#The idea of Miu /setting up her own murder/ is such an interesting concept and the /tragedy/ of it all is even better

[rubberduckyrye]

I like using Occam's Razor when I theory-craft, because often the simplest answer is the best solution.

But man does it sometimes lead to the most BORING answer known to man.

[strawberry--souda]

Kaede Akamatsu Character Analysis (Spoilers!)

So, I know this isn’t the kind of thing I normally put on my blog, especially since I don’t exactly make content anyway. But inspiration struck me to do an analysis on one of my favorite characters of all time: Kaede Akamatsu from Danganronpa V3. I hear a lot of people say that Kaede is just Makoto and/or Chiaki 2.0, and I feel that this could not be further from the truth. So I’m hoping that this analysis gives somebody a new perspective on my favorite DR character. Needless to say, Danganronpa V3 spoilers abound.

Obtained Truth Bullet: The Protagonist of DRV3

So, let’s get the big one out of the way first, shall we? Kaede was heavily advertised as the protagonist of V3, and many people (myself included) were very excited about this. As opposed to the generally weak/easily pushed-around Makoto and Hajime, Kaede is a go-getter. She was considered new and refreshing, and even now there are still many people who would consider her more interesting or a better protagonist than Saihara.

The protagonist swap was (and still is) highly controversial, and the wrong opinion around the wrong people can cause quite a debate. The general consensus, however, is that it was an extremely well-executed twist, no matter who you favor as the protag. It was a true gut-punch even to people who may not have been that enthusiastic about either protagonist up until that point, and is typically considered one of the saddest moments in the series. The revelation that Kaede died for no reason really twisted the knife further, at a point in the game when many may have moved on and fully accepted Saihara as protagonist.

The twist was controversial for the aforementioned reason of Kaede being vastly different from the other protags personality-wise. Kaede is a natural leader. Friendly and cheerful, but fully capable of being assertive. Saihara, meanwhile, is shy, somewhat of a downer, and can have a hard time expressing himself. Both characters have their strengths as the protagonist, but after V3 people started getting tired of the standard Danganronpa formula, and Kaede continued to be viewed as new and refreshing. This is one of the strongest and most common arguments for why she should have been the protagonist. While I do recognize Saihara’s strengths, and I like him quite a bit as well, I ultimately agree with this point, and I think Kaede as the protagonist would have been very interesting.

Obtained Truth Bullet: The Murder of Rantaro Amami

This is, of course, the other big one. It’s impossible to discuss Kaede as a character without bringing up her actions. As we know, in Chapter One, Kaede and Saihara set up a scene in the library made to discover the mastermind and end the game before any murders took place. However, Kaede altered this trap, fearing that catching the mastermind before the time limit would not be enough. To assuage her paranoia, and at great risk to herself, she set up a trap of her own. Something of a Rube Goldberg machine that was designed to kill the mastermind rather than trap them. This trap was set up at the same time as Saihara’s original plan. For those who may not remember, the trap involved rolling a shot-put ball along a carefully-aligned staircase of books, until it came down on the mastermind’s head.

Unfortunately, as we know, this trap failed, killing someone other than the intended target. Rantaro Amami, the Ultimate Survivor (initially known as the Ultimate ???) was killed in the midst of his own investigation, having known about the mastermind’s secret lair (and its entrance in the library) as well. And yet, the truth was that the shot missed. Rantaro survived, only to be killed by the mastermind right after. Nonetheless, Kaede, Saihara, and the others were thrown into a class trial to find out who killed the amnesiac Rantaro. Kaede initially used this as a chance to find out who the mastermind was, reasoning that the mastermind must have killed Rantaro. Ultimately, however, the case closed in on her, primarily due to the machinations of Ouma. Ouma was as unaware of the truth as everybody else, but called Kaede out on a lie she made. After trying to prove her lie, she ultimately had no choice but to admit to her crime, lest Saihara be convicted in her place. This is when the protagonist switch takes place.

And eventually, Kaede gets executed for her crime like every other blackened in the series, unaware of her innocence. So ends the story of Kaede Akamatsu, and begins the story of Shuichi Saihara. 

Obtained Truth Bullet: Ultimate Pianist

As anyone reading this probably knows, Kaede is the Ultimate Pianist. In other words, one of the greatest piano-players in the world. This has a large impact on who Kaede is, as any such major talent would define a person. Kaede is protective of her hands/fingers as a result, preferring to avoid cooking and sports for fear that they might damage her ability to play piano. During her trial she says her hands are only strong enough to play piano as a defense when she is accused of murder. Her talent is a part of how she dresses (skirt and hairpins), her habits (avoiding certain activities), and her conversational habits (casually mentioning piano songs and concepts in conversations). It is a substantial enough part of her that at the end of chapter one, what is heavily implied to be her ghost appears to play piano for Saihara in her Ultimate Lab.

Obtained Truth Bullet: Kaede’s Personality in the Game

As demonstrated during the events of the game, Kaede is a cheerful person. She is bright, friendly, and pleasant to be around. Overall a helpful person, and considered likable by all but her most troublesome classmates. However, she does tend to get too helpful at times. She can be quite pushy about her ideas, to the point of stubbornness. For example, in one conversation with Miu Iruma, Iruma discusses doing drugs. While Iruma is easily-distraught, Kaede pushes the idea that she shouldn’t do such things to the point of upsetting the inventor. In a more serious context, she refuses to doubt her plan to kill the mastermind until it actually fails, believing that it is the right thing to do beyond any doubt. This is one of Kaede’s greatest flaws; when she gets an idea, she convinces herself that she is correct, and can become very pushy and stubborn as a result.

Kaede is also shown to be a pragmatic and goal-oriented person when necessary, in accordance with her stubbornness. She loathed the idea of killing anyone, and hated herself for the time she had left after killing Rantaro, angrily declaring that she would never forgive his killer. Nonetheless, she still planned to kill the mastermind, despite the heavy toll that committing murder would take on her. Additionally, despite being uncomfortable with it, she lied in the class trial to protect Saihara and stall for time, making a claim that would make herself look suspicious. So despite her kind personality, Kaede will do what she feels she has to, even if she knows it is wrong.

On a lighter note, Kaede is shown to be silly and even perverted at times. She makes remarks a number of times about how ‘cute’ or ‘sexy’ other girls are, such as when she first meets Tsumugi and says she has a sexy aura. Saihara even comments at one point that she sounds like a creepy old man sometimes. She also does things such as poking Tsumugi’s cheek or touching Kiibo’s emergency button, showing that perhaps she is not the best with physical boundaries. Despite this, she tends to be fairly oblivious; during her Free Time Events with Tenko and Himiko, she doesn’t seem to realize what they mean by ‘playing for the other team’, nor does she really seem to comprehend the idea of homosexuality. Additionally, as shown in just about every interaction she has with Iruma, she is sensitive to and dislikes large amounts of vulgarity.

Interestingly, despite being an overall friendly person, Kaede has somewhat of a temper, and can get easily riled-up. Shortly after meeting Saihara, she told him to shut up in order to stop him from panicking, and later on even slapped him when he wasn’t responding to anyone. Additionally, she tells Himiko to shut up after the latter keeps talking about magic during the investigation of Rantaro’s murder. She tries to be patient with the more troublesome/hard to get along with classmates, such as Iruma and Ouma, but does lose her patience with them sometimes. She frequently calls Ouma out for being delusional, and after a particularly vulgar insult by Iruma, snaps back with an insult of her own. So while pleasant to be around, Kaede does have a short fuse at times, and can be easily agitated.

Obtained Truth Bullet: Kaede’s Personality Before the Game

Kaede’s personality before the game is shown to be more or less the total opposite of who she is now. She is shown to be a pessimistic person with a bleak outlook on life, and a hard time trusting/believing in others. She says she’s perfect for a killing game. Interestingly enough, some of the above-stated traits can be seen in the Kaede from the game to some extent. Kaede is paranoid enough about the time limit to doubt Saihara’s plan, enough that she would alter the scene to kill rather than expose the mastermind. And she is considered perfect for the killing game in-universe, with her leadership and forward personality having been intended to keep the game going. However, it is incredibly debatable how much of this is true, since the information about pre-game Kaede is revealed by the mastermind, a known employee of the greater-scope villains of the game, and therefore somebody with reason to lie and/or forge evidence if needed. This part is ultimately up to interpretation, but I personally believe that the mastermind was lying, albeit with some sprinkles of truth.

Obtained Truth Bullet: Kaede’s Interests

Kaede’s chief interest, as we know, is the piano. She cares deeply about music, and has been playing piano from a young age, even to the point of winning competitions. However, she does enjoy other things. For example, in Love Across the Universe, she expresses an enjoyment of manga, particularly when the plot involves music. She also enjoys drinking tea, and likes to relax in the sun, despite her hardworking and driven nature. In regards to her dislikes, she doesn’t have many shown or stated, but she seems to dislike bicycles. This is never actually elaborated on, but it is a strong enough dislike to be stated in her bio.

And that’s about all I have to say about the Ultimate Pianist, Kaede Akamatsu. My favorite character in Danganronpa, and one of my favorite characters of all time. I hope this gives anybody who didn’t like her much a new opinion, and that people who do like her enjoyed my analysis as well. I sadly don’t see myself doing another analysis like this, but this was a lot of fun to do. If you’ve read this far, thanks for reading, and I hope you had fun!

[dereksmcgrath]

It’s surprising how a chapter can have such a boring setup--Koichi, still on the run--before wrapping up with a pleasant surprise of a return character but also a potential death flag on a character.

“Careless,” My Hero Academia: Vigilantes Chapter 110. By Hideyuki Furuhashi and Betten Court. Original concept by Kohei Horikoshi. Translation by Caleb Cook. Lettering by John Hunt. Available from Viz.

Spoilers for My Hero Academia up to Chapter 327.

Koichi’s escape from Six has reached a point that is so boring that I shouldn’t be surprised that Six has had enough and decides to just snipe the kid. That this attempt is happening back where all of this started, in Naruhata, just outside of Koichi’s apartment, is thematically bringing everything full circle. It just all feels more tiresome when Koichi is realizing he needs to go grab All Might--which he was supposed to do earlier, but he didn’t, because the plot said so in order to drag this arc out longer. As well, the Nomu-like Anonymous Bombers aren’t that engaging as antagonists--silent automated extensions of Six’s will, and whose designs are appropriately just as dull, sporting Six’s same face scar (for branding). Ending the story now would make sense: we’re in the right setting, we’ve exhausted all Six and Koichi can seemingly do, so let’s wrap things up.

While this part was dull, I do appreciate the chapter upped the stakes to force Koichi to get injured, however minor those injuries were, to protect civilians. This moment helps in two ways. First, Koichi is finally bleeding from an attack, so we got one of the first death flags for this chapter, a very real hint that Six could pull this off and kill him. Second, we get to see that this neighborhood is not as desolate as you may imagine even if Koichi and the Anons have had the literal run of the place. (If only certain CGI-animated series could fit in this number of extras in their abandoned cities and rural locations.)

I did say Koichi was the first of two death flags, and that brings us to the next one, Miu. I can be wrong, but it is a common enough trope to differentiate identical twins first by slowly having them grow apart due to diverging interests, then altering their appearances as has done now, before giving us the ultimate separate, that being killing off one of the Feathers. Miu and Yu already had distinct enough personalities, and since the timeskip they have had separate interests and slight alterations to their attire. Now with Miu using a previously (as far as I remember) undisclosed Quirk overhearing how hurt Koichi is, and now with Miu running out to that danger, yeah, if she got killed off, or if her sister died protecting her, I wouldn’t be surprised.

I haven’t re-read the manga, and the wiki has not indicated what if any Quirks the twins have, so it’s odd to wait about 90 chapters before finally revealing Miu’s Quirk. Maybe it just wasn’t relevant up to now (story of my week…), or maybe this will be a Quirk awakening (and I have so much to complain about that idea of a “Quirk awakening,” and I kind of hinted at it about Toga earlier, but I’ll get to that later when writing about Shigaraki).

But I had started this review pointing out that this is about things getting back to where it all started--and you’re not here for Koichi or Miu or my pickiness: you’re here to welcome back Knuckleduster.

As hinted when he invokes All Might’s “I am here” line at the end of this chapter, Knuckleduster has always been the All Might to Koichi’s Izuku, and both of these spinoff manga characters have always been foils to their main-manga counterparts. Izuku run into danger, Koichi ran away from it. Izuku sought to become a Pro Hero, Koichi couldn’t even get into the entrance exam and is a vigilante. Izuku jumped at the chance to study under the optimistic and friendly All Might, Koichi was coerced into being tutored by the psychotically violent Knuckleduster. All Might was born Quirkless and earned a Quirk passed down from All For One’s brother, Knuckleduster was a Pro Hero born with a Quirk who lost it to All For One.

And after all the shit Six has done to Koichi and Pop, as awful as it is to say, witnessing Knuckleduster draw blood off of Six with his brass knuckles is cathartic.

Plus, that well-done last page spread gave me an excuse to make a response image to my own meme about the previous chapter:

Alt Text: In this PhotoShopped version of My Hero Academia: Vigilantes Chapter 110, Knuckleduster, only one of his white eyes visible under his mask, his face unshaven, pulls back a hand in the middle of his punches. His hand, which has brass knuckles, is dripping with blood. He has a murderous smile. I changed the word balloons to say: "You hate to see it...cuz they're kicking your ass in the QRTs!"

I had shared this image of Knuckleduster’s return with a friend, whose response was a very impressed “damn.” I had not appreciated how well Court had drawn Knuckleduster here, in part because I was more impressed how Court has revised Six’s design to now give him Lady Nagant’s sniper method (bolstered by Caleb Cook making Six sound actually threatening instead of how I keep viewing this schmuck as a hapless poser: the “brain” line was well handled), and also because I just appreciated Knuckleduster finally returning! And he doesn’t seem to be like the ghostly O’Clock visage/hallucination that has been an insufferable bore for so many chapters until he finally got interesting with that creepy All For One sinister smile.

Now the real Knuckleduster is back, and I’m excited to see where this goes. Is this actually Knuckleduster? Did he survive his earlier fight with Six, or is he just another hallucination by Six? Was he what Soga found under that sheet chapters ago? What has he been up to for, what, two years now since leaving Koichi and Pop to train on their own? I don’t ask these questions to expose some potential flaw to the storytelling: I ask because the timing of his return, and how it’s done, obviously opens these questions, and I’m excited to see those answers soon (I hope--don’t leave this dangling like trying to explain the MHA timeline).