#i love you hajime hinata. wish you were in a better franchise

[spitblaze]

You know. Perhaps I have reached the goal of my gender envy admiration of Hinata Hajime, by being Just Some Guy

[kimmysfandomblog]

Well, let me the first to do this. Danganronpa for the ask meme

Thank you, Anon!!! :D

I am also not gonna warn for V3 spoilers anymore since V3 was out over a year ago, so if anyone is still holding on, just don't look at my answered asks on DR!

the character i least understand: I would say probably Leon, or Hifumi? I haven't gotten through DR1 yet to tell you the truth, so I will have to return to this question some other time! But from other parts of the Franchise, I think I least understand Tengan from DR3. What were his motivations, and his true personality? How much of what we knew was a lie, and how was he like as the head of the Future Foundation?

interactions i enjoyed the most: almost anyone with Hinata honestly XD Um, to be more specific... I'll go with the little banter at the end of DR2, when Souda is made fun of a bit by Kuzuryuu, and they are all unsure, but hopeful of the future, and Akane says if Hinata starts acting funny, she'll punch him till he stops, and Hinata replies that is fine, but she should hold back as much as possible XD I loved DR2's interactions

the character who scares me the most: Mikan, I think. She acts helpless, but the truth is she is manipulative? She knows how to hurt people, and if you get too close to her, she actually considers disabling you to make you depend on her. The ones you should be wary of are not the ones with strength, but the ones who have been through hell and use their experience to hurt, since that is what they know best. And yeah, she heals... but she is willing to hurt as well. At least, she is in despair and if you become too close to her lol

the character who is mostly like me: I am not sure? Hinata's problems and how he deals with problems is super relatable, but his personality of bluntness is not something that I am. I am also not like Chihiro, who is much shyer than me, and Chiaki is too sleepy and is just much better in games than I am. However, I think of anyone, I share Chiaki's ideology and the person who tends to lead despite being shy and out of her comfort zone. I love Chiaki no matter what canon writing did to her.

hottest looks character: Hajime Hinata/Izuru Kamukura? XD with Hajime, I just tend to not care for looks as long as I am attracted to your personality, so even if you smoothed his hair and made him wear a clounsuit and a pair of crocs, I would still find him attractive lol. And Kamukura.... ok so if he wasn't Hinata in a different time, I would find nothing about him attractive. But because he is, I do. And the bad boy long hair/red eye glare, business suit thing is great XD

one thing i dislike about my fave character: Hinata is too willing to run away from problems and ignore them, or he will take the easiest route or answer available. He willfully chooses to sacrifice himself because it was the easiest way to become someone admirable. He willfully ignores his reality that in this society, he can't just accept Nanami's words that talent means nothing, and it just buries his insecurities deeper instead of helping him. However, his greatest weaknesses are what makes him strong, in the end. So even if I dislike his way of coping, he learns from it and gains confidence he never had before.

one thing i like about my hated character: I don't like anything about Haiji or Monokid, so I'll go with Angie. Angie's backstory and FTE was good, even if it never plays out and doesn't matter at all in the story. She's a lonely kid who was forced to be seen as above everyone else because of religion, and her plan as Student Council President was to ensure everyone lives, even if they live in chains and have no freedom. But I guess for her, it isn't something new, since she's lived on an island most of her life, right? I just don't like that she won't consider anyone else's feelings and instead manipulates them to her own, if she can manage to do so. And just all of the racist writing about Polynesian/Pacific Islander people make me sick.

a quote or scene that haunts me: Not exactly a scene, but the whole Izuru Kamukura Project. It was mentioned Hinata fought back,  it was too painful for him, and that is why they effectively "erased" Hinata from his own body. It's incredibly disturbing the lengths HPA went to to get what they wanted.

a death that left me indifferent: I guess in this case, a death that I felt nothing for? Probably... Kirumi? I don't like her motives at all, and just CH2 trial was stupid in general. I felt for Hoshi too much and we don't ever get to know much about Kirumi? At the same time, quite an impressive execution! The symbolism and stuff was great. I just wasn't really attached to her at all.

a character i wish died but didn’t: I guess I didn't care for Togami, since I didn't see much character development from him? But I haven't gone through his FTEs, just straight through gameplay.

my ship that never sailed: there are only one or two canon ships in DR XD I will go with Oumami. Oumami was never given a chance, but the game sure puts those two together in terms of background and Ouma's references to him, and I LOVE them together. I wish they interacted more, and I think Ouma did as well. RIP.

[healing-hanyou]

Ace Attorney, Danganronpa, Love Live for the ask meme

STRAP YOURSELVES IN, KIDDOS. THIS IS A FUCKING ESSAY RIGHT HERE.

Ace Attorney:

Favorite Male Character: Miles Edgeworth. Shi-Long Lang is great as well. I also have a soft spot for Klavier, Sebastian and Apollo. And, naturally, my space son, Clay Terran.

Favorite Female Character: Kay Faraday!! Props also go to Mia Fey and Trucy Wright, as well as Athena and Jinxie.

Favorite Het Ship: Farabeste (Sebastian/Kay). Cykesquill as well, but I’m very specific about how and when I like it...like, ridiculously specific. Diego/Mia is good as well. For something more ridiculous that I think would be fun, Clay and Athena could have had a great dynamic. Maybe even Clay and Jinxie, if we go out and be totally wild.

Favorite Slash Ship (both M/M and F/F): Klapollo, Langworth, Nahyuta/Simon. Vera/Trucy, lady Cykesquill, Robin/Myriam and Athena/Juniper for the ladies. 

Least Favorite Male Character: how to I condense the list of the bastards? Kristoph is evil, but I cannot deny he had charm as a character - he’s terrifying, but fascinating, so I cannot name him as my least favourite. I think I’ll go with either von Karma or Blaze Debeste. They’re responsible for so much misery, and they don’t have any tragic reasons for being the way they are.

Least Favorite Female Character: Ma//ya Fe//y. I know the reasons people have for liking her, and I can forgive some flaws in writing, but she simply has too many of them. I know she is a courageous girl who ultimately wishes to do good, but the way she acts, especially in the first two games... just make me go ‘hmmmm’. Honestly, my favourite games in the series are those where I don’t get to see her. Young Pearl is also very low down on the list, and she was my least favourite for a long while, but her teenage years made me soften up to her, she’s pretty great in DD.

Least Favorite Het Ship: anything that encourages abuse, like Grant/Lana? Why would you do this? Also, I’m not fond of Athena/Apollo or Juniper/Apollo. Apollo is far too gay in my eyes to ever be together with a girl. Phoenix/Maya is another one I dislike.

Least Favorite Slash Ship (both M/M and F/F): same rule as above applies. Aside from those, I... don’t have many slash ships I actively dislike, surprisingly? My main one would be Wri//ght//wor//th, since, in my opinion, it’s very overhyped, and I cannot turn around in this fandom without seeing it, but even that is mostly just...annoyance.

Dirty Little Secret: I haven’t forgotten about my dumbass theory. I’m just...really fucking slow.

Headcanon(s): this will need to be answered in its own separate asks. I have headcanons for everyone. For now, though - Jinxie Tenma is a Fey.

Unpopular Opinion(s): I like Gyakuten Kenji far more than the original games. In general, games with a protag that’s not Phoenix and newer games in the series I tend to like more. Not to imply that the original trilogy was bad or anything, but... Edgeworth is far more solid as a protagonist, not only because his side was relatively unexplored, but because his investigation methods were so much more sensible. Phoenix has this ‘wing it’ approach, which works fine, until you see past it. When you see past it, the tension build-up it tries to pull fails massively, and you just get annoyed by Phoenix never thinking ahead for anything, or being oblivious. With Edgeworth, when there are moments of tension, they appear because of something genuinely unexpected, or because Edgeworth made a miscalculation (which allows character growth). Even when Edgeworth has to pull dumb or crazy shit, it feels like it makes sense, because he thinks, even when he panics. Also, Phoenix is tied down by the worst accompanying duo of Maya and Pearl all the time, while Edgeworth acquires an absolutely amazing set of sidekicks (and he not only gets fun new ones, like Kay and Lang, but there’s so much detail in his interactions with Gumshoe, Franziska and Larry as well? It was great to see the Edgeworth/Larry dynamic of the friendship). Plus, I like the Logic Chess things, the soundtrack is my favourite (how exactly COULD you even attempt to top Shi-Long Lang’s theme???), at least if we’re not counting PLvsAA as a part of this universe, and I like the visuals of it much better. In short, everybody should play these fucking games right fucking now, and storm Capcom offices so they actually port GK2 for the Western market.

A lot of the same criteria apply for the newer games, too. While DD was a comeback for Phoenix, it was a game with mixed protagonists, and it was a new Phoenix as well. Apollo probably has my second favourite supporting character crew after Edgeworth, and, at the time, his Perceive mechanic was refreshing to see after being stuck to the same gimmick for 3 games. Same with Athena. She differs dractically from both Phoenix and Apollo, and brings a new mechanic and a new set of associated people. In other words? I’m happy this series is trying new things, and exploring extra protagonists where it can. It has improved a whole bunch as a result.

Danganronpa:

Favorite Male Character: Byakuya Togami, Kiyotaka Ishimaru. Nagisa Shingetsu. Gundham Tanaka, Hajime Hinata, Kuzuryuu Fuyuhiko, Nagito Komaeda. Shuuichi Saihara, Ouma Kokichi, Rantarou Amami.

Favorite Female Character: Aoi Asahina, Celes, Touko Fukawa. Sonia Nevermind, Peko Pekoyama, Akane Owari, Ibuki Mioda. Angie Yonaga, Kirumi Toujou, Maki Harukawa, Tenko Chabashira. 

Favorite Het Ship: Togami/Asahina, Ishimaru/Asahina, Hinata/Ibuki, Tanaka/Pekoyama (I’m especially fond of this one, also titled Soft Animals Edge Duo). Sonia/Kuzuryuu is also great, though that is a platonic ship, as I headcanon Sonia as aro.

Favorite Slash Ship (both M/M and F/F): Naegi/Ishimaru, Naegi/Togami. KomaNaegi is quite pure, but a friend also got me into KomaSouda as a complimentary ship to TanaPeko. A crackship, but still a favourite is Izuru/Ryouta. And, of course, the ultimate fave - Saiouma. (A nice shoutout also goes to Oumota and Amamota). As for the ladies, Kirizono and Celesgiri, and all gay Asahina ships are good, SoniAkane & Pekobuki. In V3, Tenko is mega gay, so there’s a chance for every gay ship, however, my favourite one is Tenko/Maki. If we’re talking non-Tenko ships, Angie/Maki sounds fun.

Least Favorite Male Character: in DR1, surprisingly, none. Well, Hagakure can get on my nerves, but I like just alright all of them. In SDR2, Nidai, in my opinion, didn’t have that great of a development, so I guess him. Though I also have plenty of issues with Souda. In V3, Gon//ta Go//ku//ha//ra.

Least Favorite Female Character: All DR1 girls are good, and even if they aren’t, they’re at least interesting or entertaining. But if I have to pick, Junko, if we’re judging morality. In SDR2, Mi//kan Tsu//mi//ki and Hi//yo//ko Sai//onji,in terms of morality and/or being dicks. In terms of rather poor writing (despite having a good idea), Chi//a//ki Na//na//mi. In V3, H//i//m//i//k//o Y//u//m//e//n//o and K//a//e//d//e A//k//a//m//a//t//s//u. The final one is also my least favourite in the entirety of the series as a whole.

Least Favorite Het Ship: Jun//ko//ma//e//da. In general, any Junko ship is not very good for plenty of reasons. Na//e//gi//ri. In SDR2, Souda/Sonia (she’s clearly not comfortable with him), Nidai/Akane, Hi//na//na//mi.. Not sure if should be mentioned here, but romantic Kuzupeko? Mostly because I cannot picture it as a thing. I do, however, like them platonically, they do care about each other a whole bunch. In V3, Sa//i//ma//tsu (never make me look at it). 

Least Favorite Slash Ship (both M/M and F/F): Chi//hi//mon//do. Even if I do like Mondo okay, it’s not healthy. Ka//mu//ko//ma. Son//dam. Jun//ko//mi//kan? Mahiru/Peko for sure. Kiib//ou//ma, too.

And the one I guarantee I’ll receive anon hate over - Te//n//hi//mi.

Dirty Little Secret: this series somehow manages to combine the good with the ridiculous in such a way that I can accept.

Unpopular Opinion(s): I am the literal embodiment of unpopular opinions in this franchise. I think V3 is the best game of the series, and it had a brilliant twist (both the start one and the final one). I don’t really ship the most popular ships, the obvious exception being Saiouma (and, to an extent, SoniAkane? It’s a popular Akane ship, at least). I think Saihara is a far better protag choice than the other option that was presented, since the story and its structure was made to fit him. I’m the unpopular opinion and rarepair central in this fucking thing. (Please help me.)

Love Live!:

Favorite Male Character: yay for not having prominent males, which means I get to skip 2 more questions here.

Favorite Female Character: In Muse’s, my top 3 is Hanayo, Eli and Maki. In Aquors, my top 3 is You, Kanan and Dia (though Mari and Chika are also very lovable).

Favorite Slash Ship (both M/M and F/F): Makipana! It’s very very cute. I also quite like HonoEli. HonoMaki is also quite nice. In Aquors, YouKanan or DiaKanan. 

Least Favorite Female Character: Not unpopular by any means, but Ni//co Ya//za//wa. In terms of singing voice, Kotori. In Aquors, R//i//k//o S//a//k//u//r//a//u//c//h//i. 

Least Favorite Slash Ship (both M/M and F/F): Ni//co//ma//ki??? I will never understand why people like it. In Aquors, Chi//ka//ri//ko and You//ri//ko. 

Dirty Little Secret: I quite like A-RISE. Every song they’ve ever done is an absolute banger, as the youth says.

Unpopular Opinion(s): would you look at that. Another fandom where I’m the monarch of rarepairs.

[tren-fraszka]

Dear creator,

Thank you for taking your time to check my requests. I know my requests can sound a bit tricky, but please don’t be discouraged. I wish you will have good time writing first and foremost!

I like humor and tropes, which is probably the only thing you really need to know about my general likes.

I’m very picky about sex tropes, so generally I would be grateful for no graphic sex (unless specified otherwise). Also, if you go for a shippy fic, I don’t want any stuff happening without consent. I like consent a lot. Other dislikes include ABO, mpreg, soulmates, and situations where stuff is happening because destiny said so and nobody questions it.

Also, I included what ships I’m okay with in each fandom. Please do not include any ships that aren’t canon and I have not mentioned in those sections.

                                                  REQUESTS

PERSONA 5

Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira

I’m a big sucker for party traitors, so it isn’t really a surprise that I walked out of my Persona 5 playthrough with a new shiny ship. I love how messed up it is with both of them planning to outplay each other in a deadly game and yet still forming an emotional attachment. I also really love how they are mirror images of each other. They are extremely similar, and yet they are also each others opposites. There’s just something fascinating in watching them interact.

For the story, I’m very okay with some in-between the canon flirting with the obligatory dash of scheming and mind games. I also would endorse, some post canon with Goro turning out to be alive. Hot having idea what to do next with his life, he follows Akira to his hometown, where he stalks him for some time (while being miserably homeless, because he probably doesn’t have much at this point), before Akira spots him and reluctantly decides to help Goro get some footing. Bonus points if Akira helps convince Goro to take a therapy, because he really needs it.

I don’t mind AUs, just be aware that the messed up relationship between the two of them is a huge draw for me, so I would definitely opt to preserve that part in some form. You don’t have to do the exact same scenario, but at least make them childhood friends, who ended up on the opposite sides of conflict. Or undercover spies who got in relationship without knowing each other true identities and they really should kill each other since they work for different clients. The exact setting is of secondary importance to me, so choose whatever you feel would work best. 

As for how spicy I want this pairing, I would be pretty okay with them having makeouts or even sex, but you shouldn’t feel pressured in this regard. I would be as delighted to see 5k words of them just doing intense mindgames.

I’m okay with also including ships: Ann/Shiho, Ryuji/Hifumi, Haru/Makoto.

TALES OF XILLIA

Who loves Tales series more with each new game they play, this gal over here. Also, I have not played Tales of Xillia 2 yet, so please don’t include any major spoilers. I probably won’t get to playing it for some time, since I just finished Xillia and I want to have a break until I play a very similar game.

Jude Mathis

Jude is one of my favourite protagonist for being just plain relatable. I love how he develops through the story and how much his issues rule over his decision before he gets his act together.

I would really love a look at Jude’s life before the game. I find his relationship with his parents very interesting and would love to see it explored more deeply. How did he go about applying to Talim and how his parents reacted? What about Leia? How did Jude manage in Talim?

I’m also very okay with a more indepth look at his journey. What were his feelings at the beginning? How did he feel revisiting his hometown and having to face his parents to be able to help Milla? Any and all snippets from this ame are fine by me.

Elize Lutus

The best child character in video games I’ve seen in a long time. I would love to see more of her adventures and how she learns to open up to other people.

I probably would love a post-canon story the most with Elize trying to fit into a normal school. I would love to get a glimps at her attempts to make new friends and not appear to be too weird. I would especially love if Elize and her friends ended up getting into some sort of trouble. Maybe they decided to investigate some rumours and run into a monster or bandits and Elize saves the day with things she learned while travelling with the team. Bonus points if the knowledge from her travels is very questionable.

Just like with Jude, I would also be very open to some insights into her feelings during the plot of the game. Especially, how she slowly starts opening up to others after joining the party.

I’m okay with ships: Jude/Alvin, Jude/Milla, and OT3 involving all of them.

TALES OF BERSERIA

I played Zestiria, so you are free to throw some references to it if you want.

Velvet Crowe/Eleanor Hume

My lesbian OTP of 2017. I loved the slow shift from enemies to friends they had and Eleanor’s obvious crush on Velvet was adorable. I just love how they slowly realize that they aren’t all that too different despite the fact that they started as enemies. Eleanor discovering that Velvet is very much still capable of love and her deep love for people close to her is the reason for her vengeance, while Velvet acknowledges that Eleanor isn’t just a blind puppet of Artorius and may be a pretty nice person. Also I loved their heated rivalry over who gets to be Laphicet’s mom. It was incredible.

I would strongly endorse AUs for this ship for obvious reasons. Don’t take it as me not wanting some in-canon moments fic, because I’m very okay with that too. Still, I would be lying if I said that an AU with happy ending wasn’t high on list of things I want.

If you go for in-game moments, I would love a study on how their relationship changes with time. Feel free to throw some zany sidequest, because I’m always up for some humorous adventures. Maybe the Katz bath makes them swap bodies and the effect sticks for longer than expected?

For more AU oriented suggestions, I would love a high school AU with Eleanor as student council president and Velvet a troublemaker who hates her uncle and is a “terrible influence” on Phi. Or a fantasy story with knight Eleanor and demon lord Velvet. Or any other setting, as long as they start as enemies.

Eleanor Hume

I would love to see some pre-game moments of Eleanor. How the death of her mother pushed her to become exorcist, how her training looked, and how she felt about other exorcist and interacted with them before she ended up forced to join Velvet’s gang. In-game perspective would also be very okay with me, as well as, the post-game. I would love to see how Eleanor became a Shephard and helped stabilize the situation after the chaos Velvet and Artorius caused.

Rokurou Rangetsu

Just like with Eleanor, I would love any look at Rokuro’s life. I love how it is slowly revealed that he was a very terrible human being, that it is no wonder that he turned into a deamon as a result. Just like with Eleanor I will be happy with any point of his life. The pre-canon look at his life in Rangetsu family and how he turned into daemon would be great. As would be his perspective on canon events. Or post-canon and Rokuro’s journey in search of stronger and stronger foes, during which he meets lots of colorful foes.

DANGAN RONPA (HOPE'S PEAK ARC) 

I played NDRV3, so you are free to include characters from it, if they fit your fic idea.

Hinata Hajime/Komaeda Nagito/Nanami Chiaki

My ultimate OT3 of this franchise. I loved their dynamics in the game, how supportive Nanami was, but also ready to call Komaeda out on his shit. How Hinata looks after both of them. And, well... Komaeda being Komaeda.

I would be okay with pretty much anything for this request. The three of them meeting in Hope’s Peak and forming a relationship? Great! A piece on their relationship in SDR2! Yes! Post-SDR2 story with Hinata trying to recreate AI-Nanami with his talents and helping Komaeda get himself together? Incredible!

I’m okay with AUs and canon divergences. If you want to make an alternate universe when Nanami survives I’m all for it. Basically, as long as everyone is in character I’m fine with any sort of divergence. I also love this series for it’s unpredictability, so feel free to rip my heart out if that’s what you feel like writing. 

I don’t mind any inclusions of Izuru Kamukura, since for me him and Hinata are pretty interchangable as characters. 

If you want to completely change the setting I’m not opposed, just make sure to find a good way to transplant Komaeda’s issues. I love how utterly dysfunctional his worldview is and while I’m fine with fic in which his problems are adressed and he gets better, I wouldn’t want him to just magically get healed out of his mental problems.

I’m okay with ships: Gundam/Sonia and Kuzuryuu/Peko. I’m also pretty neutral about shipping characters from the first game, so I probably won’t mind if you include a ship containing them. 

[oumakokichi]

How does NDRV3's final twist compare to SDR2's? In the sense that in both games the survivors learn that they exist in some sort of separate reality and that their memories, feelings and existences 'have no meaning' in the outside world. Finding out that exiting the VR program would revert them to SHSL Despair and erase their avatar's memories, or that everyone was just part of a fiction and had no place in the real world - which do you feel was more poignant for the characters themselves?

Hmm, now that’s a tough question to consider. I feel bothtwists are equally important in what they represent for the overall themes oftheir respective games—deciding which one was more poignant is probably largelya matter of personal preference.

Kodaka too constantly likes to take the biggest twists andthemes from his previous games and subvert them in his next ones. Just as sdr2’sthemes and twists were primarily a deconstruction of the themes and twists indr1, a lot of ndrv3 is spent deconstructing and subverting the twists from bothof these.

Sdr2’s final twist is largely about a group of very realpeople who committed very real crimes and sins which they can’t really fullyatone for and are “doomed to repeat” as soon as they log out of the Neo WorldProgram. The experiences of the Neo World Program are, according to AI Junko, “meaningless”because the characters themselves cannot escape from the reality of the situation. No matter what they do or choose, thereality of despair awaits them.

But ndrv3’s final twist is about there being nowhere at allfor the characters themselves to go back to, no reality to their existences atall. Fiction itself is inescapable, and their existences, rather than justtheir experiences, hold “no meaning at all.” Tsumugi doesn’t allow them toconsider any possibility of their own free will or meaning or anything of thesort, because as long as there’s no way for them to disprove any of what she’ssaying, they and everyone else who ever participates in the killing gamereality show will continue being essentially trapped in this cycle of fiction.

If I had to say which outcome is more horrifying personally,I don’t know if anything could quite compare to learning as the sdr2 charactersdo that they gave into despair and were even responsible for the deaths of someof their most important loved ones, not to mention the downfall of society asthey knew it. But I will admit that I think there’s a very different sort oflooming horror in ndrv3’s twist: the terror and feeling of meaninglessness, theidea that everything about you as a person was fabricated, is something that’svery hard to fully comprehend precisely because it seems so drastic andoverwhelming.

To put it in other terms, the impact and horror of sdr2’stwist lies in the idea of their existence. There’s definitely an air offinality about the things the sdr2 characters did: the world is changed, theirloved ones are dead, they did horrible things that can never be undone, andthey have to face forward to create their own future in the end, rather than remainingcaught up in the past and in what other people want from them.

With ndrv3, it lies much more with the idea of thecharacters’ nonexistence. There’sabsolutely nothing final or decisive about them, about the things they’ve done.It’s uncertain whether or not their loved ones even actually exist, let aloneanything else tangible about their memories or backstories. And in the end, it’sactually impossible for them to fully argue back against the claims Tsumugiputs forth. They can’t dispel her argument, because they have no concreteevidence; there’s no way for them to prove that she’s lying as long as they’retrapped in the catbox, and there was originally supposed to be no way for themto ever actually leave that catbox until Kiibo sacrificed himself to give thema way out.

Still, the resolution in ndrv3 resonates with me quite abit. Saihara and the others can’t actually prove that they’re “not fiction.”Actually, they have no choice but to admit that they probably are. But the factthat they put forward the idea that fiction itself doesn’t necessarily meanthat they’re meaningless or that they can’t change anything, the fact that evenin spite of being “fictional” or “a lie,” they can still change the world andpeople’s opinions, is so incredibly strong.

It was something I quite liked seeing precisely because that’swhat fiction is all about, really. Every story, every game, every piece ofmedia we consume, is ultimately supposed to convey a message, and thosemessages wind up changing us, for better or worse. Saying that something has noimpact or that it doesn’t matter because it’s “just fiction” is dangerous,because it denies the fact that fiction leaves a very real impact on our worldand on us as people.

In a way, sdr2’s message is perhaps more poignant because itends on a much more optimistic note and the resolution which ultimatelypresents itself in dr3 is incredibly hopeful and uplifting. Hinata is still myfavorite DR protagonist to date—seeing him arrive at the end of his arc ofdevelopment and begin to fully value himself as an individual, finding a truesense of pride in being “Hajime Hinata” and living strongly rather than relyingon a need for talent or standing out from the norm, is incredibly rewarding,and I adore him to pieces because he’s such a good character and so incrediblywell-written.

But as for the themes of each game overall, I do think ndrv3perhaps resonates with me a little bit more personally. Again, this is all mostlikely a matter of personal preference, and in some ways it’s very apples tooranges because both games have quite a lot to offer and their endings andtwists are meant to convey very different messages. But I can’t deny that thefears the ndrv3 characters have and the fact that they do ultimately give up tosome degree is something I find incredibly relatable and which hit me very hardwhen I was watching Chapter 6 for the first time.

The reason I like the fact that ndrv3 moves away from the “hopevs. despair” conflict so much is precisely because idealism doesn’t work inreal life. Hope is certainly an admirable ideal when used for the rightpurposes, but it can be harmful aswell, and ultimately is harmful both to the ndrv3 cast and the Hope’s Peak cast(if Komaeda isn’t proof enough of that). Hope can be the thing that keeps usgoing when we give up, but often times when people talk about “hope” theyreally are just spouting very empty platitudes (Munakata voice) which don’tactually address the root of the problem.

Resolving conflicts and moving forward often does involvehaving to address an unavoidable truth. Truth is something that really doesn’tchange no matter how much you look at it or how much you wish it were different:there’s only the one truth, and often it is painful and hard to confront. Lifeis hard—that’s why fiction is a tool of coping and moving forward. And thethings we grasp from fiction, the “gentle lies” we tell ourselves in order totake even one more step forward, are just as powerful and meaningful as truth.If truth can hurt people, then lies can also heal people.

I think that’s something a lot of people have experienced.Certainly it’s something I know I’ve experienced. There are stories and “lies”that I rely on in order to keep myself going. I don’t consider myself a verystrong person, so seeing Saihara and the other characters’ resolution to provethat even “lies” and fiction could have real importance and meaning even whenthey were at their weakest and most vulnerable was something that I foundmyself quite touched by on a personal level.

This is probably the best way I can put it. It’s really hardto decide honestly, because both games are so enjoyable! Hinata’s arc ofdevelopment is still one of my absolute favorite things in the entire DRfranchise, but ndrv3’s ending and epilogue is also one of my favoriteresolutions I’ve ever seen in a DR game. The twists for both are impressivebecause Kodaka keeps pulling out all the stops and keeps trying to outdohimself with every main game in the series—it honestly makes me excited to seewhat the next game might bring, even if that game might not necessarily becalled “Danganronpa.”

Thank you so much for asking! This was a lot of fun to tryand think about!

[oumakokichi]

I am very curious about when Kibo was given the title of "Ultimate Hope" in Trial 6. How did you feel about this revelation of Kibo as V3's Ultimate Hope and the Third Protagonist despite him being the Traitor as the Cameraman in V3? Also, which character showed their talent of Ultimate Hope the most? Makoto, Hajime/Izuru, or Kibo?

I’ve talked just a bit about Kiibo before here, but thisquestion adds some interesting room for thought to the whole matter!

Obviously discussing this question at all requires delvinginto huge endgame spoilers for ndrv3, so anyone who doesn’t want to be spoiledall the way shouldn’t read further!

Personally, I thought the revelation with Kiibo wasbrilliant. From the very first promotional poster released, everyone in thefanbase knew he was going to be important, or at least a very important misleador red herring, but no one was sure to what degree. The fact that he lookedlike Naegi was clearly intentional and left many people debating over whetherit was simply a reference joke meant as a red herring, or whether there was anyactual basis to it (similarly to when people realized that Nagito Komaeda couldbe rearranged to “Makoto Naegi da,” actually).

All of these little bits and pieces and misleads andreferences with Kiibo’s design sparked the whole fanbase into a debate, and Iknow that of the people who suspected that Kaede would die and not actually bethe true protagonist of the game even before its release, many actually thoughtKiibo was the most likely candidate to fill in for her, rather than Saihara.And in that sense, it’s very interesting that Kiibo is the “stand-in”protagonist in Chapter 6, or rather, that Saihara was actually the “stand-in”and that Kiibo was the “real” protagonist from the ndrv3 audience’sperspective.

It’s fun because Kiibo truly did take just enough of a backseat from we, the players’, perspective that we never really thought toquestion if perhaps it was possible to view any other character as theprotagonist figure than the one we were playing as. But upon reflecting back onKiibo’s actions, the times in which he speaks up during the trial, the crucialevidence he presents in Chapter 3 as a matter of solving the case, and the factthat he’s easily the most balanced character in the group advocating for peopleto not get ahead of themselves or carried away with things after Saihara.

His role as traitor in that regard is very interesting, andit’s something I think kind of flew right over people’s heads. But from athematic standpoint, it makes sense. In dr1, we had a traitor who didcollaborate with the mastermind, originally planned to work for them, andultimately cut ties with them and hindered their plans. In sdr2, we had a “traitor”who was actually crucial to holding the group together, and who knew of herstatus as the traitor from the beginning but chose not to speak up about it.And in ndrv3, we have a “traitor” along very similar lines, but this time withthe additional effect of having legitimately never known that he was thetraitor the entire time until the end, or that anyone from outside the gamecould possibly be influencing his actions.

This is just a little bit off topic, but I also feel thatKiibo’s status as the traitor accounts for a lot of why Ouma treats him the way that he does.  Ouma clearly knows about the broadcast beingshown to the outside world, and even if he was never able to pinpoint themastermind specifically, it seems strongly implied that he knew or at leastsuspected that Kiibo was being used to show the killing game to the rest of theworld.  I feel as though a lot of hiscomments on robots “having no heart,” “no feelings,” “no understanding of humanemotions,” etc. make sense in the context of essentially viewing Kiibo as atool to broadcast their murders and executions for entertainment, and sort oftaking things out on him, even though it’s not Kiibo’s fault.

Kiibo’s status as SHSL Hope is an interesting thing todiscuss, moreso considering Naegi, Hinata/Kamukura, and Kiibo all embody a verydifferent “kind” of hope in each of their respective games.

Naegi’s is the most obvious and easy to understand:everything about the hope vs. despair motives in dr1 is embodied by Naegi’ssheer goodness, his unyielding optimism even in the most difficult ofsituations, and his firm belief in people even without basis or proof. Naegi’shope is the perfect counter to Junko’s very analytical, very tried and truedespair. It’s something that “shouldn’t exist” logically when shown everythingabout how horrible the world is, but nonetheless persists by virtue ofwillpower and optimism alone.

Hinata/Kamukura are less about embodying “hope” as a conceptper se, and more about…the “hope” of the sdr2 kids to live on in spite of thethings that happened to them and the atrocities they committed. Rather thanhaving to forcefully pick a side of hope ordespair in sdr2, the entire story was about finding their own path and theirown middle ground, a role that was simultaneously both and yet neither. Forthem, that was the only “hope” with which they could live, even if they couldnever embody the same sort of persistence and optimism as Naegi.

And then we have Kiibo, who is essentially a huge subversionof both games’ takes on the thrillingtale of hope vs. despair with hope inevitably winning and despair being crushedout at the very end. Kiibo’s “hope” is something that was programmed into him.It was not something he ever asked for or particularly thought to embody,considering in-game his only wish is essentially to live as a completely normalhigh schooler. But his role all along from an audience perspective was to playthe protagonist specifically so thathe could “be everyone’s SHSL Hope,” defeat despair, win the game, and basicallycarry out exactly the kind of story and entertainment that the ndrv3 audiencewas the most used to seeing from the DR franchise.

Kiibo rejects this. Kiibo rejects the idea of his entirelife as he knows it being a huge lie, and he rejects the idea of living only tofulfill the audience’s wishes of seeing a story play out exactly to their everywhim.  By virtue of being considerablymore morally grey than either dr1 or sdr2, ndrv3’s ending on a much moreambiguous note of hope and despair bothdying and leaving no traces behind felt natural to me, considering the game’sthemes of “reality” and “truth” being shaped by one’s own beliefs andperceptions and existing on a much more meta level, rather than as somethinginherently concrete or defined.

Kiibo’s death was an explicit rebellion against the ideathat the ending should have to play out exactly the same way in every singlestory for someone else’s entertainment, and his role in the end as a SHSL Hopewho would instead have loved to be considered “ordinary” and “normal” the wayNaegi was at the beginning of dr1 was an interesting way of coming back aroundto the beginning of the franchise.

Your last question as to who exhibited the talent “hope” themost is interesting, and I’m not really sure there’s an answer to it! It alldepends on the player’s personal definition of “hope,” I suppose. If we’retalking about it in the same sense of optimism and an unwillingness to give upeven when things seem bad, then Naegi is the obvious choice. But with differingdefinitions, Hinata/Kamukura and Kiibo actually fit the bill better, and tendto provide more challenging food for thought in doing so.

Thank you for this question! This was very fun to try andthink up an answer to!