#mikoto rgb theory

[ruptinea]

sorry for milgram posting so early but I really think the guy singing the lyrics is greenkoto I'm listening to double for the first time and I don't know how to explain

like

for me there's a discrepancy between the way mikoto talks the way john talks and the way greenkoto sings and, okay I'm sounding crazy, because of course it's different the way that hanae natsuki talks to the way he sings but. listen to me it's different.

like you can notice it. listen to first voice drama then second voice drama and then go back to the songs. mikoto talks normal, john talks as a chihuahua (?), but the singing tone is different on both meme and double, I think the only singing that I can fully view as john is reversible campaign. and this is not something that happens in milgram often because I can like tell it like, yuno is yuno when singing both umbilical and teardrop.

I feel like mikoto songs have an added soft-sick/soft-violent way of singing that doesn't really match mikoto or john even though yes, I can see which parts of the lyrics are meant to be john/mikoto, there's still this third underlying voice that I hear constantly, I don't know if it's on the harmony or some shit but it's different

I'm not the only person going crazy here kayano system is also going crazy with me but like it's there I can hear it and I'm not delusional.

there's a third thing hidden in the middle of this bunch of losers and I'm not going insane I swear it's there

I am NOT going crazy greenkoto is real

unless the green imagery is supposed to represent the whole deal of shifting front and dissociation which I doubt it is because if it was then it would be FUCKCIN PURPLE BECAUSE RED GOING TO BLUE IS PURPLE NOT GREEN YEARS OF BASEBALL BAT SYMBOLISM FOR NOTHING

also WHO THE FUCK IS HOLDING THE MEMORIES OF THE MURDER

mikoto isn't. john is ... unsure about it.

and the memories didn't vanish or simply got repressed to oblivion because if they did they WOULDNT BE APPEARING CONSTANTLY ON THE MVS

someone is holding the damn memories inside this house and I don't care if mikoto is going to be dormant or fuse with john or whatever I need the fucking memories

I don't want the objective truth I just want your GATEKEEPER TO COME OUT

[meowkusunoki]

[blitz0hno]

Why I'm Voting Inno Mikoto even tho He Definitely Did It

or should I say DID i-*🏏smacked*

TL;DR like many I do not believe a word John says, but I also don't think he has the entire truth. Meanwhile Mikoto's amnesia is near undoubtable. With two unreliable narrators and solid evidence of self-defense, I think we need more before declaring him guilty.

I'm here to be Mikoto's lawyer cuz John ily but you suck at it 😭

Now onto why I'm voting Inno:

Mikoto isn't lying when he says he doesn't remember murdering those people, at least not entirely. The memory is in his subconscious, but he can't even remember the faces of his victims because they were both so out of it.

I believe what we see in MeMe is safe to assume to be his first. The first mannequin smashed onscreen is this one:

That looks like a damn FNAF jumpscare lmao this tells me that his baseball hobby probably saved him from getting jumped at that train station, but it came at a heavy price.

That's where John comes in. To handle the feelings that undoubtedly came with taking a life and having to hide the evidence.

Generally in DID alter's memories fall into one of 3 categories (my observations of myself and other systems):

That event happened. These are all the details. I feel nothing about it.

That event happened and I remember everything I felt like it was seconds ago, but I couldn't tell you specifics

That event happened??

The latter two can safely be assigned to John and Bokukoto. The first one is what we're missing.

I saw someone point out how the train could symbolize that he can never go back (credit urself in the tags if u see this it was a good one) to before he killed.

That brings me to our final scene.

Remember how John split to handle the feelings of that stressor? The feeling of unsafety, pure adrenaline, and righteous anger at the attacker is a horrific thing, but once you experience it you change. In order for an alter to handle the reality of something, it must be accepted somehow. John's way of accepting it is not remembering their faces, only his expressions and actions. That's probably why he's so aggressive; constant fight-or-flight mode.

Mikoto (Bokukoto), like with whatever happened to him in early childhood to cause DID, is unable to accept these realities because doing so would shatter his world (it turns out constant fight-or-flight isn't great for your social life).

So about John's statement that he didn't know any of the victims even though he totally did, at least a little;

John is reading the room and there it is: unsafety, pure adrenaline, and righteous anger at the attacker. That's all he needs to feel to know that it's time to protect Mikoto.

That's not the face and mannerisms of a man who bashes skulls in for kicks. This shit was personal.

I can't tell if it's one or two victims in the second clip here, but I strongly believe they had something to do with his work. His subconscious is really harping on how much his boss got on him and how stressed it made him. Something happened that pushed them over the edge. You don't call your mom after you kill for fun (or maybe you do idk). You call your mom when you know you're fucked.

John initiated the second killing but I don't think he was the only one making a conscious decision. That said, I don't have enough details to condemn Mikoto to another unforgiven verdict.

So, where will we find that info? Well remember RGB Mikoto/Trikoto theory (kudos to whoever coined those too)? Well when I broke down the compartmentalization earlier I hinted that there's a strong chance that SOMEONE remembers every detail, but feels nothing and lays dormant.

Good old green Mikoto, the only one we haven't seen speak yet the one who's given us the most detail so far (via MeMe).

Even if not and Bokukoto remembers more than he's letting on/gets in contact with John, the crime itself isn't unforgivable beyond a shadow of a doubt yet even with multiple victims. His reasons are still cloudy.

Also I like him

[thinkin-bout-milgram]

Hello! If it’s okay, I’d like to know your thoughts on the Trikoto theory (3+ alters). I think it’s a cool theory! And pretty likely, honestly. (Here’s a document about it in case you don��t know what I’m talking about. I didn’t make it, and I unfortunately don’t know who did, I just found it in another blog)(I really hope that link works lol)

Hey FF! I was wondering when you might send something in. Not the topic I expected, but I'm here for it!

I've definitely heard of this theory before. I can't say I know for sure where it originated, but I've always been under the impression that a blog called @bertrandcaillet started it as they're the first one I saw talk about that theory and they told me about it a while ago. They've since deactivated, though, so I can't really check with them to see if that's true.

I think the trikoto theory is interesting, and I fully agree with what's said on the document about how it would be nice if Milgram is showing a system with more nuance than just having two alters.

That being said, I personally don't believe this theory for a number of reasons. I'm going to do my best to explain why here. I do want to say going into this that while I do have extremely minimal psychology teaching (as in, undergrad psyc MINOR), I do not claim to be that educated on DID or similar struggles. So, anything that I say will be focusing much more on Milgram as a piece of media from a writing standpoint, because that's what I have much more extensive experience in.

I will say that I am very aware that most systems have more than 2 alters. That being said, I think I also remember from my psyc class that the average number is, like... 16? I'm not at my dorm right now and that's where my notes are, so I can't check, but I remember specifically thinking about it in the context of Mikoto and trikoto theory, so I'm pretty confident it's Above Three. That means that either way, it's not like we're doing The Most Common Number, so I think two versus three is largely irrelevant on that point.

For the sake of clarity, I'll be using the names in the doc (Akakoto, Midokoto, Aokoto), but I only personally believe that two of them (Akakoto, Aokoto) exist. I've taken to calling them Orekoto and Bokuto, but for this post, Akakoto and Aokoto it is.

At its base, my problem with trikoto theory is that I don't see a lot of evidence for it. Most of what I've seen has been talking about the implications of it if you assume it's true, but I've just never really been convinced in the first place. I'll just go through some of the main reasonings real quick:

The RGB Colors

I do acknowledge that I'm very much not a visually oriented person, so the color shifting is something I'm less inclined to notice. However, while the background of the room is blue and the train station and apartment are pretty green, I don't feel like there are ever really any red backgrounds (other than when the headspace becomes red as ooposed to blue). Because of that, I have a hard time believing that the backgrounds themselves contribute to the idea that there are three. I definitely think the red/blue coloration in the eyes and such are indicating different alters, but I don't think that specific fact supports there being three of them.

The Voice Changes

This might be a me issue, but I only really hear two different vocal inflections. I understand the point about there being some harsher (?) sounding vocals that don't have the growl, but personally, I still think the tone matches the one described as Akakoto enough to count. Similarly, the parts towards the end that are picked out for Midokoto ("I'm probably not to blame," etc.) actually sound more like Aokoto to me even if I do try to track the three voices.

I'm hesitant to go too hard in believing the different voices because to me, doing so would severely limit the amount of control Natsuki Hanae would have over the emotions he wants to put into the song. The vocalists in Milgram do a fantastic job at using specific vocal intonations to convey deep layers of emotions in their songs. I feel like it would be very limiting to only be able to use certain vocal effects (ex. growl) in specific places due to the limitations of the characters. If there are two, the two voices are far more separate, which gives more space for customization within the bounds of each voice.

This is also a little bit iffier on evidence, but there's the Es cover of MeMe. I don't know how much Yurina Amami knows about Mikoto's story and the entire video is in grayscale, so take all of this with a grain of salt, but to me, I feel like Es uses two voices here, not three. Notably, they even have a bit of vocal growl on the "switch" and on "split and half, make that heart beat," which are both squarely in the Midokoto tone. They do still have the two voice split, sounding a bit more apathetic and aggressive in the Akakoto parts and cuter in the Aokoto parts. To me, that signifies that there's suppose to be two voices going on, not three, but you could argue that that's just Es' perception of Mikoto, so it's not decisive or anything.

Mikoto Fighting Es

Yes, in his first audio drama, Mikoto is able to beat Es up until Kotoko stops him. Yes, that's inconsistent from what we've seen from Futa and also t2 Amane. I agree that that's because the Milgram rules only apply to one or more alters, and thus any others that may exist can get around the rulings. We saw this between trials, too, with how Mikoto (seemingly Akakoto at the time) was able to avoid being restrained despite his guilty verdict, likely through the same loophole.

(Side note: this implies to me that Milgram's system for restraining guilty prisoners is, like the protective barrier around Es, somewhat magical and isn't a physical thing. Thus, if we were to, say, vote Amane as guilty, I am fairly confident she would be unable to harm any other prisoners, as we've already seen the barriers are able to prevent her from attacking others. I still lean Amane innocent anyways, but I wanted to point this out.)

Anyways, I don't think that this is actually evidence towards trikoto theory because it works perfectly fine with just the two of them. Aokoto is the prisoner in Milgram and Akakoto isn't. This doesn't necessarily mean that Aokoto is the one who was fronting while the murder happened, though; the rules of Milgram just necessitate that the prisoner is involved in/related to a death. It can be indirect.

I think that that's exactly what Milgram is asking us with Mikoto. The question is, how do you fairly hold a system accountable? Can you blame one alter for the other's actions?

Milgram loves to complicate these, and I can see the appeal of a complication being learning about a third alter. Personally, I think it's much more likely that the route Milgram is taking is looking at how much knowledge the alters have about each other and asking how much Aokoto would have to know to make him an accessory to Akakoto's murder plans. It could go either way, though.

Some Bonus Points

I think the strongest piece of evidence brought up is the use of threes in Mikoto's design. Other than "they just liked it aesthetically," there isn't much of a counterargument I can make about it. My best one would be that they might be going for a "switching between black and white" type of thing, which would work better with more stripes, but that's pretty weak. I also had the idea that the first character of his name looks like three stripes, which might be a better or worse explanation! You get to decide, I have no idea.

The cake sells me less, though. It's true that Kazui's is a perfect 50/50 and that Mikoto's isn't, but that's because they're representing different things.

Kazui's is half and half because his song is called half, and it could also be a sign of how he and his wife didn't actually connect more in a marriage sense; they're still two fully separate people rather than being a unit.

Mikoto, if he has two alters, is still physically one guy. Mikoto is mostly sitting on the flower designs. I'd argue that the flowers are meant to show Mikoto as a whole: the connection point of the two alters.

That's pretty much all of what I have to say on the doc (in terms of the trikoto aspect, whether I believe it or not there's some good work done in character/lyric analysis that applies to two or three alter theories), but I'll go over some of my reason for why I actively believe there to be two, because there are some reasons.

Reason 1: The Song Titles

The doc explains what the meaning of MeMe is in trikoto theory, but it definitely still works with two, more obviously so. That's not evidence, though, because the trikoto theory has a viable explanation too.

I have no idea what they'd be doing with the song title Double, though. I guess it would be a play on somebody being someone else's double, meaning they're someone like them, which is no doubt part of the song title either way, but I think it's difficult to ignore the meaning of Double that means, y'know... multiplied by 2, or:

But that could very easily be a diversion and we haven't seen the second video, so I'd let that slide. However, that brings me to the bigger problem:

Reason 2: Upright Versus Reversed

AKA, the tarot cards.

Tarot cards can be read two ways, Upright or Reversed, based on the orientation of the card when it's placed/picked up/whatever. I already went over in my original theory (which is pretty outdated, I could do a way better job but I wrote that one literally first out of my milgram thoeries and I hated not having a good name scheme for the various alters) why I believe Akakoto to be the Hanged Man (Upright) and why I believe Aokoto to be the Hanged Man (Reversed).

I struggle to imagine why the devs would pick tarot, something that clearly has two meanings to it, when there are actually three alters. Maybe it'd just be to throw us off the scent, but it feels a bit too intentional to me.

Plus, if it was meant to throw us off, I'd expect we'd get a different metaphor/symbol for the second MV (as we have been with pretty much everyone). However, the association between Mikoto and "reversible" things has continued into trial 2, even before his MV has come up.

I say this because of his trial 2 cover song: Reversible Campaign. Funnily enough, I actually thought this song would go to Kazui before it was announced as Mikoto's, but then I looked again and understood why they wanted it for Mikoto.

My thoughts get confused and fight with each other

Very Mikoto, works for either two or three alter theories. However:

I just want to waver between black and white

It's turned me upside down

There's more that seems to paint Mikoto's mind as a dichotomy, not a... trichotomy? Is that a word? I don't actually know.

The Song Lyrics of MeMe

This is sort of an extension of the above part, but there are also definitely song lyrics in MeMe that sound like they're heavily implying two. Again, you could argue that that's trying to throw us off the scent, but some of them are, in my opinion, actively difficult to justify for trikoto theory.

Split in half, Make that heart beat

I cannot for the life of me understand why any of the three alters would say "split in half" if there are three. I guess if any of them were aware of one of the other alters, but not the other? I don't think that's what was being argued, though, sorry if I missed that.

I’m already the fake one

Little harder to argue this one because I don't know how definite versus indefinite articles work in Japanese, but saying the fake one really sounds to me like there is one fake and one real. If you were just having a moment of existential crisis, in most situations, I think you'd opt for "I'm already fake."

The Mirror

This is sort of the same argument as the tarot cards, but there's also the use of mirror imagery in Mikoto's MeMe MV. Mirrors have two sides and are a reflection. You could use Haruka logic and say that it depicts self reflection, I guess, but considering the reflection acts differently, I think it's much more likely that this is meant to show the two alters.

Conclusion

Hopefully this all made sense? I respect trikoto theory and I could easily be super wrong about it (see also: my original opinions on gay Kazui theory and police Kazui theory), but I've just never really been sold. It's possible my opinion would change if I saw evidence that I felt worked better for trikoto than... twokoto? theory, but personally, I feel like most evidence I've seen for it is still better explained by there being two alters. Let me know what you think, though :)

[a-star-that-burns-brightly]

Gonna let someone who knows more than me elaborate on this idea if they want, but I'm surprised that I've seen no one (TO MY KNOWLEDGE !!) bring up the idea that the shit-ton of green tones in MeMe could maybe be in reference to Co-Fronting? Most of the time when I see the green tones and general RGB color scheme of MeMe mentioned it's used as evidence for the Midokoto theory, which though I see the vision I personally don't believe, but I don't see many people (AGAIN, TO MY KNOWLEDGE !!) bring up the idea that the green used in those scenes could be used to indicate that Mikoto and John are fronting at once. I mean, G is in the middle of R and B and all that. I probably sound like a clown, but this thought just came to me when thinking about my own personal theories for Mikoto's murder and I want to hear other thoughts on it (preferably from systems)

[acemarkey]

ena and cater here, time for some mikoto stuff!!

1. we don't know any details on their murder for a reason. it's because we aren't judging john, the one who actually knows about (even if vaguely) and committed the murder, but mikoto, who doesn't know.

it's not important for us to know, not at this point in time, anyways — we have to decide if we think mikoto should be held accountable for john's actions.

(and while system accountability is important, it's necessary to take into consideration that mikoto didn't know and he still barely knows — he knows of john's existence, but not fully, or why he exists. he knows john killed someone, but not who/why/when/etc.)

2. john is making himself out to be irredeemable. he says that he only killed someone random because he was annoyed, but there are two reasons i think this is a lie:

john's role is a protector, bordering on prosecutor. that's obvious.

at the very beginning of double, he yells "i've got you, leave it to me" after switching in, which ... seems very relevant.

to us, it's.. sort of obvious that, at least, isn't the full truth. but, considering the way milgram works, mikoto would probably figure out why john killed if he said it — and it's most likely linked to mikoto's trauma, in some way, and john wouldn't want to remind him.

3. systems are formed at a young age, around 6-10 (with symptoms starting as early as five), due to repeated childhood trauma. it's also common for hosts to lock out trauma, and not remember it.

since systems form so young, and john refers to himself as a newborn in double, it implies the (former?) existence of another alter. (this is how RGB theory can still win!!!!)

john picks up the phone call for mikoto (?), and looked upset doing so. a lot of systems are formed due to trauma with parents. i don't know if any of this last point is relevant, but it's a nice thing to mention, and might become relevant later.

(UPDATE: WE HAVE JUST BEEN INFORMED ABOUT THE BABY CRYING IN THE BACKGROUND OF THE PHONE CALL WITH HIS MOTHER. WE THINK THIS ONLY FURTHER PROVES THAT IT MIGHT BE LINKED TO HER IN SOME WAY, AND THAT SHE'S THE REASON THEY SPLIT IN THE FIRST PLACE)

that's all i have. i'm very confused. but, everyone remember:

do not speak over systems when it comes to theories & voting for mikoto.

thanks! 🫐🍓🥝 (<- mikoto system)

[mayimkjs]

Microanalyzing MeMe

Taken from the FOOL's MATE research doc.

This includes theories and thoughts from a bunch of different people.

I will be separating some things into Trikoto and Twokoto variants.

The moon is in its First Quarter. It’s halfway between the New Moon, which represents the beginning of a new journey, and the Full Moon, which represents the end of something or rebirth. And thus, it can represent a difficult time where decisions must be made and a point where strength of will is necessary. This could seen as John making decisions with Mikoto being left in the dark. That would explain why the moon only shows up in relation to John.

This scene could represent how their future is scattered, uncertain and messy as tarot cards tell the future. 

Throughout the murder, he is wearing a beanie, as if to conceal his identity from the viewer.

Trikoto: These scenes are mainly green, his eye is red and the bulk of the eye shine on the bottom. I see this as John and Midokoto working together in some way shape or form to kill someone. John would be the one to kill someone and Mido would be the one to deal with the aftermath. They are working together to keep this from Mikoto. Another thing that contributes to this theory is that only one eye is ever shown. 

Trikoto: So going off of that, this scene would be Midokoto doing his part of the job and handling the cleaning up.

Trikoto: He points at his head 3 times. As if signaling to the viewer that there are 3 of them. When the scene swirls out, it has an RGB filter over it. Each color is associated with an alter. Blue for Mikoto, red for John and green for Midokoto. Bundled with the line that plays during this scene (Switch, Shake up that brain), it seems that this is referencing Mikoto, John and Midokoto.

Mikoto wakes up in his inner world confused. There are tarot cards scattered on the table, so he takes one. We then see 3 shots of tarot cards. Each shot contains the same 10 cards in the same positions except the 3rd where 3 are moved. It then jumps to the Devil card before his actual card is revealed to be a blank card.

Back to the murder, we see John looking over something, possibly his victim. He could also be burying him but, given that there's a phone pole in the background. I don't think that's what's happening here.

John or Mido puts the body or other evidence in a trash bag and throws it into a dumpster. Their sloppy work makes me think this is the first murder. They also throw the beanie away. Both of these shots show that he is not a calculated killer as the murder was very sloppy. He threw away trash in an area where illegal dumping would be reported and he left DNA evidence. I also don’t think that the bat is in the bag. It’s likely just the body and his jacket. 

In this scene, it seems that Mikoto could be dissociating. 

In the mirror in the real world, you see Mikoto looking around confused and concerned. In the inner world, John is in the mirror. This shows that John has now fronted. Maybe Mikoto knows that somethings up. There’s also a chance that these shots aren’t sequential. This and the next scenes could also be him realizing that the person ruining his life is both not him and him at the same time. 

Mikoto is startled by this. He then falls and is given a card. He receives The Devil card without having a choice while he's fallen down in a vulnerable position. The card then turns black. He drops it and the room turns red.

He panics and John/Mido appears behind him with his hands in the shape of a gun to his head as if to threaten him. 

The surveillance footage can be interpreted as the altars watching Mikoto. Mikoto is stressed. He has likely come from work.

Trikoto: This could be Midokoto dealing with the aftermath of another murder since he’s smoking real cigarettes. 

Twokoto: Some people say that this scene is a suicide attempt. Personally, I’m hesitant about that. The shower and mirror scenes often are paired with the last as well as the suicide atempt theory. In this theory, he’s losing consciousness in the scene on the right.

Mikoto is addressing the audience/Es.

Here, he’s stacking the deck up neatly. He's trying to take control of his own destiny. Control of his life is very important to Mikoto. Or, he’s shuffling his deck to properly understand what is going on.

He snaps then the room turns red. Mikoto has now fronted and John is back in the inner world. This could also symbolize a switch. 

Trikoto: We don't see his head in this shot so this could be Mido.

John draws a card and shows it to the audience as if to say it's not his. His expression goes from cheery to cold. 

John is seems to be having a conversation with someone within the inner world. He then draws 8 more tarot cards and the conversation continues. 

The paintings in the corner of the room are shown. These are not a part of the spread. The chair is then shown again.

Trikoto: This is possibly Midokoto as his hair is covering one eye.

John hands someone a card and puts in on the table.

The next card to appear is The Chariot. The Chariot card is interesting. Mainly the bikes. One of them is fine, the other is exploding. These bikes could represent Mikoto and John in relation to John’s actions. The mannequin has direct control over one of them. But the other is exploding and the mannequin has a mace in the same hand that shares the chains connected to that bike. John just wants to protect him, but he does so in a harmful way and it destroys the control Mikoto wants to have over his life.

The last card he puts down is Death.

Trikoto: The Kayano that is receiving the card isn’t wearing a jacket. This could very likely be Midokoto. 

During the last scene, “John” suddenly looks surprised. I see this as Mikoto either fronting for a few seconds or somehow seeing what John is doing. 

The fourth wall being broken at the end shows that the MILGRAM system may have found something that isn’t a memory, but a conversation between John and Mikoto or Midokoto in the inner world. 

This entire MV is very out of order. Here is the order I think the events happen in.

Trikoto

Timeline 1 (John/Midokoto)

Mikoto comes home from work and has a breakdown because of the stress.

John goes to Midokoto and proposes a plan to get some stress off of Mikoto.

John kills someone with Mido watching.

Mido cleans up and deals with the aftermath.

Timeline 2 (Mikoto/John)

Mikoto wakes up in his inner world and does not know what's going on. 

He eventually encounters John after he has killed someone. 

Mido quickly has Mikoto front to avoid any type of confrontation. 

Twokoto

Timeline 1 (John)

Mikoto comes home from work and has a breakdown because of the stress.

John kills someone. 

He then cleans up the aftermath. 

Timeline 2 (Mikoto)

Mikoto wakes up in his inner world and does not know what's going on. 

He eventually encounters John after he has killed someone. 

Mikoto then fronts, leaving John alone in the inner world.

Other Details

Framing of the events of the murders as a horror movie speaks to how Mikoto views his actions.

MeMe takes advantage of the assumption that there is one Kayano.

MeMe is generally told from Mikoto’s POV.

John is portrayed as scary and evil because that's what Mikoto assumes is happening. 

[archivalofsins]

Tripple Copium

Shoot that shit into their veins. Do it once, thrice but never twice. Two is the evil number. So, Mikoto better be asexually reprodcuing up there or he's unforgivable. He better be popping out alters up there.

His third song better be looking like-

His thoughts in the next Minigram better be represented like-

We don't have that much three alter representation, discussions around alters being forcefully shut out, representation of the abuse and trauma that causes this very personal disorder to form, or how many of us use media as a form of escapism and that impacts our mental spaces.

It would be nice if we-

Amane is right there and fulfils all those criteria. So, as far as we're concerned you've got that. None of the people behaving in this manner are the starving orphans they pretend to be begging for representation they don't have.

Because last I checked just today by the way

This is how the representation you all cry about wanting is being treated-

Oh, and the accussations of her not being a system at all simply because her system is connected and due to that none of them can hit Es because of the conditioning. Something illustrated through Purge March because even though only one Amane faces the harshest brunt of the punishment the rest are still rained on too.

"Wow Gunsli can't you just let 3koto theorists have their day? Their time? They have every right to want the representation they latched onto and related themselves too for so long to better mirror thier own personal experiences."

You're right casual and reasonable individual.

Except that's not what they're doing is it? It's easy to go it's all in good fun when there are no negative repercusions to oneself from this occurring. However, this does have negative repercussions for those of us with dissociative identity disorder in two alter systems.

Through these individuals just having their fun and pushing this to the extent that they have. They've stated plainly for all to see that two system dissociative identity disorder representation is wrong and gross. At times even going as far as to state that such a presentation is rare and unrealistic. Intent does not excuse the impact a person or multiple persons actions have on someone else.

The behavior that has been going on since the release of Double just serves to highlight the overt ableism that individuals with Dissociative Identity Disorder and only two alters not only face from society but within the dissociative community itself. Something that isn't new to anyone who has even took more than cusory glance at the topic. So, I guess I shouldn't have personally expected better. However. before this we personally avoided all media that even touched on this topic.

Still from the beginning the idea of there only being two alters in Mikoto's case was treated as a negative stereotype that needed to be corrected by adding more for him to be good representation. I've discussed my personal feelings on this before. I've discussed my dislike of the 3koto or rgb theory on these grounds before as well.

To simply act as though people that face and deal with dissociative identity disorder in the way Mikoto is shown to with only two alters don't exist- That people who the disorder presents this way are fake and just a horror movie trope or a stereotype is a form of ableism. Comparable to people saying,

"Um all people with autism don't have low empathy. I feel empathy. This is just a widely used media trope done for exagerration. Some people with autism feels emotions and empathy really heavily actually-"

Except in this case it's,

"Um two alters is kind of rare and a trope. Not all people with dissociative identity disorder are like that. This is just an ableist trope. I have X ammount of alters actually."

When what both mean is,

"I don't like it when media doesn't represent how I experience this disorder specifically. It's harmful because people will really start to believe that we're all like that which just isn't true. Oh of course some people are. It's a varied experience but I'm not like them and I don't want people to assume I am. There's enough stigma! Can we just stop the stigma? Would it kill someone to represent this in a less demonizing way and focus on the humanity of it? Am I the only who gets this. The only one who recognizes this as the overused media trope brought about by genral ignorance on the disorder that it is. What they have X too? Well, they're probably lying where are their forms where's their proof. I mean even if they do there's clearly something else wrong with them not just that. I mean if they're representing it like this. See if they were a mental health professional and dealt with more people who had this instead of focusing on their own narrow worldview they'd know this was wrong. This is why we need people who are more informed to speak on the matter. We need more people like us making media. People who really get it. Just really get it you know?"

These people may need more individuals like them writing medai because they really get it. I don't though I need these sorts of people to stay far away from and my deviant existence. I need them to leave. Because the truth is there are many people like Mikoto regardless of if they only have two alters or more. There are a lot of people with this dissociative identity disorder and all our experiences vary. Milgram even displays this through the use of its other characters.

Dissociative disorders are not monoliths.

There are many people who go undiagnosed long into adulthood. Just due to lack of access to healthcare. Just for them to be exposed to constant change and new stressors that end up exacerbating this issue that they still don't know they have. This leads to unhealthy coping mechanisms such as abusing substances like alcohol and cigarettes. Something that can lead to the issue being misdiagnosed as a substance abuse disorder.

All the while, still having these new responsibilities and duties pile on, causing increased stress. Leaving them feeling like they have no one they can talk to about these things because they don't want to worry those closest to them or they don't particularly feel connected to the environment they're in currently or the people within it whether they're surrounded by friends or not.

Instead from what I keep seeing and hearing many fans have just gone nope there's no one like that in the world.

Those sorts of things don't happen Gunsli it's 2023 and the definition of DID isn't

anymore.

We understand as we've rudely assumed your plurality status from the beginning that you a poor singlet wouldn't know about the intricacies of this disorder like we would. The counsel of plurality discerned that the proper definition would be three or more not two or more. We hope that helps. Now let us, the experts, take this off your hands for you. Maybe ableism should be a top shelf word for you sweetie~ We're not the bad ones here we have this disorder too. People with a disorder can't be ableist against that disorder. Internalized ableism isn't real and you're just raining on people's parade, okay?

Yeah, no not okay. No, one here is a fucking expert. Most of the people doing this are talking about experiences they clearly didn't have when it came to this disorder. Then when others disagree with them, they assume that person is a singlet or ask people for diagnosis forms when they say they aren't. Something that displays that most of the individuals behaving in this manner are more than likely privileged beyond measure. That I can only assume have been coddled by the government to the extent that they were even capable of having access to diagnostic tools and services.

From my own experiences with pursuing diagnosis. In the state of fucking Michigan. Detroit, Mi where I was born and raised.

-Personal Anecdote to better explain my mindset when it comes to this-

So, how's Michigan? Well even when you're not in Hell you're in hell. Great state overall if you subtract the fact that you can still go into restaurants and face overt racism where either the whole place is glaring at you for having the audacity to go there or they sit your family and a nice Asian couple in an unlit part of the restaurant when the rest of it is fucking empty and lights work everywhere else. So, how would one assume that race and financial status impact someone's access to mental health services and medical care in a state like that? Could it be well it must be fine if that's how restaurants are treating minorities. Ahn moderate like it surely exists but it probably isn't good.

Or fuck Gunsli you're twenty eight the incidents you just recalled happened in 2011. The fuck is it like growing up in a places like that in the early two thousands. Have you ever been called the n-word with the hard r? Yes, and I'm light skinned. Wait what about when you said that thing about people marching with guns outside of a bookstore you were going to. One it was specifically a Barnes and Nobles two it's for exactly what you can imagine it was you ignore it after a while. Which should be a good indicator of how mental healthcare is handled where I'm from it. Literally the difference in access to mental health and medical services in Michigan based on your income, where you live, and ethnicity is staggering.

For example, my friend had to leave this State entirely- She got a job in a new state as a full as adult and then at said new job her supervisors went hm we're going to get you tested for this because we think you have it. Then she got fucking diagnosed with autism. She left undiagnosed and came back diagnosed. I remember it clearly because she literally said upon arrival back and her first visit to my home, "Guess who's back and has autism." Then slapped her diagnosis papers into me. That's the fucking level we're on here. That's fucking wild.

 I was on my father's healthcare until I was twenty-one because it got extended. So, when I was like nineteen I went hm not gonna have healthcare soon... Maybe this is good time to get tested for autism and take care of my mental health before I don't have the chance to let me look into that. You know how much that costs for a legal adult? Five thousand USD-

You know what my insurance didn't cover. You guessed it any mental health care. It literally didn't even cover therapy. If I talked to a therapist for thirty minutes, it would cost my family two hundred dollars. This is the difference privilege and being born in a better spot than someone else can have. So, I don't necessarily blame people for thinking that's not how that works and assuming that others have the same access to opportunities as they do. Things like that happen.

A lot of people would then go onto assume that well there were other avenues to getting treatment and care like the education system. There are teachers and school psychologists that can refer students for testing or even report neglect or abuse to the proper authorities if the need arises. Yeah, that’s rightfully how that should work huh. However, at one point during elementary school a kid went missing from school for several days. It had been almost two weeks, and his parents didn’t really give an excuse for his absence. So, he was at risk of being truant. Our fifth-grade teacher called in the kids parents and they told my fifth grade teacher verbatim,

"We don't know where he is either. So, there's nothing we can do. He left the house a while back and we haven't seen him since. He does this sometimes he’ll be back when he comes back."

To which our teacher a new guy like fresh out of college and just started working at this school that year said,

"I'll have to report it if he's not here tomorrow. So, find him."

So, there I am listening to this as an eleven-year-old thinking... Huh why'd the teacher lie? He's not legally allowed to do that. Does he not know? Is he unaware? Did something change? Because if he does that then he’s not going to be coming back to school any day let alone tomorrow. Let me explain. So, my like seventh or eighth elementary school was a charter school. This meant it was specific to residents of that township. Meaning if you legally didn’t live in that area, you could not go to school there.

A lot of kids were from Detroit not that area this meant a good number of them weren’t really legally allowed to be going there at all. So, reporting it would require telling someone a student’s  legal housing address which would get them  kicked out of the school. Something that the vice principal had told students and their parents about when they enrolled. I told my teacher this too like hey you can’t do that, and he was like what do you mean. Then he was like that’s crazy, and I was like okay ask the vice principal and he called him in and the vice principal was like no she’s right you can’t do that and you’re lucky they believed you could. Just hope he comes back and leave it alone from now on.

Because we're a charter and all the schools below a high school level within their area were systematically shut down meaning they literally have nowhere else to go. So, lying is about their addresses and as little people as possible knowing about them is really the only option or they’ll just have to try to find a school that teaches this grade level in Detroit which there are not many. That was the first school that I went to that had a proper school psychologist. Before that one I was sent to a counselor at an inner-city school for a verbal tick I made after all my sentences. You'd think hm that might be a sign of autism.

You'd be right that's what the actual psychologist they brought in after weeks of being hit with ruler each time I made the noise didn't stop me from making the noise because I could not hear it. So, this was just an exercise in pain. I don't remember my age. All I know is it was before nine because at nine I was in charter school and living a lie.

That lie being I am totally from this area stop asking questions and you legally don't have the right to inquire about my address at any point in time and as such I don't have to give it to you. They eventually brought a psychologist in because after a certain point of physical abuse people start to believe you when you say I don't hear what you're talking about. Wouldn't that be nice no this went on for like two months not all physical abuse that was just when my mom made sure I went because she complained to the teacher.

The teacher and I actually had a very civil agreement to never speak or deal with eachother again. She was also the anger management class teacher. Prior to this I was sent there for fighting a lot in elementary school they thought I had anger problems. Two kids bet me ten dollars each I couldn't make her angry and I wanted the money so I did.

To the extent that on day one she threw me out of anger management and said,

"Don't come back here. You don't have an anger management problem you are a problem. I don't care where you go during this time, but you come here and then you leave that's it."

And that's how I got twenty dollars and a free hour of time every Wednesday. Then she went on to do that solely because my mom was worse than me. Meaning if this woman did nothing simply my mother had no issue getting her fired. So eventually the teacher called in a specialist, this was still back at the time parents had to agree to get you tested for autism.

The lady talked to me for a second and went to my mom then very politely inquired if my mother would allow her to test for this disorder. Because she had great cause to believe I had it at no cost to my mother by the way. At which point my mother promptly no we left and that I never had to go to speech therapy again and got me ice-cream while explaining how if I got diagnosed with that, I'd basically be jobless and futureless. Along with how the government is always trying to diagnose African Americans with something in order to make them feel less than and psychiatrist can’t be trusted. The ice-cream was good though.

-End of personal Anecdote to better explain my mindset when it comes to this-

So, there you go that was my experience with the education and mental healthcare system in Michigan if anyone was fucking curious.

Okay well now you're just centering things around your own personal experiences. That's not fair and doesn't invalidate the experiences of those who may have been fortunate enough to have access to those tools or delegitimize the trauma they have. Just because someone has access to help doesn't mean their trauma is any less important than that of someone else's.

You're right it fucking doesn't! Everyone’s experiences should be respected regardless of the privilege’s life has or hasn’t afforded them. That’s common sense and should be the case for anyone regardless of how their circumstances differ from someone else’s.

However, the fact that many people are not as fortuitous or have the same access to care as their peers do, causing them to go undiagnosed for longer. How going undiagnosed for such a long time does impact how they deal with this disorder and even if they ever come to terms with having it or not. It impacts how people view themselves and how they interact with society and the concept of mental health. It can cause them to believe that they’re evil or a fraud regardless of what those around them say or the things they manage to accomplish. It does cause people to have a tenuous grip on their personal identity and feelings regarding themselves.

Because unlike those who had access to those tools earlier in life and have been given ways to cope with those facts about themselves. Those that go undiagnosed most of their lives are just trying to find ways to survive financially when they reach adulthood. They don't care about the tolls to their mental health they just care about if they're going to fucking eat today or remained house. Or what's going to happen when the people they do have to rely on inevitably leave or pass away and how not to cause trouble for those people. So, they don't leave or become disappointed in them.

Even if they have to lie to them about things going fine.

Many people have been jokingly saying singletes don't have a right to discuss Mikoto's case.

I could rightfully say that those who were lucky enough to have access to mental healthcare and early diagnosis should not have the right to speak over individuals that have gone undiagnosed for most of their lives. Should not have the right to center this around their personal journey with the disorder because the experience is just not the same. There is a vast difference between me someone who was diagnosed with autism just last year and someone who was diagnosed with it as child and as such given access to accommodations to help and aid them in better interacting with the environment around them.

There's a difference between people who were diagnosed or came to terms with having a dissociative disorder in early childhood and individuals who did not. Something that is highlighted incredibly well by how some systems treat the idea of systems with two alters existing in regard to Mikoto's character. Treating the very concept with disdain and disgust simply because it does not fit their own experiences.

Looking for any reason to sweep it under the rug because it's the gross part of the disorder it's the bad rep. Their DID isn't like this. It's not yucky or split they're special good people who are doing dissociative identity disorder right and if Mikoto was good rep he'd be like that too. So, he must be like that.

Look there were three in this shot and look at the green so it's not that. It's not two, it's still good guys. Maybe they're just having each of his songs be representative of one alter. The third one will show the third alter guys. We aren't being biased in any way we're not saying two is bad it's just this would be a more accurate depiction and if it is just two that's kind of ableist, right?

Literally, take a moment and listen to yourselves. Because that's simply incorrect. Existing with a disorder doesn't make a character or person ableist. Regardless of how that presents in them specifically. Also, if the third song was from the perspective of a new alter how the hell would it narratively wrap Mikoto's story?

Well, if we put all the POV's together and work backwards we'd be able to figure out their crime as a whole of course. Okay and if you do that now what proof is there that there are more alters outside of wild stretches of the imagination that people publicly and privately have made fun of because they lean straight into conspiracy theory territory or being blatantly and easily provable lies?

I'm not playing this game with anybody any longer. This behavior is ableist and why a lot of people with dissociative identity disorder and only two alters don't interact with dissociative works of fiction or the communities. Because people who it presents that way in aren't safe wherever they go. Because people like this who care more about looking respectable than those struggling with this disorder will throw folks who it presents this way in under the bus every time just to make themselves look better.

Oh, that doesn't sound nice. That's not the type of people they are. It's all harmless fun. It's not that serious. It was never really about the number of alters. You're going a bit too far.

Yeah, it's easy to recognize that when the fingers pointed are at you, huh?

[dearmahiru-archive]

I am not a Kotoko theorist but I know her fans are dwindling and even if I'm reaching I wanna keep up some hype for her. The RGBkoto theory is super interesting so I wanted to see if I could find any fun color stuff with Kotoko! Prisoner parallels and all that stuff. I'm mostly just flashing a light at interesting color stuff I've noticed but if this prompts anyone to look further into Kotoko I'll be happy!

For a brief explanation, the RGBkoto theory is that, instead of one alter, Mikoto has two alters with green as the host. This is why MeMe is split between the colors red, blue, and green (Here's this post if you'd like to read about it more!)

One of the parellels between the KotoKoto duo is the theme of duality. In Harrow, Kotoko mostly sees things in black and white. For the most part, her reaccuring colors are: red, blue, green, and yellow/orange. We see this immediately with the opening shot of Harrow and it continues throughout her MV.

This color scheme happens again when Kotoko researches through various articles:

The inclusion of orange in the RGB color scheme interests me because it's distinctly the color of of the girl she's saving. Not quite sure about the yellow though...

Throughout the MV, Kotoko wears two different jackets: a red one with white stripes and a blue one with a yellow stripe. This implies two different timelines, fitting the duality aspect. (The red jacket outfit isn't her forest outfit because the clothes underneath are different.) Both time Kotoko steps someone her shoes are green.

Kotoko finds the warehouse twice, one time without the car and with the car. During the second time, when Kotoko enters the warehouse, she suddenly switches to her red outfit. Despite this, there's a hat on the floor...?

Finally, not something about colors but there's three different girls in Kotoko's MV! The first two seem to be connected in some fashion aswell?

I'm really excited for Undercover! Even though she's unfortunately going to be guilty for what she did to the prisoners, I'm really interested in receiving more information about her story. She's so cool 💜

[dr-blu-skies]

I kinda liked the idea I had of naming each alter so I kinda started calling ‘Redkoto’ Takashi because it’s a different way to write ‘尊’.

…But then I saw that there’s another way to write ‘尊’ that is spelled Takeru. So it could account for RGB theory!!

So now my brain’s arbitrarily called ‘Redkoto’ Takashi and ‘Greenkoto’ Takeru.

I think it’s kinda cool that the possibilities account for ‘Takashi’ and ‘Takeru’ because in my mind I’m like, “If they go about assuming only Takashi is there alongside Mikoto, when there’s actually also Takeru there, it’d be a coincidence that they could both respond to a nickname of ‘Tak’” which is just headcanon territory at that point but- That is genuinely my ‘reasoning’ I’m not a very ‘thinky’ person.

[archivalofsins]

So, a friend of mine suprisingly asked me if they could spend the night today. I said yes and we talked about Double. They're the second person in my group of friends since high school not interested or involved heavily with Milgram.

Heads up for those uninterested and those who may not like hearing opinions on certain fandom topics from those not involved. Or basically just anything not in support of the three idea.

Because we were mostly discussing that situation and Kazui in jest. Since I know the idea means a lot to some people, I'm giving a heads up.

This isn't a dig at anyone or other theories by the way it's just a funny convo I had with a friend about Milgram I wanted to share.

This is just a heads up for those who may be bothered by that sort of thing.

Just to prove I'm not just bullshiting about having a friend in this instance and attempting to start trouble-

Okay with that out of the way-

While hanging out I told my friend about the two or three debate going on in the fandom. Because as I've stated it before it irked me for personal reasons and I've literally been talking about it with everyone I know.

This was their immediate response-

Friend: Milgram fans when they hear just the two of us be like-

*Starts playing this over my tv*

Me: Fuck no, but seriously, that's it-

Immediately asks for her to send me a cut version of that instead of the full video we were watching. Then told them this comparison is even more apt because it's referred to as the RGB theory due to the colors.

Friend: *uses legal name* You can't be serious?

Have they ever thought green is a complimentary color to red, and that's why it's being used so much?

My friend was a traditional visual arts major in our high school and has a better memory of technical terminology and color theory than me. So, she very easily recalled this knowledge while I was like huh forgot about that.

Then explained the use of green and red over the course of Milgram and it being related to the innocent or guilty verdicts. Then showing them other songs that use the colors prominently.

Friend: Okay, yeah. Couldn't they be using the color more in response to their verdicts then? Like she's using green a lot because she was innocent (in reference to Mu) and he's using red because he was guilty (in reference to Futa). I mean that kid used every color under the rainbow (in regards to Amane).

All the while still showing clear confusion as to why this is being highlighted here and nowhere else.

We also talked about what Kazui did because she went if that's how they use red and green then what about him pointing to Kazui's very blue thumbnail. Then said wait no don't play it I remember the song snippet and his first one when you played them to me. I liked neither.

Me explaining what I think his crime is and her going damn I really didn't think about his crime because again his songs sucked. Told her he's Innocent and she went good for him I guess it does get better.

Then when I thought about it-

I was like that's an interesting angle I hadn't even considered. I only thought about it on the level of subconsciously trying to have the audience vote a certain way. Not about why the prisoners may personally use it. I hadn't even really thought about why the song extraction machine would even use those colors while extracting their thoughts at all until that exact moment.

The colors are mostly synonymous with the Milgram institution in the framing of innocent or guilty. So, when the characters view themselves as being guilty or innocent the song extraction machine could be interpreting those instances as those colors to allude to how the prisoners view their own actions. Subtly implying that they feel more guilty or less about it.

This would mean the reason there was so much red in MeMe could be because Mikoto did feel incredibly guilty about what had transpired. Not because they were trying to frame him more negatively. It would also explain why even when using green in Double, it's done in a harsher way than with the others as though attempting to vilify him more than less.

It was an interesting thing to think about.

Literally continuing the first don't hug me I'm scared video they found to illustrate their point-

Friend: In a week they're gonna be like this-

Me: No, no, you don't understand they already are! If it's not two, it seems like anything goes.

Friend: I- ah- ugh.

Just sitting on my couch holding her arms out in confusion at this fucking point.

Me: Yeah, this isn't even a mindset specific to this fandom either. I've talked to another friend about it. Someone who doesn't even interact with this series, and they just said,

"Oof that again, I hate that for you." It was that and other things that made me realize that this sort of treatment is apparently common when it comes to a low number of alters.

Friend: Don't you know *my legal name* it's either three or ten. Any more or less than that and of course you're fucking lying for attention and deserve to be scrutinized. It makes perfect sense. Three minimum ten max nothing above or below.

Starts playing an English cover of the Gumi song "Ten Faces" over my television.

Me: Okay after all that what do you think?

Friend: What do I think? I think ya'll need Jesus. And I'm an atheist. So, that's saying a lot.

Ultimately it was a funny exchange that really made me go. Okay, so this is wild. I can seriously stop doubting myself and thinking I'm going insane. It took several discussions with multiple personal friends and one of them randomly deciding hey I want to spend the night for me to go okay I'm not losing my fucking mind.

So, friendly reminder to back away when needed and take breaks when things are getting overwhelming. Because the world isn't fandom and people don't usually behave in such a critical way towards others fictional or real existing in a way different from themselves.

Most people tend to recognize life is a very varied experience and don't make assumptions based on others immutable characteristics. A very comforting thing to remember given how I was feeling earlier this week in regards to this which some people know about and others do not.

[acemarkey]

to give a bit more potential fuel to rgb theory, in the scene where mikoto is running down the train theres an effect that shows 3 silhouettes of him, if thats intended to be relevant symbolism i dont see why it would be 3 and not 2 if they really were going for just 2 alters

YEAH!! and in most scenes mikoto and john are showed right (?) handed, but occasionally there's usage of a left hand. so. hmmm

[1moremilgram-enjoyer]

Hey! Thanks for the response! I really appreciate you took the time to write something so detailed!

(I am the guy who sent the ask if anyone’s confused. But I think you can’t send asks or comments from sideblogs so here we are)

Since you asked me to let you know what I think, I would like to give a response, because I personally do believe Trikoto theory, and there’s a few points which I feel this didn’t cover so. Especially regarding evidence of Trikoto being true. Here I am, joining the brainrot. Of course, I fully respect Twokoto (because Bikoto sounds like a very different kind of theory), and I do think it’s quite plausible as well. I just think Trikoto is slightly more plausible, and also just more interesting imo.

Though I also come with the warning that I am not any sort of expert on DID either, of course.

RGB Colors and Voice Changes

Yeah, I’ll concede that this is usually overstated a bit . While it is there, the color scheme isn’t all that prevalent in the video, especially red as you noted. At best it’s just a convenient way to make a naming scheme. And the voice changes are more something to think about after proving Trikoto true, if that makes sense. Because otherwise the vocals are just like that for musical purposes. In fact, there are some points which make me doubt we can even go off of vocals to know who's speaking for parts of this.

(Though, as you brought up as a possibility, is it too crazy if I say that the Es cover only has two vocal styles because they think there’s only two? Am I really insane enough to look for lore hints in the damn Es covers? Maybe I am)

Point is, these don’t prove much.

Mikoto fighting Es

I agree that this also doesn’t prove anything Trikoto related, though I’m not sure who says it does. The two alters in John Doe are pretty clearly Aokoto and Akakoto, regardless of whether Trikoto is true or not.

(Side note: I had never thought about the “physical restraints” part of a Guilty verdict completely stopping someone from hurting others. I was imagining them as supernatural, but more like what happened to Kazui in his first VD when he tried to grab Es, that he got weakened. It definitely makes the Amane dilemma a bit more nuanced if your idea is more accurate, but without knowing for sure, I’m still a pretty steadfast Amane innoer. Though as always, other options are acceptable)

However, there is another fight which I feel is worth looking at.

Trikoto Evidence #1: Mikoto Fighting Kotoko

Let’s ask ourselves a simple question. As we know, Kotoko attacked Mikoto after Trial 1, but Mikoto was able to fend her off. So, which alter drew with Kotoko?

Clearly not Aokoto, who is likely the one suffering from the drawbacks of a Guilty verdict and shouldn’t really have any fighting experience. Akakoto seems like the obvious answer. We know from John Doe he’s not the one afflicted by Milgram rules, so the Guilty verdict would mean nothing to him.

Except, small issue. In John Doe, Kotoko easily beats Akakoto. It’s not even close; she surprise attacks the guy, calls his moves hot garbage (well, she says “his technique is definitely that of an amateur”, which is close enough), and then, even when Akatoko is ready for a fight, she makes him faint with one hit.

Es: Knocked him out… with one hit…?

Kotoko: Be grateful to me. I just finished him as just fainting.

So, either Akatoko grew significantly stronger and better at fighting over the course of a few days, Aokoto managed to fight off Kotoko through a guilty verdict… or there’s a third alter, who is better at fighting. As I imagine you’re aware, different alters can have different skillsets, so it’s not unbelievable that Midokoto could potentially be better at fighting than Akatoko.

I think the third is the option that makes the most sense. Of course, it’s not perfect. You could argue that it’s still a bit… odd, to have Midokoto be better at fighting than Akatoko, considering the things they actually do according to Trikoto theory. But I find it a bit more physically plausible than the alternatives. There’s thankfully more if you’re not convinced.

Trikoto Evidence #2: MeMe Lyrics

First I’ll address the lyrics you have issues with.

Split in half, make that heart beat

It’s generally accepted for Trikoto theory that it is Midokoto talking here. What he’s saying is that, as a gatekeeper alter, he’s trying to keep the lives of Aokoto and Akakoto separate, “split in half” between Aokoto’s more mundane daily life and Aokoto’s nighttime escapades. He achieves this by controlling their switching (see: “switch, shake up that brain”) and making sure none of the memories from the murder(s) get to Aokoto, so he can look as innocent as possible. By doing this, Midokoto allows their life to continue unimpeded, he “makes their heart beat.”

This isn’t necessarily evidence for Trikoto, more so a consequence of seeing that line through the Trikoto lens. Basically I think it works still.

I’m already the fake one

I frankly don’t see the issue with this one, I think it still works. Like sure, maybe “I’m already fake” would make more sense, but “the fake one” doesn’t not make sense in my mind.

Especially because this is the one lyric which makes me think we can’t go off from vocals alone to determine who’s speaking, because, uh.

I’m [boku] already the fake one

Yeah. As you know, Akatoko uses “ore” instead of “boku” generally*. So that would have to be Aokoto or Midokoto, which isn’t what the document I sent you claimed. Midokoto sorta doesn’t make much sense here, so Aokoto fits better imo.

The point is, if it is Aokoto, he could very well be completely unaware of Midokoto, if you really want to make the “fake one” thing make sense. It is weird that he calls himself the fake one, but I feel like that speaks more of an identity crisis than an issue with the theory. Especially since Twokoto would have the same identity crisis issue.

*(Akatoko does use “boku” occasionally, but only when referring to who he wants to protect, like in a Timelines dialogue between Mikoto and Kotoko, and the second trial teaser.

“In order to protect myself [boku], I’ll [ore] do whatever I have to”

It’s a very interesting character quirk, which likely means he uses “boku” to refer to the system as a whole or even just Aokoto)

Now, you could argue that this is done like this to make the speaker ambiguous, and that it doesn't matter that it's inconsistent with the way Akakoto speaks. After all, the parts which are probably Akakoto in both theories don't have any personal pronouns. However, it's an important enough speech pattern that I don't think the song would break the logic just to make things confusing. If it helps, I think I can hear an "ore" in the sample we have of Double, so that to me shows that Akakoto would still use ore in the songs.

Anyways, with that addressed, let me go over some of the lines which make me believe in Trikoto.

You** don't have to keep it in and hide it away - “I" will save "me" - Snuggle together and say "Good night" - Switch, shake up that brain

**I think there’s not a pronoun here, rather it’s a general statement. It could also be translated as “no need to keep it in and hide it away” according to Google translate and DeepL. The translation isn’t necessarily wrong, but I do have to clarify it’s more ambiguous.

So this line. At first it seems pretty straightforward. It plays while we see Mikoto entering his apartment full of blood, fresh off a murder, so according to Twokoto, this would be Akatoko, yes? It’s talking about saving “me”, and seeing Aokoto’s dialogue vs Akatoko’s dialogue, that sorta fits Akatoko better. After all, while Akatoko is probably a protector alter, Aokoto has never expressed an interest in saving himself from anything. Additionally, the reference to “snuggling together” and “switching” makes ir clear the person speaking knows they’re part of a system, which may not have been the case with Aokoto until at least the end of the song.

Slight issue with that, which you can probably guess by now.

“I” [boku] will save “me” [boku]

Yeah. This line uses boku in both instances, not ore. This is inconsistent with how Akakoto speaks, and with how much care has been put in regular dialogue to make sure this part of their speech remains consistent, it seems odd to me that the MV would purposefully ignore it.

The issue then is that this line really doesn’t make much sense with Aokoto, especially given the context of the MV. Unless he’s the killer, which is a theory which exists, but frankly I think that requires jumping through a few more hoops than assuming the one who sings this line is Midokoto. It is a good theory, and an interesting one at that, but I think Trikoto is the better explanation.

Thus, I conclude this line is likely being sung by Midokoto, especially given the green lighting and the way hair covers his right eye in the scene.

This isn’t the only time this happens. The other lines which probably belong to Midokoto, the ones from the other shower scenes, also use boku. Those ones work a bit better with Aokoto, but I still think they make more sense as Midokoto’s. Again, the only way I see to make Aokoto work with the shower scenes is if he’s the murderer or the one cleaning up, which I don’t find all that likely.

Song Titles

Yeah, MeMe is more intuitively about two, but as you said, there are Trikoto explanations. However, I wouldn’t judge Double until we hear it. For all we know it’s about living a “double life”, which perfectly fits both theories.

As a side note, fun fact about the Mikoto related Undercover line.

Don’t you lie about Me. Me, I’ve done nothing wrong.

Three instances of personal pronouns. To be fair, it is pretty hard to construct a sentence with only the two “me”s which doesn’t include any other pronoun, at least in English, but it is there.

Tarot Cards, Mirrors and Reversible Campaign

The explanation here is simple; two of the alters are reflections of each other, the third is a bystander. If you look in a mirror, and someone’s near you yet out of sight of the mirror, there will still only be one reflection. Am I even making sense anymore.

The idea I’m trying to convey is that if we take the mirror reflection/tarot cards flipped and not flipped/idea of a reversible campaign and we apply it to, for example, just Aokoto and Akakoto, it still works even if Midokoto is in the background.

After all, Aokoto and Akakoto are opposites in other ways than just the alter thing. One is a people-pleaser who will try everything in his power to be liked and make connections, the other is someone who acts exclusively on his own desires. One is mild-mannered and always nice, the other is short-tempered and almost always insulting. Etcetera. Thus, I still think it works with Trikoto.

Also, it can be easily argued there are three people in the mirror scene because the two shots are likely not right next to each other chronologically.

In the first shot, Aokoto (reflection) is naked and looks on at someone who slumps over, the next shot he’d fully clothed (notice the sleeve and the fact the shot right after is him in the internal world) and looking at a smirking person. It could easily be argued the first is Aokoto and Midokoto, the latter is Aokoto and Akakoto.

Oh, but speaking of tarot cards.

Trikoto Evidence #3: The Tarot Card Spreads

At one point of the video, Aokoto draws a tarot card, and this flashes on screen.

You’ll notice they’re tarot cards in a celtic cross spread, which gives specific meaning to each card. At first glance, you’ll notice that the first two shots are of identical spreads, so you would assume the third would be the same. And it is almost identical… but not quite. The Queen of Swords has been flipped, and the…

Cup… of Ace? Wait, the card is Ace of Cups, not Cup of Ace. Huh? Mikoto? Where- Where did you get these cards from?

Well, the mislabeled Ace of Cups and the flipped X - Wheel of Fortune have swapped places. These are not arbitrary changes, the position and orientation of cards in this spread gives them different meanings.

So what, they’re still only two. Except, no they’re not, because at the end of the video, we see a third spread.

Most of the cards are face down, but we see enough. 0 - The Fool has replaced the flipped XII - The Hanged Man and the Page of Pentacles has replaced the Queen of Swords, which means this is a completely different spread. Likely filled out by the cards we see flash on screen right after.

Now, we could argue back and forth about which alter should get which spread, but the fact remains the same at the end of the day. There’s three of them, possibly one for each alter. I mean, I don’t know why else there would be three different “destinies.”

Also, about the portraits thing. You know how there’s a flipped Hanged Man and an upright Fool (the upright Fool is also in Mikoto’s IRL home and I genuinely have no clue why)? Well, as a commenter pointed out, there’s also a face down tarot card in a chair off to the side. It’s important to note it shows up both at the beginning and at the end, so to me it feels unlikely that this is supposed to just be the Death card Akakoto hands Aokoto. The reason I’m bringing it up is that it’s always shown either right before or right after the camera focuses on the portraits, which makes them feel somewhat connected when watching the video. It’s possible, then, that this third face down card is meant to represent one of the alters. And you get three again. Maybe I’m overreading, but that’s what it feels like to me.

Alternatively,

See that thing in the top right? It vaguely looks like a third, obscured portrait. I'm not entirely surer that's what it's meant to be, but some people have brought it up in the context of Trikoto, so I wanted to mention it as well.

Trikoto Evidence #4: Miscellaneous Connections to Three and Minor Observations About the Door

•As you said, there’s a few design elements which connect Mikoto to number three.

•Also like you said, the first syllable of his first name in katakana is a symbol of three lines (ミ).

•I get if you’re not convinced by the cake, but there’s still three types of flowers, so I’m bringing it up anyways!

•His prisoner number is 3 x 3 = 9.

Now the door:

•"Double", which can potentially refer to an alter (a double of the host perhaps), is written three times. Once in hiragana (right), once in katakana (top), once in English (bottom).

•The door also has "I'm MeMe", which is the same triple personal pronoun thing Undercover pulled.

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Anyways, that's all I wanted to say. I have a lot more thoughts on Trikoto, but I hope I was able to explain why I believe the theory at least. Again, thanks for answering! Take care!

Hello! If it’s okay, I’d like to know your thoughts on the Trikoto theory (3+ alters). I think it’s a cool theory! And pretty likely, honestly. (Here’s a document about it in case you don’t know what I’m talking about. I didn’t make it, and I unfortunately don’t know who did, I just found it in another blog)(I really hope that link works lol)

Hey FF! I was wondering when you might send something in. Not the topic I expected, but I'm here for it!

I've definitely heard of this theory before. I can't say I know for sure where it originated, but I've always been under the impression that a blog called @bertrandcaillet started it as they're the first one I saw talk about that theory and they told me about it a while ago. They've since deactivated, though, so I can't really check with them to see if that's true.

I think the trikoto theory is interesting, and I fully agree with what's said on the document about how it would be nice if Milgram is showing a system with more nuance than just having two alters.

That being said, I personally don't believe this theory for a number of reasons. I'm going to do my best to explain why here. I do want to say going into this that while I do have extremely minimal psychology teaching (as in, undergrad psyc MINOR), I do not claim to be that educated on DID or similar struggles. So, anything that I say will be focusing much more on Milgram as a piece of media from a writing standpoint, because that's what I have much more extensive experience in.

I will say that I am very aware that most systems have more than 2 alters. That being said, I think I also remember from my psyc class that the average number is, like... 16? I'm not at my dorm right now and that's where my notes are, so I can't check, but I remember specifically thinking about it in the context of Mikoto and trikoto theory, so I'm pretty confident it's Above Three. That means that either way, it's not like we're doing The Most Common Number, so I think two versus three is largely irrelevant on that point.

For the sake of clarity, I'll be using the names in the doc (Akakoto, Midokoto, Aokoto), but I only personally believe that two of them (Akakoto, Aokoto) exist. I've taken to calling them Orekoto and Bokuto, but for this post, Akakoto and Aokoto it is.

At its base, my problem with trikoto theory is that I don't see a lot of evidence for it. Most of what I've seen has been talking about the implications of it if you assume it's true, but I've just never really been convinced in the first place. I'll just go through some of the main reasonings real quick:

The RGB Colors

I do acknowledge that I'm very much not a visually oriented person, so the color shifting is something I'm less inclined to notice. However, while the background of the room is blue and the train station and apartment are pretty green, I don't feel like there are ever really any red backgrounds (other than when the headspace becomes red as ooposed to blue). Because of that, I have a hard time believing that the backgrounds themselves contribute to the idea that there are three. I definitely think the red/blue coloration in the eyes and such are indicating different alters, but I don't think that specific fact supports there being three of them.

The Voice Changes

This might be a me issue, but I only really hear two different vocal inflections. I understand the point about there being some harsher (?) sounding vocals that don't have the growl, but personally, I still think the tone matches the one described as Akakoto enough to count. Similarly, the parts towards the end that are picked out for Midokoto ("I'm probably not to blame," etc.) actually sound more like Aokoto to me even if I do try to track the three voices.

I'm hesitant to go too hard in believing the different voices because to me, doing so would severely limit the amount of control Natsuki Hanae would have over the emotions he wants to put into the song. The vocalists in Milgram do a fantastic job at using specific vocal intonations to convey deep layers of emotions in their songs. I feel like it would be very limiting to only be able to use certain vocal effects (ex. growl) in specific places due to the limitations of the characters. If there are two, the two voices are far more separate, which gives more space for customization within the bounds of each voice.

This is also a little bit iffier on evidence, but there's the Es cover of MeMe. I don't know how much Yurina Amami knows about Mikoto's story and the entire video is in grayscale, so take all of this with a grain of salt, but to me, I feel like Es uses two voices here, not three. Notably, they even have a bit of vocal growl on the "switch" and on "split and half, make that heart beat," which are both squarely in the Midokoto tone. They do still have the two voice split, sounding a bit more apathetic and aggressive in the Akakoto parts and cuter in the Aokoto parts. To me, that signifies that there's suppose to be two voices going on, not three, but you could argue that that's just Es' perception of Mikoto, so it's not decisive or anything.

Mikoto Fighting Es

Yes, in his first audio drama, Mikoto is able to beat Es up until Kotoko stops him. Yes, that's inconsistent from what we've seen from Futa and also t2 Amane. I agree that that's because the Milgram rules only apply to one or more alters, and thus any others that may exist can get around the rulings. We saw this between trials, too, with how Mikoto (seemingly Akakoto at the time) was able to avoid being restrained despite his guilty verdict, likely through the same loophole.

(Side note: this implies to me that Milgram's system for restraining guilty prisoners is, like the protective barrier around Es, somewhat magical and isn't a physical thing. Thus, if we were to, say, vote Amane as guilty, I am fairly confident she would be unable to harm any other prisoners, as we've already seen the barriers are able to prevent her from attacking others. I still lean Amane innocent anyways, but I wanted to point this out.)

Anyways, I don't think that this is actually evidence towards trikoto theory because it works perfectly fine with just the two of them. Aokoto is the prisoner in Milgram and Akakoto isn't. This doesn't necessarily mean that Aokoto is the one who was fronting while the murder happened, though; the rules of Milgram just necessitate that the prisoner is involved in/related to a death. It can be indirect.

I think that that's exactly what Milgram is asking us with Mikoto. The question is, how do you fairly hold a system accountable? Can you blame one alter for the other's actions?

Milgram loves to complicate these, and I can see the appeal of a complication being learning about a third alter. Personally, I think it's much more likely that the route Milgram is taking is looking at how much knowledge the alters have about each other and asking how much Aokoto would have to know to make him an accessory to Akakoto's murder plans. It could go either way, though.

Some Bonus Points

I think the strongest piece of evidence brought up is the use of threes in Mikoto's design. Other than "they just liked it aesthetically," there isn't much of a counterargument I can make about it. My best one would be that they might be going for a "switching between black and white" type of thing, which would work better with more stripes, but that's pretty weak. I also had the idea that the first character of his name looks like three stripes, which might be a better or worse explanation! You get to decide, I have no idea.

The cake sells me less, though. It's true that Kazui's is a perfect 50/50 and that Mikoto's isn't, but that's because they're representing different things.

Kazui's is half and half because his song is called half, and it could also be a sign of how he and his wife didn't actually connect more in a marriage sense; they're still two fully separate people rather than being a unit.

Mikoto, if he has two alters, is still physically one guy. Mikoto is mostly sitting on the flower designs. I'd argue that the flowers are meant to show Mikoto as a whole: the connection point of the two alters.

That's pretty much all of what I have to say on the doc (in terms of the trikoto aspect, whether I believe it or not there's some good work done in character/lyric analysis that applies to two or three alter theories), but I'll go over some of my reason for why I actively believe there to be two, because there are some reasons.

Reason 1: The Song Titles

The doc explains what the meaning of MeMe is in trikoto theory, but it definitely still works with two, more obviously so. That's not evidence, though, because the trikoto theory has a viable explanation too.

I have no idea what they'd be doing with the song title Double, though. I guess it would be a play on somebody being someone else's double, meaning they're someone like them, which is no doubt part of the song title either way, but I think it's difficult to ignore the meaning of Double that means, y'know... multiplied by 2, or:

But that could very easily be a diversion and we haven't seen the second video, so I'd let that slide. However, that brings me to the bigger problem:

Reason 2: Upright Versus Reversed

AKA, the tarot cards.

Tarot cards can be read two ways, Upright or Reversed, based on the orientation of the card when it's placed/picked up/whatever. I already went over in my original theory (which is pretty outdated, I could do a way better job but I wrote that one literally first out of my milgram thoeries and I hated not having a good name scheme for the various alters) why I believe Akakoto to be the Hanged Man (Upright) and why I believe Aokoto to be the Hanged Man (Reversed).

I struggle to imagine why the devs would pick tarot, something that clearly has two meanings to it, when there are actually three alters. Maybe it'd just be to throw us off the scent, but it feels a bit too intentional to me.

Plus, if it was meant to throw us off, I'd expect we'd get a different metaphor/symbol for the second MV (as we have been with pretty much everyone). However, the association between Mikoto and "reversible" things has continued into trial 2, even before his MV has come up.

I say this because of his trial 2 cover song: Reversible Campaign. Funnily enough, I actually thought this song would go to Kazui before it was announced as Mikoto's, but then I looked again and understood why they wanted it for Mikoto.

My thoughts get confused and fight with each other

Very Mikoto, works for either two or three alter theories. However:

I just want to waver between black and white

It's turned me upside down

There's more that seems to paint Mikoto's mind as a dichotomy, not a... trichotomy? Is that a word? I don't actually know.

The Song Lyrics of MeMe

This is sort of an extension of the above part, but there are also definitely song lyrics in MeMe that sound like they're heavily implying two. Again, you could argue that that's trying to throw us off the scent, but some of them are, in my opinion, actively difficult to justify for trikoto theory.

Split in half, Make that heart beat

I cannot for the life of me understand why any of the three alters would say "split in half" if there are three. I guess if any of them were aware of one of the other alters, but not the other? I don't think that's what was being argued, though, sorry if I missed that.

I’m already the fake one

Little harder to argue this one because I don't know how definite versus indefinite articles work in Japanese, but saying the fake one really sounds to me like there is one fake and one real. If you were just having a moment of existential crisis, in most situations, I think you'd opt for "I'm already fake."

The Mirror

This is sort of the same argument as the tarot cards, but there's also the use of mirror imagery in Mikoto's MeMe MV. Mirrors have two sides and are a reflection. You could use Haruka logic and say that it depicts self reflection, I guess, but considering the reflection acts differently, I think it's much more likely that this is meant to show the two alters.

Conclusion

Hopefully this all made sense? I respect trikoto theory and I could easily be super wrong about it (see also: my original opinions on gay Kazui theory and police Kazui theory), but I've just never really been sold. It's possible my opinion would change if I saw evidence that I felt worked better for trikoto than... twokoto? theory, but personally, I feel like most evidence I've seen for it is still better explained by there being two alters. Let me know what you think, though :)