#and that's about what's going to happen IN milgram. as for what will happen outside.... yeah

[linagram]

post-t3 stuff announcement post! (i guess)

HIIIIII so we're done with the main part of trial 3. yay yay. all verdicts are here and now we can move on to post-t3 voice dramas.

i just wanted to explain how exactly the trial will end and what post-t3 things to expect.

there's gonna be a lot of stuff so i hope it's not too confusing...

(no exact dates bc i'd rather not make promises that i can't keep ^^'' im finally done with all the vds tho!!)

so here's the post-t3 vds list! honestly there's so much i think this can be counted as linagram season 4 😭😭

[ Post-T3 Voice Drama #01 ] Came For The Reward, Stayed For The Punishment

a first voice drama about a conversation between a certain guard and a certain prisoner. pretty short compared to. the rest of the vds, but still kinda important.

2. [ Post-T3 Voice Drama #02 ] The Recollection of Everyone's Sins (Part 1)

discussing the first five prisoners' crimes (akio, aimi, shun, naomi, kei) and what is going to happen to them.

3. [ Post-T3 Voice Drama #02 ] The Recollection of Everyone's Sins (Part 2)

discussing the other five prisoners' crimes (eiko, asahi, yurika, riku, reina) and what is going to happen to them.

4. [ Post-T3 Voice Drama #03 ] The Judge Becomes The Judged (Part 1)

the guards' trial. yikes.

5. [ Post-T3 Voice Drama #03 ] The Judge Becomes The Judged (Part 2)

discussing the guards' crimes before coming to milgram. YIKES.

6. [ Post-T3 Voice Drama #04 ] No Justice In This Place

punishments. we're really doing this.

7. [ Post-T3 Voice Drama #05 ] Accept This Punishment Called Life

the very last vd. kind of a short one but it's. very emotional. at least to me.

andddd that's it! i really meant it when i've said there's going to be. a lot of stuff

tysm for your support guys and hopefully the ending will not be disappointing (or too dark haha) shjdjsksk!!

[milgramfessing]

People are really odd when it comes to Mu in general. People swing between saying she's never done anything wrong ever, excusing her for literally telling the only doctor in the prison that Haruka was fine and implying he was eating,

24/06/22 (Haruka’s Birthday)

Shidou: ……I’m worried about Sakurai-kun. I haven’t seen him around in a while. You’ve been talking with him, right?

Mu: He’s fine. Here, look. I’ve been taking his food to him like this every day. Isn’t that great of me?

Shidou: Yes, very. I’m sorry I’ve been leaving it to you to look after him. Usually, that would be the job of us adults, and yet we’re leaving you with the burden.

Mu: Don’t worry about it. After all, me and Haruka-kun are friends.

Belittle her character by implying she's too stupid to understand the consequences of her behavior or the feelings of others around her. Despite how caring, observant, and socially aware she has shown herself to be over the course of the series.

20/05/28

Mu: It’s weird…… Even though we’re locked up in a place like this…… everyone seems fine. …………nothing’s happened to me so far…… b-but, who knows when they’ll do something horrible to me…… ……hey, are you listening to me? What are you staring at……?

Amane: I’m not staring at anything.

Mu: Liar, you definitely are…… What is it……? That rabbit? Jackalope…… I think that’s what it’s called. ……do you want to pet it?

Amane: ………… Eh, you want to pet it? If you want to, then I’ll be happy to go over and join you.

20/08/01

Mu: Somehow, he feels even fluffier today than usual…… so soft…… Ah, Haruka, do you want to touch too? Jackalope, I mean……

Haruka: Ah, I-I’m fine…… I’m n-not good, with animals…...

Amane: Hm. To think you’d have a problem with something so cute. You’re a really strange person, Haruka-san.

Haruka: …………I guess so.

All of her characterization gets downplayed and ignored as soon as she's done something harmful. In order to lessen her conscious involvement. People rudely go what was she meant to do to help Haruka she took him food she was trying her best to dissuade him.

Honestly, a good first fucking step would be to bring him something he can actually swallow and would settle on his stomach.

But maybe people are woefully ignorant of how starvation works. Maybe a lot of people don't know if you go long enough without food it becomes painful to even swallow or chew food. So bringing a starving man a whole fish and rice isn't the "I want to help" move people are making it out to be. But how was she supposed to know that- May I take you back to the timeline where she actively disuaded a doctor from checking on him?

Because I think the actual doctor would have been able to know and help in this situation while he was still alive.

If other characters can be responsible for how their actions or inaction indirectly hurt someone in and outside of Milgram despite how they couldn't have possibly known that would be the result what makes Mu better than anyone else who didn't know that they would happen, what makes her more deserving of justifications related to her age and alleged lack of knowledge?

The fucking kicker here is they canonically have something that would have saved Haruka's life in Milgram. If only it was just fucking given to him by one of the two parties that knew what he was doing before the point of no return.

20/06/09

Yuno: Thanks for the meal~! ……huh? Kotoko-san, what’ve you got? That’s so unfair, only you getting to drink something that looks so good.

Kotoko: ……it’s a whey protein shake. It doesn’t taste particularly good or anything. I sent a request for it to the guard. The food we get here isn’t bad in terms of nutrient balance, but it’s a bit lacking in protein for me personally.

Yuno: A protein shake, huh. I’ve never tried one before. It looks kinda like a lassi. Can I have a sip?

Kotoko: ……just one sip. Oi, that’s more than a sip. This is supposed to become my muscle.

But how could you be so sure Haruka could have been stopped through this method?

Well, for starters, it's something he'd be able to consume a little more easily (but may not be painless depending on how long it's been), unlike the food Mu was bringing. Two, it's something one could, in theory, force him to drink if it came to that.

Furthermore, protein drinks are literally what are recommended to help someone who has gone a long period without food get back into eating, be it due to illness or by choice. Because after going a long period withoit food it's not ussually recommended to eat foods that are heavy or too complex. It's either this, fluids, or a feeding tube. So, this is just something that factually could have straight up saved his life.

Beyond all that, he flat out admits this could have stopped him through him going out of his way to ask Kotoko (the one who has this) specifically not to interfere with his plan along with him being implied to have told her exactly what his plan was when asking her to not intervene.

23/12/15 (Kotoko’s Birthday)

Haruka: ……please, don’t tell anyone. And also, please, don’t get involved. All I can do, is ask, you……

Kotoko: ––Fufu, fufufufufu.That’s a crazy thing to be thinking. Honestly, it’s weird. But I don’t hate it. If only all the wrongdoers were like you.

Haruka: No…… that’s wrong…… That’s not, why I’m doing, this…… This, isn’t for me…… I have to protect…… so, Kotoko-san…… please……

Kotoko: Eh? Ah, yeah, yeah. Well, I promise I won’t get in your way. Honestly, if I could, I’d love to do it myself, but I’ll step back this time. As for what happens next…… I wonder. It depends on Es.

The Milgram prisoners have a shared kitchen. Everyone had access to this unless Kotoko was just hoarding it in her room, which I doubt. Yet even so, if anyone else was made aware of Haruka's plan earlier then they could have simply requested protein shakes themselves. Haruka did not have to die like this.

This is what makes Futa consistently bringing up the fact Haruka could have been saved so sad.

Futa (Trial 3 Voice Lines)

1 – Kajiyama Futa. Heh… Hahahaha. I see. Looking back, I probably didn’t need to be so scared.

2 – Who cares about forgiving and not forgiving any more. I don’t care about all the annoying voices I kept hearing. There’s something else more important to follow.

3 – I’m different from how I used to be. That person taught me. About faith, about the new world. It’s all down to me…

4 – There was nothing that could be done about the two who went against the commandments, but I feel bad for Haruka. He could’ve been saved like I was.

5 – Just leave everyone to that person. They can save this prison. Just look at me, I’ve already been saved!

It's what makes this timeline so sad,

24/04/19 (Futa’s Birthday)

Futa: ––Hey, are you really ok with this? If you come with me, there’s a chance you can be saved too…… Haruka.

Haruka: Yeah…… I’ve made my mind up. I have, something, that I have to do.

Futa: Ah, is that right…… Haruka, you know, you’re an idiot. There’s no way…… that will save you……

Haruka: Yeah, thank you. I’m glad you came to talk to me, Futa. Um, thank you, for being so kind. Really. But, I’m sorry. This is all I’m able to do……

Because it's the truth if he went with Futa in that moment if, he chose not to follow through when displayed the alternatives- Haruka would still be here. He would have a proper trial three and a song. Yet, instead of actually showing some consideration and understanding towards the people rightfully upset about the fact they won't have that closure with a character, they grew to care so much about...

Haruka and his characterization has been reduced to simple pity fodder for Mu. So people can go well she tried, she didn't fully understand, she's hurting too that was her friend, or the real kicker-

"Well, you should vote her innocent because that's what Haruka wanted. It's what he did that for. Do you want his last actions in the narrative to be in vain? This is why you should forgive her even though she didn't do as much for him as she could have. She just really didn't know."

As though we should just ignore the fact that despite Haruka crying out in All-Knowing All- Agony that he didn't want to be wiped out,

"Don’t wipe me out, don’t wipe me out- I just want to be your good boy."

Despite him saying blatantly he didn't want to die,

Q.17 How old do you want to live to be?

Haruka: I never thought about it. I don’t want to die.

The people who his character meant so much to are just meant to fall in line and show forgiveness to the person who blatantly said

"Why would I?"

When asked if she was trying to stop him since she knew his plan.

Mu Queen B 12:36s

Mu: Ah- But if you don't forgive me, Haruka-kun will die. So, I think it'd be best not to do that.

Es: ...!

[BELL TOLLS]

Es: So, you've heard about that nonsense, too?

Mu: Mhm. Haruka-kun told me. So I could rest easy, according to him. That made me happy... It made me really feel our friendship!

Es: You know about it, and you're not trying to stop him? Haruka, that is?

Mu: Why would I? Haruka-kun says that's what he wants, so there's nothing I can do, right?

Not letting people mourn and recognize what they've lost along with the unjust nature of that loss all to secure one's own personal comfort- To push forward in ways such as that is an inconsiderateness that's simply the definition of unfairness to me.

Especially while other people within the fandom are allowed to mourn the loss of characters they loved due to the events of the series- Blaming whoever they feel fit be it characters within the series or fans of it. All the while many haphazardly attempt to revise in real time what occurred to defend a character who I don't doubt has a significant amount of depth and emotionality but feel a lot of characterization is being ignored in the way people try to bend and stretch her to fit this idea of what an innocent person to them may be.

Though people may simply do this to ignore her character and the rest of the prisoners' ability to purposefully and knowingly commit harm, something rooted deeply in all ten of their characterizations. I'm sick of seeing people act like Mu is being wrongfully held to task over something she had no involvement in. From the start to Haruka, Mu was the only reason he did this, and the only reason he felt it was all he could really do.

23/04/07

Haruka: Please forgive Mu-san. Please forgive Mu-san. Please forgive Mu-san. Please forgive Mu-san. Please forgive Mu-san. Please forgive Mu-san. Please forgive Mu-san. Please forgive Mu-san. Please forgive Mu-san. Please forgive Mu-san. Please forgive Mu-san. PleaseforgiveMu-sanpleaseforgiveMu-sanpleaseforgiveMu-sanpleaseforgiveMu-sanpleaseforgiveMu-sanpleaseforgiveMu-san

23/06/22 (Haruka’s Birthday)

Mu: Haruka-kun, I brought your food. Are you still alive? Has any mould started growing?

Haruka: ……ah, thank you very much. Mu-san. Sorry, um…… I……

Mu: You shouldn’t just lock yourself in your room all day. You have to eat your food properly. Hm, well…… I do understand why you’re feeling down. It feels bad. The atmosphere recently.

Haruka: Um, I’m totally fine…�� Just a bit, I’m thinking, about how to do it. What to do, what to do, to…… fulfil my promise. For Mu-san’s sake……

"This is all I’m able to do……"

"Haruka Sakurai"- The Third Trial 1:00s

Haruka: .....don't worry, Mu.

Mu: About what......

Haruka: ......you're going to be innocent, I know it.

Mu: ......you really think so?

Haruka: ......yes......

Mu: Haruka......you're ok with this......?

Haruka: Yes...... I'm so happy...... I helped you, I helped someone......

"I changed......I'm...... useful now......"

There's a lot of factors involved here, and I can understand caring about a character deeply and wanting to see them do well.

Yet, being Innocent doesn't equate to being better. Just being accepted isn't the end all be all cure for the problems people will face in their lives or within themselves.

Some characters aren't here to receive that acceptance or rejection anymore, and I think a lot of conversations surrounding Mu ignore that fact. As well as how many fans of the series have the right to be upset by it. Regardless of how others may rationalize and dismiss Mu's involvement.

[givemeanaccountalready]

Same anon as before, throwing in this ramble into your asks, hope you don't mind (feel free to ignore and delete if you do tho)

Things aren't really adding up with how Milgram works.

K, so, those voted guilty at trial 2 apparently got restrained. So, again, how the fuck did Haruka die?

But also, remember the Mahiru trial 2 sprite? Standing. On a leg with a cast. And yet, during her voice drama, we literally hear her get inside with a wheelchair, and she's mentioned to be using one (until her condition worsened so much due to Shidou's "care" that she ended up bedridden). So where's the wheelchair on the sprite?

Tbh, I feel like the way sprites get drawn is more for symbolism purpose rather than them being actually restrained like that.

Ann ee ways, this trial I'll be voting everyone inno.

Yuno and Kazui didn't do anything wrong throughout the previous trials, Fuuta's case is very common (in Milgram fandom especially, ironically enough) so I feel like it's hypocritical for us to vote him guilty and to make him suffer and spiral even more, and Muu has clearly not changed at all so punishing her through voting is not gonna help and she should face the consequences for her actions outside of milgram. Kotoko and Amane are unique cases, but I feel like they should be voted inno too.

For Amane, we are to blame for how she turned out. Voting her guilty first trial, when her MV showed her helping a cat and then getting punished for practicing medicine, sent a very clear message to her that "medicine = bad, if you help people, you deserve punishment". And then when we got more detailed visual of what she went through in next trial, we voted her inno, which sent a message "things you were taught are correct and you should indeed punish the ones who go against the teaching". It's no wonder she ended up killing Shidou, especially if it turned out that Mahiru died before he did, which means Amane would consider her early death to be his fault.

Kotoko, there's not much to do about her. We first judged for her crime alone, and that is it. Based on what we saw, she killed someone who did, indeed, deserve to die (and that crime already was judged outside of milgram). Her actual reason for being in Milgram is, without a doubt, someone else's death, who's death she blames herself for (since, for Milgram, you don't actively have to commit a murder or even admit you feel guilty, you can simply believe something is considered a murder, example. Yuno case, or feel like you're responsible for their death, example. Fuuta, Mahiru and Kazui), but we haven't seen that in MV (yet). There was no way we could have known she'd start beating up people who were voted guilty if we voted her innocent. Putting her through further punishment now to try to get her to learn that what she did is bad will not work, just like with Muu. It's pointless, and she's not facing proper consequences (and she likely never will because another guilty might get her killed, which won't make up for violence she inflicted on prisoners that resulted in one eventually dying, but an inno will result in her being freed from milgram, where, again, she'll never face consequences for that violence because it happened inside milgram).

For Mikoto though, I think we should finally vote based on his crime. So far, first voting was because people thought he was faking DID (despite the fact that it was plainly explained to the audience that he definitely does have it, and the way milgram works makes it impossible to fake DID since it differentiates each alter as its own soul), and he got voted guilty for this. Second trial, we voted him inno to, well, basically "fix" his DID (and it didn't fix shit, we just forced John into going dormant, which, surprise surprise, turned out to be horrible and is making Mikoto suffer even more now). He's literally the only character we were voting based on his disorder rather than actually judging him. I'd personally want him to be voted innocent so that he could have a proper trial outside of milgram.

Hi anon! Never apologize for entering my ask box. It’s open to all. And I love listening to rambles, because I ramble so much myself. It's nice hearing others do it too.

First thing first, holy crap that was an amazing catch by you about Amane. I didn’t even think of Amane’s verdicts like that. We have no idea what or how much of our collective thoughts the prisoners, especially the ones voted Guilty, hear/feel. Since Jackalope described their beliefs being rejected, it may be reasonable to assume they only hear the bad, while the ones voted Innocent may hear bits of everything, the good and the bad. But, even though they can hear us, for the Innocent, the decision to accept or reject our thoughts is theirs, while the Guilty seem to have to rely on their mental fortitude to reject the bad feedback.

Let me start with those voted Innocent during Trial 1. Haruka and Muu both highly value and covet validation, so it’s no surprise that they would accept our affirmations without much thought. Yuno voiced her disgust with being seen as pitiful and being forced into prostitution and corrected it. Shidou and Kazui were also voted Innocent and rejected what we thought of them. Kotoko was probably going to do her thing regardless of our vote, because she believes Es doesn’t have it in them to punish the Guilty right. I think her Innocent verdict during Trial 1 emboldened her to go as far as she did. If she was Guilty Trial 1, then someone else would have acted negatively in-between Trials 1 and 2, and she could have been an acting force against any chaos and used that to bargain for her fang position, stressing to Es that her freedom of movement needs to be maintained like Shidou had argued. Someone was going to be a bad actor in-between Trials, if only to up the stakes like Kotoko was able to.

But back to the pushback for the Guilty prisoners. Mikoto doesn’t discuss what the voices told him, and that’s probably because he doesn’t get the chance to. His second audio drama is mostly John and Es talking, rather than Mikoto. Fuuta is quick to point out that Kotoko told him that Es’s forgiveness gave her the sanction to beat him to a pulp. But his focus is more on Kotoko’s violence and Es’s hypocrisy, and so we only get a tidbit of him listing a few things the voices told him, “Countless voices, judging me with all sorts of words… just for interest, just for fun, just because they don’t like me.”

Mahiru also mentioned hearing the voices between Trials 1 and 2, “Voices saying I couldn’t be forgiven.” And like Fuuta, she does question why she can’t be forgiven. She takes it a step further and says, “To not forgive me is to take the act of loving away from me. That’s the same as not being alive,” and, “So… if this love isn’t allowed, then I don’t mind dying.”

Amane seemed to be the most resilient, because of her repeated rejections of what the voices told her. What we do hear of what the voices told her are things we know she hates: pity because she is a kid. Amane was very vocal about hating that kind of treatment back in Trial 1. I was so focused on her outside rejection of pushback on her religious beliefs, I totally neglected the idea that she may have internalized that we agreed with her punishment. Like damn… that’s a sucker punch right in my heart’s gut.

But I skipped over what you first said. Questioning how symbolic the sprites are compared to reality is a good idea. Like there is currently no way for Muu and Kotoko to independently eat, drink, or even use the toilet with how their restraints are now. That or Milgram managed to remove their need for that, but someone surely would have said something by now, right?! And seriously, how did Haruka manage to kill himself? Could he have starved himself to death in Milgram? But if Milgram could remove your ability to act or experience a biological function like menstruation, surely, it can remove the need for food and drink and restroom needs. And his hands were most likely restrained, so he must have had to get creative to do it.

Now, about voting this time around… other people have said this, and mine is probably not going to be anywhere near as elegant. I know the fandom is pretty global, but growing up, did you ever hear the phrase, “You just lost the game,” from another kid? It is a dumb game that you lose simply by remembering it exists. Basically, rage bait on the jungle gym. There was no way to actually win that game, and I bring that up because I don’t think there was ever going to be a way to win Milgram. As a fandom, we can point fingers at each other all we'd like about if or what verdict or prisoner destroyed all our attempts to do damage control, but I really think that all ten prisoners were doomed by the narrative, because Milgram is not a friendly entity. No truly friendly entity would go to the degree of the restraints we've seen on the prisoners. And not just the physical ones, but the mental restraints as well. Based on what I've mentioned earlier, the Guilty prisoners can reject our rejection of them, just like how the Innocent prisoners are free to do the same to our affirmations; but, the toll it takes to do so is much higher, so it's harder for the Guilty prisoners to resist the bombardment of awfulness they get from us. To varying degrees, the prisoners have maintained their own sense of autonomy. And they will not bend to our will just because we said so, but only if they believe we said the right thing. In that respect, the prisoners have more agency than Es--their warden--does because Es gives whatever verdict we say to and then gives themself a reason for that verdict later.

And this doesn't even include considering the meta side of things. Yamanaka and others on his team have seen our comments on the music videos and across multiple social media platforms. I believe that the stakes were going to increase across trials regardless of who was Innocent or Guilty, and if it wasn't Kotoko inflicting harm on other prisoners between Trials 1 and 2 and posing a threat to others between Trials 2 and 3, then another prisoner would have been assigned the role as the bad guy. I entered the fandom late, sometime before Purge March came out, and looking back, I think that's clear. To put it more simply, at least one prisoner would have been hurt between Trials 1 and 2, at least one prisoner would have posed a serious threat between Trials 2 and 3, with at least one prisoner dying being somewhere between a serious risk and a guaranteed threat. Our choices influenced who did what and to what extent, and that while we were meant to try to mitigate the damage done, there was a degree of inevitability that something would have happened. And that's not to say, we the audience should wipe our hands clean of this. We are as much of a player in this game as Es and Jackalope. The prisoners are our pawns, and we did not do a good job of taking care of them. I know that's a strange way to put it, since calling others pawns has a very negative connotation to it, but relative to us, but we essentially played god and now we are reaping what we've sown.

So, Trial 3 voting... for the sake of not causing further harm, I want to vote all Innocent, even if I don't think I could find it in me to forgive their original murder, and this doesn't include what I think about certain people's actions in Milgram. But, I'm wary that this is going to blow up in our faces. An amendment to "All Innocent" would be "Sacrifice One or Two of the Guiltiest to Sate Milgram's Need for Justice," but that just sounds immensely cruel and will probably also blow up in our faces. I think we're damned if we do and damned if we don't, so we might as well vote "All Innocent" and pray for the best. I think it's the kindest option, so I think I want to go for it too.

My biggest worry is what will happen when the third trial is over. My final song agenda has changed from something hopeful to something more grim. The final song will most likely include Es making a choice, and I'm hoping that it's going to be a rejection of their role in response to what Milgram plans to do with the prisoners once Trial Three finishes. I think that it will involve killing the prisoners, though I'm not know if all prisoners who have been voted Guilty at least once will be targeted, or if it will be anyone who receives a Guilty verdict during this Third Trial. I don't have any basis for this, "Milgram Death Penalty Ending," but I've been thinking about Es's role after I had finally finished my Mikoto post. I think that Yamanaka has been setting Es up to make a serious decision over whether they will side with Milgram or with the prisoners. Throughout the past two trials, the prisoners have called out Es for their role in Milgram. While Es has pushed back on their criticism, most of their denial sounds weak, and it's clearly an attempt by Es to keep their conscience clean. Es believes that someone in their position should be right and just, and like Fuuta and Kotoko, Es wants to be seen as a hero, or at the very least, the good guy in this scenario, by removing themself from the prisoners' actions. Maintaining this degree of separation will fail Es once they learn of the three prisoners' deaths, and I think that this will impact Es's upcoming choice.

Es's third trial sprite shows them discarding their warden's hat and cap, as well as their gloves and key necklace (which I thought was the cord that kept their cloak on their shoulders). This gives me hope that they will waver and align themself with the prisoners. I'd like to believe in Es, because screw it, I like to believe that individuals will do the right thing, even though humanity can be an absolute cesspool of callous viruses, so I can get up and face the day. As seen when Es interrogates Haruka, Fuuta, and Amane, Es can be a petty, hypocritical bully when they are at their worst. But Es also has a moral code, a heart, and a belief that they need to see their responsibilities through to the end, so I'm hoping the good in them motivates them to side with the prisoners if Milgram forces Es to choose a side.

Throughout Milgram, there has been an emphasis on obtaining information through direct and indirect means. Jackalope has dangled a number of questions over Es's head (and ours as well) about what will happen next, only to smugly assure Es that those worries are not for the guard to concern themself with. We should just focus on the crime at hand and the judgment we think it should receive. Except, the reveal of Trial 2 pretty much drilled into us that nothing we do is in a vacuum, and we will see ripple effects that we didn't even think would happen. As we move into the third trial, I think Kazui's words from his first voice drama will come back to haunt us, "In other words, we're divided into positions of guard and prisoner, but we're both playing roles due to our lack of information."

The third trial songs are probably going to feature the most violent, selfish, and/or cruelest versions of the prisoners. Using our responses to what happened between Trials 1 and 2, Yamanaka and his team know about the fandom's attachment to their characters, and they are probably going to try to override the desire to shield the prisoners from further harm with the idea of, "Are these really the people you want to save? Do they even deserve it?" We are in for hell, and I am ready.

Innocent for all, I think. Sorry, this turned into a bit of an Es ramble. But it was awesome to hear your thoughts, anon!

[into-the-milgramverse]

Regardless of our stances on characters, I think we should vote them all Innocent, since this is the last trial and it's very likely the guilty vote will result in death (the images for dead prisoners are labeled as "guilty")

I'll only mention here the characters I feel like people really wanna vote guilty now

First, Muu.

So what if you see her as just stereotypical bully? So what if you consider her to be responsible for Haruka's death all because she was the one who brought him food and then expected a pat on the back? We knew he'll kill himself if Muu gets voted guilty, and we knew Muu was supportive of that "because that's what friends do". Our own choices lead to Haruka's death. Sure, being further encouraged by Muu and Kotoko didn't help. And also, what if T2 Guilty vote he received too felt like further encouragement? He basically had only one person tell him not to do it, vs 2 people + entirety of the audience tell him to go ahead.

Her being voted guilty this trial will not bring back Haruka.

Second, Fuuta.

No, he didn't kill Shidou as some claim just to paint him in bad light. And also, so what if he turned to religion? I'd like you to go through constantly feeling like you're watched and hearing voices judge every single thing about you, not being able to sleep properly for a year and longer, and have constant pain from an untreated injury, all the while guilt over your past actions that your friend group also participated in is weighing heavily on you. Let's see if you wouldn't latch onto first thing that promises relief from all of that. Can you seriously blame him for that?

I'm gonna be honest tho, given he has an untreated eye injury, I feel like he'll die regardless (eye infection can be very dangerous if left untreated and its a short way from eye to brain). At very least, he should be allowed to go home to see his family for last time.

Third, Amane.

Even Jackalope, who's painting her as this evil brat who's out to murder everyone who's against her beliefs, tells us that it's just a domino effect of Kotoko's actions. I'd also say her current beliefs are heavily formed by our own voting. First MV showed her simply helping a cat and then getting punished for it. And what do we do? We voted her guilty. We punished her. After seeing her help a cat. I think it's clear here that this results in strengthening the "You deserve to be punished for practicing medicine" belief.

I get it, you're sad, you're hurt, you're angry, you need someone to blame, which is Amane T2 Inno voters and Amane herself, but Amane being voted guilty will not bring back Shidou and Mahiru. Voting her guilty this trial will just result in her getting killed.

Fourth, Kotoko.

Yes, her actions caused this and if we voted her guilty T1, they wouldn't have happened. But, look back at her actions during T1: do any of them give a very clear signal that she sees all crime equally, that voting her inno would have given her a go ahead to do as she pleases and that she'll just beat up anyone to brink of death? They don't. We might look back now and see some signs, but given we didn't vote her guilty back then, that tells you those signs weren't very clear. Also, plenty of people didn't take voting seriously at that time, and many voted her simply because she looked cool. Even if you were somehow able to see into the future, she'd still get inno, maybe just at smaller percentage. Also, her crime is indirect murder, not the one we see in first MV. The murder we see her do in her MV was already judged outside of Milgram.

Her being voted guilty will not bring back Haruka, Shidou or Mahiru. And I don't think it's fair to vote her based on our assumption that she will just go back to killing people once she's out — even if she does, she still hasn't actually done that. How different does that make us from Amane if we simply killed her now in advance to prevent her from interfering with other people's lives?

[blueepink07]

Since we will get Kotoko's album in one day, which includes her VD from which most probably we will find more information about her motivations and her plans in Milgram, I decided to look a bit into her attacks during prison and how I imagine things happened! (I'm fully aware that I will most probably be proved wrong when the album drops, but I'm really curious if I can actually figure out most of what happened!)

Starting off, Jackalope informs us that the order in which Kotoko attacked is: Mikoto, Mahiru, Fuuta.

Which makes sense, considering that she attacked, in order, who is closer to her cell.

(Also fun fact! The prisoners are distorted according to how many injuries they have!)

What I want to answer, however, is how she managed to attack two people without being stopped.

Mikoto vs Kotoko

From Mikoto's VD, we find out that Kotoko has attacked, while John was distracted, giving herself a slight advantage.

"Es: Like you didn’t get beaten by Kotoko…! John: Hah. That was just because she caught me off guard. We went at it again while you were asleep, and it’s not like I lost there."

Considering that they fought some time and where evenly matched, there must have been a lot of noise, which should have alerted the others. In this attack, Kotoko didn't care much about how much attention she would attract. Why? Because the prisoners were already used with John's restlessness and they wouldn't dare to go near him. Hearing those noises didn't alert them much, because they maybe were too scared and didn't want to approach or thought it was just the usual.

As seen in many timeline posts, Mikoto is avoided. The only one who wished him Happy birthday was Haruka, whom we know that is currently isolating himself and didn't wish Mikoto a happy birthday this year too...

"Mikoto: The others told me about it. How I got into a fistfight with Koto-chan and whatnot. "Es: Seems like it, yeah. Mikoto: I wonder if it’s like… some kind of sleepwalking…? After all, I’ve been losing sleep more and more often recently… Man… It’s really troublesome, isn’t it? Es: Mikoto… Mikoto: The others are all scared of me. I can tell by looking at the way they act. Because I read the room."

Mahiru and Kotoko

From Shidou's VD, it is given the information that Mahiru suffered head injuries, more exactly head lacerations.

"Shidou: Shiina-kun’s is even worse. Head lacerations. Bruising all over her body. Left anterior compression fracture. A sprained neck. Fractured ribs. Further fracturing to the left arm. And furthermore… this may be outside of my profession, but her mental health is deteriorating as well."

These injuries are the aftermath of being hit by Kotoko.

Mahiru says some interesting things in her VD:

"Mahiru: … Ah, but this is… I think Kotoko-chan is the one who did it, so… you know? It’s not like it’s your fault. Um, so…! I’m not holding a grudge towards Kotoko-chan either. I’m sure she just thought it couldn’t be helped…"

This "I think" was always interesting to me. It implies that she is uncertain of the events that happened, like she wasn't there... Like she just a heard rumour from someone else...

However, she also tells this:

"Mahiru: … Ah– I– I—I’m sorry…! If– If you touch me so suddenly, it makes me remember… how it hurt… and I get scared…"

She remembers the pain, but not the person who hurt her. Keeping in mind that she also suffered from head trauma, I have thought that Mahiru must have lost consciousness, shortly after being hit, but not fully.

There are actually some levels of impaired consciousness, that can explain my assumption!

Confusion

Confusion is marked by the absence of clear thinking and may result in poor decision-making.

Disorientation

Disorientation is the inability to understand how you relate to people, places, objects, and time. The first stage of disorientation is usually around awareness of your current surroundings

Loss of short-term memory follows disorientation with respect to place.

Delirium

If you’re delirious, your thoughts are confused and illogical. People who are delirious are often disoriented. Their emotional responses range from fear to anger. People who are delirious are often highly agitated as well.

Lethargy

Lethargy is a state of decreased consciousness that resembles drowsiness. If you’re lethargic, you may not respond to stimulants such as the sound of an alarm clock or the presence of fire.

Stupor

"Stupor is a deeper level of impaired consciousness in which it’s very difficult for you to respond to any stimuli, except for pain."

Coma

Coma is the deepest level of impaired consciousness. If you’re in a coma, you can’t respond to any stimulus, not even pain.

From all of these, stupor seems to be what Mahiru experienced after being hit.

Stupor -> caused by head injuries, such as concussion or bleeding in or around the brain

"Stupor is characterised by impaired reaction to external stimuli. Those in a stuporous state are rigid, mute and only appear to be conscious, as the eyes are open and follow surrounding objects. If not stimulated externally, a patient with stupor will appear to be in a sleepy state most of the time."

If Kotoko hit Mahiru and caused her to have a stupor, Mahiru wouldn't even have the chance to yell or cry for help. She couldn't respond to any stimulus (sight, sound, smell, taste and touch), the only thing that she could feel was the pain.

It would make sense, in this case, for the other prisoners to be unaware of what was happening to Mahiru. Kotoko most probably made a surprise attack (as in John's situation), left Mahiru is a state of stupor and did further damage to her body.

"Kazui: I wonder. Maybe it’s because I’m used to violence. Even so… I couldn’t make it for Shiina-chan. I feel responsible for [what happened to] her."

Fuuta and Kotoko

Fuuta seems to have been fully conscious when he was being beaten up by Kotoko. He remembers every detail, unfortunately to him: the way he had been stepped on with the safety boot-like shoes, the beatings which made him think that he'll die. He even remembers Kotoko's motivations and beliefs! It's pretty likely that he was still conscious when Kazui protected him.

"Fuuta: Hey. Look at me. My right eye. It looks awful, doesn’t it? This is what happens when you get stepped on with those safety boot-like shoes. – Don’t recoil like that, that’s hurtful. According to Shidou, it’s likely that I won’t ever be able to see [with this eye] again. Sucks, huh."

"Fuuta: It hurt… It hurt so bad, I thought I was going to die. I was scared!"

"Fuuta: I mean, you forgave Kotoko, right? You affirmed her, right? Her belief that “it’s fine to do whatever to people who have done something wrong”. Es: How do you know about that…? Fuuta: She told me while she was beating me up. How she thinks it’s okay for her to do anything she wants to people who have done wrong, no matter the severity of their crime. And she left the judgment of that up to you."

What are your thoughts about Kotoko's attacks?

If Fuuta was conscious the whole time, his cries of pain or help surely must have been what alerted the other prisoners, who stopped Kotoko from doing further damage...

And so this is me trying to explain why the other prisoners noticed too late Kotoko's attacks!

I'm prepared to be proved wrong, but it was fun to write anyway!

[milk-ly]

Kotoko and her connection to Dante’s Inferno’s Satan

Disclaimer: This is just about symbolism and I know how it sounds but I promise I’m not trying to imply anything or demonize her! I love Kotoko! Ive just been repeatedly noticing details about the parallel for several months now and I just really want to bring it up! This is just an analysis of the details MILGRAM has provided for it. I’m incredibly sorry if I make a mistake!

Kotoko has a lot of parallels to Dante’s Inferno Satan, especially in relation to Es.

To make sure we’re all on the same page, Dante’s Inferno is a Christian poem that outlines the 9 circles of hell. MILGRAM directly references Dante’s Inferno by quoting it in all the t2 door arts.

“Abandon all hope, ye who enter.” A quote derived from a sign at the gate of hell in the poem.

Each ring of Hell contains sinners with different levels of sins, and each ring’s sin was meant to be worse the further inside you go. Ive seen a couple theories that each prisoner correlates with a specific ring of hell. (Ex: Haruka is ring 1, Limbo; Yuno is ring 2, lust; etc)

But Dante’s Inferno only outlines 9 rings, what about our 10th prisoner, Kotoko?

While it could be that she’s again the “outsider” to the other prisoners, the last section of the 9th ring of Hell is significant because it is the center of Hell, containing Satan. So it could be reasonably argued that Kotoko correlates with it.

MILGRAM already has a TON of religious references. One that I’ve seen pointed out is how it seems the cover art of each novel is a reference to a famous Christian art piece.

The Es in each novel seems to be where Jesus relatively is. Remember that Jesus is both the son of God AND God. God gives sinners their judgements which sounds very similar to Es and how they're giving the prisoners (the human sinners) their verdicts.

Plus, the quote Milgram quotes is on the doors the prisoners are entering, and in Dante’s inferno, it’s on the gate of hell so you can compare or theorize that MILGRAM is a parallel to (or straight up is) purgatory. And Es, being the one who decides the verdict, parallels God.

Also, her t2 VD is named “YONAH,” which is the masculine version of the name Jonah. Not only does this relate to her themes of masculinity again, Jonah is a name that originates from Hebrew origins which means “dove.”

It is also a reference to the book of Jonah. A main theme of this book is “Jonah wants God to operate on his timeline [...] He wanted God to dole out punishment on his clock instead of according to God's plan. Yet God showed Jonah that in his infinite wisdom, he can't and will not be rushed.” Which is pretty much exactly what happens in YONAH, and also once again compares Es to God.

Dante’s Inferno’s Satan was an angel, a splendid being, apparently the most perfect of God's creatures… an “Angel of light.” We/Es deemed Kotoko innocent in t1. She had the highest innocent percentage in t1 too because a lot of people thought her murder was justified. You know, the most perfect of God’s creatures. The most perfect out of the prisoners.

“We really can work together.”

But then Satan tried to usurp God.

“If you don’t have the strength on your own, let me take care of it. Es! I can do it in MILGRAM!”

Kotoko wants to be the prison guard because Es isn’t capable in her eyes.

Satan was ultimately sent to Hell and punished as "the ultimate sinner" for his betrayal of trying to usurp God.

We are now punishing Kotoko for her attempts to judge the prisoners herself and “usurp” Es. It works even better now that she has the highest guilty percentage in all of MILGRAM so far as the “ultimate sinner.”

As a lot know, Fuuta also has tons of religious references too. (Ex. His VD is titled Baptism by Fire) By him also passing judgements onto people, you could say that he was trying to play God.

What is that saying about us, the audience, then? And our parallel/foil to Fuuta/Kotoko?

Dante’s Inferno as a whole is very much based around the idea of “evil will be punished,” which not only encapsulates Kotoko’s ideals but MILGRAM’s as well. It makes sense that MILGRAM says that Kotoko is a perfect parallel to the facility.

(I also wanna mention that there's something that could be said about the holy trinity in relation to Es + the audience + jackalope. For example, how Jesus is God in the flesh and Es is the audience "in the flesh," by acting as a personified version of us to interact with the "human sinnners" but I feel like I might be going into tinfoil hat territory.)

[archivalofsins]

What's your least favourite scenes/section in each Milgram song?

My least? This has been really hard to answer. If I had to go off the top of my head. I'm going do this counting down.

Harrow

I don't think I should say it's my least favorite scene for suck a nitpicky reasons but I hate in Harrow when Kotoko rushes in the door. It was always obvious that she'd changed clothes to me which made it appear like she left and came back. Which annoyed me because it implies she saw that happened did nothing and came back later.

Which is meant to be the implication more than likely. But she could have called someone or helped immediately. Which always kind of bothered me.

Deep Cover

Is it rude to say I don't like the vulnerable parts of Deep Cover? Like the façade slip and the breaks in the voice. Near the end especially. They sound pretty human and disquieting. So, it's a bit nerve wracking especially since they happen when you can't really see much of what's going on.

So it gives off this scary feeling of knowing something has gone wrong but not what yet. It's really unsettling and the exact opposite sound wise of how Cat ends.

She always sounds so panicked and stressed it makes me feel bad. Especially on the last line.

Then I remember the clothes things from Harrow and was like girl just missed her good shoes too much. Sorry trying to lighten the mood after that.

MeMe

Now you would think I have no complaints about MeMe. Which they are very little but I still have them. I know it's meant to obscure things but the jump cuts are a bit jarring and the texts on the tarot cards isn't fitted correctly. Which is a design flaw on Mikoto's part that I hold against him every day. Like the words are fucking covered by the border of the card and it's sooo fucking annoying to me.

The text great the two stars on the border itself amazing. The tilt on the text fantastic. Where this text is fucking positioned is obnoxious.

Fuck him for this on some real shit. Like I know what they are but still. Also while I'm here I don't like that his shirt is tucked in here either.

Like you're wearing jogging pants I see the strings why are you like this. What is the shirt tucked in here it's a t-shirt. Who asked you to do this. This can't feel nice. Like I know it was probably to keep mess off or soemthing. But damn man it just looks uncomfortable for some reason I can feel it.

I feel like a lot of what I'm going to say here is going to speak volumes about me- But another thing. Using the red bull can as an ashtray- God, I hated having to throw away cans that are already sticky that have cigarettes in them and that is right on your tub.

He put some of the cigarettes out on the tile- nightmares hell. I know he's tired but I'll clean it just let me in to get rid of it- Why? Why are you like this?! I can't harp on him too much because his actual living space is immaculate outside of these few things but it was always like ah why it burns us-

IT'S STILL TUCKED IN HERE IS THIS JUST HOW YOU WEAR THIS?

Sir, sir please? You didn't have a tucked in shirt when you got her why are you making this choice please. Do you really like the feeling of fabric on fabric as you move??

Double

Oh thank god... I can be normal again... Thank fuck I've escaped the tucked in shirt hell.

Just large overcoat wearing two shirt a nice pair of slacks with those unquestionably immaculate fucking boots. I need to say neither of his outfits are bad but like the way they're on in MeMe makes me go aww shit that looks like it feels bad please now. My favorite scene in MeMe is the shower one because got damn does he have a nice bathroom. Like sometimes I just go tile from wall to wall really.

My apartment bathroom has paint on the walls and ceiling I can't take hot showers. Sometimes I look at this scene and go man has your landlord relisted your place for rent. I'll take it. He's got a deep tub too. I'd definitely take it. I'm sorry for him but finders keepers losers weepers my flat now.

Sorry went on a tangent. Least favorite scene in double is the start and the phone call with his mom. I'm a petty bitch tell me where that glass and those children voices are from first then we can talk.

Magic

I don't like Magic all that much in general. People will be surprised to be reminded I voted Amane Guilty trial one in fact she's the first character in this series I voted on. It was simply due to the mindset she espoused in her voice drama. Of teaching her religion in the prison. Not because I thought she would change her mind or anything.

So I don't even regret that decision. Her first music video didn't help with this problem I showed it to my dad and he literally said "She reminds me of you at that age innocent." me sitting there that's exactly why I voted her guilty. Not on some I hate my child self way or anything but because I was pretty certain she wouldn't change her mind so the only thing to be done was go yeah no I'm not agreeing to that thing in the voice drama.

Then Kotoko's deal was agreed to when I was still not really voting like that and I thought well fuck it. Since we're just letting people do anything here anyhow. People tend to misjudge and think I switched my verdict because of the abuse but it was pretty clear Amane was abused from her first song to me.

As someone who has experienced childhood abuse and neglect I was pretty certain it was a fucked either way situation. Still am they said she wouldn't be dangerous not that she still wouldn't be teaching her religion. I mean she literally said that was her plan in her first voice drama and never moved away from that.

As soon as she was like well I fucking did it anyway already I was like whelp um that was my only complaint. Didn't want to agree with that but since you're doing it anyway I'll just judge based on the crime. You do you little lady.

But yeah no all of Magic is rather ahn. It's just nice I'm not particularly passionate about it any which way. Definitely not enough to say what a least favorite scene would be.

I guess I'd have to say the end because it's never really followed up on in Purge March. Because it cuts and shows Amane watching a television. It's implied that she's watching a tv show probably the one with the mascots she likes. But we never get to see where the tv is or her room in Purge March. So I was kind of disappointed by that.

Purge March

I don't like what happened to the cat. Even though it's just alluded to. Also for as much as I like Amane this video features my dreaded nemesis balloons and a lot of them. So those always kind of bother me. Girl has big socks-

Half

Can I just say I don't like this whole video aesthetically. I actually like this song. Yet Kazui's movement are so overemphasized and dramatic looking back on it now. Most of the exaggeration is done for misdirection purposes but ultimately I feel like Half gives a very reduced version of events. It's the story made for the stage straight forward, clear cut, simple.

A lot of the best parts of Half don't lie in the visuals but the sound.

Cat

I don't like when his victim falls off the balcony. Look I know some of these are like very on the nose. Yet, she learned something really upsetting then she died. I think that kind of sucks. Also someone else watched her die. So someone is literally implied to have seen her fall.

Which is most definitely a thing to witness. Sucks to be those two people.

This Is How To Be In Love With You

Least favorite part... It's all really good I'm sorry. Despite how critical I can be in analysis and how much I dislike some of her actions. i really like how earnest Mahiru is with her feelings and her first trial song really highlights that. It's just really fun and cute all the way up to the end.

I Love You

I think there's a running pattern of me just not liking to see people suffering. Because even though when her significant other is begging on the ground still gets a emotional response from even now just as much as it did the day it came out. It's still very oh no that's bad.

Know what's worse the useless fucking carousel scene that's just there to obscure other information or pad out the visuals. If it was other information we'll probably never see it now.

Best scene sound wise is Mahiru saying "Die" in straight English and how they worked all the lyrics to lead up to that having the hardest emphasis it could.

Throw Down

Least favorite in throw down the eating of the pomegranate. ultimately it wasn't followed up on yet and probably won't be followed up on now.

Though given it is the fruit of the underworld I would hazard a guess and say he was eating a fresh one in Throw Down that eventually dried up in reference to his family. It's also shown broken up into three pieces later when it's dried.

Wife and two children. Pomegranate is also one of the man things he eats with his family so ultimately this could just be alluding to them being dead. This is followed up on with more wilting flowers and cut up fruit in Triage.

Representing his incessant taking and wastefulness to fulfill a goal long impossible. One he knew was fruitless and admitted was such.

Which was probably why he wrote his family structure as wife and two children than crossed it out and before he died started talking like he still had a family to Kazui and Mahiru. Since the last scene of Triage is literally them alive.

So, honestly asking,

Whose lives was he saying needed safeguarding again?

"That’s right, there are lives that need safeguarding."

Many people gave him the benefit of the doubt and asserted it was the prisoners. Even though they show up visually in other songs or are directly referenced in lyrics. But that wasn't done with Shidou for any of the victims of the attacks. I mean he made a reference to Kotoko the attacker. With the,

"In that case, give me the chance to make amends. To extract that fang, now."

In fact the main lives that he was shown trying to save over and over throughout Triage was that of his family. He only pulls the gloves on again after seeing them there not vanishing. After convincing himself like maybe this time it will be possible.

So I guess that's not my least favorite now since it makes some sense when thought on a little more. Then yeah no problems here either.

Triage

The two Shidou's. Like what was up with that? We'll probably never know now.

There is no explanation for this I hate it. It could be symbolic we see this scene happen like he gets up from a sitting positioning to do this. I don't know why it would be laid out like this. Like this scene happens in sequential order. It's just played straight.

So like I don't even know.

After Pain

It's a bit whiny and self-pitying. At least that was my first thought watching it. It still sort of is and feels more performative now. I think the scene that annoys me the most in hindsight is the bathroom one where Mu is being bullied and there's water all around her but she is bone dry. Because it's just soo in the audiences faces about it but just gets overlooked.

It's Not My Fault

It's very self-congratulatory like for seemingly no reason. It's very dystopian too. Like seeing Mu and her friends prance and dance around on the shattered remains of the other members of their group is very chilling but then there's this peppy song in the back.

I don't have any least favorite scenes here this one just always gets to me. The song and it's video were very Mu and I liked it a lot. Falls under the category of This Is How To Be in Love With You she was being so honestly herself I enjoyed it a lot.

Bring It On

Hmmm I don't really like most of the complaints Futa had about school and the arcade. It was all rather uppity. He seems like someone who talks a lot but does very little. Either because he doesn't know where to start or because he's worried about being just as bad. The atmosphere for Bring It On is boisterous and self-congratulatory even though nothing has really been fixed or saved at all.

It's a lot of fun.

Backdraft

Mmmm I don't have many least favoirtie scene options for this. It was rather solid. I'd complain about the two Futa's thing but we may get an answer for that at least. Plus there was more foreshadowing for that than like with Shidou. That shit was kind of out of nowhere there. I hope more prisoners get bold enough to just put Es in their videos visually like what was done here.

I guess I wish Futa's music videos had a bit more dynamic movement. They can meander a bit and his motions are usually stiffer than other prisoners. Like he's always a bit rigid. Though it's cool how all the character move in ways unique to them.

Umbilical

I still don't like balloons. One was popped right next to my ear on a car ride while I was asleep. By someone who is honestly a bit of a jerk. Though I like the designs of the balloons here a bit more it's still a bit of an issue. The bigger one is Yuno's job looks like a lot of emotional labor. Seems tiring. Still she presents as very professional.

I have no problem with this scene I just think it's really neat attention to detail that they showed the balloon Yuno was aiming for had a red ribbon not yellow.

Tear Drop

Ha, ha she's very pretty and incredibly mean. My favorite combination. I liked Yuno in Umbilical because everything she sung was so multifaceted. But in Tear Drop she's drop the pretenses and has just decided to say things straight. It is very fun. She's completely over this. Least favorite scene is when she is getting really upset before throwing the glasses.

Repeating the chorus in a whipser,

"Don’t weigh me measure me against your morality. Just shut it will you, you know it all. Feeling magnanimous? INNOCENT? I’m so not that Just shut it will you, you know it all."

Because it reminds me that no matter how responsibile or put together any woman young adult or pretty deep into adulthood. There are still a lot of people who won't take what they say about their own lives seriously if it doesn't align with what the listener wants to hear. And the infantilization woman face that is usually dressed up as concern for them.

It's really upsetting because I can understand the frustration.

Weakness

Puppy no, girl no, other child with a distinct shadow from the girl and blood on the floor-

HUH???

This is either foreshadowing Haruka's possible death within Milgram or just literally a different kill. Don't know which. But like what the fuck? Because we see in Weakness there's no blood near the girl and she is in fact shown to killed outside through strangulation.

Yet for some reason Weakness tries to act like the inside door opening being caught scene involves here here too. Then later just shows a completely different person who looks like Haruka being killed.

But he also says,

Q.07  Tell us your family structure.

Haruka: My father and my mother and me.

So I kind of doubt he has a sibling and he said he was right to kill her in his second voice drama. There was no mention of a him.

"But it turns out I wasn't wrong after all! It wasn't wrong of me to kill her!"

So really don't know what this is about here. But he also goes from looking like his child hold self to himself now in All Knowing All Agony. So, I'm willing to say he is just like this.

All-knowing All-agony

Hey Haruka buddy if that girl died outside what the fuck is in your house? Like there is grass beneath her. This is happening in the woods...

What did your mom see when she entered?

[purgemarchlockdown]

How Magic Depicts Pain

(also known as: I told myself to hold back on Amaneposting but the new process shots have made me think)

So in-universe, Magic is a watered down and sanitized version of what actually happened in the cult that switches between from Milgram's usual anime artstyle to a papercut/felt-like storybook one. The general tone of Magic is very high energy and happy. It's a very colorful MV all around.

This doesn't stop the darkness from seeping in of course, most notably in the lyrics and at the end of the MV which involves a stylized depiction of abuse.

I'll get to that part, but before the ending of the song we get two showcases of pain.

The game show scene:

And the stage light scene:

We will get to the stage light in a bit but let's talk about the game show first! The metaphor isn't subtle. Amane messed up, she said the wrong thing, made a mistake, and so, she gets punished.

It's not treated as anything too serious though, Amane makes silly cartoonish facial expressions, her movements are over exaggerated and silly. It's comedic, it's nothing to be taken too seriously.

Even afterwards Amane gets helped up by (presumably) Yuri, you don't Have to worry. It's all fine and good and not that serious, and even if it, was the two of them help her up! It's a perfectly fine situation with nothing dark lurking under the surface that might suggest otherwise.

Now since the Milgram MVs are taken from the person's mind, most likely, Amane is downplaying the severity of the abuse done to her. Not only that but she's portraying her own pain as an exaggerated and comedic reaction to it. It's not that serious, she's just overreacting.

Amane does this a lot throughout the song and in outside material, she tends to downplay to abuse or explain why it's actually a good thing.

But it’s not scary at all, because it’s love I can really think it’s great. See isn’t it a great thing?

Amane Momose Does Not Consider Her Own Pain as Something Serious, or at least when it's pain caused by her abusers.

Moving out of the gameshow and into the stage light, the cat's pain is treated in a similar way at first. The scene even directly parallels the game show scene:

Like with the game show, the reaction to the pain is depicted as something childish, a tantrum over a small scrape, nothing that really needs to be fret over.

Until we switch over to Amane's View:

The camera is shaky, the cat isn't crying but hyperventilating. It's still a scrape but instead of the exaggerated criss cross, its a row of scratches on the cat's face, there's even a few on the cat's cheek. It's depicted seriously, there's actually weight to the injury here.

Now, what does Big Sister Amane do? Big Sister Amane who Yuri (after Gachata hurt her) helped just a few moments ago? Big Sister Amane who wants everyone to be happy? She helps.

She grabs a first aid kit, I don't know How she got it but she does and she does the best she can to to fix the cat up. She's hiding away as she does this, she knows she isn't supposed to but she does it anyway because it helps someone!

And it works! You can see how happy the cat looks in the image. It's not just a vague "we will support you" gesture like the hand Yuri gives Amane. It's an actual tactile action that Helps Someone.

And they can't have that. They can't have Amane help someone out like this.That's against their rules, that's against their beliefs, that's a threat to their control.

So they punish her.

Let's talk about the ending scenes, and the possible torture that Amane went through.

I'm not going to show all of them as that's a whole other post on it's on really, but it's notable that, the most egregious acts of violence and abuse in the entire MV, are sanitized. There turned into storybook images, Amane has exaggerated and cartoony expressions, the mentor figures are far away from Amane and are standing to the side as she's getting hurt.

We know from the process shots that a taser was involved and yet in Magic it's depicted as this:

It's...still bad, it's still depicting electrocution, however instead of a taser being used against her it's an abstract electrical burst. Even now there's a distance between what actually happened and what it shows.

And yet the pain still comes through, even with the storybook visuals, it's not the same as the Game Show where it was turned into a finger flick. It's still depicted as something Painful, just distanced from reality.

It transitions back to the regular art style after Amane prays, or more accurately, begs, that she can be better. She's given a wand (pipe) and wings and is told that yeah she Can be a better girl!

Not that she's already a good girl, only that she can be, eventually.

And, after all, aren't good girls supposed to have hope no matter what?

(End Notes: I hope people like the way I formatted the screenshots lol, I had a lot of fun with it so I hope it flows well!)

[shiraoyagi]

how tf is Fuuta responsible for Haruka's death even remotely??? Do you just pin whatever on the dude? Please tell me your schizo-theories, you seem so delusional its amusing to read lol

i would appreciate it if you didn't insult my mental state for having an opinion you can't understand... regardless,

i say fuuta is partially responsible because of this conversation in the timeline (translation available here) and how haruka is uhm. gone after that (and he's only alive after that point if you believe muu is telling the truth about him being alive)

this was the last time we ever heard haruka speak, and the conversation obviously is talking about haruka killing himself. the only other person tmk who knew about haruka's plans to kill himself was kotoko, which you can read that interaction here, so it's not like it's entirely his fault (and i said it was something he was partially responsible for, not something wholly his fault)

basically, fuuta says pretty much some of the worst shit you could say to someone who's suicidal. having implied to have been fully indoctrinated by amane's cult atp according to hints in other timelines, it really comes across here— one of the main principles of amane's cult is that people shouldn't avoid their "trials" set up by them in their life by God. presumably, killing yourself would therefore be a sin, and it's reflected in how fuuta treats haruka here.

fuuta does care about haruka. it's really obvious he does because he flat out asks haruka if he can be saved with him— i.e. becoming a part of the cult and finding salvation instead of killing himself. he wouldn't do that if he didn't care about haruka's sake.

HOWEVER, when haruka refuses, fuuta calls him an idiot and says he "won't be saved" which is just a roundabout way of saying that haruka is going to go to hell (or whatever equivalent exists in the cult). he then does nothing to stop haruka later on despite knowing haruka is going to kill himself.

it shows just how far he's regressed; he went from understanding and realizing how fucked up his own actions were outside of milgram to actually just being worse than how he originally was because he was vulnerable and easily susceptible to joining a cult that would validate at least some of his past actions and give him a shot at "salvation" and being a good person (things fuuta seems to really want)— which would, in a sense, free him from his pain.

he's basically committed the same mistake of negligence through following an extreme ideology as he did before, except this time, he KNEW what was going to happen (and the ideology is obviously Different)

if you know someone is going to kill theirself and they tell you their plan to do it and you do nothing to really stop them (especially since a non-indoctrinated fuuta would've actually Done something given that he has literal trauma over that kind of thing) i feel like that makes you at least partially responsible for their death. that's just how i view it, so in my eyes, fuuta is partially responsible for what happened to haruka

thank you

[justzosiahere]

This little analysis post is gonna be slightly badly phrased, some pieces of info missing and a few misconceptions because it was 3:00 am in my time zone when I made it, please correct me if any information or anything about the characters is incorrect. This analysis is gonna go pretty off topic and very overboard. Feel free to add anything you want in the comments and quotes! ^^

I was rewatching Milgram and thinking about everything that could be happening outside of the prison and with the prisoners’ loved ones and families, and that got me thinking this, no one reported Amane missing when she got taken by Milgram and barely anyone or no one is looking for Haruka after he disappeared as well. We already know Amane was born into a cult and lived with her mother and father, but her dad was gone on trips for the cult most of the time so Amane was left alone with her abusive mom until Amane killed her and then was abducted into Milgram.

For Haruka, we already know his mother was neglectful, verbally and sometimes physically abusive towards Haruka. We know that she wanted a daughter and not a son so when Haruka was a boy and not a girl, she was disappointed when she didn’t have the daughter she wanted. When Mrs.Sakurai started to realize her son was disabled and in Haruka’s words, “Because I couldn’t do the same things others could do my mother gave up on me, and I stopped existing in her world!” She started to neglect him, verbally and sometimes physically abuse him, and deprived him of affection, love, and attention which caused Haruka’s mental state to decline. No matter what Haruka did he still wouldn’t be any of importance to her, and Haruka’s dad, Mr. Sakurai is not interested in Haruka either and didn’t seem to give a fuck about him either.

With Amane’s cult they likely didn’t report her missing at all because it would’ve probably lead to their crimes being uncovered by police and their downfall, so therefore it’s heavily possible no one is looking for her outside of milgram and noticed that she’s gone.

Haruka’s parents don’t give two shits about him and we don’t know what his school life was like and if he even had friends or anyone that was genuinely kind to him before he went into Milgram. For him his parents likely don’t care that he’s gone, or anything in that matter. It’s more difficult to determine for Haruka if anyone else noticed that he’s missing but however it’s a slight chance that Haruka’s school might’ve reported him as missing since we see him wearing a school uniform in AKAA, maybe Haruka’s teachers noticed that he wasn’t attending and when getting no word from his patents they probably reported him missing to the cops and some of Haruka’s classmates hear of his disappearance as well. But unfortunately the only people working on Haruka’s case and trying to find him are the few detectives on it, and his teachers probably brushed it off as he ran away or he’ll be found soon.

[shiikiyun]

Let me yap a little abt my headcanons around a normal au futa that is friends with the other prisoners (namely the ones in his age range + mu and haruka perhaps. This is placing haruka as a 17 y/o bc the timeline in canon is still confusing and we dont have anything solid but him and mu are not relevant to this ramble rn just wanted to clarify that) cause mico's music got me thinking a lot about what i pressume is a habit of futa's: selfsabotage

A lot of his conflict in canon pre murder is that he does most things for validation from those he idolizes, right? And he has a feeling of inadequancy in social groups. He yearns for closeness, but is too afraid to approach and be pushed right out. Unfortunately, thats exactly what it happens with this group. So, in an au where the death doesnt happen but his friends scapegoat him anyway and he has to rebuild his trust on people, i always thought the milgram gang would potentially be a good group for him to fit in— Because, in a way, all of them are odd. Think Yuno in trial 1, how she found the whole situation entertaining and enjoyed watching and partaking in interactions with her fellow prisoners because aren't they fascinating? That feeling would persist, i think, had they met outside this prison (like, college or work. In my au shes just starting college).

Some of them are good at pretending to fit in— like Yuno or Mikoto— and others have their quirks but may not struggle as much as him if needed— Like Mahiru and Kotoko— but theyre all in a way rejects. Yuno and Mikoto are exhausted out of their minds from the acts they put up and Mahiru and Kotoko end up also failing at deeper connections (where one cares too much about it the other tries really hard not to). A group of misfits that only found a place to belong in eachother is always a nice trope, right? Yay! My little freak got friends that are as odd as him. Conflict was solved!

Except, it wasnt. And we could go for agessss about all the complications the dynamics in a group like this could spawn, but I'm focusing on Futa here. And the thing is i believe his trust issues would get the better of him sooner or later, and he'd end up convinced these new friendships arent gonna last. From there, it's a spiral.

Out of the 4 i mentioned, the one most likely to stick by him if he shows his "ugly" traits is probably Mahiru. Because shes simply too loving. But the other 3— even Mikoto, but specifically with Futa— have a backbone. And he knows this! It'd only feed into his paranoia that they'll eventually get fed up with his shit and leave. I mean, it happened so many times, no? And there's something fundamentally wrong with him, he is incapable of upkeeping any sort of close bonds with people and he's just not a pleasant to have around. No matter what they do, Futa knows in the depths of his heart that he will push them away somehow and he doesn't have it in him to wait around for that to happen.

Maybe his tone is becoming a little too harsh, too loud, his jokes aren't landing, his awkwardness when he has to be there for his friends renders him a little too useless making the opposite situation feel like a chore to them (or so he thinks, at least). Then everyone else's tone is sounding a little too harsh, so he snaps. And they get tired of it, so they start avoiding him... but what then? What does Futa want now, that he finally found a place he could feel he belonged to, and he did everything to break it?

Here's where I'm a little torn. I cant decide whether he'd close himself off to the world until someone finally cracked him (like mahiru, in her helpless attempt of holding this precious place for her together with tape) or if he himself would become a little desperate seeing himself losing everything again. I dont think Futa knows what he'd do, either. He could never fathom the idea of such a place existing to begin with, how could he ever predict his reaction to losing it?

At such a point he'd be experiencing so many strong emotions he could hardly bear. The guilt of hurting the people that genuinely cared about him and pushing them away for good mixed with the paranoia of it being destined to be that way, because everyone leaves— yet the burning need to beg for them to give him one more chance (haha get it) because he truly cannot tolerate the idea of being lonely again after finally getting a taste of what care and love truly feels like.

Ultimately, Mahiru is always a key to everything. Even with her own attachment issues (that, well, even if they wouldnt push her boyfriend to suicide in this au— they would still be unhealthy and maybe that relationship here was the wake up call she needed to work on them) she'd be the one to refuse to let go of these bonds. Again, she's just so loving! She loves her friends, individually, and as a group, and it weights on her big heart to see them fight. Maybe she'd attempt to not be overbearing, but she'd try her best to let Futa know she is there for him. And, wouldn't you know it, the one Futa was likely the most annoyed by when they met is the one to make his whole (skewed) perception of reality fall apart— Because his narrative of "being destined to be abandoned" doesn't hold up when someone, even just one person, stays.

And that's just the tip of it. I think Yuno, Mikoto and Kotoko all would have such a huge impact on Futa in a positive way, and I think he could have his own impact on them too. This isn't biased towards the Mahiru-Futa dynamic, but, in this specific scenario where Futa's own insecurities clash with the rest's, Mappi is the one to save the day. Also lowkey I wanted to talk about her because I've already talked about the impact in the Mikoto/Futa and Mu/Futa dynamics before so like I needed to change it up

This is all over the place because i just wanted to talk about futa for a while, but if u madd it this far thanks for reading this mess lmao i hope it made sense and isnt too selfindulgent! Grant me some grace it IS a "normal" au

Also if anyone wants to chim in and share their thoughts on how the other 3 characters i didnt elaborate on would behave in such a context id love to read it!!! I have my own thoughts but its always fun to see what other people think. If anyone cares I think Yuno wouldnt particularly cut Futa off if he became messy but she would keep her distance, and Mikoto and Kotoko would just busy themselves. Mikoto isnt confrontational and Kotoko would just leave Futa to figure it out himself, but this all would misread to Futa as abandonment, whether they're aware of it or not. But yea omg let me stop talking how many words is this

[milgram-confessions-011]

I think there's a lot that can be said about Haruka and Muu overall, even outside of the recent video drop, but I'm seeing a lot of people casting angels and devils. MILGRAM's voting systems might be inherently binary, but that doesn't mean thinking of everything else in black and white is the way to go either. I don't feel nice saying "some of you fundamentally don't understand what this series is going for you just want a blorbo" but nuance is increasingly absent. "Let's vote Kazui guilty because he didn't protect everyone like he should've! (ignoring the fact that that responsibility being imposed onto him and Shidou fucking Drains them)" "How could Amane do this? (ignoring the fact that it's well established how and why she did this over both of her MVs/VDs)" "<Most things said about Muu> (Ignoring just. All of her established character, really)"

She said it's Es' fault that this happened. I don't think she was really right on that front, because an unforgiven Haruka wouldn't have been doing that much better going into T2. I think we could do with a step back to realize there is no right way to vote. Like, literally. No matter what the result is, Yamanaka is first and foremost writing something to keep you connected. It's shown very clearly in the video that even if Muu were forgiven, Haruka had already decided that this was the course of action he was taking.

Or: I'm really scared of Muu's (and Amane's but this isn't about her) T3 MV because so many people have already made up their minds so new information won't have any sway whatsoever

- even though i got lots of opinions, i'm usually not one to give it extensively, but on this topic...

milgram is about morally gray characters. it feels like an obvious thing, but i guess it's a case of "the obvious must be said" at times.

i see people trying to determine "the good ones" and "the bad ones", as if everyone won't have a different opinion as to what "crosses the line". but, isn't the point that they already did?

if we stop at the crossing of a clear line, then there is no discussion needed anymore. if the prisoners are all either absolutely right or absolutely wrong and nuance is dead, then you are either right or wrong about their verdict, and there is no questioning it.

we know it's morally dubious, or downright corrupt, territory; but if the line crossed is murder, then the gray exists even after the crossing of the line. "can you justify this wrong act?"—and this is where the discussion happens, and i think this awareness, even when unspoken, leads to the most interesting of discussions.

it's fine if you're here to vote blorbo innocent, but i'm here because i like the fact the defendant is assumed guilty at the start.

furthermore, i see a lot of people saying how others should vote. but the point really is that anyone can vote whatever they want. that's very much the point of milgram. if you are irritated someone is voting a character innocent just for being pretty (they are fictional after all), a "shallow reason", by example; well, there's nothing you can do about it. you are allowed to dislike it, speak about it or ignore it, but you are voting on your own accord too. even if it's a more "dignified" reason. both of you are exerting your right.

this might not be the best example, but if we go to more nuanced takes, it's clear that black and white won't go very far. you're already going from the principle that the character "isn't a good person". now what? if you stick to black and white, then you'll have to end the discussion there and vote guilty on the spot, because it's murder.

tldr, yeah, i enjoy your take, anon. and if someone has a different one, that's alright. everyone has the right to.

ok yap section over lol

[sonobeunitsarecool]

Why Sakurai Haruka makes So Much Sense, really.

Right, sorry it took so long, but I think this is it? Anyways. Here I'm just putting much of Haruka's behaviour in the context of "past of admissions to a psych ward", linking it all together in a way that may not be so immediately obvious to some. Interrogation answers: T1 Q.12 - Tell us your hobby - "Talking with the other prisoners" What else is there to do? Yuno answers with something about shopping, and drama club, something she can do outside of Milgram, but Haruka wants to talk, and he's getting better at it. It's something he's wanted to do for a while, talk to others, so he probably gets a good deal of enjoyment or satisfaction doing so. You could say it's a bit odd, to be a hobby, but it's an activity he knows he has consistent access to, unlike something like drawing which would require a request. Q.14 - What's an event that stuck in your memory? - "Fireworks" Fireworks, or some kind of crayon rendering of them, seem to feature prominently in Weakness. Something bright, colourful, loud, and pretty full sensory immersion, plus it seems to have been a fond memory of sorts. Besides, what else could stand out, as a childhood memory? Anything in recent years would just be... the dull droning on of the days. Q.20 - What's the most expensive thing you've ever bought? - "Candy floss" Okay. Candy floss isn't very expensive. What likely happened, is that he didn't handle money except for when he was once given some at a fair of sorts, and allowed to buy something for himself. As a teen, he's had no need to buy anything, and if there was something he wanted or needed to buy, then it'd be provided by whomever was looking after him at the time. (Not necessarily something about not trusting Haruka, but he wouldn't have had any way of getting a job, being in-and-out of mental health care) Now, something a little interesting would be that this, alongside some other small things, loosely implies that Haruka was a spoiled or otherwise coddled child from his birth, growing more distant from his family as he got older. Japanese children are given quite a lot of autonomy, just go watch "Hajimete no otsukai", or "Old enough", an entire television programme where kids go out and do errands. Most Japanese kids would have bought things like groceries, or train tickets, or whatever, even before leaving primary school. Sending them on the train alone at age 8 is common. It's unusual for the most expensive thing that Haruka ever bought to be candy floss, surely he'd have been asked to go out and buy something, at some point? If not, why not? Q.22 - What do you think of the prison outfits? - "They're kind of relaxing" Kind of already went over this. Haruka is accustomed to wearing the same kind of thing every day, and everyone else is also wearing something similar, so he's part of the group. Not distinct in clothes. It's probably a small comfort. Q.23 - Is there anything you want (item requests)? - "Not really" He's got everything, for the most part. In a psych ward, you're unlikely to get anything just by asking, and whatever you can bring onto the ward is restricted. Of course Haruka's got lots of crayon drawing in Weakness. Crayons are pretty much the safe art medium. Cheap, easily replaced, logistically an obvious choice to use. What else could he have used? Pencils? Those would require a pencil sharpener, and that's a weapon. Q.24 - What's your dream for the future? - "I want to live normally" ...It's not normal to spend so much time on a psych ward. It's a restrictive lifestyle, even if it's his comfort zone. This is pretty much the obvious thing to wish for, to live a "normal" life where he's not just a patient, someone who's "broken". Besides, Haruka can't afford high standards like Yuno's "It'd be nice if I can find a job I can really lose myself in", because he doesn't have many avaliable job prospects at the moment. He's set back in education by at least 3 years. Q.25 - When you get out of here, where do you want to go? - "I can't think of anywhere"

Based on what can be guessed about Haruka's story, home is an unlikely prospect. And he's not had much opportunity to think about or find a place to go, unlike Yuno's answer of "Karaoke, maybe", something she's done in the past and enjoys. There are either no places that stand out to him, or too many places he's not had the chance to go to. ...auto-save isn't working anymore. I'm just going to say that this is long enough and continue another day. Moving onto T2 int. questions, then onto his voice lines, his profile, his VDs, probably even more of the MVs as a part of all that... is this even a theory? The next time I say I'm going to post something "small", I'm probably lying to myself.

[waivyjellyfish]

How do the prisoners react to meeting the Dokuro family and finding out that Es isn’t human?

Sorry it took so long, real world catched me. And thank you for your question.

Well. Like a lot of normal people, I think. They was shocked. And it was difficult to understand it.

It’s kind of hard to react any other way, when right in front of your eyes a little girl(no) appears through a breach in the wall and easily blowing your 15-year-old warden's head. And then the warden recovers from that as if nothing had happened and drags you out of prison as if it were meant to, brushing questions aside like annoying flies with short "later".

I mean, yes, the Milgram prison is frankly strange, no windows, no doors, no calendar, and some strange thing in the form of a giant machine to extract memories, or strange, unpleasantly shrill mental walls that forbid physical aggression against the warden at first, and later against the other prisoners too. A strange warden with a mind of their own, who's always talking with a terribly clever horned rabbit. (Are these real horns or are they attached to the hat?) And with meaningful dialogue. But the only one side of the conversation can be heard, so who knows if they really hears the rabbit voice or they're got nuts long time ago. And the claim that this rabbit is the one who cooks all dish. Honestly, it sounds more like an excuse for not respecting kitchen hygiene than the truth.

All this is, undoubtedly, strange and resembles some sci-fi movie with elements of psychological horror. But not a fantasy.

And yeah. The warden themself is strange, but not so to suspect a monster in them. Everything can be explained, right?

Yeah, they're talking to the rabbit. It’s weird, but some people with pets do it too. The warden is obviously lonely. Don't you think?

Blood craving? Well, there are people who have a craving for blood, aren’t there?

Sharp teeth? Fuuta has that too.

Gender is unknown? Androgynes exist, dears.

Their bruises and wounds heals in an hour or two? Well the warden is 15, children are healing at a fairly rapid rate, and also there is a fairly balanced diet. So everything kind of fits together… (exept the fact that the swollen eye after Mikoto’s interrogation disappeared the next day. this is strange of course)

Sometimes they says with certainty something that people can’t do, like that it’s actually possible to cut something off for better regeneration or talking to the dead, or that metal is edible. Well, the kid has no memory of what happened with them before Milgram, only the prisoners, the talking rabbit and the books in their private room can connect them with outside world in some ways. They're very impressionable, poor child. And they seems to lack iron.

(As my friend jocked: -I thought you were neurodivergent. -Nah, I just isn't human)

So, of course, the prisoners were not prepared for it. Not for a very radical way of warden's regeneration, nor for a one-eyed(no) giant-girl with a tail, nor for a guy in his 30+ who looks like a 14-15-year-old girl. Not for the fact that a very small group who came after their child is going to smash the prison building brick by brick and catch everyone who was involved in it in less than two hours after they broke into the panopticon.

----

Talking about the future. Later, some of the prisoners even managed to integrate into the family, albeit a little voluntarily forced. But there is one thing. To join Dokuro, you have to take their crazy rhythm of life, which means a partial loss of human common sense. In addition, few people with a long connection with Dokuro remain ordinary people. Wanting to keep up with monsters is fraught with the fact that you can become a monster yourself, relative to your past self. And given their longevity and their work, it’s easier to change to not to die too quickly.

This family is stupid in everything, absolutely mad and at first glance has no brakes. The sense in their actions is very difficult to catch. The constant replenishment of the family by children picked up on worlds during work, the frequent reckless actions that would have led them to death, but not, hard training to go beyond. It’s exhausting. But it’s probably the most fascinating.

[harukapologist]

sometimes, I think about the fact that Haruka has NOTHING in his real life. His father is clearly out of the picture, his mother is... you know, his classmates probably ignore (or bully) him IF he is in school currently which is a big if, and if Mirai is a real person (I'm one of the "Mirai is Haruka/a symbolism of a part of himself" truthers... I have more than one theory about his murder ok), she appeared to be the only person in Haruka's life whom he had a good relationship with... but she's dead. At his own hands' doing. And that makes me think about how that probably makes Haruka feel 10x more remorseful for his murder; he didn't kill someone of the many people in his life who treated him like trash, he killed the only person who cared about him, the only person he really had. To make matters worse in AKAA Haruka is shown to be having kinda a whole mental breakdown, I believe that the murder was an impulse decision when he wasn't in his right mind, at that time. So I can't help but imagine, when he comes back to his senses and calms down, and sees Mirai's dead body, realizing that not only is she gone but his hands will also forever be stained with her blood... sorry, I'm having a lot of thoughts about their relationship in the case that Mirai is a real person....

Mirai aside, this also makes me wonder what will happen at the end of milgram. Will Haruka just, go back to his shitty mom and awful life? It made me reconsider whether I want him to be inno in T3 or not (currently I still do plan on voting him inno) because if the outcome of being inno is returning to the outside world with absolutely zero changes made I absolutely don't want that... You could think about this for other prisoners too. If Mikoto went back to his regular life, he'll start killing himself working again. If Amane went back to her regular life, she'll probably get punished and we know how inhumanely cruel her cult is when it comes to punishments (a fucking taser... on a child...) I'm just going to keep thinking about my half-joke AU where the prisoners live together as a found family after kidnapping Haruka and Amane from their households

[mayimkjs]

A List of General MILGRAM Theories

Taken from the FOOL's MATE research doc

Everyone is Going to Break Out at the End

Something happens to Es, whether they die or not, it doesn't matter. At the end of the series, they find out a way to escape or an uprising starts. 

MILGRAM is some sort of pocket dimension. 

MILGRAM has many magical things in it; talking animals, force fields, crosses that come out of the sky to impale prisoners and the whole concept. There is no way in or out and time doesn't pass normally. Prisoners seem to just appear in the prison than wake up when the first trial is about to start. 

The prison is stuck in time or time moves independently

This is something that feeds into the last theory. 

Some characters there are some visible changes like hair growth, they celebrate their birthdays and sometimes make references to how long they’ve been there. They don't age and the girls don’t have a menstrual cycle. As well as Fuuta and Mahiru seeming to not recover from their injuries. It also doesn't seem that people on the outside are looking for them or have found MILGRAM. If time passes normally, them all of the prisoners would be considered missing. 

Jackalope has also mentioned that “I guess that’s how it is in your era” when talking Yuno’s murder and “it was quite brilliant to choose our era”.

MILGRAM is actually a TV show

Mikoto was right all along and that the 10 prisoners and Es where all brought there against their will to be on a TV show. So think of something like The Truman Show.

MILGRAM is an Experiment 

This is similar to the last one. The only difference is that MILGRAM was meant to see what someone would do if they were thrown into this type of situation. The experiment ended up going haywire or the admins don't want to call it off even though it’s getting dangerous. 

Shidou is a Mole

This ties into the last 2 theories. Shidou is a paid actor who just so happens to have a medical background. He was hired in case anyone got hurt and has the ability to call the whole thing off. 

Everyone is Dead…

No, just no. Fuck off.