#BUT YES Shuichi has pretty much been my main guy for all these years!!!

[ahogedetective]

I don't even remember the exact year I really started roleplaying for real... I think maybe around the 2014-2016 range, and I was a BIIIG Ace Attorney fan at the time, HEHEHE. I wrote sooo many different characters from the games, wouldn't you believe!!

Then around 2018, I made this Shuichi blog! And never left; though my interest in Ace Attorney had lowered so much, and the AA muses I used to write, wellll!!! 😃 Been QUITE a while since I've last been on those blogs, haha!!! DR and this stupit wet cat never left my brain and never will!!!

[deadmandairyland]

Hi! I’m here to bring you yet another Danganronpa tier list: the sexuality tier list, which you can find here.

Now I’m going to be honest here: I don’t really have any LGBT headcanons. It’s just not really something I focus on much when it comes to fandoms. Instead I usually just focus on ships, and as a result from that I tend to present a lot of characters as LGBT in fanfictions and posts I’ve made or reblogged. In other words, a massive chunk of my “headcanons” here are a direct result of shipping (as well as information I’ve picked up from the games themselves). That being said, it was interesting to actually think about this for once, so I’m kinda glad I did the tier list. And it gave me an excuse to bring back the rainbow color scheme I usually put in my tier lists for aesthetic reasons.

The original tier list had Straight at the top, but I moved it to the bottom for two reasons. One, this is Tumblr and that’s not what you’re here for. Two, I gave it a neutral color, and having a gray section next to a white section (i.e. the title of the list) like that looked bad to me. I definitely prefer this setup just on aesthetic alone.

Because this is largely based on ships, I feel it needs to be said that representation does not factor into this chart in any way. I know it probably looks bad that the only character in the Lesbian category is one of my least favorite (though NOT hated or even disliked, I should point out) characters in the main series. That has nothing to do with the fact that she’s a lesbian. She’s just a jerk, and usually not in a way that’s at least entertaining enough for me to like her.

Also keep in mind that this is just the main cast of the main series games. If you were to include characters from the DR3 anime, UDG, or the spin-offs, the Gay, Lesbian, and Ace categories would get more rep, certainly. Think Juzo, Yui, Takemichi, that gay guy with the trumpet, etc.

With that said, let’s go through the list:

Gay

Not gonna lie, one of the reasons why Rantaro is here (and not in Ace) is because of ships. Though I do sometimes ship him with girls, canon suggests he’s not interested in dating girls, and most fans seem to headcanon him as either gay or ace because of this, so I respected that. That being said, I also acknowledge he’s a very popular character in mlm ships, and at the time I was putting this together I hadn’t gotten to Taka yet so the Gay tier was still empty, and Byakuya was already sitting in Ace, so all of that swayed me to putting Rantaro here instead of Ace.

Taka was much easier to place here. He strikes me as a closeted gay man who probably doesn’t even realize he is gay. “Hey, let’s all hang out in the bath, guys! Getting naked is essential to form bonds with your fellow man! No need to be ashamed, it’s tradition!"

Lesbian

Again, ships. I only ship Hiyoko with one other character, and as soon as I say that you already know who she is.

Bisexual (Male Preference)

Akane is mostly here to account for any wlw ships I may have of her (e.g. Hina, Sonia maybe). Obviously she has a thing with Nekomaru, so Male Preference.

Chiaki is here for the same reason as Akane. I’ve shipped her with characters like Sonia and Ibuki before, but she really digs Hajime.

Chihiro honestly could have been anywhere in the Bi and Pan sections, but I ultimately went with Male Preference because of ships, specifically the fact that outside of the more... R18 circles of the Interwebs Chihiro tends to be shipped with guys more often than girls. Also doesn’t hurt that my OTP is Naehiro. I mean, have you seen how often Chihiro blushes around Makoto? (There’s more to it than that, as I’ve covered in the past. I’m just trying to add more fuel to the fire.)

Himiko is probably one of the few characters that isn’t here mainly because of ships. I do think she has some attachment towards Tenko, but I also get “I’m uncomfortable around her” vibes from her, and there are moments where she seems to crush on Kokichi (of all people) so that’s why she’s here. Still very much bi, though.

Hina has a crush on Makoto and has a complex around wishing she was more feminine so she can attract boys. So why isn’t she in the Straight section? ...Because Sakura, duh. And Kyoko too. And any other wlw ship you can think of that might work with Hina.

Honestly if it wasn’t for Miu I probably would have considered putting Kokichi in Gay. Again, while shipping plays a big part of my choices here, much like with Rantaro I have no qualms with putting a character in a tier that contradicts any ships I might have with that character, if those ships aren’t something I’m super invested in. This is a very important distinction, because it’s why I let ships sway my hand for so many of these even if I am also okay with going “Just because I ship this doesn’t mean I headcanon it” as I did with Rantaro. And honestly Kokichi’s ship teasing with Himiko does come off as more trollish than a sign that he’s into her, but he really gets into his back-and-forth with Miu, in my personal opinion, and he gets into it far more often with her for that matter. It’s why it’s one of my favorite ships for both of them tbh, and it’s because I like the ship so much that I just can’t ignore it for this sexuality headcanon tier list.

Maki... is here because of ships (e.g. Kaede).

Sakura... is here because of ships (e.g. Hina). ...What, you were expecting me to put a guy in the example? Remember, she has a boyfriend in canon.

Sayaka... is here because of... NOT ships, but DRAT. Yes, really. (”We really got down and dirty, Naegi-kun.”)

Sonia... strikes me as someone who swings both ways. I can’t describe exactly why I feel that way, but yes.

Bisexual (No Preference)

Celeste wants a harem of vampire boys but shipping her with Kyoko is also very popular and honestly i feel like it would fit her character. She’s got a look that says “I could get any ass I want and I know it.”

Ibuki is decked out in blues and pinks, and also I ship her fairly evenly among both boys and girls. She just screams bi icon to me, more so than any other character in the series.

Junko is either bi with no preferences or pan. She is an equal opportunity heart-and-soul-breaker and lust-for-despair machine.

There is no Mukuro in this list, but honestly I would probably put her where I put Junko anyway.

Kaede... is here because of ships (e.g. Miu, Maki)

Honestly I had no idea where to put Kirumi, so I just randomly chose one that I wouldn’t regret later if I ever put more thought into who I shipped her with.

I’m pretty sure Nagito being bisexual has some degree of canon attached to it??? I think??? I’m not entirely sure tbh, but fuck it. I’m doing this for fun anyway, so this doesn’t really matter.

Shuichi, like all Danganronpa protags, is bi as fuck. I also find him to be more shippable with guys than the other two protags, so IMO he has no preference.

Toko might have a thing or two for pretty boys, but... Komaru, I mean, this isn’t exactly shocking, I don’t think. Probably was closeted before she met Komaru. I mean she did focus on Hina’s boobs a lot in DR1, let’s not forget.

Tsumugi, much like Kirumi, is here because I haven’t put much thought into her ships.

Bisexual (Female Preference)

Gundham has a thing with Sonia in canon, but I can see him being bi. So... yeah, ships again.

Hajime, like all Danganronpa protags, is bi as fuck. It’s just that his Chiaki and Mikan game is just too strong.

Hifumi might claim to only like 2D, but his interest in Chihiro both in human form and computer program form (and the fact that this didn’t go away after the gender reveal) places him here.

Kaito strikes me as a closeted bisexual. The kind that could start any given conversation with “I’m not gay, but...”

Kazuichi also strikes me as a closeted bisexual, only his “I’m not gay, but...” is rooted more in dumbass than it is in systematic homophobia.

Korekiyo... is here because of ships (e.g. Rantaro).

Kyoko is bi as fuck, and I can see her having a preference towards girls in particular. She gets shipped with girls a lot (e.g. Celeste, Hina, Yui, and even Junko and Mukuro), and when she is shipped with boys it’s usually just pretty boys (e.g. Makoto, Byakuya, Ryota, Shuichi, and, depending on your interpretation, Chihiro). Also note that aside from Makoto and maybe Byakuya, Kyoko’s girl ships are far more popular than her boy ships. Just something I’ve noticed over the years.

Leon... is here because of ships (e.g. Chihiro).

Mahiru is here because I’m pretty sure she has a thing for Hajime in her FTEs, but obviously she tends to get shipped with girls more often (especially Hiyoko), and I agree.

Makoto, like all Danganronpa protags, is bi as fuck. It’s just that his Kyoko, Hina, Sayaka, and Mukuro game is just too strong.

Mikan may be interested in Hajime somewhat, but her obsession with Junko cannot be ignored, no matter how much some of you may want to.

Mondo is another character that strikes me as a closeted bisexual. He is said to strike out all the time with girls, so I do think he’s attracted to women. And I do get some vibes that he’s attracted to Chihiro pre-reveal. And if circumstances had been different, I imagine he probably still would have been post-reveal. But obviously it’s his bond with Taka that I feel cements his sexuality in, at the very least, an mlm category.

Tenko... is here NOT because of ships, but because I’m pretty sure she’s at least sort of interested in Shuichi because of some canon thing... and also I don’t want to put her in Lesbian just because it feels like I’d be stereotyping the Lesbian category if I do that. If we were to compare her to the character that I did put in Lesbian, Hiyoko doesn’t treat people like shit because they’re men, she’s an equal-opportunity asshole. Still not the best representation for lesbians by a long shot, but at least Hiyoko doesn’t follow the stereotype of a man-hating lesbian. She’s just like that, and that’s okay. But putting Tenko there, especially if she’s shown some degree of interest in a male character at some point in the game, just rubs me the wrong way personally, because it would feel like I’m ignoring canon just to stereotype her. But that’s just a personal hang up of mine. No disrespect intended toward anyone who genuinely feels that Tenko is a lesbian. Maybe you see something there that I don’t, and that’s perfectly fine.

Pansexual

I don’t remember exactly how her FTEs went, so I’m not going to get into that, but Angie just comes off as pan to me, like gender doesn’t fit into the equation at all for her.

Gonta I can see as either pan or ace. I feel like he wouldn’t care about gender, and honestly the only reason I decided to put him in Pan rather than Ace is because of that scene with Miu.

Imposter is not only pan, they are currently OT3ing it up with Ibuki and Ryota as we speak, and that’s a fact.

Keebo... is mostly here because of ships. A lot of ships, actually. Mostly male ships (Kokichi, Shuichi, Kazuichi, and, depending on your interpretation, Chihiro) but there’s also Miu to consider. And the Miu game is SO strong that I put him in Pan instead of, say, Male Preference.

Just gonna lump them together because I have the same thing to say about both of them: Miu and Teruteru would **** anything that walks. What did I censor? Well, I’m doing the Nier: Automata thing, so you can put whatever you want in there and trust me, it would probably fit, for better or for worse.

Ace

I know this is an unpopular opinion, because Naegami, but I just don’t think Byakuya is interested in anyone, at least not in that way. He might be fascinated with how common people live, because it’s so foreign to him, but that’s about it.

Straight

Even though I do ship Fuyuhiko with some of the boys, his Peko game is so strong that honestly I can’t see him actually dating anyone aside from Peko outside of some very niche fanfiction.

Honestly, Hiro was another one that I was just like “I have no idea what to do with you.” I think maybe his team up with Kanon made me eventually choose to put him in Straight? I don’t remember. I clearly didn’t put much thought into Hiro.

I really only ship Nekomaru with Akane, so that’s why he’s here. I’m sure if I dive deep enough into my psyche I can pull an mlm ship with Nekomaru in it out of my ass, but like Rantaro that wouldn’t be significant enough to change anything.

Peko is in the same boat as Fuyuhiko. I have shipped her with girls before, but her Fuyuhiko game is just too strong.

Ryoma had a girlfriend once, and as far as I can remember he didn’t really seem interested in anybody in the game, so that’s all I have to go off of for him.

-----

So there you have it. Explanations for literally all of them! Explanations that were definitely not pulled out of my ass as I was typing them, nope, certainly not. Definitely won’t be tagging all of them, but I may tag the ones with the longest entries. And like all the tier lists I’ve done, this was just for fun and honestly any opinion I have for any of these characters could change at a moment’s notice because my brain is fickle like that. Tried my best to make sure that every tier had at least one character in it, but I did so without trying to force characters in places that I personally did not believe they should go. I hope you all enjoyed my dive into this area of fandom that I rarely dive into (the LGBT headcanons, not the ships, obviously). It was a lot of fun, and hopefully it will stay fun and not result in angry anons blasting me for my opinions. I am grateful that this never seems to happen to me, but I’ve seen it happen to others and I know what Tumblr is capable of at its worst. These are just headcanons and a matter of personal opinion, and if you disagree with them, that’s perfectly okay. Your feelings and opinions are also valid.

[mikimagines]

Can you do Himiko Kokichi Angie Hiyoko korekiyo with a S/O who has a twin that looks exactly like them and they wear the exact same thing?

poor mikan and shuichi.

Himiko, Kokichi, Angie, Hiyoko, Korekiyo with a twin literally like them.

mod miki’s nurse notes. minus the persona..kinda. also tw for mentioning of kork’s.........“sister”

Himiko

himiko really thinks her magic powers when she was a cell.

which really doesn’t matter because you too may look literally the same...and wear the same thing.

but here’s the trick! himiko is well, himiko.

you are the opposite of it all, outgoing, energetic, active, lively. all of those not depressing words.

and himiko usually uses her “magic” basically telling you to go to school one day while she stays home working on a special magic trick for the day.

“It’s ok! my cuz magic will keep sight of you...., don’t worry!”

...oh well, it can’t be that bad.

10 minutes later you went to hopes peak and have no idea who the fuck are these people.

especially this girl named tenko that’s always...following you and trying to start up a chat.

and this girl named Angie talking about her god a lot.

its alright you totally can act like your older twin sister.

kinda...no.

since you came in so happy and walked in usually. people had been shocked.

mostly the v3 cast, since your personality is way different than the himiko they knew for 2.5 years.

ironically shuichi as the protagonist moment he is figures it out quickly that himiko has a secret twin.

but how? well voice, the fact that your try to mimic your magic obsession sister in a cheerful mood gives off that you aren’t himiko.

also himiko falls asleep in class all the time, but you didn’t sleep the entire school day.

ouch he got you good.

Kokichi

2 Kokichi’s would go for a hell of a ride.

this time you both are the same thing.

yes this means personality. do I have to explain?

only thing is different is the names.

also that kokichi goes to hopes peak and you don’t.

but like...more the better also you both fight a lot on who’s older in the battle of lies and crying.

it’s like looking into a mirror.

one time the both of you hell spawns made a prank for poor kaito. he is pretty easy to prank.

but you didn’t know who was kaito as kokichi fake cries then explains the plan and who mr spaceman is.

then both of you did that...really creepy smile and worked on the prank.

oh! right prank details.

one day normal at hopes peak as usual the actual kokichi goes into the classroom and sits earlier than usual before the other main cast arrives talking on the secret epic walkie-talkie.

as for you wait for kaito outside of the school for kokichi’s description: large purple hair gell boy who looks like a NPC and has a stupid look of a jacket...

usually with a boy who looks like a main character or a girl who has serial killer vibes p.s: she is!

kaito slander as the best.

yes this almost hurts to write.

after that you found him alone and annoyed him all the way to the classroom

while he slightly almost punched you without usami getting in the way.

as he walks in at last he sees kokichi in his normal seat annoying maki once again...

but like if there is a kokichi with him..then who that?

...he turns around.

“Boo!” as you said to him.

then kaito does that scream...again.

yeah...notes app apology time and getting kokichi in big trouble. worth it tho.

Angie

ooh, hard one but I’ll try.

you two where born with the artistic skills from atua!

also you both act the same, so you guys get along really well.

pray, create a masterpiece and idk I never watched angies free time events-

also you both scared the class with both of you means more...Angie.

...is this dry as hell since I never watched angies free time events which I should probably do? yes.

im so sorry angie kins and lovers.

Hiyoko

screams in mod mikan

since Hiyoko is of course, Hiyoko. She ironically hates that you wear the same clothes as her.

but as much as her bullying does to mikan it has no effect on you when the both of you where younger or even today.

also you protected her and took all of the traps her family put in her food, clothes and even bed. also she found you someone who really cares for her as a sister.

so you both bully each other together, and had fun.

also luckily you were the nice one.

and when hiyoko was sick from eating too much gummies thanks to writers logic or something?

you took her place.

both of you had the same voice, and size, also clothes. so it would be fine. also she taught you all of the works of bullying.

then sent you off very, hiyokoly. (Is that even a word?)

of course it didn’t take much as notice as “Hiyoko” well in case you, walked in and was actually NICE.

trying to bully mikan, then failing. you were just too sweet for this world.

when you got home you told Hiyoko about your first actual day in hopes peak then facepalmed.

“god, how hard is it for you to act like me once.”

“love ya too big sis!”

Korekiyo

let’s just pretend, forever that korekiyo...........sister never was born and it was only you too,,, yeah let’s do that.

moving on...ignoring that. like kokichi you both where literally the same.

while korekiyo was into anthology you where in Archeology. (took a long search to find that)

moving on both of you guys...literally the same, both love humanity in those ways and uhm...I don’t know.

mostly since your uniforms are both the same it can get confusing for everyone.

which one is korekiyo? which one is [Name]?

Then. i ran out of ideas... the end

ouch-

fun fact, writer block hurts sometimes

[k7l4d4]

Kamen Rider Info and Ideas (Feel free to ignore)

As a huge fan of Kamen Rider, I always wondered about ways it could be expanded, and maybe not improved so much as become More. So, right now, I am gonna make a list of Kamen Rider Series, starting with Black and RX, and continuing all the way to the Reiwa Era! Everybody clap your hands!! *Cricket noises* Okay, here we go!

Kamen Rider Black, and its sequel, Black RX, details the journey of Kohtaro Minami, or Minami Kohtaro for those who prefer the traditional Japanese naming conventions, on his mission to defeat Gorgom, an ancient tribe/organization that has evolved into a cultic terrorist organization bent on world domination. While still holding to the Showa era’s tradition of having Cyborg Riders, Black and RX were the first in which, aside from Kamen Rider Amazon, the supernatural played a prominent part in the powers of the riders, as Kohtaro and his stepbrother Nobuhiko were the designated heirs to the leader of Gorgom, the Century King, and infused with the relics that contained his power, the Kingstones. Both Kohtaro and Nobuhiko were infused with the Kingstones, in the attempt to convert them into the Villains Black Sun and Shadow Moon, with only Kohtaro managing to escape.

One of the things that I felt could’ve been at least a little better in regards to the series was if Shadow Moon could regain his original self and rejoin the path of justice. It would’ve also been pretty cool if Shadow Moon gained his own upgraded form, which did actually happen in tie-in novels and manga, and if either or both of them gained the ability to unleash a final form that drew upon the power they wielded as the New Century Kings. Ah well, that’s what fanfiction is for!

Kamen Rider Kuuga details the battles of Yusuke Godai, the successor to the ancient warrior of justice, Riku, as the Kuuga. Kuuga’s powers are derived from Growth, allowing him to access a variety of forms and powers based on what he needs to grow into, and can be bolstered by mystical energy sources to ascend even further! Yusuke’s enemies are the Gurongi tribe, ancient monsters who abandoned their humanity to satisfy their love of death and conflict, and wished to have all of humanity become as dark and twisted as them, with the “honor” of being the Gurongi to start the process going to whichever of them managed to win their tournament, in which the Gurongi Tribal-members all battled to the death as a whole.

One of the things that bugged me a little, was that Kuuga never fully evolved all his forms, and that his true final form was even used in his series! I mean, seriously, what!? Once again, budget concerns limit the awesomeness of a series before it can bloom, sigh.

Kamen Rider Agito is the story of Shoichi Tsugami, a young amnesiac who belongs to an offshoot of the human race known as the Agito. Agitos possess incredible psychic powers and exist in a perpetual state of evolution, adapting to the changes in themselves and the world around them at an incredible rate.

My only real beef with this series was the limited number of forms Agito had as compared to Kuuga, and that one of the Extra Riders had the lazy name of Another Agito. You heard me right. All in all, not to bad, but a little frustrating.

Next up, Kamen Rider Ryuki, which also served as part of the inspiration for the list. Honestly, with how much I plan on covering JUST for Ryuki, I’ll probably leave this off after this and pick up more tomorrow. Ryuki is one of the first series in the franchise to fully exploit the nature of multiple riders, and basically invented the concept of Dark Riders, which I will also explain.

Ryuki involves the Rider War, a conflict taking place in the real world, and a parallel realm known as the Mirror World, populated by unfeeling monsters known as, you guessed it, Mirror Monsters, which must constantly kill when in our world in order to remain stable, or at least they are allegedly supposed to. The Rider War was a conflict set up by a man known as Shiro to revive his dead sister, under the guise of a tournament to the death for a reality-warping wish, which Shiro wanted for himself. The war brought together 13, yes you read that right, 13 Riders, all with variances in their styles and abilities. This selfish conflict is partially, if not entirely why I said that introduced Dark Riders properly to the franchise; Dark Riders are individuals who bear the same transformative powers of Kamen Riders, but instead of using them to fight against the wicked and monstrous, are instead put towards their own selfish ends, and none of them are the type of individual you wanna run into in a dark alley.

The Riders of Ryuki derived their power from two things, their Contract Monster, a Mirror Monster that they formed a bond with in order to exist without needing to bring about death, and an Advent Deck, a Deck of Cards that harnessed the power of the Mirror Monster it bonded to and allowed the Riders to survive in the Mirror Realm, which is inherently fatal for humans to be in. One of the key aspects of Advent Cards is how they work, each one draws and harnesses an aspect of the Contract Monster it is connected to, or wields a power specifically to fight other Advent Riders. Now, before I get to my thoughts and ideas, I am going to list each Rider from Ryuki, as well as the nature of their Advent Decks and fighting styles.

Shinji Kido: Kamen Rider Ryuki himself, and contracted to the fierce Dragon-Type Mirror Monster, Dragonredder. With a Dragon on his side, you’d expect him to be the powerhouse of the group, right? HAHAHAHAHA no. Shinji stumbled upon the Rider War by near-complete accident, and, being the nice guy he is, decided if he was going to be a part, he would protect the bystanders from the conflict and ensure as many of the Riders made it out alive as he could. Easier said than done. Out of all the Riders, Ryuki has the least straight-forward fighting style, not helped by his incredible clumsiness, with his deck emphasizing the ability to have as many options as possible; jack of all trades master of none, but better master of none than master of one.

Ren Akiyama: Kamen Rider Knight, and the contract holder of the Bat-Type Mirror Monster, Darkwing. He comes across as aloof, cold even, whose only in it for himself, but in truth he decided to enter the war to save the life of his ill fiance. Knight’s fighting style blends straight-up direct combat, and subterfuge based war tactics, with his deck emphasizing this by providing him with both weapons and special abilities that optimize getting the drop on his foes. Hmm... themed after a bat, a knight, and mixing close combat with dark and spooky tactics. Now where have I seen THAT before?

Masashi Shido: Kamen Rider Scissors, a Dark Rider, and the contractor of the Crab-Type Mirror Monster, Volcancer. A corrupt cop and detective, Scissors took bribes and cuts in illegal dealings, and used his Mirror Monster to liberally dispose of witnesses as he pleased. He ultimately died when his contract was destroyed and Volcancer turned on him. Despite his practices necessitating subterfuge, Scissors’ fighting style is rather extravagant, emulating that of a gladiator, with his deck providing cards that mix heavy combat with putting his enemy into an unfavorable situation to seal the deal, fitting for a backstabber.

Shuichi Kitaoka: Kamen Rider Zolga, one of the neutral and later heroic elements in the war, and the bearer of the contract for the Minotaur-Type Mirror Monster, Magnugigas, a colossal bio-mechanical behemoth. A shady lawyer with a lot of wealth, Zolga was diagnosed with fatal cancer, and desired to become immortal to continue living his lifestyle forever. While initially uncaring and selfish, he ultimately came to see the value in others, and lamented all the criminals that walked free due to his actions, hoping Ryuki would win. Cunning, intellegent, and crafty, Zolga’s fighting style favors both heavy defense and massive firepower, burying an enemy in a storm of blasts while he hunkers down, with his deck further emphasizing this with a bevy of long-distance combat cards and barriers.

Miyuki Tezuka: Kamen Rider Raia, a fortune-teller beyond compare, he enters the war to save lives and honor his deceased friend, and bears the contract of the Stingray-Type Mirror Monster, Evildiver. Raia’s fighting style places heavy importance on movement, offering cards that can offer him superior movement, and uses a whip as his principle weapon.

Jun Shibaura: Kamen Rider Gai, an utterly selfish and monstrous beast of a man, he wields the contract of the Rhino-Type Mirror Monster, Metalgelas. A prodigy of computers and gaming, Gai sees the death match that is the Rider War as nothing more than a game, and the fighters as players he can wipe out at his leisure. Gai’s fighting style is a straight up rush of overwhelming force, with his cards emphasizing interfering with his opponent’s options to force them to fight him directly and his brutal power of himself and his Contract Monster gives him an edge.

Takeshi Asakura: Kamen Rider Ouja, and the main Dark Rider of the series, holder of the contract for the Snake-Type Mirror Monster, Venosnaker. A sadistic monster to his core, Takeshi killed his own family as a child, and left a bloody trail in his wake for years, remorselessly cutting down anyone who falls in his path in his bloodlust. Despite his seemingly simple minded nature, Ouja is immensely cunning, favoring a sadistic fighting style that emphasizes causing as much pain to his enemy as he can before they die at his hands, and he is far from afraid to get his hands dirty. Ironically, Ouja has one of the weaker decks in the war, bearing limited options to fight with, Ouja thrives due to his sheer brutality, fighting ability, and utter ruthlessness. “Fun” fact, unlike the other Riders, Takeshi never realized that a wish was up for grabs, he was just having a good time! When he finally learned that the winner got a wish, he decided his wish would be to have ANOTHER Rider War, so he could kill another pack of warriors! Ouja’s deck does have two solid advantages over the other riders; Ouja possesses extra Contract Cards, meaning he can add other Mirror Monsters and their powers to his deck, ultimately deciding to save them to take the Mirror Monsters of the Riders he kills, with his other big trick his Unite Card, which allowed him to COMBINE his Mirror Monsters into the horrifying Chimera-Type Mirror Monster, Genocider (ain’t that a name).

Odin: Kamen Rider Odin, a Rider not designated Dark only due to the fact he doesn’t have enough of a mind to be one, and wielder of the Phoenix-Type Mirror Monster as his Contract, Goldphoenix. Odin is unusual, in that he is essentially a puppet, a brainwashed shell that acts as Shiro’s representative in the war that occupies whatever body Shiro gives the Contract to. Out of all the Riders, Odin has the greatest immediate strength, allowing him to overwhelm just about anything in ideal situations, and if things go wrong, Odin (along with Shiro) can REWIND TIME to reset the war until Shiro gets the outcome he wants, only giving up when he accepts that he won’t be able to bring his sister back.

Satoru Tojo: Kamen Rider Tiger, a man who wants to be a hero, and wields the power of the Tiger-Type Mirror Monster, Destwilder. Tiger is a broken individual, lacking a LOT of basic understanding in regards to people, he wavers between good and evil in his desire to be a hero due to his incomprehension of what it means to be heroic, ultimately becoming a hero when he selflessly sacrificed his life to save a father and son about to be hit by an oncoming truck, finally realizing what it truly meant to be a human in his last moments. A highly inexperienced fighter, Tiger often lost, which didn’t help his instability, forcing himself to rely on ambushes to win, his deck favored close-range melee and offered him support in the form of ice attacks.

Mitsuru Sano: Kamen Rider Imperer, a self-styled mercenary rider, and wielder of the multi-type contract allowing him to command the power of the Gazelle-Type Mirror Monsters, with Gigazelle serving as the leader of his horde. Imperer was raised to believe that wealth was what was most important in life, completely missing the fact that his idea to be a mercenary in the Rider War was impossible as all but one of the contestants must die for it to complete and you cannot quit either. After falling in love, Mitsuru seemed to be realizing that there is more to life than money, he tragically died before he could act on his new views, trapped in the Mirror World, reaching out to the image of his love, screaming in fear. Imperer’s fighting style makes use of boxing, and bum-rushing his enemies with his massive swarm of Contract Monsters.

And, because I am starting to grow tired and this is REALLY LONG, I am gonna finish this later today before I burn out.

[the-good-noodle-kf]

The Happiest Place on Earth (is When We’re Together)

@saiouweek Day 1: Disney

In which Shuichi loves everything about Kokichi, from his unbreachable veil of lies, to his annoying, yet somehow unexplainably endearing personality, and everything in between (but he can’t admit it because he thinks Kokichi might be lying about his own feelings towards Shuichi.)

Also, they go to Disney World together! :} :}

Rated T: for crude language and sexual innuendos.

If any of Shuichi’s friends were asked who was obviously into Shuichi, everyone would know with absolute certainty that the correct answer was Kokichi Oma.

Everyone except, of course, Shuichi Saihara.

It was painfully obvious. If Miu and Keebo, the very definition of an eccentric couple, were asked, Miu would probably explain that watching Kokichi fawn over Shuichi helplessly was more painful than some unusual masochistic kink that she had, causing Keebo to flusteredly agree (with a look of shameful recognition at the kink).

If Kaito or Maki, two of Shuichi’s friends who have been dating for almost a year now, were asked, they would probably mention the time when Kokichi had, very annoyingly, made a spectacle out of movie night last month. He continuously attempted to sit on Shuichi’s lap, and even went so far as to turn off the movie right before the main characters’ love confession and do his own theatrical rendition of confessing his love to Shuichi (He also put raw eggs in everyone’s hot chocolate but that’s not the point).

Kaito considers Shuichi his closest bro, but his sidekick should’ve been smart enough to know that no, it wasn’t just a joke, and yes, Kokichi is totally and helplessly in love with him.

Even if Himiko and Tenko were asked, Tenko, who explicitly holds no interest, or even a negative amount interest, if that were possible, in the happenings between degenerate males, would say that Kokichi is more obvious with his crush than Tenko was herself towards Himiko before the two got together, and that says a lot. Himiko, despite her laziness, might even nod in agreement.

Which is why, Kaito eagerly accepted when Kokichi suggested that the four of them go to Disney World. Kaito’s been to Disney once, back when he was a kid. His grandparents took him to Magic Kingdom and he got to ride rides, watch fireworks at night, and go on Space Mountain three times; he never wanted to leave. He also remembered staying in a hotel room where he got a queen bed all to himself.

Going on a trip with Maki, Kokichi and Shuichi might be a good chance for his sidekick to finally get some sense knocked into him. He could only secretly hope that they would stop skirting around the issue and finally confess what was obvious to all of their friends. The idea was simple at first - Kaito could go off with Maki for a little bit during the vacation, since they were dating anyway, thus giving the detective and the leader some alone time to process their feelings.

But then Miu heard about it and invited herself and Keebo along.

Then Tenko heard about it and thought it would be lots of fun for Himiko and her to go too.

So, now they are on a bus towards their Disney resort hotel, all eight of them; three couples plus Kokichi and Shuichi.

They’d gotten two rooms, connected by a door.

Checking in doesn’t take too long, luckily, and soon enough, they’re heading up to the rooms that’ll serve as their bedrooms for the next week or so.

Since there are two queens per room, Kaito figures Tenko and Himiko will get one, Miu and Keebo will share another, he and Maki will sleep in the third, and Kokichi and Shuichi will be left with the last one. Kaito knows it’s a little cruel to force Kokichi to share a bed with his crush, but this has gone on long enough.

However, despite his best bro being a detective, Shuichi doesn’t seem to realize this upcoming predicament when they drop their luggage off and then head to Disney Springs for dinner.

“This shit’s fuckin’ amazing,” Kaito admits.

“You’re damn right it is!”

Miu had been the one to book a reservation at the restaurant, claiming that if she was going to Disney, she would be eating some fried chicken. The others were pretty indifferent about it, and since only Kaito was adamant on eating burgers (Shuichi reasoned that he could get a burger at Magic Kingdom), they went along with it.

She was purposely moaning loudly while stuffing her face with chicken, much to the dissatisfaction of the rest of the group... and everyone else in the restaurant.

Tenko’s nose crinkles. “Your degenerate male tendencies are going to get us banned from Disney Springs!”

“Yeah!” Kokichi instigates, biting into his own chicken. “See! Even Tenko thinks you’ve got the sex drive of a horny old man.”

“Poor Keebo...” Himiko adds tiredly.

“Don’t twist Tenko’s words!” She chastises the supreme leader, not willing to side with such a degenerate.

“You’re no fun.” Kokichi crosses his arms.

“Hah-hahaa!” Miu rubs it in his face.

Kokichi presses his lips together. “Sow.”

“Heeeee!”

“This experience reminds me of Kurisumasu,” Keebo says, not reading the current mood of the table very well.

“This chicken is better,” Himiko says, “I can already feel my MP being restored.”

“I agree with Himiko!”

“Hey Shuichi eat this mushy stuff.” Kokichi points to the food on his plate with a fork.

“It’s mashed potatoes,” Shuichi informs him.

‘No waaay, I thought it was really overcooked rice! But, that’s a lie. I know what mashed potatoes are. Now eat them!” Kokichi sticks his fork into the buttery potatoes.

“Kokichi-!” Shuichi widens his eyes as Kokichi lifts the fork near his mouth and waves it around. He’s pretty sure that Kokichi’s trying to feed him and he can’t stop his face from turning red at the action.

Miu mumbles something that sounds distinctly like, “Shota virgin.”

Keebo tears his eyes from the opposite side of the table and glances back and forth between the two. “Excuse me for interrupting, but fried chicken is generally considered a finger food, correct?” Keebo inquires.

“Yeah, what about it?” Miu speaks from beside him with a full mouth.

Keebo seems startled, “Oh, it’s nothing!”

Miu turns to look towards Keebo’s line of sight. Sitting there is Maki, eating her chicken with a fork and a knife.

Himiko tilts her head. “Nyeh?”

Maki looks away. “If I have oily fingers, I can’t properly hold my weapons.”

“Harumaki! We’re at Disney! You don’t need your weapons.”

“Plus! If any degenerate males approach us I can defend everyone with my Neo-Aikido!” She strikes a defensive pose.

“Hmph.” Maki puffs out her cheeks.

Himiko chimes in eagerly, “and I can help too! With my magic.”

“That’s a great idea Himiko! We can be the degenerate-fighting team!”

She purses her lips, less animated than she was a second ago. “But I’m low on mana so I’ll have to collect some later.”

“I will help you!” Tenko encourages.

“Is that code for you guys ditching us later to go fuck?” Miu’s question is as brazen as her personality.

The Aikido Master gasps. “Tenko would never!”

“Nee-heehee, like you aren’t gonna do that with Keebo, pervert.”

“Nnnnnnn,” Miu groans, “I didn’t mean it like that...”

“Himiko! Cover your ears!”

“Nyeh… okay.”

“Um, can we  not  talk about this ever again?” Kaito suggests.

“Oh, like you and Maki are innocent. Ah-haha!” Miu goads.

A fork and knife clatter on Maki's plate. “Do you want to die?”

“Heeeeyyyy server! Can we get some mayo and ketchup over here pleeeaase?” Kokichi takes a sip of his glass of panta.

“Wh-” Shuichi begins.

“Kokichi, what do you need mayo for? This isn’t omurice or okonomiyaki.” Keebo states the obvious.

“Shut up Keeboy, or I’ll have one of my subordinates turn you into the robot you truly are inside!”

“Please do not do that!”

“He’s obviously lying!” Kaito points out.

Kokichi laces his fingers behind his head, leaning back in his chair smugly as the server disappears into the kitchen. “Besides. I need it to pour in Keebo’s hair.”

“Do not do that either!”

Shuichi scratches his cheek. “Ah, Keebo, I think Kokichi is just kidding.”

“Waaaahhhh, my beloved is outing my lies now?! How cruel.”

“Kokichi…”

“Kokichi, you should be more grateful to Shuichi. He’s willing to continue dating you even though you always lie!”

Everyone goes silent.

“Um.” Shuichi’s eyebrows are raised so high that they’re hidden under his hair.

“Keebo, they’re not-” Kaito starts explaining as he scratches his head awkwardly.

Kokichi harshly bangs his glass of panta down on the table before grinning and interrupting Kaito. “Nee-heehee! Keeboy is such a robot that he can’t even comprehend relationships!”

“...have I miscalculated?”

Kaito puts his face in his palm. “No shit.”

“Hah-hahahah!” Miu pats Keebo on the back.

“I do not understand. Judging by how Kokichi acts around Shuichi, it can only be concluded that the two of them are in a romantic relationship.”

“That-” Shuichi begins but Kokichi buts in before he can finish.

“Well, you’ve calculated wrong. Me and Shumai are in a fully-completely-one-hundred-percent-platonic-friendship, isn’t that right Shuichi?”

“I-”

“Then why do you, Kokichi, call Shuichi your beloved, and give him pets names like Shumai? Also, you attempted to feed him earlier, which, if I am correct, is a behavior that in this context has slight romantic implications.”

“Maybe Kokichi’s under a love spell…”

Kokichi ignores her. “Huuuuh? Nicknames? I don’t call Shuichi any nicknames. And why would I feed him?”

“You just-”

“Hmmm? Is Keeboy making up lies? Movies have always taught me that the robots would turn against us, but I didn’t think it’d happen this soon!”

“You’re the one who’s lying!” Keebo argues, eyes narrowed.

“Nope, I never lie.”

“If you keep going you’re gonna break him.” Kaito warns.

“Oooooo, my mayo and ketchup is here.” He adds some mayo to the mashed potatoes and Kaito raises an eyebrow. “What?”

Kaito shrugs.

They walk around the shops after they’re done eating. It’s not long after they all try out samples of various soaps at one of the stores.

Shuichi has to convince Kokichi not to climb on the giant lego dragon outside the lego store. Luckily, he succeeds, but barely. And suddenly, it’s just him and Kokichi. Miu and Keebo have completely gone missing for the time being (Kokichi’s accusation from earlier might’ve been more likely than either of them thought), Tenko and Himiko went inside the World of Disney shop for souvenirs, and Kaito sort of just started acting weird once all the others were gone and pretended that he and Maki left something behind at the restaurant.

“Hey Shuichi,” Kokichi stands tall, seeming determined about something.

“Hmm?”

He is silent for a few seconds before he quickly masks his lost nerve and grins. “...oh, nothing. I just wanted to say Shuichi.”

Shuichi raises an eyebrow; he can tell it’s a lie but doesn’t bother to call him out on it.

“Don’t you know my beloved? I’ll die if your eyes aren’t always on me!” Kokichi dramatizes as they skip along towards… something. Shuichi doesn’t know where they’re going, but he’s not gonna stop him, even if it might end up getting them lost.

Shuichi offers a small smile and Kokichi stops and gives him a look, and Shuichi isn’t sure what it means. Kokichi almost looks sad, but he also looks really happy. It doesn’t really make sense.

“Hey Shuichi, did I ever tell you about that time my organization kidnapped the owner of the Coca-Cola Company until they told us all their secret recipes?”

Is that so?” Shuichi plays along, amused.

“Yup! Now I don’t even need to buy panta because I have my underlings producing mass quantities and selling it on the dl.”

Shuichi chuckles, “ah, but then how do you explain you buying a glass during dinner?”

“You caught me! As expected of my favorite detective.”

“Aren’t I the only detective you know?”

“Nope! I know thousands of detectives, and you’re still my favorite.”

“Are there any stores that you want to visit Kokichi?”

“Mmmm, nope! But that’s a lie. I was gonna go into all of the jewelry stores and steal all of the expensive gems.” Kokichi conspiratorially rubs his hands together.

“Don’t say things like that so loud! You’ll get us in trouble.”

“Nee-heehee!”

“Let’s… go look inside World Of Disney.” Shuichi suggests.

“Okie Dokie!”

They go in the store and can hear Tenko yelling - most likely at some helpless guy - about her neo-aikido skills and scolding him against any funny business. Shuichi decides it might be a wise decision to not get involved, so he and Kokichi go off browsing without finding them. They’ll all be meeting up later anyway, so it’s no big deal.

Kokichi pulls Shuichi along by the sleeve and coos at all the Disney merch.

“Now you’re Shuichi Mouse!” Kokichi exclaims after pushing a pair of mickey mouse ears onto Shuichi’s head. His ahoge still sticks up right behind the accessory and Kokichi grins.

Shuichi smiles and offers a pair to Kokichi who puts on the identical pair and proudly proclaims, “now I can be the rat I truly am! Nee-heehee!”

“But wouldn’t you be Kokichi Mouse?” Shuichi wonders aloud as they both put the pairs of ears back.

“Hmmm, nope!” Kokichi tries to act nonchalant, but Shuichi thinks he might be blushing as he turns away and pulls them towards some Disney plushies. Then again, he might just be imagining it.

“They should have a wider range of plushies, don’t you think so Shuichi?”

“Ah, there already seem to be a lot of plushies…” There are. There’s got to be shelves and shelves full of various different characters.

“You’re right Shuichi! I was lying. There are more plushies here than I could fit in your tiny apartment!”

Shuichi quietly responds with his hand covering his mouth, “...it’s not that tiny.”

But Kokichi’s already on to the next subject. “So, mister detective, what is  your favorite Disney character?”

Shuichi brings a hand to his chin. “I don’t know. I don’t really have any preference. What’s yours Kokichi?”

“Hmmm… stitch! And that’s not a lie.”

“Ah…”

Kokichi runs towards the T-shirts in the next second, calling “c’mon Shumai!” As he gets farther away from the plushies. Shuichi picks one of the stitch plushies up and follows along.

“Kokichi?!?” Tenko recoils as she sights the two, “did you follow us in here, degenerates?”

Himiko points at the leader. “That’s impossible! I cast a high-level invisibility spell. Only a level ninety-nine mage would’ve been able to see through it.”

“Whaaaat? It was definitely you who followed us two,” Kokichi feigns ignorance.

Tenko ignores this, “where are Maki and the other three degenerates?”

“Miu is still a girl, y’know.”

“Shush! I didn’t ask for your input.”

“But I still gave it , aw phooey.”

“Hmph!” Tenko crosses her arms and turns away.

“Did the others get captured by an evil wizard?”

Shuichi answers, “Kaito and Maki went to get something they left behind, and Miu and Keebo are…”

“Fucking!” Kokichi finishes for him cheerfully.

Tenko swivels back around, “how dare you poison Himiko’s innocence with your indecency!”

“Well, I gotta go pay for this… is anyone else coming on line?”

“Of course I will Himiko!”

“Not you! It’s supposed to be a surprise,” she tells Tenko. “Shuichi, this is a task even low-level mages can do,” she says as she tugs him towards the line.

“I’m gonna head in the shower,” Kaito announces as he throws his jacket on the bed. Keebo’s the last to enter the room; the door shuts behind him with a click.

“Dinner was a lot of fun!” Keebo remarks with an enthusiasm that the rest of them are too tired to mimic.

“There’s still a bathroom in the other room if anyone needs it,” Kaito reminds them as he grabs some shampoo from his luggage.

Kokichi’s already practically marked one of the two beds in the room as his, his hair is splayed out on top of the sheets, and he’s pretending to sleep.

On the next bed over, Himiko actually is sleeping.

“Boys  can sleep in the other room!” Tenko adamantly recommends.

Kokichi cracks an eye open and turns to her. “Who else is-” and then he cuts himself off. His mouth forms an oh as he glances at Shuichi. Shuichi gives him a small, embarrassed wave. Kokichi turns back to the Aikido Master and tells her, “fine, if you wanna sleep in the same room as Miu. She might molest you in your sleep, though.”

“Heeee! Wh-what? I wouldn’t molest anyone…”

“Lies! You molested Keeboy earlier!” he proclaims.

“That’s not true!” Keebo argues defensively.

Tenko puts her hands on her hips and declares, “Me and Himiko will share a room with Maki and Kaito then! The less boys the better!”

“Fiiiiiine, me and Shuichi will sleep in the other room.” Kokichi groans and reaches for his and Shuichi’s luggage. “Hmmm? Shuichi! You got a souvenir without telling me?” He holds up the plastic bag. “Waaaaaaahhhhhh, Shuichi doesn’t trust me.”

Shuichi waves his hands frantically, “N-no! Kokichi, you’ve got it wrong!” He reaches into the bag and pulls out a plushie, “...I… got it… for you.” Shuichi looks away and happens to meet Miu’s face.

Her nose scrunches up in disgust. “Oh, get a room.”

“Um.. aren’t we already in one?” Shuichi asks.

Kokichi’s still gaping in shock at the little stuffed stitch. He snaps his mouth shut and for once doesn’t have anything to say.

“Hah! Cockichi’s finally learned how to shut up.”

The statement allows Kokichi to find his voice. “You should learn how to shut up!” Kokichi yells, but even that can’t hide the fiery blush creeping up his cheeks. He thinks that maybe he can pass it off as an anger-induced face reddening. He hopes so. Yet, he still grabs the plushie from Shuichi’s hands and squishes it tightly between his arms and his body.

Shuichi tries to hide the smile that appears on his face and picks up the luggage that Kokichi must’ve dropped, bringing it into the adjacent room.

Maki’s already sitting in the room, assembling some weapon that Shuichi frankly has no idea how she got there. Surely someone at airport security yesterday would’ve noticed it, right? He didn’t even notice anything amiss when they stayed at Keebo’s engineer friend’s home for the night to sleep off their jet lag. Shuichi would be startled to see her so suddenly if he wasn’t used to it. He hadn’t realized she left the other room, but he supposes she did, considering.

“Tenko wants you and Kaito to sleep in there.”

“Alright.” She nods and wordlessly leaves.

“Hey Shumai, now that we’re alone…” he begins. Shuichi raises an unsure eyebrow and the shorter man continues suspensefully, closing in on Shuichi, “we can… sleep!” he exclaims as he jumps onto the bed and pulls the covers over his head.

The detective chuckles and grabs his pajamas. “Do you want to use the bathroom first?”

“Nah, you go ahead.” Kokichi grins as he pulls a pair of his own pajamas out of his purple suitcase.

“O-okay.” Shuichi nods and goes to change into his PJs.

Miu takes that moment to burst in and toss her bag on the unoccupied bed. She lifts her shirt and Kokichi squints. “What the fuck Miu?”

“I’m putting on my pajamas, don’t look perv.”

He turns away. “You could say that before you start stripping in front of me. Don’t you have a boyfriend? Or does Keebo not count ‘cause he’s not a real boy?”

“Ha, like you aren’t gay for Shuichi.”

“Shut up, he’s in the other room.”

The sound of clothes scuffling stops. Miu struts over to the bathroom and bangs on the door. “Once you’re done nutting in there, I gotta brush my teeth!”

The sound of the sink water running stops and Shuichi opens the door. “I wasn’t doing that.”

“Hah-hahah! You don’t have to tell me what you do with your dick!” Miu laughs before pushing her way in.

Somehow, they all manage to get comfortable in their respective beds. Kokichi’s playing yahtzee against Shuichi on some app. Both of their faces are lit up under the covers from the light of each of their phones, allowing Shuichi to see Kokichi’s smug grin; the supreme leader is winning. They suddenly halt mid-game when they hear voices speak up from the bed beside theirs.

“C’mon, can’t we just do a little something?” Miu whines.

“That would not be appropriate!”

“I don’t mean  everything, just some hand stuff.”

“Miu-  not here. We’re not alone!”

“Pshh, so what? If we’re real quiet, they won’t hear us.”

Shuichi’s blushing up to his ears at this point. Kokichi seems pretty shocked too as they exchange awkward glances from under the covers, wondering if one of them should say something before this escalates.

Keebo sounds like he’s hesitating, “...I... don’t feel right about this.”

“Don’t worry about it, those twinks are probably sleeping already anyway.”

It’s the moment that Keebo seems to be about to give in that Kokichi decides he must do something, not only to preserve Shuichi’s innocence, but for the greater good (and the cleaning staff at the hotel). “Miu! You thirsty whore!” He jumps to his feet and points an accusing finger towards the girl.

“Heeeeee!”

“You just can’t keep it in your pants, can you?” Kokichi berates.

“My apologies,” Keebo intervenes, “it was my fault for letting it get this far.”

“Both of you!” he scolds, “if you’re gonna act like dogs in heat, I’m calling animal control!”

“Ah,” Shuichi struggles to form a sentence through his embarrassment.

“Okay! Fine! We don’t do it anymore…” Miu’s shoulders droop with a pout.

“Nope! I don’t believe you!” Kokichi grabs Shuichi’s arm and walks right up to the door joining their rooms, banging on it with his palm, the plushie hanging by its arm in his other hand.

Maki swings the inner door open and growls out a menacing, “ what? ” Her eyes have bags under them, and her hair is ruffled from sleep.

The leader’s eyes crinkle. “Nee-heehee, take it away Shuichi!” Kokichi pushes Shuichi forward and hides behind him like he’s a shield.

“If you wouldn’t mind… would you two please trade rooms with Kokichi and I?” he asks, gesturing to a very sleepy looking Kaito, confused about all the commotion.

Maki shoots them a glare, “why?”

Kokichi clasps his hands behind his head, grinning deviously, “ooooohhhhh, no reason.” He smirks.

“That’s not true,” Shuichi admits, before pointedly stating, “Miu is trying to seduce Keebo, but if you’re in the room, it’s highly possible that they won’t try anything funny,” he explains,  like a true detective.

Maki’s tired, deadly eyes move towards a cowering Miu and a very anxious Keebo as she makes her decision. “Fine.”

Kaito shrugs behind her, yawns, and grabs their stuff before they walk in and get situated in the bed. The astronaut tosses them their stuff, gives them a thumbs up and then pretty much passes out on top of the sheets.

Kokichi grins cheerfully before flopping onto the bed next to Himiko and Tenko’s. Shuichi shuts the shared door and slides his luggage under the bed beside Kokichi’s.

He stands up and observes the situation at hand. “Would you mind moving over a little bit?”

“Nee-heehee!” Kokichi laughs before lifting his starfish-like limbs and moving to one side of the bed instead of the center.

As he climbs under the covers beside Kokichi, Shuichi glances over at a sleeping Tenko and Himiko in the bed next to theirs. He hopes Tenko doesn’t react too loudly to sharing a room with two boys in the morning.

I also posted this on my Ao3 Account

[commentaryvorg]

Danganronpa V3 Commentary: Part 6.12

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

Last time as we approached the end of trial 6, everyone got to be the hero of their own story, just like Kaito once said! Shuichi used Kaede and Kaito’s words to encourage his friends to use their lives to end this, which then turned into Himiko and Maki making that decision for themselves, including Maki finally wonderfully reaching the end of her character arc and choosing to believe that her feelings are her own and they matter, just like Kaito’s efforts to help her still matter so much. Meanwhile, the audience were still being one-dimensional assholes, when it would be so much better if they’d been a reasonably relatable audience of fiction that could have been realising they’re the villains here and slowly becoming more and more on Shuichi’s side.

Tsumugi:  “Does the outside world really want that!? Do they want Danganronpa to end!? Hey! What are they saying!? What’s your inner voice saying!?”

Heh, Tsumugi is starting to sound nervous. She’s worried that they really might want Danganronpa to end after all.

…Which would have a lot more of an impact if there was any kind of impression at all that a significant amount of them have started to want that. There’ve been a tiny handful here and there who have maybe started to realise Shuichi is right, which I at least appreciate, but it would be so much better if those people had become a really noticeable voice among the rest of them by now. Shuichi should be getting through to a lot of people at this point after everything he’s been saying, and it would be lovely if that was actually happening and we could see it happening through these comments and be able to root for that part of the audience who’ve turned to Shuichi’s side!

Keebo:  “My inner voice doesn’t matter anymore! I’m going to end this game with my frie— …Hngh!?!?”

But instead. The audience. Literally. Just. Murders. Keebo. Just like that.

Tsumugi:  “See? They don’t want that kind of ending! They want the killing games to continue!”

Tsumugi says it’s about them wanting more killing games, but it’s not even that. Now that things have become a narrative mess that isn’t anything like their precious hope-versus-despair storylines, the outcome of this vote isn’t going to magically fix their ending and therefore should have very little bearing on whether or not more games happen after this one. That should be entirely down to the outside world demanding more from Team Danganronpa anyway despite how much of a mess this ending became. They shouldn’t need to murder Keebo for that!

“CTRL+ALT+KEEBO”

“cya later, hope robot…”

“Life ends in a flash LOL”

They don’t even care that they just murdered their protagonist! Not one of these comments right now is even remotely sad about this! An actual real audience that had been going through this whole story through Keebo’s eyes and loved him like an audience of fiction is supposed to love a main character would never be okay with this and wouldn’t have even considered doing this to him, especially not for such a pointless reason!

“Maybe we’re wrong…?”

You! Someone sensible, again! People like you need to be working harder to persuade everyone else of this!

The problem is, even these people who seem to be starting to realise what they’re doing are only vague and tentative about it. There’s nobody who’s confidently saying, “No, guys, Shuichi’s right, this is fucked up, we need to stop this right now.” Even with these tiny hints of it, there’s just not enough support for Shuichi’s cause in the audience here, and that’s not realistic at all.

“Shuichi isn’t a character <3”

Nope, not you, you are not on Shuichi’s side here. You do not get to be someone who seems like they’re actually acknowledging anyone here as a real person, nope nope nope.

Keebo’s body:  “Yes… My inner voice will not accept an ending without hope or despair.”

This is the only reason they killed him! Just so they can control his vote and get an ending which has arbitrarily has the word “hope” slapped onto it, even though it’s not! What’s actually happening right now is a far more compelling story than any of that bullshit would have been! It’s even a better representation of the word “hope”, because Shuichi and his friends are hoping that their sacrifice can end the killing games for good!

Tsumugi:  “Like I said, you can’t defy the audience when you’re their surrogate.”

It’s kind of cheating when he’s only not allowed to defy the audience because you programmed in a kill-switch for if he ever decided to do so. This is still not how audience surrogates actually work.

Tsumugi:  “Since Keebo kept defying the audience, they took a vote and decided… that troublesome personality of his should be erased!”

THEY JUST MURDERED HIM. This is the most infuriatingly gratuitous and pointless death in this whole game. If I cared more about Keebo’s character I would be even more annoyed, but I am still pretty damn annoyed at how unnecessary it is, when every other character’s death was given at least some kind of emotional weight and narrative reason to be happening. But this just happens because the in-universe audience is a bunch of one-dimensional non-people who’d apparently happily watch everyone die gratuitously without any meaningful story to it just to get their “hope” fix.

And since this happened as the result of an audience vote, that means that more than half of the audience right now wanted this and are still on the meaningless-hope bandwagon rather than actually being remotely persuaded by Shuichi. I wish I could say I was surprised, but with the way they’ve been babbling on in the comments, this is not surprising at all.

Shuichi:  “His personality was erased!?”

Keebo’s body:  “…”

Himiko:  “H-How cruel can you guys be? How long are you gonna play with our lives!?”

At least Shuichi and Himiko are having appropriately horrified reactions of you just killed him for no reason what the actual fuck??? Maki’s jaded enough to not have a similar outburst, but I’m sure she isn’t happy either.

Tsumugi:  “But that’s the decision of the outside world. ‘Don’t just end Danganronpa!’ ‘We supported you!’ ‘You owe us!’”

I get the feeling that the out-universe writers might have been venting a little bit here. And I do agree that this entitled mindset is rather sketchy – people paid to consume the media they’ve already consumed, but that doesn’t mean the creators owe them any more than that. Creators can make whatever content they want, and if they don’t want to make a thing any more because it’s lost its spark for them or they want to move on to something else, then that’s sad for the fans but it’s the creators’ right to do that.

Although, in-universe, we had that hint a few posts back that actually Danganronpa might already be on its last legs if this season took three years to come out. So at this point it’s probably only a handful of die-hard fans who are being this entitled, and maybe a lot of people whose comments we aren’t seeing because they don’t care enough wouldn’t be that bothered if it ended.

(Those people should still be realising if they’re watching this that Shuichi has a point and this is fucked up and be actively trying to get it to end, though.)

Keebo:  “I’m… sorry… I could not fight with you… until the end… But… your choice is not wrong… The real… enemy… is… The outside world who is enjoying this… killing game.”

I’m glad that at least Keebo’s consciousness manages to fight back for long enough to get a proper final speech to his friends. But even so. His death is the most unfair and pointless death in this whole story, and that’s saying something when Kiyo was one of the murderers.

Keebo:  “So please… use me… t-to change… To change… the… world…”

I appreciate Keebo’s willingness to still be helpful even in death, but… they shouldn’t need to use him for this.

Tsumugi:  “He’s completely erased. That makes me sad too, y’know? He was a character I created.”

This could be true. Writers are the ones responsible for killing off their characters, but they can still feel bad about doing so in the same in-story sense that made them care about the character in the first place – the same in-story way that their audience would care and be sad, too. That said, Tsumugi really doesn’t sound very sad about this here, and clearly her audience isn’t either.

Tsumugi:  “The outside world rejects your decision. So no matter how you use your lives, it won’t change anything.”

Shuichi:  “Then… I’ll change it…”

Shuichi is finally realising that the audience isn’t going to suddenly stop wanting more killing games just because this one got a disappointing ending and therefore that he needs to change their minds entirely. It’s apparently the callous cruelty of Keebo’s murder that spurred him to realise this. This is one way in which the out-universe writers are trying to get us to think that Keebo’s death was narratively necessary – but man, it really was not. If anything, rather than letting him realise he needs to change their minds, Keebo’s murder should have told Shuichi that he shouldn’t be able to change their minds. But we’ll get to that issue in a bit.

Instead of Shuichi only realising it upon Keebo’s death, the fact that one single boring ending isn’t going to change things should, and could, have been made apparent to him much sooner, from the moment Shuichi declared he was going to abstain from voting. Tsumugi could have simply responded to that by gloating that one disappointing ending wouldn’t be enough to end the whole thing and it’d still keep going. That should be enough to make Shuichi realise that, damn, she’s right, or at least she’s likely enough to be that it’s not worth the risk of sacrificing their lives to achieve nothing at all.

(The fact that they’re willing to give their lives to end this is part of what Shuichi is using to make the appeal that this really is all real to them and they’re not just fictional characters. But that gets dampened a little when you consider that them giving their lives, on its own and without it then being used as part of these appeals for their own realness, probably wouldn’t actually end this and would be a meaningless sacrifice. This might be part of why the narrative kept trying to insist until now that them sacrificing their lives totally would end the killing game on its own: so that everyone’s willingness to do so could seem meaningful enough to be something that might persuade the audience now.)

Shuichi:  “If Keebo is doing what the outside world is telling him, we just have to convince him… I know we can change the world! We owe it to Keebo to try!”

That doesn’t make any sense! This is blatantly the out-universe writers trying to make Keebo’s death seem actually necessary for the plot when it isn’t. The audience can hear what Shuichi is saying whether Keebo is dead or not! Shuichi persuading them to change should be hypothetically possible either way; Keebo did not need to die for this.

Tsumugi:  “I said it’s impossible! For fiction to change the real world—”

Shuichi:  “The impossible is possible! All you gotta do is make it so!”

But in other, better news, KAITOOOOO!!!!!

Even though Kaito’s gone, Shuichi would never have had the confidence to do this without him. He’d never have had the confidence to do any of this without Kaito. Team Danganronpa shot themselves in the foot by including a “weak” Ultimate Detective who grows strong, because they gave him way too much potential to end up this incredibly strong in the end. But they also shot themselves in the foot by including the Luminary of the Stars to help him reach that point, because no amount of nerfing could possibly have stopped Kaito from being able to bring out this potential in Shuichi. All he does is give his sidekicks a nudge, but that nudge is absolutely vital, and nobody but Kaito could have done it as well as he did.

Tsumugi:  “…Kh!?”

Oh dear, Tsumugi, is your own writing backfiring on you? Wishing you’d nerfed Kaito even more than you already did? It wouldn’t have changed anything!

Shuichi:  “You can even… change the world. No, we *will* change the world. For ourselves, and for everyone who died.”

I love that he’s able to genuinely believe this by holding onto Kaito’s words. If Kaito were still here then he’d absolutely be believing in Shuichi’s potential to do this, after all.

(And I am desperately trying to hold onto this uplifting inspiring feeling myself before I start thinking too hard about the fact that it doesn’t actually make any sense at all that Shuichi can do this, even with all the Kaito power in the world.)

Tsumugi:  “You fought to survive this killing game! If you die now, it’s all over!”

Shuichi:  “Even if we die, it’s not the end! Our friends who died gave us their love. And we changed because of that.”

This is so lovely! Everyone who’s died so far was fighting to survive, but their deaths don’t make their efforts meaningless, precisely because of the change they’ve inspired in the people left behind. Kaito was so so terrified of dying a meaningless death, but he didn’t, even without needing his role in trial 5. Shuichi and Maki are so much stronger thanks to him than they ever would have been without him, and they’re going to keep holding onto that and making Kaito’s life matter. The same goes for Kaede and Tenko and everyone else who cared about their friends and tried to help in even the smallest way.

Having Shuichi, Maki and Himiko be the three survivors here works so well for this, because they’re the three who’ve grown the most thanks to the efforts of some of the people who died. (Perhaps this is part of why Keebo was gratuitously killed – because he hasn’t had any kind of meaningful character arc inspired by a fallen friend like that. But geez, out-universe writers, the way to fix Keebo not being written well isn’t to kill him off now that he’s extraneous to the point of your ending, it’s to write him better in the first place!)

I also adore how Shuichi talks about the love that their friends gave them. Again, he’s not talking about romance! Platonic love is equally important and more than enough to change someone, and I love that Shuichi realises this!

Shuichi:  “If we can inspire change in others, then that love will live on. That love will tear down the wall between fiction and reality, and it will live on… forever.”

This bit gets me emotional every single time I see it. Remember how I mentioned back during some of the training sessions that Kaito inspired me to start exercising every day? It’s been over a year and a half now (and again will be even more than that when this gets posted) and I’m still showing no signs of stopping. And not only that – since this happened to get mentioned on my main blog, I might as well mention it here, too – without Kaito, I’m not sure I’d have been able to finish my PhD. The process of writing up my thesis seemed terrifingly huge and impossible, but thanks to being able to imagine what Kaito would say, I refused to give up. I told myself that that impossible thing was possible and I made it so. All because of a work of fiction.

So Shuichi is so, so right, and I am living proof of that. On some level, I really wish I could tell him what Kaito’s done for me – I’m sure he’d love to know that (and Kaito would have done, too). But of course, if that was ever actually possible, then it’d mean that they weren’t truly fictional at all and would instantly make me a terrible person for having enjoyed this, so it’s better that I can’t.

And I know I’m not the only example of the world having been changed by fiction, either! Participating in fandom lets one see over and over again, at least at the best of times, that having characters you love that inspire you really can help make a positive change in your life! (High-five, training anon!) This is such an absolutely lovely sentiment and I adore that it’s the ultimate message of this trial and this game!

(I just wish so badly that this idea was actually represented in the in-universe audience’s behaviour, like, at all. That Makoto kid at the beginning of the chapter was more or less an example of someone whose life was positively influenced by Danganronpa, but nobody in this audience right now is acting even remotely like that. Man, if only we could see more examples in the audience’s comments by this point, agreeing with Shuichi about this, telling their stories of how they’ve changed because of Danganronpa – maybe even someone mentioning they’ve started to exercise because of Kaito! – it would be beautiful. Why would you ruin the opportunity for this by making this audience mindless assholes, writers. Why.)

Shuichi:  “Even if this whole story is a lie… I will use that lie to change the world!”

This is also an absolutely lovely final use of the theme of using lies! It’s like Shuichi’s going to fire a huge Lie Bullet at everyone and use that to change them for the better! The whole concept of using lies in trials was always building up to this final message of how fiction can change the world!

There’s still somewhat of a distinction between lies and fiction that they’re not quite addressing here, though. Both are untrue, but fiction is something people know is untrue and aren’t being deceived by but rather choose to pretend is true and invest in anyway. It’s through that power that fiction can change people. If someone is changed by an outright deceptive lie that they genuinely think is true, then that’s just manipulation – and perhaps it can sometimes be the case that they were changed for the better by it anyway, but it’s not quite the same thing as this.

…Plus, there’s also the fact that Shuichi and his friends and everything they’ve been through in this killing game aren’t actually lies at all on any meaningful level, but, you know. I still appreciate the reprise of that theme here.

Himiko:  “Th-That’s right! We’re not gonna just be fiction!”

You already aren’t! Your lives and your thoughts are already real; screw those assholes out there who don’t seem to be able to realise that! Shuichi’s whole speech just now is lovely because it’s so true in an out-universe sense, but it doesn’t even need to become true in an in-universe sense to justify their lives being real and having meaning.

The only level on which it does matter in-universe is with the fact that they’re going to die. By changing people and continuing to have an influence on the world, it’ll mean their deaths won’t have been for nothing, just like those of their friends weren’t.

Maki:  “Shuichi, you can change this world. Because… you’re Kaito’s sidekick.”

It’s still adorable to see Maki putting so much weight on Kaito’s belief in people. She knows now that those weren’t just empty words of his and that he really did believe in people because they genuinely did have that potential to be amazing. It’s just, dammit, Maki Roll, you’re his sidekick too! Kaito believed in you just as much as he believed in Shuichi!

Also I love that she’s using present tense. Once Kaito’s sidekick, always Kaito’s sidekick, even after he’s gone! And even though Kaito himself would say that the people who don’t need him any more only used to be his sidekicks, evidently his sidekicks themselves don’t see it that way.

(They still need the memory of Kaito, though. They’re always going to need that. His legacy is never going to be forgotten.)

…

And now for a huge emotional whiplash from all this passionate positivity as we move into the worst minigame segment of any trial ever. Oh boy do I have a fucking rant for you about this Argument Armament and how absolutely terrible it is.

First off, let’s talk gameplay mechanics. I usually really enjoy rhythm games. I like to think I’m decently good at them. But this one? I equipped the skill which doubles my health at the beginning of this trial solely for this minigame, and I needed it to survive, even with all the other things I had on that also made this minigame easier. Is it because this is a really difficult rhythm game that challenged even someone like me who’s pretty good at them? No, it’s because it’s barely a fucking rhythm game at all.

Problem one: every regular Argument Armament has music that has a very clear, distinct beat to it, making the rhythm easy to keep up with and the notes easy to hit so long as you’re paying attention. But for some stupid reason, this one has completely different music in which the beat is very subtle and difficult to keep track of, especially when it gets faster and especially when those morons in the audience are yelling so loudly that it drowns out most of the music. So that’s thing one which makes it difficult in an unfair way that’s antithetical to the point of rhythm games.

Problem two: every regular Argument Armament also does a rather neat thing of making which buttons you need to press feel intuitive by having it so that the positioning of the words on the screen is always in relation to the position of the button you need to press on the controller. This makes things a lot easier to keep up with for people unfamiliar with their controller’s button layout (like me, as I hardly ever play any PlayStation games). The first couple of sections of this trial’s Argument Armament do that too, but around the point where those idiots all start mindlessly yelling “Hope! Despair! Hope! Despair!”, it deliberately throws that out the window, and the buttons you’re supposed to press on the controller suddenly have no positional correlation with where the words are on the screen. So if you’re not instinctively familiar with your version’s controller button layout, god help you.

Which means that at that point, I’m desperately trying to remember where each button is within a split second in order to press it in time with a beat I can barely even fucking hear. Suddenly, instead of being a rhythm game, this section has instead become a non-stop series of incredibly fast quick-time events. That is never a good thing at the best of times and especially not what I want in a Danganronpa minigame, which have all up until now required at least some level of actual skill that isn’t just reflexes and controller familiarity.

This is a completely unreasonable spike in difficulty that required me to both use the temporary easy-mode of Fever Time, which I never needed before, and have a health extension, which I never needed before, just to not get a game over here, having never even come close to getting one for the entire rest of the game. Who thought this was a good idea. Who playtested this section and decided this was totally challenging in a fair way and definitely not bullshit fake difficulty that’d have people tearing their hair out in frustration, suddenly hating the game whose story they were in theory supposed to be loving more than ever in these final moments.

…Which brings me onto the narrative side of things, because even putting the gameplay aside, even if this really was a fun and legitimately challenging rhythm game that I could get behind, this does not work narratively at all.

As I’ve gleefully talked about before for the actually-good Argument Armaments, the point of them is supposed to be that the subject already knows they’re wrong, either because they’re the culprit or because they already know that the person they want to believe in is the culprit and just can’t face it. The words that Shuichi has to shoot down in the rhythm minigame represent their desperate attempts to distract Shuichi and stop him from getting any words in edgeways to be able to conclusively prove what they already know is true. That’s why, at the end, once he’s pushed through all of that, all Shuichi needs is a single sentence of proof to break them down.

And that could have worked here, if this audience had been comprised of vaguely reasonable people! Like I’ve been trying to build up in the past few posts, a far better way to write this part of the story would be to show the in-universe audience behaving essentially like a relatable audience of fiction, albeit one that engages in some very fervent cognitive dissonance in order to wilfully ignore the fact that they’ve always been watching real people die. Which would mean that they already know what they’re doing is wrong, and those viewers that haven’t been persuaded by Shuichi yet simply still don’t want to admit it, even now that they’ve become the explicit villain of this story. After all, admitting that you’ve been an awful person, that all of those deaths are partly on you, and that to make up for it you first need to give up your favourite show for good but even then that would barely begin to be enough, would be difficult to accept for a lot of people.

I wish that was what this was. But oh my god, is it really, really not.

“I’m not here for a damn lecture!”

“Preachy characters are so annoying!”

Lines such as these could, potentially, if done right, sound like desperate deflections from people who know they’re wrong and don’t want to accept it. But in the context of everything else that’s being said, and with the way they’re delivered, these are clearly people who genuinely believe they are correct to say that Shuichi has no right to be trying to change their minds, because Shuichi’s not a real person anyway.

“Is Danganronpa really gonna end???”

“You can’t just end it out of the blue like this!”

“We want more of the killing game!”

“There’s no way they’d let it end like this, right?”

These comments from near the end are some that could vaguely sound like some kind of deflection – people trying to distract themselves from the knowledge that they’re being awful by clinging to the “no but I don’t want my show to end!” even though they know full well by now that it should. But this doesn’t seem to be how these are meant to be read in this context, either. Their tone just sounds rather too entitled, like they still genuinely believe they deserve to get more killing games after all this.

“Well, hopefully there’s another season…”

Especially with this. That should be the least of everyone’s worries right now! Try thinking more about the fact that you’ve been awful fucking people!

Which is really what this would need to be about in order for this to work. The majority of comments should be directly addressing the bigger issue: that they all know and just don’t want to accept that they’re in the wrong. A lot of people should be saying things like, “We’re not the bad guys, are we?”, or something like “But it’s just fiction so it’s okay, right?”, in a tone that makes it very clear they’re in denial and know that it’s not fiction and it’s not okay and they are the bad guys here.

“Who cares if they die, they’re not real!”

Instead, this is the only statement we get along the lines of “it’s just fiction so it’s okay”, and this is clearly not said out of any kind of desperate denial. Whoever said this genuinely thinks their lives don’t matter even now.

The rest of the audience here seems to think along the same lines, because the majority of the comments we get for most of this poor excuse for an Argument Armament is just stuff to the effect of “ugh I hate where this story is going, give me a better ending!”. That should not be the point any more! They should be perfectly aware by now, if still on a level they’re unwilling to properly accept, that this isn’t about their own superficial whims for their entertainment; it’s about people’s goddamn lives, and so who cares whether they get entertained or not!

(And have I mentioned that they still should be enjoying the story that’s actually happening more than any of their hope nonsense.)

So, since this audience that we’re being presented with here clearly does not know on any level that they’re in the wrong, we have a fundamental problem with our Argument Armament. Instead of simply shooting down desperate deflections in order to tell them something they really already know, Shuichi is trying to actively persuade them of something they don’t currently believe. That is not something that was ever going to be appropriate for an Argument Armament, because all Shuichi actually does in these is yell a single sentence – sure, this time it’s multiple sentences, but that’s hardly any better. And every one of the sentences you have Shuichi yell is something that he’s already said earlier in the trial. Again, they should already know this, yet because they evidently somehow don’t, this approach should not be able to change a thing.

Shuichi should have needed to do a lot more than simply yell a handful of sentences at everyone to be able to persuade them, at least as the audience is being presented here. If he is supposed to have canonically done something more than that, then really we should have seen that in order to be able to buy that he succeeded, rather than have it be swallowed up by game mechanics. (After all, it’s not like he literally played a so-called “rhythm” game.)

And another thing is, Shuichi in particular really isn’t someone you’d think would be more notably capable of persuading the audience than anyone else. He’s amazing when it comes to detective work, sure, but he was never established to be someone especially good at persuading people to change their minds on an emotional level when logical proof isn’t going to work. That’s a job that’d be more suited to someone like Kaito, or Kaede!

But… even Kaito knew when to back down from trying to get through to someone because it wasn’t going to work. He eventually gave up on getting through to Kokichi after having tried for the entirety of chapter 4, upon realising with the way that trial ended that Kokichi was never going to accept help and be willing to change. Kaito also never even tried in the first place to get through to Monokuma, or the mastermind, and talk them out of this killing game, because that was very evidently pointless from the start.

So, I think if Kaito was here, and if he was reacting realistically to this awful mess of an audience (which, let’s face it, no-one has quite been doing, because the out-universe writers apparently don’t realise how terrible their depiction of the audience is), he’d be able to tell immediately that this is a lost cause. Kaito could only ever use his luminary powers to influence people who wanted to change, and these assholes clearly do not want to do that.

The problem, going back to just Shuichi, is this: if the audience still doesn’t even see Shuichi and his friends as being real people with lives and worth, if they can’t even acknowledge that Shuichi is a human being with the potential to have a valid point, they are never going to even listen to his argument and consider that he might have a valid point in the first place, no matter how much of one he has.

“This guy shoulda died instead of Kaede!”

This asshole, for example, literally thinks Shuichi should be dead. Therefore Shuichi is not a person of any worth at all, therefore there’s no need to listen to anything he’s saying.

“Hey, what about little miss assassin’s punishment!?”

“Just kill each other already!”

“Death is the point of Danganronpa!”

And these idiots just mindlessly want everyone to die. (I am especially in-universely infuriated and revolted by the one that seems to combine this with the “hurr durr schoolgirl assassin hot” and would apparently enjoy watching her die for that reason, ugh no fuck off you disgusting monster you don’t deserve to even see Maki ever in your life.) Because the only fun part of this story to these assholes is everyone being horribly killed, apparently? Inhuman monsters like this are never going to listen to reason! They literally just murdered Keebo for their own pathetic one-dimensional whims of how this story should end! If they can’t even understand that death is bad, even fictional deaths, we have a fundamental roadblock to our persuasion here!

Keebo’s body:  “… …”

Himiko:  “What… just happened?”

What just happened is that Shuichi did something that should have been literally, actually impossible.

And, see, the thing about Kaito’s catchphrase is that he’s not really talking about things that are literally impossible. He’s talking about things that seem impossible to you, because maybe you don’t have enough confidence in yourself, or you don’t have the skills and strength you’d need just yet. But they’re not inherently impossible if you’re willing to put in enough effort to get there. And the first step of that is letting yourself believe that it could actually be possible after all, so that you can bring yourself to put in that effort and make it so.

I’d love it if that was what this was – it’s what it ought to be, to truly honour Kaito after Shuichi invoked his words for this – but it isn’t. This should not have been possible, at all. Not with this audience that we’ve seen here, and definitely not in the way that Shuichi apparently managed to do it.

---

[Next post]

[zerochanges]

Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative - One Night Movie Premiere

If you told me ten years ago that I would be able to regularly watch anime movies on the big screen in theatres I would have surely not believed you. Besides maybe a few Pokemon movies or an occasional film in some mega franchise I don’t particularly care for such as Naruto, the prospect would probably seem alien to me even. So it’s funny how times have changed and how anime screenings in theatres is becoming increasingly more common in North America. Just last month I was able to watch the phenomenal Dragon Ball Super Broly film in a packed theatre with a ton of other nerds and it was a delightful experience. Before that I got to see the fun anime version of Die Hard known as My Hero Academia: Two Heroes, and before that a love letter to Go Nagai known as Mazinger Z Infinity! Now only a month after Broly I get to watch an honest-to-God Mobile Suit Gundam motion picture in a theatre too? I feel like the luckiest guy alive. 

If I am being honest, I actually hate going to the cinema most of the time, and spent many years avoiding doing just that. I was always the type of person that was happy enough to rent a movie once it released on DVD/BD and that was the extent I would need out of cinema at large. The only exception I started to make was when Disney purchased Star Wars, and that was more out of fear that ravenous fans online couldn't keep their mouths shut than it was about anything else. Over the years however I started to develop a greater appreciation towards movie theatres at large and a lot of that has to probably do with anime. As I began to become a serious collector of anime and made the transition from my old DVDs to crisper BDs I realized I was at the point where as a fan I wanted the most out of my all time favorite movies--because these were not just my favorite anime movies but my actual favorite movies, and that’s when I realized I truly wish I could have seen them the way they were meant to be; on the big screen, with an insanely powerful surround sound system, with fans all gathered around cheering at the best moments. I will probably never get this experience for Akira, or Galaxy Express 999, or the many other films that mean the world to me now, but I can get the experience for future movies, so I don’t want to miss out ever again.

Gundam is one of my favorite franchises from my childhood. As a young kid I fell in love with the amazing robot designs and was blown away at the prospect of an anime that just felt so different from DBZ, which besides Pokemon was probably my only real understanding of anime at that age. As a teen and young adult especially the franchise became increasingly important to me and left a lasting impression on my psyche. I can’t tell you my favorite Gundam series nowadays because the answer will probably be different every time. Maybe I’ll say the original Mobile Suit Gundam, warts and all, it’s everything I love about anime from the 1970’s and to this day I still love the original Ocean Group dub from Canada. This dub while wooden and showing its age terribly will forever be etched in my mind as the definitive voices for most of the Universal Century characters despite Shuichi Ikeda buttery smooth, ecstasy inducing voice in most of the Japanese series. Maybe I’ll say Zeta Gundam as Kamile was a character my younger self identified a lot with and the series as a whole left a very strong impression on me. Maybe I’ll say Turn A Gundam, a beautiful psychedelic series that displays some of the best writing from series creator Tomino. 

So yes, having a chance to see any Gundam film in theatres was something I couldn't miss. Even if said film ended up just okay it wouldn't matter, as not in my wildest dreams did I actually think I would get this opportunity. I figured the closest I would ever be to seeing Gundam on the big screen would be if I happened to be in Japan for some reason around the time a new Gundam OVA or film was being screened. When Gundam Narrative tickets went on sale for North America I bought them the day online orders were opened and was even the first person to buy a seat at the theatre (thanks to reserved seating I could see nobody else had bought a seat yet). It didn't matter to me that I had to drive 45 minutes to the cinema, nor did it matter to me that I honestly knew nothing about Gundam Narrative, I just wanted to experience Gundam this way at least once in my life. And so last night I made the trek across the city and finally got to see Gundam like I never have. Now I have decided I want to share some of my thoughts and impressions about it. This won’t be a formal review, nor is it meant to be, as more or less I’m just expositing some of my thoughts, off the cuff.

First a little background information. Sunrise’s current "UC NexT 0100" project that tackles the next century of Gundam’s UC (Universal Century) time-line as well as their ambitious promise to deliver a new theatrical Gundam film every 1-2 years from 2018 onward is something to behold, so it’s no big surprise to me that the first film to kick off both of these initiatives would be a sequel to the highly acclaimed Gundam Unicorn OVA series. Saying Sunrise is kind of on a Unicorn kick right now would be an understatement after all. I actually don’t mind this so much however like a lot of people seem to, as Unicorn deserves all the praise it got and there is no two-ways about it being a pivotal factor behind Sunrise’s returning commitment to the UC time-line again after releasing nothing major in it for nearly a decade. Gundam Narrative serving as a sequel to Gundam Unicorn is something I am totally neutral about. 

My greater concern going into the Gundam Narrative film was more that Gundam and films have a pretty rocky history. Honestly most Gundam movies tend to be more on the awful side. If I had to rate all the ones I've seen I would probably only say Gundam Thunderbolt: December Sky and Gundam Thunderbolt: Bandit Flower are fantastic, the original Mobile Suit Gundam film trilogy is an excellent compilation movie series and a good enough replacement for its own television version, the Zeta New Translation films are incredibly disappointing and omit too much, Char’s Counterattack is a hot mess that barely makes a lick of sense, Gundam F91 would have been a fantastic TV show but as a movie it makes me sad, A Wakening of the Trailblazer is okay but also undone by its own weirdness, Endless Waltz is what you would expect out of Wing, the Turn A compilation movies are pointless, and G-Savior sure was … a thing that exist.

Well I am happy to say Gundam Narrative is among the rare films for the franchise that I thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish! A lot of this has to do with the scale being relatively small versus the usual scale in Gundam films that are way too big for their own good. Narrative’s laser focus on chasing after the missing Unit 03, the Golden Phoenix sibling to the two Unicorn and Banshee units we've seen in the previous Gundam Unicorn series allows it to tell a story largely separated from politics and the world at large--and let’s the characters become the main focal point of the film like any good movie should. 

This aspect alone is missing from so many other Gundam films and is partly why so many fail at being a good viewing experience. I’d say the few that do find that focus, mainly the Thunderbolt series of films and the original trilogy of movies made from the 1979 TV series are the best in the franchise’s filmography. A ton of other Gundam films tend to be bloated as well with rather boring middle sections, so the brisk fast pace of this 90 or so minute runtime for Narrative was a welcome relief. There are some awkward cuts to the film sure, but honestly I felt this beat sitting in the theatre for two and a half hours bored at the long winded middle section that goes nowhere like some previous Gundam films are especially guilty of. This was just enough time to tell a story of this scope properly. Of course the characters and scope of the story isn't enough to carry an entire film so the fantastic soundtrack from returning Unicorn composer Hiroyuki Sawano helped to sell a lot of scenes in the film as well.

The biggest factor that made Narrative for me however had to be the film’s focus on the more metaphysical aspects of Newtypes. Despite my disliking of a lot of Char’s Counterattack I still find the more psychedelic (so to say) aspects of it to be fascinating, just as I always have when such spiritual topics have shown up in prior Gundam works by Tomino and the many teams at Sunrise. While far from perfect I always enjoyed this kind of kooky spiritualism to the Gundam universe, a sort of new age 80’s science fiction interpretation of the soul would be the best way I can describe it but there’s no real way for me to do it justice nor to make it not sound ridiculous. Since Tomino has left a lot of Universal Century Gundam series have focused more on everyday soldiers instead and not so much on Newtypes, the future evolution of mankind, and the soul. In fact I always felt Sunrise somewhat shied away from a lot of these aspect to Gundam since then, so when we got to see this aspect return near the very end of Gundam Unicorn it was a nice treat to me personally. Having it permeate almost the entire runtime of Narrative’s story had me over the moon. A lot of people disagree, and more power to them, but I just can’t get enough out of the spiritual aspects seen in Narrative. 

Gundam Narrative being a modern UC time-line production means it of course has references and lore connections to a ton of other classic Gundam series and moments. I really enjoyed most them even if they were just silly fan service moments. I love that we got to see the famous Colony Drop drawn with modern day high budget animation and it wasn't just reused old footage. Getting to see clips of the Psycho Gundam ravage Hong Kong City was a joy on the big screen even if it lasted only about 10 seconds. I loved that we got to hear some of Char’s Dakar speech again in Narrative--this gave us an opportunity to hear Keith Silverstein, the modern English voice of Char since 2010 handle this legendary speech of his from Zeta Gundam. 

Speaking of the English dub my favorite performances were definitely Griffin Puatu’s portrayal of the protagonist Jona Basta that had to carry a lot of the emotional weight of the film and Stefan Martello’s portrayal of the off-the-walls insane Zoltan Akkanen who was just a pure fun villain that ate up every scene he was in. The Narrative Gundam itself being a reworked prototype of Amuro’s Nu Gundam from Char’s Counterattack four years ago was also a fun way to fit another Gundam into this time frame and I love it gave us such a classic looking Gundam in the Unicorn era of the franchise.

I had almost zero expectations for Gundam Narrative, and all I really wanted was the big screen experience for Gundam. As someone that loves the psychedelic spiritual aspect of Tomino’s old works, and someone with zero expectations that a Gundam movie can really be all that good anyways I walked away from that theatre last night loving what I saw. Gundam Narrative has me personally excited for the future of Gundam films, especially if it means we may see more theatrical screenings in North America for said films. This is probably not a film for everyone, and is definitely heavy on both your love of Gundam Unicorn and your love of some of the craziest stuff Tomino would whip out in his heyday of working on the franchise, but if you’re like me I think this one will be a lot of fun, even off the big screen.