#anyway DAMN YOU KODAKAAAAA

[yakool-foolio]

I am genuinely angry the game decided to kill off Yakou like that….

I mean, teeechnically he's still alive, but I catch what you're puttin' down. Major character death can lead to a lot of emotions, upset as to why that character was deserving of such a fate, whether within the confines of the story or as the author's intention itself. I imagine it's the same for a lot of people's first experiences with Danganronpa. We know deep down some of these characters we grow attached to will die, we just don't know when, how, or why. All deaths of the innocents can be viewed as undeserving, but its up to the player whether that anger is directed at the situation they were in or the author that put them there in the first place. Chapter 0 geared its players up for a lot of hurt, unafraid to flash its bloodthirst early. With a much smaller cast, the stakes are higher.

To the game's credit, the signs that Yakou could die were always there. Yakou got his own prequel novel meant to serve as a recontextualization for some of his actions in-game and provide an extension of his development. We got to see what the real Yakou was like before the Blank Week slaughter, and we didn't even know it. I read the prequel before starting the game, which really enhanced my personal experience as chapter 5's reveals hit me like a bucket of bricks. The foreshadowing of Yakou fretfully glancing at the letter from time to time, saying he has work to do, seemed so insignificant till his motive revealed itself. While he wished to live a life of secrecy as Amaterasu breathed down his neck, he never shied away to protect his detectives and entrust them with solving the city's mysteries. He knew one of those truths would be the tattered remains of his broken past.

You have every right to be angry, I can't deny that there's anger in me, too. But the intent of the author stayed present in the background. A reminder that no one is safe in a story like this, especially those who've stared into the hollow eyes of the grim reaper long before.