#I have way more thoughts on that but this isnt the place admittedly

[vodika-vibes]

Hey, i am back with another idea!

So, i was thinking about young Jango Fett and how he would woo a woman that isnt apart of the Mandalorian culture marry him.

Hope i gave you enough information for the story!

Love yeah!

Cultural Miscommunications

Summary: You like to think that you're friends with Jango Fett, though you desperately want more.

Pairing: Jango Fett x Reader

Word Count: 1920

Warnings: Reader goes on a bad date

Tagging: @trixie2023 @n0vqni

A/N: I hope that this is close to what you wanted. There's not a lot out there for Mandalorian dating culture, though, admittedly, I didn't look too hard.

The first time you met Jango Fett, it was because he approached you when you were at a store. He was a visitor to the planet, and was hoping for some advice on finding something that he was looking for.

You knew, from the first glance, that he was going to be trouble. A bounty hunter, and a Mandalorian bounty hunter at that? There are easier ways to break your own heart.

Still, he was handsome and polite, and it was a step up from the way that guys normally talk to you, so you favored him with a bright smile, and offered your help. If nothing else, it would be an interesting little story to share with your friends in the future. 

After all, there was no way you were ever going to see him again.

Except you did.

Multiple times that week, and the first couple of times you thought it was just a coincidence, but then you started thinking that maybe he was following you. He spoke to you only one more time during that week, the last day before he left, and he gifted you with a book, one that you had wanted to buy but hadn’t been able to afford, and he told you that it was a thank you gift, for helping him with his job.

And then he left, and you thought that that was the end of it.

Except two months later, he was back. A little more worn, a little more ragged, and with a new ding in his armor, but he greeted you with a small smile, and a question for the best place to get some quick and cheap food.

And, well, you invited yourself to his lunch. Solely because you were worried that he was going to keel over if he didn’t have a buddy to make sure that he didn’t.

He didn’t, wouldn’t, tell you about his hunt, but he was more than happy to talk to you about the planets he’s been to, and some of the weird things he’s seen as a bounty hunter. And with a little prodding, he admitted that he came back here because it was the closest, safest, planet he could get too, and he really needed to rest.

You invited him to crash on your couch, and when he argued, you insisted intensely enough that he finally agreed. You allowed him the use of your shower, and your laundry, and your kitchen, and he spent the night on the couch, listening to a newsreel on your holo.

And when you woke up the following morning, Jango was gone. But there was a note left on the kitchen table, next to a hot caf and a breakfast sandwich from the cafe down the street.

That time you were almost sure was going to be the last time you saw Jango…and it would have been, had you not ended up going on a trip with your closest friends. 

And you know, you know, that you were brought along as a cover-up for your friend's hookup with her pirate boyfriend, but you did enjoy the trip to Rishi, right up until you were cornered by a different pirate group. And then Jango was there, dealing with the people threatening you with ease, and he looked just as surprised to see you as you were to see him.

Though, to be fair, he was probably more at home on Rishi than you were. And you were thrilled to see a friendly face. He, on the other hand, was furious that your friends dragged you to such a dangerous place and then left you to fend for yourself. 

You ended up on Jango’s ship while he returned you to your home planet, and while he was still upset about you ending up in such a dangerous situation, he wasn’t angry at you. In fact, once he calmed down, you had several very long, and very nice, talks. 

And when he dropped you off in your home city, you couldn’t stop yourself from wrapping both of your hands around one of his and asking him to come and visit again.

His response was a surprised laugh and a “we’ll see.” But you had a good feeling that he would be back. After all, you were friends now.

*****

That was almost a year ago now, and you like to think that you and Jango are pretty close. When he’s on planet, he crashes with you, always on your couch, though you’ve offered him your bed on more than one occasion. He always refuses though. No matter how exhausted he is. No matter how many times you swear that adults can share a bed without it becoming weird.

He always flashes that small smile and takes your couch.

And when he leaves, he always leaves a gift. A trinket from his most recent hunt, something he saw when he landed that he thought you might like, or, most often, food from your favorite places.

Honestly, it’s enough to turn a girl’s head.

And you’re not dating him. You’re not, as much as you’d like it. Because you don’t go places and he doesn’t touch you, and sure, he buys you stuff, but he seems totally physically uninterested in you-

But you’re not willing to give up yet.

Your friends, however, are much less patient than you are. Which is how you ended up in this situation.

This situation being dressed up in a flowy dress and your hair done up, and on a date with someone you, frankly, wouldn’t spit on if he burst into flames. It was supposed to be a girls night out with your friends, not a surprise blind date with a man who’s been crushing on you, but hasn’t had the stones to talk to you.

So here you are, at a nice, relatively low cost, restaurant with this total stranger who hasn’t taken his eyes off your chest since you sat down. You can’t even remember his name, honestly, and you’re a bit worried to order anything on his dime in case he feels entitled to anything you aren’t willing to give.

So when your comm chimes, you heave a silent sigh of relief. And when you see who’s messaging you, you have to smother a delighted smile.

“I just stopped at your apartment. Where are you?”

“I was supposed to be out on a girls night,” You reply to Jango’s curt message, “It was a trick. It’s actually a blind date.”

Jango doesn’t respond, though you know he sees your response.

“He’s been staring at my chest for the last forty minutes, and I’m too nervous to order anything because I think he’ll think that I owe him sex if I let him buy me anything.”

Jango still doesn’t respond.

“Jango?”

“The Code to your apartment is still 34790, right?”

“???Yeah???”

“Great. Where are you?”

“Saint Mocianne’s, the pasta restaurant.”

There’s no response, so you sigh and stow your comm back. You were kind of hoping that Jango would come to your rescue, but it looks like it’s no dice.

“You know, it’s rude to answer a comm while on a date, babe.”

You forcefully repress your shudder of revulsion. “Sorry. Work stuff.”

“If you were my girl you wouldn’t have to work.” And then he releases a chuckle, “Well, you’d have to work in my bed-”

“Wow. You…you just said that. Outloud. Where I can hear you.” You say flatly, “I think I’m actually repulsed.”

He opens his mouth to say something when a warm hand lands on your shoulder, “Sorry, I’m late. I needed to change.”

You turn your head and a flash of delight crosses your face. “Jango!” You stand and fling your arms around his neck, “Thank you for coming, do you have any idea what he just said to me?” You hiss in his ear.

“I heard him, mesh’la.” He rubs his hand up your spine soothingly, and then releases you, “You’re in my seat.” Jango says coldly to your wannabe date.

He sputters, “No. This is my seat, and she’s my date.”

“I was tricked into a blind date,” You grumble, “I never agreed to go on a date.” You rest your cheek against Jango’s shoulder. And while Jango always cuts a fine figure, whether in his armor or just his body suit, he’s wearing much more casual dress clothes, and he looks good enough to eat.

“What? No!” The Blind Date stands suddenly, “I was promised-”

“What?” Jango asks, his voice silky smooth, “What were you promised?”

“I…” He pauses and seems to realize exactly the danger he’s in, “Nothing.”

“Smart.” Jango turns to you, “Do you want to stay and eat here, or would you rather go somewhere else?”

“Somewhere else.” You reply immediately. He flashes a small smile at you, and places his hand on the small of your back to guide you out of the building, “You look very nice by the way, Jango.”

“I thought you’d prefer it if I didn’t ride to the rescue in my armor.” He lightly pulls you to the side as soon as you’re outside, “Are you okay?”

You hum thoughtfully, and lightly trail your hand across his chest, “I don’t know, I think your armor would have proven the point nicely.” you muse thoughtfully. And then you smile brightly at him, “He didn’t hurt me.”

“Well then, the next time I have to ride to your rescue, I’ll wear my armor.” Jango says in a low voice.

“Hopefully there won’t be a next time,” You laugh, as you slide your hand up to his shoulder, “It’s not like I’m going out of my way to go on dates with people. In spite of what my friends want.”

“Oh?”

“Well, there’s a guy I like and he’s sending really mixed signals.” You start slowly, “He’s always there, he stays at my place when he’s in town, buys me gifts and makes me feel like I’m important. But he also doesn’t take me up on any of my overtures.”

Jango blinks at you, and then he huffs out a laugh and presses his forehead against yours, “I think we’re having a cultural miscommunication.”

“How do you mean?” You ask with a frown.

“So far as I’m concerned, we’ve been dating since the day I brought you home from Rishi and you asked me to come back.” Jango trails his fingers along your cheek, “All of those gifts, courting presents.”

You stare at him, your lips parted, “Are you telling me I could have been kissing you this whole time and I didn’t know?!”

He laughs, “I’m afraid so.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” You ask, “I would have definitely been taking advantage of that! Is there anything else that I should know?”

His grin becomes impish, and he flicks the pendant hanging around your neck, “Technically, this means we’re engaged in my culture.”

You release a heavy breath, and then stand on your toes to crash your lips against his. And he responds as though he’s been waiting for you to kiss him for ages. Which, thinking about it, he probably was.

You break the kiss, though you keep yourself pressed close to him, wanting him even closer. “Will you spend the night in my bed now?” You ask him, your voice breathy.

He laughs softly, “Will you marry me?” Jango asks in return.

And you surprise even yourself when you kiss him again and say, “Yes.”

[the-s1lly-corner]

So… how do I word this uh what if the reader breaks up with one of tadc characters? Or vise versa?

Break up! (TADC cast x reader)!

YAHOO still trying to figure out who gets broken up with and who breaks up with you, guess we'll see when I write the actual post down!! Ueueue

Admittedly this post is more of a "how they are like" instead of "actual event of the breakup"

CAINE:

POMNI:

You break up with him...

Caine would never ever ever think of breaking it off with you... unless you find an exit and decide to stay with him. I wrote a post with that idea, and to make it short the guilt would eat him alive, making every day a living hell

But how would he be when you break up with him?

I think he would be all over the place. I mean you're his first romance, and you're his first heartbreak. Hes a mess. Hes crying, hes trying to bargain, and to fix what was broken

But then suddenly hes just

There

Neutral, as if understanding everything.. it's a little terrifying, and for a minute you think his coding is acting up. And maybe it is...

He isnt cold, he isnt holding a grudge, he just treats you like he treats the other circus members. Its actually a little... weird

Do I think his coming got messed up?

No, actually I think in secret hes grieving the relationship. But he now understands that this is just how things work out sometimes

Hes hurting but hes learning

She breaks up with you...

RAGATHA:

Its not that she fell out of love with you, quite the opposite actually. But the more she thought about it, the more.... difficult it would be for both of you. I mean shes tryimg to find the exit, and what are the odds both of you will be able to find each other in the real world? Would you guys even remember the events of the digital world when you escape...? Would...

Theres just so much, but even if it hurts her so so much she doesnt want to hold you down.. she tries to remain friends with you, but the hurt feelings make things hard for both parties

JAX:

You both mutually break up...

You guys probably break up after not coming to an agreement on life goals and big life decisions... I mean, as big of life decisions as you can in the digital world... now obviously you guys tried to find compromises and talk things through, but you guys just couldnt find any solutions where both sides are happy

Remember, resentment is a ugly thing that can ruin even the greatest things one can have. And this is especially true for relationships, romantic or otherwise

So in order to prevent that, you guys agree that you srent compatible with one another.. and thats okay

You guys are still friends, though!

KINGER:

You break up with him...

And he does not take it well at all. I think he would feel angry and betrayed. He wouldn't beg for you back, though. No he views that to be way too humiliating and he refuses to stoop that low. Actually I think if anything he would pretend you dont exist. And I think that's worse than just saying "he ramps up the pranks and targets you"

No, jax is emotionally immature imo, at least that's how I personally write him given we only have the pilot so far..

Very rarely does he actually acknowledge you, and even then it's cold and distant. Probably the least likely to get back with you

ZOOBLE:

You break up with him...

Theres probably a few factors that go into it. The general burn out that comes with a partner that struggles with mental health (because as horrible as it sounds, that is a valid reason. Coming from someone who is mentally ill and diagnosed with stuff, I would not blame my partner for leaving me if my symptoms began to wear down their mental health. It does not make someone a burden. Ones mental health is ultimately theres to deal with, and protect, but I'm not about to go on a tangent I'm just gonna say its valid), feeling that you can't compete with queenie, as well as a few other things

After the break up kinger seems

Lost

Like hes wandering around, and perhaps sometimes he even forgets that you guys broke up. It's sad. No one wants to see an old man cry..

But I dont think the grief will make him abstract. Actually, I dont think he would be nasty to you. Actually if you give him some time, hes actually still quite friendly with you, as well as understanding. You guys still remain friends

GANGLE:

They break up with you...

Likely, it could be that you overwhelmed zooble or made them feel like they werent good enough for you. Zooble themselves is very distant and checked out, and even more so given the current situation. But even then I dont think that there would be an event that would lead to the breakup; because otherwise I feel they would try to make it work

Or maybe, they have been and you guys just werent compatible..

It takes them a while to adapt to being single again, but they will get over it eventually. That being said they give me the vibe that they rend to avoid their exes

You both mutually break up..

Theres just so much going on, and given gangles very sensitive and shy nature and whatever issues you have going on, you both agree to take a break to try to better yourselves.. for yourselves..

I think out of all the characters, you guys have the most potential of getting back together

Gangle tries not to let herself get down in the dumps, but she still will miss you lots the first few weeks..

Even if you guys dont get back together, at least you both become better and more confident in yourselves for yourselves and any future partners

Of course this isnt to say that being sensitive or shy is a red flag or "ick", coming from someone who is those things. But sometimes it truly can become draining for a partner who has to be constantly be built back up. For the sake of both sides there needs to be space, or resentment can build and ruin everything. Is that mean and terrible? Yes. But its human

Add in whatever issues you have going on, you both agree it's better to split

[thefreshprinceofjunes]

While im a Soriku fan I’m dubious of the idea of it being the endgame because

1. Disney is pretty fake with their progressivism as they care about their bottom line at the end of the day and wouldn’t do anything to risk their profits

2. The 2.8 Credits had a bunch of Sokai moments following the Disney couple section which tells me THAT ship is the endgame. https://youtube.com/watch?v=E9YpdXDrqz4&feature=share9

Your thoughts?

OKAY IM SORRY IT TOOK ME SO LONG TO RESPOND TO THIS

admittedly this is the biggest barrier to soriku endgame IMO (besides maybe japanese cultural norms), because disney is definitely Like That (passive progressive). however, they are getting better, slowly but surely, and lumity becoming canon in the owl house (with luz specifically being bi and amity specifically being a lesbian) gives me hope

i see a lot of people point to that credits montage as 'proof' s/k is canon, but there's three examples there that seem... out of place, if that really is what theyre going for

roxas and namine may have been teased in the kh2 era, but since then, the series seems to have WAY more heavily leaned into roxas and xion being far more likely as a couple (even tho i personally dont ship them)

ive never played ff7, but i think tifa is the canon relationship for cloud? or implied, anyway? so putting aerith and him together alongside canon disney couples is also kinda weird

and finally, wendy and peter seem like the biggest clue that something isnt right here.

wendy and peter are not a couple in the original source material at all.

wendy grows up and has children of her own.

when they reunite, peter is annoyed at first that wendys changed, even tho she insists she hasnt, at least at heart

remind you of anyone?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

(@skibot99)

[single-malt-scotch]

i have watched bdubs and scar and so im gonna talk abt SL again like i did before. obvs spoilers!

i keep my posts pretty meta/only about the game, its mechanics, balance etc so i have no bias on players own actions. but i do want to talk about players and the final moments for a minute here!

obvs i like bdubs a lot and hes been very good at getting to almost the finals in all the series. hope ppl realize that more. if he had more hearts like scar did im sure he could of have gotten further too. etho's ep isnt out but i saw him die in scar's and scar's ep was wild for sure. i mean damn, there was hardly a way etho could have escaped scar when he landed right on top of him, insane. obvs i dont have a view on the others i havent watched but it was interesting to see how they ganged up in this series for the end. scar winning made me happy too, hes a really good player!!

bbut onto the gameplay. i dont wanna repeat myself so im kinda using this as an overall conclusion + specific thoughts about the finale.

its been established clearly that mods assign specific tasks to people at times. and the warden/wither + bogey were not something i enjoyed. this season felt way too "directed" as it went on... and i also think the tasks ability to grant you so much good stuff (a LOT of hearts) is what kept everyone out of being red so easily! which is probably why they did the bogey zombies. which is really just poor balance that no one clearly tested (i recall grian implying before that they dont really test anything but dont quote me on that). maybe a way to have improved that would have been reds were the only ones to gain hearts, and yellow/greens could not. i knew from the start that the heart giving mechanics this season were kind of pointless or overpowered. gifting one heart? really...? that doesnt add up to much of anything in the long run imo unless you manage to get hearts from multiple people. and then on top of that you get hearts back from the secret keeper too. i would have loved if this season was simply "no regen and thats it!" like a sorta UHC deal where you only can heal with specific items (and not 30 hearts prob? bc i understand the tasks were kind of a way to possibly make them die).

on big forced tasks it only made sense with this episode, since everyone is red, so i dont mind that. but again.... they had to force this to happen which is annoying to me. also in terms of balance i really wished they bring back strict rules on enchantments because that also gets frustrating to watch. but perhaps i just like fairness in combat due to watching so much UHC, which also is a death game.

the other issues i had were with reds and red tasks. as pointed out they forced reds in the previous sessions but no one had any time to do red tasks?? and admittedly it was kind of boring bc people couldnt interact about it without failing. but they could not team up properly and i think that is what red life is all about. all the reds coming together because they *need* to face yellows and greens, and hunt people down. but instead the few reds there had to be alone to do their traps, another social issue with this series where tasks often pulled people away from others and left them with videos where they were very alone. there being no space for greens and yellows to exist and get hunted is something i think is great in previous seasons too and it just didnt happen. all that getting forced in that one session just didnt flow well to me.

really even trying to look back at episodes, i cant recall any notable interactions between people i enjoyed minus some brief pauses when they were traveling to do their tasks. there just wasnt a lot of typical socializing! and thats what i didnt like with this series. this plus the balance issues of lives just made this series feel messy, and the length of the episodes due to tasks could be kind of boring if the task was boring or even felt too stressful to force them into places where they could just die (these kinds of dangerous tasks given to greens or yellows felt unfair, as if it was trying to force them to die, and as a viewer i wouldnt want the game make my fave die!).

and as i mentioned in a different post, the lack of fixing some issues in multiple seasons is wild to me. this season faced the same issue as limlife where deaths were not in chat. the episode after, they fixed it (still with some bugs). and then it happened again last session.... and they didnt fix it! this is also annoying bc people dont react to the deaths at all which you kind of wanna see you know? actually im not even sure why they still did it this way. i imagined the clock running out made it more complicated for the system of fying to work. but why this season....? seemed like pretty forward deaths. idk the tech side, but they had 3 solid lives like all the other season, and there were never issues with the death messages happening at all.

but anyways. theres multiple parts of this i mentioned above that just made this gimmick feel so messy and unbalanced, and sometimes not super interesting to watch. it was way too complicated some times. i know theyll likely never do a repeat of the old versions but man idk if i cant find myself liking future seasons if they start stacking so much on top of what is a simple concept. it has started to feel like the three lives havent mattered at all/arent really the focus-- the anxiety of having three times. and the stakes become less and less due to some of these new gimmicks (the ability to gain lives in so many easy ways- limlife and secret life- is why imo) makes death feel less of a problem especially when we know how buddy buddy everyone is now. people need to be limited like before, and be more anxious. 3L, LL, and DL had people quickly establishing their friends bc they knew right from the get go that the series really depended on them being alive and nothing else. the only focus was to stay alive and not die. DL was where ppl kinda chilled a bit on alliances bc they knew each other more but, death was still right around the door with health being tied, it still brought a similar kind of anxiety for players.

i do hope people like grian can recognize these issues behind the scenes bc genuine critique for this series/season is important. like i hope they dont brush off the fact "hall monitors" were an issue-- they can ignore them openly in their videos.... but there is a reason why its a problem that started at all. the concept was way too subjective and hard to judge! so id hate for them to decide "eh, lets not listen to them, im gonna keep doing this and not consider the issue for a new season" right? and hour long episodes? thats crazy, and i dont think it was good for a lot of cc imo, because it made me way less likely to watch or even finish others' episodes. i hope that makes sense... stakes need to be raised, and i think limlife still achieved that to some degree because time was still very sensitive and risky to take. but then SL comes in bringing way too many things that keep them alive far too easily, leaving very little concern as long as they got their task in.

and last thing is from the outside pov i get concerned about this season happening only 6 months after the last one. because that would very very easily cause a burn out/inability to make more gimmicks real quick. i find this particularly odd bc this season too place through multiple holidays...! not sure if they thought this one through very well. considering how much limlife changed things in a way that was a bit more complicated, and then have SL with even more going on.... id just be worried about how much new stuff would even be made after this.

before this season started i was thinking to myself that i would be fine if this was the last one (it was speculation off some posting 3L compilations that was being me think itd be 'over' bc that was the first season). and truly i would be fine if they stopped forever for for a long time. i dont want to start disliking this series if they keep going in this direction... i will ALWAYS enjoy seeing these people play together and it will no doubt keep me watching but, i would hope that i will enjoy what they do for the next seasons and not fall down this path of convoluted, unbalanced and complicated concepts.

[elegyofthemoon]

I WILL THROW U THE LANDAU SIBS FOR BINGO :DD

WE LOVE LANDAU SIBLINGSSSSS I'll be shorter with the blurb here because three characters but :> thanks nick <3

blank character bingo

I LOVE SERVALLLL SO MUCH okay so you know Huosen. When I got to Serval's companion quest??? I FELT LIKE I WAS JUST SITTING HERE WATCHING HUOSEN'S WHOLE CHARACTER STORY IT WAS ASLKDJFASLKJHLK

So when I say that I relate very deeply with Serval, I really mean that I do. Like I love Servalia, and tbh I would also kiss Serval if given the chance, but also. She's too much like me sometimes that I'm like :I that's weird

I think it hits even more now because she also got Booted out of the research team because she would have stopped the Stellaron with her research. She wanted to help people and I just KNOW she could, but she got booted by her Best Friend (girlfriend/wife) of all people to do it. The person who was your right hand, and the person whom you've blurred yourself into. That kind of betrayal Hurts like hell.

But honestly, good for her for creating the workshop, and eventually finding her own place again in Belobog when every bit of that tiny city reeked of Cocolia. And even making Mechanical Fever? I admire her so much. She's so strong and I love her so much. My love <3

GEPAAAARD LANDAUUUUUUUUUUU I feel bad for this guy because I took one look at him and then I blasted him with my Gender Beam.

In which I project like hell on Gepard. Familial duties, insecurity/anxiety? You name it he's got it LOL

Admittedly when I first met Gepard, I DIDN'T LIKE HIM (it was about the part where we had to fight him to stop the Stellaron), but once I did Serval's companion quest, I actually started to like Gepard way more lmao He's a caring brother all things aside. He's just. Very Duty Bound. And I get it for his character (esp when you think, oh wait this is also because of the Landau name and how the name seems almost tainted by the way their FATHER IS I HATE THEIR FATHER MR LANDAU SQUARE UP 👊🏼💥👊🏼💥👊🏼💥👊🏼💥)

When it comes to Gepard, I always think about how he reflects on the day he got awarded as Captain and thinking of all the sacrifices he had to deal with to get to where he is. How offputting it felt to be awarded when so many lives got sacrificed to get here. And how he's actually had to face ghosts within the Fragmentum of former comrades in arms.

The Angst Potential Is There. I like eating it a lot. But if I think too hard about it then I just curl up on the floor like GEPAAAARD NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO (mauls him even more)

...Okay so. I feel really bad....but I genuinely have no thoughts on Lynx. Like I like her! And I think in my head, when you compare to Gepard and Serval to Lynx, I feel that Lynx kinda gets the "youngest sibling treatment" within the Landaus and just gets away with doing stuff.

I think she's funny and I also think her design's ADORABLE. But that's as far as I think of her. Just as the youngest sibling of the Landaus.

I thought maybe I'd have more thoughts on her, but her companion quest got overshadowed by Pela (WHICH ISNT A BAD THING BTW I did want to get to know Pela more since I felt like I knew nothing of her), but I will say that I did kinda like how Pela's story in turn pushed Lynx to kinda accept how much Gepard and Serval love and care for her. Like yes, they can definitely stop babying her about adventuring out to dangerous areas, but Lynx learns that they both do that because the two love and care a lot for her (and maybe that's just like the counter of the upbringing of the Landaus huh? I feel that the father seems so cold only caring about the prestige of the Landau name, and in retaliation the siblings seem to create their own love for each other. And I think that's nice haha I've said this before, but when I see the Landaus, I see a lot of me and my sisters, and this is also one of those little things that reminds me of my sisters. eheh)

[dapperrokyuu]

I personally do think that the music portion of Project Voltage shouldve been typing themed because not just because thats what the art did, but itd ascertain each song being unique and creative in terms of sound and message.

As neat as its been, I get the sense that every song is just going to say "Pokemon is and was cool, huh?" which is, like, "Yeah...thats why this collab exists. Can we talk about anything else-" Like, that message is fine and dandy as a one off song (e.g. Gotcha by Bump of Chicken; I definitely thought there was another MV before it but I cant find it so I guess that was my imagination, haha)! But for 18 songs in a row...its gonna get old, lol.

[THIS ENDED UP LONGER THAN I ANTICIPATED, CLICK FOR MORE BUT IM SAVING YOU SCROLLING!!!!!!!!!]

I was gonna say Volt Tackle is the only one that says anything beyond "Pokemon is cool!" in a very classically Deco*27 fashion of making electricity/Volt Tackle/battling a love metaphor in general and Miku's pursuits in relationships, but that actually does Inubakumori a disservice since they also focus more on the experience of a being behind a screen trying to connect with the you beyond it (admittedly still need to ponder this a bit more, tbh) AND is genuinely the most unique in terms of OST choices.

MitchieM's music isnt really my thing in the first place, but it being composed of puns--while endearing--also feels like it doesnt say much else other than "Pokemon is cool, huh?" heavily depending on the Pokemon presence (tho Miku's design is real cute in it, hehe). With PinocchioP, as sentimental and heartfelt to the point it made me cry, it also conveyed pretty much the same thing (MV was most visually impressive to me tho; the little Miku's dressed as Pokemon, ahhh!!!).

Like, to an extent, I can accept the choice to not do a typing theme in favor of emphasizing each producer's style without restraint, but the kicker is using the same OST. Like, not only is the message going to be the same, Im kind of futilely hoping to see anything more than battle and Pokemon Center themes in the future songs! Its gonna be predictable and lose its luster, unfortunately!

I didnt even like Inabakumori's Electric Forecast that much at first because Im more into fast paced energetic music (Volt Tackle is probably my fave), but it ranks, stands out, and impresses me over the other two because it used SO MANY different themes, arguably probably the most out of all the released songs so far? Im being easily impressed because Electric Forecast used BURGH'S GYM THEME and the DIVING THEME and the Viridian Forest theme and the Kimono Girl's theme- Inabakumori is relatively new compared to the other 3 and they blew me away not because they somehow have more passion than the others but they...I guess, were experimental! Didnt play it safe! Actually took a deeper look into this 27 year old franchise's IMMENSE collection of music than just sticking to the basics! Not to say they DIDNT used the Pokemon Center theme or a battle theme, but they also did SO MUCH MORE than that in comparison to the others.

Theres was just so much opportunity in the typing theme, I dont think its too big of an ask considering, again, Pokemon's gigantic library of music. A town/route that had environments suitable for a specific type, a notable trainer who used a specific type, miscellaneous themes that give the vibe of a certain type, there was just so much they could do...!

I dunno, its incredibly too soon to be disappointed with this project, but Im just...airing out my feelings, I guess? Id love to be proven wrong, so looking forward to future releases! In the meantime, I point towards Polkadot Stingray's entry in the Pokemon Music Collective, "Ghost Dive," which I think is incredibly impressive and what I had in mind for Project Voltage if they committed to the typing theme. The way it incorporates the themes, the sound effects, the lyrics referring to Ghost-type/adjacent abilities, its also about someone who's a Ghost type fan, so it couldve been the best of all worlds...! And they didnt have to do that at all. Such a good job and banger, truly.

[its-no-biggie]

it has been one (1) day since i finished trigun stampede so obviously its time to start trigun '98. thoughts so far

WAY better start. i was definitely right about the brotherhood effect- this version is easing you into the characters and setting way better, where stampede kinda assumes youre already familiar and just jumps right in.

this is ESPECIALLY true for vash. these first few episodes are way better at establishing just where he got his reputation- like, in stampede you really only see one town that gets ruined and blamed on vash, and then all the other stuff thats attributed to him happens offscreen. and then it turns out millions knives was behind all the thefts, which is what vash is wanted for in the first place. we HEAR that vash causes destruction wherever he goes, but what we see is really just him taking the fall for his brothers actions. but im only 3 episodes into 98 and vash has already destroyed 2 towns and been impersonated by multiple criminals. and they all seem to be unrelated incidents- he just gets mixed up in shit. he seeks it out. he CHOSE to be that billionaires bodyguard and he CHOSE to get involved in the bank robbery, because thats who he is. hes not unfortunate, hes MEDDLESOME. the characterization is completely different and so far i like the 98 version better (although admittedly the stampede version does play into the christian metaphor much better, assuming that millions knives represents "evil" or "sin")

additionally, the emphasis on how he doesnt live up to his reputation works a lot better when meryl just straight up refuses to believe hes vash the stampede lmao. like in stampede hes this kinda goofy and slightly airheaded badass pretty much right away, but in 98 hes so chaotic that even though all the evidence points to him she still refuses to believe he could be THE vash the stampede. like he seems straight up incompetent but hes NOT hes just less overtly badass. and just in general the slower pacing gives us a lot more insight into his character! its really really good and it adds a lot of much needed context to stampede.

also. milly????? milly my beloved???? my darling my sweetheart my babygirl milly????? WHERE was she in stampede. this is unforgiveable. the dynamic between meryl and milly is SO much more fun than roberto and meryl holy shit i fucking love milly

overall theres a lot more differences than i expected! im curious which one is more faithful to the manga but atm i would put money on 98. i can already see why a lot of the changes would be made to go from this one to stampede, to condense a huge arc down to 12 episodes and have it stand on its own. a more faithful adaptation isnt necessarily a better adaptation, and while i wish some of the really good stuff from 98 had made it to stampede, i understand that 12 episodes isnt a lot and within the context of a remake you can reasonably leave out a lot of character-heavy stuff. plus, since 98 was made before the manga finished, stampede will probably have better execution on things like foreshadowing and the major themes. overall im having a great time with both and im really stoked to read the manga (assuming the momentum will carry me that far..... adhd is a fickle creature lmao)

[narwhalandchill]

wuwa rambles incoming, on the negative side ish (?)

so i also ended up downloading wuwa to test it out despite being fairly confident in the assessment that it Will not be a long term thing for me (and yeah stand behind that one after day 1 and some today) and like

firstly yes the state of the game is in shambles lmao like it really wasnt finished in time for release in terms of performance and polish At All. on my side luckily the overall experience has been more or less okay on medium graphics with some glitches and a total of two crashes but its still like. this isnt an optimized game at all. ppl rly have been taking genshin being incredibly cautious with new systems and additions (so that the game actually Functions) for granted i suppose 💀 and or consistently taken the most uncharitable angle towards it . like yes we shouldve had xyz since forever but i 100% believe theres actual spaghetti code behind things taking long and that hoyo genuinely wants to be very careful w it for good reason. but yeah artifact presets where still

secondly as much as the world is like, pretty and vast with many sceneries that make for a beautiful vignette to Look at and all kinds of trinkets to run towards and engage w for that quick dopamine release, i think the fact that the story and lore of the world is just so fucking inconsequential and terribly communicated makes it just. Incredibly hard to Feel anything for it. its like a cake with stunning decorations except u take a bite and realize its all just fondant and no actual flavor. its just there. i dont have any thoughts nor feelings for it bc the worldbuilding is such a failure that i care neither for this place nor the characters whose stories are supposed to be selling me on the entire game. and that really sucks bc this place really Does look stunning in places and i Wish they would give me something to care about but its just the backdrop for the (admittedly fun) pokemon echo farm and ur exploration progress and the combat system

character-wise i also just dont mesh with vast majority of them much. they dont stand out enough from one another and no one except for like scar has actually made me very intrigued about anything at all regarding the world. designs vary from ugh to fine with some that i do like but they still arent like . the kind of Instant recognizable design that just Hits. they look fine but they lack the (jenshin) impact that makes you want to forfeit ur mortal possessions to them

now there is One (1) exception to this to be fair and thats sanhua but thats Literally just bc she is so fucking gender envy to me design wise. like its almost perfect just like that. literally if only her top wasnt open in the back . Id wear that shit SO hard for My scifi fantasy waves that wuther self insert oh my god. she looks like a middle school OC id make JSJSKSKDKUSKDK i love herrr literally the only reason i continue playing tbh . And she has ice powers too she is literally made For Me 💀

(jen forbidden lore tldr a niche finnish Banger of a fantasy book series that rewired my brain at 10 had an Excellently written girl protag who among other things gained op draconic ice powers of eternal winter and since then that simply became My main character daydream self elemental power of choice Always hsjsjsjskvkd)

the combat i think is where wuwa stands out and it definitely lets u engage more with the enemies. like ultimate evasion and counters Feel satisfying and building up ur characters unique mechanic like sanhuas ice constructs for her powered up charge atk Feels satisfying i def think theres a lot of potential there but in terms of A Future Meta in a gacha that wants money idk where things would ultimarely go in the future. but ya that stuff is solid.

enemy designs are also cool but suffer from that same lack of context to make me intrigued w the world theyre a part of. like cool eldritch creature ig but it doesnt give heebie jeebies the same way as seeing like. the husks in the chasm for the first time. where u instantly go oh fuck How. Why. Who were they. bc u know there Will be a relevant answer . etc . which is a shame. make me fear for my life smh

anyway for me my pulls have been like ridiculously bad i am genuinely not joking that getting sanhua on my first starter banner multi is the only reason i stuck w it. like. prior to this morning and getting aalto from the 20 free pulls . i have not received a Single non f2p new 4*. i have chixia c3 who i do Not like. yangyang c2. baizhi c1. Literally i kid you not the other new 4* i pulled today was . Yuanwu. so like considering the event and log in thats also c1 yuanwu c1 sanhua (latter of which i obvi have no issue w). and then my starter 5* was the worst case scenario 💀 Walmart gaming i mean. if u think hes cute cool but i am not at All enthused. id have taken Anyone over him lmao

so thats fun . i mean its fine im not gonna play long term i like sanhua and playing her w baizhi and someone like yangyang or aalto its fine for what i intend to do w it for now. & none of the future 5* rly appeal to me either

ultimately the game definitely has potential but it just. released too soon in a shoddy state and in many ways (mostly relating to its open world) i think is too reliant on just resembling genshin without actually innovating on top of that foundation or distinguishing itself from it. and the failure of its story to make players care about its world At All doesnt help. Do i think the world and lore are shit w 0 potential? well obviously no bc its so poorly communicated i cant even fucking tell you what it is About. but any possible potential there was definitely not utilized how it should so eh

now personally i have absolutely no horse in this toxic drama clownfest of a gacha game war arms race other than its not worth the time nor effort. so i truly have no particular feelings of fervent support nor some schadenfreude about kuro and for competitions sake i Do hope they manage to salvage the situation and that wuwa manages to flourish in the end but ironically enough the genshin "killer" number two more or less seems to have went the way of the other one aka ToF. so thats something i suppose lmao

Like there is something very painfully ironic about it all and it is hysterical in that sense. at least that much i can admit hsiajsks. But truly if some ppl find that wuwa offers them sth better than genshin then good for em, dont let my highly lukewarm reception ruin ur enjoyment. just end the fucking drama farm and disingenuous claims to gas up ur own cope and hype

(and to be clear. i would Not have played like 8 hours yesterday if i wasnt genuinely engaged w trying the game out and having fun lol. its just very clear to me that this early rush of ADHD dopamine oh new game new things to burn through new exploration shinies short term quick fun is very likely all wuwa is going to have on offer for me personally)

anyway thats just me so feel free to share yalls thoughts too if ud like

[destinyc1020]

I dont care about timothee tom comparisons thats whatever, but defending cherry is wild b/c take away the acting for a sec but from technical / filmmakers perspective, cherry was poorly edited with blatant mistakes, a movie that is visually bland with poor choices in terms of cinematography and choices that make no sense to the plot that ultimately is like take a step back and think of film as more than just actors on screen. Script that is littered with sterotypes. A movie that was supposed to cover a topic like the opiod crisis but never once does anything with it nor has any meaningful conversation about it. The first part talks about the linkage between us imperialism and ptsd only for the russos to completely drop the critique of the us military mid way through the film there is literallly a lack of cohesion of what it wants to say b/c the script is muddled and unfocused. No movie is perfect but if you are not even open to actual critiques of the film is wild, is film that has potential but its poorly constructed with numerous plot holes and under developed themes. Its style over substance in this case style lacked any thematic purpose rather its used to tell the audience " hey look we can make an independent film" and visual style is never justifeid. Acting is subjective but I tend to argue that cherry blurs more into the realm of overacting, a more talented director would tell tom to control and to hold some things rather than go all the way to 100

the last 30 minutes border more on parody rather than being an honest representation of someone who is a addicted to drugs struggling with ptsd and geographical/ socio economic displacement. The best scene was him in the hospital after that it blurs into over the top hyper realism and fouth wall breaking which tom struggles constantly throughout.

Like Im sorry why are unafraid to engage in critique, tom is a great actor but cherry was all over the place in terms of acting. Like whenever someone critques him you and your anons are quick to dismiss it and say can people think for themselves well here you go I thought for myself its so dismissive and condesending when you think people do have opinions.

Timmy tom comaparisons are dumb, they go after different roles, timmy has admittedly has had more critical success but as that anon said he knows what works for him.

Tom is a great actor and shines in alot of his movies but his films outside of his performance do have flaws and alot of them are technical such as poor visuals ( uncharted) and mistakes in the editing room ( infinity war, end game) under developed script ( TDATT).

This isnt reserved just for toms films but timmys films as well. You also undercut timmy, you said I want the person with range as in tom but literally timmy, austin, zendaya, florence , anya , keke palmer, kelvin harrison, daniel kuluyaa,dev patel like the list goes on of people with range, I dont understand what you mean when you say range like do you just watch tom holland films or something 😭😭😭 i dont know how you can convincingly say one actor as more range than another based on what. Lee, Elio wonka, paul, king henry, yule is a diverse subset of characters, in the same way that arvin, cherry, peter parker, billy elliott are diverse characters.

Wow...This was a LOT Anon. I see you've already written a dissertation, so I'm not going to add on to this by writing a dissertation of my own. I'll just pick from a few things here and there.

but defending cherry is wild b/c take away the acting for a sec but from technical / filmmakers perspective, cherry was poorly edited with blatant mistakes

What mistakes? Can you list examples?

a movie that is visually bland with poor choices in terms of cinematography

What do you mean by this?? And did it ever occur to you that maybe this might have been done on purpose? 🤔 The movie is about drug addiction after all. I also disagree that the entire movie was "visually bland". Some scenes, maybe?? But I think there were quite a few visually appealing and well-shot scenes in "Cherry". You might disagree, but I felt that these shots in particular were quite nice with the lighting (imo). The Cherry and Emily scenes in particular.

and choices that make no sense to the plot that ultimately is like take a step back and think of film as more than just actors on screen.

Again...if you provide some examples, maybe I can agree with you.

Look, I'm not saying "Cherry" was the best film ever made, but to say it was "horrendously awful" is a bit of a stretch to me.

Tom is a great actor and shines in alot of his movies but his films outside of his performance do have flaws and alot of them are technical such as poor visuals ( uncharted) and mistakes in the editing room ( infinity war, end game) under developed script ( TDATT).

And these might just be personal opinions? 🤷🏾‍♀️ But either way, what an actor has done in the past doesn't always equal what they will do in the future imo.

Maybe one day, a film that Tom does will live up to your expectations, but I just feel like you're being unnecessarily hard for no good reason.

You also undercut timmy, you said I want the person with range as in tom but literally timmy, austin, zendaya, florence , anya , keke palmer, kelvin harrison, daniel kuluyaa,dev patel like the list goes on of people with range,

Ummm....When have I EVER "undercut" Timmy (or any of these other actors you've mentioned above)??? 🥴 I've said plenty of times that Timmy (as well as the others you've mentioned) are great actors!

I dont understand what you mean when you say range like do you just watch tom holland films or something 😭😭😭

Okay, now I KNOW you're just trolling. 😒🙄 How many times have I talked about other movies and other actors here on my blog?? Like, literally ALL the time. I don't just watch "Tom Holland movies". 😒 If anything, I've been one who's always told fans to expand their film and actor horizons and appreciate a wide variety!

I've seen 98% of Tom's filmography though, so that's why I do feel like I have an honest view of his filmography overall.

i dont know how you can convincingly say one actor as more range than another based on what. Lee, Elio wonka, paul, king henry, yule is a diverse subset of characters, in the same way that arvin, cherry, peter parker, billy elliott are diverse characters.

Okay look, I know you're a huge Timmy fan and all, and that's okay! But I think you're misunderstanding what I meant. I didn't say "range", I said DIVERSITY of filmography. There's a difference! I never said Timmy doesn't have acting range. I just said that Tom has a more diverse filmography....and he DOES! That's just a fact.

[zecoritheweirdone]

SO. UNDERHERO.

When i first heard you talking about this game, i was still kinda in undertale recovery so i thought jt was an undertale fangame but in a more fantasy classic rpg-style

Very clearly i was dead wrong lmao

I genuinely like the premise of a young mook killing the hero and taking their place, and the artstyle made it REALLY appealing to me! Then once i learned it was adjacent to the mario and luigi rpgs i was pretty excited!

The world is such a fun place, with the villain hq being like an office building and the other worlds are cool in their own way, especially the ghost world but I'm incredibly biased lmao. The characters are fun, too! Cereza especially was great, and of course i too love puzzleman lol

The gameplay is fun! The battle system is unique and interesting while still having a good ol rpg kick to it, and i love that! Though admittedly it feels weird that the game is so low level-oriented, i feel super weird about beating the final boss at level 16 lol

The music... had its ups and downs for me. Some songs were genuinely amazing, but others just kinda felt boring

Of course, the game itself isnt perfect. Sometimes it can feel kinda bland, they really didn't try with the pause screen and im not the biggest fan of the ui (the mask kid's mask staring at me in the upper left corner is... unsettling, imo), and i never really got over how floaty and mildly sluggish the game could be. Also the physics were weird. Also i don't really like world 3 all that much lol

But overall this feels like that game that you look at the box art of while at toys r us, beg your parents to get it for you, they oblige, and you adore it and wanna talk about it to your friends and they have no idea what you're talking about, and you feel alone in loving it until you go online and either find a bustling fan community or find out a big youtuber made a video on it and new fans are entering the series nonstop

....was that a long winded analogy? Lol

Anyways i can totally see why you love this game and while i don't think it'll effect my brain as much as it did yours, i had a great time with it and definitely wanna reccomend it to friends and stuff!

YEAHHHH !!! tho it may have had some ups and downs,, i’m glad that you ended up enjoying it overall!!!!

also: yeah, i get that 😔,,, i also ended up trying to reload my save to see if there was anything else, but- alas.

apparently the devs are thinkin ‘bout making a sequel some time in the future, though! after they finish the current game they’re now workin on, that is,,,

[dausy]

I'm behind updating tumblr again. I'm getting more invested with Threads. I feel like people there have been pretty friendly and responsive. I was thinking about trying out Bluesky website again.

Anywho, I'll have a new youtube vlog video out in the morning. I thought maybe I'd get more done this weekend than I thought. Not just artwise but chore wise. But it rained and there was actually snow/ice out on the mountains in the distance. I just kinda couch-potato'd at home. Didn't even go to the gym this weekend.

I accidentally got promoted again at work. This happens every few months. I have the most experience so I keep getting thrust into this position, I turn it down and somebody else comes in and takes it over and then quits and then I get it again. But I'm trying real hard to maintain my parttime hours. I don't want to be there 5 days a week and I don't want to take a beating from other administrators. I literally just want to be a nurse and go home. I'm counting down the months til I can quit before we move again.

Admittedly, I feel like things are a lot better at work and my girls tell me things are a lot better. I'm ok with delegating tasks to my staff members and everybody is extremely flexible and helpful to one another. My elderly age is getting immune to doctors screaming at me. I think this last girl who was hired into this management position may be on her way out but right now she's just stepped down but apparently still wants to work. I really really like her and I really really want her to stay, even as just regular staff.

My husband should be coming home within the next several weeks, I just dont know when. Theres some sort of "town hall meeting" in some odd days and I'm assuming Ill get those details then. Ofcourse, they like to do these meetings at awkward times.

Theres some places on this end of the country I'd like to see before we move because its probably unlikely we'll return to this end ever again.

Otherwise, as stated on my other social medias, I am back in my Final Fantasy 7 obsessive phase. I am super excited for the part2 remake to come out but I cant play it til my spouse gets home. I keep writing an entire thesis sized paper about the importance of this game to siblings and I but then I keep deleting it.

when my spouse gets home, I am doing a full power point presentation to catch him up (because he isnt a gamer) and I want a FF inspired meal! Also, I never played the Yuffie DLC....

[hikari-writes]

Hey all!! Im so sorry ive been dead for DAYS now 😭😭 i said id never do this again but hhh-- here we are 🧍🧍 again im so sorry for suddenly dipping like that im super weird like that 🗿🗿

This isnt a fanfic or a oneshot or anything of the likes. It's a bit different from what i usually write, but i wanted to let this one out. Early this morning, me and my (ex) schoolmates received news of one of our teacher who taught us a subject of deen (religion) passing away. Ustazah had been battling breast cancer for some time now, even before we finished our SPM examination, and just this morning she returned to Rahmatullah. We all missed her greatly. She was an amazing teacher, but He loved her more. I hope my fellow muslims can recite alfatihah and donate its reward for her. Love you all and remember to stay safe and stay hydrated <3

The subject you taught was a subject that I never really thought I’d enjoy learning, up until the 4th year in high school. When I realised that the topics in it were interesting, while it didn’t make the subject any easier for me, I could still see myself improving compared to previous years.

From okay to bad, and lastly to worse. That was how my performance on the subject became in my last year of high school. Nobody was at fault aside from me, of course. But still, I’d be lying if I say I’m not infuriated at myself, even for just a little bit.

Nevertheless, you never gave up on me. You believed in me, no matter how badly I’d performed. And admittedly, I was scared. Scared of letting you down. You were strict yet also so very gentle. You were one of the strongest people I’ve ever met, and I looked up to you for your virtues. I sometimes wished I could be more like you. You were amazing, in so many ways. You were righteous, your faith in Him never wavers, and you always prioritised us, even when you were battling in your own war.

Humans could never really run away from their nature. And that included me. You never really appreciate the things you have until you lose them. You never really regretted the things you never do or say, until it’s too late. 

I wished you could see where we’re standing right now. I wished you could see the fruits of your, and your colleagues’, labour. I wished you could smile alongside us when we finally reached that fateful day. I wished you could’ve stayed with us for a little bit longer. I wished I could’ve said sorry a thousand more times to you. I wished I could thank you a million more times for all that you’ve done for us. I wished for a lot of things for you. In the end, all of us knew that He loved you more than we do, and you had to go back to Him.

For the you who loved your own subject, for the you who loved and treasure us, for the you who loved Him and His Prophet, and for the you who loved and treasure your religion, I pray that you’ll be placed amongst the righteous, and for you to be placed in Jannah. Me and so many others are greatly indebted to you for all you’ve done. We will never forget you, nor stop loving you. Thank you for everything, ustazah. 

[subarashiihibi]

Hello there~ I was wondering since your music taste for Izaya is so on point, do you have any HC's about the other characters as well, or maybe the alts?

hello and thank you!! ♡

hmm...admittedly i haven't thought about a lot of the other charas in terms of music taste BUT i feel like shizuo would really be into kayokyoku... and of course the obligatory enka headcanon that the fandom has had collectively for years since tsugarukaikyou fuyugeshiki lol...

i feel like for each chara their music taste is rly similar to the songs they cover... which for izaya is way different than mcr levels but i think he'd enjoy jpop and j-r&b as well so whatever. 🙄

actually u know what i think shizuo could be a fan of j-r&b and jpop too. he just seems like the guy to enjoy more slow music. which is another aspect him and izaya end up fighting about. (izaya tries to tell him how mcr is superior to shizuos fave band by playing a song and shizuo falls over and becomes an emo hater after that day.)

shinra would absolutely enjoy the cheesiest romantic jpop songs esp the classics ... if drrr took place in the 2020s he'd be making celty 90 different spotify playlists all for different occasions/moods. but since it takes place in the 2010s/00s (depending on anime vs novel iirc) he'd be burning all the songs onto cds and decorating them all cute lol.

this isnt music taste per se but more just my hcs on how they collect music and stuff... izaya absolutely has a huge ass cd/vinyl collection but would prolly use some kinda streaming service just for convenience. (but he would still make namie painstakingly organize all his cds just to piss her off.)

shizuo also has a cd collection but he doesn't even know how to use a smartphone so there is no way he is using any kind of streaming service lol. maybe if someone like tom or shinra taught him he could MAYBE figure it out but he doesn't even care anyways he likes his cds. shizuo was one of those kids who carried around the little portable cd players .

i think shinra would use streaming services too BUT he would collect vinyls specifically as well. they are solely for the purpose of putting them in a record player and dancing with celty to them because he is corny and loves to do corny shit with his wife.<3

i think thats all the charas i rly have any solid ideas on lol. im curious as to what u think abt all of these hcs !!! ^_-☆

[koichi-talks]

Hi, I keep coming back to these types of posts about DRDT, especially this one and I decided I wanted to give some more thoughts and what-not in a re-blog than constantly commenting them. (Lowkey for the most part with the Death order prediction since sometimes it is fun to talk about).

I do agree with you down below with what you said about Xander possibly being a take on the "traitor" role. I also think tho compared to other characters like say, Mukuro, he's more-so someone who isnt aligned with the MM in terms of being a traitor.

I...still my conflictions on Eden being the killer this chapter (even putting my bias aside for best girl...), with her giving Teruko such a hopeful speech only for her to be the one to kill Arei would be wild; Ngl as well, I'm also conflicted on the whole "true blackened" rule in the trial since...at least to me comes across a lil vauge and how it'll come into play. But I have been thinking that while the "one day I'll make you understand that" part of her speech will be lost if she dies this chapter, the rest of what she says probably will still being important to Teruko, especially if she says smth similar right before she's executed.

Levi being an accomplie instead of a killer is lowkey a possibility that I'm probs alot more cool with than him being the killer. Does a good way of subverting expecations, which this Fangan does good at with it's characters imo. Confirms theorists suspicions (including mine admittedly) about him being involved in the case somehow, but not making getting him killed off this soon and keeping him in the story for us to learn more about him and helps out for his unresolved relationship with Ace; and possibly the group.

I'm also on the "Charles dying, Whit surviving" train as the days go by. Whit is my fav character of the cast, but Charles has grown on me a good ton; I love how he's a take on the support role, Bro has two of the best dynamics in DT, I love on Whit has made an impact on him to where despite him still being "a-bit" rude as times, but doesn't look down on the others anymore and is more compassionate. But lowkey, if Whit has made an impact on Charles' character, it would sense if the opposite happened later down the line. Also, I feel this could be another subversion; since it's a thing of "who does everyone expect between to the two to die, and who to survive, the frivalours comedic relief, or one of Teruko's main support". I also think it would be interesting if Charles died by his own custom weapon, whether it happens during the daily life, or even the during the middle of the trial (could be daily life if the effects of the poison are instant).

Arturo also makes sense to die next chapter, whether as a victim or even a killer (or one of depending on the Dev handles the CH3 case this time; but I have faith that the case will be handled well). Victim could make sense given how bro has been suspected of being a killer already but ig anything can happen.

Nico I also agree could end up dying either CH3 or 4, easily tho more than likely as a victim as well. Not too much to say but hopefully we get more insight on their character and more depth before they go though.

Hu, based on her hidden quote, could maybe be a killer perhaps, but a victim could be just as likely. Hu, with a themes of change with her butterfly symbolism, could end up having some interesting arc during the KG and I'm interested to see where that goes, and hopefully we get her backstory, or some bits next chapter, as well.

Veronika I also kinda agree could end up being involved in the CH5 case. I think as well too that Veronika could end up being a possible antagonist (depends on how her character would be over the next couple of chapters). If this could happen, I think it would be interesting for an event to take place that she'd be involved in the CH3 case. Since Veronika is the kind of character people expect to die in this type of case, it would be interesting if she'd be in a similar to David is rn except, she is involved but of her own will. And while her being an antag could be a bit obvious too, but the potential is there I'd say. And I lowkey also agree that while Veronika "could" be a MM candidate, but if she made it to CH6 with the rest, she'll be instantly suspected by everyone to be the MM (Also doesn't help since she does share similarities with characters like Junko; it's the obvious pigtails lol.)

David I also feel could be in a weird spot on how his character go, especially with how his character is rn in terms of complexity with how the events of CH2 are of right now, but as you stated, someone like David, if the theories about the hidden depths of his character are true (which those theories I agree with since I'm sure the Dev is pushing the narrative of a morally-grey/human cast and not with people who are outright villains), could be a great survivor. Especially alongside Teruko, his narrative foil bestie :)

Danganronpa: Despair Time Mastermind Ranking (Least to Most)

Yeah, I should’ve known that I needed to get around to this someday.

You see, the reason why I hadn’t made a theory about the identity of the Despair Time mastermind is that… I'm not totally convinced on any one person being the mastermind. Like, look at these clowns! They’re all so weird! I love them all for it, obviously, but none of their personality quirks or roles in the story stand out to me as particularly mastermind-y. There are a lot of characters that I believe could be the mastermind, but it’s also pretty easy to convince me out of it for one reason or another.

However, it’s not like I had any idea about who the P:EG mastermind would be, either! At least with two chapters under its belt, I can feel more comfortable that I’m not just fully mischaracterizing the Despair Time cast. And I definitely have things to say about various DRDT masterminds, just… in a way that’s kinda hard to rank.

But, that’s no reason for me to be cowardly! I’m sure that seriously scrutinizing all of the characters’ mastermind potentials and ultimately coming up with who I think the most likely candidate is will be super fun. It’s just… going to be really long, so, buckle in. And maybe prepare to take breaks in the middle.

(Spoilers for all three main canon games and DRDT.)

Why is it going to be so long? Well, it’s because, when it comes to DRDT, I think that my predictions will be at least partially based on how long I think each character will make it into the story. If I have a particularly strong inclination that a character is going to die in Chapter 3.456, no matter how unfounded, it might make me feel worse about their prospects of being the mastermind. That’s not to say that a mastermind can’t appear to die (or actually die) before Chapter 6 rolls around, of course. However, it is an uncommon additional hurdle to the story that would require some justification and a little suspension of disbelief if I’m trying to call it years before it transpires.

So, if we’re going to talk about the mastermind, I need to share my current feelings about where each character might place in the death order. Should I update the title…?

Danganronpa: Despair Time Mastermind Ranking (Least to Most) AND ALSO Death Order Predictions

These are my mastermind rankings, so my opinions on where the characters might be headed will obviously be used as the baseline. Naturally, you don’t need to believe in anything I'm about to throw out here. I’m just trying to explain my thought process so that nothing I say later on will come as a total surprise.

Also, since it’s kind of long, here’s the top of the death order section. I think it’ll provide some important context, but if you want to skip it, look for the other green, bold text.

Some of my thoughts were inspired by anderscim’s death predictions theory, as I read that pretty soon after I joined the fandom. I encourage you to go read their work as well!

The tiers are mostly pretty self explanatory– 3-4 means I think they’re at risk of dying sooner and 4-5 means I think they’re at risk of dying later. But, I’ll give everyone what I hope to be a quick rundown on each character just to explain my thinking. 

Xander: Xander canonically died as the Chapter 1 victim.

Min: Min canonically died as the Chapter 1 blackened.

Arei: While I respect the concept, I personally don’t believe in the “J and Arei swapped places and Arei is actually still alive” theory, and I will be writing the rest of this post accordingly. So, to me, Arei canonically died as the Chapter 2 victim.

Eden: Pretty much anyone who’s seen my DRDT theories at this point shouldn't be surprised that I’m listing Eden as the Chapter 2 killer. The logic behind this belief has been explained by my lovely mutuals here and here.

Levi: Alright, on to the ones I don’t have any concrete evidence to support! (There is concrete evidence behind the ch2 murder, even if you believe it points elsewhere.) Levi has had a decent amount of focus already in his trainwreck of a relationship with Ace and discussions of morality with Eden and Teruko. If he does serve as an accomplice to the Chapter 2 killer (see the first link in Eden’s section), then I feel like his clock will really be ticking. He’d be trapped with the branding of a bad person, his greatest fear, and left without any relationships to lean on. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone targeted him as a victim they “believed deserved to die after what happened,” or even if Levi decided that he was doomed to be a villain from the start and decided to kill. Alternatively, he could try to redeem himself as a classic Chapter 4 buff curse sacrifice in some way. In either case (or even in the case of him just being the Chapter 2 killer), I have my doubts that he’ll be making it too much later into the game.

Arturo: To me, Arturo doesn’t feel like a character set up for incredible longevity. That doesn’t mean I’m pigeonholing him as a one-dimensional villain or pure comedic relief, just that Arturo seems like a character who might be set up to have his ideology lead to his downfall. I don’t think he’s dying in Chapter 2, as I believe the narrative would want to see how he reacts to J burning the bridges between them, but I could definitely see the story only needing one more round of daily life (or possibly a trial as well) to resolve wherever his character is going.

Charles: Look, it’s not only because he’s already been pronounced dead at 3. As I elaborated upon in Charles’ section of this post (The Jerk), Charles feels like he’s speeding towards the end of his character arc far ahead of schedule. It could just be that he needed to learn to make friends quickly before Whit makes an early exit, sending him on a secondary arc where he learns to process his current grief and fears as a parallel to regaining memories about Elliot. However, I find it much more likely that the Inevitable CharWhit Doom Scenario plays out in the opposite direction. He makes a lot of sense as a Chapter 3 victim to me.

Nico: Similar to Arei and J, I am writing all of my theories with the assumption that it really was Nico who attempted to murder Ace in Chapter 2, because I think it makes the most narrative sense. (I could keep typing out a “well, unless” every time, but I don’t really want to eat up my time writing or your time reading all of that.) Through that lens, the fact that Nico has already murdered someone and “gotten away with it,” more or less, puts them in a really weird situation. I don’t really see them killing again, as it feels like we’ve already explored the emotional and narrative implications of that happening through Chapter 2. Although, I can’t deny that it would be interesting to see the fallout of Ace being proven totally right and Hu 100% wrong. Still, if they were to be a survivor after doing something so severe so early into the game, it seems like they would have to undergo some sort of redemption for the audience to accept them as a face of hope in the end. I don’t currently see any great paths to that happening, although there’s obviously still plenty of story time for something to open up. For now, though, I feel more confident in placing them as a early/mid-game victim, likely as a consequence of choosing to harm someone else.

Hu: Given her overall lack of focus in the story thus far, I find it likely that Hu will be one of the focal characters of the Chapter 3 daily life. That could be bad news, considering how Xander and Arei fared after being focused upon in their respective daily lives, but… I dunno, I just feel like Hu would survive it, somehow? Wouldn’t be too surprised if she didn’t, but my gut instinct is that she would. I kind of see her character exiting the story in Chapter 4, no preference on killer vs victim.

Veronika: Veronika is a very weird character (an “oddball,” I’ll call it), and thus, my predictions for her are strongly based on the patterns that oddball characters normally follow. I’ll be using canon characters only, because I believe that those are the only killing games that I have the right to assume every DRDT fan has seen. But, you can apply these same kinds of patterns to many fangan characters. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for fangans breaking from typical Danganronpa norms and following their own paths. But, in the case of how oddballs are treated, I think these characters generally tend to follow these patterns because they’re sensible writing practices. I’ll try to explain why each of these conventions makes sense in the following bullet points.

Oddballs tend not to die in Chapters 1 or 2. This is because oddball characters are generally created to supply a very niche kind of comedic relief– examples from DRDT could include Arturo’s commentary on ugly people or Ace’s bizarre remarks of cowardice. Any character deemed worthy of being included in a fangan occupies one of 16 highly contested slots. So, if you include a character for the purpose of making jokes with them, you'll want to get your bang for your buck! It’s hard to fit every joke you have in mind into only a chapter or two. The best example I could come up with for a (canon) oddball who dies early is Teruteru. In his case, the writers likely anticipated that his hyper-flirtatious nature would get tiring if it continued on for too long, and thus, exhausted all of the jokes they wanted to make in Chapter 1 before his exit. An oddball who dies this early has a limited shelf life, and is likely accompanied by other oddballs who can pick up the comedic slack.

Many have pointed out that silly oddballs often die in Chapter 3 (Hifumi, Ibuki, Tenko) as a way to signify the death of fun and innocence. You also have a chance to get rid of some of the more sinister oddballs (Celeste, Kiyo) at a point where it seems unfeasible for them to have stuck around this long without… well, killing someone. In either case, it’s because Chapter 3 is a great balance of letting a character stay in a story for long enough that they achieve whatever strange effects you wanted from them, while also clearing them off the stage before you get into the really serious business. Silly oddballs especially may not be equipped to handle the often turbulent natures of Chapter 4 without breaking the serious tone too much, so it’s best to axe them at the midpoint.

Endearing oddballs (Gundham, Gonta) have a hard time making it past Chapter 4. If Chapter 4 is serious, Chapters 5 and 6 are even more so, and the Chapter 4 killer slot in particular is a viable dumping ground for characters who don’t really have a place in the finale. Their deaths are meant to pull at your heartstrings and prove how a killing game can make literally anyone– yes, even that guy– a killer. (Miu is an outlier; more like an extended Chapter 3. Unlike THH, which has its tonal shift at the end-of-Ch3-Sakura Traitor Reveal, and SDR2, which has its tonal shift at Mikan’s insanity and death, v3’s tonal shift comes at Kokichi's accusation and Kaito and Shuichi's argument, or possibly even Miu's death itself. The Chapter 4 Daily Life isn’t all that serious in and of itself. Thus, Miu dying as a Ch4 victim functions more like killing off a silly oddball before she has to deal with all the betrayal and scheming that occurs later on.)

Oddballs really only die in Chapter 5 to the extent that you can count major antagonists like Nagito and Kokichi as Weird Dudes. As the precursor to the big, showstopping, mind-bending Chapter 5 Trial, the mood is typically pretty… straightforward. Depending on the overall plot’s arc, Chapter 5 is either the point where most of the surviving students are concluding their character arcs and learning how potent a weapon teamwork is (THH, SDR2), or a “dark night of the soul” type moment where all of the slowly growing inter-character conflicts are finally coming to a head (v3). It can also be Version A for some characters and Version B for others, but, either way, hijinks are not ensuing, basically. Plot relevant things happen here, and as such, plot relevant characters are the ones who are dying. It can be hard for an oddball to find a place in the narrative relevant enough to serve as one of its final, poignant deaths without also being a major antagonist.

Despite everything I’ve said about oddballs dying, it is definitely possible for oddballs to survive. Danganronpa is, at its core, a dark comedy, and as such killing off all of your funny joke characters before the ending is probably a bad move. Hiro, Toko, Kazuichi, and Himiko are all characters I’d call oddballs that survive until the very end. The difference in their case is that part of their oddball nature is being… kind of pathetic? I think it helps them fade into the background more. It's also probably easier to give them a character arc than some others... like Veronika.

I’m sure that you can find exceptions to these “rules” I’ve laid out, especially amongst casts that have a high percentage of oddballs (which you could certainly argue fits DRDT). However, pattern recognition brain go brrrr. I don’t think that Veronika fits the description of a Chapter 1-2, Chapter 4, or survivor oddball particularly well. That leaves Chapter 3 (sinister) and Chapter 5 (bewildering antagonist). I don’t know if it’s that Veronika doesn't seem to have much of a reason to kill at this point in time or all of Veronika’s weird mastermind coding that makes me think DRDTdev might have greater plans for her. Either way, I’m leaning Chapter 5, probably victim. Jeez, that was a long section for one character. Favoritism, I guess?

J: J gets her own category because, honestly, I have no idea what to do with her. Could J make it to the end? Sure! Could J die in a Chapter 3 scheme? Sure! Could J be the Chapter 2 killer? Well, I personally believe the evidence points elsewhere, but in terms of narrative? Sure! The only real inclination I have is that I think it’s more likely that she would be a killer than a victim, mostly because Ultimate Effects Artist is a talent that could lend itself to some really creative and fun murder setups. Given that I have more characters pegged as early game deaths right now, I lean towards J late game, but… man, I don’t know!

Teruko: Teruko is the protagonist, and also is a Lucky Student who allegedly “can’t die.” Especially after she made that claim, it would be silly if she died before the ending– it’d just kinda make her look like a fool. I’m not averse to theories where Teruko is no longer the protagonist by the end, whether by her death or someone else taking up the role for whatever reason, but in the sense that “Survivor” = “Chapter 6,” I think Teruko will survive. I’m not here to predict crazy last-minute Kiibo-blowing-himself-up twists.

Rose: I think that Rose has a really nice arc of overcoming her fears and becoming less passive set up in front of her. We spent enough time establishing her relationship with Teruko that I could see her being a good potential friend/support character to Teruko in the endgame if relationships with people like Eden or Charles fall through. (And, at this point, you know what I think about Eden and Charles…) She’s also good at delivering low-key jokes that can provide some levity without totally ruining the tone. We already saw some of that in this scene. The main things that I think could be standing in her way are her photographic memory and history of debt. The photographic memory could be too annoying of an obstacle to write around for the entire game, and instead be an ongoing effect set to expire in in Chapter 3. Additionally, a money motive paralleling THH’s in Chapter 3 could be too tempting for Rose to pass up. Really, what I’m saying is, if Rose can make it through Chapter 3, I think she’s golden. We’ll just have to see how that Chapter pans out in the future.

David: Oh, David. Currently serving as Teruko’s largest antagonist, I can see why people would think that he would die in Chapter 5. However, I’m not going to beat around the bush and pretend that I’m the only person who thinks David might survive, either. As an inspirational speaker, David is established early on as a character who should be a beacon of hope, before revealing that he’s more of a hope-sucking black hole. It would make sense if, alongside Teruko, he learns to find more of a balance between blithe optimism and cynical depression and heal as a person. He has a lot of very obvious depth that I think a lot of people want to see explored, and whose exploration would be very on-brand for the themes of a typical killing game story. Plus, if Teruko ever does stop being the protagonist, David probably needs to be alive at that point to pick up the slack.

Ace: Similar to Nico, it seems like we’ve already gotten a taste of what Ace being a victim would be like, in a way where I don’t think we’re going to see it again. He could still be a killer, but would the cowardly Ace even want to attempt killing someone and throwing himself into the scrutiny of a Class Trial? Well, it is true that Ace believes that “[neither] dying young or living a long, shitty life of suffering… are as bad as this” (the killing game?). So, he could simply grow fed up with the killing game and decide that risking a Class Trial is worth it, even if he does wind up dying young. However, if that were to occur, Chapter 2 seems like the narratively best time to do it, as it’s when his emotions are most potent and probably when others would least expect him to do it due to his weakened state. Like Rose, I feel the period Ace has most to worry about is this upcoming Chapter 2 killer slot, but if he makes it through, his arc of learning to escape his fear by bravely rising above it instead of lashing out to try to knock everyone down feels very viable.

Whit: The pro of the Inevitable CharWhit Doom Scenario is that, hopefully, one of the two would manage to make it as a survivor after the other one dies. And, I’m Team Whit Surviving! Not just based on which of the two I like better (they’re my first and second favorite characters, so I’m taking a massive L either way), but because I think it makes more sense for it to be Whit that lives further on. Unlike Charles, who feels like he’s already in the final lap of the character arc race, Whit has barely left the starting line. The laundry scene in Chapter 1 and Whit’s secret in Chapter 2 have both been used to establish that Whit focuses on his and others’ bliss in hopes of remaining ignorant of everything that stresses him. The main offender, of course, being that Whit lies about his mom being alive to presumably stave off his grief. The easiest way to give him a character arc that resolves that issue is to give him something to grieve– namely, Charles– and soon. If Whit’s main character struggle is pretending that people dying doesn’t bother him, he might need an entire Chapter or more to stubbornly show off his central flaw. Now, it is possible that, if Whit can’t overcome this flaw, he could die soon after Charles and meet a tragic fate. But, those just… aren’t the vibes, to me? A post-character arc Whit who knows how to grieve fiercely but healthily might come in handy if Teruko finds herself handling her own emotions about Xander, Min, and/or anyone else at the end of the game.

And here’s the bottom of the death order section!

Finally finished writing something that nobody asked of me at all. Well, I still think it was important, and I hope you feel the same.

Now that we’ve laid all that out, I think it’s finally time to actually see who I think the Danganronpa: Despair Time mastermind might be! Although, please keep in mind that, despite the large preamble full of story predictions, I’m still pretty uncertain on who I think the mastermind is. So, my points might not be the best supported, and I might change my mind again pretty soon after I post this theory. I expect to be far better at disproving why everyone is the mastermind rather than proving why anyone would be, because that’s generally how I feel… but, onwards we go!

#17: Arei Nageishi

(Forgive me for reusing art here, I’ve drawn these bastards ENOUGH /j)

If I were writing this after Despair Time’s prologue, like I did with P:EG, there’s a pretty good chance that Arei, at the very least, wouldn’t have placed dead last. But, well, now Arei is dead. And also last.

Obviously, there are other dead characters too. But still, Arei is the one who I most struggle to see as the mastermind. Given that Arei died as a victim whose body was thoroughly investigated by several parties, it’s pretty hard for me to believe that anyone could have missed any signs of life. I don’t get the sense that DRDT is in some kind of simulation where everyone can magically be alive again at the end either, so I think Arei is, sadly, well and truly dead.

On top of all that, we know a lot about her backstory from her Chapter 2 breakdown, and none of it seems to point her towards masterminding a killing game specifically. She doesn’t have any particular ties to any big organizations that would have helped her accomplish it, either. While she is NOT just a temporary weather spell whose absence will be celebrated and then forgotten, David… I have a hard time believing that the audience would find her character relevant enough(?) to be a good twist mastermind come Chapter 6 several years down the line.

I don’t think I really need to keep elaborating on this. Arei isn’t the mastermind.

#16: Charles Cuevas

I know it’s a bit of a bold move to put a character who’s currently alive below characters who have already died, but… man, I really just don’t see how Charles could pull this off.

And it’s not (just) because I think he’s going to die in Chapter 3 as part of Whit’s character arc, or that I want to believe that he’s a good person. Really, it’s mostly because of his phobias. How is a guy who started gagging at the sight of blood splattered on the floor supposed to be the one who orchestrated an entire death game? Could he get through the process of creating a brutal execution like Min’s without freezing up and freaking out? Even if he could do it, why would he? Sure, he didn’t seem to remember the fact that he had necrophobia until Xander died, but that might be even more of a problem. Wouldn’t the mastermind, who’s certainly had to consider the others’ deaths before, remember that they were afraid of death? He would almost certainly have to be lying about at least the scale of his reaction, although that’s probably a given if he is the mastermind.

Of course, there are mastermind subcategories that could better benefit Charles. If DRDT is actually a simulation, especially one in which the participants don’t actually die, that would definitely make it easier for him to be the one behind it. We’re also meant to believe that Charles has childhood amnesia, so he could have amnesia in other areas as well and be a mastermind who forgot they were one.

However, as I said before, I don’t particularly believe that DRDT is going to be a computer simulation or that Charles is an amnesiac mastermind. I just… don’t see this one in general.

#15: Xander Matthews

Let me preface this by saying that I’m not trying to argue that Xander is actually still alive. The concept that he would be able to fool not only Min, making her believe that she dealt him a fatal blow, but also everyone else as they identified his body, seems outlandish to me. However, just because Xander is dead doesn’t mean that he couldn’t have entered this game as the mastermind.

We know for a fact that Xander wanted to kill Teruko due to his dialogue regarding the note he received, which lines up well with the popular theory that Xander is the individual speaking in the first scene with the papers and the blood. If we assume he is that guy, then it may seem a little counterintuitive to think that the person who says “I have to end the killing game” would be the one behind the killing game. However, he also says, “Even if I can’t do that… I have to kill Teruko Tawaki,” implying that killing Teruko is of a higher priority than ending “the killing game.” Thus, if, for some reason, Xander thought that orchestrating the killing game was the only way to kill Teruko, it’s possible that he would be willing to let the death game roll for as long as it takes to eliminate his bigger target.

However, I can’t deny that the Xander mastermind theory has some massive flaws to it. For one, Xander is dead. I don’t think we’ve technically seen any evidence that the mastermind has to still be alive as of Chapter 2, but a mastermind-less Chapter 6 would be… an interesting challenge to write, to say the least. Also, while Xander betraying Teruko and the others was a great surprising hook the first time, if it happened again, it would be kind of… underwhelming, in my opinion. It’s the same kind of concept I brought up in my Eden’s Garden ranking:

Then, in Chapter 6, we’d be faced with the revelation that, wow, the mildly antagonistic character was actually a really antagonistic character all along! It just doesn’t seem like enough of a dramatic hook to me, I guess?

“Wow, the guy who betrayed Teruko and became a killer actually betrayed Teruko and was the mastermind all along! And now, he’s not even around to reap the social or karmic consequences of it!” You see.

And then, there is the literal interpretation of the text that Xander (if he is bloody hands man) obviously stands against the killing games. He’s also the Ultimate Rebel, someone who stands against corrupt institutions in general.

If Xander is revealed to be evil later down the line, it would make much more sense if it was as a traitor type. As for being the one and only mastermind, I think the odds are pretty low.

#14: Ace Markey

Hey, it’s another character that’s alive! And, this one doesn’t even have a crippling fear of death. However, he is a massive coward, and that’s the main thing that’s dragging him down for me.

Similar to Charles, what would Ace stand to gain from hosting a killing game such as this? Ace doesn’t seem to have any interest in notoriety, money, the destruction of society, despair, or any other things that I can think of that would motivate a typical mastermind. We’ve seen time and time again that Ace cares most about having control over both his life and how other people see him, even though he often fails on both fronts. I guess both of those things could be solved by hosting a killing game, but… Come on, there have gotta be easier ways to do that which don’t threaten your precious life.

Furthermore, what exactly would Ace being the mastermind have to say about the story as a whole? Jockey has to be in the running for “talents that are least relevant to a potential killing game host.” How about the idea that the mastermind nearly died in Chapter 2, only to go off the rails threatening and blaming his assailant? I… always knew that Nico was… fully in the right for doing that, because it would have killed the big bad early??? Ace Mastermind is the preferred ending for those who believe that Nico can do absolutely no wrong, lol.

I can’t remember where I saw it, but I once saw a theory of writing that said that there are two major kinds of character arcs. One is the typical character arc, where the narrative pushes a character's traits to change over the course of the story for better of for worse. The other, this theory posited, was an arc on the part of the viewer, where they learn that a character that they thought was flawed was actually not as flawed as they thought all along. You could potentially apply this kind of thing to Eden: in the first chapter, some people may have seen her as a dim-witted positive girl, but in Chapter 2, we firmly establish that her kindness is not stupidity and learn how her optimism is a strength.

So, you could say that the character arc DRDTdev is going for with Ace is something more like that, where we spend the entire game learning to treat him more seriously just in time for him to be a real threat as the mastermind? It still feels like a bit of a stretch, though– I don’t know exactly what Ace would do to make us take him more seriously that wouldn’t either send him on a growth arc not super befitting of a mastermind or wind up with him being a blackened. Ace as the mastermind certainly isn’t impossible, but I obviously found it unlikely enough that I placed him below one character who is currently (presumed) dead.

#13: Arturo Giles

Arturo’s role in the story so far is not very mastermind-ish, in my mind. In the prologue, we establish him as a cold and judgmental person who puts his own opinions of how the world works over everything else, especially how other people feel. This already feels like how a mastermind would act, so if he turned out to be the mastermind, it would be more of the same.

Then, in Chapter 2, we establish that he’s a massive simp for celebrities, to the point of transforming into something adjacent to comedic relief. We’re meant to think that his over-the-top sprites and refusal to actually listen to anything J is saying is hilariously pathetic. Other characters are constantly dunking on him, such as Teruko calling him a “bigoted” “crazy person,” and even the narrative gets in on the action when highlighting how he cares less about the fact that J’s life was at risk than that she didn’t come out of it with drip. Narratively, we’ve already seen these characters get the better of Arturo. If we the audience interpret that as confirmation that the surviving cast could easily beat Arturo should he ever come to stand in their way, it could diminish the stakes upon his mastermind reveal.

However, for all of his negatives, there are some definite positives to Arturo being the mastermind, too. Despite his comedic effects, we have seen through his threats to Eden that Arturo is very capable of being very scary in a way that I don’t think we have with Ace. The horror factor of a plastic surgeon as the mastermind could be a really fun and creepy design theme to explore. And, Arturo is obviously super obsessed with celebrities. If hosting a deadly TV show is what he thought it would take to get him in with the Hollywood celebrity scene, he might be willing to go for it.

I don’t really know why he would have made his secret what it is if he was going to get that upset about it, though. I guess if there just weren’t any better options that wouldn’t tip his hand…? Also, Arturo would blend in terribly as a survivor. If you’re heading into Chapter 6 and you have to pick the evil character out of (let me spin a wheel real quick...) Teruko, Eden, Rose, Charles, and Arturo, Arturo is definitely the evil one. (Okay, that was actually a terrible randomized draw for Arturo on the innocence front, but I hope you can imagine how he would oddly stick out of most groups.) Like I said in his death predictions, I find it hard to imagine a character arc for Arturo, which is why I find it hard to believe that he would make it as far as Chapter 6.

#12: Min Jeung

Honestly, if Min weren’t (most likely) dead, she might be pretty high on my list of mastermind choices. While not as suspicious as the Spurlings, XF-Ture Tech is pretty suspicious, even more so with the introduction of that one altDRDT character. Min is related to XF-Ture Tech, so if that company has anything to do with the operation of the killing game, she could have been the one behind it. Min is also very smart, and her talent has obvious applications for how it could have been used to set up/influence the killing game. The fact that her talent is so similar to Teruko’s, Ultimate Student versus Ultimate Lucky Student, could have also set them up for some great parallels and duality down the line.

However… Min’s role as the Chapter 1 killer throws a pretty big wrench in her chances. Beyond the dying part, Min’s role as the blackened was incredibly evitable. It’s not like she was thrown into a situation where she had to kill or be killed, or even one where a motive was particularly difficult for her. If she wanted to be the mastermind and survive until the end, all she had to do was walk away from Xander stabbing Teruko and pretend she never saw it. However, if Min’s goal was the inverse of ol’ Bloody Hands (keep the killing game running, but most importantly, keep Teruko alive), her actions could line up. And then, perhaps Min could have falsified her own execution early to draw suspicion off of her, much like Junko did by killing Mukuro.

Beyond her death, though, it’s really Min’s reaction to being the blackened that makes me think she can’t be the mastermind. The stellar voice acting in Min’s breakdown scenes makes me really believe both that this was the first time she had ever hurt anyone as gravely as she did to Xander, and that she fully believed that she was about to die. Those are two things that a mastermind, especially one headed into a fake execution, would not be feeling. Maybe Min memorized how to be a great actress too amongst all those textbooks, but I doubt it. I can still see several reasons why Min would have been a good mastermind, but her actual death and her reaction to being told she was dying knock her down several pegs in my mind.

#11: Hu Jing

Hu is a bit more suspicious to me than some others just because I think she has something to hide. Between her refusal to share whose secret she received or had herself, mysterious “I want to pay for what I’ve done” hidden quote, and intense desire to be relied upon, there’s definitely something about Hu as a person that the narrative has yet to uncover. Could that something be “Hu is the mastermind”? I dunno, maybe.

Hu also has a tendency to react to things with her temper. That could be a sort of foreshadowing to how she would act as the mastermind, much like how David’s brief spell of apathy during the prologue hinted at the way he would act further down the line. Hu’s defense of Nico could act much the same way. Our overall impression of Hu at this point is that, while she is a flawed person, she’s one of the nicest and morally best people in the game, who’s always looking out for others. Defending Nico to the point of babying them might cross the line a little, but she’s only trying to help everyone…! Hu could make it to the end as a believably heroic survivor and then reveal that all of her presumed poor decisions were actually active malice, and I think she could pull that off.

All that being said… I don’t, like, actually think that’s going to happen. In fact, I’m probably overexaggerating the extent to which people think that Hu is nice and morally good. I’ve seen several people discuss the unjust amounts of hate Hu gets in this fandom, which implies that a lot of people hate her, even if I haven’t particularly seen much of it myself. At the very least, I definitely over exaggerated the extent to which people believe Hu could survive! As implied in the death order predictions, I do personally think Hu is going to die, possibly as a consequence of getting too invested in everyone else’s business when they don’t want her to be and/or wearing herself too thin. There are paths which I believe could lead to Hu being the mastermind, but they seem to be the roads less likely traveled.

#10: David Chiem

While I have no doubts that David has the fame, charisma, and worldview to pull off a killing game… I’d have to wonder about how he would see himself playing into all of it. As we saw in Chapter 2, David knows that his career has a lot of value, possibly to himself but definitely to other people, and therefore, he doesn’t want to jeopardize it. In fact, the reveal of his manipulative secret was the inciting incident behind his massive change in characterization. So, if he were the mastermind of a televised killing game… How would he think that would play out to his viewers?

Now, to be fair, there’s a lot we don’t know about the worldbuilding of DRDT. MonoTV claims that the TV show will be broadcast to a widespread audience. Perhaps that indicates that, in the world of DRDT, publicly broadcasting talented young peoples’ violent deaths is normal, or even sought after. Maybe the cast of DRDT forgot about it.

However, David seems to think that people learning that he sees everyone as manipulable would do damage to his reputation, so it’s a bit of a contradiction either way. If the world has been wracked with despair and craves intense violence on TV, then David’s reaction to his secret is either an elaborate lie or the result of the mastermind erasing his own memories regarding the situation. (Or, I guess the public could see death as fine and dandy but manipulation as a cancellable offense, which is… one of the interpretations ever.) Otherwise, in the scenario that the DRDT world is a normal one, David wouldn’t care about being revealed as a manipulator if he’d already committed to the mastermind bit. If his career was already preemptively ruined by agreeing to commit literal murder, why get so worked up about the thought that people might abandon ship over you not being 100% honest?

And then, there’s also the whole “surprise factor” thing that I keep bringing up. Admittedly, it’s been a longer hiatus between the start of Chapter 2 and the end of Chapter 2 than DRDTdev might have been hoping for, but that doesn’t change the fact that this part of David’s characterization happened in Chapter 2. DRDT fans far and wide have written thousands of words gushing over “the David reveal” or “evil David.” If David were unveiled as the mastermind, we’d have to start writing stuff about “the first David reveal” or “when David showed his true colors again.” You see how it kind of takes the hype away from such major plot points? That’s the sort of concept I’ve been trying to get across with some of my other choices too, but a bit more clear cut.

I don’t know why I sound so much like a hater in this section (in my opinion) when I’m literally putting David at #10, above seven other characters. I guess it’s because I can see why his theatricality and traits foiling Teruko could make him a good mastermind, but also have some major issues with the logistics of him getting there. A lot of good points versus a lot of bad points settle out to him winding up someone in the middle.

#9: Levi Fontana

With our first single digit number, we’ve also reached our midway point of mastermind candidates: Levi!

Levi would be a really interesting mastermind choice because of how his character centers around grappling with his morality. I think it would be really intriguing to have a mastermind outwardly struggling with their attempts and failures to be a good person throughout the entire game, only for the player and the characters to receive the full context of the debacle at the very end. I guess in this situation, it would be pretty likely that Levi would be redeemed at the end? That’s not necessarily a problem. (Honestly, I don’t know if I think the DRDT mastermind could be redeemed or not based on the fangan’s themes… that’s a post for another day, perhaps.)

Anyways, I think that what we know of Levi’s backstory could work well with him being the mastermind. If he does have the “murderer without remorse” secret, that would be in line with orchestrating a killing game. We also know that he’s “been disowned” and that he and his family were “all bad influences on each other.” We’re meant to assume that Levi was fortunate enough to escape a bad/abusive situation (and in all likelihood this IS what actually happened!!!!), but we are hearing about the situation from his point of view alone. There is a small possibility that, if Levi is actually a despair enjoyer, his family cut him out because they thought he was a danger to their lives.

I will reiterate again, though, that I don’t think this is the case. Levi seems like he’s a chill guy, or at least that he’s trying very hard to be one despite how he’s been told to react all his life. The whole “mastermind wanting to become a good person” lens also makes less sense given how channeled Levi’s development is through Ace. Like, I would imagine that, if this were the angle DRDTdev was going for, Levi would be making an effort to get along with everyone as part of his atonement. The mastermind randomly choosing to focus on just one person out of the crowd seems kind of strange, especially when that person is someone as disagreeable as Ace. That kind of plot would have big “the mafia CEO vampire prince fell head over heels in love with me, the random average girl” vibes. Repenting mastermind Levi is the preferred ending for pining lovers to enemies to lovers AceVi shippers, lol.

And then there’s the part where I think he’s going to die. I don’t think Levi is the worst mastermind choice, but I think there are better out there.

#8: Nico Hakobyan

Yay, we finally got to one of the characters that Anon thought was suspicious! It only took… 7k+ words. Oh boy.

I definitely think that the cat coding is the strongest thing that Nico has going for them. It would be pretty funny if the extent to which “Ultimate Pet Therapist” is relevant to the plot is the climactic reveal that “yeah Nico has been talking to a (robotic) animal the whole time.” That’s a joke, as Ultimate Pet Therapist is already quite relevant to Nico’s characterization as someone who prefers communicating with animals over people, but it would be funny as hell from a character designing perspective.

There are less silly reasons to believe that Nico is the mastermind too, though. While it seems like, similar to David, pulling the trigger on Nico’s change in behavior in Chapter 2 would be a bit early, I don’t think it’s as destructive to mastermind Nico as it is to mastermind David. There’s a lot more doubt in people’s minds that Nico even did anything to Ace, to the extent that a decent number of people (in the story and out of it) think that it was someone else trying to kill Ace entirely. Nico also has a stalwart defender in Hu, which adds an extra level of intrigue to the situation. Instead of confirming that everyone was right to be suspicious of David, at least some amount of focus could be placed onto Hu being wrong for trusting Nico and failing to see someone’s true colors again, which could be interesting for her characterization if she was alive at that point.

On the other hand, the biggest reason that I think Nico isn’t the mastermind is also because of the attempted Ace murder. Why would Nico, as the mastermind, try to kill Ace at this time? If Nico wins the Class Trial, then the killing game is over, which is probably counter to the mastermind’s goals. If Nico loses the Class Trial, well, we’ll say that the possibility of Nico dying isn’t an issue, as they could just fake their own death or deny entering the execution. But still, why?

It could be that Nico was trying to remove themselves from the killing game on purpose, but I don’t see why it would be necessary. No one was particularly suspicious of Nico being the mastermind, and if they were worried about their gender identity getting out, they could have simply made their secret something else. A mastermind could kill to avoid the killing game falling into a standstill, but tensions were really high at the time that Ace almost died! With a full day left to go before the motive secrets were revealed, such drastic action wasn’t yet forced. I guess the best option would be that Nico was just really angered by what Ace said, and wanted to retaliate as part of their vicious mastermind nature. Is that worth taking yourself out of the killing game and risking the show’s termination, though…?

There is also the possibility that Nico is the mastermind, but didn’t try to kill Ace. In that case, suspicion of Nico would be such a huge in-universe coincidence that I’m doubtful DRDTdev would have included it as a major plot point.

Speaking of “show’s termination,” I also don’t know why Nico would have any involvement in creating a TV show, both from a backstory/talent perspective and a personality one. Nico doesn’t like interacting with people. Therefore, I don’t know what would possess them to want to create and join a TV show for which the major draw is a big stressful discussion between a bunch of people.

I guess I had fewer reasons why I thought Nico would be the mastermind than I thought. I would love to hear more details about why you suspect Nico though, Anon! I’m definitely willing to believe that they could be the mastermind.

#7: Eden Tobisa

Make no mistake, I still think that Eden is the Chapter 2 killer. However, in the case that she isn’t… mastermind isn’t a terrible choice for her.

The biggest draw of Eden being the mastermind would definitely be the shock value. The seemingly nicest character suddenly being revealed as the mastermind would create a huge hurdle for the surviving characters to overcome. Teruko especially, given that she probably would have grown at least a tad closer to Eden if they survived five chapters together. It would be a little mean to give Teruko a trustworthy friend just to rip it away from her again, but I could see the opportunity being used to highlight Teruko’s growth. When Xander and Min betrayed Teruko, she panicked and shut everyone out, but when Eden betrays Teruko at the very end, she’s able to remain strong and rely on the other friends who she continues to trust. Or DRDT could have an unconventional feel-bad ending, I suppose.

If some kind of time loop is at play within DRDT, then Eden’s talent would obviously be thematically and perhaps practically relevant as well. I could see a lot of comparisons being made regarding a killing game being run “like clockwork.” Her secret quote “you can’t go back, no matter how hard you try” is... actually kind of anti-time loop, but at least the concept of going back in time is somewhat related…? Speaking of secret quotes, her Mai quote, “she kept calling the number, even though no one picked it up” is also really weird. That suspicious hidden evidence could point to her being the mastermind.

However, Eden’s personality is a pretty major issue when it comes to her being the mastermind. Shock value is great in the moment, but it can ring hollow in retrospect if people find that the twist doesn’t make any sense. Masterminds aren’t typically known for their kindness or optimism. So, if Eden is the mastermind, it seems like her whole “even if this world is cruel, I’ll still make the choice to be kind” speech is a complete lie. And, that would be a shame! I don’t think that having an unexpected mastermind at the end of the game is worth the cost of completely demolishing a character that we’ve come to know and love over the course of six chapters and several years. (I’m not saying that complete demolition has to be the case if Eden is the mastermind, but I think it’s a reasonable worry that many people have.)

And, I know that all this talk about how wonderful Eden is might sound rich coming from someone who strongly believes that she just killed someone who wanted to be her best friend. But, that’s kind of the point, isn’t it? As someone who thinks that Eden is the killer, I know very well how a lot of people have a really hard time believing that Eden could do something as terrible as killing Arei. I can only imagine how hard it would be to accept that Eden was the one who put Arei, Min, Teruko, and everyone else in danger, and the one pulling the strings behind every execution.

Eden as the mastermind, to me, is more tempting in concept than it would be viable in execution. And also, I don’t even think she’s going to live to see the light of Chapter 3 day. However, there’s also some definite emotional power behind the accusation that makes me see how shooting for this ambitious choice could be worth it in the long run.

#6: Whit Young

Alright, it’s finally time to talk about Whit. I know that he’s a really popular mastermind choice, but… I just don’t see it, personally. Even though I put him at 6th place. (I do not enjoy putting him in 6th place.) Is that just because he’s my favorite and I’m attached to my interpretation of the character? Perhaps. But, I’d still like to explore some points that I find faulty.

Perhaps the biggest reason behind suspicion of Whit that I’ve seen is the way that he breaks the fourth wall. People connect his asking people to pause for the evidence list to MonoTV invoking similar mechanics, and lines such as “do you really think she’d be hanging out in the playground” to him knowing more than he’s letting on. However, there are a couple of ways that this accusation can be depowered, in my opinion.

Firstly, Whit isn’t the only person who says stuff like this. Veronika alludes to the killing game before it begins, Teruko also breaks the fourth wall to tell the viewer to pause (albeit only in her thoughts, not out loud), and Arei makes the same kind of “hanging” wordplay in Eden’s flashback that Whit did. I won’t say that characters addressing the fourth wall can’t be important at all, because I believe there are some moments where the other characters commentate on how weird it is that MonoTV is talking to no one. However, I also think that breaking the fourth wall may simply be part of DRDTdev’s humor, as exemplified by that “make sure to like and subscribe so that Teruko has enough mental strength to carry on” joke. Whit is a funny guy, so it just makes sense that if DRDTdev’s brain generates funny meta jokes, Whit would get some of them. Everything that Whit says reminds me more of Mia AceAttorney saying “hit tab to open the Court Record” than some sort of groundbreaking DDLC-Undertale direct communication with the viewer. However, I can see why others would think otherwise.

The second is that I think some of Whit’s comments (more so the “dead at 3” and “hanging in the playground” than the pause) are just meant to showcase his intuition. And, yeah, it could be that DRDTdev has been leaving crumbs of Whit’s intuition behind so that in Chapter 6, he can use it to exploit everyone’s insecurities and greatest despair. To me, though, Whit’s intuition has always reminded me of the myth of Cassandra.

For those who don’t know, Cassandra is a figure in Greek mythology who was blessed/cursed to receive prophecies, but for no one to ever believe them. By my interpretation, Whit is a really smart and perceptive guy who has strikingly accurate gut feelings about how things will play out down the road, even when he doesn’t realize it himself. However, the curse of his own coping mechanism– choosing to act like an eternally cheerful goofball– leads the majority of the other students, and perhaps some of the viewers, to never take his point of view seriously. He can only realize the accuracy behind what he said after the bad things have already happened, leading him to blame himself more and more for not being able to speak up and help when times were tough.

This kind of behavior would line up with two different themes we’ve seen from Whit before. The first, that when he jokes around without thinking, he can accidentally say hurtful things that he later reprimands himself for. We saw that when Charles blew up at him at the end of their shared FTE. The second is Whit’s major theme of good things hiding a darker undercurrent. Being the Ultimate Matchmaker is great until you’ve never had a successful relationship yourself. Having an awesome mom is great until the truth comes out that she’s actually dead, and you’ve been covering it up. Growing super close to someone is great until he dies. Having an amazing intuition and understanding of everyone is great until you can never actually use it to help those you care about. Joking around is great until it's all you can do. Pretending everything is fine is great until it’s not.

Like I said, very specific interpretation. I promise I was not citing classical literature to make my argument sound smarter than it actually is. I am aware that my interpretation of Whit is no less or more valid than everyone else’s. However, it’s one that I hold very close to my heart, and thus, I personally have a hard time seeing around it.

However, I’ve also seen a lot of people argue some valid points for Whit, so I can at least acknowledge that he deserves to be in the upper echelon of choices. There’s a lot of weird stuff regarding him in Literature Girl Insane, and he’s certainly an option of someone who felt so much grief that they became totally empty inside as shown in that one hidden quote. I would be appropriately surprised and heartbroken if Whit revealed himself as the mastermind in Chapter 6, so he checks the box in that regard. There isn’t anything from his backstory that opposes the notion that he set up the killing game, and, to quote what I said about our other Ultimate Matchmaker, Toshiko…

While Ultimate Matchmaker might seem like a silly talent to give the mastermind, it could also be a ruse to distract us from the fact that [Whit] has a talent that allows [him] to read people well and make choices that will impact their lives dramatically.

I don’t like it, but I can see the argument… kind of. To me, most mastermind Whit interpretations feel like mischaracterization, but as a theorist, I always try to keep in mind that I’m the one who could be twisting the text to my whims as well. In this my-opinions-based list, though, he’s not getting any higher than 6th.

#5: Veronika Grebenshchikova

Ooh, what spooky art for a spooky mastermind. Let’s be real, though, Veronika is way too obvious of a mastermind candidate to actually be the mastermind. Unless… she’s so obvious that she loops back around to not being obvious, and thus, is the perfect mastermind candidate?!

Veronika is in a really weird place. I obviously have no doubts that she would have any moral qualms about hosting a killing game, because she’s told us herself that she doesn’t. She knows what Monokuma is in immense detail, but claims to have no idea what a killing game is. She’s dressed really similarly to Junko, though. Is that just a coincidence? Are giant pigtails also a symbol of fear in the DRDTverse? I need ANSWERS, LADY!!!

The biggest problem I see with Veronika is the potential for obviousness. Similar to Arturo, if she actually made it to Chapter 6, I feel like it would be pretty obvious what’s going on. An oddball like Veronika is not the typical survivor type (although she could break the mold). Because Teruko’s character arc is all about trusting people, it would make sense if the reveal of the mastermind was someone who challenged her trust to some degree. With Veronika being obviously unhinged the whole time, I don’t think that Teruko would have any particular difficulties with kicking her to the curb.

However, Veronika clearly has the motive to start a killing game, and potentially to spread despair. DRDT has taken inspiration from Trigger Happy Havoc in the past, so it could make sense if DRDT’s mastermind was also inspired by THH’s. Having a so-obvious-it’s-not-obvious mastermind could also be another way to mess with theorists like me, as DRDTdev did with the comments section portion of Literature Girl Insane. “bro Veronika being the mastermind would be WAY too obvious” sounds EXACTLY like “I just hope XXXXXX doesn’t go crazy and kill in chapter 3. That would be way too predictable” or “XXXXX will obviously die in ch5”. If part of the point of DRDT is to make know-it-all analysts rethink the rules they believe to be set in stone, I could see Veronika as a subversive choice.

Veronika definitely seems to be building up to something, but I don’t know if being the mastermind is exactly it. I think that Veronika could make it pretty late into the game, but I still struggle to see her making it all the way to Chapter 6. I would absolutely love to see what DRDTdev does with her writing if that is the case, though. 

#4: Mai Akasaki

(Well, now I feel bad that I’ve never made a colored portrait of Mai.)

As you may have noticed back at our first entry, Arei, I started the countdown off at seventeen, not sixteen. (If you didn’t remember that, I don’t blame you– it was a WHILE ago.) That’s because I thought it was only fair to include DRDT’s best kept(?) secret, the lovely Unnamed Student herself, Mai Akasaki, as an option! Because, man, is she mysterious in some suspicious ways.

“But, didn’t MonoTV tell the students that the mastermind was one of them? Mai isn’t one of the students in the killing game (unless prosopagnosia is REALLY going crazy), so she can’t be the mastermind, right?” Well, yes and no. The scene where MonoTV confirms the existence of the mastermind is SUPER weird. Let’s take a look at it.

On one hand, MonoTV is still in the Movie Screening Room, where it was JUST talking to the student body, so it would only stand to reason that it’s a continuation of the scene we just saw. However, the setting also seems to be doing everything in its power to tell us that this is NOT the same scene we just saw. The lights have been turned off, even though they were on in the scene just before this. They return to being on in the first scene of Chapter 1, which the students treat as being directly after the scene during which the lights were on before. The widget denoting the time, chapter, and episode has completely disappeared, placing this at an even more unknown time than “Time Unknown.” The text indicating that the speaker is MonoTV has even disappeared! I mean, I assume that MonoTV is still the one saying it, considering that it’s on screen and the speech bubble is pointing right at it, but we don’t even know that for sure!

Additionally, MonoTV refers to the viewers directly (“dear viewers”) two speech bubbles after this one, which makes it seem more like MonoTV is talking to us the audience rather than the students in the room. But then, if the mastermind is “one of you,” and MonoTV is talking to us, wouldn’t that mean the mastermind is someone in the audience? That could lead in to some really meta interpretations of the text (i.e. “DRDTdev is the mastermind of DRDT because he’s the one who created the killing game”) or it could indicate that I’ve gone fully off the rails. 

A midpoint between those two ideas is that the mastermind is part of the in-universe audience watching the killing game, as in, a fictional character who is watching the real-to-them TV show that is Danganronpa: Despair Time. That could include Mai, a very notable character who is not one of the sixteen participants in the killing game.

Side note, I’ve seen some people fight back against the concept that Mai could be the mastermind with the idea that making the mysterious character the mastermind would be too obvious. While I sort of agree, I feel like we’re somewhat overestimating the extent to which Mai is obvious. It’s not like no casual viewers would know who she is, because her image was shown pretty obviously in Chapter 1. However, the name “Mai Akasaki” is only accessible by finding the hidden quotes on the optional associated website’s character profiles. To learn anything about her beyond that, you have to have the thought to type the name into the website URL, and then solve another puzzle just to see the bare bones of what’s there.

I’m not trying to assert any sort of dominance or superiority over DRDT fans on YouTube, Twitter, TikTok, or anything else, but from what I’ve gathered, Tumblr is the place you want to go for deep analysis and theories on DRDT (possibly because of Tumblr’s longer word count). Therefore, anything about DRDT that may seem like common knowledge on Tumblr may only be common knowledge to the fans who specifically bothered to come to the deep lore and crack theories website to find deep lore and crack theories. Essentially, this:

Sort of similar to what Gravity Falls did with the reveal of Bill Cipher back in 2012 (at least I think, I wasn’t actually in the Gravity Falls fandom at that time), I think it would be reasonable to plant clues about an overarching villain that people who want to analyze can analyze ahead of time, such that the villain’s arrival can come as a victory to the puzzle solvers and an exciting new development to the more casual viewers.

However, while I believe that Mai has an awesome setup that she could use to become the mastermind, whether she would actually fit the role is another question entirely. As I alluded to back in the first Mai paragraph, I’m rolling with the widely held (among theorizers) belief that the Unnamed Student in Xander and Min’s bonus episodes is supposed to be Mai. In those episodes, Mai seems to be incredibly caring, peppy, and sweet. She knows a ton of little heartwarming details about Min and Xander, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the same is shown to be true with Arei and whoever else’s bonus episodes in the future. Those hidden quotes on Mai’s profile also give off the impression that everyone in the cast really loves Mai– one could call them a “portrait of a person dearly loved,” perhaps.

While it’s possible that these scenes are supposed to highlight Mai’s social prowess and how much she can get people to fall in love with her, they… don’t really seem to be giving off those vibes. We see her thoughts in those bonus videos, and she really does seem to be dedicated to helping Min and Xander out. Mai’s change from someone who wanted nothing more than to help out her friends to someone who was willing to throw all of them into the killing game is something that would have to be explained, and it could be difficult to communicate that shift within the confines of bonus material, if Mai’s content is mostly kept there. There is the concept that Mai could have put her friends into a killing game to protect them somehow, which could be a way to avoid Mai’s character seemingly doing a total 180, but that rationale would need a lot of explanation too.

Otherwise, there’s also the problem that Mai is almost certainly dead. I won’t get super into it myself, because the amazing @1moreff-creator has already done a great job explaining why here (starts in the XI. God is Dead section). I don’t think I need to elaborate on why Mai being dead potentially before the killing game even began would be detrimental to the idea of her being the mastermind.

To be honest, I don’t know how much this idea actually makes sense. I think I’m personally more inclined to believe that Mai could be the mastermind just because I really don’t get mastermind vibes from pretty much anybody in the cast. If the mastermind simply wasn’t one of the members of the main cast, that could solve that issue, right…? Mai is very likely involved in the inception of the killing game somehow, so extending that role to one of being the mastermind isn’t the biggest stretch. However, her personality and living status do throw in some pretty big question marks, so I don’t think she should go any higher.

#3: Teruko Tawaki

Teruko was definitely the first character who I believed could be the mastermind after I watched the series for the first time. However, over time, I’ve sort of fallen off of the idea that she would be. Is that because I’m forgetting key details of the plot, or because I’m drifting closer to the truth…? Honestly, I have no idea.

Let’s start with the strongest “evidence” we have against Teruko, her motive secret: “How could I even select which secret to make your motive? Just about everything you’ve done in your life is worth killing for. The killing game is all your fault.” Although “the killing game [being] all [Teruko’s] fault” sounds pretty damning, there’s the obvious counterargument to be made that this isn’t even Teruko’s motive. In fact, the board currently shows it assigned to Xander. However, the majority of people (including myself) seem to believe that David was lying, and this secret is Teruko’s. So, let’s analyze under that assumption.

Teruko did admit to Veronika that she doesn’t know what secret could be used as her motive because there were so many. Even if that motive secret isn’t hers, that still means that Teruko has done a lot of shady stuff. Teruko’s decision to live on set forever could line up with the mastermind's goal of wanting to keep the cameras rolling as well. The very first scene of DRDT shows that someone who wants the killing game to end also wants Teruko dead, which implies that Teruko and the killing games are on the same side.

Teruko also has a prior history of concealing things about herself from us, the viewing audience. We knew basically nothing about her past or trust issues before Xander stabbed her, causing her sudden change in attitude to come as a blindside. Teruko apparently has a “risky” killing game-ending plan in mind for the end of the second Class Trial that she’s told us absolutely nothing about. And, most notably, Teruko clearly knows things about Mai that she’s decided not to share with viewers at home. (I do believe that Teruko genuinely can’t remember Mai’s name, but she does remember that Mai is similar to Xander and wanted to help, which is more than anything we would have known from the main text on our own).

Point is, DRDT is written in a way where we don’t hear a ton of Teruko’s thoughts. That would make it much easier for her to scheme something behind the scenes, as opposed to someone who we get a lot of emotional reactions or logical theorizing from. It’s actually kind of similar to the difference between Kaede and Shuichi’s styles of narration, as pointed out by ShortOneGaming in their impeccable v3 playthrough! I recommend watching their entire letsplay if you're in the mood for v3, but I found one time where they talked about this concept here. I’ll transcribe it for anyone who doesn’t want to open YouTube right now:

Gina: I do want to call– as my final sort of note– what’s interesting is that you called out immediately that Kaede’s narration was weird. That, it was always, like– dictation? Allison: Yes! Gina: It’s always, like, speaking directly to a person– Allison: Yes! Yes, I did say– It never really felt like actual internal monologue. Like, she never was expressing her thoughts or anything to us. I mean, yes, she was, but then there were those weird moments where she was, like… y’know, hiding it from the player, and… probably from herself, too, to some extent. Like, she was just like, “and then I had to go do this thing.” Um, and like, “we won’t really address how I’m feeling about this.” Gina: Yep. Allison: And at the same time, it hides it from the– the player. And that was very clever. Really good. I mean, her– yeah, her narration was always kind of weird. But, she did have moments where she had internal reflection.

Hopefully, you can see the comparison. By putting a greater emphasis on actions as opposed to what Teruko is feeling (“I kneeled down and touched his neck” after finding Ace’s presumed-dead body; “Everyone else started filtering in” when people walk into the Playground and find Arei’s corpse), it becomes much easier to have Teruko hide exactly what she knows or exactly how she feels about certain events. It’s actually the opposite of the kind of narration that Damon had (“I’m trapped in a killing game… with people who despise me. How… how did this happen? I just wanted to help… I wanted to make sure we didn’t trust each other too easily… and now I’m being treated like the bad guy” after the 0th Class Trial) that made me believe he wasn’t the mastermind!

So, do I think that Teruko would be a mastermind who remembers, or a mastermind who forgot? Well, I could kind of see it either way. Personally, I think that Teruko being a mastermind whose memories are intact is the more interesting version, and I do believe it’s possible. I also don’t understand why someone with as many trust issues as Teruko has would want to remove her own memories if it weren’t necessary. Then again, Teruko being an amnesiac mastermind could make up for some of the… issues that arise with her as a mastermind candidate.

What? She’s in third place, not first. Despite how long I’ve already talked about Teruko, there’s still more to say!

First, the problems if Teruko did retain her memories: why would she ask MonoTV about the mastermind’s identity when the two were alone? Why would she be creating a plan to end the killing game? Why would she pretend to not know who Mariabella Rosales was even though everyone else clearly knew?

And then, the problems that persist even if Teruko did lose her memories: where would Teruko have gotten the resources to plan a killing game of this caliber? Even if she had them, why would she use it on this? Assuming that secret is hers, why would she write that about herself in a plausibly public place (beyond the swapping, Arei looked over Whit’s shoulder)?

Oh yeah, back to that secret. Just because “the killing game is all [Teruko’s] fault” doesn’t mean that she’s the one who planned it. In fact, the wording sounds very accusatory and hostile for something that Teruko would have theoretically written to herself. From the first scene, we already know that there is a person or group of people somewhere who are out to get Teruko. It could make more sense if that entity is the mastermind, and wrote the secret to blame Teruko for whatever she did that got her on their bad side.

There’s probably more to be said, but hopefully you can see why I have so many mixed feelings about Teruko. I definitely think she’s one of the more likely mastermind candidates out there, but I still don’t know exactly how likely that is, y’know?

#2: Rose Lacroix

Once upon a time, a wise and powerful theory alchemist known only by the epithet @1moreff-creator postulated that Rose could be the mastermind of Despair Time, and then never elaborated on the idea at all. For centuries (a couple of weeks) the townsfolk (me) were baffled by these dark and mysterious ramblings. However, as seasons passed by, as travelers came and went, as the tide advanced to kiss the land before slinking back to its home once more– the idea… started making more and more sense?

Rose is a really smart character who has already shown her proficiency in Class Trials. In the first, she utilized her ability to perfectly capture the scene and her knowledge of chromatography. Although her talents haven’t been as useful so far in the second, she’s still managed to keep up with the conversation despite never looking at the scene of the crime. Thus, I can see why, from a writing perspective, DRDTdev would choose to make his mastermind the Ultimate Art Forger.

There’s also the angle that Rose is a criminal, and therefore could be willing to do illegal or immoral things. However, she does seem to be pretty remorseful about it, and she’s already been caught for her criminal behavior before. Unfortunately for her, her relationship with her saviors the Spurlings only makes her all the more suspicious. Even if Rose didn’t want to be the mastermind of a killing game, if the Spurlings forced her to do it, she might have not had a choice. (Xander is very against the Spurlings… Xander is bloody hands guy → stop the killing game → stop the Spurlings?)

I also like the angle of “the Spurlings forced her to do it” because of what I talked about back in Mai’s section– the concept of the mastermind not being among the students. In Rose’s case, you can get the best of both worlds. The entity behind the killing game, the Spurling Foundation, would be a group outside of the killing game for MonoTV to contact, but there would still be a student among the cast’s ranks to suspect and accuse come Chapter 6.

What’s the argument against Rose? Well, I would ask why Rose would want to put herself in this kind of situation, but if it was the Spurlings’ choice, then that explains that. You could say Rose has been too helpful to be a bad guy, but everything she’s done so far has been to help the students win a Class Trial. That keeps the killing game running, which keeps the show on. The biggest problem I’m thinking of at the moment is the notion that the Spurling Foundation would have chosen to make Rose’s secret about how her backstory led her into their clutches. However, the secret doesn’t actually acknowledge the Spurlings by name, and it also frames Rose’s crimes in a way that makes her look like a good person– the opposite of what someone would think of as a mastermind. The secret was also only intended for Rose’s eyes, so it could have functioned as more of a low-key threat to remind her why she needs to stay in line.

Shouldn’t all of this talk of Rose lacking agency make her a bad mastermind candidate, though? If a villain doesn’t even believe in their villainous motivations, the story could end on a really flat note, with the good guys steamrolling an evildoer who doesn’t really care. How are we supposed to reach a satisfying conclusion if the mastermind hardly has anything to be held accountable for?

Those are normally things I would argue, but as many have pointed out, Teruko isn’t a normal protagonist. Actually, I think that this kind of mastermind setup for Rose could be a great way to end Teruko’s arc about learning to trust other people. Rose is the mastermind, somebody who shouldn’t be trusted…! It would be so easy for Teruko to just crush this person who betrayed her into dust– Rose isn’t even putting up much of a fight. But in the end, Teruko will choose to be patient, and see that Rose never wanted to betray Teruko. Even if her actions wound up hurting Teruko and many others, she still deserves a second chance, or at least a second evaluation.

As you saw in the death predictions, I obviously believe that Rose has the potential to make a late game run, whether as a survivor or something else. Writing all of this out, I can see even more clearly why Rose just might be the DRDT mastermind. However, despite all that I wrote, the idea still feels kinda more like a fun AU than the actual truth to me…? So, I still think there’s one person whose chances I like slightly better.

#1: J Rosales

Whaddya know, J’s personal ??? tier catapulted her into the lead. It is probably true that my uncertainty about where she might land is contributing to me deeming her the mastermind– it’s a really weird space in the kill order, as someone who survives long enough to theoretically have a positive character arc while sometimes not being counted among the survivors at the end.

Part of why I put J this high is that I really like the theory of J being the mastermind along with her brother, Ryan. Sadly, I cannot find any of the original theories that postulated this idea to link to, so I’ll try my best to explain what I remember myself. Basically, some people found the scene in c1e4 where Rose doesn’t remember who J is suspicious. They combined this scene with J’s younger brother, Ryan, and J’s talent, the Ultimate Effects Artist, to suggest that J could be using her FX talents to disguise Ryan as herself and have them occasionally trade places. From this Q&A, one of the few things we know about Ryan is that he enjoys crossdressing, which furthers the idea that he could enjoy pretending to be J. Ryan is also (to my memory) the only DRDT character’s sibling whose name we have seen in the main text, which could indicate that he’s more important than Arei’s sisters, Levi’s brothers, or other potential siblings.

I think it’s a really fun idea that I would at the very least want to see come to fruition, regardless of how likely it is. If J was working with Ryan, you can once again repeat the argument that there’s both a mastermind for MonoTV to talk to outside the game and one to be accused within the game. The biggest issue with it is that I don’t know how Arturo wouldn’t see the differences between the two, even if Rose may have. Maybe if J and Ryan haven’t swapped since the Rosales secret got out, and won’t swap again until Arturo dies…? I don’t know, I’m getting ahead of myself.

The thing is, other than just being a unique and interesting concept, I’m not really sure what the point of having J and Ryan swap would be, in universe or out of it. (This is why I wish I could’ve found a link to the original theorist... :,( ) My best argument for in universe would be that there are some things that only J has the skill to do, her being the Ultimate Effects Artist while Ryan is not. However, they couldn’t just have Ryan be the one in the killing game full-time, because he’s too young and therefore wouldn’t have been part of the original Hope’s Peak class. Thus, there are some points in time where J needs to be working behind the scenes (like on the executions or something), and during those intervals, Ryan subs in. Metatextually, I guess it could show how every person in the entertainment industry can be cutthroat, or that every child of a celebrity is bound to get messed up about it somehow…?

Regardless, even if Ryan isn’t involved at all, there are plenty of reasons to suspect J on her own. Ultimate Effects Artist is a highly suspicious talent when it comes to the deception of a killing game (just check out how many people think J already used it to kill Arei), and in connecting her to Hollywood. J may claim to specialize in theater as opposed to television, but 1) she could have been lying, or 2) that could be true, but she’s making an exception this time. Even if she normally works in live theater, if you were a TV executive approached by the daughter of Mariabella Rosales who is also a Hope’s Peak Ultimate student in her own right, would you really turn her away…?

J’s custom weapon is also pretty suspicious. Even if it doesn’t seem to be able to trigger traps like the one used on Levi (though that could be another lie), I could still see it being pretty helpful for subtly operating MonoTV, turning on a monitor, starting an execution, or stuff like that. Charles essentially confirms that the custom weapons were in the students’ rooms since they all woke up, which means that J could have had this remote on her the entire time.

J’s relationships also seem potentially mastermind-y. Thus far, the two characters with which she’s been associated most are Arei and Arturo. Those two (at least, prior to Arei’s change of heart) have been so clearly villainous and hateful that J would obviously look like a nice person in comparison. Why is this helpful? It means that J can get away with doing more objectionable things without raising any huge red flags. If J is the mastermind, we can look back on her demolition of Arturo in the Chapter 2 Trial as a brief early glimpse into how cruel she can really be. But, for the moment, although it’s definitely memorable, many people (including myself) can react to it with a, “yeah, but based on what Arturo was doing to her, it’s kinda justified…” (Not saying it isn’t somewhat justified either way, just that it could also be something more.)

J could also have a range of motivations related to her hatred for her mom. Maybe she’s trying to turn people against the Rosales name to ruin Mariabella’s reputation. Maybe this killing game is a plan to finally have a big artistic success all on her own (or with Ryan) to prove her mom wrong. Maybe she thinks that a world so enamored with fame and glamor deserves to rot in a pit of despair. I don’t know which of these options would be the most likely, but I could see how any of them could be possible explanations for how J got to this point.

I think my biggest argument against J once again comes back to the “why”. I think that J has a lot of potential to be a good mastermind, but I don’t know if that carries over to being a good mastermind for Teruko. Unlike with Rose, I don’t have a good sense of how J being the mastermind would tie into a satisfying ending to Teruko’s trust arc.

@venus-is-thinking and I sometimes like to run randomized killing games as a fun writing exercise (randomize the cast, motives, and mastermind; see where it takes you), and we’ve generally found that the most compelling protagonist-mastermind duos either have the protagonist sharing the same worldview with the mastermind, or being the only person who believes the opposite.

If the protagonist starts with the same beliefs as the mastermind, then defeating the mastermind is a showcase of the protagonist’s development. Hajime and Izuru work as protagonist and mastermind because Izuru is the manifestation of Hajime’s belief that only talented people are important and can make an impact on the world. By renouncing Izuru, Hajime proves that he’s learned that anyone has the chance to change their future if they put in the effort. 

If the protagonist has the opposite opinions from the mastermind, then it proves how crucial the protagonist is to the narrative because they are the only one who could deliver the critical message. A great example of this is Shuichi and Tsumugi. When Tsumugi tries to set up the conflict of “hope good, despair bad” that will keep the killing games going, all of the other surviving students fall for it. Shuichi being the only character who has spent the entire game learning the importance of balancing two extremes makes his callout of Tsumugi incredibly satisfying, and justifies the protagonist swap by proving that Shuichi is the only hero who could have saved this day.

That’s why I think that J would be a great mastermind for a protagonist who has issues with family or stardom, but might not be the best choice for a story with Teruko at the helm. Those are only my observations, though, so I’d understand if DRDTdev planned things differently.

And that is finally the end! Here’s the final tierlist I wound up working off of, which I fiddled with a TON while writing:

(It’s based off of Ocean Unknown’s tierlist!)

Since this has already gone on so long, I’ll try to keep the conclusion brief. Please take all of this with a grain of salt, as I wound up making a lot of claims about writing that don’t necessarily have the strongest foundation. I didn’t write anything that I think is blatantly false, obviously, but whether it’s good advice or not doesn’t necessarily mean that DRDTdev considered it. We may have different priorities in telling a compelling story. And, we’re less than two chapters in! Even the end of the Chapter 2 trial could throw a positive or negative wrench in any of these profiles.

Thank you so much for reading through this whole thing, and if you got through it and still have anything you want me to elaborate on further (a specific character, a specific theory, a specific aspect of fangan writing, etc), I would be happy to do so. I, uh, really hope that this answered the question that Anon asked, haha. Until next time… stay wary. There could be masterminds lurking about...!

[neembu]

(this is very long and pointless, just scroll past)

this is a means for me to clear my thoughts.

my parents really believe in astrology. and even though i dont, i hate to admit that very specific events that i tried to stay away from hv happened in my life that were predicted as early as in 2017.

these are not events that can be generalised but i digress.

accncn to astrology this time period is the worst one in my life. and although admittedly i am not doing well at all, i dont like to put blame on other factors for my incompetence

also it was predicted that i wld lose faith in god and then regain it, and the time periods predicted were unfortunately accurate.

well my mother was pretty happy with the prospect of me worshipping god again. but it is funny that now i am religious in a way that doesn’t please her

i hate calling myself a hindu, even though i do follow shaktism which is a form of hinduism they are separate entities in my mind. even if i call myself a hindu i do not mean it in a way most people do.

i dont have complaints with my religion or rather my religion as it was supposed to be, i do actually believe that hinduism was one of the most progressive religions at it’s birth (baring a few things that can be attributed to human errors and well misogyny, while spinning a mythology), but it doesnt matter anymore. it has been blotched the people who use religion as a tool for violence, the so called dharm-rakshaks (protectors of the religion).

i would rather not be associated with them. their practices and lack of knowledge ab the religion itself has tainted hinduism for me.

and even though i do follow hinduism in a way, i ruthlessly criticise how it is being followed a lot which stings my parents who’d go to lengths to defend hindus no matter how wrong they are.

my parents also dont want me to follow nirakar hinduism, i dont even know what their motive is with that but oh well. and though i can not call my self nirakar completely, but my ideologies certainly tilt that way.

also this has also opened my eyes to how insincere people are with their worship, how religion is just a way for them to integrate themselves into the society. i would not have minded that after all everyone is looking for a place to belong, but the very people who call themselves ‘kattar hindu’ (staunch supporters of hinduism); are the very ones who do the exact opposite as what their religion tells them to do. i asked a couple of them around me, some basic questions that form hinduism (they were incredibly easybecause at that time i myself had minimal knowledge ab the religion), and they werent able to answer those, which gave me complete insight of what religion actually meant for them

there is only one thing i want from god and that is to make my soul kind and empathetic. not only do i think feeling others’ pain in how the society can be corrected, but also i am selfish. i want to free myself from this cycle of birth and death, it becomes more and more unbearable everyday. i dont want to rack up ‘bad’ karm, this thought in itself is selfish which goes against the laws of karm. but this thought also comes second to the fact, i truly have always wanted to help people if i have the means to. it isnt inherently selfish, it became so after seeing the state of the world we live in.

[docholligay]

And I think that’s so much of the difference between Torah Study as I have known it for all the years I’ve done it, and Bible Study, the Christian version of it. My rabbis have always been happy to lend context, or direct Hebrew translation, and we always had some interesting midrash to chew on, and Talmud, but at the end of the day it was never an ‘X means Y” sort of situation, it was a “here’s the parsha, here’s what’s been said about it, what do we think, how does this apply, why is God telling us this?” and we didn’t HAVE to agree, and often didn’t, and sometimes it was borderline, :let’s throw hands” but the Sages were that way as well! It’s not a bug, but a feature of Judaism, not to agree on interpretation. 

And then you have Bible Study, where The Authority tells you, “This verse means Y. How can we apply that in our daily lives?” seems so limiting to me. It seems to utterly take out your participation with the work, your part in it. 

On the other hand, it makes it really easy to see how cultural Christianity really affects fandom and politics! Where there are two spaces: Right and Heretic/Problematic/Whatever.