bigsissugi

[bigsissugi]

Post-CH1 Daily Update: The Fairytales in the Library

Spoilers for Ch1 Daily, MILGRAM, Perfect Blue and the old versions of my posts ahead. Triggers: Real-world political issues, illicit drugs, rape/sexual abuse (not anyone's crime), child death, animal cruelty, workplace abuse, suicide, child labor, manipulation of children, racial objectification of a child, domestic violence/abuse, real-world mental disorders/issues, child abuse, "the abused becomes the abuser"

Shinku

If the system isn’t going to fix itself then the Ultimates within the system should do better. They should work harder and push past the corruption to make sure their talent does benefit a wide range of people.

TLDR: Shinku wrote a novel which he calls "It" containing both pro-Ultimate propaganda and anti-Ultimate rhetoric to please both the public and Akari, but the contents of "It" accidentally led to the deaths of Akari and other supporters of the AUM.

There are several new conclusions that can be made using new information holistically supporting my previous take.

Conclusion 1: Shinku has a history of including subliminal messaging in his novels that favors the UTP due to the influence of his publishers. However, it does not reflect the full scope of his beliefs. Shinku's awareness of how his text can affect others combined with his long withheld desire to express his true beliefs is an underlying factor behind his decision to use a novel of all things to try and achieve peace.

From Lyra's FTEs: Lyra accuses Shinku of including pro-Ultimate subliminal messaging in his novels. Hilariously, she even uses the word "propagandic".

From Fu's FTEs: He admits his publishers alter his novels, presumably to make them more system-friendly. Considering the implications of "It" also containing anti-Ultimate viewpoints, this means "It" has to be self-published.

From Fu's FTEs: He demonstrates his awareness of the effect his writing has by saying a one-off line about how you can manipulate a reader's perspective with the wording of a sentence alone.

From his interrogation: He struggles with expressing his opinions out of a fear of rejection & uses metaphors to do so instead.

From his interrogation: He withholds his opinions from Ismene because of his past experiences with sharing his true opinions. This can apply to both his dynamic with his publishers and his crime.

Conclusion 2: He has mixed feelings about Akari, both wishing to compensate for everything he's done to her and resenting her for defying his pro-Ultimate philosophy. His stubborn adherence to his Ultimate in spite of Akari's complaints hints at his choice to appeal to both sides of the pro vs. anti Ultimate debate rather than just the latter.

From Lyra's FTEs: According to Shinku's narration, Akari never had any arguments against the UTP other than "society bad". Whether this is actually true or Shinku just refused to listen to her further is up for debate, but either way this might be a contributing factor to him not knowing any better when writing "It".

From Asuga's FTEs: He considers himself not entirely at fault for his sibling rivalry.

From his interrogation: He calls Akari "ungrateful" after talking about what his parents treated him to on birthdays post-Ultimate acquirement, then cuts himself off. I presume the rest of his sentence would've been something like this: "…how ungrateful Akari was for not appreciating the financial security my Ultimate gave us."

From the main game: Even though the Akari hallucination stems from Shinku's guilt, I doubt she would take on such an antagonistic form if Shinku didn't hold any kind of grudge against her.

Conclusion 3: Shinku's goals when writing "It" were driven by both morality and people pleasing.

From Lyra's FTEs: Shinku plugs pro-Ultimate rhetoric during Lockdown Lock-In even while being aware of the system's faults. More specifically, the quote above mirrors the fox's desire to achieve peace between the seed-eating birds and the chocolate-eating bugs.

From Fu's FTEs: Shinku narrates his refusal to compromise his morality when appealing to the audience. This aspect of his characterization indicates that he fully believed he was doing the right thing when writing "It".

From his interrogation: Before becoming a legitimate author, he used storytelling as a means of connecting with (pleasing) both his classmates and Akari. Perhaps he thought using an old strategy of his would be an effective way of reaching out to Akari.

Shinku's characterization in Ch1 strengthens his association with foxes in terms of both intellect and cunning. For the former, he has proven himself to possess strong interpersonal intelligence by understanding most of the other prisoners' mindsets and intrapersonal intelligence by relating his own experiences with those of others (i.e. his "I think…" statements). His cunning manifests as his history of subliminal messaging, which affirms the parallels between chocolate-loving bugs and lie-loving UTP supporters, talking about Akari as if she's alive to the other prisoners and most importantly, his role as an unreliable narrator:

Biased narration, which is most prominent within the flavor text.

Hiding information from the audience using verbal symbolism (e.g. "It").

Mononeko saying he's pretending not to care about the audience, which suggests he's putting up a facade to some degree.

Turning down Fu's suggestion of writing about the killing game because it'd be "unethical" despite the save screen confirming otherwise:

Much of what I've mentioned in this section ties in with the parallels between Shinku's writing and Apollo's poetry, both of which are dangerously influential, especially towards those of a lesser social status than them. Outside of his crime, Apollo's lovers suffering terrible fates is represented by Shinku passively allowing the other prisoners to vote for Eiichi to be harmed and a certain hunch I have about Dracul (see his section).

My prediction for his verdict remains as Swing Vote. Redemption voters will likely base their decision on his sympathetic portrayal (genuinely caring about his family's wellbeing as per his interrogation, his self-flagellating attitude towards his crime, not realizing his actions wouldn't have the morally beneficial impact he had anticipated) while corrupt voters may be more inclined to condemn his unreliable narration and continuous bootlicking of a system he knows is corrupt.

Lyra

Well, you don’t make it alone as a kid without finding a good few people to use and hop from to have a roof to stay under-

TLDR: Lyra ran away from her strict parents and sold lethal drugs for a living, but eventually ran away yet again. The consequence is that she now lives a lifestyle in which she jumps between relationships, then runs away as her old crime boss catches onto her and "entertains" themselves with the partners she left behind (Negligence).

Much of the new information revealed about Lyra in Ch1 Daily confirms my suspicions.

Her new backstory has some significant similarities to my interpretation of the fairytale; she ran away from home as a teenager (@/lillithna even confirmed her doing it at 14 😭), lived on the streets, constantly moved from place to place and entered relationships purely for security's sake. Her having built an immunity to illicit drugs and mentioning her encounters with gang violence also hints at her likely past in organized crime. She claimed she was lying about her past for audience attention in her FTEs, but anyone who's read her fairytale will know otherwise.

One thing that seems to have changed in Lockdown is the reason she acquired her Ultimate. Unlike it being completely fake like in the beta, Lockdown!Lyra said only got her Ultimate because the UTP wanted to "keep [her] quiet", most likely to put an end to her Anti-Ultimate campaigning in debates as per her bio. That, and I doubt she would have emceed a legitimate seeming debate show with Shinku if she lacked any real debating skills. The money she would've acquired through her talent may also be part of the reason she quit organized crime alongside the maid's annoyance.

Comparisons aside, she mentioned living in Malmö, a Swedish city with severe income inequality. Malmö has been considered a hotspot for organized crime by multiple news outlets, which is yet another hint at it being one of Lyra's crimes:

News outlets seized on the story [of two businessmen who had been killed], casting it as part of a broader narrative of transnational crime, with Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmo at its center. Malmo was the entrepot for an international crime network of people, drugs and weapons. It was a symbol of social decay and a multicultural nightmare brought about by uncontrolled immigration.

(Source: New Lines Magazine)

Malmö being in Sweden of all countries and being the city Lillith was hospitalized in means a certain fan theory that was once popular with Antebellum oldgens is back on: the Lyra/Alora estranged siblings theory. I won't go into too much detail but other evidence in Lockdown includes the following:

Lyra & Alora's hostile attitudes towards each other, more so than usual for each character.

Similar appearance (complexion/eye color/height/build).

The rigid Wonder Child Project that the Alenius family partook in giving Lyra a reason to run away from home, hence the maid being bossed around all day.

With all of this new info, I can update some of my symbolism takes.

The Scorpion: My old take that Lyra got all of her partners killed by her crime boss has been definitively debunked by Callum being her hostage. Mononeko claiming he's gotten it back together before means Lyra's companions were not killed, at least not all of them anyway. Therefore, her crime isn't necessarily negligent homicide, just negligence in general.

Her telling Shinku her partners knew what they had signed up for may fool one into believing she was transparent about her true intentions, but her deceptively careless wording suggests she only meant so personality-wise. The closest interpretation that fits the parallels with the scorpion and Hermes is that she tricked them into thinking it'd just be a fling and hid that her crime boss was coming for them. In other words, she let them think she's simply a "bad girl" in terms of personality rather than criminal negligence.

To be pedantic for a second, the wording "APPEARED to be a scorpion" hints at Lyra using her "independent bad girl" image as a cope for her guilt; this is reinforced by Fu calling her out for her self-demonization & self-destructive habits. This aspect of Lyra's characterization is vaguely inspired by Yuno from MILGRAM, who blames herself for her career in compensated dating and the suicide attempt & miscarriage that resulted from it despite the audience pitying her.

The Maid: The Yuno comparisons strengthen my old take because similarly to what I had speculated was Lyra's initial motive, Yuno took up compensated dating as a teenager as a misguided means of asserting her independence. It should also be noted that the label "maid" has subtle ties with gender politics, which has proven to be a prominent theme in the game and its side content since Ch1. If Lyra's gender didn't matter, she would be labelled as something like "servant" instead of a term typically used for an obedient woman.

Now to address something nobody expected: Lillith's tweets. In case you're not caught up to speed, @/lillithna is a second Twitter account for the game that posts in-character tweets from the perspective of Alora's hostage Lillith. Starting from 2025, they seem to take place starting from Day 1 of Ch1 Daily and contain thinly veiled spoilers for Ch1 Deadly, including what fans think is Asuga being stabbed after Maiko's party and the 3 characters who will have their crimes revealed next. Amongst the latter is Lyra, Takiko & Maiko.

Lillith tweets on June 16th 2025 starting from approximately 3PM GMT:

[THE BUTTERFLY]? Why, of course! She's undergone quite the transformation recently, no? She's certainly set her mind on what sort of verdict she wants. It's not the first time a prisoner has wanted corrupt though, is it? That's what he wished for, even if he didn't get it. But is what she wants good for her? I'm sure you'd disagree. But she already sees herself as Corrupt, reaffirming that would allow her to continue without having to think. That might seem harmful, but it would make sure a certain prisoner wouldn't be entirely alone… Would change happen? Perhaps eventually, but I think it would take a while. Take something happening. …But even if she did get Worthy I'm sure it would take just as long, if not longer. It would force her to think. She'd hate that. And given how a certain other prisoner feels like things could have turned out differently if they were involved… I'm certain that our little [BUTTERFLY] would be isolated and nurtured in a very different kind of cocoon. …But if she got that verdict, that second chance… I don't think she'd accept it. She wouldn't see it as anyone helping her. She's made up her mind on what she wants, going against it would just be someone taking away her agency. Yet again. I can already see the audience voting her worthy because 'she's pretty'. Because they 'support women'. Because of a million excuses for her behaviour, empowering it, minimising how much it crushed her, crushed others. All because they 'love her', or the her she presents to others I can already see how much she'd hate that. It's a toss-up, really. But I don't think she'll ever truly learn. She decided she was 18 at 14 and has just been playing catch up ever since. I suppose maturity to her was doing what she shouldn't. I suppose adulthood to her is not caring. Even if it keeps her in that cocoon- As long as she gets her precious here-in-the-now moments, she'll be satisfied. You really are so very different! It's fascinating really. But it's quite similar when you boil it down. She only cares for the present. You only care for the past. That's why I'm here, no?

Signs indicating Lyra is the butterfly:

She/her pronouns.

Her wanting to be voted corrupt and not knowing what to do with herself if she were to be judged otherwise mirrors her conversation with Fu, in which she expresses her belief that she is incapable of change.

The prisoner who believes they could've saved Lyra is likely to be her most popular shipping partner Ismene, who has developed a bit of a savior complex for the other Redemption prisoners post-verdict.

A parallel with the maid's backstory: "deciding she was 18 at 14" is a nod to her running away from home.

The label "butterfly" draws a parallel with fellow runaway-turned-liar Asuga, who is represented by a moth in her fairytale.

Lillith's comparison between her and Alora is yet another subtle hint supporting the estranged twins theory because Lillith didn't compare Takiko or Maiko with Alora.

The most damning evidence: Rippilie tweeting a non-canon artwork depicting Lyra surrounded by butterflies and wearing lingerie reminiscent of Yuno.

Things that are strange about the tweets:

Lyra's teased shift in demeanour. The exact nature of it is unclear, but either way it seems like Lyra (and by extension, the game) will try to motivate the audience to vote corrupt. Until proven otherwise, I won't jump to the conclusion that it'll be anything like her breakdown in Ch2 of the old version like others who have read the tweets may have done.

Lillith's unconvincing interpretation of the audience, which creates more questions than answers. From what I can gather, Lyra wasn't even remotely empowered when committing her crimes regardless of what she tries to convince herself of and I doubt the majority of the IRL audience would perceive it that way either. I'm fully aware it's a reference to Yuno's fandom reception but even with her influence in mind, her circumstances are universally considered sympathetic. Lyra is more likely to be scrutinized as she knowingly ruined people's lives assuming my theory holds ground.

Finally, about her verdict: I'm now sure she has a slightly better chance of being given redemption votes. Lyra regretting her crime deep down may give audience members the impression that she's self-aware enough to be able to eventually improve her ways without a corrupt verdict beforehand. The revelation of her completely oppressive backstory may also trigger sympathy votes because apart from LGBT ships, if there's one thing the English fangan community is magnetically attracted to, it's trauma.

Swing Vote -> Worthy of Redemption

Zeke

Zeke: Y’see the thing about doing this stuff, defying what people think the human body can endure, it makes me more manly than most of the chumps that walk this earth. Zeke: And guess what, Shinku? Shinku: …What? Zeke: People *loved* that shot from the film, it was incredible, it was talked about for months for how authentic it looked, how brave *I* was to do it.

TLDR: Zeke incited his fans to imitate his stunts, claiming they wouldn't be "man enough" if they didn't do so (Incitement to Violence). Since his blindly loyal fans weren't Ultimate stunt performers like he is, they ended up dying. Zeke was oblivious to this.

The new evidence in support of my theory comes from his FTES and interrogation, most of it being pretty straightforward:

Bragging about his deadly stunts, many of which were performed without any safety measures for the sake of publicity and "authenticity".

Criticizing his blindly adoring fans for reducing him to his talent.

Admitting that part of the reason he puts up a tough guy facade is to prevent himself from being hurt by anyone that'd hypothetically get close to him. This information's connection with his crime is the most vague, but it correlates with the main lemming's wilful ignorance of the company of other lemmings.

However, there is more to be said about his verdict than his crime. In the wake of Mint's death, Zeke is set to have character development which includes an obvious "coming out" storyline amongst other things. This in conjunction with his aforementioned criticisms of his fanbase may give the audience the impression that Zeke is capable of growth, especially if they are easily swayed by LGBT themes and/or romances.

Of course, this still depends on the amount of development Zeke will undergo before his crime segment and whether or not a certain other character whose crime mirrors his will be voted corrupt based on their storyline.

Takiko

People won’t improve until they have someone they respect disagree with them or call them out.

TLDR: Takiko spread defamation/false accusations about clients she didn't like, leading to their persecution (and possibly deaths).

I had to give Takiko's section an overhaul in the midst of writing due the subtext in her interrogation giving me a clearer picture of her crime. I'll cut to the chase — she instigated smear campaigns against male clients who disrespected and/or upset her, causing her fans to organize amateur "punishments". She believes her crime is justified because she has a monolithic perception of men as perpetrators of misogynistic abuse, likely including sexual abuse, and she was partially motivated by a need to power trip.

Frankly, I didn't expect Lockdown to address the topic of rape or sexual abuse further than implications within Takiko's introduction and the 12 Olympians book because they're not in the trigger warnings and the casting call said "LOCKDOWN contains significantly less sensitive subjects than the original fangame". Nevertheless, the game tends to walk on eggshells when it comes to discussing such subjects (e.g. Ismene calling Poseidon's rape of Medusa an "assault") so the same will most likely apply to Takiko's crime.

Below is a list of new conclusions that contributed to the hypothesis above, both directly and indirectly.

Conclusion 1: Takiko has a history of dealing with misogynists. Regardless of whether they committed any sexual offences against her or not, her past has caused her to become jaded towards men and sexual topics. Said absolutism has negatively impacted how she perceives her male clientele, though they aren't completely innocent either.

From her FTEs and interrogation: Her agency makes potential clients undergo a strict screening process before hiring their services to deter creeps. This may fool players into believing Lockdown!Takiko has never encountered creeps, but their beliefs are negated by the fact that she only joined her agency after gaining her Ultimate. Therefore, there is a great chance she encountered some perverts at the start of her career.

From her FTEs: To me, her "off the books" advice about bullies as demonstrated by the quote above reads like it's about her clients.

From her interrogation: She was put off but some fans at her birthday meet-and-greet being excited by her turning 18 (i.e. the youngest legal and/or socially acceptable age to have sex with an older adult in many areas of the world).

From her interrogation: She insists her victims deserved their treatment without providing any non-sentimental reasons.

From the 12 Olympians book: This finally gives an explanation for her deity Artemis being said to be a "punisher of men" despite having also punished women.

Conclusion 2: Takiko's image is multi-layered. The first is a bubbly, pandering influencer type. The second is a strategist who uses the influencer image to gain material and emotional security. The third — the real Takiko — is an insecure cynic who uses both images to feel more powerful than she really is.

From her FTEs: She straightforwardly admits to her tendency to sneakily bargain with others and strategic usage of her childlike appearance instead of sifting her secrets through carefully chosen words like the other social butterfly characters Dracul & Asuga would do. This is an indicator of her perceiving intelligence as part of an image.

From Asuga's favor event: She acts as if Maiko's love for Yui is a Shakespearean riddle only she can solve despite the IRL audience deeming it really obvious.

From the VA trailer: The line "I… have that much power?" seems to take place after her first smear campaign. This implies she had never felt powerful beforehand and she sees her crime as a way to power trip.

From her fairytale: This idea ties in with my previous take on what her princess role represents (simultaneous authority and youth/vulnerability).

From her interrogation: As you may have seen me post a while ago, her suspicious characterization seems like a set-up to deconstruct a character archetype. To me, it reads as though she's drawing attention to certain negative traits on purpose to try and reinforce a powerful image.

Conclusion 3: Takiko hides her resentment for her abusive sister Sachiko. The stress of dealing with Sachiko was likely an underlying factor contributing to Takiko taking her stress out on her clients.

From her FTEs and interrogation: Sachiko has physically abused Takiko by throwing and breaking objects. She talks about this with a different expression in each event (soft-spoken and defensive in her FTEs, bitter in her interrogation).

From her FTEs: It can be argued that Takiko recognizes the similarities between her disrespectful clients and Sachiko; her "off the books" advice seems like it can be about either of them.

Conclusion 4: Takiko's fanbase played a role in her crime. I mainly think this is the case because their presence is more prominent in her interrogation than her agency or any other authority like I had previously speculated.

From her FTEs: The revelation that her agency does strict checks on potential clients makes it less likely that Takiko went to them to deal with clients she didn't like.

From her interrogation: She insists that a group of other people she calls "they" were the ones who relieved her of her stress.

From her fairytale: Witch hunts were typically initiated by townsfolk; the same may apply to Takiko's crime.

(note: Takiko's implied crime seems like it was inspired by Nicole from Class of 09. From what I've read, Nicole views men as nothing more than "rapists and pedophiles" and compensates for her traumatic past by bullying and power tripping. But I doubt Takiko is a sociopath like Nicole is.)

To update my symbolism takes, the male clients taking on the role of accused witches is now ironic as a term typically used for persecuted women is being used for persecuted men instead. My take for the Princess is along a similar vein except authorities should be replaced with Takiko's fanbase.

I did have some second thoughts about the witch burnings representing death, but in defence of my previous take, it wouldn't be too much of a stretch in the context of the game because most of the characters' portrayals tend to be "regular looking person with a villainous crime attached". With the revelation that at least one of Lyra's victims is alive (Callum), I'm going to assume the meaning of "witch burnings" relates to a more diverse range of "punishments" than just death.

As for her verdict, a stronger argument can be made for corrupt, although it's mostly based on Takiko's personality and the audience's reaction to it rather than her crime:

There are a few scenes in main story and FTE slots depicting her talking to the in-universe audience through the cameras as if she's trying to gain their favor. The IRL audience is known to be suspicious of characters who seem to care more about approval than ethics (see: Taka, Fu, Ismene post-verdict).

Some may condemn her "off the books" speech as hypocritical because she also uses her hurt feelings as an excuse to lash out at others.

Considering the parallels between Takiko's likely crime and Ismene's, some audience members might deem the former's crime less rational by comparison or be paranoid about creating a repeat of Ismene's post-verdict hubris. This is especially true for Youtube fans as Ch1 Ismene is often slandered in the comment sections of playthroughs, both official and fan-made.

Takiko's implied motives may offend anti-misandrists if any are part of the audience.

I've seen some fans assume the worst of her in moments such as them accepting the hidden strategic and cynical aspects of her personality revealed in her FTEs at face value and assuming Rippilie was talking about her when comparing one of the survivors with a recent comic about Mizi from Alien Stage.

(note: I disagree with the "Takiko will survive bc Mizi comic comparison" take because I don't expect her to last more than 2 chapters. My hunch is that it's about Shinku the unreliable narrator instead.)

Although her verdict looks to lean heavily towards corrupt, it's not impossible for Takiko to gain redemption votes. Some fans may relate to or sympathize with her motives since Western niche fandom spaces tend to be very critical of misogyny. I can also see some being driven to paranoia by the Lillith tweets below, believing it'll be misogynistic to vote her corrupt (this similar to how some MILGRAM fans believe people were unwilling to call out Yuno's self-destructive lifestyle out of a fear of misogyny).

Lillith tweets on June 18th 2025 starting from approximately 7PM GMT:

And finally, [THE WITCH]… Or perhaps you'd consider her a Princess? In the end, all girls are both. …With her, what does it matter? I can certainly see the audience jumping to vote her Corrupt. When you do everything you can to keep up your image, it's natural people will jump on the first thing that contradict it. It does not matter what she did. As long as she did it, they will make sure she suffers. That is what it means to be her. She's long past the point anyone could come save her. The only person who can is herself. But no matter how much light peaks into her coffin she will not leave it, she does not see a reason to bask in the sunlight of a world like this. I doubt a Worthy verdict will mean much to her… But a Corrupt verdict would reaffirm all of her views on the world to her. I believe with her, she'll be more concerned with the other's verdicts. She'll have plenty of time to think and reflect. And if they choose to burn her at the stake and let the others go free… Well. I can only imagine what will happen. But in the end, I believe she already expects that she is doomed. Because she is a girl.

Signs indicating Takiko is the witch:

She/her pronouns.

Ironic parallels with her fairytale; she is compared with both her actual role (princess) and the false role of her clients (witch).

Parallels between Lillith's "analysis", Mononeko's claim about Takiko's in-universe audience engagement and my observations of the IRL fanbase. In fact, many parts of her monologue were posted days after I drafted the verdict section.

The witch's victim complex and the allusions to feminist issues align with my suspicions of Takiko's crime being motivated by some kind of misogyny-related or sexual trauma.

The witch's attitude towards a potential corrupt verdict parallels what Takiko said about it in her interrogation.

The witch caring about the others' verdicts more than her own is another indicator of Takiko's hidden insecurity.

The official Twitter spoiled her identity by posting an unofficial art of her captioned "because I'm a girl".

Dracul

Dracul: I was just thinking about my sisters… Shinku: I suppose you miss them, don’t you? (He nodded.)

TLDR: Dracul accidentally got his sisters killed by his bully after impulsively inviting them to a DND match at his house in retaliation (Breach of Duty of Care) and he has been lying about their deaths.

It's difficult to say whether or not there is anything new to support or debunk the deaths of Dracul's sisters because my theory hinges mostly on the idea of him lying about them being alive. However, we do have some evidence from Dracul's FTEs reinforcing the parallels between his life and his fairytale and hinting at his lying.

Dracul explained that he plays up a fun, childish big brother act for his sisters both to impress them and to cope with the his immense responsibilities — or in other words, be more than a father figure — mirroring the goat's desire to be more than just a bridge goat.

He uses escapism for two purposes: preventing himself from "shutting down" in response to negative thoughts and to please others. The former mirrors the goat's cowardice in the face of its sheep being eaten and the latter is another indicator of him lying about his crime for the sake of people pleasing.

Dracul was surprised by Shinku considering him a genuine individual. Under the context of Shinku's perspective, it may be easy to brush this off as Dracul not being very self-aware but the implications of Dracul's lie suggest otherwise.

He revealed that people on the internet deemed his image as too fake and immature, confirming my suspicions of the wolf personifying a cyberbully.

Most damning of all, Dracul and Shinku admitted to idealizing each other.

Getting this out of the way; I'm still sure the wolf devouring the sheep represents the sisters being killed rather than something milder like a kidnapping. His line from the VA trailer, "no one has to know", implies he also hid the truth from Daria, and the sisters being kidnapped would be practically impossible to hide.

Fairytale aside, something I'm having second thoughts about in light of Ch1's release is his verdict. Back when I wrote the initial theory post I assumed he would last longer than 1 chapter because his and Maiko's plot relevance in the prologue was clearly a means of trolling Antebellum oldgens. But in retrospect, this is now one of the narrative-related factors behind Dracul being my personal bet for the Ch1 Culprit. Other factors include the following:

His overall amount of screentime in Ch1 Daily.

Moments in which Shinku melancholically narrates about someone he calls "you". This is likely about Dracul since he's the closest with Shinku out of all the prisoners and it only occurs during Ch1, not the prologue, hinting towards "you" only being important in Ch1.

Despite not being included amongst the 3 crime segments the Lillith account spoiled, all 3 are implied to be alive post-trial, which strengthens Dracul's chances of dying.

The impact his death would have on a large amount of prisoners (Shinku, Ismene, Maiko). The former is especially important since Dracul has been said to be a motivating force for Shinku during his imprisonment. One of the reasons Dracul died first in the beta was him being the main thing preventing Shinku from succumbing to despair and things are looking to be similar in the reboot. His crime not being revealed before his death would also enable his legacy to haunt Shinku even more than if he or someone else had died pre-crime reveal. His posthumous crime segment and verdict would also heavily influence Ismene's storyline either way due to her allegiance with the audience. As for Maiko's future post-Dracul, perhaps one of her crushes committing a murder would cause her to adopt a more cautious approach to prison romance if not ceasing it altogether post-verdict.

From a thematic perspective, Dracul may embody corruption (surrendering to the pressure to commit another crime, deceiving Shinku, general escapism) versus Mint embodying redemption (being strongly forgiven by the audience, his transparency with Zeke, coming to terms with Peony's role in his crime). This would mirror the Ch1 victim's and culprit's roles in the beta as Dracul personified belief in redemption versus Maiko personifying belief in corruption.

His fake-out BDA. Just like his importance in the prologue, this would be a trollish red herring designed to fool the audience (especially oldgens) into believing he'd last at least 2 chapters.

He is one of 3 characters to have a favor scene in Ch1, the other 2 being Mint (already dead) and Asuga (less relevant than the other two in Ch1 Daily, has teased late-game relevance due to Emilia's bias towards her, has a red herring in the form of her absence from breakfast and I highly doubt the game would kill off the only 2 black prisoners this early).

Even though he was mentioned in Shinku and Takiko's interrogations after Mint's death, this is another red herring because the interrogations are not canon, they're just canon-compliant.

There is also some possible evidence related to the murder case but it's not nearly as important as Dracul's narrative relevance. I've seen people on Youtube and Tumblr theorize that the culprit put an inhalable poison in Mint's mask while he was showering with Zeke. If this holds any ground, Dracul is one of the only characters who had the opportunity to do so (when Shinku briefly left the shower block to retrieve Zeke's pyjamas from Lyra). Not only that, but he was also in the infirmary (a likely place to find poisons) with Taka in one of the FTE slots before Maiko's party. Unlike Taka, Dracul hasn't been voted corrupt yet so he wouldn't be shocked if he took something from there. Therefore, he would have a greater chance of going through with any murder plan involving poison. (credits to those who created the aforementioned ideas first, idr your names)

As for his motive, I'm not completely sure yet. If I had to make an educated guess, I'd say it involves a combination of the hostage motive and his struggle to maintain a lie.

Anyway, the culprit!Dracul theory combined with his persistent lying makes it seem like the game is trying to give the audience reasons unrelated to his crime to vote him as corrupt. But even with that in mind, there's still a decent argument for the majority of votes being redemption because of his lack of involvement with his sisters' deaths compared to the cyberbully as well as his popularity with the yaoi-loving target audience.

Alora

I’ve never been good with loss.

TLDR: Alora engaged in Unethical Animal Experimentation as part of her self-imposed duty to find immortality and save Lillith's life. It's worth noting that Alora did not kill the animals, instead leaving them deformed, and also aims to keep their lives intact.

There is plenty of new info supporting my theory:

One of the items in her cell is a vat labelled "Spot", a stereotypical name for a pet dog, containing a creature Shinku can't identify, hinting at Alora's test subjects indeed being animals. We also now have a possible reason for the animals being labelled as "friends" that goes beyond the fairytale context, which is them being her pets.

Her insistence on creating an escape route before anyone dies coupled with her history of trying to maintain the lives of plants according to her FTEs reinforces her obsession with prolonging all forms of life, which mirrors the Witch's endeavour to maintain the lives of all the "animal friends" she tested on.

I hadn't kept the meaning of the notes in mind aside from their connections with Alora and Lillith back when I wrote my old posts because I deemed it unnecessary, but in retrospect they actually reveal some things that are *somewhat* related to Alora's crime.

Alora actually defied her employers when she started her experiments, meaning she didn't choose animals to experiment on over humans for reasons related to protocol like I had previously speculated. It also explains why she chose her pets as test subjects.

Alora was previously imprisoned for her crime by the government due to a majority vote from the public allowing "ethical" testing on certain prisoners and ironically tested on herself.

Despite the point above, she still considers herself innocent. This adds depth to her portrayal as a witch in her fairytale; it'd represent her crime being stigmatized by the public despite being for a noble cause from her own perspective.

When the prison's condition worsened, she and the other prisoners killed one of them to prevent a mass suicide. Strangely, this doesn't count towards her crime in Lockdown despite it arguably being more severe than Animal Experimentation.

Read the notes post here for full context.

With the notes in mind alongside my previous speculation, there is a decent case for Alora being voted redemption as they portray her in a heavily sympathetic light (compare that with fellow "helpful lover" Maiko, who is demonized in the library books and Lillith tweets). I don't just say this because of my own bias either; many in the fandom have proven themselves to accept skewed portrayals at face value.

However, the same can be said for corrupt. Some audience members might disagree with her desire to keep all living things alive, including the pets and Lillith herself, who fears living forever according to her bio; they may believe it'd be better to put the pets and Lillith out of their misery instead. Some could also view her hypocrisy — opting to report the other prisoners to authorities upon escape despite having experienced the corruption of authority first-hand — as evidence that she is not capable of changing her mindset.

Her plot relevance as well as the narrative casting suspicion onto her (e.g. some characters' observations of her "talking to herself" — her talking to the earpiece which almost definitely has Lillith on the other end) leads me to believe her character arc will play a role in her verdict, though I'm not too sure which direction it will head in yet.

Taka

…I can’t take this anymore! This isn’t fair! I just did what everyone else in the industry did! That’s just how showbiz works!

TLDR: Taka's crime segment and fairytale include contradictory retellings of his crime. The former excluded that he is just as much of a victim of abuse from the TV industry as he is a perpetrator. The latter implied his employees didn't rebel against him despite his crime segment revealing they sent him to Lockdown in retaliation.

My hunch that Taka was also being abused at work himself was true to a degree. More specifically, the TV industry manipulated him into believing he must commit OSHA violations in order to assert his place as a celebrity, his producers organized cyberbullying campaigns against him and his line of work stripped him of most of his personal agency.

As for what was wrong, there hasn't been anything to suggest any of his employees other than his producers had abused him or that they were bound by NDA. That's not to say they are completely absolved of responsibility though; after all, they paid to have someone's death broadcasted to the dark web instead of trying to find work elsewhere or breaking him out of his figurative brainwashing.

Before CH1 Daily dropped, I had brushed off the phrase "power got to [the jester's] head" as a corny "fame bad" kinda thing. However, this may actually be a sneaky way of referring to his indoctrination (i.e. the industry being the "power" in question). This means that unlike what I thought a month ago, my conviction in Taka simultaneously being a victim and perpetrator of psychological abuse had been confirmed the whole time.

With all of this being said, I still think the audience would've voted him corrupt even if they knew about his backstory. Not only are OSHA violations highly taboo in this day and age, but Taka lacks the moralistic personality traits that contributed to Mint and Ismene's redemption verdicts.

Ismene

…My breaking point was what he did to Dakota.

TLDR: Ismene's crime segment excluded the reason she believed her murder of her professor was justified, which is that he was harming people at her university in some way. Dakota's traumatization was also considered a good thing for a vague reason.

The audience's collective premonition of Ismene using ethics to justify her crime has turned out to be correct, even if it was mainly based on comparisons with the beta and surface-level impressions of her personality. The professor had been torturing the other students by forcing his opinions onto them and sabotaging their grades if they defied said opinions, which caused some to consider dropping out and Dakota to even try and kill himself. To make matters worse, the university didn't do anything about it because it didn't want to ruin his career, meaning Ismene has little choice other than to take things into her own hands.

(note: Funnily enough, the university's actions mirror the way the UTP handles the Ultimates' crimes, though Ismene probably doesn't realize this.)

On the other hand, something that needs an urgent update is my interpretation of the fairytale. For one, the priest's sacrifice being "for the good of the community" actually has a double meaning. From Ismene's perspective, her crime was committed for both the aforementioned practical "good" and, previously unknown to the audience, emotional "good" — Ismene wanted to mend her friend group that had been torn apart by the professor. Ironically, each of these backfired when she got them involved in her crime.

I've also changed my mind about the Gods who were gleeful about the ram's sacrifice representing Ismene's classmates now that I know Dakota was actually included within their group and Ismene's relationship with her classmates was specifically a close friendship. Instead, the Gods may be a second symbol alluding to Ismene with the ram representing the entire friend group's sheepish behaviour rather than just Dakota. The Gods being "gleeful" can be explained by Ismene's anticipation of the group trauma bonding over their shared experience of the murder.

Speaking of the Gods, Ismene being represented by both them and the priest — a follower of God — does not represent any religious beliefs, but rather her extreme allegiance to her personal values. In fact, she even dismissed her beliefs about Dionysus, something Antebellum oldgens are familiar with, as something silly she did when she was a teenager. This vague reference to her past as a cult member in the beta appears to be nothing more than a red herring.

I interpret Ismene having two symbols as an allegory to her two-faced behaviour, i.e. pretending the murder was an accident to her friends and putting up a harsh front to disguise her intense sentimentality and her guilt surrounding the murder pre-verdict. Because of this, a parallel can be drawn between her, Lyra and Asuga. The latter two also have two symbols in their fairytales and their crimes each involve manipulation of their comrades, albeit to an even greater degree than Ismene's. It can even be argued that deception being less important to Ismene's crime is subtly foreshadowed by her fairytale not telling us that she has two symbols, unlike those of the other two.

(note: Taka isn't included amongst them because the jester didn't become the king, he just thought he was one.)

To briefly acknowledge the comparison with Athena, the only addition is that her "insight" also alludes to Ismene's yaps about Greek mythology in her FTEs. Like most of her actions, Ismene's interpretations seem to be influenced by her personal beliefs, especially regarding gender politics. But other than that, my input pretty much remains the same.

The last thing that needs to be addressed is how partial Mononeko's recount of her crime is. One such example is them talking about Ismene and her friend group of Classics kids as if they were insane. But as revealed in her traumadump, they actually had initially bonded over their status as intellectually-oriented social outcasts. Thus, their portrayal as "freaks" is really based on their perception of their relationship with society.

Furthermore, their awkward use of the term "unempathetic" was a demonization of the motive behind her getting her friends involved. What she felt wasn't empathy, but sympathy; she could handle the professor's abuse while her friends couldn't and as a result, she overlooked the difference in mental tenacity between her and her friends while committing the murder. Therefore, her actions ended up being much more insensitive than she had anticipated.

In conclusion, this entire section should be taken as a warning sign that despite being coated in tricky symbolism, the fairytales are more faithful to the characters' crimes than their "Of Course They Did It" segments.

Fu

Fu: Hell, if it weren’t for me taking a certain opportunity I would’ve be *half* as successful. Heh, I wouldn’t be an Ultimate. Shinku: You… You only got your talent through a lucky break? Fu: Aww, c’mon kid. I wouldn’t call it that, I’d call it a ‘unique opportunity’.

TLDR: Fu was paid by the parents of a dead man to arrange a ghost marriage (a Chinese tradition). In doing so, he obtained a bride for the dead man by murdering a woman at random. The fairytale's portrayal of him as the Grim Reaper implies he has committed multiple Contract Killings.

There is plenty of new information supporting my previous theory, the most obvious of which comes from Fu's FTEs. This is especially true in his final one, in which he straight-up told Shinku about Chinese cultural beliefs surrounding marriage and the afterlife in his final FTE. I'm not even joking.

They have also provided us with some insight into why Fu's arrangement of a ghost marriage of all things is the reason he's participating in Lockdown: his extreme faith in opportunism, as illustrated by dialogue such as the quotes above, suggests that the arrangement is the reason he has an Ultimate. Therefore, the gold in the fairytale actually holds two meanings: money and the Ultimate. This is due to Fu recognizing an Ultimate title as a means of dragging himself out of poverty.

Based on his advice to Shinku about survival — you should sell certain ideas as better than they are — it can be inferred that Fu might have convinced the parents that him killing a "bride" for them was a good idea or he might have concealed the truth about her death from them, hence them being overjoyed about the success of their deal in the fairytale. This would enhance their gullible portrayal from the fairytale which was established by them believing in a cultural superstition.

FTEs aside, his protective behaviour towards younger female prisoners imply he has experienced multiple events in which young women get hurt. While I've seen some members of the audience interpret it as a heartwarming father figure trait, those who have read his fairytale will perceive it as him protecting them from people who kill young women for blasphemous business deals like himself.

The audience has been given a more practical reason to give him a redemption vote than fanservice, i.e. him claiming he will spill his thoughts on the killing game in his pre-FTE slots. Some may also deem his childhood impoverishment sympathetic enough to at least consider a redemption vote.

However, in spite of the points above, I still expect his verdict to lean corrupt because based on the previous judgement, the fans tend to value reasoning behind the crimes that is simultaneously practical & morally-driven. I also don't expect his "lose all faith in humanity" speech to hold much weight for the players in comparison to every other reason given to vote him either way.

Asuga

Asuga: They do help me a lot, even without knowing it. Asuga: I’ll admit, being a big sibling to all of them kinda helps me make peace with the past… And reminds me that I can do better, all things considered. Shinku: I know you can, I’ve seen it in action. Asuga: I don’t reckon it’s selfish of me to move on and try to do better, is it?

TLDR: Asuga built her beloved circus family on manipulation to compensate for not having a relationship with her real brother Nikko and lied to the circus' customers about this, possibly even gaining her Ultimate under false pretenses. She believes her crime is justified because she made her employees rich by sharing the benefits of her Ultimate with them.

Back when I made the first posts, Asuga's crime was the only one I couldn't pinpoint because the obscurity of the fairytale's wording threw me off. This has changed as of Ch1, though the idea I have in mind will sound laughable without a proper explanation: Child Labor. By that, I don't mean anything extreme, moreso them being prevented from experiencing normal aspects of life such as having a proper education. Asuga herself revealed that she never completed her education because of the circus in her interrogation, so it'd be plausible for the same to apply to her kids.

The main reason I believe it's this is because I figured it'd have to be something Asuga has been somewhat transparent about but frames in the most favorable light possible, hence the moth's illusions. She's been pretty open about how she runs the circus, but hasn't divulged exactly how the circus was formed. This contrasts with her beta FTEs in which she told Shinku about how she banded with a group of homeless kids, so I assume the founding of the circus is directly involved with her crime in Lockdown. Additionally, apart from her proposition to Shinku at the end of her FTEs, I've never heard of any of her employees being older than her, let alone adults.

In order to fully understand why she would do this, the subtext in her FTEs and interrogation needs to be addressed. The main driving factors behind her crime are things that are still being ignored by the public fanbase.

Underlying Egotistical streak (The moth and its illusions)

When Asuga shared her belief that people will hurt others out of envy when faced with any perceived inequality, one might only pay attention to her witnessing other people do so. However, she includes herself when talking about people who have done such things, meaning her beliefs actually originate from her projecting her own past actions onto others.

When Asuga brought up age as an excuse, she implied that she hurt others in envy when she was a child and considers her age to be an excuse. The latter most likely applies to their crime as well.

She implied she harmed Nikko in some way. Her only elaborating on having left him and yelling at him for causing her pet worm to die may trick the audience into believing these were the worst things she has done to him, but given her explanation of her and the other child models' envious feelings (e.g. thinking "they can get knocked down a few pegs"), she has likely hurt him in other ways. "I wasn't the nicest to him" is a very mildly worded way of admitting this.

Her interrogation confirmed that Asuga isn't truly as humble as she appears; she fully believes the circus will forgive her crime due to it being "necessary" and Mononeko called her out for believing she is above the other prisoners.

Motives Behind Crime (The light the moth had coveted their entire life)

As implied by her fairytale, Asuga's motives to start a circus and commit their crime are one and the same — to recreate their childhood but "better".

Asuga sympathizes with her abuser (her mother) in spite of everything because the latter's actions mirror her own crime. Both took advantage of the efforts of children to bring themselves out of poverty, although Asuga has not been transparent with her kids about this.

Since Asuga focused more on her feelings of being exploited than her mother's actions being illegal when discussing her past, she likely perceives her lying as making it better because the kids are happier that way. This was reinforced by her interrogation, in which she revealed that her employees had dissatisfying lives before joining the circus and she wished to console them.

A lesser factor to her motive is her experience with only earning admiration through racial objectification as it likely made her want to earn admiration for her abilities rather than her appearance.

While her claim that forming the circus gave her more freedom than she had as a child model is absolutely true, it can also be argued that she craved control of others alongside her personal liberty. Whether or not she is conscious of this is uncertain.

In her interrogation, she says "I’d rather take responsibility myself and keep everyone else safe than stress constantly about how everything is going." Objectively, they are referring to a sense of responsibility but this can also be read as a need for control.

Outside of its dictionary meaning, the title of her FTEs on Youtube, "Liberty Act", and its description relate to control disguised by the appearance of freedom.

To further the argument for the founding of the circus being directly linked it Asuga's crime, what she says about her choice to abandon Nikko mirrors what Emilia says about her crime in her bio:

Asuga: Oh, don’t you worry! I don’t feel all that guilty about it anymore- Asuga: I understand it was a bad thing for me to do, don’t get me wrong. Asuga: But you can’t change the past, can you? Asuga: I regret that my resentment blinded me and I left him… But what can I do about it now? […] Asuga: You just gotta keep moving forward with life! I’ve got a much bigger family now in the circus and all I can do is take care of them and be a better sibling to them from now on!

After their interrogation I can firmly say she's the prisoner I'm rooting for the most. They seem to understand their own wrongdoing but also the necessity of their actions.

The basis of Emilia's favoritismseems to be her personal sentiments rather than Asuga's crime. The excuse above can arguably be used for Lyra, Ismene and Mint yet Emilia was far less lenient towards them.

Crime aside, my comparisons between Hera and beta!Asuga are ironic in hindsight with her dumping Taka in Ch1. Instead, Hera's acts of vengeance against Zeus' mistresses and bastards are mirrored by Asuga and Nikko's mutual envy in childhood and Asuga's semi-frequent scolding of Taka over his crime. The comparisons between Hera and the leapfrog still hold up, however.

My new prediction for her most likely crime establishes an even stronger argument for a corrupt vote as child labor is highly taboo. It's also plausible for fans to take her hypocrisy into account (i.e. shunning Taka for mistreating his employees despite taking advantage of her own ones, believing her crime isn't as bad as those of the other prisoners) once her negative side is stripped of its illusions. While I can easily imagine Asuga gaining some redemption votes out of sympathy, her seemingly innocent portrayal and divinized fandom reception don't make for a sufficient argument in favor of it being her verdict as of Ch1.

Mint

It's silly but, I thought if I took on the sin of dealing with my father for her then she wouldn't have to do anything- she would still get into heaven.

TLDR: Mint's crime segment and fairytale each included different motives for his crime. The former only addressed his desire for monetary gain, painting him in the most unflattering way possible. The latter brought to light that at least 1 of his parents is abusive and he poisoned his dad to keep them apart.

To start off, the elephant in the room has been cleared up as both of Mint's parents have been explicitly revealed to be abusive in some way. His dad is the primary instigator, lashing out at family members when things didn't go his way. A few examples include hitting Mint as punishment for not living up to his standards of strength and masculinity (at least that's what I gathered from the game's timid wording of it), using Peony's (Mint's mother) religious beliefs to manipulate her into feeling guilt for his actions and indirectly killing Lavender (Mint's sister) by ceasing her treatment because it put the family in debt.

The last of the examples above is the most important as it's the catalyst behind Mint sedating and stealing money from his dad despite being a rich Ultimate. This means both of Mint's core motives are intertwined; he initially used the money to try and save Lavender's life. I presume it was mixed alongside his Ultimate money because the game didn't address that outside of Shinku's narration. Perhaps his dad's behaviour was enough reason to poison him regardless of whether or not Lavender was alive.

(note: there's no need to elaborate but this adds extra meaning to his label in the fairytale as a "sick man".)

Peony's abuse isn't as severe as her husband's but it still played a direct role in Mint's crime. She refused to take action against her husband's actions in any way due to her devout Catholicism, thus rendering her an enabler. Said religion-induced inertia was a driving factor behind Mint's decision to take matters into his own hands as he wanted to ensure Peony's place in Heaven. Her personification as a witch — a stigmatized saboteur — holds multiple other meanings in regards to this.

Some of these meanings relate to negative perceptions of her, both her own and those of others. Considering the thematic pervasion of gender politics in Lockdown, "witch" symbolizes her self-image as a woman persecuted by God. As for others, one is Mint; after his verdict, he slowly began to criticize her inaction towards Lavender's death amongst other things. I only bring this up because it can be used as a basis to argue that Mint may have had hidden or repressed resentment for Peony back when he committed his crime. The other is her husband viewing her as a scapegoat.

There are also several allusions to her dynamic with Mint. Contrary to my previous thoughts, the witch sending the crow to poison the man is not literal; it actually represents Mint's feelings of responsibility on behalf of Peony. In other words, Peony is accidentally the Wicked Witch of the West to Mint's flying monkey (as strange as it sounds for someone like Mint, this is technically another type of abuser). Additionally, crows are sometimes associated with witchcraft, foreshadowing Mint's personality being similar to Peony's in his dad's eyes.

Fairytale aside, we now have some answers as to what Demeter punishing anyone who tears her family apart means in the context of Mint's character. Not only does it refer to the obvious — his dad — but it also aligns with Mint's self-deprecation and eventual rejection of Peony. Furthermore, my speculation that Demeter caring about her family would parallel the circumstances surrounding Lavender in some way in Lockdown ended up being correct.

Maiko

Because I smell, my favourite characters are basic, I can’t draw, I once traced art to make Angelico’s reference image, I once self-shipped with someone else’s yume and- and- and- worst of all…

TLDR: Maiko plagiarized songs by other idols so that Yui, who she's in love with, could have her own songs and become famous. Yui didn't find until after the latter happened, causing her to cut Maiko off. Maiko now stalks Yui on a regular basis to make sure she isn't being harmed by the backlash of her ruined career.

New info supporting my theory:

With how much of Maiko's screentime in the main story, FTEs and Asuga's Ch1 favor event is centered around her simping for Yui, both directly and symbolically, it's very clear she's in love with her like the fairytale suggested.

In her 3rd FTE, she recalls Yui's last known whereabouts to extreme detail. This is one of several references to Perfect Blue within Maiko's characterization. More specifically, Maiko seems to be inspired by Rumi Hidaka (Mima's manager who was secretly stalking her and ghostwriting a webpage from Mima's perspective).

Her 4th FTE reveals she has a history of acute plagiarism in fandom spaces (see the quote above) which mirrors what her crime most likely is. The existence of Angelico, her OC who is basically a cross between a wish fulfilment self-insert and a ripoff of Utena Tenjou, could also indicate this.

This is not new but something that went completely over my head back when I wrote my fairytale post is this awkward line of hers:

Uhm… What about those Swedish prisons where they let the Prisoners leave and prioritise mental health-? To rehabilitate them?

Maiko wanting to attend a prison centered around mental health seems to confirm that not only does she actually have mental health issues, but she's also aware of it.

Something I've partially changed my mind on is the symbolism in Maiko's fairytale.

In a somewhat adjacent manner to the old version, Yui's portrayal in Maiko's FTEs is of an aggressive individual LARPing as a conventionally feminine individual, albeit for a different reason (fame > romance). My speculation that the doe represents her image rather than her actual personality turned out to be true, except it refers to the public's perception of her rather than Maiko's. Yui sharing her species with Maiko's victims also now takes on a second meaning: the brash Yui and other idols being represented by graceful deer is an allegory to idols having to feign their image for acceptance (yet another factor supporting the whole "fame bad" message of Lockdown).

Something else I overlooked was the dog-master relationship Maiko believes she has with Yui. It has also adopted some new meanings alongside the ignored one now that we have new information from Maiko's FTEs. Aside from her unwavering loyalty and the reference to NANA, it alludes to three comorbid mental health issues she has:

Maiko's belief that Yui loves her back, as a master is typically expected to love their dog in return. Surprisingly, this retroactively confirms my suspicions of Maiko suffering from erotomania.

The implications of Yui bullying Maiko (i.e. bossing her around like a master may do to their dog) and Maiko silently feigning agreeance with it, which is one of the causes of her poor self-esteem.

Maiko's all but confirmed identity issues, which are a product of her love for Yui as per the Mei and Yuu allegory from one of Shinku's books (i.e. the dog seeing herself as nothing more than the doe's pet). This may explain why her name is in apostrophes and is yet another Rumi Hidaka reference (Rumi is said to have DID but frankly, she isn't a very accurate portrayal of it).

(note: this reminds me of those people you see in fandom spaces who have a very long list of disorders in their bio/info page except we can be certain Maiko actually has them.)

Now to address her Lillith tweets.

Lillith tweets on June 17th 2025 starting from approximately 4PM GMT:

Now… About [THE ANGEL]- …Well, I can already see them somehow getting worthy. The only people who seem to coddle them more than themselves is the audience. People ignored the blue warning signs for this long, I'm certain this won't wake them up to what they're really like. Which is a shame, because I doubt they'd learn anything if they got worthy. If anything, I believe they'd get worse. To them this isn't whether they are Worthy or corrupt, it's how their love is real or not. Whether they can still have hope. They shouldn't have that hope, it's slowly poisoning them. They need to learn their lesson, they need to be woken up. It's the only way they'll learn. But being forced to face reality like that? Goodness knows how they'd react… It's all they've been living for. Good thing we have you, no? But is temporary pain really necessary for long term growth? In their case, I think they'd fall. But if they could rise from the ashes, they'd finally become human. I'd keep a close eye on them, whatever happens you'll have quite a burden on your shoulders.

The identity of the angel is the most vague out of all 3 characters with implied crime reveals due to their ambiguous gender and traits that can arguably be linked back to a few other characters (Dracul, Asuga). What ultimately indicates that Maiko is the angel are the nickname itself being a callback to Angelico and much of the dialogue clearly referring to Maiko's suspected erotomanic feelings for Yui.

If this is the case, then Lillith's analysis of the in-universe audience is incongruent with the out of universe audience. From my observations, IRL fans have not coddled or ignored her strange behaviour. If anything, they have memeified it in a similar manner to their treatment of Taka's OSHA violations. Said incongruence is also part of the reason I had initially suspected Dracul or Asuga would be the angel as the nickname can relate to how both of them are idealized by the out-of-universe audience and their respective friends.

With that aside, my prediction for her verdict remains as corrupt. I cannot fathom any scenario in which she would gain redemption votes other than a minority doing so because they like or relate to her (I've seen the latter sentiment shared around a lot on Twitter).

Other Notes

To wrap things up, I'll introduce you to some theories about the verdicts.

Two Sides of the Same Coin Theory

Hypothesis: If the prisoners are arranged into pairs based on the circumstances and motives of their crimes amongst other things, then one member of each pair is more likely to be voted as Worthy of Redemption and the other Corrupt. If two members of a pair each end up with the same verdict, it'll reveal a bias the fandom has towards or against certain types of crimes and/or personalities. Similar theories about character parallels exist in the MILGRAM fanbase (e.g. Fuuta & Kotoko).

Shinku & Taka Got many people hurt through their corrupted line of work in a failed attempt to gain admiration.

Lyra & Asuga Manipulated their comrades to improve their own lives and create the illusion of freedom for someone.

Dracul & Zeke Accidentally caused the deaths of many during an impulsive attempt to affirm their "tough guy" image.

Ismene & Takiko Enacted "punishments" against people they consider immoral to satisfy their emotionally driven sense of justice.

Alora & Maiko Permanently ruined the lives of many to try and help one bitter, unwilling special person.

Mint & Fu Physically harmed another person to alleviate the fears of a religious third party and for monetary gain.

Apollonian vs Dionysian Theory

Hypothesis: Those whose crimes were motivated by a combination of rational (Apollonian) and emotional (Dionysian) factors are more likely to be voted as Worthy of Redemption while those whose motives are imbalanced either way are more likely to be voted as Corrupt. However, exceptions are not impossible.

Redemption Apollonian: N/A Balanced: Ismene, Lyra, Mint Dionysian: Dracul

Swing Vote Apollonian: N/A Balanced: Alora, Shinku Dionysian: N/A

Corrupt Apollonian: Fu Balanced: Asuga Dionysian: Maiko, Taka, Takiko, Zeke

[bigsissugi]

Wrangling Update: Fandom Tags for Fangans

Hello Ultimate Fangan Fans!

For several years, wrangling policy led to all fangan fandom tags redirecting to the Dangan Ronpa Series, which often made it difficult to find fanworks on AO3 for any specific fangan. Based on the updated policy laid out in this post, we’ve started splitting out some fangans into their own fandom tags on AO3. We hope these changes will make finding the fanworks you’re looking for easier in the future.

Please check under the cut for more information about which fangans have been canonized separately, as well as information about future fangan canonization criteria. 

What criteria does a fangan need to meet to get its own fandom tag?

AO3 tag wranglers will use the following criteria to determine if a fangan should get its own fandom tag:

Is the fangan in the format of either a playable game or a series of videos?

Does the fangan focus on a new cast of characters?

Does the fangan have at least 10 fanworks on AO3 posted by 10 unique users?

If the answer to all of these questions is YES, then it may qualify!

Which fangans meet those criteria at present?

AO3 tag wranglers have determined that the following fangans currently meet the criteria to be canonized as separate fandoms:

Project: Eden's Garden

Danganronpa: Despair Time

Danganronpa Another ~Another Despair Academy~

Super Danganronpa Another 2 ~The Moon of Hope and the Sun of Despair~

Tetro Danganronpa PINK

Danganronpa: Lapse

Danganronpa: (He)Artless Deceit

Tag wranglers will continue to monitor usage on other fangans tags and may make additional adjustments as usage changes. If you notice a fangan that is not on the above list that looks like it meets the criteria for its own fandom tag, you can let us know by contacting AO3 Support.

I've previously posted a work on AO3 for one of these fangans. Do I need to retag my work?

If you've tagged for a variation of the fangan's name or acronym in the fandom field, tag wranglers have made that tag a synonym of the fangan's fandom tag. This means other users will see your fanwork when browsing the fangan's fandom tag without you needing to make any changes.

If you only tagged for the fangan in the Additional Tags field, and used Dangan Ronpa Series or another tag unrelated to the fangan in the fandom field, your work will not show up in the fangan's fandom tag unless you edit your tags to add the fandom tag. However, it’s entirely up to you whether or not you wish to adjust the fandoms tags you use.

I want to read fics for a fangan that is part of a series of killing games or has an upcoming sequel. Is there a way that I can see everything for all entries in the series at once? Will I still be able to see fics that are solely about a specific entry in the series?

Yes! When multiple fangans in a series are eligible for their own fandom tags, tag wranglers will also create a metatag for the overall series, with each individual entry in the series getting its own subtag, to mirror the format we use for Dangan Ronpa fandoms. When browsing the metatag, users will also see fanworks tagged with a particular subtag. As an example, when browsing the metatag for the Danganronpa Another series, users will also see works tagged with the individual games within that series. Alternatively, a user can choose to browse solely within the subtag Super Danganronpa Another 2 if they are only interested in fanworks for that game. 

(From time to time, ao3org posts announcements of recent or upcoming wrangling changes on behalf of the Tag Wrangling Committee.)

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fun fact: asuga's ftes have more views on bilibili than youtube

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confession: i actually finished the current version of the ch1 daily update post about 2 weeks ago but postponed it in case asuga's interro got released before deadly life

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Can you believe it guys? Asuga interrogation, just less than a week away! Asuga interrogation is in less than a week! Woohoo! I am so happy about this information. Asuga interrogation, just less than a week away. Oh, wow! Can you believe it? Asuga interrogation, just in less than a week! It got here so fast. Asuga interrogation, just l-

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if you see a certain account in the fanganronpa tag with the initials AGS, block it. it's clearly AI

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i can't wait to see kazo say this iconic line in english in a few days

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implied takiko interro spoilers

i may elaborate more on this in the update post but tbh, the overall meaning i got from takiko's suspicious seeming answers (as well as her overall characterization thus far) wasn't "takiko is secretly the #1 most evil prisoner", even if that's pretty obvious to anyone who isn't jumping to conclusions. it seems more like she's been given personality traits that are often stereotyped as evil ("control freak", great social skills, observant, etc) to fool the audience into suspecting her, possibly as a set-up to deconstruct that type of character

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"people should talk about asuga's lore more often" wait till you see what a certain tumblr user is going to drop within the next few weeks

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The Notes in the Prison

In case you're unfamiliar with them, the notes are flavor text scattered around the game's map revealing lore about the prison in the form of letters, diary entries and other kinds of text.

Info:

Spoilers for both LOCKDOWN and the beta

Spelling & grammar issues kept for informative purposes

Author: Alora

Alora's notes are in a letter/diary entry format. Almost all of them are addressed to "My Dearest", referring to Lillith (as you may recall from the fairytale post pre-ch1, I estimated that Lillith was represented by the "dear friend" in Alora's fairytale). Her letters reveal that she was once incarcerated during the time period in which the prison Lockdown takes place in was owned by the government according to one of the books in the library:

(A book about the founding of this Prison..?) (A lot of the information here is redacted but it appears to explain how this prison was founded initially by the government.) (…Apparently it was used as an 'ethical' human testing facility. As the public ruled that prisoners convicted with certain charges could ethically be tested on as punishment.) (…It seems abandoned now though, I wonder what happened.)

The following can be inferred based on both the notes and that book:

Alora was deemed as corrupt by the in-universe public before the events of the game, presumably for the crime hinted at in her fairytale.

Alora believes there was nothing wrong with her crime. This and the point above were also foreshadowed by a line in the prologue:

But you can’t guarantee the audience will vote purely on morality, can you? This doesn’t seem very operationalised, or fair… For that matter.

Contrary to her usual obedience, Alora defied her employers when undertaking her goal of finding immortality.

Alora was experimented on herself, which is an ironic punishment for someone who's implied crime is Unethical Experimentation.

The unidentifiable creatures in the vats have existed since the government owned the prison.

At some point the wardens started neglecting the prisoners, causing a food outage and overall worsened conditions, and eventually stopped engaging with the prisoners altogether unless it was to entertain themselves.

Following the point above, she and the other prisoners killed one of them to prevent a mass suicide. Ironically, this highlights her obsession with prolonging all life while she's taking one.

She was somehow led to believe Lillith died during her sentence, though the audience knows this is (probably) untrue.

The only oddity in regards to them being written by Alora is the letters having a romantic quality to them despite her canonically being aroace, but the evidence in favor of author!Alora is too overwhelming for this one contradiction to cause the entire theory to be written off.

Here, the notes are arranged in an approximate chronological order.

1: Common Room #1

(There's some papers here…) ('Try as I might. I must keep her alive.') ('My medical abnormality, my lily.') ('It's not simply for selfish reasons, the peculiarities in her could have world changing consequences…') ('The higher-ups wouldn't believe me.') ('So for now this must stay confidential…') ('But I fear I'm running out of time, it's terminal.') ('I hope I have the capability to perform this procedure myself.') ('She won't die.') ('If she died before me, I'd never forgive her.') ('…I hate being this emotional, I feel like a child.')

(note: this was probably written pre-incarceration.)

2: East Prison

(There's a note left here by someone…) ('Dearest, do not be discourged.') ('While circumstances may look grim, my innocence will become clear soon.) ('Do not waste any pretty tears on me, just promise you'll keep on fighting.') ('The Prison itself is… Strange. But there are many here like me.') ('It's like they loaded up everyone who didn't agree with them and shipped them off here!') ('Regardless, I will stay in good spirits. They won't break me.') ('So wait for me.')

3: Lab 2

(Some papers have been forced through the bars…) ('My Dearest, I'm writing to you so I can feel heard-') ('The guards chose me to partake in some sort of research…') ('I've been here for days…? Hours-?') ('I don't mean to sound insane but I keep being paranoid they'll turn me into one of those creatures.') ('Something was injected into me… I feel woozy.') ('But I'll keep my resolve.') ('I'll think of being in your arms, and the better future we can make.') ('That will bring me strength.') ('So wait for me.')

4: Shower Block

(A letter written seemingly in a hurry.) ('My Dearest-') ('I survived the experiment, but by the time I got released well…') ('Everyone has gotten very strange, I don't know how to describe it.') ('I don't have much time but I don't think I'm safe.') ('Still, I'm confident I will find a way. I have my head after all.') ('So wait for me.')

5: Lab 1

(There's ripped out pages from a diary here-) ('My Dearest, I'm sorry I have not written in a while.') ('The guards have been ignoring our requests aside from the occasional plea for food.') ('They seem strangely on edge…') ('Conditions have certainly gotten harder, but I have endured worse.') ('I'm certain I will be freed and we can continue fighting for what's right.') ('So wait for me.')

6: Canteen #1

(It's a frantic pile of letters, all addressed to 'My Dearest.') ('My Dearest, I confess I've done something terrible.') ('Circumstances had become so dire that a certain prisoner thought it best we all join in union and die peacefully together.') ('He cared little for our consent in the matter.') ('Despite being the only one left with half a head on my shoulders, I might have acted the most irrationally.') ('Since I believed the wardens were coming I got them all to help me hide him..') ('We shattered him like a mirror and put a shard in each of the dolls.') ('I've been trying to wash away what happened at the showers.') ('I'll be better when I come home.') ('So please, wait for me…')

7: Laundry

(Some letters on the ground…) ('My dearest…') ('When the showers failed to wash away the sin, I turned to physically washing away the evidence.') ('Fire proved more effective. I hope the wardens won't find anything.') ('…God forbid what I've done. Even if it's for the best.') ('I swear I keep hearing you, everytime I do I can't help but miss you even more..') ('Are you still waiting for me?')

8: Infirmary #1

(There's some more letters-) ('My Dearest,') ('I am ill. I am very, very ill.') ('The wallpaper keeps curling and laughing at me.') ('You are laughing at me, you are certainly laughing at me.') ('You are dead and laughing at me, they call it mania, I know what I see.') ('Do not mock me darling, I miss you dearly.') ('In death we shall meet.') ('So wait for me.')

9: Infirmary #2

(There's a letter here-) ('My dearest, I apologise for my previous lapse in judgement-') ('I was briefly hysterical but I have recovered.') ('The others… Have not though.') ('I hear sobbing, everyone seems broken.') ('I can't recall the last time I saw a warden…') ('The food is dwindling, some prisoners have resorted to eating the plants-') ('Others the pills… Which may explain their behaviour.') ('But they will come back soon, I am certain.') ('So wait for me.')

10: West Prison

(It's a set of letters…) ('My Dearest,') ('My Darling,') ('My Dear Dead Darling,') ('I no longer fear the death you endured,') ('Blood has stained my hands and hope has left this prison,') ('I hope they will see me as an example.') ('When the wardens return they tell us we will be the perfect examples.') ('By drowning in sin I have become a martyr, something for the whole country to look towards. But do not fear, I am still yours.') ('Yours, forever, always, no matter what.') ('You alone have the power to gift me humanity once more.') ('I will reunite with you on the other side.') ('So wait for me.')

11: Canteen #2

(It's a frantic pile of letters, all addressed to 'My Dearest.') ('I'm sure you'll understand.') ('Please, my darling, I'm not like the others, but we were desperate.') ('The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.') ('They were violent, so we sorted out the issue.') ('I was correct though, the Wardens did return… To take pictures.') ('My God, I think we might be doomed.') ('I know now, if I leave… I'll not be the person you love.') ('But please wait for me.')

12: Common Room #2

(It's a letter…) ('My Dearest,') ('The Wardens are most certainly not coming back. I'm certain.') ('At first we rejoiced, their cruelty would be over.') ('But hunger births cruelty.') ('A lack of authority births cruelty.') ('These men are not criminals, I am certain in that judgement.') ('But this place has made them monsters.') ('Day by day, my reflection changes too.') ('I love you, so monsterously I love you.') ('But when I leave, you will not love what I've become.') ('I intend to spend some time cleansing myself when I'm freed.') ('So please wait for me.') ('Heaven won't let me enter to see you, not like this.')

Author: Emilia

Most of Emilia's notes are letters addressed to "Sis", which may be a reference to Elodi, Emilia's sister from the old version (in case you didn't play: she was Emilia's much girlier older sister but their conservative father rejected her anyway because she was trans, even when she needed urgent medical assistance.) But unlike the old version, Emilia now seems to hold contempt for Elodi because the latter is responsible for her ending up in the prison. Interestingly, the letters reveal that she was once a prisoner herself and seemingly incarcerated alongside Alora.

The last two notes are funny responses to Krypto's complaints (see the section below).

Once again, these are in approximate chronological order.

1: East Prison

('Hey Sis, It's me.') ('The prison is shit, as I thought.') ('All these prisoners are mellow, soft, not like me.') ('They all comply to the silly experiments the wardens force us into.') ('Far too polite to be in a place like this.') ('…Not that I'm complaining, the Wardens seem to strangely prefer me to them.') ('I'm hoping that will help me get out sooner.') ('You know, so I can kill you.')

2: Medicine Storage

(There's some sort of diary written out here…) ('Hey Sis.') ('I'm trying to keep my wits about me here, but it's getting to be a little tough.') ('The other prisoners have definitely gone insane.') ('I know food is dwindling, but they shouldn't be turning to sustain themselves on pills…') ('I don't know much about this stuff. But I know that's NOT going to help their mental states in the slightest.') ('This room is easiest to lock, so I'm going to try to transfer a lot from the infirmary into here, for their sake. But I can't be solely responsible for treating them…') ('…I'll figure out what to do.') ('…I have to.')

3: Lab 1

(There's some fragments of a letter scattered about here-) ('Sis, I've got some wonderful news to report!') ('Given recent events in the Prison, I've been appointed some… Special priviledges.') ('They've basically given me Warden status in return for helping with their research.') ('Beats being a guienna pig anyday, so I'm not complaining.') ('We're trying allll sorts on these prisoners, it's giving me all sorts of ideas-') ('For when I get out and kill you.')

4: Infirmary

(There's a letter here-) ('Heyyy Sis, being a warden is pretty sick-') ('But things have gotten a little complicated-') ('Less and less real wardens are showing up day by day-') ('And when they do show up they don't do their fucking jobs.') ('They throw the dogs a bone and leave.') ('The prisoners are getting pretty desperate…') ('But don't you worry! I'm completely okay.') ('Can't wait to see you again, so we can have some fun.')

5: Common Room #1

(It's a letter…) ('Hey Sis…') ('It's strange to think the government owns this place…') ('If the shit going on here got out there'd be outcries, I reckon.') ('The prisoners have lost it, they've begun butchering eachother.') ('I try to save their lives, but by the time I get to them sometimes the body has already been…') ('The wardens only return to take pictures, I've tried to speak to them but they just say 'this is what must be done.'') ('This is like a show to them… They show no empathy as I bring them people I'm barely able to keep alive… They just rip off the bandages and take more pictures.') ('I understand now, why you framed me.') ('This is worse than the hell you're going to burn in.')

Canteen

(It's a letter written a while ago-) ('Hey Sis, I don't think the wardens are coming back.') ('I thought I'd be happy to finally be in charge of this dump but…') ('Something is very, very wrong here.') ('I can't trust any of these prisoners with themselves.') ('I don't know what those experiments did to these lot…') ('But one day I'll do it to you.')

7: Common Room #2

(Various memos pointing out flaws in the cleaning here and denying requests for improved accomodation…)

8: Common Room #3

(Various 'memos' making fun of someone for… Being Ginger?)

Author: Krypto Asshole

Aka the mysterious janitor from Ch1 Daily (check his name badge). In his notes, he calls out Emilia for being an abusive, incompetent boss (ironic for someone who's punishing Taka over something similar), expresses his disdain for the Anti-Ultimate movement much like he did in Ch1 Daily and reveals he was once a prisoner himself (though probably not in the same cohort as Alora & Emilia). It's also worth noting that some aspects of Krypto's background mirror that of his beta equivalent, Kiyoshi Ainara. In case you didn't play: Kiyoshi took pride in his Ultimate label to the point of pretension, which has been repurposed into Krypto's attempt to side with the Ultimate prisoners and his comically formal tone of writing in comparison with Emilia's, and he had a daughter like Krypto does.

Unlike the notes by Alora and Emilia, Krypto's notes don't really have a distinct chronological order.

East Prison

(There's a letter of complaint here-) ('Miss Carmine,') ('When I took this position you provided me with seldom instructions or guidance.') ('You instructed me to, I quote: "Clean up the nice shit and leave the traumatic notes or whatever."') ('Now, I've reviewed these 'traumatic notes or whatever' and I have a few concerns.') ('But when I brought these concerns to your attention you scoffed and told me to get back to cleaning.') ('Specifically: "Go Ginger boy, go. Get that bleach like you could never get bitches."') ('This paired with a plethora of other unprofessional activities on your end has made this work questionable.') ('I refuse to clean until you review my concerns.') ('Kind regards, K.A (Head of cleaning and Maintenance (Janitor.)')

Lab 2

(It's a memo notifying that the place had been cleaned…) ('Miss Carmine, you may notice there is still blood all over this room.') ('Due to my ongoing protest I REFUSE to clean up the blood.') ('However, I did remove the body that was stored in the cell.') ('…It seemed fresher than I had anticipated, who did you get this facility from again?') ('I know you 'anti-ultimaters' are against thinking too hard about anything but still-') ('I suppose it doesn't matter.') ('Given your attitude, I doubt you're the one behind this.') ('Still, I insist you listen to my concerns.') ('Kind regards, K.A (Head of cleaning and Maintenance (Janitor.)')

West Prison

(There's a memo here…) ('I went to disconnect the phonelines as you instructed, Miss Carmine.') ('However, I regret to inform you that they were never connected to anything. These phones were simply loaded with predetermined messages…') ('Still, I've disabled them. But good to keep in mind for later.') ('Sometimes I question if you even examined this facility before accepting it..') ('Kind regards, K.A (Head of cleaning and Maintenance (Janitor.)')

Canteen

(It's some pages of a diary ripped out-) ('I restocked the kitchen enough that they won't need a chef for a while-') ('I don't know if that brat was kidding about me wearing a pink frilly apron and serving the prisoners, but I don't want to take chances here.') ('Being a janitor is bad enough, it's simply below me.') ('At this point I think I'd rather be dead.') ('Well, whatever. It's better than my dirty laundry being aired and ruining my daughter's life.') (I just can't shake the feeling that something is wrong here.)

Common Room

(It's a letter…) ('Miss Carmine,') ('You told me to decorate the common room area but failed to provide me with any proper resources to do so.') ('In the absence of any direction, I pulled up plants from the courtyard and placed them here.') ('In my professional opinion, I believe this looks shit.') ('If you agree, I'd advise giving me resources to actually do my job with in future instances of exploiting my unpaid labour.') ('However, if I am to be egotistical for a moment- the cells are perfect.') ('Despite the fact their 'decorated' cells are specifically designed to torture them, I predict they will be having a breakdown as soon as their contents are removed within the hour.') ('I was wondering if I could perform similar rennovations on the broom closet you've so kindly 'gifted' to me as accomodation?') ('Kind regards, K.A (Head of cleaning and Maintenance (Janitor.)')

Infirmary

(There's some notes here-) ('Miss Carmine, I have restocked the infirmary as you requested.') ('But some of these pills are… Questionable, do you know what these are?') ('Since you've dismissed my previous concerns I'll make it clear now:') ('I was grateful you withdrew my status of prisoner.') ('I do not say these things to criticise you or undermine that.') ('As much as I disagree with your cause and resent your mocking of me-') ('I'm starting to fear this is bigger than even your boss is prepared for.') ('Please address my concerns.') ('Kind regards, K.A (Head of cleaning and Maintenance (Janitor.)')

Author: Lillith

I already addressed this in my first post about Alora's fairytale, but there are multiple damning clues tying this sole letter in the East Prison to Lillith. It alludes to her flower motif (a white lily) being present in Alora's earpiece and Alora's quest to find immortality and is written in the same edgy, teasing tone Lillith's tweets are written in (@/lillithna).

(These don't look like the other letters…) ('Don't you miss me?') ('The plastic flower you clogged your ears with is adorable.') ('I'm still here.') ('I promised, after all.') ('Immortality, no?') ('You're so funny.')

Author: Other

The remaining pieces of paper come in various forms: a building sign, data logs, letters with unnamed authors and a calendar. All are clearly leftovers from the era in which the government owned the prison and the incident in which the wardens neglected the prisoners.

East Prison

('Testing Facilities ahead!') ('As part of your sentencing participation in these psychological tests is mandatory.') ('Attempts to avoid them will be severely punished.')

Medicine Storage

(Medical logs listing inventory, seems very disorganised and unprofessional after a certain date. Just covered in reminders to lock the door.)

West Prison

(A letter of resignation…) ('I doubt anyone will read this, but I have chosen to resign from my position as head of communications at this facility.') ('I cannot continue to fool these men by connecting them to empty lines, burning letters relatives send them and crushing their connections with the outside world.') ('The wardens have yet to return and things are getting pretty dire…') ('I just pray these souls find salvation in their next life.')

(I can't make out any of the handwriting on these notes… They barely seem like letters. Someone was pretty desperate, clearly.)

(There's… Strange lines written out on the paper, they seem very repetitive.) ('I cannot see. I cannot eat. I cannot love. I cannot feel you. I cannot feel my soul. I cannot feel my heart. I cannot feel my brain. I cannot feel my blood. I cannot feel my toes. I cannot feel my spine. I cannot feel my nerves. I cannot feel my skin. I cannot feel the air.') (That's… A bit concerning.)

(Note: probably written by a prisoner other than Alora or Emilia.)

Canteen

(Various previous prisoners have marked their date of release on here.) (But we've not reached any of those dates and yet they're not here anymore.) (I wonder what happened.)

(Note: this means the previous prisoners left prematurely after the wardens stopped looking after them, either by escaping or dying.)

Infirmary

(There's some sort of treatment log here…) (It looks fairly unprofessional following the second half though.) (Various Prisoner names and what they were perscribed…) (Medicine supplies seemed to be dwindling, weird they're all restocked now.)

(Note: should say "prescribed".)

Lab 1

(…These seem to be experiment logs, but someone has written all over them-) ('REBIRTH.')

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hello antebellum fan. before you stands asuga saintil and directly above you hangs an anvil. your test is to describe asuga's appeal without reducing her to half a ship or their sexuality/gender/race or ignoring her negative traits or the anvil will drop. good luck.

[bigsissugi]

since some of my pre-ch1 daily takes are blatantly outdated and i've changed my mind about some unconfirmed takes, i hope to get a big update post out before ch1 deadly

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[WIP] Theory: The DR: LIVe Or Die series has its own tropes

The storylines of each installment of the DR: LIVe Or Die series so far are built heavily around the concept of reoccuring motifs within murder mysteries (or "tropes" as they're called in-game in Survivor's Guilt). Ironically, it has created its own tropes in the process, which seems to be very much intentional.

This post serves as a database for all of the tropes present in the first 2 games of the series. Expect it to be updated as new chapters get released and I refresh my memory. Spoilers for each game ahead, plus 1 spoiler each for DRDT and DRTA (IYKYK).

Prologue

The first character to meet the protagonist is the first to die LIVe Or Die: The first student Megumi meets is Yukito, who eventually reached his demise in Ch1. Survivor's Guilt: The first named character Rui meets at the Danganronpa Survivors event is Minoru, who ends up being assassinated a few minutes later in the prologue.

Chapter 1, Day 1

Meetup with the sidekick before first breakfast LIVe Or Die: Megumi meets up with Yukito. Survivor's Guilt: Rui meets up with Alicia.

The victim's pitiful lore dump LIVe Or Die: Yukito tells Megumi & Ryo about how he became almost unable to use his right hand. Survivor's Guilt: Shouma talks about his past toxic relationship with Haruo.

Someone takes up a leadership position and establishes themselves by hosting an introductory event. This serves as a red herring death flag as each character actually maintains their role well beyond Chapter 1. LIVe Or Die: Chidori Survivor's Guilt: Gumi

The first motive announcement LIVe Or Die: Monokuma offers $1,000,000 to whoever kills first and a colored knife to each student based on gender. Survivor's Guilt: Monokerfie gives no motive due to its confidence in the wolves' capabilities of killing again.

The protagonist's first pre-bedtime conflict LIVe Or Die: Megumi is told by Yukito that he wants to orchestrate a murder and she was his first killer/accomplice option. Survivor's Guilt: Rui enrages Aki by comparing her Hashimoto's Disease with that of another previous Danganronpa participant.

Chapter 1, Day 2

The first fun event LIVe Or Die: Megumi, Chidori & Fuu cook dinner together. Survivor's Guilt: The beach event.

The protagonist gets involved in a conflict with 2 other characters of the same gender LIVe Or Die: Megumi argues with Chidori & Fuu while cooking. Survivor's Guilt: Rui breaks up a fight between Kazuki & Takeshi.

The foreboding conversation LIVe Or Die: Ayaka tells Megumi she's going to wash her clothes in the laundry the next morning (i.e. the scene of the crime). Survivor's Guilt: Rui gets into an argument with Shouma about the latter's mental state, foreshadowing the motive behind his assisted suicide.

Chapter 1, Day 3 (Deadly Life)

The murder involves the victim organizing their own death LIVe Or Die: Yukito comes to Takeshi with the plan only for Takeshi to use it on him. Survivor's Guilt: Shouma constructs a trap that Yumi unwittingly sets off.

A character with experience in murder mysteries takes the lead in the investigation with the protagonist following along LIVe Or Die: Ryo Survivor's Guilt: Gumi

A shy character is suspected due to their involvement with the crime scene LIVe Or Die: Ayaka is found unconscious in the laundry room. Survivor's Guilt: Mamoru picks up his hockey puck when the others discover Shouma's body, then runs away from the crime scene.

Chapter 1 Victim

LIVe Or Die: Yukito Ishida Survivor's Guilt: Shouma Yoshida

The victim is suicidal LIVe Or Die: Yukito is apathetic towards others' lives, including his own. Survivor's Guilt: Shouma lost all will to live due to his trauma resurfacing during his second killing game.

The victim shows a disregard for others' lives LIVe Or Die: see point above Survivor's Guilt: Shouma decided to trick 1 person into killing him, knowing it'd put the others' lives in jeopardy.

The victim beefs with the protagonist shortly before their death LIVe Or Die: Megumi is the first person Yukito comes to with his murder plan, causing tension between the two. Yukito doesn't listen to Megumi's subsequent attempts to reason with him. Survivor's Guilt: Rui argues with Shouma about his declining mental health the night before the latter's death.

Chapter 1 Culprit

LIVe Or Die: Takeshi Kizuna Survivor's Guilt: Yumi Senuma

The culprit is somewhat people pleasing LIVe Or Die: Takeshi is an attention-hungry Youtuber. Survivor's Guilt: Yumi acts as a mother figure to the group.

Chapter 2, Day 1

Characters have trouble sleeping following the deaths of their peers LIVe Or Die: Megumi Survivor's Guilt: The entire cohort

Suspicious items found in new areas LIVe Or Die: Haruo finds files related to the killing game in the computer room. Survivor's Guilt: The medications of several "wolves" including the deceased Minoru are found in the infirmary.

The second motive announcement LIVe Or Die: Flashback lights. Survivor's Guilt: A siren that would only end once someone is murdered.

Chapter 2, Day 2

One of the deaths acts suspiciously at breakfast LIVe Or Die: Sayuri is late and acts absentmindedly, foreshadowing her reaction to the flashback light. Survivor's Guilt: Rika starts making coffee for everyone so they can cope with the motive.

The second fun event involves performing LIVe Or Die: Karaoke Survivor's Guilt: Talent show

Characters argue over the identity of the mastermind LIVe Or Die: Rin thinks a mastermind is within the group and Pascal cannot accept her idea. Survivor's Guilt: Takeshi accuses Gumi of being the mastermind or plotting a murder due to her suspicious recount of her boat ride.

The second foreboding conversation involves eavesdropping LIVe Or Die: Megumi encounters Sayuri & Katsuya talking, but doesn't interrupt them or concern herself with the topic of their conversation. Survivor's Guilt: Rui eavesdrops on an argument between Mako, Rika and Mamoru concerning Mako and Rika's foniasophobic thoughts.

Chapter 2, Day 3 (Deadly Life)

At least 1 suspect is found directly at crime scene LIVe Or Die: Ryo is positioned into holding Sayuri's neck in the dark. Survivor's Guilt: Gumi and Hayato fix Gumi's nameplate nearby Mako's room.

The murder involves a drugging LIVe Or Die: Sayuri invites Ryo to her room and drugs him with the intent of using him as a scapegoat. Survivor's Guilt: Rika kills Mako by spiking her coffee with Yumi's medication.

The group initially gets the murder weapon wrong LIVe Or Die: Ryo's hands instead of a cable Survivor's Guilt: A knife instead of medication

The victim is discovered to have died earlier than thought LIVe Or Die: Sayuri's scream was a recording created to fool the group into thinking she was alive when Ryo had his hands wrapped around her neck. Survivor's Guilt: Mako died before Hayato broke into her room and stabbed her.

The victim sacrifices themselves for the culprit LIVe Or Die: Sayuri plans her death alongside Katsuya, who she wants to escape. Survivor's Guilt: Mako doesn't realize Rika killed her until her last living moments and uses that time to cooperate with Rika's plan.

The execution's name involves cleaning LIVe Or Die: Automatic Laundry Survivor's Guilt: Always Clean Your Tools

A standoffish non-binary character announces their loss of cooperation with something post-trial LIVe Or Die: Alucard distances himself from the group due to them being unable to prevent murders. Survivor's Guilt: Aki starts a one-person protest against the killing game.

Cryptic scene involving the mastermind(s) LIVe Or Die: Monokuma chats with the mastermind, commending them for their performance thus far. Survivor's Guilt: A conversation between two presently unknown characters, one of which being bound and gagged and the other claiming to enjoy the killing game.

Chapter 2 Other

Both deaths become lovers at some point in the chapter LIVe Or Die: It is revealed that Sayuri & Katsuya are a couple on day 2. Survivor's Guilt: Rika & Mako announce their reunion on day 1.

Side note: Hayato establishing himself as a serious antagonist in ch2 of Survivor's Guilt follows a trend specific to the fangan community in which their antagonists are revealed in ch2 instead of the typical prologue-ch1 (David Chiem, Ryohei Seki, etc). Considering that the creators have admitted to consuming many other fangans including lesser known ones as well as the game's storyline, this may be an intentional homage.

Chapter 2 Victim

LIVe Or Die: Sayuri Kurosawa Survivor's Guilt: Mako Niwaka

The victim has unconventional personal values LIVe Or Die: Sayuri is passionate about old-school media and holds disdain for modern media. Survivor's Guilt: Mako despises men because of her past experiences with them during her first killing game.

Chapter 2 Culprit

LIVe Or Die: Katsuya Heyaboshi Survivor's Guilt: Rika Iwasaki

The culprit has a passionate temperament LIVe Or Die: Katsuya is a generally hot-blooded individual. One such example of him expressing this is his attack on Monokuma during the prologue. Survivor's Guilt: Rika is an outgoing, flirty, love-obsessed individual.

Chapter 3, Day 1

The rival stirs shit at breakfast LIVe Or Die: Alucard yaps about his philosophy, explaining that he believes everyone sees each other as enemies and will inevitably resort to murder to ensure their survival. Survivor's Guilt: Hayato flirts with Rui, comparing their dynamic to Hinata & Komaeda from canonronpa in the process.

The rival is excluded from the group LIVe Or Die: Alucard isolates himself by choice. Survivor's Guilt: Gumi shuns Hayato and makes the rest of the group follow suit.

At least 1 leader-like individual starts a movement against an antagonistic figure LIVe Or Die: Chidori starts a strike against Monokuma. Survivor's Guilt: Gumi sets rules for the group to avoid Hayato's wrath and Boleslaw tries to overthrow Gumi out of concern for her leadership becoming dictator-like.

A new area opens up, including a bath house (speaks for itself)

The third fun event involves copyrighted media LIVe Or Die: Movie marathon Survivor's Guilt: Gaming tournament

The antag disrupts the aforementioned event Survivor's Guilt: Hayato brings up Rui's murder from DR50.

Chapter 3, Day 2

The new motive vaguely involves the idea of certainty LIVe Or Die: Monokuma will grant a wish as long as it's humanly possible (i.e. it's certain that the wish can be granted). Survivor's Guilt: The night sky will stay up. This causes everyone to figure out they are in a simulation. They speculate on whether or not the connection is set to soft connection (death = waking up) or hard connection (death = vegetative state), breeding uncertainty within the group (which they believe is the real motive).

Chapter 3, Day 3 (Deadly Life)

The murder case involves a set of stairs LIVe Or Die: Pascal kept track of everyone who travelled up and down the stairs while he fixed the lamp, including Rin. Survivor's Guilt: Alicia travelled down the stairs of the bath house to find Sumire.

The killer acted on their plan right under the noses of other participants LIVe Or Die: Rin carried Nene's body downstairs and used her voice to trick Pascal into having her alibi established. Survivor's Guilt: Boleslaw used the search time to turn on the light switch.

The culprit committed murder for the sake of one person from their backstories LIVe Or Die: Rin wanted to find a cure for her sister. Survivor's Guilt: Boleslaw wanted to reunite with Alucard.

The execution involves being shot in the head (speaks for itself)

Cryptic scene featuring someone wanting to end the killing game LIVe Or Die: A phone call including someone who didn't want to allow another Danganronpa to happen (presumably Gumi). Survivor's Guilt: Two people talking about how they want to rescue the participants before they all die (I have a feeling they are Daichi and Haruo).

Chapter 3 Other

The ch3 double murder happens, but in Survivor's Guilt the second victim (Alicia) lives.

Chapter 3 Victim

LIVOD: Chidori Sato/Nene Amemura SG: Sumire Akiyama

Chapter 3 Culprit

LIVOD: Rin Fukui SG: Boleslaw Shusui

The culprit is level-headed, contradicting the archetypal crazy ch3 killer from canonronpa (speaks for itself)

The culprit abides by a strict belief system LIVe Or Die: Rin is a dogmatist, basing her decisions almost entirely on logic. Survivor's Guilt: Boleslaw has strong political beliefs, an example of which being his stance against capitalism.

TBC

[bigsissugi]

(mild ch1 spoilers)

it's very interesting how CGs of shinku's flashbacks and visions of akari depict her dressed as a prim and proper schoolgirl, which is a far cry from the nonconforming gyaru we saw in her bio card. almost as if shinku's rule-abiding values are causing him to only see her how he wants to see her

[bigsissugi]

Or not so secretly in Taka's case... (inspired by a 0308 meme i saw)

[bigsissugi]

what is it with me and prisoner 10s

[bigsissugi]

Analyzing the Prisoners' Fairytale Part 12: Maiko

Info:

Contains spoilers for LOCKDOWN.

Grammar issues within the official material will be retained for informative purposes.

If you're a staff member, please don't give me any corrections or hints. It'll be much more fun for you if your audience is wrong.

Triggers: Stalking, in-depth discussion of a mental disorder.

Her fairytale:

A story about a loyal dog. Who fell in love with a doe, believing them to be their master. They would do anything for this doe. But the doe held little power. For you see, they had no antlers. The Loyal Dog wished to bring their master power. So they hunted, deer by deer, knocking them out and taking pieces of their antlers. The Dog stitched the antlers together and put them on the Doe's head. When the doe awoke they were overjoyed, believing it was a miracle. They achieved everything they had sought. But when the loyal dog informed the Doe it was their doing… The Doe was horrified and ran away, vowing to never see the Dog again. Now the loyal dog patrols the woods, stalking and following their darling Doe. Ensuring nothing ever harms them.

How does the fairytale apply to Maiko?

So far, the love-sick dog is difficult to compare with the prisoners based on the main game alone. However, the doe can be identified amongst the hostages. Maiko's hostage Yui had a sudden success story just like the doe and her bio card implies that her success has something to do with Maiko:

A star who rose up with rapid success…

But just as quickly as she rose up, she burnt out and crashed.

Some idols retire with grace, some idols retire like Yui Apinya. Bitter, restless, critical, harsh and constantly trying to grapple back the stardom they once had. She seems desperate to prove something, mainly to herself. That's your fault, isn't it?

I'm not an expert on psychology by any means but when choosing words to use in this post, I initially opted to use the word "erotomania" in an unserious context. When looking the word up, I learned about an actual mental disorder in which someone believes another person is in love with them even when there is evidence for the contrary. Some of its risk factors and symptoms align with both Maiko's and the dog's characterizations so far:

Subjects of an erotomaniac's love are often of a higher social status than them. The dog believes the doe is above them (their master). Meanwhile, despite both of them being part of the Ultimate system at some point in their lives, Yui's talent is more likely to appeal to the mainstream than Maiko's and unlike Yui, Maiko hadn't made a public appearance in several years before the killing game.

Subjects of an erotomaniac's love are typically unattainable for whatever reason. In the doe's case, she completely cut contact with the lovesick dog after finding out about their theft.

Medical websites describe the average erotomania patient as a shy, dependent, sexually inexperienced female. The dog is heavily dependent on the doe while Maiko is shy and it would be reasonable to assume she is a virgin, considering her stereotypically loser-ish personality and the large amount of time she went without making public appearances.

Stalking is a common symptom of erotomania. It does not need to be explained why this applies to the dog.

Symbolism Explanation

Maiko is a dog: As stated in the fairytale, dogs are associated with loyalty & unconditional love. Maiko demonstrates these by reminiscing on her friendship with Yui in the prologue even though the fairytale confirms she cut Maiko off:

Maiko: Haha, it’s just like my best friend Yui used to say- ‘Sometimes the best way to say sorry is to leave’!

Calling someone a dog is a derogatory way of criticizing their improper behaviour, especially if directed at a woman (i.e. calling her a bitch). By portraying Maiko in such an insulting and rejectable manner, the fairytale reminds us of her insecure demeanour.

Yui is a doe: Yui being represented by an animal typically associated with gentleness and grace opposes her aggressive depiction from her bio (and what people might remember of her personality from the beta). Because of this, I'm assuming her assigned animal reflects Maiko's skewed perception of her rather than her true personality. Also, specifying the gender of the deer by calling it a doe draws attention to Yui's conventionally feminine appearance.

Other idols' songs are other deer's antlers: The fact that the dog's victims share a species with the doe but not the dog means Maiko's victims must have something significant in common with Yui. The most obvious answer to that based on what we know about Yui so far is them being fellow idols.

Initially one might assume their antlers represent money to fund a popstar's career, but there are a number of problems with this solution:

The item being symbolized by antlers means it must be exclusive to people similar to Yui.

Maiko is already rich from voice acting (and owning an Ultimate title if the fairytale takes place after she gained it), which means she can just as easily use her own funds to support Yui's career. One look at her luxurious design will tell you she's anything but stingy.

"Stitched the antlers together" would be a strange way to describe the combining of other people's stolen money.

There is hardly anything connecting Yui with money at the moment.

So what does one require in order to succeed specifically as a popstar? In the context of the music industry, which things can be stolen and combined in order to create something new? The answer to both is original songs.

Her deity:

12- Aphrodite: Bringer of overwhelming, overpowering love. Love so all consuming it becomes dangerous and corruptive, driving one to the point of mania…

Parallels between Aphrodite and the Dog

Both supply extreme love to others, but there is a stark difference in how they go about it. As the Goddess of love, Aphrodite is responsible for inducing romantic and violent passion in Gods and mankind alike. The most infamous instance of this is her involvement in the Judgement of Paris; she offered Helene's hand in marriage to Paris of Troy, to which he accepted. His abduction of Helene kickstarted the Trojan War, which Aphrodite also participated in. By contrast, the dog's self-imposed infatuation caused them to steal antlers for their beloved doe; they are more like the Paris to the doe's Helene than Aphrodite.

Parallels between Maiko and Aphrodite

Due to Maiko not expressing obsessive love in-game yet, there isn't much to discuss that wasn't already covered in the section above. All that's worth noting is the summary describing the violent passion of Aphrodite's admirers as "mania", which affirms my speculation of her clinical erotomania.

Symbolism Summary

Dog: Maiko Doe: Yui Antlers: Songs Power: Fame Other Deer: Other Idols

Retelling through the lens of Dog Maiko

A story about a terminally online loser who's in love with her conventionally attractive friend. Her friend wants to become a famous idol, but she doesn't have her own songs yet. The loser wants her friend to achieve fame but doesn't have any songwriting skills of her own, so she resorts to sampling other artists' songs and arranging them into something new for the friend. Upon finding the song(s) at her workstation, the friend is over the moon and promptly uses it to finally become a legitimate idol. However, some time after that, the loser confesses to stealing from other artists, causing the friend to cut ties with her. The loser cannot accept her friend's rejection, so she starts stalking her.

(Side note: I presume the line about the dog knocking the other deer out only exists to make it physically possible for the dog to chop the antlers without the deer noticing and has no meaning in regards to Maiko's crime.)

What is her crime?

Maiko's Frankensteining of the "antlers" can be most accurately described as Plagiarism while her second crime, Stalking, has been outright confirmed.

What will her verdict be?

Maiko's crime is the one I compared with Alora's in Part 06. Both harmed multiple third parties non-fatally with the intent of helping the person they are closest to. Unlike Alora simultaneously wanting to keep Lillith alive and make a difference for people other than her, Maiko's fairytale portrays her crime as a completely selfish, desperate attempt to earn love. Therefore, the only verdict currently plausible for her is Corrupt.