#kusonoki muu

[waivyjellyfish]

MILGRAM but this is Undertale AU

Mikoto & John desighns made by @yaraneechan

[snakes-and-fluff]

I went to find as many eye closeups from the Milgram MVs as I could find, then was surprised to find that every single T1 MV contains at least one (except Undercover but I count that more as a prequel song than a T1 song). So I was hoping the same would be true of T2 - but, sadly, it wasn't (Backdraft, It's Not My Fault, I Love You and The Purge March are all missing). But there were still many more than I was anticipating so instead of just compiling them all in one post (my original plan), I'm going to group them by intent/theme (with varying levels of logic and success).

Waking up (no surprise that Mikoto's here twice)

Horrified after a session of self-reflection

Frustrated (Haruka's is a still instead of a gif because there was a lot of flashing)

Determination

Inhuman (shoutout to that single frame of a wolf's eye from Harrow)

Glancing to the side (very different vibes here but it's the same basic motion so I'm counting it)

Slow realization.

Blank stare (very different kinds of blank stare but still)

Distraught

Love? (Honestly still not sure what that line was about in After Pain but these shots seemed like they fit together)

Bloodied (interesting as well that the blood is not entirely realistic in either - while the blood in Double is closer it's still more orange-tone than red)

Reflecting the prisoner while crying (also these are the only people we've clearly seen in the MVs that was neither victim nor prisoner)

[milgram-tournament]

MILGRAM Best Song Tournament, Round 1, Match 7 BACKDRAFT vs. IT'S NOT MY FAULT

Propaganda for both options under the cut!

Propaganda for BACKDRAFT:

"Backdraft may be a minute shorter than Bring It On, but it’s still over three minutes long, and it makes up for the lost minute with a complex form. The “Pressure! Pressure!” might be the only part that truly repeats.

At the beginning, Fuuta is showing off, acting cool. Then the music slows down as he ponders his verdict. Then the music picks up the pace again and gets more and more frantic as the consequences of his actions catch up to him.

See that structure in the three distinct verses that sound nothing like anything else in the song: cool, contemplative, and “oh no, what have I done”.

The “chorus” (burn burn!) never stays the same. You’ve got the “cool” first chorus. Then you have the muted second chorus as it sinks in that Fuuta’s victim was a middle-school girl, which leads into the tense final chorus (which is twice as long as the first) as the victim and Fuuta both burn.

The instrumental and the spoken-word from the beginning combine in the end, changing the mood of the stanza from confident and showy to panicked and desperate.

And the words… You can hear the wordplay in the last stanza, even if you don’t understand it.

Appreciate this chaotic masterpiece of a song."

---

- Fuuta being very cocky at first before realizing how fucked he is (it is kinda funny) - The use of spray cans and overall graffiti symbolism, it’s so good - The multiple eyes and people off camera showing how paranoid Fuuta has become, it’s really well done without being obvious - The name backdraft meaning when a fire deprived of oxygen gets a sudden influx of it. A kind of metaphor for what Fuuta did. Then it being shown through a spray can explosion, aaaa it’s really cool! - Fuuta’s overall look changing, being more realistic on how he actually looks contrasting Bring It On’s idealistic version of himself - Es at the end!! The only time Es shows up in a prisoner’s MV!!! And they looks so damn cool - Also the entire eye thing referencing the audience, he perceives us lmfao

---

"Back draft is incredible because it not only has great visual symbolism with the use of the spray cans but its visual symbolism shows a progression from ‘Bring it on’. In ‘Bring it on’ the channelling is glorious , fuuta is surrounded by people and fuuta idealised himself (taller , better teeth , better posture ect) , the people he cancelled were portrayed as these powerful rpg monsters but now in back now the channelling is portrayed as vandalism a crime as destructive , the ally is empty we only ever see others as hands or his victim fuuta is alone and fuuta is no longer idealising his appearance and his mind is now portraying his victim as a harmless cutesy drawing. This shows a change in how fuuta views his crime between T1 and T2. It wasn’t glorious, it wasn't justified , he was at fault. The fire being recontextsied as something out of control , all consuming and out of control which is the opposite of how it was portrayed in ‘Bring it on’ we really see how the vote has changed fuuta."

"There are so many things in the song that show a progression "

-“ deliciously scorched till your mouth waters” > “I don’t want any more”

-fuuta spray paints the camera hen as the end es spray paints him/the camera

-the pressure graffiti changing

"There’s so many interesting details like the applause towards the start of the song , the personality in the subtitles like them going from “Burn , burn!” To “burn , burn?” But the pressure’s punctuation mark stayed the same:   “pressure , pressure!” , the way FIRE is the only word in full caps till LIES. The thumbs down fuuta does during “the fights up here! Come up to the ring and face me!” Part which is like his T1 art , the way the lighting changes from green towards the start and becomes red by the end (stop go colours) , The way fuuta is constantly interacting with the camera , spray painting it twice and kicking it."

"Backdraft actually makes amazing use of the camera , things are often shown from the (camera)audience’s perspective rather than us seeing the events removed. We are there like we are the ones doing it/looking through the eyes of the person doing it. When fuuta/the others spray paint the graffiti of his victim and the ice gorilla it's from the audience’s perspective , we don’t see them do it, we see it like we are doing it. When the spraypaint can explodes it's like it’s exploding in our face and then when es spray paints fuuta at the end they are spray painting the camera(audience). "

"Backdraft makes the most references to the voting system and uses it well to make the audience re-examine if they really are any different. Aren’t we using little information and inferences to hold people accountable for crimes we have no stake in? Aren’t we causing unintended harm? Aren’t we judging them from the safety of our screens? "

"And on a more silly level"

-ARTHUR CONANT GOES SO HARD IN THE VOCALS!!!! COME ON LISTEN TO BURN BURN AND TELL ME THIS MAN ISN’T GIVING IT HIS ALL!

-cat mouth fuuta :3 how can you not love cat mouth fuuta?

-lowpolydog designed amazing graffiti 

Propaganda for IT'S NOT MY FAULT:

"It's Not My Fault is a beautiful song with a REALLY good song texture. Arisa Kori/Muu's voice is literally so amazing here, fitting perfectly with that confident and snarky appearance that Muu seems to want to give off. And just everything about it????? Muu did everything wrong free my girl- I love her bug design here, the pure drama of it and how she showcases Rei as a human in the bug world is so cool."

---

inmf!! have you heard the instrumental?! its just so good!!

the way rei turns the hourglass at the beginning!!! and it switches to when muu was at the top of the hierarchy!!!! that was such a cool detail!!!

BUG MUU IS LITERALLY SO CUTE. her smile at 1:19 🥺🥺

The way her voice drops at 1:30 and her 'KAWAISO NANO!!' at 1:51!!!

shes having so much fun while singing this weeeeeee

she's always pitiful!! shes always the drama queen 🥺🥺

please her getting the worst ratio while singing the 'im not guilty' song should alone be the reason she wins

---

"INMF is what got me into Milgram in the first place so of course I have to shill for it. I think its one of my favorite MVs Visually as the scenes set in the bug-web location are so visually striking. Muu and the rest of the bugs dark-purple skin and Muu's and neon pink hair stand out so much against it and it's so Pretty and Vibrant.

Storytelling wise INMF is amazing, it's a complete 180 of how Muu is seen in After Pain but not to the point where it feels like Muu is a totally different character. Muu is both a genuine victim and (in my opinion) a failgirl queen. She's trying her best to keep the image up but she is...NOT good at being a manipulative mastermind. And like After Pain before it, you can figure that out just through the visual and lyrical storytelling, that to some extent this is Still Also a Role Muu is Playing.

It's good! It's really good stuff! Muu is a character of cycles and After Pain and INMF work really well as a cyclical story about bullying. I think Muu should Win on having Good Storytelling and Fantastic Visuals and Being a Worst Girl. You should do it for all the girls in the world who are the Worst."

[k4krr]

the least guilty prisoner

[kani-miso]

proseka chibi of milgram characters part 3

fuuta would be in vbs and muu would be in mmj

[bakayu93]

wanted to put like all my mg meme images somewhere sorry if these are otherwise ooc just made them for funsies. enjoy

[sunshine-of-my-shoulder]

Milgram has gone woke 😱

HERuka

YuNONBINARY

FEMta

Muu

SHE/HERdou

MSPECahiru

Kazui

ASPECmane

BIkoto

YUzuRIha Kotoko

Es

Jackalope

[prostopack]

[v4low3rtsuka2a4an]

love them smh theyre so asjfdmg

Haruka so pubby like look at those eyes :<

[waivyjellyfish]

And again outfit author mochipanco on twit

and Es in a dress⬇️ ;)

I warned you

[givemeanaccountalready]

Points of Origin & Paths to Take (Part 2)

1 / 2

Fuuta & Muu: the Absence of Connection

"I am playing hide and seek from the sin I committed / you should all just give up and shut up"

"I always have a broken heart / when will it stop aching?"

My dedication to ~aesthetic~ dictates that I keep the character introduction lines from “Undercover” up, even if they have no direct or reasonably implied relation to what I think the characters are missing. I could twist these words and make some big leaps of logic to make it work, but I won’t. I make you all jump through enough hoops with me when I unload my crack theories, lol.

Thankfully, these two have the easiest motive definition to argue. In both of their first trial videos, they seem to want a connection with others but don't have it. Fuuta is always alone IRL, but online, he has a regular gang of pals to run around with. Muu doesn't have that since she is being bullied by her former posse, and if it wasn't for "It's Not My Fault" bursting my bubble, I would have thought Rei was another former friend that Muu had been trying to reach out to. We don't know what caused Muu's friends to turn on her, just that they did.

Interestingly, their Trial 2 songs flips their positions. Fuuta is alone throughout the majority of “Backdraft” while Muu is with her friends for “It’s Not My Fault”. I’d argue that their verdicts caused them to perceive Es, and by extension us, as a misguided friend/enemy (Fuuta) and a trusted friend (Muu).

Fuuta’s “Bring It On” from Trial 1 jumps from the real world to an MMORPG. It’s pretty clear that Fuuta prefers the MMORPG world to the real one. In there, he’s a strong knight and hero. He has friends that have his back. IRL, he is alone. He hides behind his phone and doesn't interact. When he posted that picture of the professor harassing that student, he led the online bashing, but it doesn't seem like he intervened. (Maybe his cowardice here played a role in how far he went with Killcheroy? Like he tried to make up for not doing anything before by going the extra mile and doxxing Killcheroy? It would fit the theory that he's trying to be protective over the prisoners he sees as weak (Haruka, Mikoto, Amane, Muu, Yuno) to make up for what he did to Killcheroy.)

Fuuta is a coward, no doubt about that. But he does try to be brave. He thought that Es did something to Yuno and was prepared to deck them over it. He kicks up a fuss that Milgram isn't a legitimate prison and demands to know why no one is trying to do anything. He tries/tried to connect with Haruka (trying to see if Haruka likes video games or soccer and telling him to not be formal with him). He told Amane to eat all her dinner to grow up big and strong (only for her to point out that he doesn't eat vegetables and is short but it's thought that counts). He's definitely a rough-around-the-edges dickhead, but he is trying to connect with the prisoners which is more than what he did before. I won't give him full credit but I do give him points for trying.

Trial 1 ends with the first Guilty verdict of Milgram. Kotoko beats the stuffing out of him and Mahiru. Just like how he was at the end of "Bring It On" Fuuta is alone and left to stew in his injuries, our thoughts, and on what he's done. His second trial song reflects it pretty well.

In “Backdraft” Fuuta is by himself up until he reaches Killcheroy’s graffiti. Then he sees himself go up to her image and slash it, and then his friends soon follow with spraying paint on the IRL Killcheroy. On one of my rewatches, I realized that this is the first time we actually see hands behind the other spray paints, and not just their slashes and the falling spray cans. Fuuta finally seems to be admitting his fault in “Backdraft” rather than how in “Bring It On” his body language reflected his guilt even though his words rejected it. In his second trial interrogation with Es, he calls Es out for doing exactly what he did, and asks if Es can deal with the unintended consequences. It’s almost as if he’s trying to look out for Es. Then, it’s only when the bell rings and Es switched from sympathetic to hardened, that Fuuta reverts back to his angry, righteous front and talks to Es like Es is his enemy.

(Excuse any biases here. I could do a whole character study on Fuuta. He’s one of my favs. Him and Yuno and Haruka, actually. And Es, but they’re not a prisoner)

Meanwhile, Trial 2 Muu is having a blast. Similar to her bestie, Haruka, any doubts she had about being guilty (which we do see in “After Pain”) are now stamped down because her Innocent verdict validated her. I would argue that in “It’s Not My Fault” Muu does seem to question whether she is fully absolved just a bit (in her lyrics), but then she doubles down. I think that her Innocent verdict led Muu to believe that she was fully absolved, just like how Haruka did. But the way she goes about it is a bit different. Whereas Haruka is looking to impress Es to keep their love, Muu decided to befriend them because they were nice and forgave her. Because Es, and by extension the audience, extended such a kind act to her, she in turn extends her own version of a kind act. We’re now her friends, and we get to see her former inner circle. (Presumably to learn from their mistakes based on the “if you betray… you know what’s gonna happen” line.)

It’s quite a different showing of herself compared to “After Pain” where we see her as this pitiable victim. I got whiplash from watching “It’s Not My Fault” for the first time after watching “After Pain”. Muu can’t read the room like Yuno can. Whereas Yuno tried to challenge us, Muu tried to keep us on her side. It’s actually kind of funny how their intentions blew up in their faces, but that’s beside the point.

I think the change from the betrayed outcast to leader of a hive mind emphasizes that Muu places friendship above all else. When she talks with Es during her second interrogation video, Es brings up Haruka’s threat. Muu’s definition of friendship seems to be friends don’t stop the other from pursuing happiness and let them do as they wish (no consequences). She won’t stop Haruka from carrying out his suicide threat because she genuinely believes that this will make Haruka happy, consequences be damned. (I hope her tune will change if Haruka actually attempts to kill himself or succeeds in killing himself. Even if it’s a selfish take on “I would be sad if you’re not around,” because happiness is what Muu values friends making each other happy. Haruka is the one person who is adamantly in her corner and losing that might trigger something akin to compassion).

Okay, so what do I think will happen in their Trial 3 songs?

In Fuuta’s case, receiving the Innocent verdict could go two ways. Either he is going to be all “once bitten, twice shy,” and focus more on how he was going with the crowd to try and keep our favor, or, he might risk our anger by fully admitting his guilt and/or showing us how his friend Rumiere introduced him to cancel culture but that he took it too far going after Killerpy by sharing her address (whether publicly doxxing her himself or sharing the address with someone and they posted it). Ideally, I’d like Fuuta to continue his journey and owning up to his actions, even if he initially was influenced by a crowd. Either way, I do think that we’re going to meet Rumiere. I just hope that Fuuta continues to be brave by admitting fault.

As for Muu, I think there is a chance that this Guilty verdict makes her realize that her bullying of Rei and others was messed up, but it’s more likely that we’ll see her act betrayed and lash out at Es (and us the audience) for throwing her kindness (read friendship) back in her face. Wasn’t she sorry enough in “After Pain”? Can’t a girl celebrate a little after being validated? To thank those who forgave her? I wonder if (read: hope that) that Haruka makes a guest appearance in her third song as her only Milgram friend.

I really want to know what she did for her friends to turn on her. I am pretty sure that Rei had something to do with her downfall and Muu hoped by winning Rei’s favor she could hope to rebuild the castle she had before, but when Rei rejected her, she snapped and killed her. Muu’s friends were shitty like her and probably going to betray her later rather than sooner, but I want to know Rei’s role in the same way I want to know Rumiere’s role in Fuuta’s story. What was the catalyst for this whole shebang for these two?!? I’m pretty sure we’re going to see them but wondering how they’ll be depicted is going to make me go feral. There are two main ways that each catalyst character could be depicted for their respective prisoner, favorably and unfavorably. I just hope that for their sakes, Fuuta and Muu both own their actions rather than blame their respective catalysts.

3 / 4 / 5

[misrepresentedmorallygrey]

[milgram-tournament]

No It's Not My Fault propaganda?!?!? Come on, Muu fans! Your girl needs your support!

[sleepingkonnie]

Muus transactional friendships

Muus practically the only milgram character i actively think about (Dramatization but it’s true (＞人＜;) so i tend to think about everything that led up to her killing rei,

I ended up coming to a speculation about her old friend group, that I’ll just share right now!

How she treats friendship

It’s in the way she talks about friendship, she casually and straightforwardly acts as if friendship is only transactional and that it’s meant to be beneficial to everyone, as if it’s that’s always been the truth

She’s fine with letting haruka do what he wants to do (in this case threatening to kill himself so at least muu is innocent) as long as it’s beneficial to her, Es talks about how Haruka isn’t getting anything in return with their friendship and as much as they’re right, to muu she’s giving him what he’s satisfied with (hanging out with him, picking clothes for him, acting motherly ect ect)

Muu feels so secure in their friendship because both of them are getting what they want, so it made me wonder if that also applied to her past friendships? And i really do think it did.

Message translation (translated by DEEPL)

In after pain (timed 1:24) we get a brief look into the message between her and two girls from her ex friendgroup, from the looks of it they clearly don’t care much for her (backed up with the fact that they easily turned against her) and are most likely using her for her money, and for her gifts. That’s considerably a start for a shallow relationship but a relationship that muu is fine with nonetheless, aslong as it’s both give and take right? They’re taking and using her money, so what exactly is muu getting from all this?

And the only answer i can really come up with, is that they benefit her with status, she gets to feel safety as a “Queen bee” because they’re backing her up

My own point of view is that muu had to buy her way to the top socially simply because she’s half Japanese, which so commonly face prejudice (referred to as hafu meaning hafu, among other names) for being considered abnormal compared to the other kids,

[joabmwi]

art muu 20.07 -

2024!🤍🤍 and 2023! 🤍🤍

[kani-miso]

i can only think of two, i have brain damage.

@hectorthedoggo