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penguwastaken · 7 months ago

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Danganronpa's Most Misunderstood Mastermind

*Obvious spoiler warning for Danganronpa 3, go watch it it's awesome

Danganronpa 3 is one of the more controversial entries in the series. While I'm not here to discuss all of the decisions it's made (many of which I think get way more hate in the fandom than they deserve), I do want to talk about one thing in particular that many seem to dislike: the mastermind.

In Danganronpa 3, we discover that the chairman of the Future Foundation, Kazuo Tengan, organized the killing game in order to manipulate Ryota Mitarai into releasing the Hope Video to create a world without despair, or rather without conflict.

Many criticize Tengan for seeming inconsistent in his motives or having an unnecessarily complicated plan. People have even gone around spreading the narrative that Kodaka himself was disappointed in Tengan being revealed as the mastermind, which makes no sense because not only is there no source to this, Kodaka himself literally worked on Danganronpa 3.

In my opinion, I feel like many of these criticisms are either unfounded or come from a poor understanding of the character. With this giant post I hope that maybe I can try helping people understand the point of Kazuo Tengan.

The Man Before

Before we discuss Tengan as the chairman of Future Foundation and mastermind of the killing game, it's best to understand his origins and where he came from.

Tengan was formerly the headmaster of Hope's Peak Academy before being succeeded by Jin Kirigiri, afterwards becoming the school's advisor. This is the first instance we see of a core trait of his, that being his distaste for conflict.

In his artbook profile, his dislikes are listed as just "conflict." His personality description reads:

"Former headmaster of Kibougamine. A good-natured old man who currently works as an advisor at the school. He understands what the academy is aiming to do, but questions if it’s true hope. He wants the main and prep school students alike to enjoy carefree school lives." -Translation Source

Tengan wants everyone to live a carefree life free of conflict, this is what hope is to Tengan. As an advisor, Tengan is able to voice his opinions on issues regarding school, particularly ones about the school's vision and ideology.

Tengan believes that hope comes from a world without conflict, one of peace. To him, conflict just creates despair.

Tengan questions many of the decisions made by Hope's Peak, and is personally against the Kamukura project. However, as just an advisor, he never forces his hand and gives Hajime the choice of whether or not he wants to participate on the project on his own. This ties into Tengan's core trait of hating conflict, allowing Hajime to make his own choice but still trying to persuade him into making a certain choice.

The Tragedy

Unfortunately as every one knows, Junko's plan succeeded and the world was plunged into despair.

Tengan made the decision to stay outside of Hope's Peak and help fight against despair, doing whatever he could in order to end the conflict.

The war began to take a toll on Tengan. He knew that all the fighting that the Future Foundation couldn't end the war. After all, violence creates more despair.

When Kyosuke asks Tengan why he changed, he simply responds with "Because I learned the way that we're doing things now will not eliminate despair."

Now the question is, how exactly did Tengan change? What made him become a "coward?"

It's revealed that before the killing game, Tengan obtained the despair video and watched it by his own volition as a last ditch effort to end the war. He knew that the conflict wouldn't end just by constantly fighting, so in a way this was him giving in. And with that, the old Tengan was gone, and he became another Remnant of Despair.

The Man After

Despite being brainwashed and having his mind reconditioned in the same as Class 77, he didn't align with their goals nor was he even a part of them. While his mind was twisted, his core traits and ideals remained.

It's worth noting that being brainwashed doesn't completely change who you are as a person. Just like how Nagito obsession with hope remained as a remnant, Tengan's desire to end conflict remained as well. The difference is that their methods became more extreme and subconsciously reflected despair more than hope.

As despair Tengan, he would go to whatever lengths it necessary to achieve "true hope," or in his eyes, peace.

In Danganronpa Gaiden, Tengan tells Kyosuke to let Misaki and Takumi decide what they want to do.

However, Tengan slips a bomb into Misaki's pocket as an extreme measure. As despair Tengan, he didn't lose the side of him that lets people choose what they wish to do, what changed is his method of persuading people getting more extreme.

The Final Plan to End All Conflict

During this time, Tengan began working on the plan that would end all conflict and despair once and for all. The war wouldn't end the way things were going, and more fighting would pointless. However, the perfect opportunity fell into his hands.

Tengan had discovered that Ryota not only developed the technology used in the Despair and Suicide videos, but that he was also working on a brand new Hope Video as well. With this, Tengan could put an end to the war once and for all.

With his immense power in the Future Foundation, he was able to make changes to the building in order to set up his very own automated killing game. He would take advantage of Makoto Naegi's trial to bring the top members of Future Foundation in one place, only to gas them and trap them in a killing game. Through word of mouth, Ryota would discover the killing game and release the Hope Video in order to end everything. Why did he choose to do it like this instead of just stealing the video? Well, it's pretty simple.

Looking at it realistically, tension was already brewing amongst Future Foundation. The chances of someone like Kyosuke who already wanted Tengan dead getting in the way were too high, so getting them out of the way so that way they can't affect his plan was important.

More importantly though, he wanted to give Ryota a choice. As we saw with the board of trustees, Hajime, Takumi, and Misaki, Tengan wants people to choose what he believes is true hope on their own. However, he's not opposed to persuasion, and as despair Tengan, his methods have only gotten more extreme. Obviously Ryota wouldn't possibly say no in a situation like this, and that was Tengan's plan.

Unfortunately Tengan made one mistake, Ryota showed up to the meeting uninvited. Unfortunately the word of mouth that Tengan intended to use to get Ryota to discover the killing game ended up causing Ryota to find out about the meeting and go there.

Unfortunately, once the gas was automatically released, Tengan couldn't just cancel the killing game, and it would be suspicious if everyone but Ryota vanished. As a result, he had to bring Ryota along with them and give him the wristband that was meant to be used for Yasuhiro.

The wristband prevented Ryota from using his talent, which may seem backwards on the surface, however it makes more sense when you think about it. If Ryota used his talent to make everyone stop fighting, then that would completely screw up the killing game.

So Tengan opted to protect Ryota until the killing game ended, and when he died, he left a message for Ryota inspiring him.

It's worth noting that Tengan didn't intend for the killing game to last forever. He knew at some point they'd regain connection with the outside world or discover the breaker room, which he intentionally hid behind an exit door to bait people to it. His plan was just to have it last long enough for Ryota to release the Hope Video without anything getting in his way. But now with Ryota with him, his plan shifted to protecting Ryota until the game ended.

But things were different now, Tengan was affected by the virus known as despair. Whether he was conscious of it or not, his plan to get rid of all conflict, to eliminate all despair, was just another form of despair in itself. Tengan's plan would inadvertantly bring more despair than hope.

And that is the very nature of Kazuo Tengan's plan! (dun dun dun)

So Basically

Tengan was a man who believed that true hope came from peace. His distaste for conflict was the driving force for many of his actions. While he encouraged people making their own choices, he aimed to persuade people into picking what he perceived as true hope.

When he was brainwashed as a result of his own desperation, his methods became more extreme and twisted and he didn't even realize. He believed that everything he did was for the greater good, to end all conflict, even if he had to manipulate people and go to extreme lengths to do it.

That's why Kazuo Tengan is such a great mastermind. In the end, Tengan's goal was to end all conflict and create what he thought was true hope. However his nature as a despair betrayed him, and unbeknownst to him, he would actually be creating another form of despair.

Conclusion

I feel like a lot of people underappreciate Tengan. In my opinion, he's such a cool character and belongs next to Junko, Izuru, and Monaca when discussing the masterminds of the Hope's Peak saga.

If I were to try to guess what caused Tengan to be so disliked, I'd say it has to be due to the quality of the dub which makes him more difficult to understand along with Danganronpa 3's (honestly undeserved) reputation in general.

There's a lot of really cool things about Tengan, like just how awesome it is that he's an old man with his chuusen. But unfortunately, he's just seen as the forgetable funny old guy from Danganronpa 3.

Maybe with this thread I was able to persuade you into reconsidering. However, in the spirit of Tengan, that's a choice for you to make. I'll still give my input though :)

#danganronpa #dr #danganronpa 3 #dr3 #dr3 anime #danganronpa anime #dangan ronpa #tengan #danganronpa tengan #kazuo tengan #tengan kazuo #danganronpa 3 future arc #danganronpa 3 despair arc #danganronpa 3 spoilers #dr3 future arc #dr3 despair arc #dr3 spoilers

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shockersalvage · 1 month ago

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Salvage Showcase: Jutaro Akafuku

To end the year, for the minor novel side of things, we got the 'lightest' main antagonist in the Danganronpa series, yet one who acts as quite the foil for Makoto Naegi nonetheless: Jutaro Akafuku the villain of Makoto The Secret File: Makoto Naegi's Worst Day Ever!!

Credit to @drmedicsgamesurgery for the pic above and giving permission to use it! Jutaro lacks an official design, so in this instance he's being represented by the salaryman looking fella getting grappled by Tengan.

Fun fact: The salaryman design is actually Tokuichi Towa's beta look before UDG's story went through some major changes and de-badassifed Tokuichi into who he was now.

Summary

Jutaro's role in the story is straightforward. Jutato is a thief that's been blessed with good luck. However, Jutaro himself despises said luck and wants to prove he can do without such fortune. As such, he grew up to become a seasoned thief that makes intricate plans for his endeavors. However, in spite of this, he often gets into situations where good luck bails him out anyway.

One day, after stealing a load of gems from a jewelry store, Jutaro (posing as a businessman) wanted to make a getaway on a bus. However, Makoto Naegi (who wanted to return a phone to an old man he met), enters said bus and accidentally blows Jutaro's covers via ripping open the bag he used for his heist and spilling out his gems.

Thus, this leads to Jutaro holding the bus at knife point, and pressuring the driver to put the jewels back into another bag. It's then that the Old Man attacks Jutaro and tries to restrain him, but Makoto's luck makes it so that the bus winds up driving forward and winds up freeing Jutaro. Taking the bag with the jewels, Jutaro escapes the bus and steals a mail bike.

Unfortunately, for Jutaro, due to a stray juice can Makoto dropped earlier in the story, the bike topples over and explodes - knocking out the thief and getting the thief arrested in the process.

Jutaro is a calm, intelligent and crafty thief that, even when his plans go awry, he is usually able to work within such issues. Being a criminal, he also has no qualms in threatening people into doing what he says or just to save face, albeit much of his threats are (internally) just bluffs meant to install fear into people. He despises luck, including his own fortune, and believes the most laid out of plans triumph over chance - but is willing to admit that it does play a factor into his career, even if he hates it. His defeat by Makoto's misfortune was said to give Jutaro a new sense of fear towards the concept of luck.

Rundown

In the Secret File's theme of Luck and Agency, Jutaro is another twist on good luck being quite detrimental in the Danganronpa verse. Jutaro is essentially a less extreme, yet still notable, case in DR where a character's blessing or talent winds up being a hindrance to their development overall.

In this case, Jutaro's is a look into what happens when a person can never really 'lose' in life. No matter what Jutaro did, up until he met someone to counteract his own luck, everything works out for him. Essentially, meaning nothing he did would ever have any meaningful consequences as he always wins, even when he shouldn't. For a person who thrives on a challenge - the idea that no matter what you do, you'll be bailed out and never 'fail' is a curse. A curse that can lead to people resort to immoral and/or dangerous means just to feel something. In this case, Jutaro chose to be a thief and risk his life on complicated plans just to see if his own agency dwarfed, essentially, an inevitable result. Such a concept is not new to the series, and his character even reflects on the main antagonists and Masterminds of DR1 and 2, Junko and Izuru - both of whom suffered from a similar situation like Jutaro. Not in terms of luck, mind you, but similar in terms of their 'blessings' (intellect & talent compared to fortune) preventing them from enjoying life - and just as similar in that they went down dark paths to achieve stimulation. It's just Jutaro's limit is, thankfully, thievery instead of becoming a mass murderer XD

Of course, we can't go into analysis without discussing his role as a lucky foil to both Makoto and even Nagito (who does have a mention in this book). Jutaro serves as another anti-Makoto. Logical, yet is at the whims of good luck, while Makoto is more emotional and at the whims of bad luck. Jutaro is presented as coolheaded and competent in face of seemingly misfortune, while Makoto is left frustrated and even bumbling. They even compare in normalcy to each other, with Jutaro just being a typical thief against Makoto's typical student archetype. On the surface, it seems clear that Jutaro would have the better end of the deal - and usually he does. But, this is where the book's message comes in. Jutaro, while he acknowledges luck coming into play for him, actively disdains and fights against it by planning extensively and even when it does work out for him, it's begrudging acceptance at best. In contrast to Makoto who, while he is exasperated by his lot in life, thanks to the Old Man's advice, he is willing to just roll with it and accept it's just a 'thing' that happens -even trying to live with it in a way. Think of it like 'being grateful for what you have' sort of deal. Because Jutaro despised and took his luck for granted, it failed him when he needed it the most and in the most humiliating fashion, whilst with Makoto, his luck eventually did throw him a bone for his troubles by not only stopping Jutaro, but even getting accepted into HPA through such unlucky events.

Concerning Nagito, Jutaro can be considered the 'moderate' to his 'extreme' luck. Nagito's luck has him ping-ponging between extreme good and extreme bad all the time, in contrast to Jutaro's which is usually on 'moderately' good. Likewise, both are lucksters that, while frustrated with their talent, do accept and take advantage of it for their own endeavors - usually immoral. However, how they differ is also very clear: Nagito acts out with intent to gain a good, Hopeful, result at the expense of himself and the 'talentless'. Jutaro is purely self-serving and doing this out of means of proving his skill beyond fortune.

Personal Thoughts

Jutaro is a good antagonist for the short story, and I loved how he was a good foil luck-wise for Makoto!! He's not as radical as Nagito was, but he didn't need to be as he served his role as an anti-luckster well in his own right. I love the concept of someone with good luck just abusing it or, in his case, having good fortune in his corner to commit crimes. It's a great spin on things, and made for an enjoyable read. Kind of makes me wonder what it would be like if he had a cameo in DR3 or there another short story detailing his life during the Tragedy. Would be super fun!~

Anyways, this ends the last Showcase of 2024! I hope for all who reads these that they have been a fun read through! I'd be glad to continue this in 2025!!

#makoto naegi secret file #makoto naegi #kazuo tengan #jutaro akafuku #makoto naegi's worst day ever #nagito komaeda #junko enoshima #izuru kamukura #danganronpa #dr1 #dr2 #ultimate despair #super danganronpa 2

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