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I can't believe they put Yuno in the Torment Nexus for a miscarriage! Its almost like they're the bad guys or something!!

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Yuno starts compensated dating as a coping mechanism for her feelings of depression and isolation. One of her clients enjoys when she acts as a child, having her wear a middle school uniform. He seems to appear to try and meet with her outside their dates, assumingly having genuinely fallen in love with her and mixing up her work self with her real self. Yuno struggles with this, because her innocent, pure work self is an act, and views her real self very negatively, as someone depressing and cold to others.

Yuno becomes more drained and cold in her later dates, either due to her coping mechanism not being a very reliable one, the conflict she's having with this particular client, or because of early symptoms of pregnancy appearing— most likely all three. Yuno eventually takes a pregnancy test and finds out she's pregnant, most likely that specific client's child. He has very literally implanted the embodiment of innocence and childish purity inside of her, and is faced with a choice: to go along with what he wants, to embrace that persona that not only he but others in her life prefer, to repress her colder sides more permanently in order to live the life he wants, one that brings her joy and warmth but also isn't really her, or to go against him, to abort the child and be true to herself, even if that self isn't a version of her is one that makes her life more miserable. She picks the latter.

The means in which she has the abortion aren't fully known, but it's clear that doing so was not only a mentally taxing thing but also a physically painful process. It's likely she either threw herself down some stairs to purposely induce a miscarriage or payed for a shady and most likely unsafe method of abortion. Though the abortion itself is painful, the actual act of removing the fetus and therefore removing that client is potrayed as something freeing for her. In Umbilical we see her fall, only to be saved by the balloon representing her womb, previously filled up and popped, now empty and small as it was to begin with, and she happily floats back to her normal life. In Tear Drop, she actively destroys her comfortable pretty room, as if fighting back against the personas placed on her and enjoying acting out and choosing 'herself'. The abortion was bad, the aftermath was good.

Yuno enters milgram and is again faced with the same problem as before. She tells Es she'll only be happy if her true, colder self is forgiven, but instead she's forgiven under the idea that she's "pure" and "a naive victim" rather than how she perceives herself. She lashes out, forced back into something she just went under alot of pain to be free from, and tells Es exactly who she believes herself to be, again reinstating that she won't feel warmth until her cold self is genuinely accepted. She's once again forgiven, this time her true self has been accepted, but things in milgram become much worse as the other prisoners' lives end. Mahiru's death, in particular, cuts Yuno deep. Yuno has once again chosen to prioritise her cold self and true feelings over the feelings of others, and someone who is seen as wholly pure and innocent has died. There is no relief for Yuno like there was with her abortion, Mahiru is someone she genuinely and greatly cared for, and Yuno can only grieve and feel worse than before. If the acceptance of Yuno's true self is also the death of innocence, then Yuno can only hate herself for being selfish in wanting to be fully accepted.

[victimcentral]

Okay on a more serious note, since we ill probably get trial 3 Kotoko around 2037, I am curious about your stance on the idea that Kotoko's milgram murder is Lucky (the hat kid). I don't personally believe it, but it is more than likely Kotoko had a second murder outside of Tsugumichi, so it has been on my mind a lot :p

2037........... mannnnn........

I do definitely think Kotoko had another murder outside of Tsugumichi, due to how, weird Deep Cover is, compared to the other 2nd Trial MVs. I lean towards Lucky, but mainly because she is (as of this moment) the only one that really could be Kotoko's second murder.

This will be long haha, first I'll talk why I think Kotoko likely has a second murder, and then why it may make sense for it to be Lucky.

(BTW this is a post I actually have wanted to make so this is really fun for me. I can show off Moon Theory let's gooooo. Thank you for asking!)

What is up with Deep Cover?

Before we get into it all, let's look at the 2nd Trial MVs as a whole. (Though could refer to MVs entirely.)

The MVs tend to be of two settings, the Real World* and Symbolism Hell.

*note the Real World is highly influenced by their perspective so it's not always accurate

Now the Prisoners fall into these Three Categories:

Real World* and Symbolism Hell - Two Seperate State of Beings

This is Yuno, Muu, Amane and Kotoko

Symbolic Real World* (it's not a clear cut difference between RW* and SH)

This is Haruka and Shidou

Symbolism Hell

This is Fuuta, Mahiru, Kazui and Mikoto

Okay. So why does this matter? Well A) I thought it was neat, and B) this distinction is important to discuss time and place in the MVs.

Real World* Segments take almost exclusively in the past, either pre-murder or during the murder as the final part of the Real World segment.

Symbolism Hell, however, can take place through time and space, reflecting the Prisoners as they are in Milgram, so it's not tied down to a specfifc time or place, even if it can be reflective of it.

Some examples are

Backdraft stops its linear story telling to depict Fuuta feelings about being voted Guilty "Why are the others INNOCENT? I won't forgive, won't forgive" in the middle, pre Killcheroy's Death e.g. not linear

Muu breaking out of her chrysalis inside a broken hourglass is reflective of her time in Milgram e.g. showing time in Milgram

Mikoto's is a mix of depicting his violence and also interograting the audience e.g. reflective of Prisoners thoughts

The time and place that I want to discuss is their Murders.

For Haruka and Amane, their MVs end with their murder

For Fuuta, Kazui and Mikoto, after displaying their crime in Symbolism Hell, ends with them sort of addressing the Audience.

For Yuno and Shidou, their crime isn't really depicted, as they depict more their thoughts and feeling about their verdict and crime.

For Muu, she depicts her murder, and then depict her thoughts and feelings in Symbolism Hell.

For many of them, their crime is the final action depicted, or at least, ends the Real* World segment. As after their crime they go to Milgram not too long afterwards.

Even in Haruka's crime, his report ends after his second crime with the second child.

Muu states how she doesn't remember much after she commited her crime.

Though she definitely pushed Rei's body into the river, but perhaps that's part of what she's refencing what she "did"

So it makes sense we barely see anything about them post-murder, pre-Milgram, there wouldn't be a big gap of time.

If we assume Killcheroy is Fuuta's only victim, then perhaps there is maybe at most a couple days for Milgram to decide who did it (choosing Fuuta as opposed to someone else in the group), since we see him reacting to persumably someone's death. Or that he's finding out about Killcheroy's death the same time as Milgram. But regardless it seems to be a short amount of time.

Which brings me to the two I haven't mentioned above.

Mahiru and Kotoko, who's crime is depicted at the very start of the MV.

Now Mahiru is easily explainable. She spends her entire time in Symbolism Hell, giving us context and showing the lead up to the crime. Nothing that odd.

Which is why Deep Cover is so strange. Because Kotoko doesn't just stay in Symbolism Hell, she shows events post her crime and pre her time in Milgram.

THIS v

IS STRANGE ^

Now you could say Milgram was slacking with her, as the final Prisoner. But isn't it weird, that enough time passed after her crime:

For a Press Conference to occur, For Kaneshiro Isamu (Tsugumichi's father) to have a personal investigation occured. For Lucky to have given a Testimony that she later withdrew.

And the fact, Kotoko is reading about the Press Conference that details all this after the fact.

These are a lot of events, that presumably would have taken time.

By the by, do you like the Moon?

Deep Cover loves the Moon, so does Harrow.

So hey, let's take a break and look at the Moon. (Meet Moon Theory)

In Harrow, when Kotoko comes across the warehouse, where the crime will eventually take places, her Symbolism Hell has a cresent moon. And then we see her return to that spot, maybe the same day or a day later, it's unclear.

Now, this isn't much. Afterall her Symbolism Hell Pack always has a Cresent Moon throughout the MV. Specifically a Waning Cresent. But I want this kept in mind.

When she murder Tsugumichi, it's the only time her Pack Mind Place changes, instead depicting the Sun (since the crime takes place during the day).

The reason I say this is the Sun, as opposed to a Full Moon, is due to the crime being during the Day (it's daytime at 2:27, but cloudy, hence why it appears dark, we also see it begin to rain while she's inside, implying it those same clouds from earlier) and due to Deep Cover.

In Deep Cover, after she goes through her Roundtable Symbolism Hell, it focuses on the fact that it's a Wanning Cresent.

Which leads me to believe it's meant to be the same Wanning Cresent from Harrow. And that there is a very good chance that the crime took place during the Wanning Cresent Moon Phase.

Also may explain why her Symbolism Hell is the Waning Cresent, because that's the moon she killed Tsugumichi under (even if it was daytime).

But there's a very interesting scene in Deep Cover, that is very much in your face.

We see our beloved Cresent Moon, turn into a Half Moon.

This to me, further implied that Tsugumichi was killed under that Cresent Moon. Afterall, if he wasn't why is it so prelavent?

So under this assumption, let's take a step back.

This occured at a Cresent Moon:

And this occured at a Half Moon:

Since a Moon Cycle takes 29.5 days, and the time between each phase is roughly 3.5 Days.

Meaning that Kotoko was hanging around after her crime for 3 and a half days at least.

It wasn't like Milgram would have a hard time finding her. Everyone knew who the perpetrator was, and which school she came from. It would have been incredibly easy to reach her, as opposed to the likes of like Amane.

I find it very weird. Especially since no one else seems to show their time post-crime and pre-Milgram. Since, persumably, they were taken pretty shortly afterwards, within 24 hours.

So why is Kotoko different, to the point she show things that occured after her crime. Was Milgram just slacking?

Another thing!

I mentioned how the Cresent Moon is a Waning Moon.

Well the Half Moon depicted is known as the Third Quarter, or the Last Quarter.

Aka, the Half Moon before The Wanning Crescent.

Now unless, Milgram has made a mistake about the Moon phases, which I deem unlikely since they shove this Shift in Moon Phases in the viewer's face, possibly trying to mislead the viewer by making it appear to be a 3.5 day shift, this means that this time skip isn't 3.5 days;

But instead around 26 days. Or 3.7 Weeks. Almost a Month.

So, unless, Milgram was really slacking in regards to collecting Kotoko, giving her 26 days of fun. Then there is a different possibility.

If Prisoners are collected shortly after their murder, then the only way to remedy this weird interval between Post-Murder and Pre-Milgram, is that Kotoko simply had another murder after Tsugumichi.

Makes sense right? More believeable than her just chilling. Also correlates with Shidou and Mikoto being serial killers. Since they can have multiple murders. Maybe when she did her first kill Milgram wasn't interested, and after her second it was? Who knows.

That's roughly Moon Theory.

And due to it, I think there's a very good chance that Kotoko had a second murder.

Now, with all this address, let's get to it!

Who is Kotoko's 2nd Victim?

Well we see Kotoko at the end of Deep Cover in her Ass-Kicking outfit. Someone is either getting a beating or is gonna die. And for this, we'll assume dead.

The thing is: The ending is clearly depicting her desire to Punish all the Prisoners. So we're not given much.

We do see The Moon go from being a Half Moon to a Full Red Moon. As she transforms into a Werewolf.

But since it's way more in Symbolism Hell, with it's Red Glow and Indigo Sky, it's harder to infer what this means. Is this the Moon in Milgram? Or when she did her final Kill?

I'm more akin to say the Half Moon is when Kotoko did her second kill, as it's in the Real World*, while the Red Full Moon is representing her in Milgram.

Is the blood she's covering just her symbolic drive for Punishment, or is it real blood? Then again she has always killed with her feet/shoe, so it wouldn't make sense for this to be real blood. She's never been shown to cut someone as her method. Typically she bashes.

So, I'll say this Full Moon (and her blood) is her in Milgram, and the Half Moon is when her second murder takes place.

So let's go back a bit.

The yellow smoke remind me of the Sun Symbolism Hell when she killed Tsugumichi. I definitely wouldn't say it's a reach that she's planning to murder someone here. So just as she's about to kill someone else it cuts to Symbolism Hell so that the viewer still believe she has one victim.

Now, there is almost no one who could be this victim that is that satisfying. Unless it's just one of the many faceless people in her MV, there is no one who is given a great amount of importance outside of herself, her victim, and Hat Kid.

Before we discuss the Lucky possibility, I will say this scene is probably the biggest evidence it isn't Lucky. As Kotoko walks pass Lucky to go to her victim. Which very much makes it seem like Lucky isn't the victim.

But perhaps that Kotoko trying to confuse us. She does eclispe her. And afterall, if Lucky is the victim, it's in Kotoko's best interest for us not to know that.

Hat Kid (Lucky) as Kotoko's Victim

Kotoko's 2nd Trailer Distorted Voiceline

"From the begin I've never asked for your understanding! My actions, one by one, are bringing earth closer to peace. Useless Weaklings should just shut up and let me protect them!"

This does not sound like Kotoko talking to Tsugumichi. She's addressing someone who is going against her.

This someone, could be Lucky, who would also be considered a useless weakling by Kotoko.

Kotoko views herself as a shield for the weak. That she protects them from those who are evil. But she also has her frustrations with those she considers weak.

When they don't act against evil.

She also mentions those with weak wills easily turn to evil. And in regards to evil, there is no away to start anew.

Which leads to motive. Lucky is going against Kotoko's justice as she withdrew her statement about Kotoko's murder being of self-defense. Making it much more likely Kotoko goes to Prison. In this way Lucky is preventing Kotoko from protecting weaklings like her.

More importantly, since Lucky withdrew her statement, that must mean Lucky she has had at least some change of mind. Which is dangerous, as she may confess that what Kotoko did was not self-defense. Lucky as the only proper witness to the crime, has a lot of power, and if she gets doubts, it can ruin Kotoko. Something that Kotoko would not want.

Since Lucky is the only eyewitness to the truth, Kotoko may have killed her since she would have stopped her from continuing her justice. She can't afford to try to get Lucky back into her grace as she does with Es, since she's already being suspected as a result. And Lucky suddenly changing her mind and giving back her statement isn't the greatest look.

So Lucky being the victim would also make sense why it's not shown at all in Harrow. Why Kotoko would not want us to know of this kill.

Kotoko wants Es/us to team up with her. So she focuses solely on the crime that is most justifiable. She murdered a child kidnapper! She only wants to protect the weak! She is a fang for justice!

If she had shown us her killing Lucky, for going against her, there is little chance that Es + us would want to team with her at all. Because while the murder would be right for Kotoko, she'd recognise it may not be favourable to an outsider.

WIth Lucky, it shows how far her ideology can go. To make sure evil is punished. Which I think is very interesting.

CONCLUSION

That's my kind of thought process. But to be completely honest, I'm not sure if there's enough right now to make a call. If I had to, I would say; yes, Lucky is another victim of Kotoko. But if she isn't I wouldn't be suprised.

I'm really curious to know more about Lucky, what drove her to withdraw her statement? And if she isn't the 2nd victim, who the hell is?

So to answer your question.

I am curious about your stance on the idea that Kotoko's milgram murder is Lucky (the hat kid).

I think there is a good chance that she killed Tsugumichi and Lucky, both showing the two sides of her ideology, the evil that must be punished, and what happens to weaklings who don't accept her protection. I believe it can work well, makes sense and explain some things. So a positive stance? Haha.

At the very least, she has two victims.

Hope this was an interesting response at the very least! Maybe I've missed something which I would love to be informed. But overall had a blast with this!

Thanks again Anon!

English Translations from MILGRAM Wiki

Crying B - milgrammer (Tumblr)

YONAH - oehale/o3ha_le (Twitter)

Kotoko's Second Interrogration Questions - Milgram Fancult

Kotoko's 2nd Trailer Distorted Voiceline - From Here

[victimcentral]

My autism for the victims hasn't died off.... I just don't have content LOLL Waiting for The Appare March to start insane rambling again :p

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I would like to post more of my MILGRAM rambles, I just suck at structuring them outside of discord like rambles... oh what to do...

[victimcentral]

one of the biggest mistranslations that honestly done fucked up the international fandom and exacerbated polar ways of thinking about the characters (which has led to reducing yuno to western political stances rather than see her as a complex character) is the mistranslation of 赦す and 赦さない as "innocent" and "guilty" when in reality it's "Forgive" or "Unforgive" [read more about the nuances of the words here]

[victimcentral]

"mahiru wouldve died either way" "haruka was going to kill himself regardless of muu's verdict" "amane and fuuta wouldve formed a cult in most if not all routes" "shidou was going to die from the start" "everything was doomed from the beginning" "kotoko was always going to attack the other prisoners" since we only get our one route, and the route we have is one where we actively voted for bad things to happen, there's no real way to confirm or deny these things. but honestly with how much they've warned us about our actions and told us our choices shape the prison and the characters inside of it, it'd be really bad writing for them to just say "actually your choices are meaningless anyway" and make everything the same in every route, even after telling us "if you do X, Y will happen" in multiple situations

[victimcentral]

Ok but I was thinking about MILGRAM and.. what happens after the third trail? If prisoners are guilty do they go to hell??? To they go to heaven if innocent?? Do they die either way or does it not matter??

[victimcentral]

kajiyama fuuta does not feel remorse for his actions

okay. this is gonna be an extremely long post so bear with me

the idea that fuuta is like super duper remorseful for his crime in t2 is thrown around by this fandom sooo much to the point where it rly seems like his entire voting period in t2 was based on it. which is like. frustrating. because what's actually written for him is way more interesting than that but people don't acknowledge it at all... people are so quick to assume the best of him (because they like him on a surface level), assume that his intentions were wholly pure and that he only got swept up in the thrill of everything and took things too far without meaning to. but that's like a hugeeee misinterpretation and i don't rly know how it became so widespread

i went back through and read thru everything relating to his t2 case and the only way you can view it as if he's really sorry is if you approach it with a very shallow view of fuuta as a character and take the things he says and does purely at face value, which i guess. a lot of people do. i get the sense that a lot of people interpret him the way they do because they want him to be forgiveable, or because of their own personal feelings on the case leading them to believe it's not that bad of an offence. but the text itself doesn't offer any indication that he's actually sorry

like. okay sure. there are specific ways you can interpret the text to support the idea that he’s really sorry and just avoids saying it outright. you can absolutely read between the lines to make a case for that… but in doing so you’re just outright ignoring what’s on the actual lines. you can find roundabout ways to assume that he feels remorse, but that interpretation actively contradicts what he actually says and does, especially when held up against the rest of his character.

i'll shortly address backdraft, though there isn't really much for me to say about it (in comparison to the amount of thoughts i have on other material from trial 2). it depicts him aacting cruelly towards his targets, as well as displays his resentment towards those who were forgiven when he himself was not. towards the end is when we see him as he watches his victim suffocate as a result of his own actions, then turn and run as his own hands turn to stone, ended by es spraying him with their own spray can after he collapses.

to me that fear doesn't really equate to actual regret for his actions, especially considering he runs away. of course it's hard to witness the horrible things that have happened as a result of your own actions, but he runs. he avoids the truth at all costs, and we see this in the voice drama where he's already deflected blame and tried to drag others (namely es) down to his own level. the mv can be interpreted any number of ways so it's hard to make a definitive statement on what exactly it means, becaue it could mean a lot of things and we can't be fully certain what's intended. i'm not really interested in arguing over the 'correct' interpretation of the mv either so i'll leave it at this.

what i actually want to focus on is his voice drama, baptism of fire, i’ll try to address these events in the proper order but i’ll only be highlighting the most important points here. this isn’t a comprehensive summary of the voice drama in any way.  

starting off with a section where fuuta claims that the two of them (himself and ed) are similar. his argument for why he should be forgiven depends on this idea that him and es are the same. and on a surface level, that's true. they both decided not to forgive someone they found unforgivable, and their choice to do so brought about unintended and severe consequences that they couldn’t have anticipated. he even implies he might be more morally sound than es because he was never violent against the person he killed.

Fuuta: I'm in the same boat as you, and yet-and yet- You didn't forgive me, did you!?

What did I do? All I did was say that what's wrong is wrong!

ES: …

Fuuta: I was just going off at a bad person online!

I didn't even take it as far as to be violent towards them, unlike what you're doing right now!

(baptism of fire, 4:21-4:41)

—and he says that if mahiru had died, he and es would be in the exact same situation. but of course, that’s completely ridiculous, when you stop for 2 seconds and consider the fact that es is 15 serving as the warden for several murderers  who they’re expected to judge without any alternate options presented vs fuuta who took it upon himself to harass and cyberbully a child as a way of making himself feel like a good person. but that’s obvious:

Es: ...Don't make a fool of me.

Fuuta: Huh?

Es: I've seen it! The way you got amusement out of your actions like it was just a game!

The way you agitated the crowd and unilaterally trampled against the opponent! That, being the same as me?!

Fuuta: ...!

Es: You've got to be kidding. I am the Guard of MILGRAM, the one who judges your sins.

It's not just you and Mahiru - l've faced all ten of you prisoners with my own life.

Don't lump me in with someone like you, who used someone's sins for cheap entertainment!

(baptism of fire, 6:54-7:04) 

even after es says this, he tries to claim that they do use the sins of the prisoners are entertainment, and references the voices in his head. aka, the voices of the audience, and their methods of judging him. he assumes they’re es’ thoughts (keep the favt that he assumes it’s es’ voice in mind— it’ll come up again in a moment) and tries to use that to reinforce his claim that they are the same. 

one minor (but interesting!) thing to note in this exchange:

Fuuta: (Laughter) There's nothing that sets you and me apart.

You're also getting entertainment out of my– out of our sins!

(baptism of fire, 8:54-9:03)

his immediate instinct is only to protect himself, but he then corrects himself from “my” to “our” as a way of making his cause seem like more than it is. he wants to seem better, like he’s not self-centered, like he’s thinking of how unfair it is all the prisoners when he makes this claim… you can imagine how he made this slip in person. usually, he can retype a tweet before he sends it to make it sound better 🙂

he depends on that surface level interpretation of their respective situations because he needs a way to make himself feel better. he can’t be the one in the wrong. hes clinging onto any excuse he can make for himself because he can’t bear the weight of his actions. it would wreck him completely. everything he did online, everything that lead up to this case, was done with the intention of propping up his own morality and inflating his own ego, and and this is where he ended up. and he hates that more than anything. 

es (obviously) shuts that idea down, and this is when fuuta starts begging. he even actually says the words “i’m sorry”… but not before first offering to forgive es for what they’ve done, too. he frames it as if he’s doing something gracious: 

Fuuta: Listen— I'll forgive you for what you've done too, I'll accept this pain... So-

Please. Forgive me, I'm begging you...!

(baptism of fire, 10:57-11:05) 

and after this, he apologises.. to es, not his victim. of course, his victim is not present because she is dead, and would have no way of hearing a hypothetical apology whether he said it or not. but look at the way he words this: 

Fuuta: The feeling of getting judged by countless people at once is the worst, too…

I can't sleep, feeling like the whole world is watching me!

I'm tired of everything hurting and being difficult! Please...! I'M SO SORRY, ES!!

(baptism of fire 11:22-11:40)

everything he mentions is directly related to the consequences he’s experiencing: the feeling of being judged, of being watched, not being able to sleep. being in pain and finding things difficult— these are all things that happened because he was unforgiven. he doesn’t express any guilt or regret for his victim or her living family. it has nothing to do with what he did to her, and everything to do with what happened to him as a result. 

remember when i said to keep in mind he thinks the voices in his head belong to es? he states some of the things they gave for judging him the way they did—“Just for interest, just for fun, just because they don't like me” …to me, this reads very much like he’s apologising to es because he wants to be someone who can be forgiven by them. making a desperate appeal to be more liked by them because he wants to be forgiven. he has no intention of apologising to the people he actually hurt, or even really thinking about them. he only wants to apologise to the person who he thinks can save him from being in pain. that’s all he wants. he wants to be relieved of the pain he feels, both physically and mentally. to him, the physical pain is terrible, but it’s also agonising to be seen as a “bad” person. (npd fuuta truthers rise up 💯🙏)  

in response to this breakdown, es explains to him that they don’t have any ill will towards him or any of the other prisoners. that they’re even starting to think of them as “something of comrades”. they say it’s a pity that they’re the guard, thank him for helping them realise that their role requires resolve, tell him that his pain won’t allow him to evade justice. one interesting thing about this is while they’re explaining all of this to him, they say this: 

Es: Either way, I have yet to figure out what the relationship between your current, hurt self and the crime that you committed is.

(baptism of fire, 13:03-13:10) 

straight up stating that his actual feelings towards his crime itself are still unclear. as of trial 2 it’s only possible to discern how he feels towards the pain itself.  

after this, they acknowledge his lack of a proper apology (? this is unclear to me. i’ve heard it mentioned that what es says here is badly mistranslated, but i haven’t been able to find a verifiable correction for what it should actually say. so im at a bit of a loss here and don’t have much to say only since i believe i’m working with incomplete information, but if if i can find a good translation i may update this post at some point ☺️) 

what sets fuuta off into threatening es’s life is their statement that they have to make their judgements even when the subject of those judgements breaks down in front of them. he lashes out and gets angry with them… which is something you probably wouldn’t do if you were genuinely sorry. of course, it’s not that this is a “wrong” way to react inherently (actually, it IS 100% wrong to threaten a child like that no matter the scenario, but i mean that him being angry isn’t necessarily the problem here) but it’s what sets it off that sets off a red flag to me. because it’s clear he still believes he’s in the right. he wants to be validated in his believe that he’s innocent, not actually forgiven for what he’s done wrong. in his mind, he hasn’t done anything wrong. he wants the pain to stop. which isn’t remorse. not at all  

like here i will reiterate the fact that he threatened to kill es. this exchange stands out to me a LOT:

Fuuta: Es! Es!!

….YOUUUUU…..!!! I'LL KILL YOU!

Es: Heh.

Fuuta: ARE YOU LISTENING, YOU BASTARD?!

FORGIVE ME!

IF YOU DON'T FORGIVE ME, I'LL KILL YOU, Y'KNOWWWWW!!!

(baptism of fire, 13:47-14:06) 

—because it’s hardly acknowledged by anyone??? even though it feels extremely important. he’s set off this badly by es simply explaining why that they have to continue and why. 

and this threat wasn't taken seriously at all with good reason of course, the most obvious being that he can't actually hurt es at all even if he tried. the barrier would stop him like it always has. and even if he could physically attack them, it's pretty clear that he's not a physically strong enough person. not only is the weakest of all the boys according to yamanaka, but considering all the injuries he sustained after kotoko's attack, it's safe to say he's in no actual condition to actually hurt anybody. he's all talk.

…and on an objective level we know this. but fuuta...? it's not like he's saying these things knowing that they're empty threats, with only the intention of expressing his frustration or something. he just doesn't think like that, especially in the heat of the moment, in this situation where he’s been so incredibly emotional the entire time. in his mind, if he was given a reason to, he could kill es. he fully believes that he could if he really wanted to. he’s a 20 year old man, saying that he’s going to kill a 15 year old. of course he thinks he could do it, given a reason, given an opportunity. why wasn’t this taken seriously? not as an actual danger to es, but as an indication of his character? he’s threatening to kill another person, a child who’s probably about the same age as his actual victim, even though he claims to be sorry for what he did??? he knows killcheroy was a child, because he saw her photos and tracked down her school. 

it’s just… absolutely ridiculous behaviour. to read all of this and interpret any amount of it as him being genuinely sorry is all confirmation bias. it’s wishful thinking.

i’ve said this befote, that fuuta doesn’t feel any genuine remorse, over on twitter albeit without any of the elaboration from above because of the character limit over there. and a response i got at the time was along the lines of “he joined a cult because the guilt was too much for him and he wanted to become a better person” and i’ll address that quickly because it does seem to be a growing sentiment now that trial 3 has been set into motion. 

he did not join the cult out of any genuine desire to improve as a person. he joined the cult because it validated him. he’s being forgiven by religion, he feels like he can be a “good” person if he followings the teachings of the cult. that’s all it is. he so immediately adopts amane’s beliefs into his own mindset, even in trial 2 he was going around saying awful stuff to people, like telling haruka he was an “idiot” for choosing to kill himself instead of letting himself be saved. (!! keep this interaction in mind for a little bit) in the most recent timeline conversation, he pleads with yuno to come be saved with him. this interaction highlights another important part of his characterisation. when yuno says she doesn’t want to be saved by someone else, he responds: 

Fuuta: ......why not?

It's pointless to carry it all and die.

To live in this world, we need hope, and companions who forgive each other!

Otherwise- 

(19/04/2025, fuuta’s birthday)

it’s long since been known about fuuta that he thrives on community and acceptance. a huge part of his case is the idea of “mob mentality,” it’s one of the biggest contributing factors to killcheroy’s death. he needs to be surrounded by like-minded people so that he can feel validated, especially in his current environment. even though he was forgiven, that’s not exactly what he wanted to begin with. if he’s surrounded by people who think the same way as him, it’ll make him feel better. 

now i won’t take an entirely cynical approach to this timeline conversation. i’ll acknowledge the fact that he said this in part because he probably wants other people to be relieved of suffering in the same way he was— this is probably his conscious motivation for going around talking to people like he does. if you asked him, this is the explanation he’d give. but don’t forget the earlier interaction with haruka that i mentioned.

Fuuta: —Hey, are you really okay with that? If you come with me, you might also be saved you know...... Haruka.

Haruka: Yeah...... since l already made a decision. I, have something that I must do.

Fuuta: Ahh, is that so...... Hey, Haruka, you truly are an idiot. If that's the case, you won't be able to be saved.

(19/04/2024, fuuta’s birthday)

he’s so unwelcome to perspectives other than his own. yes, these interactions take place a full year apart in our time, but i find it hard to believe he’s doing anything but putting on a show for yuno. he’s become more adapted to amane’s way of thinking, but the insensitive, abrasive person we see in the interaction with haruka is always who he’s been. he hasn’t given us any reason to believe that this change is anything beyond self-serving. because even though he’s not as rude to yuno, he still pushes back and tries to make a case for her to join the cult. he says “why not?” and tries to explain to her why she needs this, then gets cut off before he was going to say something clearly intended to pressure or frighten into joining his way of thinking. whatever he would’ve said probably would’ve been some kind of fearmongering (and i honestly to have to give him some props how well he takes to being a super religious person just instantly. that’s lowkey impressive) it’s just… not a good thing no matter how you look at it. 

soo the conclusion to this very long post is simply that fuuta does not feel remorse the way people seem to think he does. that’s all. i wanted to provide a lot of explanation because people usually don’t like it when i just state that conclusion outright, but i have a lot of reasons for thinking it and i feel pretty strongly about his character in this aspect (obviously) lol 

for the record i stil like fuuta in spite of every mean thing i just said about him. he is my overall top 3 🙏 this is just an analysis. i am not a fuuta hater. smile heart sparkle star. thank you 

[victimcentral]

Haruka has always been abused. Long before 15 years old

I really hope people don't misunderstand Haruka as someone that turned into a baby serial killer solely because his parents started to neglect him at 15 years old. Cause no. While the report states that his parents were overprotective at first, that doesn't equate to him never being abused before 15

I honestly believe Haruka's parents flat out never really wanted him. Yes, Haruka said that his mom was nice to him when he was little, and he had a fun childhood, but guess what? It's made very clear that Haruka's disability was visible from childhood, and his parents turned a blind eye to it out of pride. They had their fun with child Haruka for the first few years until he started to show signs of his disability. They neglected it--they neglected getting him help--at an early age, and continued as if nothing was wrong. I've seen some people say that infantilizing Haruka is actually correct because "His literally mentally a child" and it's....a poor take. Cause that's literally what his parents did to him

Think about it. Haruka's bedroom in Undercover resembles a 4-5 years old's. He had no hobbies (even prior to Milgram), nothing he's passionate about, no dreams outside of receiving attention, and no one important to him outside of his parents. It's because his OvErPrOtEcTiVe parents never allowed him to develop the skills needed to become an adult. They refused to basically let him grow. It doesn't help that Haruka most likely had no friends to turn to, no siblings, no activities to distract himself either, etc. It was borderline isolation from the rest of the world. It's abuse, and horrific abuse at that, disability or not. They stunted his emotional and mental growth, Haruka who wanted to live normally and be a strong, smart, and interesting person

This isn't to excuse his killings, but you're wrong if you believe Haruka had a normal life until 15 when he suddenly was neglected. His parents abused him from very early on--and I honesty believed, straight up since birth, they never loved or cared for him (it's literally implied his mom wanted a girl). And the fact that he was experiencing this at such a vulnerable age, with an intellectual disability, just makes it worse. These people can have normal, even great lives. But his parents stripped him of any chance to develop, purely out of pride

[victimcentral]

Firstly, I wanna say that your scapegoat John theory is really good, and it confirmed the doubts I had about how inconsistent John was about the murders, really good indeed! I just got curious to ask what do you think the "complexity" or even motive of the murder(s) would have been. So far the whole case seems to rely on the idea that John killed people for the sake of "helping"/"saving" Mikoto in that manner. But with the scapegoat theory in mind, what would have been 09's reason of killing? I am very curious to hear your thoughts!

hi!! thank you!!! im actually really glad others had the same thoughts about how his story didn't quite add up

honestly as anticlimactic as it is, i think mikoto just broke under the pressure of his work. clearly some part of him wanted to be someone who would stand up to people, burn it all down, etc. as much as he couldn't accept it and pushed it down, those desires are very much a part of him, and his environment was absolutely not helping him with finding any other coping mechanism aside from slowly building stress and desperation.

i think most 'murders' in milgram are actually relatively straightforward and a lot are cases of unfortunate circumstances. they're less about 'was this the right thing' and moreso 'do you pity them now you know what brought them to this moment'. i think mikoto's struggles with his mental health, identity, and toxic work environment are pitiable. no alter required.

i think his complexity also, like with other prisoners, is in how he obscures the truth and how he gains rapport with the audience. an extreme case is with muu -- she spun a narrative, gained sympathy, but then with more information the audience turned on her. it's not that her crime got any more substantially evil -- we knew she'd killed someone -- but we felt betrayed that our sympathies had been misled and we felt that we had been lied to about her circumstances or how pitiable she really is. i think a similar thing is going to happen to mikoto, to be honest.

his complexity is that because of his disorder and issues with identity, he misled us heavily. we thought it was because he was normal and then got possessed, but it turns out he was just a normal guy who couldnt take it anymore and then repressed it. and i wonder how the audience will handle having their preconceptions and already established sympathies challenged when they realise that at the end of the day, he's just a guy that did an unforgivable thing because of his circumstances like anybody else.

[victimcentral]

Parallels..... I would have loved to see their dynamic honestly, please give me more Haruka and John content

[victimcentral]

Actually, this post made me think of a parallel that never occured to me. Basically how like Yuno sometimes resembles Hinako (having the same kind of pony tail), and Kazui's fashion sense is similar to that of the client shown in TearDrop, even wearing a similar type of expensive watch. In some way resembling the people they both "use" for their own desires/needs, Kazui for social leverage and superficial affection (lyrics in Half and Cat), and Yuno for warmth (whatever your interpretation of that is). Especially interesting because they both lack this "expected" love that one would have with this other person in a traditional way... idk if this is making any sense but hdgajdka, I always like how Yuno and Kazui were such insane mirrors of each other, I didn't expect them to also reflect the people in their lives in some way... also cool art sorry for the ramble !!!

Dress Up!

Alternate Version

Yuno as Hinako and Kazui as the client hightlighted in Tear Drop. Dressing up other Prisoners as a Prisoner victim/person. Swapped them cause it was fun to me.

I have ideas for all the other Prisoners though

ym catss

[victimcentral]

Decided to draw one of Muu’s ex friends (Sayu) because idk why I rlly like her design she has been my fav bg character for a while LOL

[victimcentral]

ok, here's my take: muu could have probably done more. i did notice that she always said "are you sure this is what you want?" instead of "i don't want you to do this for me". however. she is a scared, sheltered 16 year old girl. she has (i am assuming) never been in a situation like this before, and didn't know what to do. could she have prevented it? maybe. we may never know. but she failed to do so, which doesn't make her a horrible person who manipulated haruka and didn't care that he died, it just makes her a regular teenager in a stressful situation.

also, when was muu appointed the sole person responsible for haruka's life? she is not more guilty than fuuta, kotoko or es, who also did not stop haruka. i don't see this much criticism leveled against them. and to be clear, i don't think any of them are particularly guilty, since they are also not responsible for haruka's life, i am just pointing out how hypocritical it is to solely blame muu for his death.

[victimcentral]

Milgram accounts with non main characters as profile pictures we should be friends methinks