#but like - kirigiri's comment about him not understanding emotion and so that makes him unable to accurately predict what other people do

[aparticularbandit]

Every time Byakuya mentions being bored, I think of Junko. Because he does this. A LOT. He wants the Killing Game to start because he's bored. He might kill someone himself to get it going because he's bored. Like - the others mention boredom every now and again, but not near to the amount he does.

Maybe Byakuya is our token evil teammate.

[oumakokichi]

I hope it's not a bother but- Mind telling us why Byakuya Togami got so high in you DR ranking ? I like this character a lot, so I would be interested in what you think of him, as I love your metas and writing so much!

It’s absolutely not a bother! I don’t think I’ve ever had achance to write much about Togami before, so this should be fun.

I would honestly consider Togami one of the DR characterswho has grown the most over the course of the entire series. His arc ofcharacter development is consistent while remaining believable, and I honestlyfind myself enjoying all the new content that’s been provided on him—even hisscenes in dr3, while short, were enjoyable, and I���m incredibly interested inkeeping up with the DR: Togami novels and finding out more about the Togamifamily in general.

Honestly, it was a surprise when I first realized just howhighly I would rank Togami’s character. I hadn’t really thought of him as oneof my favorite characters before—certainly, I didn’t think he would be when Istarted dr1. He’s rude, blunt, absolutely merciless towards others’ feelings,and it didn’t seem like the narrative would be able to pull off him achievingany development or growth without it feeling stiff and unrealistic. However…really, he just grew on me at some point.

I like the fact that the narrative isn’t afraid to callTogami out on his bullshit. When he crosses the line in Chapter 4, he nearlypays the price for it. His complete dismissal of people’s feelings andattachments to others as completely untrustworthy and not even worth his timenearly gets him killed, and this fact honestly shakes him to the core.

Togami is someone who was raised to compete in death games. Not in the sense of a literalkilling game, but yes in the sense of being forced to compete from a young agewith his siblings for which one among them would become the prodigy and heir tothe entire Togami family. Losing out in those competitions meant essentiallythe same as death: Togami had to be prepared for the possibility of himself orany one of his siblings getting removed entirely from the family register andcut off as if they had never existed in the first place.

This kind of do-or-die, kill-or-be-killed mindset wasengrained in him almost from birth. It’s the most important reason why he viewseverything in the killing game as a zero-sum game, and why he refuses to trustor rely on absolutely anyone around him—again, until Chapter 4, when thismindset by which he has abided almost all his life is the very thing thatalmost gets him killed. Realizing just how close he came to dying and how badlyhe messed up all because he was unable to adapt and take emotions and affectioninto account, he’s forced to change his viewpoint and make some improvements tohis behavior, because otherwise he wouldget himself killed for real.

He’s not someone who’s accustomed to the idea that hisviewpoint—particularly a viewpoint that has essentially been keeping him alivein a highly competitive, cutthroat world of competition and betrayal andsuspicion amongst his siblings—could possibly be wrong, but dr1 Chapter 4 was ahuge wake-up call for him. He adjusts, he acknowledges his fault, he even apologizes (albeit, crudely, in thetypical Togami fashion). And he does, incredibly enough, improve. From Chapter5 and onward, it’s impossible to deny that Togami becomes a real team player,acknowledging how other people’s emotions and thoughts might influence them indifferent ways than himself while still remaining believably aloof,self-assured, and calculating.

One of the things I like best about Togami and even aboutdr1 in general as well is that Togami’s comments about suspecting and doubtingothers in the group are not entirely wrong.Like Ouma, Togami is someone who absolutely knows that blind optimism andnaivete will only get you killed in a life-or-death situation like a killinggame. He refuses to hold hands and believe in the power of friendship withoutfirst getting to know the people around him—and the problem is, he can’t bringhimself to actually get to know them until much later, around Chapter 5 or so,because of how much paranoia the killing game inspires.

Whereas Ouma’s viewpoint is never quite acknowledged by anyof the other characters as being correct or having a valid point (except, occasionally,by Kiibo, but usually the other characters just sort of go “haha, look at the poorrobot, he doesn’t understand social cues” and don’t pay him any attention),Togami’s viewpoint is validated by Kirigiri, of all characters.

Kirigiri understands better than any other character in dr1,arguably better than any character in the entire DR franchise, that you can’tafford to take blind optimism or complete and utter paranoia to either extreme.She has a line as early as Chapter 1 of dr1 about how trusting people tooblindly and implicitly is just as dangerous as doubting anyone and everything.Having one of the most level-headed, intelligent, and perceptive characters inthe cast acknowledge that Togami’s not simply saying everything for the sake ofbeing an antagonistic asshole lends his words a certain degree of credibilityto the other characters and to the players as well.

I’m honestly impressed with the way Togami has matured as aperson. Actions speak louder than words, and his actions ever since the laterchapters of dr1 have consistently shown time and time again that he really doesregard the rest of the survivors as friends. In dr3, the characters mostresponsible for helping to save everyone at the end are Juzo, Kirigiri—and Togami,without whom none of the characters would have discovered that the killing gamewasn’t actually being broadcast, and who acted quickly enough to send help to theFuture Foundation and to Jabberwock Island.

Togami is someone who simultaneously makes valid pointsabout the necessity of doubt, suspicion, and self-preservation in a killinggame, while also never getting a free pass from the narrative. Asahina,Kirigiri, and even Naegi are all more than willing to let him know when he’scrossed a line. When shown concrete proof of the fact that his viewpoint wasnot only mistaken but also dangerously intolerant of other people’s feelings,he genuinely does change for the better.

He’s developed from a relatively closed-off, arrogant, cynicalteenager into someone who, while still certainly more dubious than some of hisfellow survivors, is willing to pitch in and do what he can to make sure they all stay alive. While he’s not quite asbrilliant as Kirigiri, he’s still fairly smart in his own right, and hisresources and considerable abilities to dedicate himself to a task make him anasset to the dr1 survivor group.

What people tend to forget often about Togami is that whilehis family is certainly his backbone, he prides himself more than anything onhis own personal achievements. He is the reason his family should be a proudand upstanding name, not the other way around. From his own perspective, he earned his position as the Togami familyheir—went through hell for it, in fact. He’s capable and determined in his ownright, and that’s why even the discovery of the Togami family’s downfall isn’tenough to shake him. The Togami family fell, but that does nothing to sway hisdetermination to rebuild it and make it even better than its former glory. Inthat sense, he reminds me quite a lot of Kyouya Ootori from Ouran, who was verysimilar in wanting to actually outshine the legacy of his family.

Anyway, these are most of the reasons why I find myselfliking Togami. It’s true that other characters are perhaps more fun or moreinteresting—but he’s gone very high on my personal ranking just because of thesheer amount of development he’s had. I’m at the point where I enjoy seeing himin just about any DR spinoff at all nowadays, and I’m pleased that he stillfeels like himself while having changed and improved his behavior so much.

I hope I expressed myself well enough! I’m really glad thatyou enjoy Togami too, anon! Thank you for giving me a chance to write a littlebit about him!