#So I'm not actually any happier if Es is gonna spend the rest of the trial/series talking about how they feel sooo bad for the prisoners

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Yeah, I feel like some people are quick to go "But Es is neurodivergent and a minor!!" when their uglier side comes out (or like, if not neurodivergent at least fucked up pretty badly in the head thanks to Milgram's brainwashing). But Muu is barely a year older and nobody makes excuses for her superiority complex, so why should Es get to run roughshod over everyone else just because "their situation is so stressful, poor kid doesn't even remember who they are"? It's not like being kidnapped isn't disorienting for the prisoners, and that's before we get into the mental and physical punishments.

(Plus if it's an age thing, why don't they get more flak over Amane? I'm still not over them restraining and screaming at her as a power trip just because she went over all the reasons people her age can be murderers, then claimed she wasn't one herself. Es apparently saw this as her trying to use being a little kid as a way to wriggle out of punishment. So what, is it hypocrital to say "Group X is morally capable of murder, but that doesn't make every X-er automatically a murderer"?)

The brainwashing is a bit harder to judge, but even before the headaches come into play they show very little interest in questioning anything or in being anything more than "the guard". From a meta perspective, I seriously doubt all their "I'm the guard, you're the prisoners, that's the end of it" is really just Milgram's doing. It ruins the whole point of naming the entire project after a terrifying example of how easy it is for people to obey monstrous orders if the one doing so is more of a flesh automaton than an actual person. Especially because, as the whole VD says, Es is really similar to Fuuta and he sure didn't need any literal brainwashing to become the guy he is. Or the fact that Jackalope wants to explore their reasoning, which becomes more and more limited the more constrained their thinking is.

Also, in a series that's all about moral ambiguity, it'd be pretty lame if we got to the end, Es was freed from their mental fetters, and that gave us a pure angel completely different to the person we've spent 99% of the time with. So all in all, I'm not inclined to blame every bad thing Es did on the nebulous Milgram leadership or whatever. Which means that yeah, Es is just kind of an asshole. And sure, the prisoners can be too, but power brings responsibility. It's worse for the warden, somebody who has near-complete control of the prison and inmates and is practically unassailable, to be an unreasonable jerk than if it's one of the prisoners doing it.

I think they're trying to slowly develop Es into a more understanding person, with things like them pondering how their verdicts might be able to help people in Haruka's VD (as opposed to being extremely opposed to voting based on rehabilitating prisoners in Amane's), but VDs like this one make it all ring pretty hollow, precisely because Es is already making pretty mouth-noises without following through. At least when they had no pretenses of being nice to the prisoners you could believe they understood what being nice would actually entail.

Like, oh, sure, you want to understand the prisoners, but only to the extent that it doesn't bother you. They're your 'comrades' because you saw their innermost self, but only YOU saw that, it's a totally one-sided relationship. And apparently being 'comrades' doesn't mean you owe them an actual reasoned debate when it comes to choosing if they live or die*, it's just more fuel for you to be all "Oh, I'm such a great guard, I won't let these emotional attachments sway me!" about.

*I mean, if you think about it, Es counteargument is basically a mix of appeal to authority and some weird puritan "fun is bad" thing. Like, "Oh sure, our blind desire to fed our egos through 'justice' led us both to causing unintended harm far beyond what was deserved or intended, but how dare you imply I enjoyed it!? Now that is out of the line!" Is that really the issue here? Is murder all good as long as you're dour about it? Is Fuuta's real sin smiling?

The closest Es comes to trying to see Fuuta's perspective is saying "Well, if we're really the same, I guess karma will come bite me in the ass at some point like it did with you" as Fuuta is being dragged into the music machine. Because Es sure isn't willing to put in the effort to self-reflect and change themselves, so it's up to cosmic forces to do it.

But no, it's okay, they'll totally take responsibility for their actions, as you can tell by the facts they spent the first third of the VD repeating "But I didn't mean to do that!" Funny how "I'll accept the consequences when they arrive" somehow absolves them of trying to avoid said consequences, huh? I'm sure if Mahiru dies, she'll be really glad to hear that Es had already decided they didn't care if their decisions killed her. Totally makes up for everything and is in no way actually worse than Fuuta killing somebody without even considering the possibility.

IDK, I get that some of this is because of meta commentary, or leaving things open enough that them voting any combination of inno/guilty isn't obviously ridiculous, but I don't think I'll ever like Es as a person. I'm honestly pretty dubious I'll even like them as a character. If they were their own independent character they'd be able to have actual relationships with the cast and have a consistent line of reasoning I could follow, and if they were an inoffensive blank slate at least I wouldn't feel compelled to root for their downfall. As it stands, I just kinda feel like half the runtime of each interrogation is wasted on some jerk fundamentally incapable of having real, concrete character development until after the project is over. And six years is a really long time to wait for Es to get over themselves, frankly.

Lol, Futa's right he should kill Es. I'd help him do it at this point. Hope he teams up with Mikoto and ends this crap. The little warden is starting to piss me off more and I was already annoyed with them at the start.