#girl idk. I censored it in the post. hadn't really thought about how fans of the musical would search it up

[anti-dazai-blog]

miniseries -- BSD Characters as Musicals

part 1 -- ADA part 2 -- PM part 3 -- Guild part 4 -- DOA + Hunting Dogs

*standard disclaimer that this isn't meant to be taken too seriously

[content warning for musicals that heavily feature. 1930s-40s Germany and sexual abuse? I guess? not even sure what to call some of these]

Part 5 -- 15 + Stormbringer original Characters

Rimbaud -- Moulin Rouge

why? -- the whole 'I love you. But I have a job to do.' that he's got going on with Verlaine.

Rimbaud 🤝 Satine: 'I love you, I would die for you, but you are actively doing something that will put us both in danger and you gotta stop this.'

---

Verlaine -- Epic

why? -- he really does live by the "ruthlessness is mercy upon ourselves" mindset.

he's really out here killing everyone. just to be safe. just to make sure there's no one left alive who could mess up his epic plans of hanging out with his brother.

very intentional of me to choose the Ocean Saga cover for the image here

---

Albatross -- Starlight Express

why? -- it's trains. it's about trains racing. and he's the fast transportation guy.

---

Pianoman -- Beetlejuice

why? -- they.. they like to wear the same aesthetic.

I'm positive he owns a black and white striped suit. it's practically canon.

---

Lippmann-- Mean Girls

why? -- well I'm not calling my guy Regina George but he sure does know how to play politics. Mr PR man. Beautiful. Can destroy your life if he so wished.

---

Iceman -- A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder

why? -- he's known to kill with whatever's on hand or available. Doesn't even bring his own weapons to a murder. Very Monty Navarro of him.

Monty 🤝 Iceman: getting a bit creative with the murder methods

---

Murase -- Cabaret

why? -- similar to Clifford Bradshaw, when he was desperate for work, he took a job that ultimately lead to him doing something harmful (in his case, killing children)

and I'd like to think that similar to Clifford, if he had the chance to just. straight up beat up the government (or his brother) that had him doing this job, he would.

although he's still in contact with N, I'd like to think that if he were made aware of what was going on, he would choose violence.

[content warning before you go and listen to cabaret: if you're not familiar with Cabaret, this is fully about nazi germany. and although clifford (the male lead) does beat up a nazi, it ultimately doesn't end well for anyone. so. do with that what you will.]

---

N -- G*psy

why? -- it's the whole Making someone into something they're not. whether they like it or not. Molding someone into what you want them to be. Forcibly.

I was debating between N or Mori for this one, but Mori's more subtle than this.

The scene where Rose forces Louise to do the strip show really was just. blatant. The taking of someone's bodily autonomy through force for personal gain.

Both N and Rose use more manipulation tactics than physical force to strong-arm people. And both are convinced that they're not doing anything wrong. No matter how bad their actions are, they're convinced that they're working towards some greater goal.

and they both pretty much get away with it

(N dying doesn't count because from his pov he still succeeded in every way)

---

Dr. Mary Wollstonecraft -- Firebringer

why? -- we're back to the silly goofy musicals!! yeah it's just for the whole appreciation of innovation. hot take, Mary and Zazzalil would get along. in fact Mary would respect her. The inventor of fire and the inventor of sentient androids. they'd love that.

---

Adam -- Maybe Happy Ending

why? -- androids going against their programming by falling in love with each other? This would be his new 'watch on repeat' show

which he could do literally. as an android. he could attend the show once and record it with his internal cameras, and then watch it whenever he wants.

I recognize that he's a law enforcement officer of some sort and it's probably not encouraged for him to take illegal recordings, however. he does have free will. so let him do with that what he will.

---

Shirase -- Bad Cinderella

why? -- Thinks of himself as cool. Everyone around him finds him annoying.

I'm so sorry Shirase I love you but you're objectively an annoyance to everyone who puts up with you.

[daffodi1]

So... it's been years since I first read danganronpa. I was there back in the old days, when we didn't have an official english translation of the game and had to read it on somethingawful forums, when they called Monokuma "monobear" and had to censor "fuck" and "shit" to "gently caress" and "poopoo".

Ahh... the good old days.

But after seeing some people start to play the switch versions, and since I wanted to get my partner into it, I thought "why not?". And so, here I am revisiting it almost a decade later, as a 24 year old with a fresh mind. Some of my opinions of the characters have changed, and some haven't, so I'll get right into talking about them. We also played DR2, and I've revisited my old opinions about them as well, which I will talk about in a separate post. I will probably refer to them as a mixture of first and last names bc while the game refers to them as their first names (except in cases like Aoi, who they call "Hina"), the forum mostly used last names (except in Celestia's case, who was nicknamed "Celes" in that translation). Please try not to get confused.

DISCLAIMER:

I will only be talking about my feelings toward the characters for how they appear in canon, not whatever fanon version you have of them in your brain. Please try not to take offense to my review. Transformative works are valid, but let's not give credit to the canon author where it isn't due, yes? Also, I tend to review based more on personality and story content than character design itself-- so if you're a fan of a certain character bc of their design, you might find yourself insulted on their behalf by what I have to say about them. Sorry.

Also, please don't read this if you haven't completed DR1 and DR2 (bc even if this is only about the DR1 characters, I do refer to it here). Here there be spoilers.

I'm gonna go in order of the murders so it makes sense. Cool? Cool.

Chapter 1:

-Sayaka:

Idk what to say about her, to be honest. She's an interesting character, and part of me wishes she hadn't been killed off so soon (especially since I hate the trope of Woman Dies to Spur Manpain) but at the same time, her participation in the murder and her manipulation of Leon and Naegi is what makes her so interesting-- otherwise she'd be just another Cute Girl Love Interest(tm).

I do like the foreshadowing surrounding her as a manipulator since I am a slut for foreshadowing, with her talking about doing "nasty" things to acheive her dreams and Naegi's promise to protect her almost sealing his fate. I like her, but I don't think she reached her full potential either.

-Leon:

I'm sorry... I just can't bring myself to care about this guy. They really don't give him anything at all, and his reason for killing isn't even tied to the motive. (And you can't tell me it was genuinely self defense-- he had already beaten Sayaka when she locked herself in the bathroom. She had no weapons and had basically lost at that point. He could have left and told everyone else what happened and he didn't, which tells me he had a reason to want to leave, but they didn't go into it).

And part of me like, understands that the writers probably didn't want the audience to care about him too much since they built up Sayaka to be this lovable character, but it was like... everyone was crying over his execution while I'm just in the corner like "Y'all hear something?" At least they learned their lesson on that when they started writing DR2 (because love or hate Teruteru, his motive was sad and you can't deny that).

Chapter 2: (Into the Thicc of It because hoo boy I have feelings, please do not come for me.)

-Chihiro:

I absolutely adore Chihi; they're sweet, polite, smart, soft spoken, cute, and genuinely just a good person all around. They're a doormat to nearly an extreme and don't want to hurt anyone, but they also want to change and confront their weakness. Their character development could have been so baller and I will never not be furious at the way the game treated them. Yes, Alter Ego is an important part of the story, but still. We could have had all that if the programmer LIVED.

As for why I use they/them pronouns... I'm fine headcanoning Chihiro as transfem nonbinary, but reading them as a trans girl straight up is uncomfortable to me personally bc if I read it through that lens, it looks like a detransitioner narrative. And I can't with those bc it reminds me (a whole trans person) of trauma. This doesn't mean I hate the headcanon, or think anyone who HCs Chihiro as a trans girl is wrong; it just means I personally can't do it. Please do not revive Chihiro Disk Horse in the year of our lord 2022, and let's focus instead on what a wonderful and kind character they are.

-Mondo:

I... ugh. And I guess the Disk Horse continues. I WOULD have liked Mondo. I loved his friendship with Taka, his backstory with Daiya and the way he fronted as a strong guy while trying to hide his own weakness and complex as a little brother who would never measure up to his perfect big brother. I like his free time events where he speaks on his love for his dog. I liked how he faced his death with grace and accepted what was going to happen to him even though he arguably has one of the most brutal executions in the first game, and the final scene between him and Taka is nothing short of heartbreaking.

HOWEVER. Unlike my partner, I can't like him because even if his motive isn't truly transphobic in nature, it closely resembles many trans people's worst nightmares. The threat of coming out to someone and being faced with violence is a very real fear that every trans person faces, as well as having people misgender us and treat us as liars for concealing our AGABs after death. I know his real motive was about his jealousy and rage toward Chihiro for having the strength to confront his weakness when he didn't, hell, he even made the effort to keep their secret after their death, and I get it rationally... but when I first read this story, I was only around 15/16 and still coming to terms with my own gender and it hit close to home. I don't hate Mondo, nor do I love him, and I'm not indifferent to his existence either. I'm more just sad about the way they handled his character, and I get that DR is an ~edgy~ series but they could have handled this part of the narrative with more sensitivity and grace. He is not canonically transphobic, but he reads like a transphobe who killed someone for revealing their AGAB and I can't pretend it doesn't bother me. I don't blame his character for how the writers handled him, but it does make me sad.

Chapter 3:

-Kiyotaka:

I love this dumbass; like, you can love or hate him or think he's annoying, but you can't deny that he's funny. He may not have been the most well-rounded character (well... outside of his FTEs, but I try not to count those considering that most people will not experience all of them, and you have such a limited amount of time to spend with the characters before a murder happens) but I love him for the fact that he's not boring no matter what. He has a rigid moral system that he abides by, and it's interesting to see him bend and break when those morals are tested when his bestie turns out to be a murderer.

That being said... I kinda feel like they tossed him aside after ch2 and his arc wasn't complete when he died. I understand that he was being set up as Celestia's victim, but damn, it felt like the writers were like "LOL idk what to do with this guy so guess he's gotta die now" and it felt like, really messy and rushed. I will say that one thing I think DR2 did better was that a lot of the character arcs didn't feel as incomplete by the time they killed them off (except for like, Hiyoko I guess but again, that's another post) but Taka did not feel finished when he died. Idk if that makes sense at all. Also wtf was Ishimondo/Kiyondo. That was some of the weirdest character development ever.

-Hifumi:

Okay... unpopular opinion here, I know, but I love Hifumi. He's a king and y'all can fight me on this, I'm a huge Hifumi apologist. He's a funny dork who writes weird doujinshi and he respects women to the point that he's willing to bonk a bitch with a hammer when he believes that said bitch sexually assaulted his Girlboss Bestie. Yes, I know that arc is also about his weird feelings toward Alter Ego, but at the same time, can you blame him for that? He's a lonely guy, and the only person he considers a friend is obviously manipulating to him and won't listen to him about the things he likes, which is something that I personally can relate to.

And yes, I know he's kind of a pervert but he's nowhere near as bad as Teruteru or Soda, and people still like them. I'm p sure the reason people really don't like him is bc his design is not attractive (even for a fat character, and DR knows how to design appealing fat characters, just look at Twogami), and like, that's fine, whatever, but I do think he deserves better than to just be tossed aside. (Also yes I know he's responsible for Taka's death, and Taka is pretty beloved in the fandom, but it's not like a character being a murderer has stopped this fandom from liking them before???) Also, I don't care about the anime retconning this, Usami's design was influenced by him talking to Alter Ego about anime and you can fight me. (Even the pet minigame has Princess Piggles in her room!!!)

-Celestia:

Ah yes, Girlboss Gaslight Gatekeep herself. God, I love this evil goth bitch, she's great. Is she terrible? Absolutely, but she's terrible in the most entertaining ways, and she even makes herself a morally grey character by taking on a leadership role in the first two chapters. I love both her English and Japanese voices, but the English voice's change in accent to her just sounding like a 30 year old woman is so fucking funny to me. Like, she sounds like she pays taxes and I love it.

There are also a lot of interesting aspects to her in how she hides who she is and that a lot of her motive comes from her shame about the circumstances of her birth. Her lust for money isn't just about greed but wanting to change a part of herself so she can live her ideal lifestyle and kill the part of her that she perceived as ugly and plain. She's a complex character and is pretty fascinating in her own right. She's probably my favorite blackened in the first game (I don't count Sakura as a blackened since she's also the victim).

Chapter 4:

-Sakura:

GOD if she isn't the best girl. Her relationship with Asahina is everything, her loyalty and kindness and strength is everything, she has so many funny lines, and I even like her design. Ik a lot of people don't, but big strong girl who wears a cute sailor uniform is just so god tier. I do prefer her English voice to her Japanese voice, since it's way more respectful and less transmisogynist to have her actually voiced by a woman than pretend she's really a man or whatever (though we are not getting into that today).

Actually getting into her arc, she's got a really compelling one where she's revealed as the traitor, decides to oppose Monokuma to protect her friends, and even sacrifices herself for them in the end even though they were mostly horrible to her, refusing to murder any of them even if she might have been justified in wanting to do so. She's a really admirable character who stuck to her guns until the bitter end. Stan Sakura Oogami for clear skin.

-Asahina:

Yes I knoooow Hina isn't really a victim or a blackened, but her involvement is important to this case, and this case is important to her character development, so I'm putting her here anyway. She's such a good character in that she spends a lot of the game as comedic relief and another Cute Girl(tm) for fanboys to drool over, but whenever she loses her friend, she gets great character development.

You get to see her empathetic, humanitarian side when she calls everyone else out for hurting Sakura and trampling on her feelings when Sakura was just as scared and weak as the rest of them, and the fact that they bullied her and acted like she wasn't a normal person. Her arc with Sakura endeared her a lot to me as a character. In the end, it's her desire to do right by Sakura that encourages her to be brave.

Chapter 5 & 6 (Combining the two for an easier time):

-Mukuro:

...Honestly, not much to say about her. DR1 gives her nothing because she's in disguise as Junko the whole time. I kinda enjoyed her bond with Chihiro. I need to reread IF because it's been years since I have and I don't remember how she acted there.

-Junko:

Ah yes, the main mean girl herself. The ultimate despair. God, I love Junko. She's like the jonker except for women. She's so funny and entertaining and great. I can't wax poetic about how she's a complex character or whatever because she really is just a crazy bitch who wants the world to burn (even if her backstory is like, insane and I can kinda understand why she is the way she is), but I kinda like that simplicity sometimes in a villain, especially w/ female villains bc we don't often see female villains without them having some tragedy past motivating them (and it's usually tied to a man). My favorite girlboss.

Survivors (Minus Hina bc I addressed her):

-Naegi:

I don't have a lot to say about him-- I do love him as a protagonist, he's cute and a sweetheart and I think he gets decent development! I got all emotional seeing him, Kirigiri, and Togami again in DR2 just like I did the first time, it's like seeing your baby all grown up. But he does kinda suffer from Protagonist Syndrome-- the disease that main characters suffer from when artists sacrifice compelling and interesting traits that make them human in the name of making them likable and relatable so audiences can project on them. But he is a sweet boy who deserves good things, and it's cool how he goes from believing he's nothing special to becoming The Ultimate Hope, just for being kind and optimistic and continuing to go on even when everything has gone to shit. It's a pretty inspiring message.

-Kirigiri:

I am kinda torn on her. Don't get me wrong, I do like her and I think the buildup to discovering more about her character was well done. Also, she has sweet bonding moments with Naegi and everyone. She's a smart girl and iirc her backstory is pretty well developed in the spinoffs, even if they don't get all into everything in the first game. But I wish they had told us more of that in the game itself, especially since she's so tied into the plot.

And I guess that's part of my beef with the game itself-- it spends a lot of time getting you attached to the characters who die, and while that IS important for the deaths to carry weight, you also have to get us attached to the ones that live too. And FTEs, again, don't really count bc you only get a limited amount with everyone and there's no guarantee you'll use them on a specific person. DR2 does a better job at getting you attached to everyone outside of the FTEs and developing characters with the time it has. But I wish they had given us more on Kirigiri's backstory and motivations in the game itself, especially regarding her father and I wish we had a chance to see more vulnerability from her.

-Toko:

I'll admit that I didn't like her the first time around, and I'm still torn on her herself. I'm told I'll like her better if I play/watch Another Episode, but they don't have it for the switch, so I'll just have to wait. I'm also not a huge fan of the whole "Killer who has DID and Evil Alters" tropes and stuff (which is to say-- I despise it with my whole being and it makes me want to bite people, fuck you) but I like Genocide Jack. She's so fucking funny and her lines are iconic.

The whole thing she has with Togami is really toxic and creepy though, I do not understand people who want them to be cute and wholesome together when he isn't even the slightest bit into her.

-Togami:

Listen. LISTEN. I like him. Yes, I know, he's a jackass. Everything he does up until Chapter 4 makes him seem irredeemable, especially in Chapter 2. Like, he is wrong for that. But he also gets some of the best development in the fucking game, going from being an insufferable bitch who cares about nobody to taking leadership and trying to help everyone escape, and also giving Naegi chances to shine. I also love that even though he does go through that development, he's still himself: just as bitchy and haughty as ever even if his values changed.

That's all for this round, stay tuned for round 2 where I talk about DR2 and... Komaeda lol.

EDIT:

OH I forgot about Hagakure... well, anyway, bye everyone!