#kaito's still feeling SUPER sketchy to me but like

[aparticularbandit]

so like. i'm at the investigative phase where they are investigating in the virtual reality world (keebo just pointed out toilet paper like apparently that's actually going to be important and let me tell you i'm actually thrilled about this).

and here are my thoughts so far:

1) kaito didn't kill miu. he's obviously a red herring. (like even if i didn't expect him to kill kokichi in case five, he's still a red herring. it's usually not the first person they want you to think it is. (except you know. 11037. -sighs-)) i expect that kaito screwed up his cords somehow, and that's how he got booted out.

2) the poison in kokichi's seat can't be what killed miu because one of the side-effects was super red eyes, and miu didn't have super red eyes. kaito would love for it to have been kokichi, but i don't think he would have done that set up. unfortunately, i know miu was planning to kill kokichi (because spoilers) and she was the last to log in, so she might have set that up beforehand. probably.

3) i'm still surprised monophanie is alive; i expected her to be killed with kiyo instead of monodam; and since monotaro is helping them out when he's not supposed to be doing that, i expect he'll probably be the one who dies this time.

also by process of elimination like.

kaito, maki, and kokichi have to make it to case five for the thing i saw (assuming that's not somehow in this case, and i don't think it is).

shuichi is the player character and they're not going to pull a kaede again.

tsumugi's the mastermind.

keebo and himiko survive.

miu is dead.

this leaves gonta.

i don't think it's gonta. not intentionally.

i think miu might have accidentally killed herself.

(or gonta might have killed her not realizing that attacking someone in the virtual world could actually kill them because miu just didn't tell anybody that because, you know, planning to kill kokichi, and if he was being kokichi's bodyguard, then like. that would explain that.)

...actually

the sign was on the wrong side of the rock; if it was going with the flow, it should have been stuck on the right side of the rock - run into it and then stuck - instead of on the left side of the rock, which is where it was.

everyone has equal strength, so anyone could have moved the sign.

miu's spent who knows how long in the virtual world, so she should have known where the sign would have ended up and been able to get to it even from the chapel side. (or set something else up for that.)

tsumugi saw miu on the house side, which tracks for attempting to kill kokichi. gonta could have accidentally knocked her out and then carried her back across and moved the bridge.

but i really don't think it's gonta. i really don't think he would even accidentally kill miu. not in a world where his strength is the same as everyone else's.

however.

if case four is the feels case.

....

yeah, it could have been gonta.

[commentaryvorg]

Danganronpa V3 Commentary: Part 4.6

Be aware that this is not a blind playthrough! This will contain spoilers for the entire game, regardless of the part of the game I’m commenting on. A major focus of this commentary is to talk about all of the hints and foreshadowing of events that are going to happen and facts that are going to be revealed in the future of the story. It is emphatically not intended for someone experiencing the game for their first time.

Last time in the remainder of chapter 4’s free time, it was Issues Central, as we learned more of Maki’s mercilessly cruel backstory, then hung out with Kaito for the final time in our last chance before everything falls apart and lengthily discussed how badly he needs Shuichi to rely on him right now, since his final FTE managed to be delightfully full of his issues beneath the surface despite him not talking about himself in it at all.

Now for slightly fewer issues and slightly more plot.

*ding-dong!* *ding-dong!*

Shuichi:  (The doorbell? Is it Kaito or Maki looking for me?)

Come on, Shuichi, you should know by now that that won’t be Kaito; the doorbell didn’t ring like a million times.

But unfortunately, it’s Miu. At least Shuichi deliberately ignored all of the vulgar nonsense she spouted at him and insisted she get to the point, which is that he should go to the computer room.

Himiko’s lingering just outside the computer room door.

Himiko:  “I just remembered… how Tenko would always grab my hand and pull me along at times like this…”

Aww. She was mostly just irritated by it while Tenko was alive, but now she’s starting to appreciate that Tenko was always there for her.

Apparently all the armchairs in the computer room were brought here by Kokichi while helping Miu prepare, but where the hell did he get them from?

Kokichi:  “Doesn’t it smell like something fun is gonna happen instead?”

Nobody is here to have fun, Kokichi. Nobody except for Monokuma, and you, apparently.

Kaito:  “You always seem to show up for stuff like this. I’ve got you figured out…”

It’s a bit much for Kaito to be saying this since everyone showed up for it. I guess what he’s really getting at is the fact that Kokichi showed up for this despite having not showed up to breakfast, meaning he only cares about doing stuff as a group when it seems like something bad might happen and not to actually co-operate and escape. That’s still only Kaito having Kokichi partially figured out, though.

I’m, again, not going to quote any of the stuff Kokichi is saying to Miu, but suffice it to say that this is how he figured out he can manipulate her, and presumably how he got her to make all of the contraptions (that he’s still not telling anyone about because lol what’s escaping that’s boring let me kill two people instead).

Gonta:  “Gonta understand! Exit is in that kon-poo-ter box! So we gotta break it open and go in!?”

Oh, Gonta. He’s still trying his hardest. Of course he wouldn’t know what a computer is, let alone the concept of virtual realities.

Everyone is quite rightly suspicious of Miu’s proposal.

Miu:  “Am I… really that untrustworthy?”

I mean, yes. You’ve not shown any signs of being willing to co-operate this entire time and have been generally unpleasant to everyone. If you don’t trust everyone else, they’re not going to trust you either.

Maki:  “So it separates the consciousness from the body… If that’s possible, then… No… it’s nothing.”

It really feels like Maki’s supposed to be thinking about something interesting and relevant to her issues here, but I can’t for the life of me figure out what it could be. (If it were Kaito saying this, then that’d be one thing, but.) Any ideas are welcomed.

Gonta:  “We all gonna sleep and have same dream? That possible?”

That’s basically it, Gonta! That’s the most accurate way of describing it that uses concepts he’s familiar with. See, he’s trying his best to understand.

This also means that when he wakes up and claims to have “had strange dream”, it’s very easy to assume he’s talking about his experience of going to the Virtual World.

Himiko:  “So an avatar is another body… But I like this one. This body made my soul, and my soul made this body…”

Ha. Oh, dear. I have some bad news for you about that, Himiko.

Kokichi:  “Hey, let’s trust Miu! We should trust in our friends more anyway!”

Oh my god, Kokichi, you are so transparent every single time you do this to try and make everyone’s words along similar lines sound just as empty as yours. I’m almost glad we’re close to the point where he stops having any opportunities to do this because I’m pretty sure I’ve been sounding like a broken record about this for the past four chapters.

Kokichi:  “I mean, Monokuma created this world, right? Maybe he laid a bait to lure us in! Like… a super duper crazy secret hidden in that world!”

Kokichi is not being very subtle about the fact that he’s working with Monokuma on this.

Also, please note that Monokuma’s bait is the only reason everyone decides that it’s worth taking the risk and checking out the Virtual World. If all Kokichi wanted was to not get killed by Miu, he would have simply had to not do anything at all and nobody would have even gone inside the Virtual World to give her a chance to kill him in the first place. Miu’s plan was running under the rather idiotic assumption that everyone would trust her and believe that the Virtual World was worth checking out even if there wasn’t anything of value in there. It would never have happened at all if Kokichi hadn’t helped it along.

Shuichi:  “Kokichi… what’s going on here? Did you know this all along? That Monokuma is hiding a secret in the virtual world?”

Seems like Shuichi has picked up on Kokichi’s lack of subtlety. It’s just not possible to be sure about this until Kokichi actually admits it.

Kokichi:  “Maybe with that info, we could even put an end to this killing game.”

Gonta:  “Huh!? We can end killing game!? Then Gonta will go!”

Oh god, of course Kokichi knew exactly what to say to get Gonta to decide to go. All this stuff about virtual realities and secrets is lost on him, but ending the killing game makes perfect sense.

Keebo decides to go because his inner voice is telling him to. Yeah, they probably know something exciting and murdery is likely to happen in there, don’t they.

Keebo:  “I have always obeyed that voice, and I will continue to do so.”

He’s not even aware of how sketchy it is that he’s unquestioningly obeying this voice without even knowing where it comes from.

Kaito also makes up his mind, but for a… somewhat different reason.

Kaito:  “Call it a man’s curiosity!!!”

Maki:  “The idiot’s at it again…”

Kaito:  “Wh-When a man loses his curiosity, he ages! Curiosity is what moves a man!”

It’s actually kind of adorable (and again, not remotely inherently masculine) that Kaito also connects curiosity to his concept of manliness. Of course that’s something he has a lot of and values a lot – that’s part of why he wants to go into space, after all! – so he considers it part of his idea of “the best person you could possibly be”!

This particular instance also highlights something which has been the case most of the rest of the time too, which is that Kaito’s concept of manliness is really just a thing he has for himself. He’s not inflicting it on others and trying to insist that everyone should be showing manly curiosity right now. He’s just saying it because this is something that’s personally important to him. Just like Gonta isn’t ever trying to tell anyone else that they should be a gentleman.

Maki:  “You can stop talking now, but… I guess I’ll be an idiot too.”

Maki’s comment last chapter that she finds men talking about manliness to be gross is finally relevant to the actual situation at hand, heh.

(Even though Kaito’s concept of manliness isn’t at all gross like a lot of concepts of it can be. Subjectively annoying, maybe, and that’s clearly the only real problem Maki has with it here, but there’s absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to stay curious.)

I also like Maki just accepting that she’s going to be an idiot along with him. She’s a lot more willing to just roll with Kaito’s “idiocy” at this point. He may be an idiot, but whoops, looks like he’s her idiot now.

Shuichi:  “Kokichi… are you planning something?”

Kokichi:  “Ah-haha, of course not. After Kaito punched me, I became a changed man.”

This is proof that Kokichi knows full well that Kaito punching him was not just an act of violence and was really an attempt to get through to him and stop him doing precisely the kind of thing that he’s about to do right here. Yet Kokichi chose to completely ignore what Kaito was trying to say to him and do this anyway. He is very consciously, wilfully avoiding all possible avenues out of this that would lead to him not becoming a double murderer. So even knowing that he has reasons for doing this that aren’t him purely being evil, it’s still very hard for me to sympathise with Kokichi at all. This isn’t an unavoidable tragedy. He’s choosing this for himself.

Himiko:  “O-Okay… so I hold my chopsticks in my right hand, so…”

NO HIMIKO DON’T SAY IT. You just turned the 50/50 chance that this will be even more heartbreaking than it needs to be into a certainty.

(You can even see Gonta looking at Himiko in this illustration if you look closely.)

Chibi avatars, activate!

Kaito:  “But… it feels weird. I can move this avatar like I could my own body, right? And with this body, I don’t have to worry about all that stuff…”

I thought you said you didn’t have any worries, Kaito.

It really must feel incredibly refreshing for him to suddenly be in a body that isn’t dying on him. He’s so surprised by genuinely feeling fine that he almost lets everything slip. Perhaps it’s because this feeling is a positive one, and while Kaito has a constant, unyielding mental filter to prevent himself from unthinkingly voicing anything remotely negative about how he’s feeling, positive thoughts like this don’t get caught by that filter in the same way.

Shuichi:  “What stuff?”

Kaito:  “Uh… no, it’s nothing.”

More stuff for Shuichi to file in the “don’t think about that because that’s too worrying a truth” section of his brain.

Maki:  “…I want to go back.”

I like how this is the very first thing Maki says upon appearing here. Extremely Done Maki Roll™: now in chibi form!

Kokichi hitting Keebo to prove that their avatars feel pain is possibly done with the intent of backing up his assumption that they really will die in here if they experience pain that would have been fatal. But he’s also just taking the opportunity to be a robophobic asshole.

Kokichi:  “Even if they are avatars, I could never hit a *person*!”

Kokichi explicitly, inarguably sees Keebo as less than a person even though Keebo is clearly a person to anyone who spends ten seconds talking with him. How is everyone so okay with this.

Kokichi:  “And since it won’t leave any bruises, you can hit all you want!”

Keebo:  “That’s a bully’s twisted logic.”

Kokichi is clearly, literally a bully, how is everyone so okay with this.

Kaito:  “Information from our five senses here is sent to our real bodies… But it seems like information from our real bodies isn’t sent to our consciousness here.”

How would you know that, Kaito? It’s almost like there’s sensory information from your real body that you’re expecting to be sent to your consciousness right now.

I really, really like that this line exists to establish that Kaito’s real body is in constant pain at this point, since that’s not something Kaito would ever directly admit to but is very important information that I’m very glad we have.

Kaito:  “If that’s the case, then… it’s fine, but…”

He seems worried, probably about the possibility that his real body could be getting even worse while he’s here without him being able to know or do anything about it. What if his body involuntarily coughed up blood while he’s in here and everyone woke up to see him covered in it? That would be unacceptable.

Fun fact: the assets used for the chibi avatars in game aren’t actually 3D models but are just a series of flat sprites and animations made out of 3D models turned to different angles. I know this because they just mirrored Kaito again rather than giving him different ones for each side. Also, perhaps even more noticeably, Shuichi’s protagonist hair suddenly flips the direction it’s pointing in when you move him from facing down to facing down-left.

Gonta:  “But how we even get here? Gonta not feel anyone pick him up. And we got here so fast…”

His own understanding of this as a shared dream should be enough for Gonta to appreciate that they didn’t have to physically come here. So I guess the fact that he’s experiencing this a lot more vividly than he would experience a dream makes him think it can’t be that and be confused again?

Gonta:  “N-No! If Gonta not strong, Gonta no can protect everyone!”

Oh no poor Gonta this world just took away the one thing he had that made him feel like he could be useful if the opportunity arose.

Gonta:  “Hey, who Gonta gotta talk to to get strong again!?”

There’s someone on the end of that phone who’ll do it for you, Gonta. Just pick it up, say “Gonta Gokuhara wants to be strong again,” and then everything will be just fine.

Kokichi:  “You guys better not cheat by logging out alone!”

I wouldn’t be surprised if Kokichi already suspects that Miu is planning to frame someone by forcing them to log out alone.

Maki:  “I’m guessing… because it’s programmed like that for the killing game simulator. They want to see what kind of killing game it’ll be when no one has their special talent.”

The strength-equalisation only nerfs people whose talents involve being physically strong, though, giving the ones with intellectual talents an advantage. (…Not that the distribution of talents for a killing game was ever particularly fair in the first place, since some are inherently more useful than others regardless.)

Kokichi:  “By the way, Miu, you prepared these maps yourself… not Monokuma, right?”

Miu:  “Th-That’s right… I prepared the maps. What about it…?”

Kokichi:  “No, it’s nothing. I just wanted to know.”

Shuichi:  (What…? There was something off about Miu’s response…)

Kokichi deliberately asked this to give Shuichi a hint that’ll help him figure out the truth later. If Shuichi didn’t know this, he might never be able to figure out the true nature of the Virtual World, and Gonta could well get away with murder. Kokichi is actively trying to sabotage the mercy kill outcome, even before the murder happens.

Kokichi:  “I was gonna go investigate alone. There’s a lot of interesting stuff I wanna check out.”

Kaito:  “Hey… Like hell am I gonna let you do whatever you want.”

Kaito can tell that Kokichi is probably planning something bad and is trying to make an effort to stop it.

Kokichi:  “I’m going, no matter what you guys say. Well, it’d be a hassle if someone kept watch over me—”

Kaito:  “Kept watch?”

Gonta:  “Gonta not understand what’s going on. Gonta not sure how helpful he can be… But Gonta can watch Kokichi so he not do anything weird!”

And Kokichi knows exactly what he’s doing and deliberately manipulates Gonta’s desire to help to get him to come along.

Kokichi:  “Gonta, you’re so sweet… but I knew you would say that.”

DAMN RIGHT YOU KNEW HE’D SAY THAT YOU MANIPULATIVE SOON-TO-BE-MURDERER.

Kokichi:  “You’d make a terrific bodyguard!”

Like he’s trying to tell himself that what he’s about to do is only because Gonta will be protecting him from Miu’s attempt to kill him. It is not. There is absolutely no conceivable way in which this is self-defence.

Gonta:  “It’s okay! Leave it to Gonta! Gonta keep eye on Kokichi!”

NO GONTA DON’T GO WITH HIM

Just like everything else about what Gonta’s about to do here, even this part is driven by Gonta being desperate to be even a tiny bit useful. God damnit.

Kaito:  “Geez… he really knows how to manipulate people. Well, whatever.”

Kaito can perfectly well tell that Kokichi deliberately manipulated Gonta into coming with him for some reason… but then he just brushes it off and doesn’t try to do anything about it, because there’s no way Kokichi’d be able to manipulate Gonta into doing anything truly bad, right? It’s Gonta! Kaito believes in him! Gaaah.

At this point, you can wander around and go into the bathroom to find the toilet paper in there. Shuichi even muses about how it won’t break.

When everyone comes out onto the rooftop, most of them just walk straight out, but Kaito goes wheeeee all the way around the rooftop in a big circle. He’s such an excited kid and I love that they even got that across with the very limited chibi avatars.

Kaito:  “Whoa! It’s snow! Look, Maki Roll! It’s snow! Look! Snow!”

Maki:  “Are you a dog?”

Yes, he is, Maki. He is a very good dog.

Also of note is the way Kaito specifically addresses Maki – not her and Shuichi, just her – and tries to bring her into his excitement. Even in the midst of his ridiculous dogginess, he’s still thinking about helping her by reminding her of the fun kid things she would have done in her normal life before she was an assassin.

Kaito:  “It’s snow, Shuichi! It’s snow! Snow! It’s piling up everywhere! Look!”

Shuichi:  “Y-Yeah!” (He really is like an excited puppy…)

I love that Shuichi agrees about Kaito being a dog.

(Kaito’s addressing Shuichi here because I had Shuichi talk to him directly, so my point just now still stands.)

Maki:  “How can you get so excited over snow? You’re not a kid anymore…”

Kaito:  “Hey, Maki Roll. Men are… living things that must cherish their playful heart! If they lose that, they’ll age!”

Maki:  “…I thought you said when men lose their curiosity, they’ll age.”

Kaito:  “Yeah, they’re both important! A man’s got a lot to remember!”

Kaito is such a wonderful dork. Not only does his concept of manliness include curiosity, it also includes playfulness. Those are both things usually associated with children – so it’s really neat that Kaito understands that they’re not inherently childish and sees them as important enough to be included in his idea of being a “man”. If someone wasn’t able to be curious about things and to let themselves have fun, they’d be boring and stagnant, and that’s not the kind of person who’s going to help humanity make its way into space! No wonder he was disappointed to have to reveal the secret of Himiko’s magic back in case 2. No wonder he kept insisting that those stories of his adventures as a kid were totally real!

When you think of characters in this game who are all about having fun, you’d usually think of Kokichi. But Kaito also understands the importance of letting yourself have fun – arguably better than Kokichi does, since Kaito’s idea of fun doesn’t come at the expense of other people.

Kaito:  “Isn’t that right, bro?”

Shuichi:  “I… don’t know how to respond to that.”

Also, this is the only instance of Kaito trying to bring someone else other than Gonta into his idea of manliness, except for when he punched Shuichi after trial 1, in which he was not thinking clearly at all. Probably this time it’s because he’s got so caught up in his excitement that he’s not thinking clearly for an entirely different reason. I like how Shuichi’s just awkwardly like “leave me out of this, I’m not as ridiculous as you”.

Shuichi:  “That reminds me of a study I once read… People were told they were going to be splashed with hot water, but cold water was used instead. But their minds were so convinced, their bodies reacted as if the water was boiling.”

Tsumugi:  “Oh, I’ve heard of something like that before, too.”

I’m sure you have, Tsumugi, because something like that was used in Danganronpa 2 in an attempt to justify why the victims would have died in real life. That didn’t make sense in the way it does in this game, though, because the argument here is that the body would die (from the brain dying of shock), whereas in Danganronpa 2, the bodies were still perfectly functional and the game was only trying to argue that their consciousnesses inside the virtual reality had somehow completely died even though they had no body to die with.

Once you’re outside the mansion, you’re completely free to run around everywhere on that half of the map. Which is a bit awkward, because Kokichi and Gonta should be somewhere out there right now, but they’re not anywhere to be found in the game. Soooo I guess Shuichi wasn’t dicking around like the players might be and just headed straight to the bridge.

The chibi avatars have a bunch of small idle animations, one of which, if they’re outside, is shivering with cold. It’s pretty cute.

Maki:  “It’s really piled up outside. Kaito would be excited for all this snow. I bet he would make a snowman or something…”

Maki has a sad expression as she says this. Looks like Kaito really did manage to get her to remember her normal life back at the orphanage.

(It’s got to be heartbreaking for Shuichi and Maki the first time they experience real snow once they’re living relatively normal lives outside the killing game, thinking about how much Kaito would have loved it if he were with them. But maybe they’d still be able to make the most of it and honour Kaito’s childlike excitement for snow anyway.)

“Mirai Hills”, says the signboard. Totally not a reference. At least this one is gen two, not gen one, which makes sense given where we are.

I appear to have glitched the game somehow and have this non-stop sound effect of footsteps going on in the background, even when nobody’s walking. Good thing that’s not an in-universe phenomenon; that’d confuse things even more on top of all the other weird stuff about how this world works.

Kokichi and Gonta return, which means that poor Gonta is in despair and miserably believing that the only way to save everyone now is to keep quiet about what he knows and try to mercy-kill them all.

Kaito:  “Where were you and what were you doing?”

Kaito immediately angrily demands this. He’s still doing his best to keep an eye on Kokichi and stop him from doing anything drastic.

Kokichi:  “Oh, I was in the forest looking for the secret of the outside world. But unfortunately I couldn’t find it… Welp, I wasn’t expecting it to be that easy anyway. …Right, Gonta?”

Gonta:  [with a sad expression] “Yeah…”

But Kaito doesn’t question this, because if Gonta is backing up Kokichi’s claim that they didn’t find anything then surely it’s got to be the truth after all. Obviously Gonta wouldn’t lie to them, right?

Gonta is being very quiet and subdued now. But perhaps Kaito isn’t quite able to pick up on that and realise something’s off because the less nuanced expressions on the avatars mean his intuition doesn’t work as well in here. If all he can see is that Gonta is sad and not precisely what kind of sadness it is, it makes sense that he could just be sad they didn’t find anything. Now there’s a neat way in which the Virtual World nerfs talents other than just making strong people weaker.

It would have been neat if the in-universe loading zone worked in the same way as an out-universe loading screen, to sort of lean on the fourth wall a bit. But it makes sense they couldn’t do it that way, because there’s out-universe loading screens between the different rooms of the buildings, but sound can still travel between them so they can’t possibly have in-universe loading zones.

Kokichi disappears through the loading point for a moment and comes back telling us that it cuts off sound, but I wonder how he confirmed that. I’m picturing him yelling something to insult Kaito, not getting a retort, and going “welp, he definitely didn’t hear me”.

Kokichi:  “Well, I’m gonna go on ahead theeeeen.”

[Kokichi goes on ahead along with a silent Gonta]

Kaito:  “Hey, don’t just go on ahead! I don’t trust you being off alone all by yourself!”

Kaito is still doing his best to keep an eye on Kokichi and prevent a disaster! He has no idea that’s it’s already basically too late. (It’s also interesting that he says he doesn’t trust Kokichi alone even though Gonta had gone with him. Apparently he still doesn’t think that Kokichi alone with Gonta is the safest of options if it can be avoided.)

---

[Next post]

[plateauofmemories]

buanyway as I obsessively play the talent development plan mode (+monokuma’s test) I can’t not think about an au that’s basically that but More because I have a problem. Thoughts so far:

-So like the Talent Development Plan everyone’s just students at HPA, and there’s no despair apocalypse. But everyone’s in the same year (I assume that’s the implication of being able to talk to any of them throughout the whole 3 years).

-HPA is still studying talent but like, they’re less bonkers about it. Like, still maybe a bit ethically questionable at times, but definitely not conducting illegal human experiments in the basement this time. But they will happily teach other people’s former human experiment subjects. Also, rules about ultimate talents are a little more lax - you can have multiple people with the same shsl title. And we’re gonna say there’s one shsl luck per homeroom instead of just per year.

-For our characters’ year there are 4 homerooms, 16 students per homeroom.

-Classroom A is the NDRV3 gang, with the shsl versions of themselves being the real versions of themselves. Some changes to backstories are in order - like Kirumi is still a super maid but she’s probably not the de-facto prime minister of Japan, and like i’m keeping in my order for the same changes to kork’s background that I ranted about before, etc - but they’re personalities are basically the same. Rantaro is the class’s shsl luck since survivor isn’t an applicable position, but he still does a shsl amount of traveling and adventuring. Maki is definitely listed as the shsl child caregiver. Miu is probably actually an augmented human but records on illegal experiments are sketchy at best.

-Classroom A is definitely barely contained chaos at all times, with Kaito and/or Kaede doing most of the containing. “Or” because neither of them are immune to being baited into the fray. Homeroom teacher is Koichi Kizakura, which is no help in controlling the situation.

-Classroom C is the SDR2 crew, -Hajime and +Sato (who is not in the goddamn reserve course goddamnit). Chiaki’s a real person a la DR3. I hated that and them being one homeroom class in DR3 but this plot isn’t going to DR1/SDR2 so it’s fine.

-Chisa is their homeroom teacher. Class C is a lively and dynamic bunch, and they most notably have most serious drama. When someone has a problem with someone else shit gets real really really fast.

-Classroom B is my B-sides, aka hpa students from other DR media that I want in here. Hajime and Izuru are not actually B-sides but they’re in this class. otherwise, current roster includes Yasuke Matsuda, the weird octuplets from dr0 but they only count as one student because they are pretending to be one student as the shsl bodyguard, the student council president from dr0, ryota mitarai, and natsumi kuzuryu (who is also definitely not in the reserve course!! Fuck you!). Also, I don’t actually know anything about what’s canon for santa shikiba, but unless something makes me decide otherwise I’m gonna stick him in here. Also, in naegi makoto’s worst day ever or whatever that was called, there was a female student originally selected to be shsl luck instead of him, and I don’t know if she actually had a name but in any case I’m gonna use that tiny bit of obscure trivia to build a character to be this class’s shsl luck. Which brings me to 9 people, so I’ve still gotta come up with some - probably gonna review the student council to pull some from there, and also see if I can think of anyone else.

-Hajime and Izuru are different people for the sake of having them both available like in the talent development plan. Though i haven’t actually played as either of them, so I don’t know if there’s any sort of explanation given/if they’re ever implied to exist at the same time. Current convoluted story I’ve come up with for my au is they’re identical twins, and they were born conjoined at the head. At some point they were surgically separated and Hajime was fine, but Izuru was not. At which point some sketchy (but incredibly skilled) neuroscientist on the surgery team was like, hey, this is the perfect opportunity. And so maybe he kidnaps Izuru after faking his death or maybe not but in any case he DOES step in to try save Izuru’s brain but also like, make him a superhuman genius talent machine at the same time, because why not. I’m thinking the kidnapping thing because maybe it’s a longer experiment that involves multiple surgeries and raising the kid in a specific way and also changing his name to izuru kamukura before he’s eventually stopped and izuru is returned to his birth family and it’s all very awkward. But anyway, the other point is that Hajime still doesn’t have a shsl talent, but he gets an exception to attend HPA’s main course because this is the more lax HPA and if there’s anything better for research than and augmented genius human, it’s an augmented genius human with a non-augmented identical twin. It’s still maybe a bit too convoluted though. Also I haven’t decided if they wear the normal HPA uniform or if Hajime has to wear the reserve course uniform and so Izuru wears it too, because fuck you (and then in the meta level I get 2 maintain that classic izuru aesthetic).

-Idk who the homeroom teacher is for Class B but former hpa student Miaya Gekkogahara is definitely employed as an assistant teacher for them. It is definitely on purpose that the ex-shsl therapist and the shsl neurologist are in the classroom with Izuru and Hajime. Anyway, other students sometimes find this class intimidating/scary, but that’s just because there are several intense aloof/arrogant assholes in the class and one snake person, or snerson, that seems capable of being in too many places at once.

-Classroom D is just the DR1 gang. I can’t decide if Junko is like herself but not obsessed with despair or if she’s like herself but not determined to cause the apocalypse, just invested in her personal despair. Also mukuro definitely gets to attend class as herself, not disguised as Junko like in the talent development plan that did not want to make her a new set of sprites just for their bonus game.

-Their homeroom teacher is the phys. ed teacher that makes a couple appearances in DR3. Class D notably becomes a very close friend group. The other students mostly don’t notice day-to-day, except if a) you go to talk to someone in their homeroom before class begins and you have this inexplicable feeling like you’re intruding or b) it’s the school festival or some other event that pits homeroom-based teams against each other. Class D gets reeeeaaaaallly intense at these competitions (and works together frighteningly smoothly).

[ryouverua]

Can this even be called training anymore

Clammy, has chills, lethargic -

YEAH HE DEFINITELY HAS TO GO TO THE BATHROOM

Are we all still buying this? Is this really the route we’re going???

Kaito and this whole situation will end up being the death of me fml

If anyone doubts how smooth Kaito is, never forget the moment he managed to pull this fast one over a trained assassin and a bloody detective.

So after some general mood-setting stuff where Kaito, once again, is forced to confront the fact that his two best friends are introverts - both who he practically dragged out of their respective rooms on two different occasions to get them to socialize with other people - he takes charge. Considering he enjoys having an audience for his big speeches, I guess it’s a good match - though not so much for ~ conversation ~.

“Are we really going to have our FTE now? In front of Shuichi? Isn’t that a little... inappropriate?”

“Kaito, Maki, what in the world have you been doing in your FTEs?!”

I know this is supposed to be a nod to their budding relationship but the idea of him asking what her favourite blood type is, as in Kaito thinking that this would be a natural question to ask an assassin as an icebreaker the same way you’d ask a detective about his favourite mystery novel, is absolutely hilarious.

Oh man when Sweetcheeks is calling you out for being bad at socializing, you’ve got a problem!

but I was terrified to for obvious reasons

Yeah, that’s actually a good question. What feels like 100 years ago, I made this note in reaction to Maki and what she said because what she said kinda made me react to... something, and actually sent me off on some of my original theories in the first place, about swapped, downloaded and/or fabricated talents. I mean, in the end it turned out she didn’t have that title at all but.... still. She was just so not into being a Child Caregiver, and she wasn’t exactly hiding it 8′D

Kaito where do you even get off telling someone not to be direct -

KAITO YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS

I.... I can’t believe it.

Maki.... got Kaito to stop talking.

aha no I’m just glad we’re finally hearing something from Maki that isn’t her roasting someone else 8′D

also trying and failing not to reference fukuin or wammy’s house or w/e orphanage the Kaibas were from

Makes sense. Since she was there since she was little, she was probably a fixture the others could rely on to always be there. I do find it a bit hilarious that kids love her, though? I’d say that ‘they know she’s all bark and no bite!’ but you don’t really get the title of ‘Ultimate Assassin’ without any bite!

I mean I guess if she dispatched kids the way she nearly did with Kokichi earlier, then the number of kids that like her vs not like her would becoming the overwhelming majority... >3>

I get that Kaito is trying to encourage her because being an assassin is clearly not something she likes about herself but I feel like suggesting something else that she doesn’t like doing as an option isn’t... that... great either...

Seriously, barely any of the students like their talent! It was pretty unusual in the last games for the students to disparage/abandon their talents, and it’s completely flipped around this game!

THAT IS.... SERIOUSLY SKETCHY AS HELL.....

Honestly I feel like that could have ended up even worse somehow.

A ‘willing��� sacrifice, so-to-speak. It probably work out for whoever was in charge for the ‘talent’ to be doing it from their own free will, even if they were coerced into it. I think I remember from Maki’s FTE (I think I’ve only done the one, though) - it was fashioned after a cult, right? Or at least, that was the front they were wearing.

Yikes. That’s... well, it’s super shitty. Explains the ‘no choice’ part, that’s for sure. So looking at the illustration, she can use knives and guns - but she doesn’t like katanas, if I remember correctly. How did they choose which ones she would go after? Did they need to pick up a ‘nobody kid’ for the sake of anonymity? Was she the only one from her orphanage chosen? I guess those are FTE questions...

:(

I feel like assassins come up in media a lot. Money is usually a big factor, but not so much when they’re meant to be seen sympathetically. I’m really glad they made the choice to tie being an assassin and her alias of ‘child caregiver’ here. It’s... interesting, though. Despite her declaration of not liking kids very much, she’s doing an awful lot for their sake. 

I’m guessing these were the ‘walls’ Kaito was seeing around Maki. With that said, I imagine Maki has built these walls up over years - so how in the world did Kaito clue into the fact that there was something there for Kaito to ‘save’? Was it something in the library meeting way back in chapter 1 that tipped him off? He defends her without any particular reason (that we know of) in the chapter 2 trial and after her talent reveal, goes out of his way to include her in the group he starts creating. I like that it’s going this way - it’s a bit overdone, but I’m a sucker for this sort of story - but I’m trying to pinpoint the moment something happened to send Kaito down this path, and I can’t... quite... find it.

Yeah... there is a 99% chance that you’re going to survive this. We’ve already had one ‘killer’ die, but that was only because it was part of his shocking reveal. If Kaito is going to lose to his illness, or be pushed to desperation because of it - and I’m still worried that DR is aiming to build him up just to push him off of his pedestal in order to reveal that he’s flawed and human, despite how he sees himself - Maki’s probably going to end up ‘carrying his spirit’ in the way Shuichi is carrying Kaede’s. For that matter, I guess Himiko is also carrying Tenko and Angie’s spirit forward, unless the game pulls a switch on me..

So that’s three likely survivors - which leaves two more (I don’t believe DR and them telling us there will only be two 8′/). I don’t think it’s a secret that I’m hoping Kokichi will survive because that could be wild, but if any of the others survive and have the same themes... K1-b0 and Miu could work as each others’ torch bearers, I think, so it’ll be one or the other (probably K1-b0?). And then between Kokichi, Gonta and Tsumugi... I mean, I’m seriously afraid for Gonta’s life this chapter. Tsumugi and Gonta seem to have a bond, so Tsumugi (or Kokichi, for that matter, he does seem to have a bond with Gonta) could carry on for Gonta? Or something? Or maybe someone else is carrying the torch for someone already dead and just hasn’t revealed it yet?

Shuichi: immediately goes for the heartfelt, incredibly heavy words of sympathy

Kaito: damn that sucks

It’s hilarious thought because every time it works. Every!!! Time!!! It’s like his answer to Angie’s Atua-loving hugs!

Shuichi’s face omfg I’m actually laughing -

oH GODDAMNIT in the moment I was swept away by his motivational speaking, and I guess that was the point, but now typing away here after the fact I can’t get over the irony of Kaito spouting off these lines when he’s hiding being sick from all of them!!! SOMEONE NOTICE KAITO’S SICKNESS DAMN IT!!!

God Kaito you’re such a sweetheart...

AAAAAAAAAH NEW MAKI SPRITE! AND IT’S FUCKING CUTE WHAT THE HELL

They’re all... smiling..... and it’s so precious... 

Please, please say this isn’t the last time they’ll be like this. I keep saying the Gonta and Miu death flags are waving nice and high, but this is also a pretty good setup for one of these guys to unceremoniously kick the bucket fff

good fucking luck

[raifuujin]

Since I apparently have followers, here’s a story/opinion I’ve had for a while: I didn’t like Sera for the longest time. And while I’ve grown to be more neutral about her as she’s been around, she’s still not entirely a favourite.

The main reason I’ve thought about for why is her personality. It’s kinda easy to compare her to Heiji, in terms of energy and detective coming out of nowhere, but I’d always liked Heiji and never warmed up to Sera as much. So I tried to think about why, and it came down to their ‘hot blooded-ness’.

Heiji’s been called hot-blooded mostly from his actions like in the koshien. Being reckless and possibly compromising evidence in attempts to get to the victim as soon as possible, when he’s frantic to find evidence (and then his dad slapped him), and in confronting culprits. With him: His recklessness is either because of his nature to try and get ahead, or to try and protect others.

Sera, on the other hand, has only really one type of ‘hot-blooded’ behavior: Fite me. She picks fights and gets antagonistic easily, and seems ruthless when looking at situations like the agency bomb threat. Wasn’t going to consider another option where everyone lives, she’s already decided that the only course of action was to kill the guy threatening everyone. Compared to Shinichi and Heiji, she was more showing a willingness to harm, and that feeling never disappeared. She’s cute, and I’m okay with her at this point now that we’ve seen more and she’s no longer shown as a super sketchy potential-Bourbon identity, but I’m not much of a fan otherwise.

Though I will say her kicking Kaito in the face was the best moment ever. You can’t ignore the truth. :V

[oumakokichi]

NDRV3 Transcripts: Momota Kaito’s FTE#6

Momota’s titles for himself just keep growing.

Thanks to the usual suspects for all the help! @kaibutsushidousha​, @ne0dym​, and @shinjiroaragaki​ all helped with the transcription and the icons respectively!

This FTE has spoilers for Chapter 1 and a few very minor spoilers for Chapter 2, so be careful!

Google doc link.

More translated transcripts.

Only one more FTE to go! It’ll be posted soon, so I hope you enjoy this one in the meantime!

MOMOTA: But really, when exactly are we gonna be able to leave this place? It ain’t exactly like I can do a lot of astronaut trainin’ like this...

SAIHARA: That’s true...

MOMOTA: Still, aren’t ya at least glad that you could meet me after comin’ to this place?

SAIHARA: Eh? Me?

SAIHARA (THINKING): Well, I guess it’s certainly true… that Momota-kun has been helping me out.

MOMOTA: There’s nothin’ to be embarrassed about, man! As my assistant, you should be proud to have a boss like me!

SAIHARA (THINKING): Assistant… huh.

MOMOTA: My track record as a boss is pretty amazing, right? I bet I could even be called the “Super High School Level Boss” by now!

SAIHARA: Your track record as a boss… What do you mean?

MOMOTA: Heh heh, the truth is… I’ve had a lot of other guys be my assistant before this. I might only be an astronaut-in-training, but I’ve made a pretty good name for myself with people involved in lots of different fields, see.

SAIHARA: Is, Is that so?

MOMOTA: Yeah! Let’s see, for example… Oh, there’s this one guy who’s a major league baseball player now! They were one of my former assistants!

SAIHARA: Ehh!?

MOMOTA: And you remember that engineer who won the Nobel Prize a few years ago, right? Well, ya see, they were one of my former assistants too. Even the current prime minister only got introduced to politics because I gave him a hand, ya know? Oh, that’s right! You know that idol who’s a #1 best-seller right now? I helped them get started singing and dancing, too!

SAIHARA: H, Huh…

SAIHARA (THINKING): ...No matter how I think about it, that just sounds sketchy. After all, all those people are pretty obviously older than Momota-kun.

MOMOTA: Well, I say that… but all I really did was give ‘em all a gentle push from behind.*

(* Translator’s Note: More literally, “all I did was push them on the back.” Meaning, “I just helped them a little so that they could all get introduced to what they’re doing now.”)

You’re not wrong! You should keep moving forward as yourself, followin’ the path you believe in! If ya get lost along the way, then I’ll believe in you with all I got! If ya got no confidence in yourself, then I’ll do everything I can to support you!!

...like that. With just one small push, humans can change pretty drastically. They can break outta their own shells. So I think it takes a real man to take on that role and help them keep movin’ forward!

SAIHARA (THINKING): ...That’s certainly true. As long as there’s even one person willing to believe in you… then anyone should be able to muster their courage and keep moving forward. 

But maybe the only one who can really take on that role of support with dignity is Momota-kun, reckless as he is.

MOMOTA: If there’s anything you ever wanna tell me, you don’t need to hold back either, ya know? I’m the type of boss who tends to grow alongside my assistant. Your worries are my worries! And my worries are your worries! I think that’s the best way to do things.

SAIHARA: Yeah… Thanks.

SAIHARA (THINKING): No matter what the problem is, Momota-kun seems the type to accept advice as straightforwardly as he gives it.*

(* T/N: Phew, a tricky line. Basically, “whenever we’re consulting each other/giving advice, Momota-kun gives and receives it straightforwardly.)

...At that time, I thought of the best possible answer to his question from earlier. I’m really glad that I could meet a person like this*…

(* T/N: He doesn’t actually say the “I’m glad” part, but it’s heavily implied, and trying to rearrange it in English without it just sounds weird.)

...Just kidding. If a guy compliments another guy that much, I guess it really does just feel weird, huh.

I parted ways with Momota-kun and returned to my room.