#I did catch up on sleep though so hopefully it was semicoherent

[ryouverua]

You know, i think its rather interesting that kaito refers to saihara as a “sidekick” but kokichi refers to him as a “partner”. Kaito sees himself as a hero, and saihara as his helper—and someone hes helped. He sees himself as someone who HAS to help. To feel useful. A hero complex, indeed; probably rooted in alot of insecurities. I mean, in his freetime, he brags about how all his sidekicks have been super successful. Its like hes living vicariously through them. But we also see him being jealous of saihara, about how much more ppl seem to depend on him. Meanwhile, kokichi doesnt have insecurities about that; he doesn’t feel the need to prove himself to his classmates bc well… they already hate him (or at the least dislike) so whats the point in that? He actually seems to even like antagonizing himself—possibly bc of how cynical he sees the world. Everyones a liar—not just him—everyone is capable of lying and being horrible. In a way, that almost gives him an advantage over kaito, how negatively he views ppl, bc in that vein, he just views himself as another person. He views himself on equal footing to them. Anyone and everyone can be horrible or great, depending; anyone can be pushed to do things and hes *aware* of that. In the way, his naturally suspicious mature, while separating and isolating him from ppl, due to not trusting them, also allows him to view himself on equal footing, whereas kaito is just lying to himself, in a way, desperately trying to get validation. In a way, they both have what eachother lacks; kaito is charismatic and believes in ppl, but he has trouble seeing himself on equal footing with them because of the standard her sets for himself, with that charisma. Kokichi is distrustful and pushes ppl away, bc anyone can do horrible things, and yet that very view on ppl allows him to see himself as just another person—on equal footing. Idk, its interesting to me; i might just be reading into it too much though

Also sorry for submitting, this just got WAY to long dofhksbdof.. just some food for thought i guess. Even if this isnt the reason why, it is still rlly interesting in the difference they address him.

it’s the YGO nerd in him. He’s totally calling Shuichi ‘partner’ as a huge reference. please I kept forgetting to listen carefully for it someone needs to tell me if Kokichi was using the word ‘aibou’ or not

Also man I don’t know if it’s right for me to speak on this stuff yet but aaah what the hell here we go anyway lmao

Honestly, I wonder if part of that has to do with his physical stature. When you think about it, the kind of things he would have to do to rise to the top and/or get any respect (fear can be considered respect, in a sense) would have to be all mental and underhanded - he’s a bit limited in his options, and sometimes people just grow the way they are by nature rather than nurture. On the other side we’ve got Kaito, naturally athletic and goatee aside good-looking, and radiating confidence and charisma. It’s not just that he believes in people - he can afford to believe in people!

But you’re right when you talk about Kaito up there - he wants people to lean on him for support, and watch them succeed *with* his help, and I do think he does get a thrill from that. He has his own accomplishments, sure, but he’s also mentally rewarding himself for others’ accomplishments after propping them up - and while he can take some credit for that, he may be overreaching. Hero complex though - aha, it’s funny, because that same FTE had him call himself the ‘Ultimate Hero’ in there too! 

With that said, I don’t know if it’s fair to say Kokichi isn’t trying to get some validation! It really does seem like he wants to be recognized, good or bad, for what he’s doing - very much like a child who wants your attention, honestly. I’d like to think that they’re both a sort of ‘two sides of the same coin’ set - I was trying to think earlier if I’d consider there to be a direct opposition between Shuichi (expose the truth) vs Kokichi (hide the truth) in the end, but I think this trial is really pushing the narrative more towards Kaito (believe in everyone) vs Kokichi (distrust everyone) direct opposition, with Shuichi hanging in the balance in the centre. Honestly, Shuichi lies far too much in search of the truth and does us the great service in the beginning of the game of both trusting in Kaede completely while also introducing distrust to her via his initial mastermind deduction. 

Right, but back to what you were saying, I also wonder if Kokichi is referring to him as ‘aibou’ in a genuine way or if it’s to get under Kaito’s skin/tease Shuichi - he definitely understands that everyone around him has the potential to kill people if the right buttons are pushed, but I’m not 100% sure if he isn’t looking down on everyone around him for dancing along to the same beats of ~let’s all trust each other and try to get along!~ every chapter as their numbers dwindle or not. 

But yeah, in terms of complimenting each others’ pros and cons? Yeah, they definitely do!