#danganronpa another spoilers

[dorkiiccotton]

lets together suicide (og under cut)

[beehiveofblorbos]

for me it’s

it’s how Naegi Makoto is an average boy, in spite of it all. It’s how Makoto describes himself as an optimist (not even that, just a bit more optimistic than everyone else) and then will refuse to lose a single person to the killing game, even if he has to carry all the dead to the end himself. It’s how he’s genuinely become so aware of himself after the game but he still cannot stop himself from trying to find and bring out the good in people, whenever it exists, even as he knows he can’t always afford that.

it’s how Akamatsu Kaede is an average girl, in spite of it all. She doesn’t feel quite Ultimate enough, how she describes herself as a “piano freak” who just happened to win all those contests. It’s how she feels her passion isn’t enough and finds satisfaction through concrete accomplishment, be it the mastermind dead on the floor or the smiles on her audience (her classmates’ faces). It’s how she’s so aware of the disparity between the image she projects and the real her, how she will keep the class morale high and then go cry in her room. It’s how she describes the killing game as “ridiculous”, and will smile even as she cries.

It’s how “Maeda Yuki” could’ve been real. So easily he could’ve been real. It’s how he’s kind of surprised that anyone finds him reliable at all, how he holds himself to the same standard Akane holds him to and at the same time is so endlessly tempted to give in, it’s how he is our POV character but he is the villain of our story. Its how without Yuki and the impact he made on Akane, on Tsurugi, on Rei, on Teruya, Mikako even… they wouldn’t have broken so hard, knowing the hope that they represent is just a shred of despair.

[laniemae]

What are some of your favorite fanganronpas and characters from them?

Ooooh this is an interesting question.

I have had quite an attachment to the original danganronpa another I’ve just found it so charming to me and I absolutely love analysing all the themes and stuff. Especially with the theme of dedicating oneself to something, and essentially integrating it into part of your identity and for it to become toxic. And when that ideology is questioned and destroyed for it being no different from denying one’s existence. It’s a theme bought up that I still think about so regularly and there’s a lot to go into it.

Also on the topic of DRA well, there was a big incident that happened where bc I was watching Weeby’s playthrough of it I started liking Kinji and him being my favourite character only as a joke. And then he became legitimately my favourite character and one of those types of characters I can’t stop thinking about. Soooo when chapter 3 happened I was literally sobbing and crying so much and welp it was devastating. And to rant about Kinji bc I love him so much I feel like his breakdown in trial 3 goes way under the radar as people say it’s out of character and he went evil for no reason but I’ve thought about it so much lemme explain. To me how he broke down in a fury of rage is because we’ve seen Kinji constantly be stoic and isolated throughout the game and especially in his free time events it’s implied that he’s this way because he was trained to be a priest at a very young age and had to repress his emotions in favour of faith. And like repressing your emotions for such a long time especially when it was conditioned can absolutely lead to built up anger and emotional distress which finally burst in his chapter 3 breakdown. And how it was subverted that he wasn’t a typical secretly evil chapter 3 killer and rather after understanding it being a realistic response in line with his character is just so interesting. And especially how shocking the presentation was with the horrifying sprite and the slurred speech, screaming and swearing. And being in such a distressed mental state he accidentally confesses to his crime. Like I love this scene so much with Kinji and I think it goes greatly unappreciated aaaand looks like I rambled again.

Ok but another fangan I’m also super intrigued in is (he)artless deceit. Because the prolouge is already super interesting and the characters all seem to have much more going to them rather than just being typical archetypes. And especially themes present throughout the cast on how they view their ultimate talents specifically and themes of prestige ughahhhh I love running themes like that. The way it also has a side story exploring the world outside looking for the missing students happening at the same time it’s something I’ve never really seen other fangans do and it has such good potential and could absolutely make the overarching story super unique. It’s one of the beginning fangans I’m most interested in to see where it goes.

So yeah that’s my fangan ramble and edens garden chapter 1 is also coming out really soon which I’m super exited for as well

[danganronpafan777]

I literally just finished UDG then saw that previous ask you answered - and now I’m thinking about if the class of 79 had captives during UDG as well… I mean Junko never cared about what happened to the class of 79 and we see the relatives during 6.5 but it still makes me wonder if they ever had captives for their motive videos

(spoilers ch3 dra) yknow, except for Kinji-

If they do have captives, is it weird I want to be the one in Rei’s motive vi-

Yeah, we really don’t know what happened in the motive videos, since Yuki’s was just a video of Utsuro killing his family.

I imagine that the motives showed everyone family’s reactions to the tragedy and initial deaths as it occurred. No one says anything about being held captive in ch6.5 (prior to the literal kidnapping lol)

Nah, it ain’t weird to be someone Rei cares about!

[catgirl-catboy]

Dra rewatch prologue thoughts: (spoilers for more than the entire series)

Yuki be like "Tsurugi is the most morally just person ever. I watch all of his TV appearances and likely talked a lot about him in the thread. I want his DICK." Yuki you've got a storm coming. Mekaru was the second most popular, and no signs of simp behavior yet. Mitch is also a big deal.

Teruya calls out for police, which I'm sure affected Tsurugi's guilt over not stopping Monokuma. I think he would have attacked anyway, but Teruya poked a bear accidentally.

Tsurugi called Monokuma a criminal, but didn't go batshit as he will later. You could just say its to preserve the reveal for a less impactful time, but I like to think it only bothers Tsurugi if a criminal endangers other's lives. Maybe he's already passively suicidal.

We're really upplaying the Mekaru:Togami and Akane:Sayaka parallels rn. It makes sense, to obscure the true antagonist(s) of the game.

[cannibalisticdespair]

Commissioned this from Despair_Sauce before antis ran them out of the fandom. I just fucking love my headcanon of Mukuro training Kotoko.

[nikeikeis]

i used today as an excuse to draw their tts outfits anyways happy birthday to the twins

[maxiemcsoda]

screenshot edits from a couple months ago

[ninetypercentspoon]

You don’t need a body in a place like this

[hinalatte]

An Attempt at Analyzing David Chiem’s Motivations

and a bunch of other stuff that got in there somehow

Ch2 Ep12 spoilers ahead! (And spoilers for the Literature Girl Insane MV picture if you haven’t seen it already)

So, Ch2 Ep12 changed some things about my perception of David. I was under the impression that the way he was acting in the trial was because of a self destructive breakdown, but the latest episode reveals that he’s making an attempt at altruism.

But I still think he’s having a self destructive breakdown. The end result is still the same—he dies, he ruins his public image. This is still, objectively, self destructive behavior. He just has a motivation to make it “worth it” now.

I believe David wants to be a good person. He just doesn’t know how to be one. He feels like he may never be one. Xander is that good person David wishes he was, so he’s dedicating himself to following what Xander would do. If Xander was good, he can also be good by following his example. (I made a theory about something like this a while back, go read my David Chiem and colors analysis if you’re curious)

So let’s return to that picture of David holding Xander’s jacket, with the context of this episode.

First of all, the “you” in these quotes is most definitely Xander.

1. I became a villain in pursuit of your dream.

We know what this means. David acted up during the trials to look guiltier so that the trial would end up with a misvote. He’s actively trying to end the lives of everyone there because of what Xander tried and failed to do in Chapter 1. But what I’m curious about is what Xander’s “dream” really was. He never said anything about wanting to end the killing game by dying. The only thing he tried to do was kill Teruko.

David pauses before stating that his motive was to end the killing game by eliminating the entertainment value. His expression is also pretty suspicious. It sounds like something he made up on the spot. And if he wanted to end the killing game by not being entertaining, why did he go against everyone’s plan of doing nothing and killing no one? Why did he fan the flames by telling everyone to admit their secrets? The conflict that stemmed from his actions was what made the second chapter entertaining to begin with. So I don’t think this truly was his motive for trying to get everyone killed. I think he was following in Xander’s footsteps. He’s trying to kill Teruko.

We all remember the secret David got, right?

I think most of us agree that him saying this was Xander’s secret was a lie. He waited until everyone was done talking so he could make sure no one had Xander’s actual secret, and then he pinned it on him. He also has an extremely high opinion of Xander and gets upset when people slander him, so I don’t think there’s any way he would admit to this being Xander’s secret unless it wasn’t actually Xander’s secret. I think he’s saying it’s Xander because he feels comfortable using his name for his goals, since they’re “partners in crime” in his mind. That secret is definitely Teruko’s.

I think when Xander initially attempted to kill Teruko, David was conflicted about how to feel. But once he got Teruko’s secret, it made sense. Xander was a hero and Teruko was a villain, and David had to do what Xander couldn’t. His ploy to get everyone killed is so Teruko has to be killed alongside them.

That’s my theory, anyway. I could be wrong, especially considering David could’ve tried to kill Teruko with his own hands if he really did want her dead. But it’s also possible he didn’t do that because he knew she would have survived it somehow.

2. I threw away my humanity for an ideal that I couldn’t understand.

What’s interesting to me here is the use of the word “couldn’t”. It’s not that he “didn’t” understand Xander’s ideals. It’s that he “couldn’t”, because he doesn’t understand Xander’s altruism. Every time he talks about his motivations in this episode, it’s about Xander. He even frames the moral dilemma of killing everyone there for the greater good from Xander’s perspective—16 lives, which was how many there were when Xander attempted murder, rather than 13, which is how many there are as David is saying this.

David doesn’t know how to be a good person. He believes Xander is the only good person he’s ever known, so he’s blindly following what “Xander would do” in hopes of doing something good.

This is especially interesting to me because becoming a good person has been a theme this whole chapter. Arei used Eden as a reference for what a good person looked like as well. But that’s an essay for another time!

3. But I don’t regret it. To “regret” is to imply that I could have done anything else.

I’m pretty sure the only thing keeping David going is Xander’s legacy. He doesn’t have much faith in himself as a person, so it’s either give up or give everything to the ideals of the man he believed in.

This line makes it pretty evident to me that even though he’s acting like he knows what he’s doing, he still feels lost. But at the same time, when you’re lost in a maze, the only thing you can do is follow the path ahead of you.

4. I never told you, but the truth is, I wasn’t capable of ever becoming human in the first place.

The idea of being human is present in a lot of things relating to David’s character. This 4th quote in particular seems to be a response to this line by Xander, from their “role models” conversation.

David is also associated with the book No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai through the Literature Girl Insane MV. No Longer Human is about a man that feels so detached from other people that it’s like he’s not even one of them. To fit in, he pretends to be what they expect him to be, but he never truly feels connected to them.

“Mine has been a life of much shame. I can’t even guess myself what it must be to live the life of a human being.”

I think it’s safe to guess that David feels a similar way.

David is disoriented by normal human interaction. The ways in which he interacts with people are entirely based on their perception of him. He’s an upstanding role model when that’s what they expect, and a callous villain once they accuse him of murder. He acts that way to further his goals, sure, but it’s still isolating. As he says, his relationships are fake, because he himself is a fake person.

He feels like he fundamentally lacks what other humans have. This could mean a whole slew of things, but I think the most relevant one right now is ideals. David doesn’t have ideals of his own in the way Xander does. Xander believes in fighting for what’s right. David is so disconnected from other people that he doesn’t even know what “right” is.

The line where Xander calls David “human” is in the context that David isn’t a perfect role model. It’s interesting that he seems to be arguing against that. Not because he’s perfect. It seems to me like he’s saying “I am not, and never will be, like you.”

And of course, the “I never told you” is because Xander is dead. He never got to know David’s true self.

5. So in the end, you are always—

I genuinely have no idea what this means. If somebody has even the smallest clue…my ask box is open. Please.

Conclusion

Is killing the entire cast really something Xander would do? Who knows! But David sure seems to think so, and he’s apparently the one who knows Xander the best. Nevertheless, it’s leading to a lot of interesting conflict.

I also want to note that I might be making it sound like David has low self esteem. I don’t mean that. Very little has been confirmed about David’s inner psyche. But here’s my interpretation, for fun’s sake:

David has a low opinion of himself, but he also has an ego. When you think of yourself as fundamentally different from other people, that can lead to you developing a sense of superiority over it. Like you’re the only one in the world with some knowledge others don’t have. This is a mindset people with depression can easily develop. Teruko acts this way as well, a little bit. She literally calls herself a main character. David also calls himself a main character in his MV, alongside Xander.

He also doesn’t seem to respect Hu’s opinion, judging by this sprite. It’s like him and Xander are the only ones who know what has to be done, and everyone else just doesn’t understand.

But he still has low self esteem. He sees Xander as someone who is just better than him, and thinks he’s too bad of a person to improve. People can think they’re worse and better than others at the same time. It’s very interesting. But again, that’s just my interpretation, going off of vibes more than anything else.

I’ll also mention here that I think David knew Xander from news articles before the killing game started. Xander was an activist. David might’ve seen some of the things he did, like the Chariton case, on the news at some point. He might have admired him for it.

That’s all for today. They are very intriguing to me. I will be back later about non-Xanvid things.

[hajikei]

this is how i see their dynamic

[beehiveofblorbos]

the biggest thing I liked better about DRA is…

Utsuro! He feels like Izuru and Komaeda simultaneously but better than both somehow

[beehiveofblorbos]

Reblogging again bc I wanted to talk about DR Another

Everyone lovessss Sannoji Mikado and Yomiuri Nikei to bits but I am sorry guys those r the two I can’t get on board with. Like I get why you got into them I used to be into them but after Nikei ch4 and Mikado ch5/6 I just. Guh I can’t Maeda Yuki deserved better

There's always that one character that EVERYONE loovvvesss but I just cannot stand them. I have my reasons.

[danganronpafan777]

nyx at a graveyard

God damn- 😭😭

Deserved for their parents tho (They’re so cruel that even their headstones are burning for their sins-)

Not me being in denial about everyone else

Nyx deserves better 😔

[catgirl-catboy]

When you Compare Utsuro and Izuru , Who do you think is a Better character ?

Thats hard, since Izuru is a hard character to judge.

So much of what we see of him in Dr2 is offsceen, and UTDP and Dr S change his backstory to such a degree that he's arguably a different character. (I'd say a lot of his trauma involves loneliness, to the point where he destroyed the world for the first person that talked to him. Take away that loneliness, and he becomes a slightly less broody dude.)

In other words, there wasn't enough room for both competent!Izuru and competent!Junko in Dr2 trial 6, and Kodaka choose Junko. We don't see him being evil! Or malicious.

In a way, we get the boat bit, and we get Hajime's reaction to Izuru. We don't get much of the dude himself.

Usturo has a lot of a better execution (in the non-gorey sense) since we actually see him talking about his crimes in a way we don't get with Izuru. We see him fucking with Tsurugi in chapter 6. And, well enjoying it seems a bit of a stretch for him, but we see him in his element and not being conflicted over it.

He also gets MORE characterization, appearing in SDRA2. That has some of my favorite Usturo moments in the entire series.

The only bad thing I will say about Usturo, is that we didn't see enough of his backstory, despite it literally being his POV. Like, we had the Izuru boat scene, which was pretty iconic despite my complaints about Izuru.)

I feel like I have to pick Usturo, simply because we got much more of him.

[lonisaiou]

this post exists just so I can force myself to finish this WIP, because ch5 rules