#based this off of one of the best maki cgs in the game

[quazikam]

quality is ass per usual so click the image to see it slightly better sksk

maki week day dos- Orphanage / Assassin work !

another thing for maki week! I tried to do a limited palette thing with this but not sure if it turned out all that great

something something about how maki already has blood on her hands before the killing game from her work as an assassin is really interesting to think about

@harukawa-week

[reversemoon255]

Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution - Kizuna

I’ve been a fan of Digimon since I first watched it as a kid, but I’m also one of those weird fans where I’m more excited to see the series give us something new rather than treading old ground (I’m not very nostalgic in general), so I wasn’t actually that excited for Kizuna, especially after the terrible experience it was to sit through Tri. Still, the movie surprised me, and grabbed me a lot more than I though it would. I didn’t cry at the ending, but I did well up a bit. Still, this movie isn’t without its problems.

Rather than going over the goods and bads like I normally do, I’m actually going to go through this one chronologically, as I feel it’s the best way to tackle this film’s strengths and flaws. Sit back for a long one, folks.

Chapter 1 (Parrotmon and the First Adventure): We start out with the same intro music we got in the original Digimon Adventure movie. This first section is full of a lot of very purposeful callbacks, like Greymon VS Parrotmon and the recreated evolution sequences. This is the part of the movie where I think this works the best, grabbing people’s nostalgia right at the beginning, getting them to remember the good times with the Digimon before the drama starts. My only, very minor, nitpicky issue is that the Agumon to Greymon sequence is a bit choppier than the original, but it’s also not meant to play 30+ times over the course of two years, so it’s easily forgiven. Also, I’m gonna put PIN 1 in the aurora, because we’ll be coming back to that later.

The animation here is also fantastic (the few moments of off CG aside). It’s been a while since I’ve seen fight scenes this good, and this is probably the best they’ve ever been in Digimon. I also enjoy that Taichi and Yamato are immediately on good terms. So much of Tri was them arguing with each other, so seeing them as friends is nice.

Chapter 2 (The New Normal): Something I didn’t notice the first time, but did on a repeat watch was Sora’s Digivice with its timer ticking down in the opening credits. I’m not a fan of how little Sora was in this movie, especially considering her reinterpretation in the reboot hasn’t been that strong, but I do think the route they went with her was fitting for her character.

Seeing Taichi and Yamato in a rut while everyone else is pursuing their dreams is well done. I definitely feel like I’ve been there before in one form or another, and it’s easy to empathize with. Also, seeing the two of them drinking is so surreal. And them talking about how they have a hard time fitting their Digimon into their lives, only to almost immediately have the idea of losing on them thrust upon them hits very hard on the first watch.

Menoa’s voice... As a native English speaker, hearing people who are supposed to be American in anime only to spout obviously line-read Katakana is always a little vexing to me. I definitely weigh it a bit based on the budget of the show I’m watching, but this is a very big budget movie and they could have gotten a better trainer at the very least to go over the lines with her. Her character is well done, though. I thought she was certainly suspicious my first watch, but on a rewatch I caught more hints, such as her reaction after Izumi mentioned his database.

Chapter 3 (It’s in the Internet): This is where I started falling off a bit. Let me know if this sounds familiar, “Taichi, Izumi, Yamato, and Takeru must battle a Digimon inside the internet. Just as they seem to have the upper hand, it evolves and the children must rely on Omegamon to defeat it.” This particular part of the movie is recycled from Children’s War Game. Even Eosmon darting around the arena with a timer going, being difficult to hit and having to be forced to slow down is reminiscent of how Diablomon was defeated. This really took me out of the film, and it kind of gets worse, but we’ll get there.

Maybe this is me, but I can’t help but feel the whales during Omegamon’s evolution are a callback to Summer Wars >_> I do like the new version of his sword with the flared guard.

Chapter 4 (Some Old Yet Newer Friends): I don’t agree with Menoa’s explanation for why Digimon disappear, but my evidence as to why hasn’t appeared yet, so we’ll put PIN 2 in that. Menoa’s assistant on the other hand was a decent red herring. I wasn’t sure which of them it actually was until the full reveal.

I can’t properly express how excited I was to see Miyoko and Hawkmon after Tri. The 02 crew got so shafted that seeing them here and how involved they were in the plot had me legit excited. There’s actually a ton of 02 love in this movie in the background that I was very appreciative of. That brings me to another point, though, that this movie feels very responsive to Tri. The heavy inclusion of the 02 cast over many of the other original Adventure members, the number of cameos from the final episodes of 02, and a very certain plot point that we’ll stick PIN 3 in for now all point to this. Heck, it was even revealed to be in production near the end of Tri, which was supposed to be the series finalé, except people didn’t like Tri so they apparently didn’t want the series to go out on a sour note (though not a bitter-sweet one).

Chapter 5 (People Change): Can we talk about how Agumon finds Taichi’s stash? It’s a little too real, man. But this scene also brings up the point that the Digimon haven’t really changed since 1999, yet the children have significantly. The Digimon change their appearance and the humans change on the inside. It’s also a little weird how the Digimon aren’t that beat up about saying goodbye. I mean, they don’t want to, but they aren’t crying their eyes out. But we’ll talk about that more when we actually pull out PIN 2.

Also, seeing Sora at the end of this chapter, knowing what’s happening to her is really sad on the second watch.

As a little bonus, I was questioning the Digivice Smart Phones until Taichi turned his off and Izumi’s name popped up. Good show-don’t-tell. That scene also has some great lighting...

Chapter 6 (Better than Himekawa Maki): You definitely feel bad for Menoa. Her story is very (and probably purposefully) similar to that of Himekawa Maki’s from Tri, but in this case we feel more for her because she went through what our leads are going through right now. Her plan makes sense to her because of her tauma. And as we’re talking about the similarities to Tri, I’m going to pull PIN 3 and mention that Taichi and Yamato are going through the same thing that Meiko did. It’s strange that they’re recycling the Tri plot for this, but it works so much better here because our connections to these characters, that we’ve known for years, are so much stronger than those of the new ones introduced in Tri. And it’s 1/10th of the run time, too. It’s almost like Tri was terrible or something O_O

Chapter 7 (Touching Down like a Revenging Hurricane): So now we’re on to a Digimon trapping Chosen Children and reverting them back to children all for the sake of one Chosen Child who has aged up. Man, that sounds familiar. It’s almost as if this plot point was taken from another movie or something...

Look, I wouldn’t harp on it so much if every Adventure + 02 Digimon movie didn’t have plot elements recycled for this film. The beginning was Adventure, the first battle with Eosmon was War Game, Tri is sprinkled throughout, we’re currently on Touchdown, and everything from here up to the final is Revenge of Diablomon. Don’t get me wrong, this was probably on purpose, and they are well integrated, but it pulls me out of the movie super hard. As I’m writing this, I’m on the scene with the 100 Eosmon reveal, just like all the Kuramon. They also do the thing all the Kuramon do where they combine together and defeat Omegamon (by removing his arms, weirdly), only to have two Digimon achieve a new evolution to defeat it.

That being said though, it is, again, handled very well. The damage you see done to Omegamon in these scenes is heartbreaking, and you can certainly feel the weight of the situation.

I also want to pull PIN 1 here, because they bring up the aurora again. There’s never actually an explanation for it, is there? It just shows up one day. It helped Menoa make Eosmon, it drove Parrotmon and apparently other Digimon crazy, but where it came from and why it’s here is never actually explained. I feel like this is bait in case they’re ever at the point where they need another big nostalgia push again and a plot for another movie. But I also don’t want to see that. After Reboot wraps (even though I like it) I’d like to see a new cast, Digimon, and story please.

I also don’t believe a word of anything Menoa says in these scenes, but she does a very good job of pushing Taichi and Yamato’s buttons. I also want to point out, it’s Greymon that isn’t phased by all this and goes on the attack when they’re doubting themselves.

Chapter 8 (An Unreliable Narrator): Time to pull PIN 2.

This is the reason why I don’t believe Menoa. This scene. Menoa kept going on about children losing their infinite possibilities and being unable to supply their Digimon with power, but the Digimon we see going through this situation don’t reflect that. Evolution is a two-way street. We help the Digimon evolve, but in turn they help us evolve, and it is when we reach the pinnacle of our evolution, when the job of the Digimon is done that they disappear. Menoa sped through her evolution because she wanted to become an adult, and when she finally achieved the dream she had set for herself is when Morphomon disappeared, but she’s so traumatized by her disappearance that her views on the situation are negative. This has to be a bad thing, there can’t be a positive reason why the Digimon would disappear. But Agumon and Gabumon are happy. Happy that they could see the great people that Taichi and Yamato turned out to be.

Gotta say, the CG fight with Omegamon and Eosmon (Perfect) isn’t as great as the previous ones. Definitely gets better when we get to Eosmon (Ultimate). This is also a scene where they very easily show the stakes by having Taichi and Yamato getting injured, which we don’t see a lot of, not to mention Omegamon getting sliced up as I said previously.

Also, how many kids got stuck with Numemon as a partner?

Chapter 9 (We’re All Together): I hate that whistle. Every time I hear it in Adventure I start crying. And seeing Sora without Piyomon in these scenes is also heart wrenching on a repeat. I enjoy the others getting involved in the Eosmon fight, but I would have liked it if all the Chosen Children who were captured helped out (though I understand the nightmare that would be aging up all those 02 designs). Overall, just some good, back-to-back emotional moments.

Agumon Bond of Courage and Gabumon Bond of Friendship are decent designs. They definitely feel more newer Digimon than anything that would have appeared in the first season, but that’s ok. It took me a while to get used to Agumon’s new face (it’s kinda weird how human they get; makes me feel like wanted this to be a Bio-Merge). Though brief, their appearance is also beautifully animated.

Seeing Menoa lose Morphomon is also pretty emotional. Actually, this whole ending sequence (y’know, the part of the movie that’s the most itself rather than rehashing old material) is very good, and it’s constant heart-tugs one after another.

Chapter 10 (Goodbye for Now): As I said, there’s a lot of tug-at-your-heartstrings moments throughout the film (especially the ending), but this is the biggest one. This is the one that almost got me. I’m choked up a bit even writing this. It doesn’t help that they end it with a non-movie, realistic cry. But as Gennai said, as long as you have infinite possibilities...

This movie does feel like it embraces the epilogue from 02, and in that epilogue everyone has their Digimon again. And when’s the moment in your life when your life becomes chaotic and hectic and full of infinite possibilities again? The unifying thing everyone in the epilogue has? Kids.

I know that sounds weird, but it makes sense. I can totally imagine Taichi sitting on the couch, and his wife walks in and tells him she’s pregnant, and there’s this stunned silence for a moment, then Agumon pops out from under the cushions and says “How did that happen!?” I’m sure there are other ways it could happen, but that’s the most comedic and “Toei pushing having kids to help with the Japanese population crisis” way I can think of doing it.

I’ll also give special mention to the credits, where they go out of their way to show the 02 Crew with their Digimon, but the main cast without. But, again, we know they get them back. And hopefully they don’t make that movie anytime soon, because I’m sick of Adventure. I’d like new things, please!

Overall, this is a good movie, but it is, to me, heavily hampered by the fact that it is too nostalgic. The animation and writing is fantastic, but that writing is built on the back of elements from the previous movies. If you haven’t watched all those movies multiple times like I have, you’ll probably enjoy it a lot more than I did (and I enjoyed it a lot, still), but be aware. Next time we talk Digi-Shop will probably be about Reboot.

Unless I manage to get my hands on the rest of the Xros Wars toys. (Where are you, MailBirdramon!)

[archived-gtronpa-account]

Hey @impytricky I saw a post of yours (I'll try to link it here when I find it again) about how annoyed you were to see Gonta 'fans' talking about how Kokichi should've died in chap 4 ! I agree with that and I just wanted to say, first, I'm glad I never stumbled across something like this, second,,, aah

Now, I love Kokichi and Gonta as much as the next person, and not the 'pure cinnamon roll Gonta' but the boy who's intellect is severely underestimated, who constantly gets babied for absolutely no reason and feels extremely inferior to his peers as a result. I like Kokichi and Gonta's relationship, how you can often find them spending their free time together (which I don't remember seeing in a previous game? I'm not sure) and how Kokichi (despite popular belief for some reason?) Was the one to treat him best in how he understood how smart Gonta really was and trusted him- like how he took his word about seeing tiny bugs and didn't brush it off as 'Gonta idiot' like the rest of the class. Grumble grumble.

Aaa but I'm not gonna go on a tangent for this since I know ur blog and I think we're on the same line regarding those two!

I just wanted to share an idea I had like, right as I was watching Gonta's execution for the first time, an execution for Kokichi in chapter 4!

Like, Kaito voted for Kokichi in the trial. But imagine if maybe Maki had joined him- like how she always sides with Kaito in scrum debate after he learns her real talent (I think? I'm not sure about this info) or if Tsumugi had voted for him to spice things up. And if for some reason, Kokichi had kept no rational sense at the end of that trial and was just completely crushed under the weight of his emotions and decided to vote for himself since he couldn't bring himself to vote for Gonta, even if too many people voted for him and he became the blackened right at that moment he really wouldn't care anymore and at least their plan would have worked and he wouldn't've had to live with his sin.

Anyway, that makes 3 votes for Kokichi, and the player's vote! So yeah I think it's abundantly clear now that I'm going for an alternate route where you -the player- vote for Kokichi and both he and Gonta are blackened. I've seen takes on this scenario and so far haven't found the gem among the stones- especially now that I'm imagining those Gonta 'fans' posts wanting to kill Ko out of spite, yikes. I just wanted to share my thoughts with a fan who's got taste wink wonk ;]

So: Monokuma stays unclear about the two blackeneds tho and just drags Gonta gets taken to his execution, except that unlike the normal version this time there's a those lock things on the metal chains and Kokichi jumps in to try to lockpick those and free Gonta.

Haha I've already got the scenario somewhere written I'm feeling a lil lazy lemme just copy paste it.

So imagine: Gonta is taken to be punished. He's attached to the pole and Monokuma walks in and the execution song starts. But then Kokichi runs in in front of Gonta and alter ego and fumbles with the chains to try and free him, Gonta panics and urges him to go back and not die and he's not the murderer and Gonta can't die knowing he couldn't even protect his classmate one last time only because of those chains. Such despair! Kokichi doesn't listen and desperately tries to get rid of the chains and pick the many locks one by one. Monokuma starts shooting the bugs at them and Gonta is still struggling to try to get Kokichi to move out of the way and Kokichi is growing nauseous from the bug stings and his face gets blue then purple in Danganronpa fashion and Monophanie's stomach grows bigger and bigger and just then Kokichi finds a last lock hidden between the chains he lockpicks it with shaky hands- but Monophanie's stomach bursts open and the lock clicks and right as it falls in Kokichi's hands the giant bug bursts out of Monophanie. Gonta pushes the chains off his arms and legs, falls to the ground, limbs finally free, and jumps in front of Kokichi with his back to the bug to protect him, but right as he's about to push him out of the way of danger the giant bug strikes them both, its his claw digs in their abdomens and they both fall to the ground. After a beat the wooden pole creaks and falls on their on top of their bodies with a heavy thump. Monokuma looks with disgust at the bodies still twitching a little and the nasty bug on top and he throws a match on the pole and everything catches on fire. The fire crackles and the music fades out and the image cuts to alter ego Gonta at their feet looking sad before his screen glitches and goes black and a dark grey puff of smoke comes out of it.

(Dramatic much, I know, but I'm a sucker for despair and tragedy.)

After that you get a shocked text from Shuichi who doesn't understand why Kokichi did that and something like how till the very end he confused them all with his lies (nothing much too grand and emotional, your typical killing game shuichi after chap 4 talking here). After that you get a weird disturbing ending like that of dr1, with a last CG of all the students aged up smiling at a camera, Maki and Shuichi holding up Kaito's portrait since he died of his disease, and with that awful music to disturb you further at the weird image and to really rub it in that you fucked up by being spiteful and voting Kokichi, bad choice you silly player.

I just kinda think it's a cool response to those who could hate Kokichi and get petty and vote for him- only to have a bad ending as a result and a surprise regarding Kokichi's character. I also thought of it as more of a Kokichi's execution, kinda like how it would have Kokichi elements: lockpicking, his leadership quality and how he puts his people before himself and is pretty selfless, also willingly putting himself in front of Gonta so he doesn't get bug stings- which is cool with Kokichi disliking bugs. And just how by being a petty hater you give Kokichi a somewhat peaceful death where he doesn't live with his sins, but you the player get a bad end instead as a result. On Gonta's side, I just like the despair of him ultimately dying unable to protect his friend.

All in all, I just thought it'd be a cool take on chap 4, especially with how… tasteless Gonta's execution feels to me. I also kinda just like this as a Kokichi execution that exploits some of his aspects well enough without being overly dramatic- like the many popular fan excutions I've seen that have him on lie detector forced to tell the truth about his intentions and how he cares about his friends and yadda yadda simp stuff- like, you should be able to see a Dr character's execution and not be able to tell if this character is important or not based on that alone; executions don't discriminate between the popular and the lame, so I think this is a fitting enough execution for Kokichi that works for his character, isn't too lame but isn't too grandiose. This has it's flaws for sure, like how that ending doesn't fit the fictional world reveal of chap 6 and some minor details, but ah, eh, uhm, you know.

I'm a sucker for discussions I'd love to hear your thoughts on this! Since you too have a respectable good view of Gonta and I think I saw a post about you thinking of a Kokichi execution? Aaa you know whatever I'm getting awkward now—–-

[lunamanar]

Coming Home

I had a dream I want to write down before it fades. I was some sort of journalist, sent to cover this old school I used to go to, and the fact it was being renovated and revamped. It was a nostalgic assignment, I thought. When I got there, though, it was more familiar than I suspected. The hallways were long and arching, the ceiling was very high. Even though it was decorated differently, it didn't take long for me to recognize it as Balamb Garden. It kind of blew me away both because it was an FFVIII thing that really existed, and because now I realized that I'd been there, myself. 

The more I walked around in it and took pictures on my phone (I actually checked when I woke up to see if they were there...of course, they weren't), things started seeming more familiar all the time. I had memories of the hallways and classrooms. It made sense, why I'd always liked just walking around malls; they're kinda similar in a way (this is a true thing that I like doing). It was still in operation, sort of, but it was also kind of a theme park? Or at least, it was something you had to get admission to, and most people weren't allowed to go to certain areas. But I had some idea of where paths led, so I was able to get through one of the restricted areas by lying to the guard about having forgotten something in a room, then jumping a barrier and following a path down the side of the Quad, into this odd little cluster of buildings. Almost a village or town square, with big trees and a waterfall. Again, it looked a bit like an abandoned theme park, a lot of things were kind of overgrown and crumbling away, but I could recognize all the colors and design as belonging to Balamb. It struck me that this wasn't an entertainment part, this was a bunch of sets they had built based on the concept art for the game. Maybe to help CG model it, but clearly not all of it actually made its way in. So it was stuck here (and at the same time, because this was a dream and it didn't have to make sense) undocumented, while the school itself was still in operation. Because this was both the real world AND the game world I was in. I climbed up into a sort of tree fort I'd remembered being in as a kid. I was getting my memories back slowly. I was rebuilding this world around me, in my head. The fact I'd forgotten didn't seem weird. Of course I'd forgotten; most people did. There were kids there, students, and they thought it was both weird and fun that an adult had climbed up in the tree fort with them. I didn't say a whole lot, but I let them use me as a shield against their friends for bit. Then I climbed down and took notes and pictures of the buildings, thinking about what purpose they might serve in the game, if they'd made it in. Then I started following the path around the side of the Garden, and the stream that came off the waterfall. It looked like they had old statues of nondescript people crouching and standing in various places in the foliage, like this was going to be a scene in the game somewhere, but had been cut. I tried to figure out what that scene would have been, but there wasn't much context as the statues/models were very nondescript. The only thing I could think of was that this was an alternate location for the SeeD exam, and the models were all the random people who were standing around but you were't allowed to talk to. So I didn't. I followed the path down into this long building in the middle of the woods, kind of rectangular compared to all the others, but still with those rounded sides a lot of the Balamb buildings have. All the neo-tribal designs were half covered up by overgrowth. I think it was summer, so everything was VERY green. I went into the building because it looked like there was a lot of foot traffic there in the gravel, and found it was open. It was a classroom building, one long hallway with classrooms on either side. It was dark, so I guess it was after hours. I was curious so I started poking around. I went into what looked like a shop/art room. I looked at all the carvings, machines and furniture kids had made, and remembered putting one together myself. I was okay at it. Not the best, not terrible. My creations were long gone, but there was a cool glider Zell had made that was still hanging from the ceiling as an example of what you could do if you put your mind to it (and had some talent). I took pictures, made notes. I heard someone coming, and I got nervous for some reason. The voice was familiar, I thought I new her, and didn't think she'd be happy to see me. I was Squall, after all (at least for this part of the dream, I was). I just walked out of the room, keeping very calm. The control I felt was instant and very exact. It was the reaction I had when I probably was supposed to be panicking. Anyway, I think she only saw my back. She called after me, but I waved her off. She didn't chase me down. So, I left that building, and went on to the next thing down the path. It was close to the dorms, but not too close: this food court sort of thing with a faux-Chinese-styled restaurant with goofy pagoda-looking things on either corner. It looked completely out of place, so I understood why it wasn't included in the game. But I walked inside, and again it was familiar. Cheesy themed food court and shops, and the guy working the sushi bar was the same person who'd been there when I was a kid. He was supposed to be Kadowaki's husband. I guess he was irrelevant. I felt the dream starting to fade, so I went up to him and talked to him. Ordered what I "always" had--maki and kurodai. I was the only person who ever ordered that, for some reason, and he recognized me right away. Now that I was older, he insisted I try his cocktails, too. I realized this was where the dream was supposed to end, because I'd drink those and get woozy which would cause the world around me to dissolve. I didn't really want to, but it was going to happen anyway and this would be faster and easier. I'm not sure if that's because being a little buzzed was supposed to make me lose my mental grip keeping the world together, or because I thought the drinks were poisoned and Mr. Kadowaki was trying to assassinate me (it should be noted that this is a very Squall sort of thing to wonder). But for some reason, probably because I knew I couldn't stop it, I tried these little mixed shots anyway. They were good, but the dream really did just kind of evaporate from there and I woke up (very not drunk, thankfully). I think the kicker to the whole thing, that hilariously didn't occur to me when I was in the dream, was that I was a journalist.

[oumakokichi]

So besides the fake death prank in Ch3, are there any other pranks Ouma does? Oh and I've been seeing this one CG where apparently Saihara is unconscious and is woken up by Ouma and I was just wondering if you could explain what's up with that

Many of his pranks or jokes aremostly limited to funny dialogue, for the most part!

There are plenty of times heteases the rest of the cast only to turn around and admit that it was just ajoke. He also really enjoys playing into the whole “obfuscating stupidity”trope.

One scene that comes to mind is in Chapter 2 if you have Saihara tryinvestigating Maki’s research lab. While she’s threatening Saihara not to comeanywhere near it, Ouma shows up (to snoop around no doubt), and she saysroughly something along the lines of, “god, look what you did, now the annoyingone showed up.” And Ouma cheerfully plays along going “Yeah Saihara-chan, lookwhat you did, the annoying one showed up now!”

He really does this sort ofchipper “I’m super hated by everyone and I know it” routine on severaloccasions, and it always helps mask both how incredibly smart he is as well asthe fact that he’s working actively to stop the killing game. By acting like anannoying pest who just gets off on being hated by others, Ouma encourages theother characters to think that he’s all bark and no bite—as they clearly do by thetime Momota actually tries punching him in Chapter 4. But it’s very muchhalf-parts calculated, and half-parts a reflection of the fact that Ouma justreally enjoys making fun of himself as much as he enjoys poking fun at others.

The CG you’re referring to inChapter 2 is arguably part of a prank per se, although once again it’s just asmuch a part of Ouma’s plans to try and get in the way of the killing game. InChapter 2, Ouma tells Gonta that their other classmates don’t really like bugsat all, and suggests that they “get them to like bugs together”—which is allpart of his plan to have Gonta round them up in one room so he can try andforce them to watch the motive videos they were given, since they had shot downthe idea before.

His plan is mostly just basedaround the fact that Gonta gets genuinely just really fired up and shocked atthe idea that anyone could not like bugs. Because Gonta is so physically hugeand so large, his outrage at everyone’s aversion to bugs isn’t meant badly, butit still scares the everliving shit out of them all. He goes around trying toround the group up on his own (occasionally unable to bring some of them over,like Ryouma, Kirumi, and a few others) and he looks absolutely terrifying while doing so.

The fact that he’s 6’6”, has afeverish aura around him, and keeps talking about “coming to get them all” ashe chases them down causes Saihara to literally pass out when Gonta catcheshim. No one else seems to have passed out when caught (Himiko and Angie walkinto Gonta’s research lab pretty calmly, actually) so I can only put this down toSaihara being weak and scared with enough anxiety to hit the roof.

Saihara doesn’t wake up untilconsiderably later while lying on the floor of Gonta’s research lab, and that’swhere the Ouma CG comes in. Ouma seems about as amused at the fact that Saiharaliterally passed out from sheer terror as I myself was, and he cheerfully leansin real close saying, “Good morning, Saihara-chan! You’re such a sleepyhead,huh? Oh, are you wondering where this place is? I guess… it might be hell?” Andthen when Saihara realizes exactly how close Ouma is as well as the fact thathe has no idea where he is or what’s going on, he freaks out and slides aboutten feet back.

The joke about Gonta’s labbeing “hell” is pretty genuinely funny (although I suspect it was as much ajoke on the killing game itself as Gonta’s lab, since Miu and Ouma both proceed to say they’re allliterally stuck in hell in Chapter 4). Ouma uses the fact that most of the restof his classmates are stuck in the room with Gonta to unleash a bunch of bugsas a distraction, then goes out and picks all the locks on their doors to stealthe motive videos they all got.

His general plan was to bringthe videos back and have the whole group watch and discuss them together—somethingthat actually would have stood a very good chance of preventing a murder hadthey gone along with it, in my opinion. Ouma theorized that just ignoring themotives they were given and trying to turn a blind eye to it all while relyingon “the power of friendship” wasn’t going to do anything to make Monokuma stoptrying to get them to kill each other. They’d have been much better offactually confronting the issues and motives given to them in their in-gamebackstories, even if the whole process would’ve been terrifying and stressfulto go through.

Anyway, that’s the general gistof things! A lot of people I think saw the CG of Ouma leaning in near Saihara’sface in Chapter 2 and assumed that he was being terrifying or horrible but thetruth is he was just pretty much getting a good laugh in at the fact thatSaihara saw Gonta in full excited-about-bugs mode and passed out for hours. I can’t blame him—I’d havelaughed, too.

Thank you so much for asking! I hope I clearedsome questions up! Ouma’s fake death prank is probably the best-known stunt hepulls, and even that one was for the sake of progressing the investigation andproviding Saihara and the others with really vital clues, but it’s fun to seelittle glimpses of his mischievous nature throughout the game.