#like how in chapter 4 he tries to tell akane not to take nekomaru for granted bc he can tell she cares

[mars-ipan]

AAAAAAAA HAHHAHAHAHA THANK YOUUUU I CARE THEM SO MUCHHHH

i love sharing my kmhn headcanons with people because then i get to hear them tell me how correct and smart i am and it boosts my ego

[mozillavulpix]

super anti-komahina salt

and this is to go further beyond

I saw a komahina fan post a write-up and it just irritates me so I want to break it down:

“If you think Komaeda is batshit insane or that his character is only about his obsession with hope and you interpreted Hinata's feelings about Komaeda as just hate of course it wouldn't make sense. Except neither of these are true for their characters.”

This is the basic surface-level narrative Komahina fans argue against, and fair enough, it’s a massive generalisation. But this argument also just irritates me because it implies everyone who doesn’t ship them do so because they don’t understand the characters well enough.

“long story short Komaeda's obsesses over hope as a coping mechanism, because it's the only thing he can cling to.”

I can agree with this in a way, but in my opinion I don’t think he’s so weak that it’s impossible for him break free from that mindset (during the game) if he really wants to.

“Komaeda doesn't like Hinata because he thinks he is talented and above him, Komaeda says he loves all ultimates but it's not real love. His love for Hinata is different. In the SDR2 drama CD he mentions that he loves Hinata because he tries to understand him.”

I can agree with this. Although the Drama CD is literally just the Free Time Events, I don’t think it’s some kind of ‘gotcha’ like people think it’d be.

But also keep in mind, yes, Hajime tries to give Nagito a chance and doesn’t immediately run away screaming because scary person he can’t understand, but Hajime also doesn’t particularly act more saintly than all the other kids towards Nagito after Chapter 1. Nekomaru and Kazuichi seem to at least try to hear Nagito out before they punch him in the face. Mahiru seems like she was the first one to consider giving him breakfast. Hajime tries to stop Akane from attacking him after the Chapter 1 trial, but mostly because he’s resigned to the fact it won’t change what he did, and he then changes his mind and gets pissed off when Nagito decides to taunt him about his amnesia in response. And it’s Sonia who finally settles everyone down. So yes, Hajime tries to understand Nagito, but in the actual plot itself that’s not a special trait unique to him.

It’s only ‘unique’ if you choose to do the Free Time Events, and the Free Time Events...are basically not canon. They’re more like a what-if scenario the player chooses to view, and the dialogue was written from that perspective.

As in, maybe it’s canon that they’d interact like that if they spent time together on the island, but it’s not canon that Hajime does and wants to do that during the story. Because you can do them for everyone.

“And they reach a mutual understanding in DR3 because the two of them are more alike than Hinata would like to admit.”

Um...

Well, this is why DR2.5 is bullshit

I agree they’re similar, but I think both of them knew this from the very beginning. It’s not exactly a reason for reconciliation and forgiveness. The fact they have similarities is the exact reason why Hajime is so upset at his betrayal, and snaps back at Nagito every time he brings that up. So I don’t know if that’s really a good reason to explain why they’ve forgiven each other come DR3.

“Komaeda doesn't see himself as above untalented reserves either, because in 2-4, after realizing the truth about Hinata he says that they are the same, stepladders for hope. He was lashing out at all the students for being despair. They are similar, because they both share the same views that talent is everything.”

And then Hajime gets his character development for the rest of the game all so he can realise talent isn’t everything. So...?

“Now from Hinata's end, a lot of people seem to miss this about him, but he is someone who denies his feelings when they get inconvenient, he is called a tsundere by monokuma” 

I guess this is a diss against the surface-level people and people who are like “but the text literally says this”. But even then, the game literally shows Hajime’s inner thoughts. If he’s conflicted about things, the text generally shows that too, even if it’s with a careful inclusion of a ‘...’

So I don’t think we should take that trait as an excuse to literally ignore what the text says.

He was felt pumped when Komaeda was out of critical condition, but he thinks "why do I have to feel pumped, oh well best not to think about it"....because Hinata likes to avoid facing things that inconvenient him. Hinata finds it hard to trust Komaeda and doesn't play along with him, because he is afraid of getting caught in his pace, and not because he hates him and thinks he is better off dead.

This part literally read like a high-schooler’s english essay, and maybe this kid actually is a high-schooler, tbh. Because that is one big leap from “Hajime finds it difficult to deal with his feelings” to “since Hajime finds it difficult to deal with Nagito, it means he doesn’t hate him”.

“I don't think Komaeda is a fundametally bad person but is shaped to be what he is because of his luck cycle. In his last FTE, Hinata asks what Komaeda would do if didn't have his luck cycle, and his answer was something along the lines of " a normal life, devoid of hope and despair". And we get to that his innermost desires is to live a normal life in the OVA, and his character song zansakura zanka.”

He can also just decide to not believe in his luck cycle.

Also, in the OVA, he’s embarrassed by that inner desire and tells World Destroyer he hopes no one saw that maybe he wishes for a world without talent.

Like his desire to be a good person is so hidden that he doesn’t want people to know.

“Hinata even mentions Komaeda isn't trying to trick anyone for selfish reasons in his report card, so it's a shame to see so many people attribute all of Komaeda's actions to malice just because of what Hinata thought of him in chapter 5 because it wasn't clear what Komaeda's reasons were at that point.”

Okay, a few things to unpack here:

Just because Nagito is doing things ‘for the greater good’, doesn’t mean it’s not also selfish. Hajime isn’t going to say that because Hajime doesn’t realise that. You can’t exactly trust him with being able to articulate everything about a character’s worldview. Izuru would. He probably does in Chapter 0. (And that’s why he seems disgusted by him).

Also, there’s “maybe Hajime is a slightly unreliable narrator because he tries to avoid thinking about difficult things”, and there’s “actually, the majority of how Hajime views Chapter 5 is unreliable because he didn’t know for sure if Nagito’s plan was malicious or not, it was just his gut feeling”.

What about the video message after Chapter 5? What about having to spell out ‘KILL US ALL’? What about Chapter 0 showing how in the real world Nagito had completely lost it? It’s not like the game was trying to present Nagito as any little bit more sympathetic after the trial. If anything, every piece of new info reinforced that mindset Nagito was filled with malice, up to the ‘fake Makoto’ saying that he somewhat understood him. The fake Hope made by Junko to trick them.

If you compare Chapter 5 in 2 to Chapter 5 in V3, you can see how the positioning is different. V3 does the “the villain tries to make himself look the worst he can in the mind of the heroes when in reality his real intentions were different” a lot better. More flat-out intentionally - the protagonist kind of literally giving a monologue about how the character was morally grey and even at the end there they couldn’t say they knew their true intentions. But also it’s just not as...sinister as 2-5. No ominous chanting, no dismembered limbs, none of the characters feeling completely out of their element and terrified. I think it’s text that Nagito is supposed to be villainous in Chapter 5 and even past Chapter 5.

So...

I can at least understand where Komahina comes from, but god it annoys me

Unpacking it like this, I can see it’s not even fair to argue back a lot of it - the stuff people are saying do make sense and are arguing against kinds of people I have seen.

Besides, I’m not arguing Komahina ‘can’t be canon’.

My view is just I think Hajime deserves better than a character like Nagito, who never repented for his actions on-screen or even gave much of a hint that he wanted to repent for his actions.

And that it’s still easy to argue that Nagito is a bad person even with his trauma.

Not everyone who calls Nagito an awful person is an idiot who doesn’t know how to read text past the surface, you can still make a nuanced take with that conclusion

for god’s sake

[anonymouslyangsty]

Okay so I adore Kazuichi Soda, but GOD do I feel like his character is wasted somewhat in game??? I really wish he had more of an ark

(Warning, I’m going to ramble like a himbo about my Sodapop son below. It’s...way to long and has spoilers)

So, Kaz’s whole character backstory is that he was a nerdy, shy kid who got pushed around by his ‘friends’. He got in trouble for helping a friend cheat on a test, but he wasn’t upset when said friend threw him under the bus. He only got upset when that friend stopped talking to him after, which in turn encouraged him to distrust others and change his behavior and appearance to appear tough.

What I get from this is that Kaz puts on a fragile act to look tough, has a hard time trusting others, and has rather low self esteem. He acts like a punk, but the second someone attacks him, verbally or otherwise, he crumbles and cowers. 

That all being said, I don’t feel that these traits are properly handled or addressed in the game

Firstly, the whole Sonia obsession. I think it makes sense from a few perspectives. In one option, Soda could see Sonia, being a princess, as above ‘normal’ people, thus making her an object of his affections. Option B is that he doesn’t REALLY obsess with Sonia that hard, but because he wants to look cool, he pretends to like her so he can fit in with what he thinks dudes are like. 

Whatever option we go with, it’s clear that Soda has a very shallow ‘love’ for Sonia, only really liking her for her title and appearance. Whenever she expresses the darker sides of her personality (love of the occult and serial killers), Kaz always tries to divert attention from or ignore it. He doesn’t love her as a person, but as a figure. 

The shallowness of his love is coupled with her total devotion to her. Kaz makes the exact same mistake he did with his friend: he trusts Sonia irrationally, incapable of seeing any fault in her whatsoever. So, whenever she’s put into question, he jumps at her aid, trusting her regardless of any evidence. 

This also means that he’s incapable of seeing how uninterested she is in him. She never bluntly says it, but it’s clear that Sonia, at the very least, vaguely dislikes Kaz. She straight up hopes that he’s the killer in chapter 4.

But again, just like with his friend, Kaz brushes it off as nothing. Sonia could do anything to him but, as long as he has her ‘companionship’ (or the illusion of it), he’s fine. This is clearly a terribly unhealthy mentality for a relationship, as Sonia gets idolized to an uncomfortable degree and Soda leaves himself open to any level of abuse as long as he thinks he’s accepted.

Kaz is repeating the same mistake from his backstory, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing. The bad part is the fact that it’s never addressed.

Sonia never tells Soda to stop, nor does anyone ever highlight the fact that Soda doesn’t really love her. He is constantly following her, but probably couldn’t say 10 things about her personality. If that WAS addressed, it could be used to show Soda that he isn’t going to make connections to people by keeping up his “cool, thirsty bro” persona, but instead by being genuine and kind, which is more align with his true personality. Honestly, I was expecting this to happen after chapter 4 but nope.

Another option, darker this time, is that Soda could find himself betrayed again. It would makes sense thematically; Kaz repeats the same mistake of blind trust, and is thus betrayed again. Maybe Sonia tries to kill someone, betraying the ideal pedestal Kaz places her on. Maybe she frames HIM for murder in an attempt to save Gundham.

Slight tangent here, but I really like the idea of a worst case scenario where Soda’s failure to learn from the past gets him killed (TLDR for the tangent, as if this whole thing doesn’t need a TLDR: Sonia and Kaz pull a DR1 first murder, but Kaz legit acts in self defense).

 Let’s say that, instead of the funhouse, chapter 4 gives motivation videos regarding everyone’s home. Of course, Sonia’s is about how her kingdom is falling into shambles. Extremely stressed, she locks herself in her room for several days. She eventually decides that, to save her kingdom, she has to sacrifice everything, even her morality. She decides to kill.

So, Sonia goes after the easiest target: Soda. Because of his blind faith in her, Soda wouldn’t hesitate to do whatever she asked. So Sonia asks him to meet her in some secluded area, perhaps the abandoned warehouse from chapter 1, sometime late at night.

Soda agrees to this blindly because he can’t EVER believe that Miss Sonia would ever do wrong. However, when he arrives, she attacks him, perhaps stabbing him in the shoulder. I know this is probably slightly underestimating Sonia, as she is trained in weaponry and could probably kill Kaz in one blow, but let’s say she’s so distressed that she doesn’t fatally would him.

Of course, there’s a struggle because, as much as Kaz obsesses over her, he’s not going to let Sonia murder him. She eventually backs him into a corner but, before she can kill him, he knocks her out with a wrench or something (he’s already established to carry one around because it comforts him, so it makes sense that he’d have it)

So now Kaz is alone, bleeding in an abandoned building with an unconscious woman at his feet. That would be a good point to wake everyone up and say what happens, but here’s where Kaz’s personality comes to bite him again. He still has faith in Sonia despite everything, unable to see her faults despite her having literally tried to kill him

So, his first priority is covering up HER crime. He hides the evidence of the attack as best as he can (which probably isn’t well given his panic and his wound). Then, he takes Sonia and carries her back to her room. He probably ties her up so she doesn’t her anyone else or herself when she wakes up. 

The next morning, Sonia isn’t at breakfast. Given that she’d locked herself in her room for several days, it wouldn’t be suspicious. Not wanting her to stay tied up, Soda offers to take breakfast to her. Once there, he wants to talk to her and calm her down, before letting her go and never telling anyone what happened.

However, you can’t just knock someone over the head and think they’re fine. That kind of kills people, and Soda soon learns that. When he gets into Sonia’s room, he finds her still tied up, dead.

Kaz is a coward, but is shown to be kind at heard. So, while I don’t think he’d be brave enough to confess, I don’t think he’d be willing to kill everyone else. Perhaps he’d try to kill himself before the trial to spare himself from execution. However, Nagito stops him. Nagito convinces Soda to cling onto the hope that he ISN’T the killer, and instead someone came to Sonia afterwards and killed her. It’s farfetched, but given his mental state, Kaz would buy it.

This all creates something I’ve always wanted in DR: an innocent blackened. Soda acted in self defense and had no intention to kill. In the trial, he wouldn’t be hiding info in an attempt to trick everyone, but in misplaced hope that he ISN’T the killer. 

Not only that, but this outcome really highlights the error of Soda’s mentality. Because he so blindly trusted Sonia, he was easily tricked by her. Because his self esteem is so bad, he doesn’t even get mad when she tries to kill him, instead hiding HER crime. Perhaps, if he’d gotten upset and ratted her out, she could’ve gotten some kind of medical attention and been saved. Instead, Kaz bent over backwards for her, leading to their deaths.

That was a long tangent, but the point is, I want Kaz’s failure to learn from past mistakes to be addressed, either by him growing past it or being punished for it. Nether happens though. The Sonia obsession continues throughout the ENTIRE game, with it never being addressed as a problem. It’s really strange thematically and character wise, as addressing it could’ve given both characters good development.

Moving on from Sonia somewhat, I HATE Kaz’s character ark, as he doesn’t evolve, but devolves. The source of Kaz’s problems is lis low self esteem. If he cared about himself more, he wouldn’t have accepted poor treatment from his friends in exchange for their companionship. He wouldn’t have changed his appearance and personality because he thought he was unlikable and boring.

Despite that however, in the end, the lesson he learns is to trust people again. That’s not a BAD lesson, but it doesn’t solve the problem. His self esteem is still nearly nothing; by once again falling into the idea that he has to trust his friends nonmatter what, he’s setting himself up to be used again (I’m not saying anyone in the DR2 cast WOULD do that, but the possibility remains.)

By trusting again without gaining self esteem, Kaz somewhat goes pack to step one. His ark really shoud have been about trusting and loving HIMSELF before he trusts and loves others. Kaz needs to realize that he doesn’t need to put on a tough act to make friends, as anyone who requires a tough act to like him isn’t his friend at all. He needs to realize that he deserves good treatment, and someone being your friend doesn’t justify cruel behavior towards you. 

But! He never learns that!!! He just goes right back to trusting without considering his self worth. That...really isn’t healthy and I wish it was addressed in his ark.

Another thing: why doesn’t Kaz have any dead friends? The entire surviving DR2 cast has someone who they were close to that died, Akane and Nekomaru, Fuyu and Peko, Hajime and Chiaki, Sonia and Gundham. It’s strange that everyone BUT Kaz has a close relationship with someone who dies in game.

Why not make Kaz friends with Mikan? I feel like they have a bit in canon, with both being anxious and prone to being bullied. I feel like a friendship between those two could be used to show Kaz’s more genuine personality. It’d be a chance to show that he isn’t CONSTANTLY thirsty over girls, that he can talk to Mikan without a hint of lust. Instead, they could just be friends, finding comfort in the fact that there’s someone else who’s just as terrified as they are.

Also, this relationship could be used to both mess with Kaz AND make another parallel to DR1. Make Mikan frame Kaz for the killing, just like Celeste with Hiro. This would not only be super interesting, but also a MASSIVE blow to Kaz’s ability to trust, which is already terrible. Also again, I just feel like Kaz’s anxiety is used for comic relief too often. I want this boy to straight up have a panic attack in trial. Destroy him with fear. 

So uh, yeah. I feel like Kaz’s depth is sacrificed for the sake of comic relief. He could’ve been so much more, but he isn’t and it’s a shame. Also, if you read this whole thing, then you must be just as obsessed with Kaz as I am. So, send me some good Kaz fics! It is SO HARD to find a fic that focuses on Kaz instead of Nagito. Do it.

[our-happygirl500-fan]

What do you think his relationships/interactions with his classmates would be like if Ouma was part of the DR2 class?

First of all, I want to thank you for this ask because I have an AU where Kokichi is stuck on Jabberwock island with the SDR2 kids that is a little bit inspired by the fic All My Secrets where basically Kokichi is accused of being a Remnant of Despair by Future Foundation and even though Kirigiri doesn’t think he is Naegi puts Kokichi inside the Neo World Program just to be safe. The reason they think Kokichi’s a remnant of despair that I came up with is that like with the DR1 kids post-Mukuro, Junko and Kokichi were all friends as kids when they were on the street only here Mukuro is even more protective of Kokichi since he’s younger than her. Basically Mukuro told Kokichi not to be at Hopespeak on a specific day because that was the day shit was about to go down and even though Kokichi is suspicious and is kind of upset about Mukuro becoming a soldier he still cares about her so he listens to her and also makes sure none of his classmates are at Hopespeak just in case and then the tragedy happens and suddenly his classmates are suspicious as hell of Kokichi because ‘it’s almost like he knew something was going to happen’ instead of being grateful to be alive which leads to them discovering his connection to Mukuro and Junko and him being accused of being a remnant.

Anyway, now that that little bit of exposition is over let’s talk about how literally any class is better for Kokichi than the V3 kids.

Considering that the SDR2 kids are dealing with Komaeda they aren’t really bothered by anything Kokichi does. I can definitely see him being treated like a little brother by the entire class. Based on the Ultimate Talent Development Plan interactions I think Kokichi’s main friend group would be like a little trio of him, Mikan and Hiyoko. Kokichi really likes Mikan who would probably fuss over him and keep on trying to take care of him because Mikan likes being relied upon and Kokichi would really like Mikan’s kind but timid nature but try and get her to be more confident by making up ridiculous symptoms until Mikan finally calls him out. Kokichi would also have a lot of fun teasing Hiyoko and they’d just act like a pair of bickering siblings he’s definitely quick to defend Mikan from Hiyoko so any time Hiyoko was mean to Mikan Kokichi is there to tease Hiyoko right back but Kokichi and Hiyoko also share a childish nature which would give them a good dynamic. Kokichi would find it personally insulting that Hiyoko gets so tall and Hiyoko would be so smug about it. Though this makes chapter 3 really sad because Kokichi loses the two people he was closest to.

The next people Kokichi would be close to are Gundham and Sonia, have you seen Kokichi’s and Gundham’s interactions in the Ultimate Talent Development Plan they are so good Gundham calls him ‘the clown prince of lies’, and ‘the spawn of Loki’s blood’ and is like ‘there can not be two dark overlords!’ look me in the eye and tell me Kokichi is not having the time of his god damn life when interacting with Gundham. Gundham might act wary of Kokichi at times because he doesn’t want to share the overlord aesthetic but he has shown kindness to Kokichi when he helped clean a scratch Kokichi got from a cat so I do think they’d like each other and Kokichi would love Gundhams hampsters. He might try to steal them and make them his minions. 

Sonia would probably be amazed by Kokichi’s lies not in the way that she believes them but in that she just likes hearing stilly stories though she’s probably going to scold him and bring up children’s stories from her country on why Kokichi shouldn’t lie. Being a princess and in a position of leadership, Sonia would definitely recognize Kokichi’s leadership skills and notice how he influences the group and would probably be very interested in the kind of leader Kokichi could grow up to be. She thinks Kokichi needs to have more faith in people and mature a bit before he can realize his full potential as a leader and would encourage him to try and meet that potential.

As for Soda not only would Kokichi have a lot of fun teasing him but he’d also stick close to him in a killing game for his mechanic talent so they’d have a lot of fun interactions as well. And you know how Hiyoko had a lot of fun messing with Akane and getting her to do stuff? You better believe Kokichi would be joining in on that he’d keep on trying to make Akane his minion only to be stopped by Nekomaru who keeps on trying to train Kokichi because ‘he’s too skinny and lacks discipline’ also Kokichi’s interactions with Meckomaru would be hilarious “Do robots have dicks” “You bet I do!” “Do a robot punch!” “Sure check this out!” ect.

Mahiru would keep on trying to get Kokichi to act more mature but would still mother him like she does for the rest of the class and Kokichi would get along really well with Ibuki especially since they both use the ‘chan’ suffix and would probably like her music. Ibuki would call Kokichi her rival for Twogami because of course, she would and Kokichi would admire Twogami like he did for Kaede before she attempted murder for him trying to take charge and keep everyone safe, Twogami probably wouldn’t indulge in Kokichi’s lies but Kokichi would still have fun.

Kokichi obviously wouldn’t be the most suspicious person around with Komaeda there who caused a murder in the first chapter and Kokichi wouldn’t want to do anything that could top that so he doesn’t go out of his way to make himself suspicious especially since the SDR2 kids wouldn’t force him into the role of the villain like the V3 kids did. Before the first murder Kokichi would really like Komaeda who would probably indulge and play with him (because we know how Komaeda is about SHSL’s) though after the first murder Kokichi would resent Komaeda quite a bit but would still be the person who spent the most time with Komaeda trying to figure out what he knew and would be interested in Komaeda’s observations because he can recognise that Komaeda is intelligent.

When Komaeda finds the hopespeak academy files about them being Remnants of Despair and Hinata being a reserve course student he’d also find out that Kokichi is actually two classes below them as well. If he revealed that to the group there would be a moment of ‘so much makes sense now’ in learning Kokichi is actually younger even if at that moment they were all mentally the same age and Kokichi would have to deal with ‘respect your elders!’ for the rest of the game as much as Hajime had to deal with ‘no talent Hajime’ comments.

It’s been mentioned in art books and various official sources that Kokichi loves games so he’s constantly playing with Chiaki who would be super accepting of Kokichi and Chiaki would be constantly trying to get Kokichi to open up more to the others and include him in the group because she’s Chiaki and she’s amazing. I can also see Kokichi getting close to beating Chiaki so she has fun with the challenge.

Hajime’s interactions with Kokichi would be so fun I could definitely see the group making Hajime Kokichi’s babysitter because Hajime is the only one responsible there, post-game, when Hajime has Izuru powers, is where their relationship really thrives though because Hajime can see past Kokichi’s lies and see his real intentions very easily and Kokichi would understand how important it is to keep someone from getting bored and would help Hajime with that. A very good very cute relationship that I want to see.

In the Ultimate Talent Development plan, it’s shown that Kokichi actually likes Usami and enjoys teasing her a little bit but nothing that would upset her, in fact, he just likes confusing her a bit. I think Kokichi would recognize at once that Monomi and Monokuma were made by two different groups and while he thinks she’s mostly useless he’d try and get information out of her and spend a lot of time around her. Kokichi would also be interested in ‘the traitor’ since he’d recognize that Monokuma wants them to go after the ‘traitor’ so he’d be constantly be looking for clues into their identity to try and help them and get them onto his side. So much so that Komaeda would probably know about Kokichi’s little investigation and after the events of chapter 4 try and see if Kokichi had any clues to the identity of the Future Foundation spy.

The golden canon line of ‘boss baby’ is all I need to say about Kokichi’s interactions with Fuyuhiko.

Chapter 6 would reck Kokichi because Junko would reveal that Kokichi is the only one there who isn’t a remnant and how he was framed for crimes he never committed and all his friends are actually murderers. But I think he’d be inspired by Hajime to remember the bonds that he made on the island and also he’d want a big middle finger to Junko even at his own personal cost.

Though I’m surprised that there isn’t more content of Kokichi with the SDR2 kids considering how Tsumugi tried to frame him to be a remnant of despair.