#drv3 translation

[pumpkinhimiko]

Since the post about differences in translation WRT Kaito and Kokichi's relationship was unfortunately deleted, I've taken it upon myself to make my own for posterity's sake.

NISA: Geez… you're such a naive dude.

OG: 。。。ったく、テメーはピユアなやろうだな。/ …Geez, you're such a pure guy.

A pretty well-known change that makes Kaito sound more insulting then he does in the original. Kokichi's response was also altered not only in the text, but in the voice acting; in Japanese, he sounds uncharacteristically emotionless, rather than annoyed like in the dub.

NISA: Well, we come from different backgrounds. So for now, let's agree to disagree. No one's ever called me naive before. And from Kaito? Seriously?

OG: まあ、百田ちゃんとオレの話が合わないのわ最初あきらめているけど。。。 / Well, I'd already given up on seeing eye to eye with Momota-chan since the beginning… ピュアなんて言われてのわ初めてだよ。オレみたいに嘘つきがさ。/ But that's the first time someone's called a liar like me pure.

Kaito goes from telling Maki to let Kokichi go or he'll die, to telling Maki to let Kokichi go so she won't get executed:

NISA: Maki Roll, cut it out! You'll get killed if you don't!

OG: ハルマキ、もうやめろ！それ以上やったらマジで死ぬぞ！/ Harumaki, stop already! Any more than that and he'll seriously die!

Kaito's response to Maki saying he shouldn't have cooperated with Kokichi is translated to sound like he was pestered into it. In the original, it sounds like he's seriously reflecting on Kokichi's state of mind throughout the game.

NISA: It was kinda hard to ignore such an annoying guy. Geez… I wonder how far ahead he planned this evil scheme of his.

OG: 。。。あいつわそんあ易しいヤツじゃねーよ。/ …He wasn't that simple. まったく。。。どこからどこまでが計算だったんだろうな。あいつの悪巧みわよ。/ Man… I wonder how much of it he'd planned out. For that cunning scheme of his.

And of course, Kaito's final words on Kokichi were made to sound a lot harsher.

NISA: He was a lying sack of shit.

OG: 。。。あいつは筋金入りの嘘つきだったぜ。/ …He was a liar to the core.

[lightprkdraws]

You have our divine protection

[g0nta-g0kuhara]

Re-translating V3’s Relationship Charts Part 4: Gonta Gokuhara

Re-translating the relationship charts as most you can find online are really poorly done. I genuinely could not find a picture online of Gonta's relationship chart, not even an untranslated one. Again, I had some difficulty here (obligatory "I'm a beginner") but I think I got the point across!

For Tsumugi, she actually just says "Mask" without specifying, but I'm guessing she's referring to Tuxedo Mask (like she did in Ch3). As for Kiibo, I had a really hard time figuring out what he was saying. Literally, it was kind of like "I'm losing ground wrt strength," So I think he's comparing his own strength to Gonta's (considering Kiibo is hilariously weak) but that might be off.

And here's the original:

[kites-life-insurance-fics]

(In reference to Shuichi Saihara)

"Nishishi..... Guess he shot me down, huh. But I won't give up that easily.

After all..... I'm the type of person who won't turn back once I've fallen in love with someone. Even if it means putting my hands around their neck"

[silicon-tmblr]

About Rain Code's Streaming Regulations

I have some bad news. And it's not that I'm not streaming Rain Code, because I am, even in light of the warning on startup; you'll find out why in a minute, as I've done my due diligence researching.

Above, the startup warning in question.

Although this seems to be a strict streaming ban, this confusingly goes against the implications of the earlier issued spoiler management guidelines. So, I thought to take a look at the original Japanese version of this warning.

I am so glad I did.

「ゲームソフトを権利者の許諾なく、インターネットを通じて配信、 配布する行為、また違法なインターネット配信と知りながら ダウンロードする行為は法律で固く禁じられております。みなさまのご理解とご協力をお願いいたします。」

I'll give you all the translation in a moment, but I'd like to first draw your attention to this:

This is a startup warning displayed in Danganronpa V3's original Japanese release. Even without speaking Japanese, just by looking at the shape of the characters I'm sure you can see that... they're the exact same.

And here is the translation of this screen in V3's official English release:

...It's a piracy warning.

It's telling you not to pirate the game.

AND SOMEHOW, SOMEONE SCREWED THIS UP IN RAIN CODE'S TRANSLATION SO BADLY THAT IT BECAME A STREAMING BAN?!

Now, I thought at first that this could be reflective of some pre-release plans for a streaming ban that were ultimately removed. Maybe they updated the Japanese screen but not the English (or French, for that matter) warning screen? Because surely such a serious blunder couldn't be possible, right?

Then I realized, the word for distribution being used in these warnings is "配信". This word also means "streaming", and is used to refer to livestreaming, as well as distribution of news or, in this case, files (though livestreaming is usually "ライブ配信"). So... this case of mistranslation is actually possible. The content that isn't to be distributed isn't actually specified by the original Japanese, and considering the nature of the game and the need for players to avoid spoilers, it's definitely possible to believe this was meant to be a streaming ban.

EXCEPT WHY WOULD YOU WORD YOUR STREAMING BAN TO SAY "NO DOWNLOADING ILLEGAL MATERIAL"?????

I know that technically you're downloading the video live when you're watching a stream, but come on.

[wisteriasonthemoon]

Suspicion! is it a buff or debuff to perception checks in murder school?

my journey to maybe, probably, eventually complete DRV3 chapter 1 continues. I once again had to go over a scene multiple times because I got captivated by a small detail lol

the detail in question is an optional conversation with Gonta. it occurs on the 5th day of chapter 1. Monokuma has announced the first blood perk, imposed his devil time limit, and everyone is disjointed and suspicious of each other. Shuichi and Kaede's plan to trap the mastermind is in-progress

how I ended up interested in this conversation:

I have been trying to go everywhere accessible to me anytime the game gives me control. for most of the prologue and chapter 1, Kaede has an objective: run from the unidentified giant robot, follow Shuichi to the library, and so on. during these objective periods through the end of in-game Day 4, attempts to visit an area that is not on the path to the objective will result in a "YOU SHALL NOT PASS" buzzer

like so

so I was a bit surprised, when I emerged from the warehouse carrying some cameras and sensors with a directive to take them to Miu in her lab, and I saw that Gonta was in the dining hall

I tried the school store door and got buzzed by Shuichi

nope

then, the dining hall door. success

this was an intriguing break in pattern. why would the devs place Gonta in this room, when they could place him anywhere directly on the way to Miu's lab? immediately, I wondered if this had some significance to the murder mystery. character actions and locations in tandem with timing is evidence

and I was definitely suspicious after I spoke to Gonta

3 things struck me as weird

Gonta's statement that they met in the dining hall "yesterday morning (Day 4) and the morning before that (Day 3)" is factually inaccurate. the group met up in the dining hall on Days 2 and 3

Gonta's statement that he didn't see anyone but Kirumi seemed ... implausible. prior to the warehouse, Shuichi and Kaede had just been in the dining hall performing their very famous groveling to Miu to request she make them a camera-sensor combo. and Miu had been in there long enough that Shuichi had known where she was, aiming to go find her there with Kaede. not to mention, on the way to the dining hall, Shuichi and Kaede bumped into Korekiyo in the hallway. it felt implied that he had also been to the dining hall. he at least knew Kirumi had been there making breakfast

the two last points combined to make Kaede's statement of "Oh, I see ... So no one met up in here this morning." set off author misdirection alarm bells. girl, you're not going to question Gonta's totally wrong timeline? or ask about Korekiyo? what's going on here?

then the conversation continued and I just got more ... baffled ...

Shuichi seemed to do his job as a detective by asking about Kirumi, but again I got no further information about timeline because he was cut off by Gonta

and then the last weird thing happened

that's the end of the conversation

the last thing was weird not because Gonta got angry, or that he scared Kaede. I don't think he was necessarily as angry as his sprite implied, or even angry at all. I believe others have mentioned this, and I agree: I suspect he is mimicking an animal's "upset" face, and it's coming off more extreme than he intends. I haven't cut any dialogue, Gonta is instantly contrite

no, what was weird was that Gonta got upset on behalf of himself at such a tiny refusal. bugs weren't even involved. this gave me such pause that I stopped to consider why Gonta might already have been upset, and what was *probably* going on here clicked for me

Gonta wasn't placed in the dining hall for murder mystery reasons, but for the reader to pick up a story beat happening in the background

when Gonta said that he had only seen Kirumi, Kaede despondently thought:

but Kaede has it backwards! despite not having made an agreement to meet up, several people chose to come to the dining hall in the morning, the place and time where they had been working together. they just kept missing each other

one of the things that I haven't had an opportunity to mention was that Shuichi and Kaede also encountered Maki, of all people, at a different spot in the hallway from Korekiyo, on their way to Miu

based on the information I understood from the conversations surrounding this one with Gonta, I believe a plausible (but still assumed) series of events would be:

Kirumi goes to the dining hall to make breakfast, in case anyone shows up

Korekiyo shows up first, but refuses breakfast. he might even have argued a bit with her about his refusal, and either out of politeness or something else, left eventually into the hallway

Gonta shows up next while Kirumi is still making breakfast. he enters through door direct from the school grounds to the dining room and isn't seen by Korekiyo. he does accept her breakfast, but he either annoys her by trying to help or Kirumi grows restless when no one else to serve appears. she leaves through the grounds door, also not seen by Korekiyo, and heads to the dormitory

Gonta waits in the dining hall alone for some time. he stews on his interaction with Kirumi, and returns to the grounds for a while, probably trying to make himself feel better by continuing his futile search for bugs. alas, he will find no bugs, and the combination of these things will contribute to his temper later

after Kirumi and Gonta are gone, Miu enters the dining hall directly from the grounds. Shuichi sees her, and then heads to Kaede's room to enlist her help in persuading Miu about the camera plan he has concocted

while Shuichi is chatting up Kaede, pick your flavor of Maki. I could be convinced that she saw Miu enter or didn't. she could have gone to the dining hall to keep track of the competition that might kill her, or due to a tiny flickering spark of the Maki she was before she became an assassin. either way, Maki only encounters Miu, takes 5 minutes to decide surveillance in the hall is a better option, and probably threatens to kill Miu if she dares to follow her out

and we're back to what I the player saw: Shuichi and Kaede encounter Korekiyo and Maki on the way to the dining hall, ask Miu their favor, go to the warehouse, and when they exit, Gonta is back in the dining hall

this idea settles the group mood on the 5th day into an interesting middle ground between falling for Monokuma's traps to separate them, but not yet having completely been lost to him. maybe everyone went to the dining hall for self-centered reasons, with no real coordination, but isn't it interesting that they went at all?

Kirumi could have done important work elsewhere. Miu could have picked 1 (relatively) safe person to blabber enthusiastically to near the retreat of her dorm door. god knows Maki could just sit inside her dorm crouched in ambush position if she wanted

I'm blogging with a particularly bad memory of the latter half of Chapter 1. so, I might have just made up a story over something that gets explained. I don't know. but I do know that if I click on Gonta again after the conversation, he says this

Gonta stay here little longer. maybe someone else come

I wonder if I'll find some scrap of dialogue to that implies that someone else does. if Kaede spends the rest of this day consumed in the mastermind trap plan, it's possible everyone could stop by and Kaede tragically would never know

this has been a delightful piece of storytelling to interact with. 1 day until time limit. Monokuma hasn't won yet

[railatherobot]

saioum

[supahstarrr]

as a dr fan we need to acknowledge that some of the danganronpa characters suffer through chronic liners for bad humor by out-of-touch old guy writers syndrome

[ectonurites]

Hmm... You would rather do a walkthrough than play a video game

oh deny deny deny im soooooo impatient, watching a walkthrough of a game is usually agonizing for me. however, despite that, more often than not i've ended up watching walkthroughs for plenty of things i would have preferred to play simply because i did not own the correct hardware to be able to play it myself

anonymously make an assumption about me and i’ll confirm/deny it

[sharkyrandom]

Who decided to break my emotional stability?

Source // Artist

[shsl-analyzer-guy]

In-Depth Character Analysis On All The DR Characters Because What, Are You Gonna Try And Stop Me? Who Are You, My Mom? Yeah, I Didn't Think So- Part 1: Kiyotaka Ishimaru

Yes, I'm aware the title is ungodly long, it's called comedy. Behold, a series inspired by my overwhelming hubris! Despite my better judgement, I love this series and (almost) every single one of its characters, so I decided to do this little series of posts on the side, just cuz!

So part 1 of like, 88 I think?, going through the characters from THH, DR 0, SDR2, UDG, DR3, and DRV3 with as much objectivity as possible, analyzing their character using only canon material from the games/anime/novel/canon adaptation they're present in. So sit back and enjoy while I go feral! Or just scroll, if you aren't interested. Whatever works for you.

Part 1- Character Design

Kiyotaka Ishimaru is depicted as a very aggressive honors student, and is shown as such through his very expressive facial features and his choice of clothing. He has large eyebrows and big eyes, and is given a uniform meant to make him look more like a soldier, reflecting his rigid dedication to the rules and his ethics. This uniform also includes an armband meant to signify his authority within the class as Hall Monitor and as the unofficial class rep. His sprites are very animated, with big gestures using his arm(s) and his mouth often wide open, whether in a wide smile or while yelling. This makes him one of the more expressive characters in THH specifically, as most of those characters are pretty restrained on a day-to-day basis and only become more exaggerated when put under high levels of stress.

Something interesting about Taka is that his talent changes from the original Japanese to the English translation. His official talent is the SHSL Public Morals Committee Member, meaning his original talent was that of discipline and social order. This was translated to Ultimate Moral Compass in English, as most western schools don't have a Public Morals Committee. This change in translation unintentionally shifted the perception of his talent from discipline to morality. This change in distinction has had a bit of a negative impact on the Western perception of his character, as rather than appearing to impose order on the other students, it instead appears at the beginning as though we, the audience, are supposed to view him as a beacon of morality. We're not.

Part 2- Character Introduction

Taka is one of the first characters to actually speak to Makoto directly, berating him for being late on the first day of school, despite the fact that he and everyone else had experienced a strange warping of memory. He also goes on to interrupt your first conversation with Sayaka, stating that their time is being wasted by 'ridiculous back-and-forth'. Despite this, when it's his turn to introduce himself to Makoto, he goes off on a tangent about how cool Makoto's name is. He's described by Makoto as a 'flawless honors student' and is most publicly known for his work on his local Public Morals Committee. He believes in putting 'every ounce of effort' into living, and imposes this belief on those he interacts with, something Makoto finds irritating(This guy is... kind annoying.").

So in short, Taka's first impression on the player is that he's a mildly obsessive honors kid, and a bit of a hypocrite that isn't fully aware of his own presence or the effect it has on the rest of the cast. The game goes on to use this lack of social awareness as a source of comedy, as he takes Monokuma's initial greeting as Headmaster fully at face value. He struggles to grasp the concept of the killing game at first, opening the discussion upon Monokuma's departure from the welcome ceremony with dialogue that sounds like it was pulled from a customer feedback survey("So guys, how would you define what we just experienced?"). He's not a malicious or hateful figure; he wants to work with the class but isn't quite sure how to.

Part 3- Early-Game Events

The game spends the early-game establishing Taka's more negative traits. He's shown to be inobservant and wrapped up in his own ideals and need to command authority to even notice Kyoko is missing and, upon being informed of her disappearance, cares more about her punctuality than her safety. "Not only is she late, she didn't tell anyone she would be late! A most unbecoming personality trait..."

He's also established as hypocritical once again, and a bit egotistical, as he has trouble fathoming the others' lack of discoveries but overinflates the importance of his own.

He then goes on to agree to Celeste's suggested nighttime rule for all the boys in the class, without letting them speak for themselves. While ultimately, no one has a problem with the rule, this is the first real instance of him doing something that, on paper, is beneficial to the group, but without considering how the others actually feel about it.

Taka doesn't show up in-story again until the day of the motive, when he goes around to the entire class demanding that they will now all have breakfast together every morning after the morning announcement. Although this is a good idea, allowing for everyone to bond and creating a morning headcount, he makes this decision for the entirety of the group. Leon and Makoto both complain about this if you speak to Leon outside the cafeteria, but ultimately go along with it because they don't want Taka to continue bugging them about it. So we can see that his efforts are perceived negatively by his classmates and go unappreciated.

Already we've seen Taka act overbearing and commanding over and over, inadvertently separating himself from the majority of his peers. He's direct and to the point, forming the breakfast meetings expressly to 'become friends and build trust' with the rest of the class. So we can see in no uncertain terms that he wants to befriend his classmates, but that his lack of social skills leads him to fail at every turn. He doesn't ask the class to join him for breakfast, he tells them. The strategy he employs doesn't leave room for choice, and ends up building resentment from his classmates.

It's not until the first body is discovered and the rules of the class trial are revealed that reality fully seems to set in for Taka. He, along with everyone else, are given the rules of a game they don't really want to play- that should they fail in the trial, all of them will be killed. And it sends Taka to a breakthrough- that some regulations can be harmful to those they're imposed upon.

There's now a shift in his actions- he's still trying to push for the class to follow the rules he's set, yes, but there's a newfound urgency to them. When Byakuya disappears in chapter 2, his concern has shifted from punctuality to his classmate's safety. He's the one to lead the search for Byakuya when he doesn't answer. Despite all his harshness, we can see that his strictness now comes from a place of genuine concern for the people around him, a direct parallel to earlier in the game when Kyoko went missing- "I'd like to think so. But I'm worried something might have happened to him."

This growth of character, though not focused on, is undoubtedly present. The dedication he has to his discipline and his ego are still fully intact, but now that dedication has moved beyond just order. It's an act of protection, for him and everyone else. The invisible threat of death has become all too visible with Sayaka's absence from their last breakfast meeting. If he can keep track of everyone, then he'll know they're still alive. He can prevent another murder. It imposes upon him the responsibility of the leadership he craves.

Part 4- Relationship(s)

Unincluding if the player actively seeks him out through FTEs, Taka only ever develops a real relationship with one character of the other fourteen in-game, though he does have some important dynamics with others. We'll continue moving in chronological order.

4.1- Ishimondo (these bitches gay?)

Throughout the game, whenever Taka is saying or doing something stupid, Mondo is typically the one to call him out on it or shut him down. While this doesn't start to take real shape until chapter 2, it is visible here and there in the early game.

But their connection doesn't really start to take focus until chapter 2, as Taka's failings as leader and Mondo's constant correcting him puts them at odds. Mondo's attitude is the antithesis of Taka's, living a life of complete risk and impulsiveness, yet has a matching level of energy, and despite being more intimidating on a surface level, he's able to actually befriend characters like Chihiro, Hina, and Sakura, while Taka's left on the out. One of the best examples of this is found not in the game, but in the stageplay adaptation, where both characters attempt to help Chihiro feel better about her weakness in the daily life segment.

When Byakuya starts mocking Chihiro for her fear, Mondo threatens him, and insists that Chihiro's weakness doesn't matter because she's a woman. But when this makes her upset and Sakuraoi call him out on it, he offers to help Chihiro train as an apology, acknowledging that his behavior was irrational. But when Taka tries to give her advice by telling her not to be weak anymore and is told to be reasonable, he can only insist that Mondo's words don't matter anyway.

In the game itself, Taka's barely present for this exchange, as it chooses instead to focus on Chimondo's relationship. Regardless, the animosity between Mondo and Taka is still made very clear in-game.

Mondo and Taka are both demonstrating the desire to protect their classmates here, but in different ways. Taka is the more logical of the two, focusing on keeping track of resources and devising a system of check for everyone to keep watch over each other in the breakfast promise. Mondo, meanwhile, wants to push the importance of actually getting everyone the fuck out of there. While their endgoal is the same, they disagree on how to go about it, and both their stubbornness drives them to butt heads as time continues to pass, leading to the sauna scene.

After being slowly built up in the background, Ishimondo's mutual anger finally comes to a head, with both not understanding the position that the other is in. Taka still believes Mondo's value to be what he provides to society, and as a biker gang leader, that's not much to a man that lives by lawful discipline. Meanwhile, Mondo can only see Taka as an egomaniac with a stick up his ass and doesn't know the background to why(and neither does the player without actively seeking out his FTEs). They each follow a different code of ethics, and view themself as the protector of the class, leading them to see each other as rivals. Yet, despite that, both of them still share their core value of total dedication, and so when finding a way to prove themself the better man, they end up with an endurance competition. For Taka, this reflects his belief that men connect by baring their souls, and do so by baring their bodies(something only learned in-game by approaching him for FTEs).

(This also leads to the implication that, while Mondo insisted on entering the sauna with all his clothes on, at some point, he was, in fact, naked while with Taka that night.)

The information as to what happened in that sauna is intentionally left unanswered, remaining fully private between both men in-game. The only thing either of them will say is that a brotherhood was formed between them, and that who won their initial contest no longer matters. Finally, Taka has found someone. Someone he can confide in and lean on, someone who'll support him and that he can support in turn("And if you can't do it alone, just find someone to support you, and you can support them back! That's how you can overcome any storm!" -Taka ch 1).

And then Chihiro's case happens.

At first, when the motives are introduced, Taka is one of the few to vocally insist no murder will take place. He has newfound confidence in the willpower of his classmates, and puts faith into everyone else for the first and only time. Even when presented with his own unknown secret, he finds it ridiculous that anyone would kill over the embarrassing memories and secrets. It's here that we truly see the highest high of this character- when he comes up with the idea to share secrets. When he presents this idea, he moves forward as usual, preparing to be the first one to reveal their secret and take the pressure off. But when his classmates insist they can't (Toko & Celeste) he doesn't keep chugging along, and he doesn't completely shut down, either. He looks around at his classmates, and he asks Chihiro. He actually steps back and asks for someone else's opinion.

And when she isn't yet comfortable, he backs off. He respect her wishes, and he stands with the class, ready to help them face their secrets the following day. Finding a friend in Mondo has softened his rigid exterior a little bit, enough to actually consider the opinions of the others. He's gotten comfortable. All that comes crashing down with the discovery of Chihiro's body the next morning. After finally taking a step back and letting his classmates- his friends- make their own choices, it directly leads to the murder of one of them("Dammit! I'm sorry, Chihiro... It's all because I wasn't strong enough!").

Taka fully blames himself for allowing Chihiro to be murdered, and as the guilt of failure starts to set in on him, he looks to his ethics and order to solve it. Chihiro may be dead, but the murderer will be condemned through the class trial("Justice always prevails! Right, bro!?"). A solution, a path forward, still exists for him. He still has Mondo by his side, and he and the rest of the class can surely prevent this from happening again, right?

The trial only validates him at first, revealing the existence of a serial killer among the group, someone so clearly immoral for her killing obsession. But it's not her. Why isn't it her? "Could such a heinous villain really be innocent!?" But his confusion is quickly stamped out- of course, it's Byakuya, the guy that's been threatening everyone and refusing to cooperate, the guy that has no regard for the rest of their classmates. "He kept calling this a game, right? So he'd totally be willing to do whatever it takes to 'win'!" But no, wrong again- he didn't know that the murder was in the boys' locker room, and was taken aback by Chihiro being AMAB. It should be him, someone so clearly antagonistic, that's how it's supposed to go, right?? But no, it's wrong! Why? And, who could kill someone like Chihiro at their most vulnerable?

He's failed. Taka's failed in every way conceivable. Mondo, the first person he's ever truly felt connected to, a murderer? Chihiro's murderer? That can't be it. Even long after Mondo's stopped arguing, Taka continues to push back against Makoto and Kyoko's accusations. It's a coincidence, that's not actually proof, anything to get them to stop, to save his brother, to save himself from the reality he's about to have to face. When sent into the BTB, it's Taka we fight in his despair, not Mondo. Until the very end, Taka won't acknowledge it. He can't. He can't bring himself to vote his Mondo a murderer, a killer. How could the man who gave him the chance no one else would, ever be so cruel? "I- I refuse to believe it... There's no way... no way he would kill someone! Why!? Why why why why why!? WHYYY!? Why did you do it!?"

He learns the truth of Mondo's story alongside the rest of the class, unable to process it all. It makes no sense. They were friends who trusted each other, who helped each other. And what about the man's promise? Doesn't that count for anything!? This doesn't sound right. This isn't Mondo, not his Mondo, not the man from the sauna. How could he have been so wrong about him?! It just can't be, but it is; the truth is but a slap to the face.

He was wrong. He stood by Chihiro's killer and defended him. He let his brother become the monster he saw himself as. He didn't stop it when he could have. He was blinded by his own beliefs, and as he watches Mondo's death, his spirit dies with him, the game cutting out all music as Taka screams, filling a deafening silence. "As Taka's sad screams invaded our skulls, we were each forced to realize once again..."

4.2- Kiyondo Ishida

Taka enters chapter 3 as a hollowed out shell of himself. He's gone near comatose, staring at nothing and saying nothing. He won't eat, won't speak, won't sleep, and although there are a couple weak attempts to get him back in action from Hiro("It's times like this where the committee chairman needs to get things going with a BANG!"), he's mostly left to grieve by himself, as the rest of cast is more concerned with the expanded school than the bossy guy they didn't like that much.

Monokuma even goes out of his way to torture Taka, to punish him for his grief, lying about the existence of a time machine just to fuck with his head and give him false hope, sending him further into despair- "Hmm... You sound disappointed. But actually, I was lying about the whole thing anyway. There's no such thing as time machines!" He's forced to become Monokuma's most successful project from the class, completely and utterly destroyed.

When he learns of Alter Ego, something in his head clicks. He can still talk to Chihiro. He can repent. He can apologize directly to him. So, with Makoto's help, he's brought to the laptop. His guilt finishes totally consuming him as he asks: "Do you... hate Mondo? And since I couldn't stop him... do you hate me?" His own self-hatred stemming from his failure is projected onto Alter Ego in one last attempt to come to terms with what's happened. The response he receives, unfortunately, is the culmination of all the toxic and unhealthy ideas of manhood the other boys carried with them via an attempted simulation of Mondo.

"You're not letting yourself get crushed under the weight of that responsibility, are you!? A man's only worth as much as the load he can carry! You get it, right bro!? Hell, what am I saying? Of course ya do!"

"So you're just gonna stand there, huh? Just wait for things to get better? Just take your time and get all depressed... Take the time to indulge your regrets... You might even start walking again without realizing it. Sure, that kind of mediocre thing might work for some people."

This speech, while attempting to inspire Taka to keep living for Chihiro's and Mondo's sakes, encapsulates the desperate need to be perceived as strong and untouchable that Mondo himself carried, and that Chihiro admired so much. It sinks its way into Taka, convincing him that the way to respond to his guilt is simple- pretend it isn't there! Mondo has clearly returned to him, and he's never letting him go ever again. He fully deludes himself, and he's fused with this idealized version of his bro. He permanently ties himself to Mondo's memory, and goes from the SHSL Public Morals Committee Member to something else entirely- Kiyondo Ishida, the unholy mixture of both men.

This revelation also leads him to an obsession with Alter Ego, viewing it as the vessel in which his bro was returned to him. He views it as another chance to protect his bro from ever being hurt again, as some divine second-chance he's been granted. All desire to be around the rest of his class is gone, replaced with this obsession. He's put at odds with Hifumi, who's also connected with the AI, and separates himself from the group that much more. When Alter Ego disappears, he can't handle it. He panics. He won't let his bro die, not again. And so he dooms himself, refusing to let go of the shadows of the past enough to see his own death looming before him, and he's killed in the early hours of the morning, led by desperation to his demise. And even so, the class can only worry about the semantics of when he died, barely mourning him.

5- Isolation (What's the point of this guy, anyway?)

Rather than learning from the mistakes both Chihiro and Mondo made by subscribing to the societal expectations of what makes a man, Taka ends up doubling down, burning away the optimism and more reasonable logic Taka used to have. Taka's story is that of a doomed fate to become the symbol of manhood and its self-destructing nature, leeching off of his first and only friend's unhealthy behaviors and sending him spiraling. And it's allowed to happen because of his social isolation.

From the very beginning of the game, Taka is singled out as annoying to be around. He's put in a negative light and viewed as unpleasant to spend time with. Every attempt to befriend or connect with a classmate is written off as a nuisance, a hindrance. Taka doesn't know how to make friends. He doesn't know how to do anything besides follow the rules and regulations he's been taught. He sticks to his regimen, because it's comfortable, and doesn't understand why others can't conform in the way that he does. He's very thoroughly isolated mentally and emotionally from his classmates at every turn, to the point where even in the very first trial he's standing with no one but the dead by his side(as Sayaka and "Junko" were positioned on either side of his podium).

All this is done with the deliberate intention to showcase his solitude, and more importantly, the loneliness that comes from it. It's to the point that when he finally does make a friend, he thoroughly idealizes him in his subconscious, coming to view him as some perfect person who'd even support him. It's inherently contradictory from his established beliefs going into the game, that a delinquent could be kind, but he accepts it wholeheartedly. He gets to know Mondo on some deeper level while in that sauna, and it's enough to rapidly develop a massive codependency on him. So when Mondo self-destructs and dies, so too does Taka.

Taka's purpose as a character is to suffer. He wraps himself in his moral beliefs, remaining steadfast in what he views as right and wrong, making judgement calls he's 100% sure of, and when they're challenged/disproven, he's thrown wholly out of whack. He exists to serve a purpose- what would've happened if Makoto didn't accept the truth about Sayaka? What happens when you let your idealism blind you to the truth? What happens when you blind yourself to the reality of the people around you, of the darkness in the people you care about? You self-destruct. He's tossed aside, killed as an accessory to the plot of someone who does nothing but manipulate the truth. He dies, and that's just it. His story is cut short; he doesn't get to heal or grow or come to terms with the truth. Such is the fate of the failed.

6- Afterword

...I didn't even touch his FTEs for this. Holy shit.

I'm gonna be honest, as much as I love Taka, I never expected this post would become as long as it did, or that I'd uncover such a dark fucking reason for why he gets as totally fucked over as he does. Don't get me wrong, I still really wish he'd lived and gotten to grow after this, but maybe his death was more well-written than I used to think. Good god.

[pumpkinhimiko]

Mistranslations that aren't, part 2

Part 1 here. I didn't catch all the misinformation in this thread the first time, so I'm back for a second round.

つまり、オマエラには帰る場所なんてもうないんだ。In short, there's no place for you bastards (omaera) to return to. だから外に出ても無意味なんだよ。So there's no point in going outside.

Omaera, the plural form of omae, is a very crude way to address someone. It's the same word Monokuma uses that has been consistently translated as "you bastards" throughout the series. Kokichi normally uses the more polite kimi, the plural form being kimitachi, so him suddenly switching to omaera is an indication of how he's aligning himself with Monokuma and the mastermind at this point in the story. Translating it as "you bastards" is more than appropriate, is what I'm saying.

王馬くん･･･これって単純に、Ouma-kun... this means he's simply 僕で遊んでるだけ･･･ だよな? playing with me... right?

So, I finally found the line I think the OP was referring to. The reason I couldn't find it before? Because their "translation" is so incredibly off that it went straight over my head. 単純 carries the meanings pure, simple, straightforward, but here, 単純に is like the English purely. You use に for adjectives the same reason you use -ly in English. They mistook Shuichi's junsuini, meaning purely or simply, as him calling Kokichi himself pure. The context for this, by the way, is Shuichi wondering whether Kokichi is serious about killing him.

にしし、 それはね... Nishishi, well... 親を殺して組織を乗っ取ったんだ。I took over the organization by killing my parents.

大丈夫、嘘に決まってるじゃん。Don't worry, I'm lying of course.

殺したのは兄貴だよ! The one I killed was my older brother!

I... don't even know how to explain this one since it's so straightforward. 殺したのは = one that was killed, followed immediately by 兄貴 = older brother. There's no mention of parents in this last sentence. Maybe because Kokichi doesn't explicitly but rather implicitly refer to himself they got confused? I honestly don't know. It's also in response to Shuichi asking how he took over his organization, so Kokichi's response to that being "my brother killed my parents!" does not connect.

[starfishnerdz]

bro the most fuckass weird thing in drv3 english translation is how ouma is either like an actual menace to society and needs to be locked up or he is just a silly boy who called everyone stupidhead and is just a cutie… like NO 😭

[kaibutsushidousha]

Hi not to Danganronpa-post in 2024 but I've been reading the V3 anthology and one thing I noticed was that Yumeno has very different speech patterns from in the English localization?? Obviously this is because the anthology was handled by a different translator but the changes are so huge (as an example, her using "tis", which she never once did in English DRV3) that it makes me wonder about... why they wouldn't include that? Do you have any thoughts about this since you've played V3 in both languages?

Yes to Danganronpa-post in 2024, we aren't Danganronpa-posting in 2024 enough.

On Yumeno's case, I don't know what to say that you haven't already saw yourself. English Yumeno speaks pretty normally aside from her nyehs. Japanese Yumeno speaks like a girlish version of the generic old wizard archetype in fantasy and RPG. Nowhere close to normal teenager speech. The consensus among V3 fan translators before the loc came out to handle her unique voice with thou, 'tis, and these other pseudo-Shakesperianisms.

Now for "why they wouldn't include that", I think I have to once again go back to the old post explaining how V3's localization worked.

Danganronpa games are entirely made of character dialogue. All narration is just the protagonist inner thoughts. So V3's team chose to split their workload by characters. Who got which character in that is a topic I already covered here. In this post, I also made a comment explaining why I believe Yumeno lost her proper character voice while the rest of the cast didn't, and that's a theory I still stand by today.

[mintmoth]

As someone who used to be heavily into danganronpa, it’s nice to see people take interest into it :]

Idk if you’ve already answered or only played the second game, but who’re your favorites from both THH, UDG and DRV3 (uh sorry if these acronyms get confusing if they do lmk T_T)

OH MAN okay so I'll go in order lmao

Danganronpa Trigger Happy Havoc

I played a fan translation of the first game back after everyone was reading it on the something awful forums lmao

I'd have to say my top faves are Asahina and Sakura, they're both just fun and sweet and have a great dynamic between them- which speaking of great dynamics Ishimaru, Mondo, and Chihiro are all fantastic as well, two rambunctious idiots and the most earnest sweetheart 😭😭

Also I like Fukawa and by extension Jack but I'm gonna wrap their head in duct tape if Byakuya gets near lmao

Double Also Celestia has excellent drip

Super Danganronpa: Goodbye Despair

I originally played this one back around like uhhh 2017?? Ish?? Idk I played it and had a blast and loved the cast, which is what made me want to replay it actually

I love them all they're all chefs kiss (except the chef Teruteru himself I'm also wrapping his head in duct tape when I need to)

I'd have to say my top faves would be Gundham, Kazuichi, Fuyuhiko, Ibuki, and Mikan, but really I do very much adore the entire cast and the way the game itself pans out and shows their relationships with one another, they feel like they could all be a really good friend group had things turned out better for them

Also Hajime is my favorite protagonist of the bunch lmao

Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls

So fun fact about this one I've actually never played it oops

HOWEVER I did get ahold of the manga trilogy- of which they were all used copies so volume 1 has nearly every forward facing character having a little drawn on pencil moustache and volume 2 has an entire panel just cut out of it, honestly I'm surprised the third volume doesn't have anything wrong with it LMAO cursed books

As far as the characters that are specific to this game I did think Shirokuma was quite cute and Asahina's brother was fun while he was around

Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony

Okay so this one- I started playing it a few months back because I had actually never gotten around to it back when I first got ahold of it, and it's the one that has my partners favorite character in it lmao

I actually put it down because I got too upset after chapter 4 oops, but now me and one of our friends have been watching my partner play the final hurdle so we've only got the final chapter left 💪💪✨

Character wise I do like Shuichi, Maki, and Kaito and the friendship they build between the three of them a lot, I also liked Ryoma more than I anticipated and I adore Gonta 😭

Miu can be fun and god I want to like her more than I do but then she says things and she's getting a triple duct tape wrap LMAO

Kirumi and Korekiyo have AMAZING aesthetics tho I gotta give them a shout out for that

[silicon-tmblr]

[Reposting this because I'm dumb stupid and don't know how reblogs work! This was supposed to be a reblog of this post by @g0nta-g0kuhara, a multi-part analysis of Kokichi Oma in Chapter 4]

Ooh a meta post! Sends me back to when I was first researching the DRV3 fandom before playing the game (I'm a little backwards, I know...). I only read the one part, but I wanted to chime in with some additions on top of the existing analysis.

Interestingly, the "neutral Kokichi face" that's highlighted in this post is one of two "neutral faces" that Kokichi makes throughout the game. That would be stand_005_037, or Kokichi's 37th sprite.

The other "neutral face" is the next sprite over, stand_005_038, which appears in a different context from the previous sprite. The difference between the two is really not terribly noticeable at a glance, so here's a visual.

Up to now, I've considered sprite 37 to be Kokichi's "unserious neutral", as his expression appears more relaxed than that of sprite 38, what I've thought to be his "serious neutral".

You know he's not serious when he's agreeing with Maki.

With the information from this analysis, though, it might be more accurate to call it his "masking neutral". Kokichi will use sprite 38 in low-emotion situations when he has a point to get across, like here in the Chapter 3 post-trial.

However, in high-emotion situations, as said in the initial analysis post, Kokichi is likely trying to hold himself back. That's when sprite 37 comes in.

Bro is either stifling a laugh or seething with anger in there

Regarding Kokichi's sprite 38, there's some stuff I've come across which loosely implies that it initially had a different design. When Kaito recaps his conversation with Kokichi in the hangar in the Chapter 5 post-trial, the conversation is portrayed with a sepia tone. The sprites for this conversation aren't really "sprites", per-se -- the entire scenario is actually stored as a series of background images in the game files.

One image that caught my attention, however, was bg_201_11:

On my first playthrough of the game, I dubbed this sprite "Kokichi angy"

This image stands out at a glance because of the Kokichi sprite, which isn't seen anywhere else in the entire game. Compared to the other images in the set, this image actually seems to be from an older build of the game, as the shadows in the background, shading on the sprites, and position of Kokichi's arm-belt-things are different.

bg_201_11 vs bg_201_01

My guess is that this unused sprite was an older version of sprite 38, especially since the current sprite 38 has similar errors as the older sprite.

Personally, I'm glad "Kokichi angy" wasn't actually used in the final game. He looks a little too much like a wet cat.

On another topic, also related to the linked analysis: let's talk about the ever controversial whiteboard note written by Kokichi under Shuichi's photo which, in the English localization, reads "trustworthy?"

As many people have pointed out, both now and in the past, this note was translated oddly and the original text was 「油断ならない？」 (yudan naranai?).

Though it's often translated by fans as “sneaky or cunning”, the literal translation is actually “don't be careless”, with “yudan” meaning “careless” and “naranai” meaning “must not (be)”. This is translateable in most situations as “dangerous”, hence that being the stock translation supplied by Jisho.org.

After all, "don't be careless" has essentially the same meaning as "this is dangerous", in most situations at least (think mountain climbing, or traveling through a dark alley; you wouldn't want to be careless because it is dangerous, you don't know what to expect so it's treacherous and sneaky).

When translating a note regarding a person, though, I would think "don't be careless" would be more appropriate, especially considering Shuichi isn't particularly dangerous compared to some other people in the academy whose dangers are well known (*cough cough* Maki)

You can find the independent translated meanings of yudan and naranai on Jisho as well as on Wikitionary (yudan, naranai).

So, Kokichi is essentially telling himself to stay on his guard around Shuichi, since he doesn't know what to expect from him. His attempt to team up with Shuichi in Chapter 4 was probably his confirmation that Shuichi wanted nothing to do with him, and that he should formulate his plans accordingly. It would probably have been ideal for him to have Shuichi on his side, as he saw Shuichi as a wild card (rather ironically; I'd imagine the group perceives Kokichi as the wild card of the group). So despite the translation error, the points made by the linked analysis still hold decent ground.

All in all, despite my belief that Chapter 4 is absolutely ridiculous, the linked analysis is quite good when one assumes Chapter 4 is logically sound (it's not), and still holds up even to someone like me who really dislikes Chapter 4 for its severe logical fallacies (my suspension of disbelief was absolutely thrown out the window when I played it... but maybe that's a matter for another day)