#Ryou plays drv3

[ryouverua]

DRV3 Liveblog Masterlist (Chapter 6)

It’s been 84 years...........

Finally (by surprising request!) I have gathered the Chapter 6 posts below. Behold.

Chapter 1 is here! Chapter 2 is here! Chapter 3 is here! Chapter 4 is here! Chapter 5 is here!

Similar to last time, drv3 asks are tagged ‘drv3 asks’ and so not all of them might show up among actual game posts. I did do a quick in the moment text thing that I’ll include in its own little section. Anyway, without further ado...

Chapter 6 (Introduction):

- and now for something completely different

Chapter 6 (Investigation):

Liveblog note: I did not get away with all the fluff text unscathed

K1-B0 does not support the fluff text search

It’s because I didn’t finish your FTEs isn’t it

Panic! At the Killing Game

Investigation... Start?

Furniture appreciation / Ultimate Supreme Leader’s Lab / I knew I recognized the ‘Ou’ character from somewhere

Saimota appreciation moment

(nice drv3 reference)

Kokichi Ouma’s (Lab) Room

The Greatest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Slappening in Human History

WHY WAS RANTARO IN HIS ROOM?????

It’s organized chaos damnit

Return to the Boiler Room

A Certain Lab, Reprised

Notes on A Certain Lab, Reprised

Cold Sleep Room and Knox’s 10th Commandment

Something something humanity

Kaede Akamatu’s twin, the 17th Student, lying hidden somewhere in this school… the one they call the Ultimate Red Herring, Watch out for her,

Back to the Library

Sometimes a necklace is just a necklace

The Final Lab / Investigation Note

Dawn of a New Truth

The Monotaro callout I deserve

Chekhov’s Bathroom / A BODY HAS BEEN DISCOVERED

Declaration of War

One Last Time (Speculation post)

Chapter 6 (Trial Play-by-play)

Start! / The Checkmark

A retrial??? / Missing the trees for the forest

Kaede!twin theory / The key evidence

My Kaito-brain at work again

Sorry K1-B0 it’s for the greater good

Behold, my bonds!

Wow the mastermind really felt like that? Do tell / It’s a witch!!

Alibi review time!!! / V-counter / Cosplayers everywhere are offended

Bye-bye Monosuke

Rantaro :( / Junko Enoshima >:( / FINE you won me back

Time for a commercial break!

She bravely ran away! / sir that is my emotional support cosplay / 53rd aha moment / JUNKO ENOSHIMA IS ???

Tsumugi’s switches / these tiny posts are not enough / students scouting vs applying / Kokichi Ouma’s true identity / Flashback Lights

So who the hell are you? / OH NO I’VE MADE A GRAVE MISTAKE

hajimemed / cosplay / okay I might be a little jealous / Dangan... ronpa...? /

Happy ending? / NOT THE COMMENTERS / RIP Shuichi’s caffeine high / Meta on meta / the rabbit hole is deep / ULTIMATE MEGANE SPRITE / return of Shuichi hangover sprite / the hits keep coming / Clair de Lune BSoD / Saihara.exe

Korekiyo redemption arc / yet another Umineko reference

(⌐■_■)

Remedy the situation? / K1-B0 cannot catch a break / K1-b0′s existential crisis combo / oh yeah DR3 happened / definitely misread that lol / DR1 is that you??

Flashback... light... / The true villain of drv3 / D: / Shuichi reborn / K1-B0′s character development / pros and cons of an emo protag / WHY CAN’T I HOLD ALL THESE PROTAGS - / Inconceivable / K1-B0′s turnaround

You can just call me the ultimate gamer / NOT K1-B0 / Underestimating Shuichi’s emo power level / I WEEP / KIBOU DA!!! ZETSUBOU DA!!! / SAIMOTA TIME 9′) / Monologuing / Report card

A flawless copy / Credits roll / Employee badge / From 5 to 3 / I DID IT

A collection of fun hindsight moments:

The benefits of hindsight / Kokichi you sonuva - / nerdmugi moment

Twitch plays K1-b0 moments / Survey says...! /

**** the terrible and despair-inducing sweetchi97

Chapter 6 (Trial):

Retrial (1) / Revisionist History, Pre-Accusation (2) / JUNKO ENOSHIMA IS??? / Shuichi’s Monokub showdown / (Fifty)-Third Time’s the Charm, Post-Accusation (3) / Flashfiction (4) / Oh, I am one yet many (5) / “hello, world!” (6) / My Will, Our Will (7) / Ghost in the Machine (8)

Pre-Execution / Post-Execution (End)

(the true drv3 ending)

Bonus:

Chapter 6 Illustrations

[ryouverua]

DRV3 Background collection ♂

[ryouverua]

I think I just walked into Kokichi’s actual love hotel scene

[ryouverua]

DRV3 Background collection ♀

[ryouverua]

Shuichi Saihara FTE (Kaede #1)

Whelp, let’s jump right into it!

This is a blast from the past.

“I.... detect.... things....????”

Kaede lmao

I like how her immediate jump is to the most famous fictionalized version of detectives that you see on TV rather than a police detective which, while not the most common job, isn’t exactly unknown to the general public.

Hey, wait. She naturally goes for thinking about.... fictional versions of.... oh sonuva-

also interestingly his actual lab plays up to that ‘fictional Sherlockian detective’ as opposed to being something he really likes himself or, really, is relevant to his actual backstory detective work. That’ll come up later when we get to it.

(I think I’ve mentioned I did these two my first time around, fully intending to complete the nonexistent other three later in the game.... how convenient for me).

Is that the real problem here

Three cases later

Shuichi: FML I am LITERALLY NOT THIS KIND OF DETECTIVE

Ouch.

This was actually the route I originally went with so I’m going to choose it again to start ~

I did find it really interesting that he was a different sort of detective than you would expect in a murder game! Also I, uh, didn’t really want Kaede to insult him right off the bat lmao

Tailing cheating wives/husbands and tracking them to rendezvous points, potentially having to snap incriminating pictures to give to their spurned partners...... yeah that wouldn’t be fun

And he’s young, too. Imagine having to tell a woman twice your age that her suspicions were correct and her husband was cheating on her. That’s rough, buddy.

or men

“At the very most I would grind in the currently-locked casino until I win enough money to buy multiple love hotel keys so I can date all my classmates with no expectations of commitment!”

now that’s equality

besides, shuichi has two hands.

“So I really hope no one actually follows through and tries to kill anyone. Okay? Okay, Kaede? Are you listening? .... Kaede????”

Jessica Fletcher is an old reference. 8′) I’m curious about what the japanese version of this was.

Either way, it’s an amazing contrast to Kyouko and her ‘I can hear death’s footsteps’ or Erika Furudo’s ‘I go to places and people die’ - death isn’t a normal thing for him. Investigating murder is outside of his area. He’s had a murder case he had to deal with, sure, but it’s not his normal. A lot of his issues in the game with investigating and motives really are because he’s somewhat of a square peg trying to fit into a circular hole - he just hasn’t been trained to deal with a lot of things a homicide detective would know to look for or think about. There’s a bit of a transfer of skill in terms of tracking and investigating but overall... he’s smart enough to adapt and he’s adequate, but....

Research... sitting down and taking the time to go through things. In other words, not being forced to investigate quickly and try to put things together on the fly with an arbitrary time limit. It’s like the game is yelling at us at how ill-equipped he is to deal with the DR format from the get-go. 8′)

...... Yellow-gold eyes belong to people with good research skills??? Is this shade at Korekiyo??? The more yellow your eyes, the more studious you are????

Aaaaw I miss the days of Shuichi being a side character who I could compliment and get to blush like this....

More examples of ‘tracking’ things. Actually, that does mean that Kaito was on the right track when he gave the ‘mystery items’ to Shuichi to unlock things around the school with! Go figure.

Almost all of his casework revolves around things that aren’t crimes. The game just keeps hammering that in.

And here comes the sympathetic detective part....

I want to emphasize ‘sympathetic’ as opposed to ‘empathetic’ because I’ll say it over and over again - Shuichi is someone who really does care about others, but isn’t the best at putting himself in their shoes despite his best efforts. He’s not terrible at it, but it’s definitely not one of his skills.

And it sounds like it’s something he picked up from his uncle, who probably was an incredibly empathetic detective. Maybe it’s a skill Shuichi would develop in the future, if he had a chance. Unfortunately, he doesn’t manage it fast enough during the game...

Sounds like his uncle was a great role model and possibly based off of Kyouko who despite being very kuudere showed remarkable emotional insight at times as would be expected by a homicide detective who excels not only at investigating but determining motives

Interesting how his uncle was omitted so quickly in Kaede’s mind...

I really do still like this FTE because we don’t get to explore Shuichi from a third-party perspective after chapter 1. I really, really missed that.

[ryouverua]

Shuichi Saihara FTE - (Kaede #2)

“You really want more of my backstory already? When we’re so close to me venting to you already? Well, if you insist...”

FTE #1 is here

I actually would like to know more about his uncle, tbh! I don’t remember learning much about him the first time around unfortunately... and I bet he’s the one on Shuichi’s motive video, too.

.... For that matter I don’t think we hear about his aunt, either. 

Apparently this is a Detective Conan reference? I don’t know Conan very well, but I wouldn’t be surprised. Hajime also shares the same VA so it’s definitely a reference they’ve made before.

I REALLY WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THIS PART OF HIM

Like damn, I really thought that would be something that would come up! Unless that plays into how he immediately clings to someone who shows him positive affection? He obviously holds his uncle in high regard, so that would make sense...

NO WE DIDN’T!!! NO KAEDE THIS IS ONE OF THE TIMES I WANT YOU TO BE PUSHY!!!

Damn it.

We will literally get to that in the game can we please get a look at the Saihara family dynamic -

Oh right, it wasn’t a murder case. That was the one that won him recognition, supposedly. This is his first big case in general.

Once again we see Kaede coming from a place of familiarity as she seeks to reach out to those around her and get to know them better. This, obviously, is going to be one of the relationships that go the best for her in her limited time here. 8′)

Tracking people and things is his detective talent, not homicide. And he’s actually somewhat proud of it, considering how his reaction sprites have been! He’s still a bit embarrassed in his own pride, but he’s willing and openly sharing the story!

Again, she’s expecting some flashy cases.... which just isn’t Shuichi’s area.

“That’s why he employs me! Providing room and board is much easier than paying a salary.”

Honestly, I’m getting the feeling that it might be the area where he would be most comfortable. You can make people a lot happier that way, and not everyone has the stomach to deal with death. Shuichi was never able to stay calm when finding a body - he was a stark contrast to Kyouko in that way.

RIGHT.... I FORGOT ABOUT THAT PART....

Can you imagine if the whole murder case he was accepted for hadn’t happened and he ended up being accepted into Hope’s Peak because he was able to track an alligator gggh -

Just like I was saying last time, huh.

Shuichi is just not built at all for the investigation-trial format the DR franchise thrives on, and it shows. If he had the chance to investigate and take the time across a few days to solve these things, I bet he would have come across a lot better than he ended up doing in the end. He needs that distance and the time to process the information he’s gathering, and he just never got it. He even ends up focusing on the minutia and following a single lead to the very end rather than looking at the larger picture (the obvious and most egregious example being trial 5, but there are elements of that in 6 as well when he starts picking apart Junko’s story, and Kokichi’s supposed involvement, piece by piece). He did start adapting to the speed which is why I think he was able to get as far as he did by the time Trial 6 rolled around, but compared to someone like Kyouko who seemed to understand these situations as a whole while simultaneously putting together the puzzle pieces to fill out the little gaps... it’s apples to oranges, or sprinters to marathon runners. 

We are skipping over the fact that he not only found it but had to have it caught, so I’m choosing to imagine Shuichi wrestling a small alligator, leashing it, and then walking it to his grateful classmate.

Sign #1983245 that he is an undercover protagonist

Shuichi are you pulling a Kaito on me right now???

WAIT ARE YOU SAYING SHE DIDN’T PAY YOU THAT’S SOME STRAIGHT BS

Sweetcheeks please

Ahem ahem the skills he put to use that are totally not fit for their current situation became the foundation to how he treated his detective work from this point on.....

This isn’t me dunking on him by the way - it’s an observation on why he, the Ultimate Detective, was in a position to ‘grow’ as the cases in the game went on, and why he had the weaknesses that he did.

I found him sweet then and I still find him sweet now....

“It’s like.... you were written to be a detective.” 

is that too on the nose -

Considering his doubts about being a detective, hearing this probably meant a lot to him. 

..... Actually, this stands out to me too, because he wasn’t always the best at following up after trials with the others - mostly because you can’t follow up with the dead or even the culprits. But knowing that he learned this from his uncle, having Kaito follow up with him in the second chapter, and even afterwards, I can see that as being part of why Shuichi was so touched by Kaito’s actions and grew so close to him. 

Kaede reached out to Shuichi, Kaito reached out to Shuichi and Maki, etc....

So much of drv3 really did end up being about people’s relationships with each other in the game, huh.

THE RARE BLUSHING SWEETCHEEKS AGAIN

......

I loved this moment at the time I originally played it but now after playing the entire game I just hear, “And then Chapter 1 happened” in my head -

He did try, despite everything. He did try to stick out being a detective.

And it was Kaede’s trust in him that did lead him to share the information about the mastermind’s door, which was still correct....

Was he able to feel real pride in being a detective after this on his own? I’m not sure that he was. He did need that external validation, and always had a small breakdown when he made a mistake in a trial - whenever he thought, ‘everyone thinks I’m a fraud’ that actually hurt a lot. 

But at least in this moment, before everything went to hell.... it’s nice to think he felt something good about himself and his own worth.

[ryouverua]

Super Salmon Dating Mode

Horribly real, but also not a game where you have to literally murder people, just date them so not so bad right? Right???

....

actually you know what I feel like being forced into the Bachelor against my will would also be my worst nightmare so

Sweetcheeks, you and I both know you’re not capable of that.

Date the hell out of my new classmates.

Surely the choice I make is going to surprise everyone that’s been paying attention up to this poiLOL NOPE

damn right we are

[ryouverua]

BEST MODE BEST MODE BEST MODE

[ryouverua]

Kokichi Ouma FTE - (Kaede #2)

I laughed when I first read this and I’m still laughing now, damn.

insert Kaede!shocked-pikachu face

HE’S SUCH A LITTLE SHIT OMG

He loves being chased!!! He just loves it when he gets attention - not necessarily bad but confrontational and engaging at the very least, hence how he was poking, prodding and trying his best to irritate K1-b0 - and I’m just saying between Kaede and Kaito he got plenty of that...

and again because I just keep talking about how similar they are, note that it’s always Kaede and Kaito specifically who chase him. That’s not a coincidence.

Also in the love hotel his whole set-up is basically him being ‘cornered after a chase’ in that area so I mean.... yeah.

Also, fun fact that when I went to replay this in the extra section it actually used the song ‘Despair Searching’ instead of ‘Becoming Friends’. There’s another FTE that deliberately changes the song in an interesting way and I’ll bring that up when it comes, but I thought it was an interesting choice and does change the atmosphere a bit.

- because Kaede was finally able to catch him after an incredibly obnoxious 15 minutes of tag where Kokichi sang all of Kaede’s favourite overtures off-key.

You know what? Kokichi ended up being one of my favourites and that is still a totally valid reaction, Kaede.

KOKICHI WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS

I really did miss this synchronization we had, Kaede. 

Must... resist.... swatting... the child....

D-Does your clown posse need a personal pianist or something?

Wait, as in she can’t help him until she gives up the title or that she can join him once they’ve graduated? They don’t lose the title once they’re older, right? One of the few things I remember about the anime...

I don’t know if she necessarily represents Japan as much as herself? It’s not like there’s a musical competition of that level that I know of. wait is that a thing, someone please inform my uneducated self

This is unusually pessimistic of her. Does she not buy into the hype of being an Ultimate? Does the ‘piano freak’ label bother her that much? But I don’t think she’s let it really get in the way of embracing her talent...?

Pause because Kokichi is openly complimenting her and not following it up with a backhanded insult or an ‘it’s a lie’ statement. Hello??? Hello, media??? Someone???

yes. thank you. flattery will get you everywhere.

He is totally building on that story from last time. I guess he always liked to spin his organization as an underground secret evil intelligence organization? Even in all of his stories about them, he’d say things like ‘send them to Siberia’ or ‘have people killed’, but he noticeably never went into great detail about violence - which makes sense, honestly. Correct me if I’m wrong, but unless right in the middle of a trial or a situation where someone had been killed, he usually didn’t go into gruesome details. It’s an interesting contrast to someone like Tenko who would freak out and go into some pretty wild, vivid details about how she ‘didn’t want to be squished like toothpaste’ or something or Korekiyo, who was more than happy to threaten to ‘tear out your nerves’. He does seem to fancy that classier Bond villain-esque style, complete with espionage, etc? And considering what his lab ended up looking like, and how it was supposed to be designed to his liking...

It’s funny that Kaede is so mad right now because Kokichi has been extolling her virtues and basically complimenting her. She’s so used to him messing around that she doesn’t recognize that....

He has literally just hinted at espionage and just dropped it there, letting her fill in the blanks with all the ‘evil things’ he’ll have her do as part of his organization. It’s kinda... scary.... how good at this he is. 8′)

Mind you, he is saying stuff like this.

You are such a big talker, honestly.

WHAT IS THE SO-CALLED EVIL PLAN YOU ARE RECRUITING HER FOR YOU ARE GOING INTO NO DETAIL WHATSOEVER

you just want her to play with you that’s literally what this is

he can’t even openly ask her to be friends

they’re joining forces skdflj

He has spoken so much and yet given so little detail, yeah. 8′) Just throwing around evil-sounding vague concepts, words and catchphrases at this point to.... test her? See if she’d ‘accept’? Or play along?

About that.....

Ah, I kinda miss back when I was speculating about this. I thought it was a lie or massively exaggerated too. And yet somehow, when the reveal actually happen, I still wasn’t ready.

to be fair the ratio of lie to truth from you is heavily stacked on the wrong side -

On the one hand, Kaede ends up being right about him it’s not what he says it is at all and it definitely isn’t evil but on the other hand.... he has the talent for a reason, and we do see it in underhanded full force during the game.

Maybe it’s just because I recently listened to a DR1 play-through, but this really reminds me of that whole Byakuya line of ‘not assuming your way of thinking is the same as others’. Something similar to that, anyway. It’s slightly different in that he’s using ‘right’ as opposed to ‘the same’, though. Kokichi is basically telling her that she’s going to be in trouble if she goes into every situation assuming her way of doing things has to be the right way and...

...... well shit, he ended up being right here, didn’t he?

And for that matter, the way he operated often gave everyone else a chance to try out their plans? He let them try the escape tunnel multiple times before trying to speak up, he offered up his plan in Chapter 5 as an option for them to take or leave, and just generally let everyone speak their minds in order to hear all the options. He wanted to hear everyone’s ideas of ‘common sense’ before making his move, even if he could be incredibly cruel in how he shut people down.

And even though in some ways that’s not true, in this ‘world’ they’ve been crafted for, it might as well be.

This is definitely hinting at what happened in the escape tunnel. By the end of that, Kokichi had flipped the ‘common sense’ idea of the protagonist succeeding through the power of ‘never giving up’ and maintaining the moral high ground. It seemed right on the face of it for the class to keep trying until something gave, but in the end...

Ah, if only he didn’t deliver these hard truths with such smugness.

but they didn’t

Actually, that’s an interesting point. The Ultimate Imposter was probably the closest we’d get to an Ultimate Liar. Kokichi could have gotten that as his proper talent, but he didn’t. I’d like to think that’s because his leadership skills are better than his lying skills. And aren’t they? His bald-faced lies are laughably see-through, and his truths are disguised as lies based on how he says them, and how he follows them up!

I actually think he does, too.... that’s the worst part of all this.

Man, Kokichi would probably regret those words and not following up with her if this was V3 canon.

He seems more disappointed than upset, and it clearly isn’t just to mess with her? Man, hindsight is a bitch.

F..... Friendship.....!

Well, that would be a hell of a note to end things on with his FTEs full pun intended

Including this FTE, I’m pretty sure Kokichi has attempted to team up with nearly half the class by the end of the game and only truly succeeded in a start-to-finish team up once (Kaede, potentially considered Rantaro and K1-b0, Gonta (twice), Miu, Shuichi, and Kaito). 8′) I’d say it was nice he finally managed it in the end, but considering how things ended up, well.........

[ryouverua]

Ryoma Hoshi FTE - (Kaede #1)

Last but not certainly not least!

..... I swear that wasn’t a joke about his height -

Jokes aside, he may be one of the ones I’ve been looking forward to the most.

We caught him right in the middle of some deep thought, huh?

Why is Ryoma so good

Me, seconds before remembering what happens with Kaede: Oh good, he needs a friend! .... Aw, damn it.

Apparently he likes these and I, uh, I’m afraid I don’t get it, but please enjoy I guess. 8′)

Just hearing you acknowledge it is good!!!

One (1) second after Kaede shows any sign of displeasure: I’M SORRY IF MY PRESENCE IS SUCH A BURDEN ON YOU

except said in a more cool and tragic way because it’s Ryoma fuckin’ Hoshi and I love him

.... Y’know, I’m not quiet about the fact that I think Kaito is one of the most emotionally-intelligent people in the class, along with Kokichi and Angie. I could probably talk about it a lot, tbh. But they only stand out so much because they’re in a group of very aware people in general (as well as.... a lot of duds). I’m not surprised to see Ryoma showing this kind of awareness. For the little screen time he got, he always felt incredibly mature and intelligent in all areas.

Another reason why he had to make a quick exit, I imagine...

ghghgkh

It turns out that the perfect man is also hilarious.

Damn it Ryoma that’s totally my style of deadpan observational humour

Oh shush Kaede, it was funny.

I can’t help but think he just attempted to tell that as an actual joke and the fact that it fell flat with her embarrassed him aaaah no don’t pull your hat down -

hnghgh this makes me want to be with my boy again... I’m so glad I didn’t do this FTE last year

......... I’m realizing more and more that Ryoma and I have the same style of talking and humour sometimes. The guy is fluent in sarcasm, but in a way that flies under the radar. Damn it, I really like that.

I-It’s okay to like animals!

.... So, random theory that no one asked for.

This whole topic of animals seemed really random and shoehorned to me. The segue between being tired and having an animal around was a bit of a stretch. But Kaede brought it up, right? And Ryoma even said she tricked him, like she was purposefully going out of her way to get him to say he liked something?

I think in the timeline when she does this FTE, she went and looked at the student profiles, saw that he liked Russian Blues, realized that it was a cat breed, and then went out of his way to talk to him about animals based on that! If she was going to approach him, she already knew that he was trying to avoid people and didn’t find joy even in his talent - so (for once Kaede, I’m so proud of you!) she researched what he did like in order to get to know him on that angle.

.... it’s either that or I did some mental-gymnastics on behalf of the writers who wanted to get him to talk about animals with her but couldn’t figure out how and said ‘fuck it’. I’m choosing to stay positive, though. 8′)

see she is far too eager for that not to be true! let one of my overcomplicated theories be right for once damn it -

Used to..... aaaah, oh no. I know that feeling...

W-Well still, at least the cat is alive! And... could have been someone to live for. But in the narrative of the game, the cat was long gone.....

Ugh, they still could have totally had the cat in the motive video. Thinking of that video still really upsets me, damn it - it was just such a low blow and so damn calculated. Probably one of the most upsetting parts of the game, tbh; it had a ring of realism to it that a lot of the other parts didn’t. The way all the classmates reacted when they saw it too was... well....

Ooooh fjghgh Ryoma he sounds wonderful!!!

fuck maybe I should look into a new dog

There is literally no way I could have chosen any other answer, being who I am and knowing what I know now. Not that the other options aren’t alright, but aaaaaaahsdflkj they purposefully omitted his cat from the video

Agreed!!!

KAEDE WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT

Damn right.

I wish he hadn’t forgotten about this feeling. Maybe it would have changed the outcome of Chapter 2....

and I’m going to finally get a dog do you hear me

PSA from Ryoma, who as usual as THE best words of wisdom for everyone.

No damn it, I refuse to believe that your cat didn’t love you and you weren’t a wonderful owner!!!

The most neutral, impersonal option award goes to....!

I. Uh. I don’t know half of these. I’m not surprised there are a lot of types, but this really isn’t my animal area.

Ffff he’s pretty cute when he gets embarrassed. It’s okay to like things, Ryoma! He just... feels like he isn’t allowed to feel good about anything anymore, huh?

Eek, tell me about it. I never realize how much my friend’s cat has shed on me until I’m finding chunks of white hair left on my pants when I get home. And my personal favourite dog breed is hypoallergenic and sheds very minimally, so....

Big agree, Kaede.

you’re the one wearing the cat-like beanie my friend

Aaaw, this one was really nice! I knew I’d like his FTEs, and I still have 5 more (from both sides) to go!

<3 <3 <3

Damn it though!!! I wish he had been reminded about his cat in Chapter 2!!! Just something about cats - just something small to live for - even that could have been enough. I’m happy and sad at the same time I cannot believe - !

[ryouverua]

Maki Harukawa FTE - (Kaede #2)

This. This was the line that really got me thinking about theories about the nature of this game and some of the truths behind it (some of which weren’t completely off-base, tbh). It’s so interesting to see it with hindsight and knowing how it fits into the greater narrative! Considering what she’s hiding at this point, I wonder what set her off on this particular thought process? Was it looking at some of the others...?

That’s actually a really interesting side of her. It comes up a few times, that she would rather focus on being productive than wallowing in emotions. There’s good and bad about that - the ability to compartmentalize is helpful in terms of problem-solving in a terrible situation, but it does backfire in those situations where she doesn’t take the time to sit with her own feelings. It’s also a good contrast to Shuichi, who often gets paralyzed but is also able to be incredibly honest with himself as a result?

Step 1 - don’t get chased off by Maki again, or cause her to leave in a huff.

Nailed step 1.

but that’s kaede’s lie isn’t it?

...............

except I actually screwed up the gift-giving lmao

I think Maki is the one person that I have consistently screwed up with lmao

KAEDE I’M SORRY I FAILED YOU

but we are nothing if not persistent

p-please....... please let us hang out with you.....

She is pretty smart - I remember getting that impression initially, too. It’s that intelligence and calculated way of thinking that hid her impulsive side so well. 8′)

PLEASE MAKI PLEASE

About that...

Kaede, we just finally got her to speak to us - don’t mess this up please. oTL

“Who wants to know and do they have any family or friends who will miss them if they ‘disappear’ -”

She is really, really being careful about playing down her past here.

Do, uh, do you say that as someone who has been to camp, or are you comparing your orphanage experience to something you’ve also never done?

............... Okay yeah actually, it does sound exactly like camp.

I mean, your exposure to bears (which, real or mechanical or AI, really ought to be avoided outright) seems to have been delayed but other than that -

Ka - Kaede. I know you’re trying to get close to Maki, but that’s a bit... basic.

But man it’s cute how quickly Kaede is trying to find an inroad to Maki’s heart! For better or worse, she thinks the best way is to talk about her talent. I mean, it makes sense. For Kaede, piano is her life, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s been pretty apparent that she has a lot of trouble putting herself in others’ shoes, so the idea that Maki wouldn’t find the same sort of pleasure talking about her ‘talent’ seems to be hard for her to wrap her head around?

At the same time, the whole reason they’re considered Ultimates is because their talents should be what their lives revolve around, so...

alskdfj Kaede

KAEDE.... REALLY DOES HAVE TROUBLE.... STEPPING OUT FROM HER OWN HEAD SOMETIMES....

It is endearing in some ways, though. It’s kind of funny that Shuichi ends up thinking of her as a completely selfless person, because a lot of what he liked about her was born from her self-centered outlook? And I don’t mean that in a bad way, even though when you hear ‘selfless’ vs ‘self-centered’, the latter always seems to come across as inherently bad. When she looked at Shuichi, she was always very forceful about how she saw him and kind of... steamrolled over all of his insecurities, in a way? She thought his talent was invaluable, she used it to help herself and everyone else, and every time she caught him in his self-deprecating talk, she almost bullied him out of it. And so here too, with Maki who is a lot more subtle about her issues, Kaede is again being very forceful with her positive outlook. She’s a bit clumsy, but her heart is in the right place.

But yeah, here’s another example of Kaede needing to approach the others from a concept she can understand with middling results.

Maki is always pretty fast to find a negative in a positive, huh. 8′) It’s all about obligation here. She refuses to betray whether she liked taking care of them or not, just that ‘it’s the way it had to be’.

Wait when did we get to this topic - I actually thought I lost a screenshot for a second??

I guess it went from ‘we had to hang out with the younger kids’ to ‘there wasn’t much for us to entertain them with though’?

‘Jobs’, huh.

That does make me wonder... how old was Maki when she got her first ‘job’? Did she ever get to go to high school?

Ooooh, I see. Okay, the transition was a little clumsy, but this is where they wanted it to lead to!

Aaaw, Kaede.... once again she’s being a bit forceful oh hey Kaito parallel is that you but it’s all coming from a good place.

“You don’t know what a piano is?”

Kaede is going to be the death of me asdlfkj

I cannot believe Maki didn’t jump on Kaede implying Maki didn’t know what a piano was. I cannot believe it.

especially because Maki knows she doesn’t exactly live there anymore cough cough

She really does have trouble seeing the good in anything....

Okay with all that talk earlier I actually thought I might have been reaching but then Kaede goes ahead and brings up ‘selfish help’ lmao

“Wow, maybe I do have a weak spot for positive and bright personalities. Well, whatever. Surely I’ll only have to worry about this girl right here. What are the chances of there being two people like this trapped in this damn school with me?”

it’s okay kaede she likes annoying people it’s been proven

hacker voice: i’m in

Kaede really wants to get to know Maki, huh?

Though, um, Kaede... did you not notice? She never actually said she would talk to the teacher for you. 8′) Very well played, Maki.

“Wow you’re annoying.”

FRIENDSHIP: OBTAINED

She doesn’t think there’s anything about her for kids to like....

Okay hey, that’s not fair! That’s not what happened! She came up with excuses as to why Kaede couldn’t come, or why it wouldn’t work out... but she never actually said no. Mind you, she didn’t agree to talk to the teacher about it, but she never directly turned her down either. I guess it’s written that way so a new player wouldn’t realize this was the last FTE you could get with her...

But I do see why people would like them together though - it really is similar to Momoharu in a lot of ways, with Maki struggling to see the positives in anything - even being reluctant to see them - and Kaede being there to point them out for her and to try and help her love herself. The game does seem to be hinting that things may have gone a similar way with Kaede if she had lived? This really does bring up a lot of interesting questions about how the game could have continued on, huh...

[ryouverua]

Korekiyo Shinguuji - (Kaede #2)

Say what you will about him, but he figured Kaede out pretty fast.

Hey Korekiyo, can we see all the notes you’ve been taking on everyone so far? ..... Why are the lengthiest entries on the girls? Hey, wait -

At least he is basically guaranteeing he won’t be participating at this point. 8′)

Normally this is a nice, normal text box. Here? Here it’s ominous af.

I feel like I’m signing Kaede’s death warrant 8′D

I was gonna say that this was vague enough to be applicable to all three chapters, but this is a Kaede FTE so the time window this could be unlocked in is actually pretty small. Is it watching the group trying to continuously attempt to band together despite the timeline, then? Watching how people react under pressure? You certainly can’t do this sort of experiment ethically in the real world! or well, maybe you can in this world and... hm....

Fffff she always did mean well and was so determined to do what she could to get everyone out of here...

Slightly off-topic, but I wonder if she also felt the pressure of her own expectations on her back as the deadline approached? She really did take the initiative to try and bring everyone together, and the burden - it could be fair to say that it crushed her in the end.

Probably hearing it in real life would be entirely different but I actually love his laugh oops

.........

...... Uh oh.

UH OH

UH OH

OH NO

NO DON’T FOLLOW UP -

OR - DO???

W-WHAT IS THE BEST OPTION HERE -

Damn it!!! Damn it!!! When I did the FTEs with Shuichi, I’d realized quickly she was dead! I’d figured out she was the motive but thought he had been trying to sacrifice classmates for the seance!!! Don’t you ‘I could see the sadness in his eyes...’ at me, Drv3! You had your chance to make him a tragic villain who’d gone mad with love and not a total meme! You had your chance!

Kaede he is talking in the past tense he also did not say that she was still in the hospital please Kaede!!!

‘I know that it may be much to ask’ - NO SHIT

ajskdkfkgkkg

I’d say I’m dead but that might hit a bit too close to home considering the context and like hell do I want to be friends with your sister

Again, he did not say she was still in the hospital Kaede!!!! Oh dear god -

Ghghghghkkki it would, wouldn’t it.

I’m weeping this is so awful nnngh Kaede no

Kaede no!!! Kaede no!!!!! It’s like I’m screaming at the TV while watching a horror movie! The call is coming from inside the house!!!

NO

BAD

BAD KOREKIYO

Called

OUT

YOU’RE ONLY OFFENDED BECAUSE IT’S TRUE

NOTE HOW HE DOESN’T REFUTE HER

No Kaede, you really, really need to hold your ground on this one.

Fffff the ballsiness of Korekiyo literally beginning his brainstorming Kaede’s murder in front of her -

Hell, is Kokichi the only one with a whiteboard? Maybe Korekiyo has one too. Maybe he plotted out the whole seance in his room too.

KAEDE.....................................

the fridge horror is real

I remember speculating on this way back when and now, knowing the truth, I wonder if there are points in the game where he let her ‘take over’, even if it’s just for a line of dialogue, or if that’s something he can only do with his mask off... and these so-called feminine moments are all him. It’s just interesting that she specifies ‘at times’, and others noted he was acting a certain way ‘suddenly’ rather than describing him as someone with a feminine demeanour. Maybe I’m reading into this line too much, but considering the double meaning in the rest of the FTE can you blame me?

N-No, that’s okay.... you can keep this one.....

Good FTE -

Bad!!! Bad Korekiyo! Go sit in the Dog Village cage and reflect for a while!

Fml, does this mean Kaede was doomed no matter what happened? I’m beginning to think she didn’t have a chance either way!

[ryouverua]

Ryoma Hoshi FTE - (Kaede #2)

This is the final FTE left for Kaede, which of course is why Ryoma is hiding away from me. It’s the end of an era.

And so Ryoma began to ruminate, and formed a plan....

This is the day before he suggests sacrificing himself, and if he’s in this sort of mood, I can see why. It is an unfair situation they’re in, but wouldn’t it be better if the killer died first as opposed to everyone, and the situation could be somewhat salvaged?

The second line is a gut punch, though. The fact is, the moment they arrived here, at least 11 people were guaranteed to die. The players know that. The rules even spell out that it would go on until there were only 2 people left. Ryoma, as usual, has a bleak but realistic take on the situation.

is there any other kind

This really is a blessed timeline where Kaede uses her pushiness trait, which has been a flaw in some of the other FTEs, to its maximum potential.

Before he was suggesting she hang out with someone else, and now he’s downright telling her. He just has no sense of self-worth at this point...

Aaah there’s the intimidating sprite!

Ghgghfgh Kaede just neutral-faced him like a champ.

“.... Anyway, the weather’s really nice, right?”

That.... certainly is a counterpoint!

The fact is, he was fully willing to out himself as a killer and probably would have if Shuichi didn’t bear him to it. In a game like this, laying your cards on the table means a lot! After all, there are two other killers who were more than happy to hide that fact for their own advantage. Ryoma is the exception, not the rule.

He flipped things around, huh? Rather than accept that he might be a person other people can trust and see the good in, he decides that she’s the anomaly. Not surprising really, since I think it’s all but spelled out that he is depressed, but it’s sad to see it in action.

ASLKDFJSDF

kAEDE

oh god

i’m sure people have made the Office references before but

.... I do see where she’s going with this. Okay, I’m tentatively on board.

wow this really reminds me of a similar moment where Kaito said something incredibly insensitive during the end of the third trial with Himiko and then somehow made it work (for clarity’s sake the link is here - when Kaito agrees with Himiko showing regret about ‘ignoring Tenko’)

“Just watch me.”

Kaede is actually killing me right now asd;lfkjasdf

This. Uh. Don’t try this at home, kids. Please don’t say this to someone who’s actually dealing with depression this will not work at home the way it probably will work out here

I know this is a reference to Gundham but my god I can’t help thinking of Hiei and also Owain from FE, who I’m like 99% sure Gundham has a few references to himself 8′)

“After this, we’re going to have a long discussion about mental illness. Well, assuming we survive to the next chapter. Which we should, because I don’t plan on killing anyone, and surely you wouldn’t either -”

I guess the all-leather get-up might give a certain vibe, but still.

Kaede is so damn lucky it worked out for her. Damn.

a;slkdfj thank you for this voice clip

I don’t talk about this much but Ryoma actually has one of my favourite JA voice actors, Akio Otsuka behind him, so hearing him speak is a blessing.

It’s a formal request now, but...

..... I think it did make an impression. And with that kind of ending to their FTEs, from the soon-to-be first killer to the second victim, looking at this is painful.

Assuming they did, what does that mean for how Ryoma functions during the next chapter up to his death? If her words had reached him, and then she went and ‘killed’ Rantaro and then subsequently died, what sort of impact would that have had on his psyche? Would he have struggled with her telling him all of those good things and then going and killing someone, even if it was for a righteous cause, and then have to deal with the cognitive dissonance of forgiving himself? Or would it have stung that much more as a betrayal for him? ‘She was able to trust me, a killer, as someone capable of becoming a killer herself, which is why she was so insistent on hanging out with me’?

Out of all of them, this might have ended up being one of the most tragic ones tbh. Tsumugi’s had a strange feeling about them where she’s realizing she’s getting close to and making plans with someone who is destined to die and is trying not to get close to her, Rantaro has the irony of Chapter 1 to deal with, and this.... well, considering Chapter 2 happens whether you do these or not, this may have had a negative impact after all.

.... And on that note, Kaede’s FTEs are all officially done! H.... Hurray....!

[ryouverua]

Given V3's reality show twist, which plot elements do you think Tsumugi came up with and which ones do you think were caused by executive meddling?

I wanted to answer this a while back, but it got lost in the mix… sorry about that. I think there are some interesting contradictions, looking back at it all, that could hint at intention vs application.

Best place to start is Rantaro for me, because he really stands out as an anomaly for a multitude of reasons. To start, he’s one of two owners of a lab that is opened posthumously (the other being Kokichi’s). More importantly, Monokuma makes a lot - and I mean a lot - of jabs at the ‘idiot who went and killed him’. That... really doesn’t sound like someone happy with the idea of Rantaro being gone - of being wasted potential. There was a whole riddle set-up in his room, messages hidden across the school, a special prize for solving it, an ominous atmosphere - and if K1-b0 hadn’t gone haywire, none of it would have been accessible. It just doesn’t make sense to have gone to all that trouble of creating this mystery just for it not to be used. That one falls into the third category of ‘Tsumugi meddling’ tbh, because it’s pretty clear that the way things played out from that point was partially on her. In fact, I’ve seen a few people make a good argument that Miu was supposed to be the first killer, given her making a remark on killing Kokichi when he said he was ‘going to his room. Alone.’ and her lab also being open early. also not to speculate on what the true victim/culprit pair would have been, but can I just say I was never quite over those death flags I saw for Shuichi in Chapter 1? and the fact that he and Miu immediately didn’t get along well? That would be a pretty unconventional one but killing the detective in the first chapter would have also been pretty shocking....

Also, I really feel like Rantaro had some rival potential they were banking on? Kokichi took the role over from him pretty quickly, but there are also hints of them wanting to potentially make Kokichi the fall-guy mastermind, including having the preset memory of ‘Kokichi is a remnant of despair’ on file. Maybe it’s just me spitballing, but how easily can someone create a new memory, really? Could they have just placed any character in that preset, or would there be more manufacturing involved? I don’t think Tsumugi wanted herself to be outed as the mastermind (and that point in Chapter 6 when Monokuma agrees to the trial would be executive meddling) and she fought really really hard to keep herself hidden, going so far as to creating the ‘Kokichi is a Remnant’ flashback light and leading Shuichi right to the ‘Kaede has a secret twin’ document and trying to make that ‘plot-relevant’. Providing false evidence for the detective doesn’t scream ‘playing along nicely’, right?

Those were the big ones, for me, along with one last part - when Monokuma decides to follow Kokichi’s proposal to go into the Virtual World because he’ll make things interesting. Do you remember how reluctant Tsumugi was to go in, only bending under peer pressure? Because I sure do. She literally said she was only going to go because everyone else was. Monokuma was the one who made that whole trap possible. If he hadn’t put the motive in the game like Kokichi asked, Chapter 4 would have played out differently. That is the definition of executive meddling, to me - maybe the most blatant example of it.

[ryouverua]

Gonta Gokuhara FTE - (Kaede #2)

If it makes you feel any better, you’ll be getting access to plenty of bugs soon enough! And then.... well....

God he’s such a sweetheart!!!

And you didn’t complain or try to change the subject or tell him that talking about bugs was bad, right? Right???

GOOD. 8′/ I know I wouldn’t shut up about it in chapter 4 (because all the signs were there) but Gonta really did suffer from being socially isolated from the others for most of the game. Kokichi’s relationship with him ended in tragedy, but I can’t help but think having him around still provided some solace - because damn it, the closest he really had to people reaching out to him were Kaito and Tsumugi, and maybe the student council in Chapter 3.

............... Now I can’t help but think I’m setting him up for failure by befriending him as Kaede. Oh no....

I would be incredibly surprised if you did, unless you stepped on an ant on the way over.

Ffgghgh

Kaede please that’s a bit of an overreaction

Thank you for taking a moment to be understanding, Kaede! 8′)

He’s doing his best.

So I know this might be an english translation thing, but this does play into the impression that I always got of Gonta - that while he is gullible and entirely too sincere, a lot of his issues come from him speaking to everyone else in what is technically his second language. How is he supposed to keep up with everyone when he’s having to work through a second layer of comprehension all the time?

Ggggh considering that Kaede was also pushing him around a lot, you don’t have to feel bad about anything! Ah, he’s so self-conscious...

One thing to note as well - Gonta is incredibly driven towards his goals. Since I’ve done his other FTEs I know why he wants to be a gentleman, and it’s independent of his talent. Everything he does outside of his talent is for that goal...

Because he’s nervous, Kaede!!! He doesn’t want to screw this up!

Honestly, just encouraging him that he’s doing everything right will be more than enough.

Mission: Hold Girl’s Hand a smashing success!!

Wow this FTE is so cute.

I’m having Love Hotel flashbacks. Despite the, uh, interesting voice clip he had, that one was incredibly cute too.

..... Stage fright???

He’s never gotten this far before, has he....

I-In the Shrine of Judgment?! Mind you nothing bad has happened yet so it won’t have those bad connotations attached to it, but this seems like a very bad place in general - I mean hell, how could anyone not feel weird with that super buff Monokuma eying you up?!

Well, I bet Kaede may have played piano for one, but as far as participating? Yeah, I’m not surprised.

.........................

So, uh, clearly this was the hidden fourth option we should have gone with in the last FTE.

He can’t help being born with that face! 8′( Though I have to admit, that is an.... incredibly intense ‘deep thinking’ face.

SAY ‘JUST BE YOURSELF’ KAEDE! PLEASE! PLEASE! just something encouraging rather than accidentally disparaging for the love of god

.... Alright, I like where this is going.

Yeeees Kaede!!!! Yes!!! Finally!!!

DROP THE CONFETTI AND BALLOONS EVERYONE, KAEDE FINALLY SAID THE RIGHT THING TO GONTA!!!

WEEPS that’s right.... damn right you’re a gentleman.....

nO DAMN IT YOU ARE ALREADY A GENTLEMAN!!! YOU’RE ALREADY ENOUGH AS YOU ARE, DAMN IT!!!! f U CK-

.... and then the only person who truly called him a gentleman went and died, the end.

No seriously, the more of these I do, the more I realize how sad it is to have a timeline where she gets to this two-part completion point and then gets executed - how devastating it would be on the other person’s end. It almost

See??? See??? It seemed to help his confidence, which is one of his biggest struggles!! And then she was gone!!! Fff, if she had stuck around, could she have helped encourage him a bit more? What would have changed? What would have stayed the same? It’s just hard to know!

[ryouverua]

Korekiyo Shinguuji FTE - (Kaede #1)

You’re walking in the school

There’s no one around and your monopad is dead

Out of the corner of your eye, you spot him

cue orchestra

This is a terrible idea

..... oh, that’s actually coming off as really sweet.

God I wish I could scrub my brain of that. I’m really enjoying all of these ‘soft science kids hanging together and talking about where their talents overlap’ FTEs.

:’)

Would this be up his alley? I feel like he’d be down for this and can’t think of anyone else who would like it as much? Well, I suppose I can think of someone who would outright hate it -

actually then again the opportunity to make innuendos related to and mocking truth might be worth it for Kokichi

hmm

.... Or I could go for the easy one.

Normally I would consider this a compliment for Kaede but as it is this is probably VERY not good

anything that distracts you from murder, yes

!!! Are we getting a totally anthropological-based FTE? I’m so totally down for this! It’s been a long time, but he was actually the first character I finished with Shuichi during the main game because I kind of fell in love with their discussions. I’m down to revisit pre-reveal Korekiyo! please give me back that blissful time when I only knew about pre-reveal Korekiyo -

weeps because I miss Professor Shinguuji

That would have been my answer, too.

Oh, yeah, I get it.

Korekiyo in general seems to focus his studies on oral histories and traditions in general, which makes sense given his backstory. Putting aside that his sister basically instilled his love of folklore (and let’s uh... not go into that farther), most of what she taught him seems to have not been written down or recorded in any way. His own daily life - his traditions, his makeup, his clothing - was passed down from ‘a human who no longer exists in the physical world’. So of course it makes sense that he, in turn, would be fascinated by and incredibly involved in keeping alive the memories of generations’ past to the point of obsession through rigorous research and study.

grumble grumble damn you Chapter 3 reveal grumble grumble

I think I’ve heard of this one, actually! It’s a kid’s song, with a similar vibe as Ring around the Rosie in that it has an eerie undertone tied to what it originally was about way back when?

See, it’s tidbits of knowledge like this that lured me into loving you so much. Damn you Korekiyo -

It’s interesting to note that the idea of there being multiple interpretations of what the truth could be is something popping up here. Thematically relevant, even ~

“No one knows for sure what the truth is, but the idea that there is a certain truth is in itself intriguing enough to chase after it”, huh? Cheers bro, I’ll drink to that -

Normally I’d agree with you here because it could hint at you having an appearance that doesn’t match what you’re actually right, but Kaede actually did have you pegged correctly the entire time so..........

And the last one!

Soft science nerds need more time to hang out, damn it! If only the implications of what would happen if you grew fond of Kaede weren’t so terrible...

Aaaaand we’ve reached the shared path again.

Except I can because for Korekiyo especially, his childhood and influences on him made such a huge impact on how he turned out and all of his motivations here, and man I don’t want to get into my thoughts on Her too much because it’s not really relevant but again, what he studies in anthropology really say a lot about him...

Hint hint nudge nudge you should look past the surface level text of my dialogue or you’re going to be blindsided when that happens hint hint hint hint

... but also like mentioned before sometimes a rose really just is a rose and a creep seems creepy because they are

So, you know. Guess we can have it both ways.

I’m  not salty about how things turned out I’m not salty about how things turned out I’m not salty about how things turned out I’m not salty about how things turned out -