having to deal with Saihara who more or less shares multiple characteristics with Mitarai felt very exhausting.

Conclusion

So those would be my reasons for why I hate/strongly dislike Saihara. I can admit that alot of these reasons weren’t so much because of Saihara or his actions but how he was written throughout the story. He still did alot of things I didn’t like don’t get me wrong, but alot of fault can be traced to the writers and how they decided to write him and Kaede’s characters. I still find his archetype as a generic insecure boy who mopes around to be an unappealing archetype but I’m sure most of his fans would suggest otherwise.

If you’ve managed to read everything here, I’d like to thank you for taking the time to do so. I can’t imagine many people would want to read a critical post targeted towards one of the most beloved characters in Danganronpa. So thank you for doing so.

And as always, if you agree or disagree with anything I’ve written, you’re more than welcome to reblog this with your comments. I’m always up for friendly discussions. 

[nanamicide]

A life of her own - chapter 1

Summary: Junko Enoshima's blackmail attempt on Sakakura Juzo has failed. Love has trumped despair. Mukuro has to watch her sister's plans fail, and learn how to live without her and her orders. Yet, she doesn't have any particular likes or dislikes, or things she wants to do.

Read on AO3

Mukuro had never loved, nor cared about despair. The only thing she loved and cared about was her twin sister, Junko Enoshima. Ever since their parents had died in that tragic accident when they were only three years old, she had made her happiness her only purpose in life. Since the strawberry blonde loved despair, it had only been natural for Mukuro to join the Ultimate Despair and help her create the most awful, most tragic, most despair-inducing event in human history. She’d had to do horrible things to make her sister’s maddest wishes come true – things she would never be able to share with anyone around her – but she had no regrets. The smile on her sister’s face whenever she saw another human being fall into despair was the best reward for her. It made her feel so alive, as if she were doing exactly what her parents would have wanted her to do, were they still in this world.

Despite all of this, and regardless of the happy chatter about despair and despair-inducing plans for the future between Junko-chan and Yukizome-sensei, Mukuro couldn’t help but feel uneasy. There was something about the room they were in that made her feel as though something terrible was going to happen today. It was probably because too many people had been getting involved in their secret plans in the past few weeks – she had always felt uncomfortable around strangers, after all.

First it had been Izuru Kamukura, the Ultimate Hope that was artificially created by the academy. Mukuro had understood why he was important for Junko-chan’s plan, so she’d let her be in touch with him in spite of how dangerous he seemed to be. Then, it had been that frail animator boy, Ryota Mitarai. Even though he seemed completely harmless, Mukuro got the feeling that he may bring about their demise. Unlike her, Junko-chan or Kamukura, he had people who cared about him. It would only be a matter of time until these people would be worried about how her sister had turned him into a terrified mess. In fact, it had only taken two days for that to happen. The Ultimate Nurse, Mikan Tsumiki, had been sent after him to help him with health issues. She didn’t seem dangerous either, but Mukuro had known from the start that people would end up looking for her as well, bringing more attention to their activities.

Once again, she’d been right. Yukizome-sensei, Mitarai-kun and Tsumiki-san’s teacher, had come looking for them. Of course, Junko-chan was delighted with all the attention they were suddenly getting. This gave her more people to brainwash into joining their cause, which in turn, made her feel stronger about what would come next. Mukuro wished she could be as confident as her.

“Ah, Yukizome-san,” Junko-chan beamed. “I have to go take care of one of your friends right now. You know, the one who’s totally not in love with your boyfriend or anything. He’s been sticking his nose in my business recently, and I can’t wait to see his strong, manly features turn to despair when I expose his dirty little secret to everyone in the Parade!”

The gyaru took a few steps towards the door and glanced at her sister. Mukuro turned to her.

“Please make sure none of them do anything stupid, idiot,” she spat at Mukuro, leaving the room and slamming the door behind her.

She’s right, Mukuro smiled to herself, I really am an idiot compared to her.

-

When Junko came back, an extra person had joined them. Mukuro had expected her to be furious and call her useless for not managing to keep him out of the room – she had left for a quick bathroom break when he barged in – but she was ecstatic. This wasn’t enough to help Mukuro with the nervousness she’d been experiencing all day, though. She was still feeling as though something bad was going to happen to them today, and that feeling was only growing bigger with every single passing second. Komaeda-kun’s sudden arrival and attempt to rescue his teacher – who had since then left to try and gather some of her students here and make them fall into despair – and classmates had had a completely different effect on Mukuro than on her sister.

The skinny white-haired teenager was saying something about how Junko-chan’s death would be nothing but a stepping stone for hope, and how he was so lucky to have found their hideout. Mukuro was on edge, keeping close watch of him. She couldn’t tell if he was serious or if he was just some of sort of comically stupid lunatic. It was only when he pulled a gun out of his pocket that Mukuro realized that had meant every single word he’d said. Luckily for her, the gun was jammed and he spent a few minutes trying to fix it. If he tried anything else, Mukuro would have time to disarm him.

He was still talking about how lucky he was when Kamukura appeared. Mukuro couldn’t get used to his sudden popping in and out of the places they stayed in. She was never able to tell how and when he arrived and left, and this made her feel unsafe. She knew that if he suddenly decided to do away with her and her sister, she wouldn’t be able to put much of a fight, and she hated that. She hated that Junko-chan had decided they needed him for her plan, no matter how sensible her reasons were. Kamukura was way too dangerous, and what was happening right in front of her eyes was yet another piece of evidence of the fact.

The slender dark-haired figured had swiftly grabbed the gun from Komaeda-kun’s hands and shot him, telling him that he also had what was called ultimate luck. Mukuro gasped as Komaeda-kun fell onto the floor. She had killed people before, but it’d never been so quick and easy.

“Are you scared, sis?” Junko asked her. “Isn’t seeing someone who’s better than you soooo despair-inducing? If he were better at following orders, you’d be completely useless to me now. Not that I really need you, anyway.”

Mukuro wanted to respond, but she knew it was no use. Instead, she kept her eyes on Komaeda-kun who was still… breathing? She wasn’t sure how it was possible – Kamukura had shot him in the chest, she’d seen it with her own two eyes – but the boy was still alive.

Thank goodness, she thought. Maybe things won’t be so bad today. At least we don’t have an extra and unnecessary death on our hands.

The tension she’d been feeling all day began to drop, and she stretched her arms in front of her. They would be okay – they always were. Even though she was always in charge of the dirty work, at least Junko-chan’s analytical abilities always enabled them to get away with things, no matter how bad the mess they had caused was.

Mukuro’s relief was short-lived, though. A few moments later, two men walked into the room. The soldier had no trouble recognizing them – Munakata-san, the former Ultimate Student Council President, and Sakakura-san, the former Ultimate Boxer, had been Investigating the Ultimate Despair ever since they’d organized their very first killing game.

Wait, Mukuro suddenly realized, her eyes widening as her thought process went on, this means Junko-chan didn’t manage to blackmail Sakakura-san? This means… They know everything. We failed? This is it?

As her brain processed what was happening, Mukuro’s legs started feeling weak. She collapsed on her knees, a few tears rolling down her cheeks. She glanced at her sister, whose expression had turned into that of a madwoman. Despite their now impeding doom, she still seemed happy, as though everything were still going according to her plan. It didn’t take long for Mukuro to understand that Junko-chan was finally feeling the despair she’d been craving for all these years. Failing meant that she was the one who was falling into despair this time. She was finally getting a first-hand taste of despair, and she was loving it.

“Look at that! It’s the Ultimate I Swear I’m Not Gay and his Ultimate Forbidden Love Interest!” Junko-chan sounded more excited than ever. “What will they do once they take care of the big bad guys? Kiss and fall in love? Of course not, that wouldn’t be despair-inducing enough!”

The two men ignored her provocation and walked towards her, ignoring everyone else in the room. It was clear they’d come for her and her only. Mukuro wanted to move and get rid of them, if only to save her sister, but something within her was stopping her from doing so. If she killed even only one of them, she wouldn’t be able to get away with it. It would have caused her sister more despair, but for the first time in her life, Mukuro thought that this wasn’t what she wanted.

She didn’t want what Junko-chan wanted. She didn’t want to kill anymore. She’d never liked despair. Thus, Mukuro stayed there, silent. She waited for everything to be over, unsure if she would be able to watch more of what was happening. Yet, she couldn’t keep her eyes off the scene, as if her brain was forcing her to witness this – as if this would be of help to her in the future.

Yukizome-sensei had come back in the room, telling Munakata-san something about how she was glad he’d found this room.

Why is she lying to him? We just brainwashed her, there’s no way she would turn against us so soon – or any time, for that matter. Why is Junko-chan not warning them? Why is she playing along? Mukuro wasn’t sure she understood any of it anymore. Hope, despair – it didn’t make much sense to her at that point.

Kamukura took a few steps forward and grabbed Junko-chan, immobilizing her. He’s… Betraying Junko-chan. I always knew he was dangerous. Ever since we met him, I thought dealing with him was a bad idea. Why didn’t she listen to me? Why do I have to see this?

“You guys take care of them,” Yukizome-sensei said, referring to Kamukura and Junko-chan. “I’ll protect everyone else.”

Mukuro wanted to scream as the redhead came close to her, but she had no energy to do anything. She had completely given up on everything. The mental strain she’d experienced throughout the day and how she’d been surprised by the turn things had taken had drained her. She didn’t want to do this.

All I’ve ever wanted was to make Junko-chan happy and I’ve failed. I’ve pathetically failed by doing everything she wanted me to do. She looks so much happier now that she’s about to be stopped. I should have known that the only thing that would satisfy her was making her fall into despair. I was so stupid. I’ve failed her, and our parents. But most importantly, I failed myself. I’ve only given myself one duty in life, and I wasn’t even able to fulfill it. Just what type of soldier am I? What am I supposed to do?

Mukuro let Yukizome-sensei help her up and get her out of the room. She had no idea what the academy would decide to do with her, but she didn’t care anymore. It wasn’t like there was anything she really wanted to do, anyway. She had dedicated her entire life to Junko-chan, and had done everything in her power to make sure she would succeed no matter how crazy and farfetched her plans were.

Mukuro didn’t have any wishes of her own. She didn’t have any future to look forward to now that Junko-chan would be arrested. That was why it didn’t matter what would happen to her. It didn’t matter what they would do to her because if her sister wasn’t free, Mukuro wouldn’t have anything to do with herself.

As Yukizome-sensei sat her down in headmaster Kirigiri’s office and explained everything that had happened to them, Mukuro cried. She cried and cried and cried for the first time since her parents died. She had no idea what her tears meant, or why she wasn’t able to stop them, but her vision was blurry and her mind unable to follow the conversation that was happening right in front of her.  

[bevvydraws]

This is going to be my feelings/opinions towards all of the main characters in Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc. This is directly related to my interpretation of events in the series! If you disagree with my thoughts/feelings that’s totally cool but this isn’t meant to be a debate! 

A lot has been going on right now and I don’t have the energy to do much digital art right now, so I figured I’d just open up a little more about one of my favorite series! Maybe I’ll do my opinions on characters for the other games next. 

** This post will contain information that will spoil the series for you, so continue at your own risk**

Makoto Naegi:

Honestly I really like Makoto. He is really average but honestly I think that’s what makes him so appealing. Not only that, but he comes off with a type of charisma that only “average” people can pull off. He has a base knowledge on a variety of subjects that allows him to talk to the other students. That and I find the concept of his “luck” very interesting. Also, side note, but that sprite of him focusing with his finger under his chin is probably one of my most favorite DR sprites ever. It’s just so cute! (I might redraw it someday hehe) 

10/10 

Aoi Asahina: 

While I adore Hina, I really wish that they would have made her more than just a ditzy character who was obsessed with donuts in this game. I loved her energy though! Her interactions with everyone always made me smile. My appreciation for her character just increased exponentially after watching the Despair Arc of Danganronpa 3. All in all I’m super glad that her character survived in THH.

8/10

Byakuya Togami: 

Honestly, I have mixed feelings about Byakuya. I think he’s a great antagonistic character, truly, but beyond that I’m not sure. I definitely think that his character is humbled throughout the course of the game, and in later games/animes he seems a lot less asshole-ish, but I’m not sure if I like him or hate him. I guess that just goes to show just how great he is as an antagonist. One thing I thought was hilarious though was how he casually admitted to being a true-crime nerd. I’m really glad he survived because I think his “talent” was really important for the Future Foundation. 

6/10

Celestia Ludenberg: 

Okay so real talk, I used to be a huge Celestia fan when I first stumbled across the series. But now, I don’t really like her character all that much. I think that out of all of the killers in THH her motive was the most shallow and that really is terrible considering how much potential she had. Her disconnect with her true identity could have made for an interesting character arc. And I really hate how they gave her literally the most complicated murder scheme when it would make sense for her to take a little risk as possible. Her character design is really cute though. 

5/10

Chihiro Fujisaki:

I think Chihro’s death was one of the hardest for me in the game. I played through all of his freetime events and was super attached to him (I know, a horrible idea in a game like DR), and as soon as he died I was just in shock. One thing I love about how they portrayed his character was truly allowing the brilliance of Chihiro shine through even after his death. He created the AI that not only helped aid in their escape, but ultimately saved Makoto's life. I also really liked the juxtaposition of Chihiro and Mondo (the seemingly weaker one ultimately being stronger after all). All in all, Chihiro is a great character. 

10/10

Hifumi Yamada:

I’m not really a fan of Hifumi, but I definitely think he gets wayy too much hate or just gets overlooked completely. I think that the creators leaned a bit too far into the stereotypes for him, and that made him come off as stiff and just… there. I knew from the very beginning that he wouldn’t survive, and honestly he’s the only character I had that feeling with (minus Leon). There are some quirks about him that I like, though, like how he never fails to refer to the others politely.

4/10

Kiyotaka Ishimaru:

So I originally found Taka annoying but after playing THH again he became one of my favorite characters. I find his enthusiasm adorable and his free time events boosted my admiration of him. He’s the only Ultimate that makes a conscious effort to prove himself and not rely on his prodigy-type status. And his relationship with Mondo, albeit short-lived, was so pure. It was so obvious to me that he was happy to have a friend (because Mondo is the first friend he’s ever had), and having that suddenly ripped away and listening to his desperation at the end of chapter 2 made me sob. 

10/10

Kyoko Kirigiri: 

Kiri’s background made me feel really sad for her. I first thought she was just the aloof, cold, smart type that was a bit snobbish. But then you realize that she’s been raised to not be in the spotlight, to work alone and without credit behind the scenes. Detective work is basically her birthright and she’s clung to that like a vice. Her character development throughout the game was really nice, and I think her and Makoto are super cute for each other. The side plot with her and her dad in DR3 made me really sad, too. I really liked overall that she was unapologetically holding true to her beliefs, even if it made her come off as cold. She was a solid, strong female character. 

8/10

Leon Kuwata:

It was super obvious from the beginning that Leon was gonna die. There was 0 attachment to his character for me and he just came off as just...kinda there. I don’t really have much to say about him, other than that I’m not a fan.

1/10

Mondo Owada: 

Mondo was such a big sweetheart in his freetime events. I thought his character was really well rounded and I was so sad that he ended up killing Chihiro. Despite that, I thought it worked really well for the story and played off of both of their weaknesses. Again I really loved his friendship with Taka, and having it formed and ended so quickly surprisingly hurt. 

8/10

Sakura Oogami: 

Honestly I didn’t like how they made her character the spy, because it seemed ridiculously out of character for her. Honestly I think this would be something better suited to Celeste, as she would view it as a way to increase her chances of living if she’s in “kahoots” with him. I dunno, I think the spy thing was unnecessary anyways. I loved her character though and her friendship with Hina was super cute. I also loved how they mentioned that she wanted to embrace her femininity while also not wanting to give up being the strongest person in the world. 

7/10 

Sayaka Maizono: 

Honestly even though I’m not the biggest fan of Sayaka I really like the role she played at the beginning and I think they played it off perfectly. Her desperation fueled by the fear and harsh reality that comes along show business and easily being forgotten really works in the narrative. She seemed like a well-rounded character but I think that if she had lasted past chapter 1 I would have liked her less. All in all her character did a great job of kicking off everything. 

6/10

 Toko Fukawa: 

I hate how they portrayed her character in THH, but her obsessive and odd behavior (outside of her split personality) is easily explained by her traumatic past. She obviously has a warped sense of what “love” is, and that plus her intense delusions turned into obsession for Byakuya. I started loving her character a lot more in UDG, when she started becoming more well rounded and open around Komaru. 

Also, I loved Genocider Syo’s personality. While I obviously don’t condone serial murders, I think that her character is extremely interesting. She doesn’t try and condone her own actions, admitting there is no rhyme or reason. Plus I think it’s really interesting that she considers herself a “professional” and is incredibly particular about the details. 

Overall 6/10 in THH

Yasuhiro Hagakure: 

I feel like Hiro gets a lot of shit as a character because they think he doesn’t contribute anything. I think he adds a lot of much-needed comic relief. Also I think that everyone glosses over the fact that once Taka goes silent he actually tries to encourage him to speak up again. And then tries to do his part and keep everyone together and upbeat. I really think that Hiro is a fun character who deserves more love, even though I can’t say he’s one of my favorites. 

7/10

Mukuro Ikusaba:

I wish Mukuro’s personality would have been able to actually show through in the game. The only glimpse we really see of it is in the bonus school mode while she is still posing as Junko. I wish in the anime they’d have harped less on her odd obsession with Junko and focused more on her internal struggle. I think her character has potential but I can’t say I was particularly attached to her (I suppose that was kind of the point, though). 

4/10

Junko Enoshima: 

Junko is probably one of the most well-written villains I have ever seen in a series. At first I thought it didn’t make sense, and was confused how one person could have so much influence on a mass amount of people. Then it was revealed in later installments that Ultimate Fashionista was not her real talent, just a cover she forged for herself to help her blend in to the school. Her real ultimate talent as the Ultimate Analyst allowed her to predict people’s actions and more importantly, their reactions. Her innate ability and incurable boredom made her seek out something unpredictable: despair and chaos. I think what made me love her as a villain was the line “You can’t argue with me, because there's no reason for anything that I do.” 

As a villain I give her 15/10. If I were to rank her as a person? -11037/10

Overall Opinion: 

I really find most of the characters charming but it’s super obvious when comparing this game to the others that these characters were not as fleshed out as characters in other games. I found it hard to be super attached to most of them and felt that some of their actions were really uncharacteristic. However I really do like the characters and what they add to the story, even if some of it doesn’t add up completely. I’m the least attached to these characters out of all of the characters in the DR series, although there are obviously some exceptions. I think there couldn’t have been a better opening cast of characters.

[hopegroundzero2]

Silence

I kinda like this one. Uhhh, idk about warnings because it’s super implicit but considering it has to do with canon stuff, it’s not the best of times had.

I keep forgetting to remark when ficlets are Matsuda Lives!AUs but I guess it’s unnecessary because like, it’s self-apparent. Anyway. Matsuda Fan Week! It’s coming up close. Check this blog for more details.

He used to hate the quiet. It’d be suffocating, it’d be lonely, and his thoughts would be screaming at him as he sat there. When he got into his studies, he found he preferred scenes were there was always some kind of noise in the background. A coffee machine, an air conditioning unit, sometimes even the clock’s ticking was enough to keep him mildly sane. But, obviously, there had to be a balance. Too much noise and he couldn’t focus. Too little and the room would clamp in on him.

But—it’s pretty strange. He’s found there are still tolerable forms of silence.

When working in his office at Hope’s Peak, he found he didn’t mind Komaeda Nagito. Komaeda Nagito was pretty quiet, often due to obedience but with a serenity that Matsuda found weirdly infectious. Komaeda wasn’t inactive like a doll to make it creepy. He would swing his legs, sometimes he’d tap his fingers. Very rarely, he’d hum although he’d quickly stop that if Matsuda so much as glanced in his direction for it.

All the same, it wasn’t bad. Pretty pleasant, actually. So, Matsuda began to think that maybe silence was actually golden sometimes.

And then he got roped into the Kamukura Izuru Project. And the silence of Kamukura Izuru’s room was deafening and suffocating to the part where Matsuda wanted to scream until he blanked out. Kamukura Izuru’s staring, his stillness didn’t help. It wasn’t that idiot’s fault, obviously, and Matsuda was the real fucking fool for agreeing to that shit in the first place. But it was unbearable. Completely and utterly unbearable.

So much so that when Junko enrolled, he almost thought it was a relief. Annoying, chatty Junko, who wouldn’t know peace if it crawled up her ass and bit her. He really thought she’d be an almost welcome change of pace. And just that almost was disgustingly generous.

Now, if there isn’t deafening silence, there’s deathly screams. If there isn’t deathly screams, there’s deafening silence. He hasn’t known peace since Junko figuratively and literally trampled all over that and him, for good measure.

Komaeda hums a lot more now. But also, Kamukura sometimes shuffles around. They’ve both gotten noisier, more lively, while the rest of the world is deteriorating into whimpers as the screams momentarily die down. The other members of Ultimate Despair will make sure the screams return though, even as that momentary silence is the height of hopelessness and futility.

It’s exhausting. Matsuda just wants to sleep through all of it, but rather annoyingly, his thoughts are still on a constant whirl. Over and over and over and over again.

Even his own head can’t shut up for longer than seconds at a time. It’s utterly miserable. But, it’s not like he can do or say anything about it. Even when Komaeda prods him incessantly, even when Kamukura regards him so coldly, he keeps his trap shut, if nothing else.

There’s nothing he can say, after all. Nothing more that can be said. So, all he can do is just keep his head down as he keeps quiet.

[apolunatic]

i found @muzumi-san ‘s danganronpa asks/questions and decided to just go ahead and answer them bahah

1. Favourite game?

trigger happy havoc.

2. Favourite Protagonist?

makoto naegi.

3. Favourite antagonistic character?

byakuya togami.

4. Favourite character?

kyouko kirigiri.

5. Best girl?

kyouko kirigiri, again lmao

6. Best boy?

difficult but,,, probably fuyuhiko kuzuryuu? or makoto naegi? this one is actually difficult ngl

7. Favourite class trial from all the games?

the chapter six class trial from sdr2.

8. Least favourite character?

hifumi yamada.

9. Least favourite class trial?

the first one from sdr2. i don’t know, it just felt disorganized, in a way?

10. What would be your Ultimate Title?

i don’t know, actually! but going off of my hobbies and “talents” and stuff, maybe ultimate gamer or ultimate “book worm” (would that count)?

11. Favourite cast?

sdr2.

12. Favourite Danganronpa 3 character?

koichi kizakura.

13. What’s your opinion on the Danganronpa 3 anime?

i love it!!! it’s so good, ngl it deserves more love. my favorite dr3 is mirai-hen.

14. What do you think about Danganonpa 1 anime?

i’m assuming this one is talking about danganronpa: the animation? if so, i strongly dislike it. it left out so much and just,, isn’t that great. i’m also not a fan of the style that it is in, to be honest.

15. Your absolute OTP?

naegiri (makoto x kyouko).

16. Your absolute BROTP?

even though it’s basically an otp, ishimondo (kiyotaka x mondo) ヽ(‘ ∇‘ )ノ

17. Do you have an OT3? Which one?

naegirigami (makoto x kyouko x byakuya)!

18. Favourite rare ship?

kirihina (kyouko x aoi)!

19. Who do you think is an underrated character?

kyouko!!! or yui!!!

20. Who do you think is an overrated character?

junko enoshima;; don’t hate me, but i just don’t see what’s so special about her. o(╥﹏╥)o

21. Favourite voice actor?

whoever voices touko/genocider in the japanese version; absolute goddess. how she does genocider’s voice is incredible and absolutely beyond anything i’ve ever heard before, voice acting wise.

22. Favourite talent?

ultimate detective or ultimate astronaut.

23. Favourite mascot?

monokuma, the absolute bastard.

24. Favourite Monokub?

monodam.

25. Least favourite mascot?

monokid.

26. Favourite execution?

either korekiyo’s or gundham’s.

27. Least favourite execution?

kyouko’s; i know that they were doing to be like a parallel of makoto’s, but they could have done so much more with it. it just felt so bland, to be honest. ヽ（´ー｀）┌

28. Favourite unused execution?

sayaka maizono's!

29. Which character should survived in your opinion?

hiyoko saionji.

30. Which character would’ve deserved to survive?

again, hiyoko saionji.

31. Is there a character you think who shouldn’t have survived but did?

not really! although, if i had to choose, maybe kazuichi souda? he's a really good character and i love him, but he just doesn't have survivor "energy"

32. Least favourite protagonist?

shuichi saihara or hajime hinata. don't come at me, please.

33. Character with the best clothing?

rantaro amami.

34. Best character design?

difficult, but korekiyo? or kirumi?

35. A character who should’ve got more character development?

hiyoko saionji or maki harukawa.

36. Character who looks amazing but you don’t like?

korekiyo shinguji.

37. Favourite minor character?

miu iruma.

38. Favourite eyes?

junko enoshima's.

39. Smartest murder plan?

korekiyo shinguji's or kirumi toujou's.

40. Favourite culprit?

kirumi toujou or celestia ludenberg.

41. Person you’ve never expected to become a culprit but they became? (Doesn’t include Chiaki)

kirumi toujou.

42. Honest opinion on Tsumugi Shirogane?

i love her! honestly, she's a really interesting character. she's quite a roller coaster but she is really fun.

43. Describe Monaca Towa in 3 words!

manipulative, toxic, guilty.

44. Describe Nagito Komaeda in 3 words!

bastard, bitch, insane.

45. Unpopular opinion?

i seriously do not like kokichi ouma. i can not stand him (again, don't come for me).

46. Unpopular headcanon?

i'm not sure if this is unpopular or not, but probably kyouko feeling emotions very strongly; she's just an expert at hiding them.

47. A headcanon you have about a character?

see number forty-six (46).

48. Favourite OST?

debate scrum or class trial: space edition.

49. Favourite mini game?

if you mean the ones in ndrv3, i actually have not played thr game myself (i have only watcjed playthroughs), so i don't reallt have an opinion on them.

50. Favourite game design?

ultra despaid girls or killing harmony.

51. Character you thought you were gonna dislike but loved in the end?

touko fukawa (in udg; thh touko is shit).

52. Character you thought you would like but disliked in the end?

monaca.

53. Favourite game end?

trigger happy havoc.

54. Least favourite game end?

mmmmmm,,,, sdr2? for a few reasons, i can evaluate if wanted.

55. Favourite love hotel scene?

the entire love hotel is fuckin' cursed. but if i have to choose, maki's.

56. Best free time events?

kyoukoor maki's; it is fun learning about both of them! ヾ(＾∇＾)

57. Character who should’ve lived longer?

ibuki mioda, her death was too sudden. same with kaito momota. (。┰ω┰。)

58. V3 Pregame! headcanon?

the ones that everyone has for shuichi saihara.

59. Favourite moment?

"mukuro ikusaba... the sixteenth student, lying hidden somewher in this school. the one they call the ultimate despair... watch out for her." this one or maki opening up about her life as an assassin.

60. Saddest moment?

the scenes before kaito momota's execution. i'm sorry, maki. ヾ(×× ) ﾂ

61. Character who looks like the love child of ???

i have,, no idea??

62. Describe Mikan Tsumiki in 3 words!

get this bitch some therapy holy fuck

63. Describe Kyoko Kirigiri in 3 words!

mysterious, angel, underrated.

64. Which character seemed like they were gonna be a culprit but they wasn’t?

yasuhiro hagakure. i don't know, i just expected him to be lying or manipulative for some reason. it was hard to believe that he's actulaly just really stupid. ﾍ(￣ ￣;ﾍ)

65. Who did you never expected to die but they died?

nagito komaeda.

66. Describe the last trial from V3 in 3 words!

insane, cosplay, r a b i d.

67. Which character would you never want to meet in real life?

korekiyo shinguji.

68. Which character would you like to meet in real life?

chiaki nanami.

69. Choose one character which you would take with you on a trip.

kyouko kirigiri. she works too hard, somebody give her a break.

70. Character you would have a sleepover with?

chiaki nanami.

71. Character you can relate to?

maki harukawa.

72. Character you can relate to but you dislike them?

mukuro ikusaba; i can relate to her, sort of, but in a very limited way.

73. Character who deserved better?

hiyoko saionji.

74. What do yo think of Hiyoko Saionji?

she has reasons for behaving the way that she did, but that doesn't excuse them.

75. Describe Gonta Gokuhara in 3 words!

gentleman! angel! bugs!!

76. Favourite research lab?

maki harukawa's.

77. What do you think of the fandom?

half of it is fun. the other half is fucking insane.

78. Favourite random/unnecessary scene?

the love hotel.

79. Which character has the cutest design?

kotoko utsugi.

80. Hope or Despair?

hope.

81. Could you be the Ultimate Lucky Student?

not at all. ヽ(*´з｀*)ﾉ

82. Favourite chapter?

chapter six of sdr2.

83. Least favourite chapter?

chapter one of thh. it just felt very dragged out, in comparison to the other first chapters of the otbwr games.

84. Which character do you easily forget?

ryota mitarai.

85. Could you be a Dangan Protag? Why?

i,, don't know??

86. Favourite Anthology chapter?

i haven't read it but i really want to!

87. Describe Peko Pekoyama in 3 words!

lovely, grand, serious.

88. Describe Mondo Oowada in 3 words!

bikes, misunderstood, a n g r y.

89. Least favourite Danganronpa 3 character?

ruruka andoh.

90. Do you like Junko?

i don't like or dislike her, i just don't understand the hype around her.

91. What do you think of Monokuma?

fucking bastard.

92. Least favourite Monokub?

monokid.

93. Did you like the Monokubs?

not in the slightest.

94. Did you like the Warriors of Hope?

excluding monaca? yes.

95. What do you think of Gundham Tanaka?

i love him so much,,

96. Who’s an overrated character you dislike?

kokichi ouma.

97. Overrated ship which is your NOTP?

naezono (makoto x sayaka).

98. Outfit you dislike?

sayaka maizono's.

99. Your absolute NOTP?

junko x mukuro or junko x mikan. just anything with junko.

100. Opinion on all the Protagonists!

makoto is the best, hajime is kind of bland, kaede is almost too perfect, shuchi is too basic (in a way), komaru and touko's development was incredible and yui deserves much more love.

[komahinasecretexchange]

Title: The Day After The Future

Author: @ninashiki

For: @coockiedrop

Rating/Warnings: T, multiple brief descriptions of the carnage of the Tragedy

Prompt: Komahina go back in time to stop the Kamukura project and prevent The Tragedy!

Author’s notes: The prompt allowed me to be extremely self indulgent, with both Nagito and Hajime’s relationship and how much they had improved and grown since getting out of the simulation. I’ve also always enjoyed time travel and I hope I did one of my favourite fanfiction tropes justice! It was definitely difficult having to figure out what young Junko would be like but it was a fun challenge ^_^ I hope you enjoy your gift!!

The sun was shining brightly, with no clouds to be seen in the sky at all. It almost felt as if Hajime kept staring into that deep blue, he would end up being engulfed forever. Sucked into a sky that no longer existed in his future. Their future.

It was funny to Hajime how that clear blue sky was something so alien to him, although it hadn’t even been over a decade yet since the tragedy had happened. It was like the only thing he had ever known was the polluted red tinge he saw every day. Being able to see the sky he missed oh so much allowed him to release a breath he didn’t even know he had even been holding for all the years since the Tragedy started.

Nagito noticed the relief on Hajime’s face. It was obvious he enjoyed being back in the world he used to know. The ability to not have to worry about being able to breathe, or when the next Monokuma bot would pop around the corner was something they always took for granted before the Tragedy.

He was happy for Hajime, but he couldn’t help but feel slightly bitter. He still lived in fear of his daily life sometimes, and that would never change whether they were in the past or the present. Hajime had tried to convince him that his fear was unnecessary, now they were together. Now they had both their luck to rely on. But anxieties never leave the person they trouble. The Tragedy may have changed the world, but Nagito was always unsure whether it changed him… For the better? For the worse? Was he still the same as his teenage self? He didn’t want to think about anything like that… It was time to remind Hajime of the mission they came to accomplish.

—

“Why don’t we make a date out of it?” Hajime asked, eyes dilating while passing by shops that no longer existed, flowers which had gone extinct, and the hustle and bustle of people who weren’t killing each other in the streets. Being able to walk through a whole city without a single dead body showing up was refreshing, and a luxury the two hadn’t been able to partake in for so long. “We could go to a cafe, then the library, and then get lunch, and I’d really love to see this one museum… The paintings in it all got trashed…” He continued for a while.

“Hajime, you know we need to go find Junko,” He hummed while staring lovingly at his boyfriend. “If we spend all day doing whatever we like we won’t be able to find her anymore. The chances of her coming willingly with us are low unless she has no sense of self-preservation.” He looked at the street, with so many cars passing by. Who knew cars would no longer be used? Who knew streets would just become a place to dump bodies? Who knew?

“You know that’s possible. We’re talking about Junko here. It doesn’t matter that she’s only eleven years old. I’m sure she’s already obsessed with despair,” Hajime’s red eye twinkled, “…and I know where to find her already.”

Nagito turned around and spread his arms and grinned, “Of course you do. You’re the ‘Ultimate Hope’ now, aren’t you?” Hajime blushed at this. “I don’t really identify with that label, Nagito… And now, well, it’s totally meaningless.”

“Reserve course student Hajime, Ultimate Hope Izuru Kamukura… It’s all going to disappear once we’re done here.” Nagito wistfully looked at his boyfriend.

Hajime stared back at him. He took a deep breath and looked away. He watched all the people walking around him, minding their own business, unaware of the fact that the world would end in less than a decade… it was obviously worth it. There was no way it wasn’t. The Tragedy never birthed an ultimate hope, the world just stayed scarred. Future Foundation worked hard every day, but it wasn’t like the world was somehow better off because of the Tragedy. It wasn’t like it was worth going through all that trauma just because there was more hope than despair now! It wasn’t like billions of people dying was worth the hope Nagito desired during his time as a Remnant of Despair. That was something even he understood by now. They both knew now that being able to erase all of that is more important than anything. More important than love or hope or anything else.

“Yeah, it will. So…will you take me up on that date idea?” It’s more important, but…

Nagito laughed sadly, cheerfully, hopefully. “Alright then…of course!

They say Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,

And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.

—

The two of them were holding hands, metal on skin, walking around a random park. It was sunlit and pleasant, with a lake that sparkled as bright as Hajime’s feelings for Nagito. They enjoyed the walk until they sat down at a bench that looked upon that same radiant lake. Nagito laid his head upon Hajime’s shoulder.

“Nagito… Can I ask you a question? I think I understand already, but I want to hear the words from you.” Nagito lets him know for the millionth time he can ask him anything. He promised to be honest - ever since he woke up. “Why… Why did you decide to come with me? To change the future? You realize that if I - if we succeed… all your efforts aiding despair to see a stronger and better hope come out would be pointless.”

Nagito sat up. “It was always pointless,” Hajime nods in affirmation. “I don’t agree with my past self anymore. I suppose I have changed, haven’t I? When I watched the recordings of the killing game after I died…you proved me wrong. You proved Junko wrong. As long as we try new things, even difficult things, everything will turn out okay. Those were your own words, Hajime. I’m chosen to believe in you since I heard those words. If I had really been there - I would have allowed you to completely smash my values, my way of thinking, everything. Maybe there’s no hope inside me. Maybe there’s no hope inside you. It doesn’t matter. If I’m forced to keep living… I’d rather keep moving forward towards the future.”

Hajime’s eyes had started watering. He grabbed onto Nagito tight and hugged him as hard as he could… “A-ah, you’re squeezing me…I’m not sure I deserve this sort of reaction.” Hajime’s face moved closer to Nagito’s, and he whispered, “Of course you do. All I’ve ever wanted was for you to learn that you can have a future. That you deserve to live. That you can start to be happy…You’re worth so much, you’re priceless…” Nagito chuckled a little awkwardly, feeling embarrassed while his cheeks flushed. Hajime cupped Nagito’s face, stroking his cheek with his thumb, and kissed him deeply.

Nagito started to get teary as well. For so long he had felt as if he could never be close to anybody, to be important to anybody. He felt as if his life was completely worthless in every way and the only way he could do anything useful with his life would have been to throw it away. He had no one to ever tell him otherwise.

As they pulled apart, the two longed for each other even more. They caught their breath, and Hajime ran his fingers through his lover’s hair. “Have I ever told you how handsome you are, Nagito?”

“Quite a few times, actually. But I… I don’t… I wouldn’t mind hearing it again.” Nagito said, with a hint of a smile. Hajime was really happy to hear him make an effort to stop being so self deprecating… The future he worked for truly was coming true.

“You’re incredibly handsome, and I would never want to be with anybody else.”

“Anybody? Not even…? Even after we change the future?” They both knew who Nagito meant.

“Nah. Nobody else. You’re the one I love, Nagito. That will never change. Whether we manage to change the future or not, I’m going to be right by your side the whole way.” Hajime looked at Nagito with so much love it was almost overwhelming.

“Y-yeah, I understand,” he stammered. “I love you too, Hajime. Even before we got out of the simulation…I really…liked you.” Something about Nagito truly admitting how he felt so brazenly made Hajime embarrassed, despite the fact that Hajime did the exact same thing a minute ago.

“Yeah…I can’t believe I didn’t realize it back then. I was kinda a dumbass?” Hajime laughed awkwardly. He got up from the bench and extended his hand out towards Nagito. “Come on…we gotta go now. Sadly.” Hajime’s red eye twinkled, and his tone sombered.

Nagito took his hand and got up as well. “She’s around here, actually. I made us sit here to wait for her.” Hajime explained. Nagito did not like the idea of confronting the person he hated most in the entire world, especially not a supposedly innocent version, a child. He did not like the idea of doing anything to a child, if necessary. He did not like the idea of fighting someone who wasn’t on equal terms as him. But they were never on equal terms with Junko in the first place.

—

She was right there. Sitting on the swing, slowly swaying back and forth. She didn’t move, except occasionally kick the ground to make sure the swing wouldn’t stop. Despite the fact that she was only 11 years old, it was clear who she was. Her hair was still surprisingly blonde, and her face was the same; albeit a younger version of it. Her clothes were in tatters, ripped in places and extremely dirty as if she had been living on the streets for at least a month. She looked especially bored in such a way that made it seem like she had nothing to be concerned about at all.

Hajime and Nagito didn’t know what to say or do or even how to react at all. They looked at each other and silently decided that the first thing they should is just walk up to her and say hello. What else could they do?

Nagito was the one who had any experience at all with kids, and so he came up to her first, with Hajime trailing behind. Junko noticed that he was in front of her, blocking her view of the rest of the kids in the playground playing (who clearly were avoiding the swings like the plague).

“Is today the day a pedophile finally decides to come and kidnap me? Or is all you want a picture of my panties?” Junko suddenly interjected like what she just said was totally normal, without even looking up, completely shocking the two men.

“N-No??” They both said in unison. “All we’d like is to talk to you for a little bit. Uh, your clothes seem really dirty. Are you alright? Are you safe?” Nagito asked.

“I’m fine, fine, fine!! It’s not like I ran away from home to test my own limits! How long can I survive with only my own skill set! It’s really fun, you know! Adults don’t understand. Don’t call the police, or do, or don’t, I don’t care…But maybe you should check yourself before you wreck yourself since I don’t think two adult men coming up to a random eleven-year-old is normal behavior.”

It was just an assault of words on the senses. Nothing about what she was saying made sense.

But that’s what was expected from her.

“So…you have a skillset? Are you good at analyzing the world around you?” Hajime asked. “By the way, my name’s Hajime, and he is Nagito. As Nagito said, we just want to talk to you for a bit.” Hajime had to shift the conversation in his favor somehow. They had an advantage - great knowledge of Junko…and she had nothing on them.

Junko stared at Hajime’s heterochromatic eyes, and his awkward, slightly nervous smile. She stared at Nagito’s shuffling, and his ability to look at everything except her. It was clear that she was somehow in trouble, that information about her was needed, that these two somehow knew about her analysis talent, and that she could easily run away - and they would let her. She wasn’t going to, not until she knew what was going on.

“Yes, I am just PEACHY perfect at analyzing the world. That’s why I test my ability for how long I can stay homeless before I need to run back to my parents. Being homeless feels awful, and having to run back is so embarrassing… I love that feeling of failure, you know? That feeling when your heart completely sinks to the bottom of the sea? I don’t know why…It’s like, the opposite of gambling. I want bad things to happen, you know? And that’s why I let strange men talk to me in the middle of playgrounds!” She cheerfully added.

“Hey, can you please stop calling us strange? We really need to talk to you, and your uh…love of despair doesn’t seem to be very helpful for your existence as a human being, don’t you think? And hey, what about school? Do you still go despite living in the streets?” Hajime was starting to feel annoyed. Eleven-year-old Junko had nothing on the Junko he knew, the one who causes billions of deaths. The one who caused so much pain on all his friends, who caused Chiaki’s death. The one who put every motion in place that led to Nagito’s sacrifice.

He hates her with all of his being. But he hates Hope’s Peak Academy even more.

“Well, ya see, ya see, of course, I still go to school. Everybody bullies me because I smell terrible and look terrible and have a terrible personality but I just bully them back! Isn’t that fun? And I personally think that yeah, maybe I’ll end up dead sooner or later but wouldn’t that be the greatest worst feeling of all time? Like, finally I’m gone, right? Or maybe not, but I won’t know until it happens? Isn’t that scary! But you know school is so boring, and life is so boring, that all I want to do sometimes is use my talent to bully the world. How would I be able to accomplish that sort of thing…etcetera etcetera etcetera? I’m just…too bored.”

“Because the world is too easy to understand?” Nagito chimed in.

“Yeah…hmm…where’s the Tardis? That British thing?” She smiled.

Hajime couldn’t stop a small feeling of dread from creeping up his spine. “What do you mean, “Tardis”? What are you talking about?”

“Hajime…the Tardis was the machine the Doctor from the series Doctor Who used to time travel.” Nagito hurriedly explained to his boyfriend, someone who wouldn’t a reference to an English show.

Ah. Hajime’s eyes instinctively widened. “How did you kn-? Wait, fuck. Shit!” His heart sank to the bottom of the sea in that one moment.

“I didn’t know! I didn’t at all know! But how would you know things about me I haven’t even told Yasuke about! Time travel? Really? Really! Haha!! Oh, I wonder how it works! I need to know I need to know! I need to know right away!” Junko jumped off her swing and giggled hard. Her glee at discovering that something like time travel was actually possible was…unnerving to both Hajime and Nagito. She wasn’t full of despair, she was just happy. The girl even rambled about she enjoyed despair - but right at this moment, she was happy, and excited even, and hopeful to learn.

“Junko…You feel happy right now, yeah? Doesn’t that feel good? So why do you try so hard to fall into despair? To make others despair? Why don’t you just realize already…that despair is no more unpredictable than hope is.” Hajime couldn’t say nothing. He shouldn’t have, but there was nothing anybody could do to stop him from letting his endless questions flow out.

As he did so…Junko’s dancing and jumping and smiling instantly stopped - as if she froze completely.

“I…I’m happy…? And it felt…g-good.” Her eyes slowly widened. “It’s something…I don’t understand yet.” She blinked. Once. Twice.

“Junko…there will always be things you will never understand, no matter how awe-inspiring your talent is. I learned that the hard way. Ultimate power isn’t infinite, and maybe it was never ultimate in the first place. There are things to look forward to even if the world around you is too easy to understand. Plenty of things are still rewarding even if you do understand them.” Nagito spoke to her in a gentle tone.

Small, little, and innocent Junko plopped down on the ground. She brought her knees to her chest and looked up at Nagito.

“I just want to be able to feel good without knowing, knowing, knowing, knowing, I’ll feel good ahead of time. Always knowing. I���m so sick of it. I’m so sick of life.”

“Sometimes the fun of life is knowing you’ll feel good. It’s okay to be able to predict things, and knowledge isn’t bad. But even then, there are still plenty of things the world doesn’t understand yet. Have you ever thought about pursuing a career in physics? The deep ocean? Neuroscience? There are so many things humanity doesn’t understand. Don’t you think you’d be able to have fun, Junko? Don’t you want to find out how we managed to time travel over here?” Hajime doesn’t know if what he’s saying is getting through to her. But he desperately hopes it is.

Junko stared at Hajime again. It almost felt like she could see straight through his soul. He wouldn’t be surprised if she could, with her talent.

“I think…you two strange men are actually…right. I never…I was prepared to make things worse around me. There was nothing around me worth protecting, or saving, and me neither too. I guess I could actually…help the world while learning, couldn’t I? But you’re right that there are still some satisfying things to accomplish. It’s not like just knowing how is enough to climb a mountain. You still need oxygen. You still need tools. I…I’m sorry. I’m really…”

“We can’t forgive you. Sorry, Hajime, I’m speaking for you, but I know how you feel already. The things you end up achieving in the future are atrocious and reprehensible. I’m sure you’ve already figured that out by now, why else would we be here, speaking to you? But we accept and acknowledge your apology. The only thing we require from you…is to not make the world end. We know you can find a way to live your life without despair. You don’t need it, Junko. You don’t need to hurt people. You don’t need to hurt yourself,” Nagito glanced at Hajime,” It took me a long time to figure that out myself. But I managed to. And I know you can as well.”

Junko’s eyes started to water. Water and water, until a few tears fell until she started to sob and sob. She said nothing. All she did was cry. Nagito patted her head softly. At the end of the day, was all Junko needed someone to talk to? Someone to treat her with the kindness she didn’t treat herself with? Someone to convince her that life was worth living?

She eventually stopped. She rubbed her eyes and continued to say nothing.

Hajime had to break the silence. “We have to go back to our future. It’s probably going to be very different, and who knows if we’ll even be able to remember this. Can you do us one favor?”

Junko nodded.

“We’d like you to use your talent to expose Hope’s Peak Academy for the corrupt school it is. There’s a project that’s going to be started in a few years called the Kamukura Project,” Nagito grabbed Hajime’s hand as he said this, ”The project is an attempt to push every single talent they have researched on inside the brain and body of one regular student. It…It almost destroyed me,” Hajime shivered, “In the future we came from, instead of exposing this and the corrupt school, you instead use the school to create despair, and use that despair to end the world. You know what you can accomplish, Junko. Please choose a world where you can keep learning and exploring and holding onto that feeling of happiness. Thank you.”

And within a blink, the two strange men had vanished. Leaving Junko to wonder whether or not the whole thing had been a dream…but whether or not it was, it doesn’t matter. She knows what she has to do now.

—

They were still holding hands. It was the future, and they were still together, and they still remembered everything.

That was terrifying and exhilarating, and oh god they need to check the news NOW. But first, they took a look around their surroundings. It was…clean, and pretty, and while there weren’t people around, there were no bodies in the street. No Monokuma bots to be seen. And the air was obviously breathable.

A good sign, but they needed more to be sure of what they had done. It wasn’t like they had any sort of phone on them. It would have interfered. So they walk and walk, and they come across a store with televisions playing - a news channel.

And the headline said: “Junko Enoshima, president of Future Foundation, finally convicts corrupt Steering Committee for their unethical project to create an artificial ‘God’”.

Junko hadn’t caused the Tragedy.

They find their way back to the apartment they were living in together before their time travel, and it’s still there, and the landlord still recognizes them and it turns out when they grab their phones from their bedside table that all of their friends are alive and healthy, and happy. Even Chiaki is alive. She’s alive. The first thing Hajime did was call her and talk to her. All he did was ask her how she was, and she was fine, and it was kind of a shock remembering how human Chiaki was always a bit different from AI Chiaki but he’s so grateful she’s still with them all.

They look through the news of the last decade. Everything is pretty much the same until Junko got accepted into Hope’s Peak. She spent the entire time trying to dismantle the school. She had used her talents to make the entire school body oppose the Steering Committee it seems, and while that was happening, class 77-B had just spent their time making friends. Hajime had been in the Reserve Course, but the Kamukura Project was discovered publicly before anything bad could happen. The school then had to do damage control, and all Reserve Course students got to keep going to the school for free…

No killing game, no Monokuma… They just got to have the school years they deserved from the beginning. And during that time period?

Hajime and Nagito still fell in love anyway.

“I shouldn’t have underestimated you. You really meant it when you said you’d be my side the whole way.” Nagito couldn’t stop himself from embracing Hajime, pushing him to sit down on top of their bed. “You still didn’t believe me at that time?” He exclaimed with disbelief and kissed Nagito’s forehead. “To be fair…it’s pretty incredible. You wouldn’t think all of this would work out so well, would you? It’s like I’m as lucky as you…I must be, right? Considering the fact that I have you as my boyfriend.”

They kissed. Nagito lovingly caressed Hajime’s cheek. “I suppose in this timeline you really are just a Reserve Course student…” Hajime laughed. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. I don’t care about that anymore, you know? I believe in myself now. I’m…proud of myself. I’m proud of you!” Hajime beamed. It was a smile that could lift up anybody from the depths of despair.

“That’s not fair…If you say that, I really will never be able to stop loving you…!” Nagito laughed, hard, like he finally got to let go of a breath he had been holding since he was a child.

“Hey, Hajime…Do you think this was destiny? Or chance?” Nagito asked, smiling coyly.

“You know it was neither,” he grinned. “We decided to keep living on as ourselves, despite everything, and that determination was rewarded. We created our future together, Nagito. Don’t we deserve it after everything?” He cockily said.

“I doubt it. You don’t even have a talent, Hajime…” He winked.

Hajime murmured in Nagito’s ear, “Oh, I don’t? I’m pretty sure I have a talent for kissing you…”

“Aha, well you better show me the extent of your talent then….!”

THE END

[gontagokuhara]

GONTA!!!!! Also👀👀👀mayhaps dabi

both !!! my favorite man first

how i feel about this character:

if youve followed me for any amount of time you know this but ill reiterate anyways. gonta is my ultimate comfort character, hes my favorite character from ANYTHING of all time, he is as a person a perfect gentleman and unendingly kind and so ridiculously smart and no one acknowledges any of this!!! hes cast to the side because 1) hes not conventionally attractive/a twink like the Big Popular Characters are, 2) dr fans be like [are ableist] and can only acknowledge “haha funny tall boy xd gentleman!!!” or “hes so stupid to get taken advantage of so much” or “well kokichi needed the character development so his violent unnecessary CRUEL death was integral to the plot!!!” and 3) people are too busy collectively sucking other characters peepees to take notice that gonta is. quite literally the reason the gang is able to realize theyre on camera in chapter six. hes easily up there as one of the smartest characters along with chihiro, miu, and junko, but no one acknowledges it!!!!! stan gonta or fucking die!!!!!!!!!!

all the people i ship romantically with this character:

shuuichi and gonta have romantic feelings for each other in game and i wont rest until the rest of you ACKNOWLEDGE it. not only that, they mutually respect each other, they try hard to understand each other better, they are accomodating of each other and there is not a SINGLE moment in which they are not looking out for each other. saigoku renaissance WHEN

also, kiibo/gonta, kiibo/gonta/shuuichi, and kiibo/gonta/rantarou (this one especially) are very very good. ryoma/gonta as well but i wish people wouldnt only make content when theyre trying to pair the two non twinks off with each other:(

my non-romantic OTP for this character:

gonta and kokichi friendship could be so good. SO GOOD!!!!!!!!!! but in canon its terrible and in fanon people cannot imagine NOT writing their friendship as unhealthy and toxic for gonta. please v3 let me rewrite your gonta/kokichi interactions. ill make it good i promise. also read pointy objects cuz rawr xd im making it better

also gonta and tenko as friends is GOD TIER. he’s the only of the boys she respects as a person, he in turn is respectful of her boundaries, and them being friends would KICK. ASS. gonta/kaede gonta/shuuichi gonta/maki and gonta/ryoma are untapped goldmines of friendship potential

my unpopular opinion about this character:

hes the reason the chapter six kids were able to figure things out. so sorry to tell you that it wasnt kokichi who figured it out first, it was gonta. hes the smartest character in v3 and id argue one of the smartest in the series as a whole. his role to the plot is VITAL in terms of figuring out the mysteries of the school (the pothole, the clue on the rock, the nanokumas, etc) and if SOMEBODY hadnt framed him up to be killed, he could have done so much more. that said, also? his death was unnecessary. it didnt need to happen. thanks!

one thing i wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:

first off? he live. duh. second off? his arc be completed. i want to see him grow into the gentleman we know he is and be proud of himself. but if i cant have that, then i just want him to not have fucking died thinking he was a terrible person. his death was bullshit and it was unendingly cruel to let him live his last few moments hating himself so much for something he didnt rememebr doing, something i might add he never WOULD do had the writers not been TERRIBLE at writing the murder correctly. theres way more but this is so fucking long and i still have to do dabi DJXNDIXNDIXND

and now mr. dabert

how i feel about this character:

sexiest bnha character. most valid bnha character besides himiko. a part of the only group in bnha that matters, being the villains. when will he kill endeavor already

all the people i ship romantically with this character:

dabihawks and shigadabi are god tier. also? shigadabihawks is still everything. thank u

my non-romantic OTP for this character:

little sister himiko/big brother dabi rights NOW

my unpopular opinion about this character:

his titties are the best in the series no questions

one thing i wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:

KILL. ENDEAVOR.