#also yes junko at the beginning

[dansconcepts]

Quirky RC!Hajime - Talentsharer Drabble

Hajime sharing someone’s Ultimate if he touches them (or vice versa) would make SDR2 sillier, probably, and this is my evidence.

Behind The Scenes: “Ultimate Talentsharer? What the hell, that's not even a talent! How can you be good at something that's not even measurable?” Junko sighs. “No, fuck you, that's total bullshit! ...What? He's still able to share talents? What do you mean 'it's canon now'-?! Hey! Hey!” Manicured hands yeet her phone. “Ugh! He's supposed to be a normie, a basic bitch, just a regular fucking guy! What am I supposed to do now?!”

What is my talent? Hajime ponders to himself. The wind blows through the trees, caressing his face softly as he sighs, before turning to the white-haired guy next to him.

“You really want to help me figure out what my talent is?” 

Komaeda shrugs, a smile on his face. “Yes. I imagine it’ll be quite fun. I’m sure it’ll be a talent full of hope!”

Man, this guy is so nice. “Alright, but how do I start?”

The Lucky Student looks away for a second. “Hmm. Well, since we’re on the beach right now, maybe we could see if you’re the Ultimate Swimmer, or an athlete of some kind?”

Grayish eyes start roaming over his figure, studying him, and he can feels his face start to warm. He shakes it off. “I guess I’ll swim for a bit.” If only to stop myself from overheating. “You’re free to time me.”

He tosses his shirt off-

“Oh!”

Hajime blinks. “Is something wrong?”

“No, ahem, not at all, sorry.” He grins sheepishly. “I just didn't expect you to do that so suddenly.”

“Why? Do I look bad?” He frowns. Although he doesn't remember much, he does know he was pretty devoted to his exercise routine for a while in preparation for being a Hope's Peak student. But he didn't fill out in the way he was hoping for, so maybe... He looks down at himself.

From the corner of his eyes, he sees white hair swishing and hands moving as Komaeda frantically shakes his head. “No! I didn't mean anything like that! You have an amazing physique. I apologize that I even sounded like I was insinuating otherwise.”

'Physique'? Who says it like that? He huffs, amused, even though he can feel his chest puff with a little pride. With careful folds, he rests his shirt into a pink, as if sunburnt, Komaeda's hands. He's so pale, it makes sense he'd be red even with the breeze...

Hajime tips his toes into the water. The chill sends shockwaves through his body as he cringes at the sensation. He takes a deep breath and tries again. He starts walking in further and further, watching the water rise as he slowly submerges inside. While he's pretty sure he knows how to swim, he doesn't feel anything particularly special when he gets in.

Komaeda calls him back after a bit. “Well, you’re definitely fit, from the looks of it.” He grins. “But it still looked pretty average.”

Yeah, I figured as much. Hajime sighs.

“Oh, there's always more hope, Hinata! Why don't we try something else? Like...” He turns, before whipping back to him. “How about music?”

With that, they head to the Titty Typhoon for some instruments. On their way, Ibuki plows into Hajime.

“Oof!” He exclaims.

“Whoa whoa whoa!” The musician staggers on her feet, her arms flailing. Komaeda reaches out to steady her. “Thanks Nagi-chan! Sorry, Hajimeme!”

Hajime breathes. “It’s alright, Ibuki.”

“What are you in a rush for?” Nagito asks.

“Ibuki promised Kazu she’d help him with a playlist for one of his little machiney-sheens and she mayyyyyyy be running late!” She blurts out. “Sorry, gotta blast!”

She runs off. 

Hajime sighs. He can hear her frantic apologies to Souda. Guess he wasn’t that far. 

They keep going. You should escape, skip town / No more excuses / Abandon ship or drown / No more excuses. The song plays in his head. When they reach Titty Typhoon, him and Komaeda peruse the spare instruments available, with Nagito grabbing the microphone stand.

“A mic?” Hajime eyes it dubiously.

“You have a nice voice.” Komaeda comments.

“H-huh?” Shit, was I humming out loud?  

Nagito hums. “Maybe that’s your talent. How about you sing something?”

He definitely doesn't recall having much of an interest in singing or even doing it ever, so if he’s the Ultimate Singer, it sure would seem strange. But that guitar…

He picks it up and strums. He doesn’t remember owning a guitar, but he must have if he knows how to play it already. As if muscle memory kicks in, he starts playing opening notes and the words escape his mouth, singing along to the song previously in his head.

When he’s done, he steals a look at Nagito, who is looking at him with wide eyes. “Um, we already have an Ultimate Musician, so maybe you’re the Ultimate Guitarist? ...Trash like me’s opinion is useless though.”

Hajime presses on. “But what did you think?”

“I-” Nagito pauses. “I thought it was amazing. You have a really powerful voice.”

Hajime grins. Something in him feels the silliest urge to hug him. He ignores it, and just puts a hand on his shoulder instead. “Thanks.” 

“W-well again, I really-!”

“No. If it wasn’t for you, I’d have no idea what my talent could be. So thanks.”

Later on, Komaeda exits to grab Ibuki for a second opinion, and Hajime attempts to replicate his performance. He's on the stage again. It feels strange to be at the center, having pairs of eyes on him, even if it's just Komaeda and Ibuki.

The microphone feels foreign in his hands, the guitar even more so. This doesn't feel right anymore. What did he do earlier? Just move his hands on strings? He does that. Simultaneously, his voice cracks when he opens his mouth. He wants to evapourate into a damn puddle.

“It's okay if you're nervous, Hajimemey!” Ibuki yells, “I get those kind of jitters allllllll the time! What works for me is feeling the music!”

Yeah, just feel the music Hajime... “Haha, sorry.” He tries to laugh off. “Let me try again.”

This time, he starts gentle, singing first before grabbing onto the guitar. He strums, and-

SNAP!

The guitar string breaks. He barely even did anything!

Loud feedback starts playing on the speakers, and Ibuki yelps, covering her ears.

Komaeda immediately steps towards the speakers, yanking the plug off with a ferocity he didn't expect him to have. “Um. My apologies. It must have been my luck that caused the speakers to turn loud. Are you alright?” 

“I’m...” Horrified. “fine. I'm sorry, Ibuki. I even broke the guitar string too...”

The musician rubs at her ears. “Ah, Hajim-jim, it's all good! I'm just gonna go repair the guitar string. Ibuki just needs to find a spare.”

Hajime looks down, embarrassed at wasting her time. And oh, would you look at that? A white string is right next to him. How lucky. He grabs it, going, “Is this it?”

“WAH! Perfect! Thanks!” She grins, snatching it out of his hand. She grabs the broken guitar and immediately runs off again.

And he's left with Komaeda once more. He chuckles sheepishly. “...On second thought, maybe this isn’t my talent and just beginner’s luck?” 

“Undoubtedly.” The white-haired student shoots out. “Without a question.”

He barks out a laugh. God, was he really that bad? He reflects on it. No, yeah, he was pretty bad.

They go around, tidying the place with amicable silence.

Suddenly, loud sirens start blaring throughout the island. He whips to Komaeda, whose eyes are just as wide as his. They both immediately rush out. A flurry of movement is caught in the corner of his eye as he runs past, meeting most of his classmates at the beach. There's confused noises and fingers pointing at the sea in front of them.

What is everyone looking at? He wonders. He looks out into the horizon.

What was originally calm and serene now had some kind of bump, as if a large wave was incoming. But that's impossible, right?

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Monokuma pops up behind them. “What the hell is this? Why'd the tsunami warning alarms go off?!” Oh, of course that's it... what is happening today? “Hell, I didn't even know we had those!” His red eye glowers. “What did you crazy kids do?!”

“We didn't do shit!” Fuyuhiko roars. “Is this supposed to be another motive? I thought you said you couldn't hurt us directly!”

“Ah, yes... this is totally a part of the plan... NOT!” The bear growls.

Monomi shuffles out from behind Monokuma, sobbing, “Oh, this is so bad!”

“Shut up! I'm trying to figure out how to fix this!”

“This must be my fault...” Nagito sighs. “I'm sorry everyone. But we can only unite during this moment of despair to create a newfound hope!” His words are immediately washed away with everyone screaming and crying.

“Hajibro!” A familiar voice yells, and upon turning his head, he sees Souda approaching him, and quickly. “It was nice knowing you!” The mechanic hugs him desperately.

“Everyone, we must start to evacuate!” Sonia yells. Gundham nods. “The god of darkness may greet our souls, and I shall defeat him before we descend into his realm!”

There's no way this is how it ends! He hasn't even figured out his talent yet! Why does it have to be like this? Surely, there's gotta be something that can be made to counteract this... He'll need fuel, a large fan, maybe? Wheels to ensure it can be moved... steel... a wall?

“I have an idea!”

Hajime shares his idea with Kazuichi, who blinks tears out of his eyes and peers up at him curiously. “Didn't know you were into mechanics, Hajime. Man, you really do listen to my rambles! This is why you're my soul bro!” It's definitely not that, but I'll let him have this. He nudges Souda to focus, damn it. “Oh, yeah! I could see that working. The problem is we don't really have the parts on this island for any of that...”

“It's impressive you came up with that in such short notice, Hajime. Maybe you're the Ultimate Inventor?” Nagito tilts his head. As much as Hajime would love to address that- it's a really good point actually- there's not enough time anymore!

The water gets closer and closer, its wave oh so high-

before crashing against the beach, providing them a gentle mist while soaking the sand and settling back into serene waters.

“What?!” Hiyoko screeches. “How in the hell are we not dead?!”

Mikan wipes away tears of relief. “It looked much more threatening earlier...”

“Our hope was high, thanks to Hinata! It turned our luck around!”

“Awesome!” Akane yells out victoriously.

Yeah, I don't know about that Komaeda... I'm just glad nothing bad happened.

“Okay, I'm back!” Monokuma's voice rings. The bear does a double take at the scene in front of him. “What the hell?! It's gone?! Damn it! All that work for nothing!”

[tobiasdrake]

Ranma 1/2 01x08 - Darling Charlotte

Charlotte? Wait... Hang on... Isn't that... Is she supposed to be here this early?

Oh, no, it's THIS girl. My mistake.

Okay. Yeah. I completely forgot she even existed. My memory was conflating her with the... with that one.... You know who I'm talking about....

...

*google google*

Akari. I was thinking of Akari. For some reason I thought Akari was the "CHARLOTTE!!!" girl, and I remember Akari is like endgame late introduction. But she's not the Charlotte girl.

Apparently these guys are named Shingo and Kiichi according to their photos.

The stuff in brackets isn't anything interesting. It's just quoting the dialogue they deliver here.

The two Ranma photos are Saotome Ranma, but an interesting note is that the pair have different names. They're both Ranma, yes. Both of them are 早乙女 Saotome. Which, fun fact, means "young maiden responsible for planting rice". Have fun with that, Transfem Ranma headcanon team.

But the girl Ranma is named らんま Ranma in Hiragana while the boy Ranma is named 乱馬 Ranma in Kanji. Ranma's name, incidentally, means "chaos".

When P-chan hears Akane call out to him, the kanji in his eyes flip from 気絶 kizetsu meaning "faint" to 起床 kisho which means "getting out of bed".

Wait, that's who the Charlotte girl is? I remember this guy. This is the ice skater bro who Ranma and Akane have to do a doubles match against, with him and some girl.

I completely forgot that the Charlotte girl was that girl. ...and thought she was Akari instead. Wow, my memory of this series leaves a lot to be desired.

"...they're what now?" ~Junko Enoshima, intrigued.

Look at that happy smile. Azusa really wants to bean him with that table. This is her second time reaching for it.

FACT CHECK. Let's check out the replay. Aaaaaaaaand:

Oh yeah. Without a doubt. Ignore Akane's squealing gal pals and the romantic flowers in the background and just look at that face. Akane is half a second from splitting him crotch to throat with a fucking ice skate.

Ranma's challenge fish cake saved Mikado's life.

You know what's fucking hilarious about this?

1 - It would actually make more sense for Ryoga to be Akane's partner than Ranma. Like Akane, Ryoga is very invested in Akane winning the contest and getting to keep P-chan. He doesn't want P-chan going with Azusa any more than Akane does, while Ranma's kinda rooting for the enemy team.

2 - However, despite having a compelling reason for replacing Ranma in this contest, Ryoga can't actually present that argument. The only reason to let him replace Ranma is because he is P-chan. Without that context, this is a wild-ass out-of-left-field demand for him to suddenly burst out of their bathroom and issue.

3 - But if he did explain that context to Akane... he still wouldn't get to replace Ranma, because the entire purpose of even competing in this match would be instantly voided. P-chan wouldn't be welcome in her room anymore.

So he's just. Fucked. He's just fucked. His tangled web of deceptions has left him powerless to participate in something that really matters to him.

Try not to live your life like Ryoga.

So begins the era of Ranma weaponizing his curse in order to escape the pressures of his own interpretation of masculinity. He turned himself into a girl because men shouldn't be bad at ice skating. I like that Akane's a little bit offended when she finds out why he switched.

Akane: I'm not impressed! I can do that too!

The 100-man spar is a cool demonstration of how talented these two are at ice skating as a martial art. But also, this is just a typical weekday morning for Akane.

In fact, Akane's actually more impressive because this is choreographed as shit. These guys are wearing jerseys with the number of their engagement on them. They attack in sequence so Mikado and Azusa can take down 01 then 02 then 03 then 04 and on and on until they hit 100.

This is a performance, not a brawl. Most generously, it's a training exercise to help them work on specific maneuvers. A very complex and multi-person version of practicing your kata. But it's not a real fight, where Akane's version always is.

YOU PICK THAT UP RIGHT THE FUCK NOW

I mean, the collar is actually adorable and I'm kinda with Azusa on that. It's way better than P-chan's shitty neck-rag that probably smells like three months of unwashed wandering.

BUT THAT THING IS MADE OF STABBING AND THERE'S LIKE A DOZEN OF THEM FOLDED INTO ONE

DO NOT LEAVE THAT LYING ON THE RINK FOR ANYONE TO FALL ON.

The way Ranma reacts to Mikado's advances is... honestly fascinating.

We saw Akane earlier. She was a moment away from breaking this sex pest in half. We talk a lot about Flight or Fight response, and Akane has a well-honed Fight response to sexual harassment. It's. Kind of. Been a thing for her for a very long time, both the harassment and the Fight response.

But an oft-overlooked response is the Freeze response. Both times, when Mikado moves in on Ranma, his response is to Freeze. Freeze is an involuntary stress reaction that temporarily suspends both Fight and Flight.

Once the deed is done and Ranma's able to form conscious thoughts again, then we see Flight.

Until he can reassert his masculinity, and only then does he react with Fight.

Which is itself very interesting. Not just for how it speaks to Ranma's internalization of gender norms; That he reacts with Flight when female and Fight when male. But there's more than just that going on here.

Ranma doesn't just flee from the rink. He flees to the public bathhouse and throws himself into the hot bath. He's not fleeing Mikado. He's not fleeing Akane or the situation.

Being violated in this way makes Ranma flee from femininity. His immediate kneejerk reaction when his brain retains the ability to make conscious decisions is, very emotionally and very powerfully, that he desperately wants to stop being a girl now.

A tragic choice that many women don't get to make.

Not only was Akane the only person on the rink that was able to keep up with the action here - with possible exception of Mikado but explicitly not Azusa - but she was even able to count how many hits Ranma landed.

This fight establishes that Akane and Ranma are actually more formidable than Azusa and Mikado. Like, if this were a street fight, they'd trash these suckers, no problem. Pound for pound, they're tougher.

It's only because they have to compete in Azusa and Mikado's arena that this is going to be difficult. Azusa and Mikado have the home field advantage, in a contest where mobility is intensely challenging and must be mastered and controlled in addition to the fighting.

He says while wearing the fucking collar. XD

This family needs a TV. XD

[atamascolily]

Earlier, I made some broad predictions for Walpurgis no Kaiten, but now it's time for a few more granular ones. One of the great things about PMMM thus far is its use of repetition, which allows for some pretty obvious guesses about what's to come:

An unknown amount of time has passed between Rebellion and WnK; the story opens in media res at the moment before the current system is irrevocably changed. Thus we will not fully understand the world Homura has created until it's about to disappear; however, the seeds of its destruction were present from the beginning, as will eventually be made clear.

The original series opens with a cryptic and as-yet-unexplained prologue, followed by a battle scene that segues into Madoka waking up and going about her morning routine before heading to school. Rebellion follows the same pattern, with a cryptic explanatory monologue from Homura, the first Nightmare battle, and an almost shot-for-shot remake of Madoka's morning routine.

Thus, I think it's reasonable to assume that WnK will do the same; my guess is that we'll have a cryptic Homura scene that may or may not explain what has come before and which will probably hit differently in hindsight, followed by a battle sequence (my guess is Mami, Kyouko, and Sayaka getting their asses kicked when the wraiths start going haywire and/or something with the mysterious hybrid magical girl) followed by Madoka waking up and going about her morning (but animated in the new style and with a few key differences to mark that things are the Same Yet Also Different).

It's unclear to me whether Madoka is in this "dream" or not because I'm not sure what her role is/if she's a magical girl at this point. Based on the previous two installments, the answer is "yes", but we'll see.

Likewise, there will be a Thematically Relevant Conversation between Madoka and Junko in the bathroom while they're brushing their teeth. Would be hilarious if it involved mirrors or reflections (literal or metaphorical) in any way; ditto for teamwork and cooperation, since I suspect they will be major themes in this installment. Also phones and communication.

Is Kyubey initially around? Again, TBD. Could go either way, depending on his circumstances now. My guess is no, though it would be funny to see him watching in the background.

Madoka leaves the house, meets up with Sayaka and Hitomi, as per usual. (You can see in the trailer that Sayaka has bandages around her neck in this scene, which is one reason why I think she's in Madoka's "dream"/fight sequence as described above.) Some playful & thematically relevant banter ensues. The three of them then encounter parasol!Homura as seen in the trailer.

I think the big mystery for the first 20-40 minutes is "What is going on with Homura??" There will be a number of scenes with her where she looks/acts different, and something is clearly off, but it is not immediately clear what it is or even that there are two of them at first, because only one Homura visible in any given shot. This will eventually change, of course, and the reveal where they appear together will be very dramatic and artsy, but until then, I expect SHAFT to milk the confusion and the ominous dread for all it's worth

There will also be a Thematically Relevant Saotome rant once Madoka et al. get to class, of course.

Nakazawa gets one (1) line.

the OTHER established pattern is that there's always a new transfer student on the Day Everything Changes, which raises the FASCINATING question of whether parasol!Homura is just going to roll up and start attending classes now, too. If that's the case, will the "real" Homura be present for this (doubtful, given my speculations above) or is she missing/absent? It would be so funny if WnK pulled a Rebellion and had the "real" Homura in a coma for half of the movie, but somehow I don't think that's where this is going. How does parasol!Homura explain herself? Is she here in addition to Homura (i.e., as a student in her own right) or to take Homura's place entirely? What does Madoka think??

(to be clear: there's no question in my mind that the movie's plot kicks off with the arrival of the doppelganger here, the only question is how they choose to play it. In technical terms, this is the story's "inciting incident", and, in keeping with the established pattern, it's Homura--a Homura, anyway--entering Madoka's world yet again.)

Those are my guesses for the first part of the movie, based on previous structure and established patterns. It's possible the creators might switch it up, but I feel reasonably confident WnK will continue with them, at least at first, if only to lull us into a false sense of security before dropping the ground out from under us. In both the TV series and the movie, this section I've just described is approximately 10 minutes long, which still leaves plenty of time for surprises.

After that point, it gets a little murkier because I'm missing so many pieces, and there's no guarantee WnK will follow the same structure as Rebellion beyond those required by their shared two-hour movie format. That said, here are few things I expect to see at some point:

Mami, Kyouko, and Sayaka reconvene, but they are losing their powers--probably to the hybrid magical girl, who appears to be using Mami's ribbons. Sayaka is missing her healing powers, which is why she's all bandaged in the trailer. Kyouko is probably also missing powers, which is why she looks so pissed. If WnK follows the same beats as Rebellion, this will be at about the same point as the second Nightmare fight, otherwise who knows. The point is that the world is breaking down and nothing is "normal" anymore.

Meanwhile, Homura is being haunted/taunted by her double, who is actively interfering with her and her system. I would like a jaw-dropping reality-bending fight sequence between them a la "Absolute Configuration", but we'll see if I get my wish.

I expect the double to have a lengthy monologue explaining what is going on, though in classic PMMM fashion, this will raise as many questions as it answers. (This could also be Kyubey's job, but tbh I'd rather have the double do it.) But there's no question that there were unintended consequences to Homura's actions in Rebellion and someone has to explain them to the audience.

One transformation sequence for each of the main cast, though one or two might have multiple ones.

By the end of the film, the universe is rewritten again and a new system is made. If we're lucky, this will be the happy Final Ending in which Madoka and Homura are reunited forever; if we're unlucky, it will be Rebellion Cliffhanger Hell all over again, only worse.

But, having established patterns, it's also possible to break them. I don't necessarily expect this for a lot of the big picture/structural stuff, but I can see it happening in a few places, like:

Sayaka tries to spray Homura (original or double) with a fire extinguisher, but it backfires somehow--either exploding in her face, or she hits the other one by mistake. Alternately, she does it and it SEEMS like it worked, only for Homura to loom up unexpectedly out of nowhere and gloat.

Also, this is not a structural thing, per se, but based on Rebellion, I expect there will be 2-3 major twists of ratcheting intensity, at least one of which will make a large percentage of the fandom incredibly angry, but for dramatically different reasons: one camp will claim that it "came out of nowhere" and/or "ruins Homura's character", and the other will argue that it was "too predictable" and "contrived" and therefore bad. Eventually, everyone will calm down and grudgingly accept it the way they've done with Rebellion (if only because the people who hate it the most leave the fandom, or if it's truly the end of the series).

As for me, I feel very agnostic about the whole business--while I certainly have no end of guesses about what is likely and the things I would like to see (two separate but related circles), and it would be very satisfying to be right, I'm not wedded to the idea of canon as this absolute monolith that determines whether something is interesting or not. If I hate WnK (doubtful), I'll write fanfic about it; if I love WnK, I'll write fanfic about it. No matter what happens, fanfic will be written and I will shape the established narrative as needed to suit my needs--I engage in this speculation before the fact primarily because it's fun and a useful exercise for a writer.

[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

Trouble's Brewing Remake: What's it about, and why is it happening?

//So, I think I kept everyone waiting for quite a while after I announced this, and I think it's finally time that I explain what's going to happen with this arc, and what it's all about.

//After some deep reflection and feedback, I realized there were areas that could be improved, and I’m really excited about the direction this rewrite is taking. I know some of you might have questions, so I wanted to address a few that might be on your mind. From what inspired the change, to how this will affect the story moving forward, and what new things you can expect, I’ll cover it all right here.

//No need for a long, drawn out explanation, so let's get started.

1 - Why is Trouble's Brewing being re-written?

//The simple answer is because it's easily the most outdated arc of the story.

//For those who haven't seen the beginning of this blog, this was before I came up with the structure that I currently have, and suffice to say, the plot of the first arc was rushed, and didn't really explain ANYTHING. It was just a quickly fumbled together introduction with no real characterization.

//Basically, all it was designed to do was drop Shuichi and his friends into the world, and it didn't have much of a story besides that.

//The reason why I'm rewriting Trouble's Brewing, and making it from scratch, is to take that plot, and actually make a full-length story arc for it, instead of a few quick posts that were hastily scrapped together, and uncomfortably bad compared to my current writing.

//Now, normally, I really hate the idea of going back and recreating work that I've already made, but in this case, I have more than one good reason for doing so. Considering he's still a key player in the story, it's also the first chance I have to actually use Kuripa's new sprites as part of the story, as well as to give a little more early characterization to some characters who severely needed it in preparation for future arcs.

2 - Will the new arc change the overall direction of the story?

//Yes, but not massively.

//The general plot of the arc will be the same. It will generally be set up to explain the world, the current state of the Future Foundation, as well as introduce the V3 kids into the fray, and the OC's like Kuripa.

//All this is is me taking that original story, and expanding it into something full fledged, like all the current arcs do.

3 - Are key characters being changed or removed?

//I'm sure a lot of people are wondering this, and the answer is yes.

//Because this takes place at the very beginning of the story, the following characters, who only appear in later arcs, will not be featured: Junko Chiaki Alter Ego Junko Kizakura Munakata Yukizome Kaede Ryoma Kirumi Angie Tenko Miu Kaito Kokichi Tsumugi Keebo Gonta Rantaro Kiyo Monaca Yuta Taichi Sora Mikako Teruya Setsuka Iroha Syobai Mikado Kanata Kanade Akane Taira Ando Hibiki Yamato Akeru Mikihiko Yosaku Kana Misako Kanjiro Seina Shozo Ryo Akira Narumi Misuzu Eloise Taulner Kibin Karma Matta Tsutsuji Ella Hanami Mii-Yu Mona Eden Maya Four Hunter Kouji Leona Oliver Yomi Yui Kanon Natsumi Kuroba Solana

//And a few other characters on top of that. Just...anybody who was not present prior to the first arc, so most of the V3 characters, sans Shuichi, Maki, and Himiko

//However there are also characters that will be coming back for the arc, namely Hajime, Yukari, and regular Himiko.

4 - How will the asks function? Will there be any for this arc?

//To make it easier on myself, no. But I will not be closing the box during the duration.

//Asks will be asked in the context of where the story is currently. Because it's a rewrite, I want Trouble's Brewing to be entirely story.

//After all, there's not much point in asking questions when most people already know the current plot developments. There isn't much potential for questions when the reset button gets hit.

5 - How different will the rewritten arc be from the original?

//As I said before, the basic plot is the same, but it's been expanded to include more character moments, story beats, and just...plot in general. Below, I've included some of the important considerations for those looking forward to it:

The main characters of the arc are the Branch 14 trio, i.e. Makoto, Mukuro, and Kuripa.

As teased in the title though, all the main protagonists (with the exception of Kaede, who is not present at this point in the story) will play significant roles in the plot, Shuichi especially.

Yukari Koime will be the main antagonist of the arc. The reason is because I feel that her introduction in Neo World was a bit too bare bones for how important she is throughout Phases 1 and 2, and I wanted more of a chance to have her be the main antagonist.

The big key difference of this arc, compared to the original, is that Maki and Himiko don't just show up as easily as Shuichi does. Like in the original Trouble's Brewing, Shuichi will appear through a wormhole and arrive on Jabberwock Island, but unlike their rushed arrival in the original arc, the main plot of this new arc will involve the Future Foundation tracking down and rescuing Maki and Himiko, to help reunite them with Shuichi. Effectively, it;'s something of a Saving Private Ryan kind of story.

6 - Will we see new scenes or characters?

//Yes, and yes.

//Although, for whatever new characters we DO add to this, don't expect them to stick around for the rest of the story. We need to kind of retain the canonicity, and it doesn't make sense for new characters to appear, and then not be present for the rest of the story.

//The new scenes are designed to better establish the current state of the world 8 years after DR3, and to establish the new characters, like Kuripa and Mukuro, although they don't have their current development, of course.

7 - Can we still access the original version?

//Yes, of course, it should hopefully still be up. But the whole premise of this is to improve the first part of the story, so hopefully, you won't need, nor want to after this.

8 - Will the themes or tone of the story change?

//I can't say for certain, but if they do, it'll likely be to better elaborate and improve upon the general themes of Survivor as a whole, so that new readers can get better acquainted with the premise.

//I think for now, that's it. If there are any other questions about this, please ask me, and I will answer as best I can.

[rainbow-crane]

ykw I'll be honest and vulnerable here. I've always thought that Junko was kinda mid in THH but hell I have not been giving THH enough credit as of late

It's so easy to forget what made THH so enjoyable to play through in the beginning after you've gone through sdr2, udg, drv3, because DR does what so many franchises struggle with and makes the series better and more fleshed out as it continues. But THH was a fantastic game too and hell I kept playing it for a reason

And Junko was legitimately a very fun mastermind twist, even if it's predictable, she has enough personality for it to feel worthwhile anyway. ESPECIALLY after having to ram it through the other survivors' thick skulls that she and Mukuro both existed, it's refreshing to have more than one character that knows wtf they're talking about, but also I love her different 'personality' shticks she does in her confrontation

Junko is one of those characters that got progressively better and more powerful as the series continues fairly consistently. Yes that includes the Despair Arc (bc let's be real MOST of the problems w/ dr3 were in the Future Arc. Most. RIP Mukuro lovers) and it makes her so. So cool

y'all voted Junko in as most overrated girl from THH for the next analysis but if you ask me I do not think she's rated nearly enough. At least not in this little corner of DR-tumblr I seem to live in. Maybe like 10 years ago when the franchise was still ongoing she was overhyped, idk, but I feel like I almost never see people actually talking about Junko. I think I get more ppl talking about Mukuro than I do Junko which, yeah Mukuro cool, but like, BBEG of the entire franchise guys

[theamityelf]

Great now I'm thinking of mini Kamukura ALSO growing fond of Makoto and caring about him

Yes!! Being regularly in Makoto's company while Kyoko is sneaking off to investigate, he begins to enjoy it.

BUT THEN TRIAL 5!!

Imagining him initially pretty chill throughout that trial because he knows that Kyoko is perfectly framed and Makoto has all the evidence needed to make sure of that, but then he sees Makoto not contradict Kyoko's argument, and he sees Makoto not let Nagito contradict her argument, and he stands up because suddenly this is going differently than he predicted, and it's not boring, it's interesting, but also it's not what he wants!

"Kirigiri," he warns, in Kyoko's ear, "she's going to-"

And then Monokuma calls time. Makoto gets convicted. Nagito asks to go through his execution with him, but is denied. Izuru just watches, experiencing the new feeling of not wanting someone to die, for no pragmatic reason.

And when the glitch happens that saves Makoto and wakes all the senpais downstairs, Izuru is out of his pod before anyone else. He takes the first elevator up, so Nagito and Ibuki have to wait together, hammering the button. When they do get to ride the elevator up, Izuru is waiting at the top with a bundle of everything they'll need (food, water, first aid stuff) and just wordlessly hands it off to them and then heads upstairs to confront Junko about the BS she just pulled.

[haunted-xander]

When she came too, she was in a bedroom she's never seen before. Her chest felt heavy still from her actions the other day, but having had proper rest helped her keep her mind steady. The door opened and Nagito came in and sat on the edge of the bed. "You're finally awake! What a relief. I was beginning to worry you'd die in your sleep!" His voice was soft and calm, betraying no emotion. Oh, Komaeda-kun. That's right... I did find him, didn't I? I'm glad... He seems okay. "Nanami-san, I'm so happy I could see you again! And to think even someone like me could help you in your time of despair! I could just-"

"Don't bother her so soon after waking. Her mind is still shaken, she needs peace." A dull, monotone voice cut off Nagito's ramblings as a man she hadn't notice come in leaned against the now closed door. Kamukura-kun... So he's joined Komaeda-kun now? Better than Enoshima-san, I guess... "Ah, of course. You're right as always, Kamukura-sama. My apologies, I didn't mean to overload you so quickly! I was just so excited... Haaahahaha~ the amount of hope that'll be born from your journey... I can't wait to see it~" Nagito wrapped his arms around himself and started shaking and drooling, all while breathy laughter escaped his lips continuously.

...Komaeda-kun's kinda easy, huh? He gets super excited so quickly... She looked back to Izuru and noticed his blank expression had shifted into slight exasperation. If he's working with Komaeda-kun, he probably deals with this all the time... He doesn't seem too annoyed though. "...Komaeda-kun... Where are we?" There were many questions she wanted to ask, but she thought it best to start simple. "We are in an abandoned house Komaeda and I have been using for some time now." Ooooh, they're roomates. Wonder how that happened. "...Nanami. You have more questions. Go ahead and ask." Izuru made a face that made it clear he knew exactly what she was thinking, but made no move to correct her or explain the circumstances. Huh. So it really is like that. Didn't expect Kamukura-kun to actually indulge Komaeda-kun like that. Cool.

"...Well, why did you help me, Komaeda-kun? You're also..." Hesitating to say it out loud, she trailed off instead. "Brainwashed? Despaired? I am aware of my situation, Nanami-san. Unlike the others, it appears I've managed to keep some hold of my mind. It is quite hard to tell what's my own thoughts and what is her influence, however..." At the mention of that girl, his face grew dark and his tone harshened considerably. "Oh yes, her... Junko Enoshima... The person I hate... and love... the most of all... I want nothing more than to see her dead..." His eyes spiralled with mania as he started shaking uncontrollably. Unlike previously, this didn't seem to be from excitement. He was rapidly coming undone. "Huh...? Do I... hate her...? Huh? Huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh-"

"Stop that." Izuru grabbed his face, snapping Nagito out of his spiral. "How boring. Your mind is strong enough to resist her brainwashing, yet awfully weak to the thought of that boring girl. I much prefer you with your mind intact." He leaned closer until their noses were almost touching. ...Is he gonna...? I guess that'd help snap Komaeda-kun out of it, but is that really appropriate right now...? "Ka-Kamu-Kamuk-kura-s-samaaaaa... I lo-love youuuuuu... I hate y-you............" Nagito began rambling about nonsense until he passed out and ended up falling backwards onto Chiaki,s legs. Is he okay...? I hope this isn't a common occurance... Poor Komaeda-kun... At least Kamukura-kun is here to take care of him, I guess... "...It seems the questions will have to wait until later. Rest, Nanami."

"...What about Komaeda-kun?"

"I will take care of him. He will be fine." Without another word, he picked up Nagito's unconscious body and left the room. Chiaki decided to go back to sleep for the time being.

+ A bonus!

[danganronpadedication]

DAY 17: DANGANTOBER

Day 17: Favorite UDG Character

Ultra Despair Girls is certainly a game that exists. I know there's a lot of mixed feelings about this game, and understandably so. It's got its weak points, and there are definitely moments that feel very disgusting when witnessing it in-game. Yes, I'm talking about those infamous scenes with Toko, Haiji, and Kotoko. But UDG also has its strong points, and chief among these are the characters we get introduced to. Komaru, Hiroko, Taichi, Yuta, Servant, Shirokuma, Kurokuma, and the Warriors of Hope, consisting of Masaru Daimon, Jataro Kemuri, Kotoko Utsugi, Monaca Towa, and Nagisa Shingetsu. Out of these characters, it's a three way tie for my favorite, between Toko, Servant, and Nagisa. Since the other two have already been discussed for Dangantober, let's talk about Nagisa Shingetsu. For those of unfamiliar with who Nagisa is, here is one of my trademark "brief" rundowns.

Nagisa Shingetsu, like the other Warriors of Hope, was born in Towa City. His father worked for a division of Hope's Peak Academy, centered around elementary school children. He expected Nagisa to become an ultimate level child, and enrolled him in that division. There, Nagisa met the other WOH, and was given the title of "Lil' Ultimate Social Studies". The WOH began to be known around the school as "troublemakers", which Nagisa resented.

At home, Nagisa was forced to study day and night, being denied sleep and instead being connected to IVs of energy supplements so he wouldn't pass out. He was kept under constant surveillance by his parents. His father would shine lights in his eyes when he started to fall asleep, and threatened him with physical harm if he didn't keep working. His father was using him as the subject in an experiment he was running on how much mental and physical stress a child could stand before reaching their breaking point. Nagisa wasn't yielding the results his parents were hoping for, and they considered him a failure. They even openly discussed having another kid so they could repeat the experiment on them instead. Hearing this, Nagisa began to feel a deep sense of self-hatred, not liking that he had disappointed his parents. He resolved to ignore his own discomfort, just to work harder to make his parents happy with him.

Eventually, the stress and self-hatred had started to get to him, and the other WOH were in similar situation at home. They decided to unalive themselves, but Junko managed to find them. She convinced them to follow her, and create a paradise without any adults. Nagisa and the WOH then unalive their parents, which Nagisa felt awful for.

Throughout the beginning of UDG, Nagisa is firmly on the side of the WOH. They are his friends, and he's a very loyal person. He's protective over the WOH and the rest of the kids in Towa City, arguably being the most dedicated towards creating a paradise for kids. He becomes the vice-leader after Masaru is defeated by Komaru and Toko, and this is when he starts to get disenchanted with what they're doing.

It's not that he loses interest in the paradise, he believes that having Komaru and Toko running around Towa City is making it more difficult. The other WOH are too focused on capturing them, instead of finding and eliminating the remaining adults. Masaru and Jataro have gone missing after being defeated by the pair, and Monaca is starting to use more abusive methods to get Kotoko and Nagisa on her side. Despite having a teeny little crush on Monaca, he's still able to understand that what she's doing is underhanded, and he decides to take matters into his own hands.

He removes the bracelet keeping Komaru in Towa City, and leads her towards a secret passageway out of the city. Upon getting there however, Servant intercepts them and makes Nagisa rethink his betrayal of the WOH. Back at the WOH base, he lashes out at Servant and Kurokuma, viewing them as the main reason why their plan for paradise has been derailed. He is horrified to discover that Monaca was working with Servant behind the WOH's backs, and she begins to mentally torment him in a similar manner that she did to Kotoko earlier in the game.

She uses his crush on her against him, backing him into a corner (literally) and degrading him for liking her. In his distress, he lashes out and starts slapping her repeatedly, and screaming for her to stop. Monaca remains eerily calm, and tells Nagisa that she's never expected anything from him, because he's just a child who isn't worth placing any expectations on. This brings back his fears of disappointing the people around him, and this breaks him.

Later, Nagisa appears for his turn to fight Komaru and Toko, apologizing and crying about how he wants people to expect more from him, he wants people to be proud of him. He doesn't want to disappoint anyone. He is defeated, but like the others, this does not mean he has died. At the end of UDG, this picture appears, showing Masaru, Kotoko, Nagisa, and Jataro (left to right) alive and sticking together.

They are even briefly seen in Future Arc, in the episode entitled 'Ultra Despair Girls'. In that scene (which is the above GIF), he is on the phone with Komaru, updating her about what Monaca is up to, telling her to go easy on her when fighting her. After all, he's still protective over his friends.

When I began UDG, I didn't think I'd like the WOH as much as I did. I thought they were going to be constantly giving me headaches, and they did in the beginning. But as the game went on, they became more sympathetic, and I started to really like them. If you're debating watching or playing UDG, I warn you, their backstories are triggering, but they are interesting characters.

As the game went on, I found myself relating to Nagisa. Like, A LOT. On the surface level, Nagisa is the calmer and more serious member of the WOH. When they get distracted by something shiny nearby, he's the one that gets them back on track. He is very intelligent and level-headed, considering himself the babysitter of the WOH. Despite this, he still acts like a child sometimes, though he resents being underestimated because of his age or participation in things that are traditionally "childish."

He is a very loyal and protective person when it comes to his friends, even to a fault, demonstrated with Monaca. He is a perfectionist, and has a very strong fear of abandonment. He wants to exceed the expectations of the people around him, to prove to himself and others that he's worthy. As a result, placing any sort of expectations is sort of a "trigger" for him, making him want to exceed those expectations at the expense of himself and his well-being. He downplays the trauma he experienced at home, saying that what he went through wasn't as bad as what the other WOH went through. They're the reason he works so hard to create paradise, he wants them to be happy and not suffer from adults anymore.

The creators of Danganronpa went on record and stated that, despite how he acts, Nagisa is the most childish of the WOH. He is unfortunately easy to manipulate, and yet remains loyal. The other WOH accuse him of acting like an adult, because he shows a level of hesitancy that is unlike a child. Nagisa has a certain interest in adult things as well, evident by what you find when you get to explore his room. Also in his room is a memoir he wrote, detailing how he knows what he and the WOH are doing is wrong, and he feels awful about it, but he does it anyways because he considers it necessary.

Some of the traits that he exhibits reminds me of myself, even on a really personal level. Thank goodness my parents did not conduct some demented experiment on me, but I was not without high expectations. My parents wanted me the best for me in life, so grades were a very big focus. If my grades even started to slip in any way, I could expect to be sat down at the dinner table with my work and I was unable to leave until things were done to their satisfaction. At school, I was a gifted kid, and the people there expected me to be able to do everything perfectly on the first try. Whenever I messed up, I felt like I'd let everyone down.

I have very vivid memories of seeing a B+ on my report card in 4th grade, and sobbing about it because I felt like I was the stupidest person who ever lived. Anyone who knows me in real life will know I'm not a serious person, but I am not as emotional as I should be. Many people in my life growing up told me I was too emotional, so to not make them uncomfortable, I stopped showing when I was sad or even really happy. It's a habit I'm trying to break out from, and the friends I have now are very helpful with that.

I am very loyal to my friends, and protective to boot. One time, one of my friends had their picture reposted on an account dedicated to the "ugliest people in school", and I threatened the owner of the account, saying that if they didn't get it taken down, I'd call the police and get them arrested for cyberbullying, which is a crime where I live, though not a big one. If someone is mean to me, I won't really fight back, but when it's my friends, I will confront the person and make sure they understand that's not a good thing to do.

I am a perfectionist, and it's debilitating. I'm never happy with anything I do. That even extends to these posts, they go through multiple rewrites before I'm happy with how I phrased them. In real life, I try to avoid thinking about anything that I need to plan or that I'm looking forward to, knowing that if I do, I will ruin it for myself. I will notice something being the slightly wrong color, or tilted to the side, and it will bother me. Something I do will look absolutely perfect to anyone else, but to me, all I can see are the flaws.

Finally, one of my biggest fears in life, is abandonment. I don't want to be alone. Being alone makes me feel awful. I like being by myself, but being truly alone is a though that makes me stay awake at night. A lot of my earlier behaviors can be explained away as a result of this fear. I didn't want people to be uncomfortable around me, so I stopped showing big emotions. I didn't want my parents to not like me, so my grades were the thing I stressed out about the most. I want to be a good friend and keep the people I have around me, so I'm loyal and protective. I'm a people pleaser by definition.

Seeing myself reflected so much in Nagisa gave myself pause when playing. I was sat at my computer like this.

Like, oop, that's me right there. So I lied in an earlier post when I said I'm a combo of Hajime and Tsumugi, because there's a ton of Nagisa in the mix too.

So I have a major announcement to make. I am adopting Nagisa. He is my adopted son now, and I will give him the best childhood ever. He will go on playdates with the rest of the WOH, and maybe Monaca if she behaves herself. He will study and get good grades, but if his grades drop, it's no big deal, I have full faith he'll make up for it and I'll help him where he's struggling. He'll get just as much downtime as work time, and BE ALLOWED TO SLEEP WHEN HE NEEDS IT. Hell, I'll let him sleep in. I'm talking dessert after a healthy dinner, fun weekends out, movie nights.

Besides, he already looks like my son anyways. The WOH deserve good parental figures in their life, no child should be subjected to what they went through. They still have their whole lives ahead of them to atone for what they've done, and start again. Nagisa could grow up and become a teacher, or a rock star, or whatever else he wants to be. And momma Mod Tsumugi would be proud.

-Mod Tsumugi

Also he's a silly <3

Original Uploader: Tiger Falco on YouTube

[ultimatenaoki]

Kyoko kirigiri confesses her love to junko's little brother who's afraid of Kyoko and isn't obsessed with despair(make it take place during the killing game)

Don’t be scared

Kyoko Kirigiri x Male Reader

🩷Kyoko Kirigiri confesses to Junko’s little brother🩷

•Warnings: SPOILER; mention of death, (Y/N) being insulted

•Killing Game

Who could have guessed that? Kyoko Kirigiri? The Ultimate Detective, a girl with the only objective to discover the truth?

And you, a guy who’s not sure even about his position in this crazy and scary school and in this killing game.

Now, you aren’t a normal student. No I’m not talking about an Ultimate talent or anything. You are Junko Enoshima’s brother.

On the opposite of your sister, though, dispair isn’t something that you’re obsessed with. And with all you’re sister caused you’re even more unpleased by despair and her.

Junko killed your sister. Mukuro is dead because of Junko.

Now on the other hand, with all the deaths that has occurred and the will to fight and defying the mastermind, your classmates might find out about your secret.

Knowing them they will show no mercy against Junko’s brother.

However the last thing you’d expect at a time like this is to Kyoko searching for you and wanting to talk to you.

“(Y/N)” says a calm and known voice. You didn’t turn around. You didn’t want to talk to her. Who knows what she has in mind.

However this serious and compose attitude was quite charming, you had to admit it.

So, instead of running in the opposite direction like your fear told you to do, you turned around and your sight fell in her purple eyes, charming as her personality is.

“I want to talk to you” her voice was serious as usual but for some reason you could feel that something was off. Who knows what, probably she found out about your sister.

Unable to say anything, both for the fear of her and, difficult for you to admit, how much you actually admire her; you stayed still, waiting for her to say or do something.

“I’ve been thinking” says her voice. “There’s something off about you (Y/N)”. You frown. You were right, she found out about your sister, and seeing how your sister treated Mukuro you Werner going to be saved by Junko.

“There’s something about you that… That make me feel strange” continued Kyoko. Now you were confused. Did she find out or there was something else? “Perhaps this is what people call… love” finished her. “Huh?” the sound escaped your mouth before your mind could comprehend it.

“Love?” your voice was clearly confuse. “Yes. I know it is strange and I do understand if you do not accept this confession-” “N-no it’s not that” you cut her off before she could finish. “Is just that… You? Loving me?” you said.

“Yes” she simply said. Her voice was as serious as it was from the beginning but for some reason you could feel her emotion. You could feel that she wasn’t lying, she was telling the truth.

“I… I think I like you too” you said, you’re face covered in blush due to you being too flustered.

After this strange and confusing confession time passed, and your bond got stronger day after day.

That was until the last class trial.

After Junko Enoshima revealed herself and told everyone Mukuro, the “Fake Junko” was her twin sister, now it was time for you to be travels as her brother.

“Now, there another big new!” said the mastermind. “(Y/N) here is also my sibling, he’s younger brother!”

And again you frowned, looking at the ground, while all the other students made surprised sounds. Everyone expect Kyoko, who kept her calm and composed attitude.

“Y-you filthy. You were on her s-side the whole time right?!” said Toko. “What? (Y/N)? I-I can’t believe it” said Makoto. “Really? Man, that’s crazy!” Hiro. “(Y/N)? Is that true?” Hina. “Disgusting” Byakuya. All of them. All of the peopel who you thought were different, who you thought would accepted you were disgusted or scared of you.

Everyone, expect Kyoko. “Do not fear” said her calm but sicure voice. “(Y/N) isn’t like Junko. He despite despair, and I can say that for sure”

“How can you be so sure?” asked Byakuya. “I had a feeling about him being in some way relate to the mastermind and still I wanted to know him, and now I did. I do know that he is not one of the Ultimate Despair. Plus if you looked closely to his face when Mukuro got killed, you could see true horror” you could believe that.

Kyoko was defending you? You know she loved you but to go this far. “Thank you” a soft and broke voice said. “Thank you so much Kyoko” you raised your sight to look at her in the eyes, a smile on your face and one on hers as well.

Everyone could see the tears threatened to fall from your eyes, and no one could deny that Kyoko was telling the truth.

During Junko’s execution you weren’t sad or anything.

You were thinking about all of the innocent people that your sister killed. Including Mukuro.

Kyoko stayed by your side all the time, holding your hand.

When you got out of there you both entered the Future Foundation.

And now you both love each other as much as it could be.

[batbeato]

been thinking about persona and its depiction of motherhood. or: what it doesn't depict.

this started with me being annoyed that there is yet another dead saintly mother in persona 5 tactica. then I started considering: wait, when are persona mothers not saintly? when are persona mothers human? and the answer is: almost never.

I cast my mind back, thinking over all of the prominent depictions of mothers in the series. I think the one that stands out the most to me is Maki's mother in Persona 1. She loves her daughter unconditionally, but she also screws up sometimes, and doesn't spend enough time with her sickly daughter in the hospital, causing her daughter to resent her.

After that, the next one I can think of is Junko, from Persona 2. She isn't nearly as prominent as Maki's mother is in the narrative, but her focus on beauty over her child is certainly something of note that I wish the story had explored more (even if, as a girl who married a teacher and gave birth a short span of years later, as far as I remember, her obsession with her beauty and youth is understandable). In the end she seems to regret her actions and how they affected Jun.

Then we have Yukari's mother, Persona 3, who Yukari doesn't get along with due to how they dealt differently with her father's death. It's a big rift between the two that only slowly begins to heal, and that shows that both sides are human and how they were hurt and split apart by a tragedy that they might have better dealt with together.

After that... We have very little. What mother figure exists in Persona 4? We have Nanako's mother, who died tragically but is referred to as a loving and wonderful woman. What mother figure exists in Persona 5? We have Akechi's mother, who died tragically but is referred to as a loving and wonderful woman. Same with Wakaba, who is distorted by Futaba's perception of her, but is ultimately a kind and loving mother. Persona 5 Strikers? Akane's mother. Persona 5 Tactica? Toshiro's mother.

If we consider the Confidants, in Persona 5 we do have Shinya's mother, who... is overprotective, yes, but also loves her son very dearly. There is no resentment, merely concern that goes too far.

There are many absent or missing mothers in Persona, all of whom are said to have been loving and kind and wonderful woman. Several times, people will repeat lines about the unconditional and wonderful love of a mother. There are so many loving and kind and wonderful mothers that it seems like recent Persona games take for granted this idea that "mothers will always love their children", which seems rather ridiculous when compared to the presence of abusive fathers (Akechi, Ryuji, Akira in Strikers, and now Toshiro).

This sort of double standard, wherein lines about the unconditional love of a mother, even when their children come from men who are cruel or unkind to them, are spouted whilst men are shown to be abusive, annoys me. It is as if women must have some sort of inherent goodness, some inherent quality of motherhood which men lack, that makes men more prone to abuse.

The Persona series is no stranger to having issues with gender - look at the depiction of drag in Persona 4 and 5, the one-off transgender woman in Persona 3 who was depicted as predatory, the trans NPC in Persona 2 who wants to rip men's dicks off - but I don't think people often talk about how it choose, in recent years, time and time again, to depict mothers as holy saints.

I was playing Tactica, watching Futaba insist on the love of mothers and Toshiro's cognition of his dead mother insist that she loved him dearly, and I thought: why? Why is this trope of the saintly dead mother so pervasive in recent Persona games?

I hope it stops soon.

[aparticularbandit]

Of An Endless Infinity: Day Eight (IV)

Summary: What does it mean to be the Ultimate Hope?

Is it only hope on the big scale?  That the world is not so dark and depressing and destructive as the villain in front of you says it is?  That you can win, even when everything else says that you can’t?  That maybe it is better to live your life, even afraid, than it is to keep yourself sequestered away, alone?

Does it not also mean hope on the small scale?

Or: Makoto sacrifices himself in the hope that the other survivors might be able to help Junko. It remains to be seen whether this will actually succeed.

Chapter Rating: T. Fic Rating: M for Danganronpa reasons.

TW for suicidal ideation.

AO3

previous chapter | next chapter

Day Eight (of an Endless Infinity).

“Kyoko?”

Sometimes, Junko’s voice can be so soft.  Fragile.

(It’s a lie.  It was always a lie.  The mastermind weaves traps, and here she’s stumbling into one once again.  The trap was a noose around her neck, and she’d never seen it coming until it was too late.)

Kyoko comes to herself, comes out of the onslaught of memories that a kiss wasn’t supposed to unlock but somehow did, and opens her eyes to find Junko thrust against the same wall she’d just been pressed against, her hand clenched around Junko’s throat.

Tight around Junko’s throat.

If she didn’t know any better, Kyoko would think she shoved Junko against the wall herself.

(She doesn’t know any better.  She hadn’t been aware, and as a detective?  That’s definitely what happened.)

Junko’s lips are swollen, and her own ache.

“Are you….”  Junko raises one sculpted brow.  “You’re going to let me down, right, Kyokyo?” she rasps, face turning a bright raspberry red.  Despite this, she isn’t tearing at Kyoko’s hand, isn’t digging her sharp claws into Kyoko’s leather glove.  She’s complacent.  Curious.  “I mean,” she coughs, “I don’t really mind if you don’t.  Not exactly the death I was planning, but—”

Kyoko tightens just enough to cut her off.

Junko grins.

At that expression, Kyoko feels something else – some other part of her – trying to drag her hand away.  To let Junko go.  It’s the part of her that wins in the end, as the other part realizes it doesn’t want to play into whatever Junko is feeling down, and Kyoko releases her.

(Kyoko isn’t strong.  Apparently she was strong enough for that.)

Junko drops and collapses to the floor.  She props herself up with one hand, the other around her throat as she coughs – once, twice, three times; deep, heaving coughs as she gasps for breath.  “When you said you wanted to leave your fingerprints all over me, this is not what I thought you meant,” she rasps out finally, her coughs turning into chuckles.  She forces herself up, runs her fingers along her throat.  “I’ll bruise.”

“Good.”

“They’ll be there for a few days,” Junko muses, as though Kyoko hasn’t said anything at all.  She swallows, hard.  “So.”  When she meets Kyoko’s gaze, she glances up through her lashes.  Bats them twice.  “Are you?”

Kyoko stares at her, confused.  “Am I what?”

“Interested.”

This time, when Kyoko doesn’t say anything, it isn’t because she doesn’t have an answer.  It’s because the answer is complicated and she doesn’t want to delve into any of the complication with the woman who’d played her like a fiddle from the very beginning.  Is she interested?  Yes.  Is she going to tell Junko that?  No.  (Is she going to let herself acknowledge it?  Also no.)  “You said you needed me,” she says instead.  “What did you mean by that?”

Junko gives her a smug smile.  “What’s my Talent, Kyokyo?”  She spreads her hands out and waits for the answer.

“You’re the Ultimate Despair,” Kyoko answers, knowing that’s not what Junko wants to hear.  “The Ultimate Fashionista.”  Also wrong.  Still, she sucks in the breath through her teeth before she says, finally, “The Ultimate Analyst.”

“Right on the money!”  Junko finger guns with a bright grin on her face.  She coughs again – a large, hacking thing – and pounds on her thin chest a few times until she stops.  “You really did a number on me,” she whispers.  “I didn’t expect—”  Then she shakes her head, mutters, “Unimportant,” and glances back up.  “I said I needed you because I needed you,” she answers, finally.  “Just because you want everything to be a lie doesn’t mean it was one, Kyokyo.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Why not?”  Junko’s eyes widen with feigned innocence.  “It’s your name, after all, isn’t it, Kyokyo?”

When Junko steps forward, Kyoko doesn’t back away, despite the immediate urge to do so.  It wouldn’t do any good.  She would only back up until she ran into another wall, and that would be the end of it.  So she stays just where she is, eyes narrowing as Junko takes her tie between her skeletal fingers.

“Your tie’s still sloppy, Kyoko.  Honestly, I don’t know how you manage without me.”  Junko walks her fingers up the tie and tightens it just enough.  Not tight but right.  (It’s just the noose, after all.)  She sucks her bottom lip between her teeth.  Seems to consider something.  Then lets her hand fall away.  “Remembering everything…you hate me more, don’t you?”

Her voice is soft.  Gentle.  Hurt.

The Kyoko from her memories, the one who didn’t know any better, would tell Junko that she could never hate her.  Not necessarily due to how much she might have loved her, but because Kyoko is very rarely concerned with things like hate.  The Kyoko from before would think of her feelings for her father the headmaster her father and think nothing could compare to that resentment, nothing could surpass it.  She also would have felt foolish for making the claim, no matter how much she might have believed it.

But that’s not the correct response.

(Kyoko has found herself in a game of chess, only she’s missing half of the pieces, and she doesn’t even know which ones she’s missing.)

“Do you want me to hate you?”

Junko’s brow furrows.  She starts to pull a pair of glasses out of her pocket.  “I am of two minds—”

Kyoko clasps her hand around Junko’s, stopping her from putting the glasses on.  “Don’t play a role with me.”

Junko just rolls her eyes.  “People always play a role with other people, Kyoko.  They build up walls, a façade, that protects them while they interact with the world at large.  Different walls for different people.  No walls for some people – for one person – they might say, but there’s still always a barrier, there’s still always something that’s left unsaid.”  She nods towards Kyoko’s gloves.  “You would have me remove my masks and be as vulnerable for you as you were when you removed those for me, but this self?  Junko Enoshima?”  She laughs – a light, maniacal thing.  “There’s no fucking way.”  The light in her eyes fades.  “I can’t remove her even if I tried.”

(Where is the bear?  There was a plush bear; Junko was holding a plush bear.  Where did the bear go?)

“I have never played a role with you.”

“Sure, you have.”  Junko reaches over and boops Kyoko’s nose.  “You just don’t remember it yet.”  She steps back, slips her hand from Kyoko’s grasp, and places the glasses on her nose, pushes them along its slender bridge with the nudge of one finger.  “Now,” she continues as though she’d never been interrupted, “I am of two minds as to whether I want you to hate me or not.” Her voice takes on an expository, instructing tone.  (She relaxes into the role; it fits her like a glove.)  Then she opens her mouth, pauses, and removes the glasses, folding them and hiding them in a different pocket.  “Maybe I don’t want to be that fucking exposed.”

But there’s a truth to it, isn’t there?’

The more Kyoko remembers, the more a part of her is drawn to Junko.  She’s not sure she would call it love, what she feels, because she has nothing with which to compare it, not that thing that people would call love.  For instance, she loves her grandfather even now, but that’s of such a different sort that it’s not quite comparable, is it?  What she feels for Junko – even in its purest form in her memories – is far more complicated than that.

(She is not thinking of Yui.  That is equally complicated.  But it doesn’t really matter when Yui is gone, does it?)

“You hate me,” Junko states it like it’s a fact (because it is), “and you love me,” (another fact), “and you hate me for loving me, and you hate you for loving me, and you think, How could I be so blind?  How could I not have seen?  Maybe, if I had noticed everything sooner, if I hadn’t let myself love her, this whole thing could have been prevented, and the despair of it all hits you, and I feed on that, and I love you, of course, I love you, it wouldn’t hurt if I didn’t, and I want you to love me, and you hate me, and I taste my own despair, and I want you to hate me because then I keep feeling like this, and I want you to love me because I still want you to love me, and maybe I hate myself for wanting that all the same, but I want it, and I will never have it, not so completely as I did before, and I didn’t even have it then, and the despair just increases, and I want to die, but I’ve always wanted that, and soon….”  Her voice trails off as she steps back, and she relaxes, calms, hands spread out again to either side of her with her eyes closed like she’s some sort of sacrificial heroine in one of those anime shows she constantly brought up but they never saw together, like she’s some sort of beatific, some sort of holy.  “Soon I will die.”

They say there’s a thin line between love and hate – Junko said there was a thin line between hope and despair – but sometimes the truth of the matter is that there’s no line at all, just a spiraling, a mixing of the two together until you can’t pull one from the other any longer.

“You won’t die,” Kyoko answers, and she tastes the lie on her lips when she says it.  “Not you.”

“Because if I die, I take the rest of you with me?”  Junko opens her eyes, and her head tilts so that she can meet Kyoko’s eyes again.  “Or because you won’t let me?”  She steps forward towards Kyoko again, and this time, Kyoko backs up, and Junko continues forward until Kyoko’s back presses against the wall again, until when she speaks, her breath is hot against Kyoko’s lips.  (Kyoko recoils; Kyoko wants.)  “This train ain’t stopping, Kyoko.  I will die, and no matter how hard you try, you won’t be able to stop it.  You won’t be able to save me.”  She nearly smiles.  “There’s a light at the end of the tunnel, and I’m racing for it, and nothing you say will hold me back.  However.”  She reaches up and pats Kyoko’s cheek.  “It won’t hurt any of you.  You’ll survive.  It’s not that kind of death.  If it were, it wouldn’t be at my own hand, and that’s—”

Junko is right.

Kyoko hates herself.

Before Kyoko can finish the daggers she’s speaking, Kyoko places a fingers on her lips, silencing her.  “Stop.”  She searches Junko’s eyes.  Can’t say it.  (Won’t say it.)

Junko just smiles, a fond thing, and kisses the tip of Kyoko’s finger.  Her gaze lowers to Kyoko’s lips, and she sighs.  “It would be nice,” she murmurs, “to forget.  Wouldn’t it?  Not forever, but….”  Her voice trails off.  Then she steps back, away, raising her own finger to cover her lips.  Winks with sad eyes.  And then silently gestures with her other hand for Kyoko to follow her.

~

There’s nothing else in the tunnels.

Nothing that Kyoko can see, anyway, nothing that Junko shows her, although at this point, Kyoko feels so overwhelmed by everything that she’s not certain she would notice that she missed something unless she goes back over everything on her own later.  If there’s something Byakuya’s meant to find – or have found – in his own wanderings, it isn’t something she sees.  Likely because Junko simply doesn’t want her to see it.  And it isn’t like she can explore thoroughly while Junko is here with her.

Makoto is the one who guessed the last passcode, guessed it without even knowing Kyoko’s father because he still somehow knew him better than she did.

Maybe, if she thinks about it hard enough, Kyoko will be able to guess the code for the tunnels.  Maybe she’ll get down here alone, so that she can explore without distraction.

(She doesn’t have the luck for that.)

((The plush bear doesn’t show up again.  Where did it go?))

~

When they return to their shared room, Kyoko glances at the clock, notes that it should be dark outside (if they could see outside), notes that there are other options to be made here – dinner, for one, if her grumbling stomach is anything to go by – but instead sits on her bed, too exhausted to push herself anywhere else.  She looks up at an uncharacteristically quiet Junko with a pang of combined longing and hatred, makes a decision she never thought she would make, and then pats the mattress next to her.

“Let’s forget,” Kyoko says, hating herself for saying it.  “Stay with me.”

Junko straightens – had she been hunched before? – and turns to Kyoko with wide eyes.  “You don’t mean that.”

“Take advantage, Junko.”  Kyoko meets her eyes with a steady gaze.  “If you’re telling the truth, you’re going to die soon.  Consider this your last meal.”

The words catch in her throat.

(What will one night hurt?  One early morning?  To pretend, knowing that when they wake everything will have to go back to the way that it is?  The way that it always will be?)

Junko hesitates.  “You don’t want me.”

And still, Kyoko pats the spot next to her.  She doesn’t know why she does it.  Somehow, it feels scripted.

But that doesn’t mean the script isn’t right.

“Don’t tell me what I want.”

Without another word, Junko crawls into bed next to her.  She hesitates again, looks up at Kyoko, and then curls into her, resting her head in the crook of her neck.  “Is this okay?”

Her words are so small.

(Junko is supposed to be larger than life.)

((And yet.))

(((And yet.)))

“No.”  Kyoko runs her fingers through Junko’s long pink hair.  The motion is as soothing to her in its familiarity as it might be to Junko.  She can’t know.  “Isn’t that the point?”

Junko hums her quiet approval as she leans up and kisses the edge of Kyoko’s jaw, just in the same spot where Kyoko’d left a mark on her so long ago.  “It’s okay,” she murmurs, “to forget sometimes.  People do it in the movies all the time.  Hit their heads and just…forget.  We might not be in a movie, but…but maybe, for a little while, we can just….”  She curls closer to Kyoko.  “We can have this.”  Her eyes search the air in front of her.  “Maybe we can pretend that none of it happened.  Or maybe…maybe that some of it did, but that I’m not…I was never….”

“Is that what you want?” Kyoko asks as Junko’s voice trails off.  “To not?  To never?”

“I don’t know what I want.”

But she smells of blue raspberries, and Kyoko doesn’t shove her away when she lies back in their bed, doesn’t shove her away when Junko wraps her arms around her and buries her head against her, doesn’t shove her away when she clings to her as she falls gently asleep.

[sxgarcloudd]

augbb I've just been thinking of eqg x danganronpa, n some of these r rlly obviois BUT:

the dazzlings would likely be junko, tsumugi and probably mukuro??? mukuro could be switched out for kamakura but imo mukuro makes a little more sense to me. obviously, junko would be adagio, and then I feel like realistically tsumugi would be more likely sonata, but at the same time, mukuro doesn't really act much like aria? so arguably I say they could be either or.

similarly, whilst I go onto main six, I think hajime could be scitwi. like instead of midnight twilight? fucking kamakura. but at the same time, i feel like makoto fits twilight a little more? he'll, if you really wanted to, you could probably say toko fits her more than either of them, but at the same time, that's really only the links to books and writing and literature and such, and not the actual personality, and thus why I think it would either be hajime or makoto.

OTHER MAIN SIX!!!

honestly? I feel fluttershy would probably be mikan, maybe toko. mikan due to her apologetic, anxious nature and due to the fact that because she is a nurse, she shows some form of kindness and therefore could represent kindness. I also say toko because she is very similarly anxious and afraid of others, though admittedly she's a little more rude about it, for lack of me being able to think of a better way to put it. but, that could also arguably be apart of her character arc, with toko learning how to be kind to and begin to trust others despite what she's experienced, but I dunno.

UPDATE!! also gonta arguably could be. whilst he isn't shy or nervous like the others, he's a nice gentleman so like. you know.

rainbow dash, honestly, I think would go to akane. I cant really have any way to explain it, but it's just something about her. that gives me rainbow days.

now if didn't say adagio (and she wasn't how she was in canon) I would so confidently being saying junko rarity but even then that doesn't really fit. ahhh maybe someone like sakura or sonia or chihiro??? I dunno.

applejack substitute I feel like could honestly really be mahiru. I dunno just. mahiru.

pinkie could very honestly be kokichi. honestly I sat trying to think of someone else for a few minutes and I just. can't.

anyways, sunset I feel could be either nagito or byakuya. nagito because of the lucky student parallel, thus why I wouldn't really want him to be sunset, and byakuya because. rich man. and honestly he could realistically be the sort of person who tries to become a princess and then runs away and steals from someone only to become the classic mean girl (boy) in school and then get lasered by magic rainbows. I dunno.

also yes I know there are more movies beyond friendship games but idk who would be good for the crystal prep students + gloriosa + the special characters (like the girl from the theme park one would sort of fit non despair junko but yet again. she is locked in adagio in my heart.)

AGAIN I'm not very sure on. any of my ideas. please say if u have ideas

[kozachenko]

A compilation of questions and thoughts I have about Touhou's Hell, and the Hell adjacent places in Touhou (mainly just new hell and the animal realm)

This is very long so I'll put a little keep reading link down here

Maybe I just need to catch myself up on the lore, but I've been thinking about the whole "Former Hell-New Hell" thing because like, how did the selection for Gensokyo's Hell work? Was Former Hell still the main Hell before Gensokyo was made? Or did it change before Gensokyo was made and Zanmu was just looking for a new place for Hell to be located in, saw what Hecatia made and just went "ah yes, this is the spot" and just picked that specific place. Like, even the wiki states that the exact time of Hell's location change is unknown. Also, it's stated in Zanmu's profile that she rules over Hell, but then that brings Hecatia's importance in Hell into question. How important is Hecatia to Gensokyo's Hell really? It also says on the Touhou wiki page for Hell that before Touhou 17 there was some internal conflict going on there and that that's what the Animal spirits used to cause a distraction so they could accomplish their plans?

Also, how long have the animal spirits been dealing with Keiki for? Because for a god that is relatively obscure and who was (supposedly) only just summoned, she seems pretty powerful, almost completely taking over the Animal realm (had it not been for our protagonists). Also, with the way Yachie refers to Keiki as an "old enemy" (which I am STILL thinking about), how long have the two known each other? They're familiar enough to talk to each other while fighting, and the beast spirits know her name. Which would be another weird detail if she was very recently summoned? Keiki isn't really the type to show off that she's a god (heck, she even tries to convince the protagonists that she's a human), and Keiki herself is familiar with how the beast spirits operate, with her lines on how "beasts will be beasts" and her comments on the different beast gangs in the Animal realm showing that dealing with beast spirits clearly isn't a new thing to her. Overall, there seems to be this sense of vitriolic familiarity (for lack of a better term) between everyone in the Animal realm. Also, with the technological state of the Animal realm in Touhou 17, there are clearly a lot of modern buildings approaching the Primate Garden. So either A) The beasts built those themselves and it was always like that or B) Keiki built those when she was summoned. Now I don't know about you, but I don't think anyone, god or not, would be able to complete an entire city in just a day or two. Especially one like the one in Touhou 17. I feel like with all of this information, it's safe to say that Keiki has been a problem for a while.

Also, how did the Animal Realm even get created in the first place? Like, was it always there when Hecatia made Hell, or did Zanmu just kind of make the realm it's own thing, because from what I've gathered, it's implied that Yachie, Yuuma, and Saki all came from Old Hell to the New Hell when Zanmu changed locations (also, a bit unrelated, but I have the headcanon that Yachie started using, or developed her ability to be more like Zanmu's since she looks up to her a lot).

A thing that's kind of unrelated, but makes me laugh whenever I think about is how Zanmu is basically just what would happen if a DnD player rolled a Nat 20 on every single charisma check and ended up becoming the King of Hell. Like, if you were to make her a DnD character you'd have to make her a neutral evil Monk who has a really high charisma bonus stat lmao

I've also kind of developed this little story idea for a Touhou fic, where the events of Touhou 15 inadvertently set up Touhou 17, where Hecatia's involvement in Junko's revenge plans end up being a sort of "last straw" for the rest of Hell. People are beginning to question why Hecatia is getting so involved with this one vengeful spirit and why she's so Hell bent (get it?) on picking a fight with one of the most powerful, and technologically advanced civilizations in the world (The Lunar Capital) when doing so would do nothing for Hell? Of course, I have a feeling that Zanmu would probably be manipulating Hell's population against Hecatia, since a part of this idea is that Zanmu wants Hecatia out of Hell so she can take complete control of it herself (since I really like the idea of the two of them having this sort of power struggle where they both want the other one gone). Then as the political strife in Hell gets more and more intense, the beast spirits see this distraction as an opportunity to set their plan to get rid of Keiki in motion. They discover Gensokyo, find our protagonists, yadda yadda yadda Touhou 17 happens, you know the rest.

Also, as my own way of connecting Touhou 17 to Touhou 18, during the incident of 17.5, the Tengu probably got involved in the selling of oil, and once it was over, Megumu was looking for new buisness opportunities and came across Chimata, Touhou 18 happens, this leads into Touhou 19 (I really really really want a new fighting game for 19.5 that expands on whatever happened to Keiki because, oh yeah, WHERE IS SHE ZUN, IS SHE WITH MIMA OR SOMETHING, PLEASE, I NEED ANSWERS-).

So yeah those are my ramblings about Touhou's Hell, like, it's such an interesting location and I really want more Touhou media to take place there since there's so much you could do with the setting.

[theultimatekamehamehavoc]

Gifted Children Doing Teen Stuff

This all begins with this one thought this one, kinda dumb thought The Trigger Happy Havoc cast TPing a house Why? Not sure! I'm gonna work with this though Will separate into two categories for convivence and organization purposes!

Non-Despair

Can definitely see some of these losers doing this. Def Leon and Hiro. They just have that vibe. That ENERGY that they'd do something like this. I feel these two would work beautifully. These two might be responsible for everyone else getting dragged in. Or not. Dunno the "lore" for this tbh. Leon would be SOOO good at this though. Ultimate Baseball Star. Man's ballin. And by ballin' in this context, I mean he is CHUCKING THAT TOILET PAPER AT THE SPEED OF SOUND. Guy's just too good at this and he's having the time of his life. Meanwhile, Hiro's being Hiro. For all I know, he might start randomly spouting about ghosts in the house or something or it being haunted which, depending on the condition of the house, it MIGHT be valid. Makoto is trying his best. He's probably getting dragged around, either mediating or attepting to actually aid in the TPing of the house. Just being a WEE bit of a boy failure which we love him for. That is all I can say about him. I can oddly say yes for Sayaka on this too regarding her willingness to do this. She just gives me the feeling that she's more chaotic than she lets on. I give respect on that though I swear, she's hiding something. Mondo is also a good, solid yes. I can SO see Mondo holding a roll with a grin on his face while Taka's trying his hardest to convince his bro not to do it as if the toilet paper roll was a grenade. Also, just, Taka trying his best to convince everyone to not do this and failing miserably. Out of all the mediators who keep the peace, he is the most adamant and MAYBE the least effective. These guys aren't just the Ultimate's in their talents, they are the Ultimate's in their field of CHAOS! Chihiro probably tags along with Mondo and Taka and maybe Leon. Can see Chihiro also tagging along with Makoto too. Prob just following people and trying not to pull a muscle from throwing too hard. Aoi probably causes some chaos. She also gives me that energy. Thank goodness Sakura is also here though. She is the true mediator of the group though no one can contain these guys. Celeste is a no. Like hell is she doing this with her class. Honestly, the only way I could see her engaging in this is via watching a block away, sipping her tea while the house her foolish classmates tried to TP burns in the background. She just gives me major "Enjoyer of watching stupid situations burn in front of her" Hifumi is an odd case. He might just stick around with Celeste but also dunno. Maybe he'd join. He might only throw a single roll a couple feet into the air, not even grazing the house. But, it's the effort that counts! Toko would only join if they dragged Byakuya into this. She probably wouldn't do anything to be honest. Probably making snide remarks, insulting Hina like usual (or maybe she's cooled it in this time line??) Toko is a bit of a snarker like that. Genocider is a different story though. Things might escalate because of this fiend. Windows are probably getting broken. Meanwhile, in the scenario where Byakuya got here, he is just: >:( Obviously got brought here against his will. Like hell would he willingly do this. Who knows. Maybe they got Makoto to bribe him. How? Dunno. Not sure what he'd do besides just stand there, judging. Maybe someone comments that "If WE'RE doing such a terrible job at this, why aren't YOU doing something?!" and then he gets all petty and starts chucking. Or not. Not sure though. Junko would reign terror. That is all I will delve in... (cough cough she might be the reason the house caught on fire) Murkuro probably helped Junko in... whatever atrocity she did. I can also see her maybe tagging along with Makoto though in which poor Makoto tries his best to mediate (he fails hard) Kyoko ends up being way better at this though I can also see her just observing the havoc. Maybe munches on some popcorn. Good for her, honestly.

Despair

Pushing any valid reasons aside as for why they would even do this, for instance It's the gosh darn apocalypse! Why would you do this?! Though, at the same time, it's the gosh darn apocalypse. Why WOULDN'T you do this. Ey? The only potential reason I can see this occurring is from Hiro. I dunno why I feel this way but then again, he's the resident big dumbass of the group so, if ANYONE is doing something dumb, it's him. Or, who knows. Maybe freakin Genocider was like "Now that I don't kill people anymore, let's do this as a TERFFIC celebration for my soberness from bloodlust" Actually, crap. I love that idea. It's so dumb yet... smart??? Maybe giving myself too much credit here but I think I got a good a PRETTY good case for myself... potentially... in a sense... Regarding how everyone is, Kyoko's probably the same as in the Non-Despair one. Just chilling, watching, kinda just vibing. Byakuya's the same too though he MIGHT be putting more effort into this due to the survivors bonding more. He's still complaining. Guy'd complain if you gave him his favorite food, professionally prepared. He's just wired like that. Honestly, everyone is probably the same in this. It's just the circumstances. Though who knows. I hand this out to the PUBLIC. Only YOU can truly decide. No clue if this will last as some sort of thought experiment series of mine but it's worth a shot! May or may not edit this though if I do, I will mark that I did in fact do so. All my readings for the characters may be completely off but then again, Byakuya's got me in such a chokehold that it's hard for me to even analyze the others without shifting gears. I'm trying to remedy this though ANYWAY, hope this was a fun read!

[sprinklenoodles]

Onto the second part of Chapter Two of my Kyoko and Byakuya role-swap AU.

We’ve had some slight differences so far, but more will come.

So, Mondo and Taka still have their very straight moment, like in canon. I am making them a couple cuz I can.

Toko also isn’t stalking Byakuya since he isn’t really mean to her. He mostly ignores her, so no weird affection there.

But the rest of the chapter goes on as normal. The motives are revealed and Chihiro still wants to get stronger... but this time he doesn’t go to Mondo. While he still looks up to Mondo, there’s another boy who he sees as strong- though, more mentally then physically.

But maybe that’s what he needs a bit more- working on his confidence could really help a lot too.

So, he asks Byakuya to meet with him. Byakuya accepts, sensing no danger from Chihiro. To be safe, he did tell 'Junko' he was meeting up wuith Chihiro.

This leads to Chihiro revealing his secret to Byakuya and avoiding his death. (Yes, I know this is literally the beginning of That Really Wasn’t Supposed To Happen, but it’s a bit different. I’m also incapable of writing something without this friendship, so...)

Chihiro doesn’t end up dying, which is great! The next morning, everyone is alive! And there’s only a few more hours until the motive reveal.

Byakuya suggests staying together until then, but others don’t want to. So, they split up and all do their own things.

Chihiro and Byakuya leave together- though Makoto doesn’t know why- and Sakura and Hina go out for a swim.

All seems well and they are just waiting until Monokuma calls them to the gym again, but he doesn’t...

Makoto decides to do some investigating and after- accidently- meeting up with Byakuya and Chihiro, the Monokuma announcement begins to play before Chihiro could see the body.

What they see is the body of Hifumi Yamada in the pool, his blood staining the water as he floats at the top.

Monokuma File: Victim: Hifumi Yamada

Time of death: 12:15 pm (they find the body around 3pm)

The victim was hit on the head with a blunt object. Water can be found in his mouth and lungs.

Yup! I’m making you guys try to solve it. I’ll probably post the investigation and trial tomorrow or Saturday!

As a hint: this mystery takes a bit from the one in the original chapter two... Just a bit though. Good luck!

[dr1ggles]

For anyone who's looking for good, well written saiouma stories ;)

Finished Long Fics:

Second Chances - Post Game fic where the game was virtual reality and everyone lives. Shuichi goes back to his apartment only to realize he had a roommate pre-game; Kokichi. VERY good highly recommend, it seems very boring at first but it's fucking HILARIOUS and very much slow burn. 10/10

Therefore you and me (as a result of living, as a result of dying): HONESTLY MY FAVORITE FIC EVER. it is post-game and everyone lives but throw in all their trauma (ACTUALLY realistically) and that Team Danganronpa is forcing them into their rehabilitate facility and absolute major angst and voila. the energy this fic gives me is to DIE for but im a slut for angst. emotionally damaging, indeed. 100/10

our deal: in-game fic where when kokichi stops shuichi in the virtual world in chapter 4 when he asks him to partner up, except shuichi says YES. this entire fic gives me anxiety and also makes me kick me feet like im delulu. character study + introspection are by far my FAVORITE ao3 tags. 12/10

Reaching: in-game alternate universe fic where kokichi, the mc, is stuck in a loop. whenever he dies, he wakes back up in the locker. OMG THIS ENTIRE THING IS SO GOOD. there's a twist with shuichi that you will NOT see coming. out of pure encouragement i will not say anything more abt this fic. 600/10

Deceit - The Phantom Thief: predictably, a phantom thief AU where shuichi, a detective, takes on the impossible case of the notorious phantom thief! i've read a lot of phantom thief stuff, but this one has a very solid plot line and HORRIBLY slow romance. like, the world seemed like it was going to end before they confessed. literally. 25/10

Sending Postcards from a Plane Crash: another slow burn fic bc im a whore for internal torture. basically the v3 cast survives a plane crash and are isolated on an island. they need to find a way off, but there are some strange irregularities on the island. like polar bears! (it's a tropical island.) everyone is characterized pretty well, but kokichi isnt villainized for the most part, which i like a lot. 10/10

I Reach Out My Hand, Yet He Doesn't Take It: OH. MY. GOD. if i said the other ones were emotionally damaging, this fic takes it to the NEXT FUCKING LEVEL AHAHA. this.... hurts :') but in a good way i think. another post-game fic where everyone survives except this time danganronpa wasn't a game show and the other two games plots were actually happening. it's SO GOOOOOD. and sad. pls read it.

Porcelain Parasite: i havent actually finished this one, but it's a royal AU where shuichi basically gets sold by his parents to kokichi's parents, who are like royal people. and kokichi is kinda weird bc i think he gets cursed by junko. not sure ahaha. ITS GOOD THO. some of the parts scared the heebie jeebies outta me. had me scared for their lives actually. if you like stuff like this its the only fic of its saiouma kind that's written well 👍

Temptations: VERYYYY smut heavy, so if you're not into that i don't recommend this. but if you are.... this is where you belong, brothers. it's in-game and kind of enemies to lovers at the beginning, but shuichi doesnt take very long to move past "hating" kokichi LMAO. very angsty.... and sad. my heart breaks consistently while reading this </3 definitely and owie fic but still very very good. 58388583/10

lies (and how to unravel them): TW for eating disorders throughout the entire fic- like it's the main focus. it was kind of hard to read for me bc it was so well described. shuichi is the one struggling with an ED, and while saiouma is a part of the fic, its main point is his struggles rather than him and kokichi. 10/10 but if you're sensitive to that kinda jazz, i dont recommend this

Sexy Singles in Your Area: the entire first three chapters of this fic is just entirely second hand embarrassment. im talking the worst second hand embarrassment of my LIFE out of all the shows ive seen and books ive read. its so bad fhejgj. it's a very funny and cute fic but also shuichi is DUMB. dumb dumb dense and dumb. also, it has a bunch of angst. cute but angsty. i would say its relatively light however. kokichi is characterized very well, which makes it even better <3 10/10

Everyone's Killing Reality: it's everything you want and more. in-game saiouma where the author changed a bunch of things from the danganronpa game that fucking SUCKED ASS. this is so good bc it satisfies my poor saiouma heart while also making the plot simultaneously stronger. this fic is canon idc what anyone says. 1000000/10

Coastline Massacre: solider au that gave me a bajillion heart attacks while reading it. THIS MADE ME CRY. A LOT. just thinking abt it is making me sad holy shit. 40/10 but oh my GOD beware of the goddamn PAIN you will feel while reading this.

Stay With Me: omg a fic without angst?!?! and a lot of smut. if it isnt angsty its sex. real tears. very fluffy and smut heavy (and its GOOD). 15/10

Dawn Again on this Vibrant and Violent Night: literally just finished this read. OH. MY. GODDDD. i know im obsessing over everything else on this list but by far this is the best one. so fr rn!! the way this person writes is ASTONISHING. the plot had me on the edge of my seat the whole time, plot twist after twist, i SCREAMED at a few of them. its very much plot heavy and focuses on kokichi and shuichi, and it's also ingame. kokichi is characterized to PERFECTION, and im very picky abt how other people write kokichi. i was on the verge of tears throughout the second half of this not bc it was sad, but bc how well the tension was written and laid out. GEHAHFJD IM. I LOVE THIS FIC. MY WHOLE HEART <33 199293848757585885/10

Finished Short Fics:

i consider "short" to be from 10,000 words to 70,000 words. so 😍

you've got the right to remain right here with me: phantom thief au where kokichi is looking for a new roommate to live with (cuz his dumbass got evicted). but kaede hooks him up with shuichi, the detective who is actively chasing his case. so now kokichi is living with him and somehow avoid getting caught <3 all my heart, angsty and fluffy, SO ADORABLE OMG. pls read its worth it

arisama, arisama: in-game alternate plot where instead of the time limit as the motive, it's the despair disease. kokichi has the gullible disease and i find it fucking hilarious. kinda bittersweet ending but its still cute— i would say light angst.

Where the Music Meets the Ocean: again i think this is light angst but some may disagree— alternate universe outside of the killing game where kokichi finds out that shuichi is some sort of mermaid thing- IDK it was never specified exactly what he was. but yeah its very cute and kokichi is a bit of a reckless dummy

Searching for Redemption: in-game universe where no one actually dies for the sack of saiouma and nothing else, there's no real plot logic, but not in a bad way. it starts out smut heavy but gets kinda angsty/fluffy, so i highly recommend it lol. also by one of my favorite ao3 authors 😍

Unextinguished Embers: ok im very much used to plot twists and what not, but the plot twist in this made me SCREEEEEAM. genuine shock. this is a fantasy AU where The Tragedy was about Junko being a sorcerer and basically giving sorcerers a bad name bc she was evil. they were all eradicated except.... one (its kokichi spoiler). shuichi meets him and OOPS you'll have to read it yourself ;P ITS SO GOOD PLS

Pirates of the Caribbean: Vault of the Pirate Lords: if you like pirates and Johnny Depp then you will def like this. it's kinda based off the movies but not really, it has a different plot line. shuichi is the governor's kid and kokichi is a pirate- kokichi kidnaps shuichi but for some dumbass reason he's enthusiastic abt it???? like why are you excited to be kidnapped. weirdo!

Unfinished Fics:

now i don't normally read unfinished stuff but im running out of content 😭😭 send help

fool me twice: alternate universe au where shuichi's ex from high school is kokichi, and now they're both 22 and working at the same place and shuichi is STILL a bitch abt him and kokichi's history. unfinished but so far it's pretty damn good. kokichi and shuichi are so perfectly characterized it's maddening

that's all for now but PLEASE if you have something not on this list that i can read TELL ME. i've read every finished long-fic on ao3 and even wattpad at this point. begging so hard