#I have to do it guys. I ALWAYS have to help Alice give Reko the bongos when I replay the game. always always always!!!

[lilac-melody]

aaa....replaying yttd for a memory refresher...it's been mostly easy even though I've forgotten how to do a lot of the puzzles...

I managed to let Gin get hurt only once in the Arbitration Room...

but...I forgot how heart wrenching it is at the end of 2.1 if you let Reko live...

[livyslabyrinth]

imagining yttd characters with a partner pokemon and the image in my head is too cutee.

shin with an espeon because he canonically likes cats. he probably wanted an umbreon to match the cat plush in sou’s room but eevee followed him to work on a day shift and evolved, but he loves his partner anyways :)

sara with umbreon because she wanted a black cat in the manga. the type matchups make sense to me with shin having the weaker matchup.

gin with a growlithe and q-taro with an arcanine would be so cuteee. they’re father and son to me idc 😭

joe with a rockruff omlll. his uniform would always be a little roughed up because he can never resist playing with his partner!!

a zorua would go so well with reko’s color scheme aaaaa. maybe having it use rain dance during live venues to preform with her!!

nao with an altaria because the artbook said she likes fluffy thingss. i could totally see her napping with an altaria. little bit angsty here, but maybe a mishima’s smergle she raises after his death

alice with a zebstrika or furret because he likes striped things. i like to imagine his pokemon would occasionally bicker with reko’s zorua, but get their ass beat every time 😭

kai would have a ghost time to freak the yabusames out like he did in ytts. maybe a sableye or a yamask, but i feel like he would look so cunty with a froslass!!

i have no reason for this one but keiji with a gible makes sense in my head. idk… i can just see him doing his best to calm down a rambunctious gible that’s chasing the other participants around.

anzu with a blacephalon because its clownlike and not as off-putting as mr mime. i don’t like mr. mime, and i also feel like it’d be an uncreative cop-out to give her.

kuramada with a primape or hitmonlee that he spars with from time to time. they have specially tailored boxing gloves :”)

mai with a fidough. no explanation needed. your honor, they have matching bread hats!! she lets her partner help in the kitchen and just prays the fda doesn’t swing by.

i imagine kanna with a sweets themed pokemon bc of her pudding bucket in ytts. maybe a milcery or alcremie. i imagine shin’s espeon has a timid nature and she has to let it slowly warm up to her and her partner pokemon.

i feel like hinako would have a giant terrifying ass pokemon, slightly due to the fact that she’s intimidating and mysterious herself. mostly due to the fact that i think it would be really funny for the shortest character to have a giant scary pokemon lurking behind them.

ranmaru is kinda gloomy, so i feel like he would empathize well with a mimikyu and they would bond in no time. his partner is terrified of sara’s umbreon and every time he tries to approach her, mimikyu panics and he gives up. poor guy :(

hayasaka with a really mischievous rotom that he cannot control is a really cute image in my head, so i’m giving him that

[nagito11s-yttd-stuff]

YTTD Survivor Predictions (good endings)

Emotion Route (Has Main Game):

Sara (I just can't see the protag being killed in an ending, especially since it happened in 2-1 with Q-taro and that was just a game over.)

Kanna (We killed the one guy who could actually help us escape to keep her alive. If she dies, it'd disrespect our choice harder than the banquet disrespected the 2-1 choice.)

Alice/Reko or Keiji (I really hope the remaining Yabusame doesn't just get killed off like a second thought but just only having Keiji and Gin die in 3-2 is way too predictable. Also I can't see both kids surviving so this being the choice makes sense imo.)

The remaining doll (This refers to either Mai, Kurumada or Hayasaka btw. I can see this being determinant since they can be destroyed pre-banquet. I just hope they aren't left behind as they can still offer stuff. Plus, 3-1 keeps bringing up how the dolls matter so them being forgotten kinda goes against that message.)

(As for Gin, I can see him being the sacrifice in the main game. It could allow for another ending like massacre but less awful for the characters.)

Logic Route (No Main Game):

Sara (Again, no protags were harmed in the making of this death game.)

Shin (I can't see him dying tbh. Plus, him always living gives his words in 2-2 about how "You won't get another chance like this" much more weight.)

Keiji or Gin (Maybe it's a little predictable but there's not much I can do with 2/4 characters getting immunity. Besides, Sara's choice between her two closest allies being delayed instead of prevented will still hurt so it's fine. This choice could also determine how Shin acts. If Gin is killed, he could see that as the strong once again killing the weak. I can't see him and Sara reconciling on this route but the three would still escape. However, if Keiji is killed, this could lead to Shin and Sara making a start at reconciling. I doubt they'll become friends by the end of the route but they could at least still work together for escape.)

The remaining doll (Same as the reasoning in Emotion Route.)

[strawberryjamsara]

Possible future interactions in island mode

Shin and Alice: Alice tries to figure out why Shin has the name of the guy he killed, without giving anything away so he tries questioning him by saying stuff like ‘I knew someone else with that name you know’ and Shin is like ‘Have you never seen two people with the same name?’ And then it culminates with him eventually finding Alice is using an alias too and a big the girls are fighting moment

Shin and Kanna: Kanna is reminiscing about how much she misses her sister and Shin gets jealous in a big brother way, and tries to be better than Kugie to various degrees of failure and then Kanna says she doesn’t need Shin to be a better sister than Kugie because he’s already a great brother.

Reko and Keiji: Reko just keeps yelling profanities at Keiji and how he sucks and Keiji is just like “Okay” and is taking it like a champ until Reko starts getting concerned and is like “Hey man are you okay? I know I’m hard on you, but I know what it’s like to be in a bad place and I think you should try to get better if you actually agree with all this stuff I’m saying.”

Nao and Gin: Gin is crying to Nao and Nao asks what’s wrong and Gin says the animals they captured for dinner look so sad and he wants to free them so they start an operation of freeing trapped animals from the others until they get in caught and they say they probably shouldn’t have forced everyone to become vegans when they were trying to survive but they had fun and that’s what matters so they just start doing more secret agent shenanigans

Kai and Sara redo when we get Sara’s route: Sara goes out of her way to tell Kai thanks for always cooking meals and keeping the team afloat and Kai is almost ready to cry because Sara complimented him and runs away but Sara gets the wrong idea from this and thinks he hates her and doesn’t want to be around her so she starts doing a bunch of nice stuff for him and he’s literally at wits end at the fact Ms Sara is doing all this for him and is like “You don’t have to do this for me you know.” And she’s like “But I think you’re great. 🥺” and he’s like “Oh.” And then he hugs her.

Joe and Alice: The absolute hole of stupidity………. It’d be unmatched. I think it’d be one of those where all 3 are different subjects. One where Alice and Joe are yelling from a distance about how they can’t hear the other. Another about Alice and Joe debating about fashion and Alice tells him he’s nothing without stripes and Joe is like “I don’t have stripes but you don’t have this cool doggy keychain my best friend gave me” and Alice is just like “Shit. Fuck. Fucking hell. You’re right.” And in the last one Alice shows him a cool rock he found and asks if it’d make a good keychain. Joe asks why he asked him, and Alice yells at him for playing mind games. Joe says to love and express himself. Alice says he’s right and asks him to help him find a cooler rock.

Qtaro and Nao: Nao and Qtaro talk about how they both cannot do their crafts on the island. Qtaro can’t play baseball and Nao can’t paint. As a solution, Nao brings Qtaro a branch and a coconut to practice his swing and Qtaro gives Nao crushed up bugs to use as paints. Nao paints a picture of Qtaro playing baseball but for whatever reason, he is a cow in the picture.

Sara and Keiji: Sara notices Keiji sleeping in and decides to become his personal alarm clock. She comes into his tent banging pots and pans yelling “WAKE UP! WAKE UP!” Until he starts to get up. He tries to give her extra dinner in exchange for letting him take his depression naps but she says it’s more than just helping the team, she refuses to let him not get up and enjoy this island life while they have it. And she still eats his food.

[sou-ver-2-0]

Since there’s been five negative Keiji confessions in a row on the confessions blog, and since Keiji stans are ridiculously nice to me...

I thought I’d make Shin say five nice things about Keiji.

1.

“Well... He may have killed an unarmed woman in his First Trial...”

“But what if... Now hear me out... He felt bad about it??”

“I can’t believe I have to do four more of these.”

2.

“Keiji is our very responsible self-appointed policeman who takes excellent care of us. For example, he graciously helped the weak people in our group collect enough Clear Chips from the Attractions to survive. He even helped me! Me, the most worthless life of all!”

“What happened was, first he offered to help me with the Arm Wrestling Attraction. Naturally, I refused. But then... I arranged for Alice to help Kanna, and Q-Taro had already done it, and Reko was helping Nao, and--well, it’s not like I would beg Miss Sara for help... So! I went crawling back to him. Utterly humiliating. And yet he restrained himself to one ‘Okie Dokie.’ WHAT a gentleman.”

“There was one part during the Arm Wrestling Attraction where he started to lose, and so I screamed at him to do better or we were both going to die. Instead of losing his composure, he just laughed. Anyway, he won, obviously. He’s got such a winning personality.”

“After he won, he gave me my share of the Clear Chips, fair and square. Then he started chatting about the First Main Game. Because of course! Him helping me was all a set-up to interrogate me! He just wanted proof that I hadn’t lost my memories! Oh, and he was very clever about it. He said things that were untrue, and I very nearly corrected him.”

“Fortunately, I didn’t fall for his trick. Instead, I pointed behind him and shouted, ‘LOOK BEHIND YOU!’ Which he did. Then I ran away and locked myself in my room. Sure, it was stressful, but I would have died without him! My hero!”

3.

“I admit that I don’t actually know this for sure... But I’m almost certain that Keiji voted for Kai in the First Main Game. Voting for Kai was the Logical Choice, since I could have had the Sacrifice Card. And Keiji allllllways chooses logic, no matter how much he hates me.”

“Thanks for killing Kai instead of me, Keiji! Pity that you have to bear the guilt of killing yet another person who’s still better than me!”

4.

“Keiji is uh... Well he’s uh... He’s got a great sense of humor! This Death Game is incredibly stressful, but Keiji always finds a way to lighten the mood for us poor suckers. What a thoughtful guy.”

“Even I thought it was funny when he joked that he couldn’t believe how Kai was into a hacking program for his smut. I love a good computer joke.”

“Keiji also wore the most hilarious expression when I told him to give fifty tokens to Miss Sara.”

“Real funny guy.”

5.

“Keiji is... He’s... Keiji is... Oh fuck, do I have to say it? It’s the only thing left... His only redeeming quality...”

“He’s hot, okay? There, I said it.” 

“He’s hot in a...scary way...creepy eyes... But still very hot. Really...strong arms that could crush me... Ugh.”

“Not my type though. I happen to like people with nice personalities.”

“That’s all I’m gonna say!”

[gingus-doon]

Mishima for the character ask!

thank u for asking about one of my faves 😭😭💕

what i like about him

- THERE'S SO MUCH TO LIKE! first of all, he's very caring and that's just so endearing!! stg he would adopt like at least half of the cast unofficially had they not been in a death game / simulation– and his eccentricity makes him so much more interesting, as well! he's such a down to earth guy who's very sociable and nice but he's also pretty weird sjdbsn. the way he stands, his appearance, the way he throws (apparently) to his weird laugh. then there's also that scene where keiji told him he made the air smell like oil paint (WHICH SOUNDED LIKE SOME KIND OF JOKEY INSULT NGL) and mishima is like SO PLEASED about it??? AND IN REKO'S FONDNESS EVENT (1st i think) WHERE SHE JUST BERATES HIM BUT THEN MISHIMA'S LIKE "ACTUALLY THIS MAKES ME WANT TO BEFRIEND YOU MORE" SKFKSDN

i also just love his humility!! it's so funny sometimes, like when nao gives him that godawful bathing suit aND HE JUST AGREES TO WEAR IT FOR THE SAKE OF HER FEELINGS?? his willingness to work with people, as well, like how he didn't suggest gin take his cape off and how he literally took the time to draw on some shoes just for the sake of alice's safety. and then in that same fondness event, HE PROCEEDS TO BE ASSERTIVE IN THE KINDEST POSSIBLE MANNER LMAO. not to mention the selflessness in his sacrifice for nao?? like he's just too good and considerate and odd, we have to stan

—

what i don't like about him

- OOF there's not much for me to say for this part tbh KDKSDN. ignoring no-smoking signs is pretty bad akdjsj. i could say hypocrisy, as mishima also judged alice by his appearance, but i find that a very human flaw so it makes me like him more actually haha.

perhaps one thing that i actually was Spooked by was the existence in tragedy ending of ytts. it's really jarring and a little disturbing to see mishima so caught up in this own survival that his allies drop from his mind entirely (even nao!) but i can't really fault him for that since it is, again, a very human trait and it gives him depth. it's just spooky to see the juxtaposition of him caring so much to not even having them in mind, esp if you get one of the other endings first.

—

favourite scene

- there are sooo many good ones, it's hard to choose, but one of the ones i always think of is that leaf fondness event with gin!! i love mishima's consideration for gin's feelings (as mentioned before) and really, it's just so stupid and wholesome. like you'd think he'd would be smarter than to go back and forth like that but nope, gin's the one who comes in with the common sense akhsjdnns.

—

favourite line

- off the top of my head (as all these answers have been ekfhs) I LOVE HOW HE RESPONDS TO KANNA'S INQUIRY WITH "I'm eternally young, so I wouldn't know." LIKE THAT'S LITERALLY THE SMOOTHEST QUESTION DODGE EVER. WHAT A G LMFAO

—

favourite outfit

- ik he doesn't change outfits in the game but what if his default outfit was a dress shirt and a suit sjfhsjdn. i can't imagine him in casual clothes help 😭 i also considered turtlenecks but actually i think that would be kai's thing

—

otp

- of course keishima 😔😔 i could just go on about how perfect they are for each other for hours lmao. keiji is also the only person i ship with mishima?? like kaishima is ok i guess but it just doesn't hit the serotonin like keishima 👊 shunshima is alright too but i think i'd prefer it platonically

—

brotp

- my bias towards the characters is absolutely being exposed because it's not nao, but instead shin and hinako– reko too!!

though it's less of a brotp and more of me thinking that mishima would be a father figure to them AKDHSDJFJ. for an actual brotp in terms of friendship rather than mentorship, i think kai and q-taro would be really good friends with mishima and would b more like peers than pupils to him sjfhdj

—

headcannon

- i just think it'd be neat if mishima was one of those kinds of teachers who had an array of colourful and playful ties with a wide variety of dress shirt colours :> also maybe fun socks

—

unpopular opinion

- i'm really not exactly sure! the popular opinion on mishima seems to be that he's awesome, which i agree with lolol. and i haven't seen any content for him which i disagree with in particular (i think) so i don't really have any opinions to go against lol.

if i had to say something, though, i guess it'd be that he's not perfect ? as evidenced by the smoking thing (kazumi mishima is now a morally grey character because he ignores no smoking signs lmao) and the existence in tragedy ending, and any other subtle lapses in a flawless image. though, i don't think mishima is trying to keep up a flawless image so much as a moral one around children! he seems okay to discuss or touch on his deeper feelings in conversation in order to connect with people, and i think that's very neat

and i don't blame people for perceiving him as flawless, i often also struggle to grasp at whatever his more serious character flaws would be! especially since i usually write him with keiji, and keiji is... The Most Flawed so mishima comes off as an even better person in comparison.

—

a wish

- i don't think i have any wishes for mishima's character in the main game? like i don't expect him to come back to life or anything ajdhksn. SO, my wish is that nankidai will double up on the fondness events so that we'll see mishima from other people's perspective!! LIKE I AM SERIOUSLY HOPING FOR THIS SO HARD I NEED TO SEE KEIJI AND MISHIMA INTERACT MORE (and other ppl as well SKRHJSNS)

—

an oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen

- i know this would like, definitely not happen because there's absolutely no good reason at ALL for this to happen, but it'd break my heart if there was a twist pulled like woaahhh mishima's actually a bad guy wjdhd. that goes against the whole message of "don't judge a book by its cover" that his character conveys 😭😭 honestly i probably wouldn't even think about evil mishima if it wasn't for that ai thing in chap 2. THAT WAS SO FUCKED UP, WHEN I REPLAYED YTTD AFTER PLAYING YTTS I WAS JUST LIKE "HOW DARE YOU DESECRATE THE MEMORY OF KAZUMI MISHIMA LIKE THAT YOU BASTARDS"

—

5 words to describe him

- funky uncle with misleading appearance !

—

my nickname for him

- i don't really have one haha. i just call him mishima– though sometimes i do like to use full names for the characters so i will just be out here typing "kazumi mishima" in its entirety sjdbns.

i have hc nicknames for what other people would call him though! other people being keiji JSFHS. "kazu" or "mishi"

[diamondprima]

Feelings about YTTD characters up until ch2 [long rant]

Spoilers will be marked like this: spoilers.

So like OBVIOUSLY spoiler warning. I haven’t gotten into chapter 3 yet because I finished ch2 at like 2am and I had online school the next day and all my emotional stamina was something more like emotional stamiNO

Let’s start by talking about characters!!!

Keiji Shinogi 

So...can you guess who’s my favorite...? If you guessed Keiji you are absolutely correct. I said this on insta but he could snap me like a twig if he wanted, and I’m NOT joking. 

At the start I was very worried that he’d be a bad guy, but I very quickly fell in love with him (and yeah, it did help that he’s pretty hot shut up).

He’s just...so fuxking sweet? He just cares so much about you, has been very helpful and honestly he ended up being the most trustworthy. This game has been NERVE wrecking and his encouragement throughout the chapters and the choices really helped me...he’s just amazing, I have NO words to express how much I love him <333

If he dies I will die with him, probably from crying.

Not to mention that his backstory and trauma...it broke my heart seeing him so down and I really wanted to comfort him at that moment. But what REALLY broke my heart was how careful and worried he was about you during your hallucinations, even though he was also having quite a hard time with his own demons...

Sou Hiyori (Shin Tsumuki)

...or should I say Shin Tsumiki? Oh God, the beanie man...

I honestly don’t don’t know how exactly to feel about him. Since I am into Danganronpa, I did come across Yttd memes and I had already seen all of the Kokichi comparisons and such. That’s why I expected lots of lies, tomfoolery and overall rat-ness. And well...yeah that’s what I got pretty much! Even though he annoyed me greatly the moment the bs happened, I can’t help but be interested and fond of him...after all his love and care for Kanna was quite apparent, and I felt like he really went through changes and slowly opened up...

I was really stumped on what to do when the final voting time came on the second main game. I didn’t want to kill Shin because as I said, I am fond of him. Not to mention I was so impressed by his abilities and what he had to offer and I really wanted to see more of him...! However, after abusing the multiple save files and seeing the outcomes of all the voting options I decided I’d kill him off. The logic route was just too cruel for both him and Sara. Him having to live with the survivors guild and his hatred of Sara not only hurt me but also scared me in terms of what he’d do to sabotage her. Those fears were made worse after I saw what crap he pulled with that Joe hologram...absolutely no. On the other hand, the feeling route had a much more emotionally satisfying ending. it seemed as if both Sara and Shin got their salvation. I actually cried at the AI scene, and I felt as if not only Sara, but I had also I had been freed of this crushing weight...all because of Shin. I will however replay it sometime and will let him live, just to see how Sou and him would interact...

Kanna Kizuchi

Oh Kanna...

Honestly I do sympathize with Kanna. I too am a notorious crybaby and would also be nominated because I’d be weak. From the moment I saw her I just KNEW I wanted to protect her and keep her safe from people like Shin...

The entire sister backstory cut deep, and I was really happy to take the role of her older sister, it just felt like the right thing to do ya know? Anyway overall I do want to protect her and love her!!!

Her death at the logic route was HEARTBREAKING. It was so painful and it just added to the overall...hurt of the damn thing, which is why I ultimately kept her alive. I am quite excited to see what she has to offer, since it seemed like she had MAJOR character development after that ending and I pray it was worth sacrificing Shin...

Joe Tazuna

What!!! A!!! Baby!!! Love...!!! Love is stored in the Joe!!! He has one of my favorite character designs, it’s just really cute! He truly gives me “childhood friend” vibes! I love how supportive he was of Sara. He was always by her side and truly seemed to love her! Personally I think they were just close friends, and didn’t have any romantic feelings for each other, but that’s up for interpretation! Overall amazing character, very good boy!

His death...just absolutely destroyed me...and then the hallucinations just made everything worse. I felt the despair in Sara during those. Absolutely heart wrenching.

Kai Satou

He’s beautiful and I am quite in love with him. His quiet and calm demeanor reminds me of Korekiyo in Danganronpa, one of my favorite characters of all time! Most of what I want to say about him are spoilers though so...this first part will be quite short.

FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKF U C K. All he wanted was to protect Sara...he did his best but ultimately was found out. Even in the end, he tried his best to be useful and encouraged Sara, resisting Miley’s bs! Just...a best boy.

Gin Ibushi

Much like Kanna, I really just want to protect him! At first I was a bit creeped out, but I warmed up to him!!! He’s really cute and I loved sword fighting him!!!

Nao Egokoro 

She’s was bit annoying at the start, but I ended up liking her after all! Her bond with Mishima was very cute and I liked how she grew throughout the story.

I liked how Mishima’s death affected her and ultimately contributed to her growth. I admit she did scare me with the whole fake Mishima AI thing, but ultimately I was glad she was sane...her death was sad, especially the painting she didn’t get to finish...but the little cut-scene at the end was really sweet.

Kazumi Mishima

KOMAEDA- okay no but!!! I love him a lot actually! He was really fun to be around and his affection towards Nao really showed! I’ve also had really strong bonds with teachers overtime so it really hit home!

I hate that he had to die first smh...such a feral man...

Reko Yabusame

My goth wife..................................what a lass. I love her a lot. She funky, spunky AND dramatic!!! I just love her a lot!!!

I honestly was quite sad she didn’t get to reconcile with Alice. I could feel that he really cared about her...

Gonbee Yamada (Alice Yabusame)

I don’t have strong feelings for him. His design just sends me into a goddamn frenzy...He got all the primary colors in his hair. Honestly, bold.

I felt really bad for him since he died trying to avenge his “dead” sister and they never ended up being in good terms even though both of them wanted to.

Q-taro Burgerberg 

Again, no strong feelings! He’s a bro and I always feel like I have to fist bump my screen every time that one sprite shows...you know the one!

The whole swapping cards bs...oh sis that one SCARED me.

Sara Chidouin

The main girl herself! I like her! She’s cute, she’s determined...I don’t really have much to say about Sara because I play her like she’s me basically...however! I will say that her bond with Joe is ADORABLE! And of course...her relationship with Keiji...very cute too, but as I said, I do view her as a replica of me, so take that as you will! 

And that’s all I have to say about that. If this was to have a general conclusion its be that yttd has great characters, and it was hard for me to pick someone to die...! 

-Diamond

[sou-ver-2-0]

Alice and pain

10) How they deal with pain – Alice

Delighted to get an ask for our king Alice!! I’ll answer the second part of your question here, Anon.

For this question, I’d like to examine Alice’s characterization before and after losing Reko. Ironically, when we meet Alice, he has one of the healthiest attitudes towards dealing with pain. Even though he is a suffering prisoner, he doesn’t repress his feelings like other characters do. He is open and earnest. However, Reko’s death breaks Alice’s spirit like nothing else ever has. Losing his beloved sister means that he no longer sees a path forward, and he becomes desperate and vengeful. I view Alice as someone who began the Death Game with healthy priorities, but that falls apart if he loses the person he loved most.

Before losing Reko

As we get to know Alice, we see how he suffers from the guilt of murdering someone. He knows that his actions harmed people, including the people he loved most. However, even though it is clearly difficult for him, Alice demonstrates an earnest desire to atone for his crime. This is what he says when Sara asks him if he wants to repair his relationship with Reko:

“...I am... / ...not a person who asks selfish things. / I intended to atone for my crime...! For the victim's family!! And for my own...!! / If only it weren't for this Death Game...!! / There's... not enough time left to do this in the proper order... / So just once before I die, I... / I want to apologize to Reko... / ... / Sara Chidouin. / Thank you. I will give her the bongos.”

Alice wants to walk the path of redemption. He wants to change himself for the better. He’s proactive in asking Sara for help with this. He knows that this path won’t be easy, but he is still determined. Even when Fake Reko breaks the bongos, I don’t believe that Alice completely gives up hope. He was already preparing himself for that kind of heartbreak. When Alice insists that he isn’t selfish, he means it. Doing the right thing is more important to Alice than his own life. So as long as he can still help Reko from the sidelines, that’s reason enough for him to keep going.

Alice’s earnestness makes him one of the game’s most easily likable characters! In spite of his scary appearance, simply talking to him makes it clear that he is a sincere person with a good heart. He puts his own pain in perspective by acknowledging that he harmed others, and his first priority is to try undoing some of that harm before he dies.

This puts Alice in direct contrast with Keiji, one of the game’s most complicated characters. When Sara talks to Keiji about his murder, this is what he has to say:

“...I'm a killer. / Not even permitted... to be judged by the law... / ...A true piece of shit, burdened with my sin for life.”

“Well... so that's the kind of guy I am...”

“Sara, your friendly policeman... / Can't even trust himself. / Not ever... since that day.”

“...Sure ran my mouth there. / Truth is... maybe you're better off not trusting me after all... huh.”

Keiji exhibits the opposite attitude of Alice. Instead of saying that he wants to change himself, he doubles down on “that’s the kind of guy I am.” He dwells on his own pain instead of thinking about how he can still help others. He feels hopeless about the state of his conscience. That’s why he admits to Sara that he can’t even trust himself. Would Keiji prioritize doing the right thing above his own self-preservation? Keiji clearly thinks he wouldn’t, and he’s too ashamed to try to change himself.

Alice is different. That’s why Alice votes for Shin instead of Kanna. No matter how much Alice is suffering, he can put that pain in perspective, and he’ll try to prioritize helping other people who need him to step up.

After losing Reko

Unfortunately, Alice loses hope for a future in the aftermath of Reko’s death. This is how Sara describes Alice when she watches him leave Reko’s body:

“Those were… eyes of revenge. / Revenge against our enemy who plotted the Death Game. / Anger and hate… Those made the only path that would move Alice now.”

Alice sounds completely jaded after losing his sister:

“So why would you help each other? Why try to be kind… / ………. / …Reko was the same. / If she’d thought only for herself a little more, maybe she wouldn’t have had to die like that…”

In contrast, when Reko loses Alice, she still manages to comfort those around her. Reko holds Gin and tells him that he has nothing to apologize for. She is still trying to be kind, in spite of her grief.

Of course, the most dramatic difference between Alice and Reko after losing their sibling is that Reko refuses Safalin’s forgetfulness machine, while Alice accepts it. He decides that he will forget those heartbreaking memories of Reko, because the pain has become too heavy to bear.

I don’t want to say that Alice is “weaker” than Reko for choosing to use Safalin’s machine. Alice had already suffered so much up to that point. He lived in prison for years. He never received forgiveness from his sister. I don’t know if I could say “no” to Safalin if I were in his shoes.

Alice and Reko were coming from different positions, and Alice’s position was harder. I’m certainly not saying that Reko had it easy! But I think Reko had already done soul-searching which better prepared her for this loss. Reko took a hard look at herself after Alice went to jail, and she could no longer rely on her responsible older brother to clean up after her messes. She became a kinder person, and I want to believe that she was proud of the person she became. I think Reko would take more pride in her kindness than her talents. This allowed her to maintain healthy priorities after suffering another loss.

But I don’t think Alice has a high self-esteem, in spite of his arrogant demeanor. Alice is someone who grew up in the shadow of his talented prodigy sister. He always knew that she was the special one. Alice simply tried to support Reko as she smashed through bands and became “the industry’s problem child.” That was honorable of him, but it sounds like he never took the opportunity to consider his own dreams or self-worth. His sister always came first.

The Alice-Reko dynamic parallels the Shin-Kanna dynamic, and the way these older brothers and younger sisters each perceive their own worthiness is telling. For the older brothers, the worthiness of their younger sisters is self-evident. To Alice, Reko is a shining star, a beacon of musical talent. But Alice only measures his own worth by his ability to support his talented sister. Meanwhile, Reko learns to judge people for their kindness and humanity, so she believes in both her own and her brother’s worth. In contrast, Kanna makes a logical appeal that Shin has worth because of his talent with computers, while Shin would say that Kanna is worthier than him because Kanna is kind.

In both cases, the older brother’s sense of self-worth is dependent on their ability to protect their younger sister. If they fail, what do they have to live for? That’s why the Alice and Shin routes feel darker than the Reko and Kanna routes. The older brothers cannot handle the pain of losing their own sense of worth, and so they cannot see a path forward. Instead, they swear revenge.